Lucky Robin's Personal Finance Blog

Monday was a long, long day. The garden is getting into gear and I harvested a ton of basil, my first two zucchinis, 4 cucumbers, and pulled a bunch of weeds. They never do stop. Tomorrow I need to pick strawberries, peas, and blueberries. Maybe raspberries, too. But I have to do it early, because it was 80 degrees for most of the day and it was just too hot outside.

Inside the house we are working on completely redoing our makeshift kitchen/pantry area. Already it has opened up the room so much. We have spent about six hours so far and it probably needs another two to finish the section we are doing. Then the other section will probably take another six hours and will be done.

I need to get a couple of small baskets to store all our storage bowl lids, jar lids, and measuring cups and spoons in to keep them from taking up an entire drawer. If I free up that drawer I finally have a place to store my kitchen towels and wash cloths.

I would also like to get a double decker lazy Susan for my most commonly used spices and oils. I am tired of having to go search through the less commonly used items all the time. No matter how well I organize the spice drawer, other people are always moving things around.

I saw an electric citrus juicer today on a video. It is expensive, $99, but it really would make my life so much easier. I am going to think on it. My manual citrus juicer is getting really hard for me to operate, plus it is rusting. I don't think it is the stainless steel it purports to be. I have plenty of money in my allowance folder. I just need to think on it since it is a big purchase. MIL spends that much at Christmas so maybe I'll have her get it for me if I don't want to spend that much myself.

Not only did DH manage to find a big case of Charmin toilet paper at Costco, he found a six pack of Puffs tissues at Safeway. Both had a limit of one. My supply of things had gotten pretty low. I would like to stock up before cold and flu season hits again, but it has been very hard to find the soft stuff. With sensitive skin and allergies, we have to be very careful what brands we buy and they can only be white, no dyed patterns.

I have always tried to keep two cases of toilet paper on hand and two six packs of Puffs, but now I feel like I'd like to have four cases of each on hand. And no, that is not hoarding, it is prepping. Hoarding is filling your garage to excess with stuff you won't ever get through. I am going to try again on Monday at Costco. Sometimes they have them in and sometimes they don't, but you always have to go in in the morning after they open. I'd like to get them while they are semi-available and not run up against shortages when everyone starts getting sick again or they have to lock down hard again, which I suspect they will this fall or early winter.

I'd also like to have 2 cases of paper towels on hand, and shore up my dish soap, dishwasher soap, and laundry detergent, as well as some liquid hand soap refills. I mostly use bar soap and we have 8 of those, but I like to use the liquid soap pump for if I am cleaning my hands after getting meat or blood on them so I don't get that all over the bar soap. I also need more disposable gloves, a couple pairs of kitchen gloves, and some Scrub Daddies, my preferred type of sponge.

Other things I'd like to stock up on are dye free Benadryl, Sudafed, Nyquil, Dayquil, Mucinex, Ibuprofen, Tylenol, bandages, guaze, medical tape, Neosporin, antacids, Imodium, and Afrin. Everything but the Mucinex and Afrin are actually store brands of things, but it is easier to type out the brand names. If I can find it, a couple bottles of dye free, unscented hand sanitizer, too. I just really want to be prepared going into this. It really paid off when we all got hit with either Covid or a really bad flu in February. No one had to go out for anything.

I need to get a new pair of shoes and DH needs to get new work boots and new shoes. Then after that DS needs to get new shoes. I just keep adding to the clothing envelope and using as we go. DH's will be pricey. He is a size 16 shoe. His boots will be around $150 and his shoes around $100. Mine will be $80 because I need the largest width they make which seems to come in only one brand of shoe. And DS wants to get some custom Van's. He also has a large foot in size 14, which is at least possible to get in Van's.

I'd also like to get a new kitchen faucet that is much higher and has a built in sprayer so I can wash my hair in the kitchen sink and finally get the bathroom faucet replaced (we've had the new one of that for a couple months, just not put it on).

It feels like a lot, but it is all just the tip of the iceberg.

After I did my big chest freezer inventory, I took a half an hour to sit down and work out a meal plan based on the meats and some of the frozen and garden vegetables I have here. While I did not include it in the below meal plan, I also buy seasonal fruit or pick it. For example, watermelon and cherries are in season and cheap right now. Also, right now in the back yard garden I have ripe strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries. So while I might jot it down on the meal list, I usually don't. We just pick whatever it is that is ready from the yard or what needs to be used up in the fridge to add to the meal. It just varies so much there is little point in adding it to the plan.

So here is what I have been eating and will be eating soon. I thought it might give other people some ideas, especially in this time of eating more at home due to the pandemic. We save a lot of money by meal planning, making sure we properly use up what we buy or harvest, and cooking from scratch.

Day One:
Japanese Chicken Curry (potatoes, carrots, seasonings)
Rice
Salad (from the garden)

Day Two:
Meatloaf (Hamburger, Italian Sausage, ground turkey, lamb, eggs, cheese, rice crumbs, onions, seasonings)
Baked Potatoes
Broccoli

Day Three:
Steelhead Trout with Herbed Garlic Butter
Corn on the Cob
Green Beans (Home canned)

Day Four:
Beef Chuck Roast
Baked Potatoes
French Cut Green Beans (Home canned)
Watermelon

Day Five:
Chicken Stir fry (broccoli, cauliflower, onions (freezer), bell peppers (freezer), carrots, celery, snow peas (garden)
Rice
Watermelon

Day Six:
Grilled Ribeye Steaks
Grilled Corn on the Cob
Grilled Zucchini (garden)
Grilled Snow Peas (garden)

Day Seven:
Basil Pesto Chicken

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HViMJzRlkzI
Leftover Grilled Veggies
Roasted Italian Herbed Potatoes

Day Eight:
Salmon (caught last season and frozen)
Broccoli
Baked Potatoes

Day Nine:
BBQ Pork Ribs
Fried Potatoes
Green Beans (Home canned)

Day Ten:
Spot Prawns (caught earlier this season and frozen)
Corn on the Cob
Zucchini (garden)

Day Eleven:
Chicken Schawarma
Gluten Free Naan Bread
Tzatziki Sauce
Cole Slaw

Day Twelve:
Gluten Free Jovial Brown Rice Spaghetti
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with Zucchini Shreds (frozen, last year's garden) and Home Grown Home Canned Tomatoes
Gluten Free Meatballs (same ingredients as my meatloaf but with different cheeses)
Salad (garden)

Day Thirteen:
Homemade Gluten Free Pizza with pepperoni, sausage, bell peppers, and onions
Leftover Spaghetti Sauce for the Sauce
Salad (garden)

Day Fourteen:
Pork Shoulder Roast
Mashed Potatoes
Homemade Gluten Free Gravy
Green Beans

$23,376.02 401K
+_9,713.49 IRA
---------------
$33,089.51 Total Retirement

That is up by $585.22 from last payday. Only $220 of that is contributions. I hope it continues.

I went to the dentist today. The hygienist had on a face mask and a face shield and two pairs of gloves. Everyone else in the office wore masks and when the dentist himself came in he also had the same get up as the hygienist. They had a blast shield installed at reception. Such is life in the new world.

It felt really good to have my teeth cleaned. It has been since September. I was due in March but of course that was cancelled because of Covid. My teeth were in great condition and nothing is wrong with them except the chip that I will finally be able to get fixed at the end of August. That was also due to be fixed in March. I take excellent care of my teeth. It took a lot for me to bring them back from my early adulthood issues, but they have been great for the last several years.

DH went on Friday and the fees so far were $78.80 twice. We don't have the best dental insurance, but someone would have to get at least two crowns in a year to make the more expensive insurance worth it, even if the money does come out pretax, we'd still have to pay half. Better to have the cheaper insurance and pay full if someone needs a crown, which DH does need one.

Both kids are scheduled later in the month for their appointments. I am hoping things are fine with them, too. I am sure they will be with my daughter, not so sure with my son.

DH did do his eye exam, but we are waiting on next payday when there is more money in the medical fund for him to get his glasses. He will need both lenses and frames. I see the eye doctor in September for my retinal testing and for a new prescription. I have not made appointments for the kids yet, but they will both need them. And DD will need to start the retinal screening as well since she is on the same medication as me now that can, in a small percent of cases, turn your retinas yellow. So far so good with me.

DD will need new frames and lenses, DS and I will only need new lenses. We each have previous frames that are in good condition that we like and since the insurance only pays for frames every two years, but lenses every year, that is what we go with. I will be able to use my current frames again in the future as well, which is great because I really like them, too. That will cut costs somewhat.

The next thing I really need to do is get a hair cut. I need to cut off about 8 inches of hair and thin it out. My hair grows so fast, about an inch a month and it is getting so long that when I raise my arms and then put them back down it gets caught in my armpits. I hate that. That and when I accidentally lean on my hair when trying to get out of bed.

I am debating on getting a short layered cut or just a sort of bob thing that flips up on the ends instead of going under. Whatever I get, I want it to be low maintenance. I hate fussing with my hair. But I also want it to be something that will grow out decently if we get locked down again. I've decided not to color it professionally. I just don't want to have roots in six weeks and have to keep doing it. I've been out of that race for years now. I like my grey streaks.

And I can always change my mind later since it will be much shorter and a lot easier to color at home than it would be with my current length. I really just need to see what color and how much grey is left when it is short before I make that decision and live with it for a while. Plus if I do do it myself I will only need one box and not two after the cut. We'll see. I am so wishy washy about this.

$7850.89 Balance Forward
+__13.73 Allstate Refund Check
--------------
$7864.62 New Balance

Friday was a normal payday for us, no overtime. I have started contributing to the medical fund again because we have dental and glasses to pay for and it was getting really low. After those things are paid for I need to start thinking about saving for next year's deductible. So that may end up being a priority over the Emergency Fund. All it takes is one ER visit in January and we get slammed with almost the full deductible in one go. Since January ER visits have happened the last three years running, it is best to just plan for it.

$318.52 Tithe
_500.00 Utilities
_400.00 Grocery Envelope
_300.00 Medical Fund
__75.00 Household Envelope
_115.17 Internet
_280.00 Monthly Chiropractic Family Plan
_36.00 Garbage
_100.00 Gas Money
_100.00 Spending Money Adults
_120.00 Allowances Kids
_800.00 DS's Driving Lessons
-------------
3144.69 Total Money Out

I also have enough money set aside for DS to renew his driving permit, but that wasn't budgeted for, I just knew I had extra in the checking account that could go for it.

DS and I inventoried the big chest freezer a couple of days ago, which was a lot of work and we also got the sides defrosted. It doesn't frost up too much, but enough that we had to use a butter knife to break it lose. It take about six months or so to build up about an inch and it only does it on the back side. Anyway, we have a lot of food in there and now I know what it is exactly, so I will better be able to meal plan.

I made up an Excel spread sheet to track it as we use it. We still have to inventory the smaller freezers, but I am working on eating down the two shelves we have in Mom's freezer so she can have use of all of it, because she wants to buy some beef come the end of summer. Like a quarter.

I guess my eldest sister wants to buy a quarter as well and Mom is trying to push me into buying a half. First of all, I don't have room for it, and once I do have room, I want to get half a hog, not necessarily half a beef. If I were to get beef at some point, I would want a whole one, not a half or at least not a half I was splitting with her.

I know my mother. She would want to pick and choose her cuts out of the entire beef, not just the quarter she would be entitled to. My mom would take all the best cuts for herself and more than the amount she was entitled to and we'd be left with all the tougher cuts. No, thank you. I saw the way she divided up the chickens we raised together and I don't want that happening again.

Another issue is that I don't have the money for it right now. She's pushing saying that it is a couple months from now. Sorry, no. I have other priorities. DH's driving lessons, a handicapped ramp for the back porch (our entrance), and an upright freezer are what is next on my agenda. Then building the Emergency Fund. I might be able to get a whole lamb, though, but that is neither here nor there.

Right now I feel like I can just get loss leaders for beef. I have been doing fine with that this year. I want to keep at least two month's worth of meat in the freezer during the upcoming virus season, but I can't do more at the moment. Maybe if MIL gives us more money, but I have no idea if that is even going to happen. She hasn't given us any money this year at all and since it hasn't been a great stock market year, she may not.

Oh, well. I made a fantastic Japanese Chicken Curry for dinner last night. I've never made a curry before and I did it completely from scratch, even the curry roux, which can be bought in stores but has MSG and other nasties in it. It wasn't hard, not much different from making stew really. I used gluten free flour to make it gluten free. It's fantastic with rice, which we have a ton of, and gives it a good flavor.

It uses warming spices as opposed to the hot spices. It is aimed at the Japanese flavor palate as opposed to the Indian flavor palate. Now I would like a mild Indian curry myself, but my daughter would never be able to eat it, so it is easier to find stuff she does like. This was a hit. It is here

https://www.justonecookbook.com/simple-chicken-curry/# if anyone is interested.

Can someone please explain to me again how to post a photo? I know some of you are doing it, but it doesn't seem to work like it used to. I chose a photo and it puts the code there but doesn't actually save the photo to the blog or show up as an image in the control panel.

We are finally starting to pull ahead again on retirement. It's not by much, $162.44, but we are getting there. The IRA still needs to recover just under $500, but we are ahead on the 401K. If I just get through this year without losses I will feel like it is some kind of major accomplishment.

$22,981.37 401K Balance
+_9,523.26 IRA Balance
--------------
$32,504.29 Total Retirement Balance

DH has also become vested on a portion of his company stock. I am not allowed to say the amount, though. There is a non-disclosure agreement on not discussing what the stock is worth. But I am happy about it. If DH stays there for the next 22 years, I will be over the moon with it, assuming nothing happens to the company to devalue it. He will continue to earn percentages of shares the longer he works there. It takes five years to become fully vested.

Today I was able to harvest a pound of snow peas, 3/4 of a quart of strawberries, 10 blueberries (the first of the season) and a 1/2 pint of raspberries (the first of the season). I have several itty bitty cucumbers and zucchinis growing. The beans are starting to put out runners and grab the strings, the corn has hit the top of the low tunnel so we'll have to take care of that, and all of the potatoes but the last row are pushing up some leaves. The second to last row is only showing a few plants, but the rest is really going.

I still have not received my replacement social security card. It has been a month and they said 7 to 10 business days. But now the website is saying that you can't apply for cards right now. I did it when you still could, but I have a feeling they have shut it down before they sent my card. We've been home when the mail carrier came by every day, so it couldn't have been stolen. I could try going to the office. It's only a couple of miles from me.

If I don't get it, I won't be able to get a fishing license which is so frustrating. It limits how much fish and shellfish we will be able to put in our freezer to just what two people can catch. I wonder if I take our tax forms to the fishing license place with our numbers on it, if they'll take that. They just have to tell the people at the state that I've brought it in to confirm it is me. Probably not, though.

$7846.98 Balance Forward
+___3.81 Interest Income
---------------
$7850.89 New Balance

I had a major fibromyalgia flare when we got back from Seattle followed by a cold I'm pretty sure I caught at the hospital, so I haven't been updating anything for a while. I still feel a little cruddy, but at least I am now upright. We are still on a wait and see with DD's tumor. We get another scan in 6 months. As for payday, there were a few hours of overtime on it, and here's what we did.

$337.18 Tithe
_400.00 Grocery Envelope
1000.00 Medical Fund
__75.00 Household Envelope
_753.08 Citi
__71.99 Life Insurance DH
__60.46 Life Insurance Me
_100.00 Spending Money Adults
_120.00 Allowances Kids
_100.00 Car Insurance Fund
_150.00 Gift/Christmas Fund
_100.00 Clothing Fund
_100.00 Laptop Fund
----------------
3367.71 Total Money Out

I transferred $1000 out of the EF and into the medical fund. We have four pairs of glasses to pay for in the next couple of months and I wanted there to be enough money in there to deal with it.

$8846.98
-1000.00
-------------
$7846.98

My new skillet was delivered today. It's a 12 inch Michaelangelo that works on induction cooktops. It's a really pretty blue granite design. It is non-stick, but not the kind that poisons you. It isn't ceramic, but it is similar to that. It is made in Italy, not China. Most of the induction stuff I have is made in China, but the brand I normally use doesn't have a 12 inch skillet and these days I try to buy elsewhere if I can. The North American continent doesn't seem to actually make any induction cookware that is any good, though.

They also have a ten inch skillet that is a purple (though they call it red) granite design. If I like this skillet, I might get that one later on down the road. It isn't super heavy. Much lighter than cast iron and a bit lighter than stainless steel, but not super light like a Green Pan. And it came with a lid. It was $42. I'll give it a good workout this week. I am hoping this pan will be what I am looking for for this size. It had good reviews.

We got the rest of the beans weeded today and the 3rd and 4th row replanted. I did not see any rabbit damage today at all and some of the stripped stems are coming back. We got some weeding done along the fence, too, all along the back of the strawberries and some of the overgrown raspberry plants pulled out and more morning glory. Do not, I repeat, do not ever plant morning glory. And if you must plant it in a pot it cannot escape from and put it on concrete that has no cracks in it. I am still annoyed 15 years after the fact with the neighbor who planted it on their property and let is spread to five other houses.

I planted 15 broccoli plants today and some spinach. The potatoes are really growing. We'll have to hill them on Tuesday, since tomorrow we are going down to Virginia Mason to meet with two different doctors and have some labs run for DD. One of the doctors is the liver specialist about her tumor. DS will stay here with my mom. She's been a little unsteady on her feet lately, so DS will be keeping an eye on her.

I cleaned off my desk today. It really needed it. I am working towards being more organized in my bedroom. It is an uphill battle, but it becomes easier as I clear out more things. Now that Good Will is open again and taking donations, that will help a lot. But my desk has nothing to do with that. My desk has to do with this thing called procrastination. I just had a lot of stuff I needed to recycle or shred for recycling.

I found my pocket Constitution, which also has the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence. It also has a few other federalist papers and things about being a juror. It's cool to have that and it was always helpful when I was homeschooling the subject of history. Each kid has one, too, as well as DH. I think it is something every American ought to have copies of, really.

Well, I best be off to bed. I've got an early morning ahead of me.

The guys went prawning this weekend and came back with lots of spot prawns for the freezer. These particular prawns sell for $16 per pound. Plus we had some for dinner tonight and what was leftover will be made into ceviché tostadas tomorrow for dinner. They are such good prawns. There is nothing like eating freshly caught seafood. And these prawns are so sweet and good, they don't require seasoning or butter or anything at all. And only two minutes of cooking, so they are fast and easy, too.

In all of the fishing trips the guys have done so far this year they have more than paid for their licenses, paid for my license once I can finally get it, paid for the gas and bait expenses, and still had a lot left over in the value of the prawns. It'll probably be a couple of weeks before they go out again and by then I should have the issue straightened out with the licensing, assuming my new social security card ever arrives. We are watching the mail like a hawk. It should be here no later than Tuesday going by the 7 to 10 business days. But the government is slower during the lockdown so who knows?

We have gotten a ton of strawberries off our bushes this week. It is the equivalent of 10 pints. Organic strawberries in the store are selling for $17.98 for a flat of four pints. That is $44.95 worth of organic berries if we had bought them.

I made roasted radishes last night and they turned out well. I mixed avocado oil and butter to toss them in and then sprinkled them with salt and Italian seasoning. They turned out pretty good, but I think needed more salt, and maybe some pepper. I might try olive oil next time instead of avocado oil as it does lend some more flavor and just roast at a lower temp for longer. We did icicle radishes and malanga radishes from our garden. Everyone liked or at least tolerated (DD) them. The malanga ones stain your skin purple, though. It would make a nice natural dye for Easter eggs. I like them a little better than the icicle ones.

Our potatoes are coming up really well for the oldest planting. We should be seeing some in the newer plantings in a few more days. I need to put dirt on the ones that have come up, though. Potatoes need to be hilled.

We put up a fence to keep rabbits out of the beans and corn garden. We caught one eating the new sprouts. We knew something was eating them, but not what until we caught one in the act. I replanted in two of the bean rows and hopefully will replant in the other two tomorrow. There are still some bean plants that are thriving, but not near enough if I want to grow enough to can for the year, which I do.

We also need to get the corn weeded, which will be a big pain in the neck because I can't sit on the ground. I'll have to sit on something that gets me close to the ground and lean, which is not my favorite way to weed because I have a tendency to lose my balance, but it has to be done. DH and DS will help.

Mom made some jam with the strawberries from the garden. She can't help much outside, but she can still do canning inside. Then she took some of the blueberries from last season from the freezer and made some blueberry jam, too. There is nothing like homemade jam when it comes to jam.

I hope to get some broccoli, spinach, carrots, and radishes planted tomorrow.

I asked James and he said that the guy that keeps "spamming" actually is tech support, so it is him working on fixing the blogs, finally. As annoying as it is, it isn't spam.

I just went through yesterday's mail (I quarantine mail for 24 hours) and received a refund check from one of my doctor's offices. Quite a hefty check, too, of $208.44. I will take that to the bank tomorrow and deposit it into the medical fund. At first, I was thinking about just putting it into the EF since it would have put me above $9000, but since it originally came out of the medical fund, it should go back in there.

It's pretty low and it is time to start rebuilding it for next year since we finally hit the out of pocket max for our insurance. We do still use it to buy our OTC meds, too, so it definitely needs a deposit or two to keep up with that anyway. I put in $300 on payday, so this will be an even nicer cushion for that account.

MIL hasn't given us a check so far this year so I don't know if we can rely on that at all to help get it back up for next year's deductible and out of pocket max, but I am hopeful that she will. It might not be until Christmas, but the last couple years she has given us one in June and one in December. DH hasn't talked to her about it, so I don't know if it will happen and I can't rely on it. If it does it is a nice bonus. That's the only way I can think of it.

Even if she does give us a check, I might just dump it into the Emergency Fund anyway and just continue to add our own money into the medical fund. It would give us a big boost on getting to where we are going with the EF. It would be nice, but we can't expect it every year.

$8821.90 Balance Forward
+__24.00 Rolled Coin
+____.46 Dividend Check for Louisiana Pacific
+____.03 Interest from CU#2
------------
$8846.98 New Balance

The title is my debt free scream since I doubt I will ever make it on the Dave Ramsey show to do one. I made the last payment to Mom on the Monster Mom Loan and we no longer have even a bitty bit of debt to our names! I am excited. This feels like such a huge accomplishment after all these years. I feel like I can sit up with straighter shoulders, because nothing is pushing them down anymore. And I don't have the boulder that is my mother hanging over my head anymore, she can't hold it over us anymore. It was so great filling in the last payment on our spreadsheet. It's like I was only breathing at half capacity and now I can fill my lungs with sweet, cool air. It is wonderful!

$1000.00 Balance Forward
-1000.00 Final Loan Payment
--------------
$0000.00 Debt Paid in Full

Now I have to make up a chart for my EF and one for the House Down Payment Fund. And fill in the last section on my debt chart. And update my sidebar. And make up a new budget template without this payment in it. I am geeking out now. It is the degree in accounting. It gets me every time! It feels like life has suddenly opened up before me again and the world is my oyster! We did it, we did it, we did it, yeah, we did it! (Yes, okay, I am singing the song from Dora the Explorer, but it fits, okay?).

WE'RE DEBT FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DH had some overtime on this paycheck so we had $361.93 extra in take home pay. Part of that went to keep the tithe at 10% and the rest to the medical fund since it is getting quite low. We have hit the out of pocket max now, though, so it is just a question of building it back up again. There was about $127 left in checking, just some carry over which will stay in there for next payday.

$354.86 Tithe
_500.00 Utilities
_400.00 Grocery Envelope
_300.00 Medical Fund
__75.00 Household Fund
_280.00 Chiropractor Family Plan
_115.17 Internet
__36.00 Garbage
_100.00 Car Maintenance Envelope
_100.00 Gas Money
_100.00 Spending Money Adults
_120.00 Allowances Kids
1000.00 Monster Mom Loan
-------------
3481.03 Total Money Out

The van work cost $987.33. Ouch. But the guy said there is nothing else wrong with it and that the tires were in excellent shape. They rotated them, changed the oil, changed the filters, replaced the brakes, flushed the lines, and washed the vehicle. I forgot it was supposed to be salsa red and not pollen yellow! This is the most expensive service we've had to date, which is not bad for a nine year old vehicle with less than 50,000 miles on it.

I think I am going to up my car maintenance fund to $100 a month instead of $50, though. At least until it hits $1000, then stop. While I don't think anything else that is big is going to come along, I'd like to be ready for it if it does. We were only half ready this time and I had to rob other funds.

We planted more potatoes in the garden tonight. We got in 3 rows of Yukon gold potatoes and two rows of Russets. Tomorrow we will try to get in 3 more rows of red potatoes. I may have a bit more seed potatoes than that, but will run out of prepared garden area. I might plant the rest in containers if there is any. Or garbage bags.

You can grow potatoes in garbage bags and then unfold and fill them as the plant grows. I've never done it before, but I've seen it done on youtube and it seems to work. I'd just have to figure out where to put them. Maybe the other side of the house in the narrow strip. We've grown potatoes in the ground over there so it does get enough light for that. We'll see.

We took the van into the shop today to get a new battery and an oil change and then DH mentioned, "Oh, and by the way, last time it was in, they said it would need a brake job this time." And I'm, "You didn't think to mention this to me." He forgot. Not his most shining moment, but I love him and he's a good man, just has a sucky memory. Anyway, that will be $892 before tax so I'm thinking around $982 with taxes. We have high sales taxes to make up for no state income tax.

I only had $456 in the car maintenance envelope. If he'd told me I would have been putting more in there besides $50 a month. *sighs* Well, I borrowed $75 from the household envelope, $400 from the laptop envelope, and the rest of the grocery money, since that and the household envelopes refill tomorrow. So that wipes out the laptop fund. It was either that or borrow from the Gift/Christmas envelope and we've got 3 birthdays in August plus Christmas coming up, so I didn't want to do that. My laptop is still hanging in there.

The important thing is that I have the money for it, don't have to dip into the Emergency Fund or use the credit card for it. And I want the brakes in top condition before we have to go to Seattle on the 22nd.

I hope they've broken up the occupation of Capitol Hill by then. It is too close to Virginia Mason for my liking and we will be on edge the whole time, because they do intend to expand if they are not stopped and I am really worried they will try to take the hospital campus, too. I don't want to be in the middle of that at all. Scary times. And our governor is clueless or he is flat out lying to the public. The asked him about it at the press conference yesterday and he said he was unaware of it. Unaware after two days? It is his job to be aware of an insurgency like this in his most populous city. You won't catch me voting for him again, and not just for this reason.

But I digress. I'll have to bump up the laptop fund savings for a bit to replace what I took (all of it) as soon as this month is over. This month is all about that last debt payment. Then we will have freedom to get a few things before buckling down again and working on the EF.

Mumof2 wanted to know how I make homemade ice cream without an ice cream machine and I just put up a video today of how I make strawberry ice cream on my youtube channel. I think I am going to do a whole ice cream series of no machine ice cream through the summer. There are lots of yummy flavors that I want to do as we go through the summer season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N-1j8uQ4I8

I harvested more radishes from the garden today. This brings my count to:

Purple Radishes--4
Cherrybelle Radishes--1
Icicle Radishes--11

The purple radishes are quite large, I can only hold 3 in my hand, and the icicle radishes are quite a bit bigger than that. So far that makes 3 lbs of radishes. Not to mention all the radish greens, which I am eating some of and the rabbits are eating some of. All told, in organic radishes I've harvested about $10 worth if you go based on size, where one icicle radish would be equivalent to 5 regular red radishes and a purple radish would be around 2.5 regular radishes. One bunch of organic radishes is $1.29 where I live.

I made chicken taquitos for dinner tonight and they were fantastic. There were leftovers so I froze them. I baked the taquitos, but the frozen ones can just go into the deep fat fryer next time or if someone wants a quick lunch they can do a few. The recipe was very easy and I made a double batch.

Usually I want to tweak a recipe, but this came out good the first try. Although I did use garlic and fine herbs cream cheese instead of plain, so I guess I did tweak it. And I will probably add more cilantro and green onions next time, just because I couldn't really taste the small amount that was there so I guess I will tweak it some more. Oh, that's just the professional cook in me coming out. You can take the girl out of the restaurant, but... Anyway, the recipe I used is here if you are interested: https://ourbestbites.com/baked-creamy-chicken-taquitos//

It rained on and off all day, so other than harvesting radishes and weeding part of the radish bed, I didn't really do any gardening. If it had been dry I would have weeded the rest of the radishes and the second strawberry bed.

I did order some more radish, carrot, and onion seeds for bunching onions (scallions) which should hopefully be here in 7 to 10 business days according to Johnny's Selected Seeds. By the time I made it to a nursery, there were no bunching onions available. They sold out fast once they were allowed to be open. Lots of new gardeners this year thanks to Covid-19. Next year I will try to be more on the ball and plant my own starts. This year I had what was likely Covid-19 at seed starting time.

I didn't spend any money today and I am trying not to peak at retirement again this week. I am so looking forward to Friday and paying off that debt. 3 days to go.

I hadn't looked at retirement since February 21st. I absolutely did not want to see how bad things were when they went into free fall after the lockdowns started. But DH told me the IRA was almost completely recovered so I thought that I would take a look at it and the 401K. The 401K is doing really well, considering. Not as well as it would have without Covid-19, but still, we're ahead after our contributions and employer contributions by $763.04 of just profit. The IRA has to make up $374.02 still to meet where it was in February, but it has been making rapid gains in the last two weeks.

New amounts are:

$22,694.58 401K
+_9,647.71 IRA
----------------
$32,342.29 New Balance

Total difference is an increase of $3843.04. We are well past what my wished for milestone was in February, which was hitting $30K. The next big milestone for us will be $50K. I really hope things continue to recover as more areas move into phase 2 and 3.

The guys came back from fishing with a lot of spot prawns, hopefully the first of many successful trips. They got two of their pots picked even though they were in the area. Poachers are rotten people. It's not that hard to get your own pots. If you can afford your own boat, you can afford your own pots and bait. Some people are just bad to the core like that. Still, we have plenty for dinner tomorrow and some for the freezer.

I did some cleaning in the kitchen today and I made two batches of hard ice cream, one strawberry, which I haven't made before, and one chocolate. I use the no ice cream machine method. All it requires is a mixer and sometimes a blender, depending on what flavor you are making. Besides chocolate, in the past I have done maple cookie and vanilla. I want to try blackberry, orange, maple pecan, and root beer flavors this summer. Maybe a mint chip for the others (not one I care for). It's super easy. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes of hands on time and then into the freezer for 8 hours.

I do have a hard ice cream maker but it only does one pint at a time. I also have a soft ice cream maker. One day when I have more space I will use them again, but this really is just so simple.

I got some laundry done today and some dishes as well. I didn't do any gardening, though. I also took DD to physical therapy, did a quick grocery run for ice cream ingredients, and then went back to wait to pick her up. While waiting I read a book that is on my phone. When DD came out I tried to start up the car, but the battery was dead. I had to call a towing service to come jump start me since DH was out to sea. He is never home when this happens! The jump cost $85. If DH had been around it would have cost nothing. They were fast to come though. I probably waited 15 minutes from the time I called, if that.

We will be buying a new battery and I am going to bite the bullet and go back on AAA. The local service they used to use that I hated has now gone out of business and the good one that is left in town is what they have to use. So my issues with AAA have been resolved. If I order now, the cards should come before the trip to Virginia Mason in Seattle June 22nd.

I am still waiting to hear back from the liver doctor. If she wants to see DD, I am hoping we can make it for the same day as it is in the building across the street from where her other appointment will be. It would be nice to just make one trip this month instead of two.

Where is everyone? It has been awfully quiet the last couple of days.

If anyone wants to see the latest, I put up a new gardening video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEEbhPc9BRo I've made a ton of progress since the last one.

Yesterday we managed to get 20 feet by 3 feet of flowerbeds weeded. Part of this was done the day before in that it was when two of the lilac bushes were dug out. Yesterday was going down about a foot and making sure all the bulbs my mother hates got out. I have to say it was a generously bulbing plant. I thought they were pretty, but I did not like how they draped themselves over the sidewalk. They had fronds with sharp edges that could cut your leg if you were wearing shorts.

We sifted all of the soil to get out the lumps and clumps and rocks, and we added some better soil from one of the raised beds we are taking down. The soil there is mostly clay so anything improves it. Then we planted it with wave petunias. It looks pretty good now, but when they spread out it will be spectacular. I love wave petunias. I got magenta, pink, hot pink, dark purple, purple black, white, and magenta with white stripes.

I also made a hanging basket with 2 leftover dark purple and two purple black petunias. While I love the big spectacular baskets the nurseries make, I can't afford a $40 to $50 basket. Well, I can. I just won't.

DH and DS are going to go prawning on Saturday, so we won't get as much done in the garden, but the payoff could be 160 spot prawns. We bought two fishing and shellfish licenses for them yesterday. It cost $128. I have to call fish and wildlife licensing to figure out what is wrong with my account. They think when it was moved from the old system into the new one someone made a typo, because something is not matching, but the licensing place can't fix it. Hopefully someone there can. They tried running it under my maiden name in case that was the problem, but it wasn't. I didn't think so, as I was pretty sure the last time I had a license was after we were married.

I wouldn't have been able to go on this trip anyway unless DS stayed home, but even then not on a Saturday as DD has physical therapy every Saturday this month. Someone has to be home to drive her there and since DS still does not have a license, it can't be him. But they sometimes go out on Sundays or Fridays or Mondays so I will get to go out, assuming whatever needs to gets sorted with the license.

We did get boards laid down over the area of weeds we want to kill. It takes about 3 weeks. We used boards taken off the old raised beds. There are some cracks that will have to be covered or it won't kill the weeds in that area. I think we should just rent a sod cutter, but if we don't get around to that, this will work. It just takes a lot longer. I want to get at least one more raised bed built, but that involves getting the last of the turkey coop torn down and then the old roof taken apart for building materials. We might get the coop done and the roof taken apart, but I doubt we will get anything built on Sunday.

There is not a ton more I can do until DH takes the pickup full of weeds to the dump or builds a new raised bed. I guess I could put down a tarp to put more on, but that is twice the work. I guess I could work on the kitchen, though. I just prefer out door work, but all of the cabinets need to be wiped down and out, the counter tops could use a deep clean and the floor really needs a good scrubbing. Or mopping. I can't get down and scrub anymore. I'd also like to totally reorganize the pantry, but that requires a trip to Lowe's and the lines there have been ridiculous since the lockdown.

Oh, we are officially in phase 2. And that does mean salons, so once they get going again I can finally get these split ends dealt with. I think I might splurge and get my hair colored, too. I haven't done that in a long time, but I am tired of the silver streaks.

I could color it myself, but that is really hard on my shoulders and I have been abusing them with all the shoveling as it is. And also, I want to support the poor hair dressers who have been out of work for ages. I plan on a large tip unless they screw up something like dying my hair bright pink instead of auburn brown. I usually give a good tip of 20% because they always do such a good job there, but want to do 25% this time. Which will be pricey, but we've had an income this whole time and they have not. It's not like I've been using my spending money on anything for months.

Well, I called the state fishing license place and what I need to do is bring my social security card into the local license place between 8:30 and 4:30 of a Monday through Friday and have them call the state place. There is a digit off so I have to have physical proof. And I lost my social security card a few years ago. I didn't need it for being self-employed and I had it memorized so I never bothered to replace it. I know it is in the house, but it has never shown up. So I went online and ordered a new one. It will take 7 to 10 business days to arrive, so I guess I can't go fishing until then. Ah, well. We have all summer.

I've been thinking about some things I want to get accomplished before seriously saving for the hard goals. I think we can do it over the course of 3 paydays.

1. Save enough cash to pay for a handicapped ramp for the back porch. This is a premade steel one that is easily removable so we can take it to our next home. It will cost about $1000.

2. Pay in cash for a driver's ed class for my son. We haven't been able to find the time to teach him to drive and I need him to be able to drive. This will cost $750 (possibly with tax so might be closer to $890 if there is).

3. Buy new shoes for everyone who needs them. That's at least me and DH. DS might need a pair, too. DD is good. Buy jeans for DS who has lost a lot of weight. This is contingent on the stores reopening their changing rooms, because he is the sort who must try pants on as he has a long crotch to waist ratio. This is a line item in the budget, though, under clothing.

4. Save for our September getaway by the sea. This will be as we go along, $200 a month.

Our hard long term goals are:

1. Bump retirement from 5% to 7%. This will compensate for if they have to carry through with stopping the matching due to covid belt-tightening. Will start in July.

2. Save to get the Emergency Fund up to 3 months of income. I know Dave Ramsey says expenses, but I feel safer with income. I don't think he accounts for medical insurance costs if you become unemployed. For this I will need a total of $19,650. We currently have $8821.90 in the EF. We need to come up with $10,828.10. I think we can do this by the end of December, possibly the end of January.

3. Once we have saved 3 months income, bump retirement up to 10%.

4. Simultaneously save for the down payment and 6 months EF. I'd like the ratio to be $1500 a month to the down payment fund and what is left to go to the EF. I am not entirely sure what that amount will be with retirement contributions at 10%.

5. Once the Emergency Fund is at 6 months expenses, bump retirement to 15% and put all remaining funds toward the house down payment fund. Eventually I would like to have saved enough for our house to have a mortgage payment that is only around $1500 a month. That means we will have to save for longer, but I don't want to be stretching every month for $2000 mortgage payment. I want to have a reasonable payment with cushion. We can do $2000, but then we'd have to be tight with the budget and I would like to be a littler bit looser.

6. Save hard core for the down payment. I am playing with the idea of just saving up enough to buy a house outright. It would mean living here a lot longer, but the payoff could be worth it. Not sure how much longer mom is going to live, though, since she is 80. It might be longer than it would take to save up that much money.

If we just save up for a down payment with the idea of a mortgage, I think we will need about $120K for the house and land we want with a reasonable mortgage. That is about six and a half years to save. So all told we are looking at 7 years to get where we want to go. Which really seems like forever. But DH ought to get some raises during that time so maybe not that long. Who knows, though. They are on a wage freeze during covid. He didn't get the raise that should have gone with his promotion and even the merit raise that should come in July won't happen for anyone. That doesn't mean he won't eventually, just not now.

Although MIL does give us money from time to time, so maybe any of that that doesn't go towards medical can also be saved towards our goals and make us achieve them faster. I don't count on that, though.

It's raining and the most I have accomplished today is taking a shower and doing a deep conditioning on my hair. I need a good hair cut. My split ends have split ends. We aren't even in phase two yet here so who knows when I can get one. Our county was all ready to apply on Monday, but then they issued new, slightly looser rules, which required five additional forms to be filled out. I think they submitted yesterday. I hope so. It's not stage three, but at least it is one step closer.

More than a hair cut, I want a teeth cleaning. My dentist appointment was supposed to be in March and I know when they do reopen they will be slammed. If they reopen. There is always the possibility that this closure might have bankrupted my dentist. He's only a couple years into owning the practice (bought it from my old dentist, who retired) and I am sure he has student loans and rent he can't make without working. I worry about my hygenist, too, who has been with me for more years than my current dentist.

Anyway, I did 8 hours of garden work on Sunday (walked 11,000 steps, never did that before) and then was too sore to do much yesterday other than dishes and some cleaning the kitchen. I also prepared a Copper River salmon for the BBQ along with corn and zucchini and made up sugared strawberries. DH did most of the babysitting of the grill, though I am the one who checked the fish. I haven't bought Copper River salmon in a couple of years, ever since it got crazy popular and super expensive, but it is my favorite salmon. They had a great sale of $8.99/lb if you bought a whole fish. Usually it is $18.99/lb whole and $28.99/lb for a filet, this year it is $16.99. Although they will filet a whole one at no charge. Guess the usual price gouging doesn't fly in a pandemic year.

I normally prefer coho to sockeye (which Copper River is sockeye), but I will eat any wild Pacific salmon or wild river or lake salmon. What I won't touch with a ten foot pole is farmed Atlantic salmon. When you grow up with wild Pacific that mealy stuff is just not what you want to eat. There is just no comparison.

Sometimes the keta goes on sale for $2.99 at the height of salmon season and that is what I generally can. Sometimes you can get coho for $6.99 and normally that is what I would freeze. But now that DH and DS are fishing, we will eat whatever they catch.

I wanted to get my potatoes planted today, but it is raining pretty hard. I am hoping for a break in the weather so we can get them in the ground. We should have done it yesterday, but I was pretty wiped out from Sunday. Tomorrow is supposed to be clear, though. And if not, we will just plant them in the rain.

May was a three paycheck month and so this last paycheck was a bit larger than usual. That's because they don't take medical out of a third check. I never remember that there will be a couple hundred dollars of difference on what is already an extra check, so it is always nice bonus surprise. It only happens a couple times a year, so I guess remembering that doesn't stick out in my mind.

$339.26 Tithe
_400.00 Grocery Envelope
__75.00 Household Envelope
__66.55 DH Life Insurance
__60.46 Me Life Insurance
_100.00 Blow Money Adults
_120.00 Allowances Kids
1000.00 Monster Mom Loan Payment
1226.11 Citi
----------------
3387.38 Total Money Out

We've been using the credit card a little more than I'd like. We've been so tight for so long that I think I loosened the purse strings a little too much this month. Oh, well, it happens. And we can pay it. I will try to get better about that, though.