Lucky Robin's Personal Finance Blog

$4301.11 Balance Forward
+___3.66 Interest Added
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$4304.77 New Balance

No, not on money stuff. I have been trying to be a good citizen and watch all of this impeachment stuff and I did watch all of the opening arguments, but my gosh, I'm only 3 hours into yesterday's livestream of the question asking and it is so mind-numbingly tedious I just don't think I can do it anymore. I feel sorry for those poor senators. They don't get near enough breaks. They must have bladders of steel. I hope none of them have circulation issues because I can just feel the blood pooling in their legs from not being able to get up and walk around enough. I might try again tomorrow, but ugh, no more tonight.

I did a quick run at the grocery store tonight and bought some organic Russet potatoes. I was out and I didn't know when I'd get a chance to swing by Trader Joe's and get bags, so I just bought open stock at the closest grocery. It was $1.29 a pound, so not bad. Not as good as TJ's, but not bad.

Has anyone had a good, sweet navel orange at all this orange season? I haven't. They've all been sour or barely sweet. It has been such a bummer to me. They are picking them before they are ripe and it is awful. Orange season is my favorite fruit season and this is the second year in a row the grower's have ruined it by picking too soon.

I am so tired. I have been in bed for most of the week with a stomach virus. It was bad. I didn't eat for two days. It went through everyone in the house except Mom. I'm not sure where it came from, but probably the doctor's office when I took DS in for his physical. I use the hand sanitizer, but I still get sick every time I go to a doctor's office within 3 days. Although DH could have brought it home from work, too. I haven't slept well with it, either, so I am running on empty.

I also still have not gotten my Embrel shots for 3 weeks now. I thought the insurance was dragging it's heels. Nope. No one ever told the lady who does the approval that I had brought in my insurance card two weeks ago and asked the to get the ball rolling. I was so ticked off, but it does no good to get mad. It wasn't her fault, it was the fault of one of the receptionists who wasn't even there. But I talked to the actual approval lady this time and she is going to call me when it is taken care of.

I have to take DS back to the doctor tomorrow. Hopefully I won't catch the plague this time.

$4275.11 Balance Forward
+__26.00 Amount Added
------------
$4301.11 New Total

I had $26.00 left of the grocery budget from the previous pay period so transferred that to the EF. I am only adding little bits here and there until the debt is gone. My first goal is to get it to one payday's worth of income. Not sure when that will happen as I'm not allocating funds to it until the debt is gone in May.

$8000.00 Balance Forward
-1000.00 Payment Made
-----------------
$7000.00 New Balance

We were indeed able to make $2000 worth of payments this month. One payment two weeks ago and one today. It feels so good to watch that balance drop so much this month. If we can keep this up it will be paid off May 1st. Maybe sooner depending on our tax refund. It will feel so good to have this debt behind us for good.

Well, my Amazon order came today. Yes, I have been buying a lot of stuff recently, but it has all been planned and budgeted for. I got some new cooking and baking things, which was 2 skillets, a sauté pan, both of which are for induction cook tops but lined with ceramic for easy non-stick cooking (that copper stuff doesn't last), a pastry brush, 2 whisks, two dough scrapers (the pack of two was cheaper than buying one one), a set of 7 stainless steel measuring cups and 7 stainless steel measuring spoons with a leveler, a tortilla press, and 2 dough buckets with lids.

So now I can get started on making the gluten free fridge doughs. I really like the idea of doing this, making up a huge batch of dough that is good for up to ten days and then baking from it. I got two buckets so that I could have the bread dough going and the flatbread/pizza dough going at the same time. And the great thing about this system is that after five days it begins to take on a sourdough flavor.

I really like the idea of making dough once and then baking from it until you run out over several days. Making dough tomorrow is my project. I will do the pizza/flatbread dough first because I want to make Naan bread tomorrow for chicken shawarma.

I used to bake all the time to save money and even though the ingredients are more expensive than wheat flour, it is still much cheaper to make my own gluten free breads than to purchase them and of course I can get a greater variety by doing it myself and it will all be fresh, not frozen.

I made two ebay purchases today totaling $102.43. Quite a bit is shipping, but with ceramic and glass that's a given. They have to wrap it thickly and individually. I have a discontinued dinnerware pattern that I have been slowly adding to as I find semi-reasonable prices. They are never going to be completely reasonable since you can't get it anywhere but the used market, but these ones were much better prices than I've been seeing. I have been watching for about two to three years.

So I got the salt and pepper set (light wear on the bottoms) and 8 16 oz tumblers that had never been used. I have been searching for the glasses a lot longer than the salt and pepper set. I used to have four but they all got broken over the years. I would like to get 4 more after these come if I can find a decent price. They have more, but not with reasonable prices. The glasses will only be for special occasions, not for every day use. This comes out of the household budget.

I got my Costco membership 2% back certificate today. It is for $89.69. I also got an email today saying my Costco credit card rewards check was coming as well, which will be $415.54. That's a total of $505.23. The Aerogarden Farm Plus XL

https://www.aerogarden.com/farm-xl.html costs $499.95 so that will be enough to cover it without dipping into my upcoming birthday money. Since I am downsizing my outdoor garden due to my autoimmune diseases making it hard for me to do things, I will be growing lettuce and herbs and a couple cherry tomato plants inside this year. Maybe a cucumber as well or a jalapeño plant.

The outdoor garden will be down to 3 raised beds and have strawberries, green onions, my big rosemary plant, zucchini, radishes, and peppers. Maybe kohlrabi. We may grow green beans in the ground, but I am just not sure. I will still have my bee balm, yarrow, echinacea and calendula in the trash barrels. Then they are contained but still have plenty of root room. They are all spreaders so if not contained will take over. But they are my favorite for making a mixed herbal tea.

I still want to grow what I can however I can despite my limitations. Fresh veggies are so important and this way I can have them year round, too. I have had a good experience with the smaller system and the fertilizer is organic. And I can grow all the lettuce I need without worrying about recalls and food poisoning, plus have a bigger variety than what is available in the supermarket. One day all I may be able to do is grow inside from a wheelchair, but hopefully that is a long, long way off.

We haven't spent anything these last five days. When you can't easily get around town you don't tend to go out and purchase things. It's been a nice quiet weekend so far. The snow finally started melting. There are still patches of it, but you can also see patches of the ground and the road.

Of course with such a big snow melt, there is likely flooding in the county. There usually is. Hopefully it isn't too bad. We had about 10 inches in town so they probably had closer to a foot and a half. There are areas that often flood only ten miles from here. I'm glad I don't live in a flood prone area anymore.

My weight loss is going nicely. I have lost 10.4 pounds so far and this is day 6. I am doing a controlled carb intermittent fasting sort of thing. I have an 8 hour window within which I eat. I only eat two meals because I am not hungry enough to eat three when I control my carbs, but if I were to eat a third it would be protein only and within the window. At the first meal I eat only protein. At the second meal I divide my food into three equal parts. One part is protein, 1 part is low glycemic vegetables (lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, bell peppers, zucchini, green beans, cauliflower, radishes, cucumbers), and one part is a high glycemic vegetables (usually potatoes, onions, carrots, winter squash, or parsnips) or gluten free bread (in case I want pizza or a sandwich or flatbread) or rice. Rarely will it be fruit instead for the carb. If it is fruit it will be an apple or an orange. But I find the other fills me up better, so I've only had fruit once.

Too much fruit is a diet breaker for me, because basically it is just sugar in the body. I also make sure the carb meal is consumed within an hour. This has to do with insulin dumping and not getting that second insulin dump that happens about 1 hour and 15 minutes after starting to eat carbs if you are still eating them.

Two days a week I have a larger carb portion at that meal than usual. This helps me to stick to it better and not feel deprived. I am not so concerned with calories, just equivalencies, but the calories are generally between 1500 to 1700. This is the diet I was on in the past where I lost 70 pounds, so I know it works.

I have also increased my physical activity. I am now doing all the arm exercises with the resistance band from physical therapy again and not just most of the leg ones. I have two more leg ones I can add in when my ankle stops hurting. DH rubbed it last night and it is much better, but still not quite right. I think it might be out of alignment and need an adjustment by the chiropractor. I found some exercises I can do for my ankles with the resistance band, so will try to do those if they don't hurt too much.

I've also added just some simple ones I can do sitting down. Arm circles, waist twists, just reaching up for the ceiling, and punching forward. I still have to be careful with this because of my rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia. The point is just to move my body as best I can. When it starts feeling easy I can add more reps. But slow and steady is the way to go with exercise for me.

It has been snowing for the past 4 days and it has been bitter cold. Today is a little warmer, but we got down to 17 degrees F, which is darn cold for here. We've had the furnace at 75 just to feel like it is 68 at the far end of the house from the furnace. We are all wearing layers inside. I have on a long-sleeved shirt with a short sleeved shirt on over it and then a long sweater over that, heavy sweats and heavy socks. I just think about how much it would be if we hadn't had the insulation replaced under our part of the house last month. I wish we'd put plastic on the windows when I wanted to, but it got put off.

The gas bill will be high this month. Electric will be a little higher, too, because we are using the space heater in the rabbit shed to keep the water bottles from freezing. And I know my mom has been using her space heater, too. And we did have Christmas lights on for 3 weeks.

DH has been able to get out and go to work. We had about 8 to 10 inches of snow and they haven't done a great job about plowing the roads. But he is used to driving in the snow due to all the years of working in Alaska. DH has been authorized to do 10 hours of overtime a week for next week and the week after that. He could have some this week, but he has a cold and isn't sure he is up for it. He's barely managing to get in his 8 hours a day at the moment. Hopefully next week he will be better and he can take full advantage of it.

The extra money would come in handy because I would like to get an electric grain mill and the one I am looking at costs $263 if I want the attachment for small grains like millet, and I do. It's a big upfront investment, but it is a whole lot cheaper to buy rice and grind it into flour than to continue to buy rice flour at high prices. Even with a bulk source it still isn't anywhere as cheap as just buying the different rices to make sweet rice flour, white rice flour, and brown rice flour, so it will eventually pay for itself. Pretty quickly, too, within the year. And as far as I can tell millet only comes in grain form, not flour form so if I want millet flour I have to grind it myself. Sorghum flour I will still have to buy in bulk unless I can find a source of the grain itself, but I can deal with that.

Also both the husband the son need new belts and the son needs new farm boots. There should be some overtime money after that to throw at the mom loan or at the EF. I haven't decided quite yet. Of course, I won't count on it until he's worked it, but tentatively that's the plan.

On my weight loss goal I have lost 5.4 pounds since starting to eat right again. Today is day 4. I am tracking my calories and food with my fitbit. I am doing about 20 minutes of exercise a day. I will be working up to 30. I lost all of my stamina when I was in bed for 3 weeks and have been working at getting it back for the last week. They are careful exercises from my physical therapy time, ones that work with my rheumatoid arthritis and not against it.

DH said the IRA went over $10K today, so that was a nice milestone that happened. I have been anxiously awaiting that moment so I am glad it finally got here.

I've been kind of lazy about planning my meals out this week. Mostly I've just been taking meat out of the freezer to thaw in the fridge and then deciding what I am going to cook based on what has thawed out and then figuring out what is going to go with it. I usually like to plan better than that, but I'm still not up to snuff after being so sick for so long. I guess whatever gets homemade food on the table instead of takeout works, right?

Tonight I made meatloaf for dinner and roasted potatoes, bell peppers, and onions, with a bag of steamed broccoli on the side. It was my first time using gluten free bread crumbs. I didn't notice any difference in flavor at all, so that is nice. It didn't quite hold together as well as usual, but that might be down to the fact I only used 3 eggs instead of 4 and had an extra pound of meat in the mix, so I probably should have actually used five eggs for a five pound meatloaf (leftovers for lunches). Everything tasted great, though, even if it was a little messy to eat.

Well, I think that about wraps it up for today. If you all could pray for me that I start sleeping better, I'd appreciate it. Too many restless nights are running me down.

$17,248.25 401K
+_9,977.80 IRA
-------------
$27,226.05 New Total

We are up $725.48 since the end of the year, $440 of which was contributions, so $285.48 in gains.

I hate it when USPS flat out lies about attempting to deliver a package. Got an email 10 minutes after their supposed attempt to deliver. There are five people at home. Our road is free of ice. The driveway and sidewalk are shoveled. There was one person sitting in the room attached to the front door. The front curtains were still opened and you could see the person who was sitting there. It was obvious people were home from the three vehicles in the driveway. The door bell never rang and no one knocked. No attempt was made to deliver this package. This is not the first time this has happened, either. I hate when stuff comes by USPS because they are just such liars. I know the truth. They over-committed someone to deliver and had too much stuff and ran out of time. It's like they think we are stupid.

Yesterday was such a lazy day for me. I pretty much stayed in bed under the electric blanket and read. I still have no stamina. I wonder if I was on the antibiotics long enough?

It snowed yesterday and it is still around today, but it is not very much. Maybe 1/2 inch if that. I hope it goes away soon. The older I get, the more I hate snow. I mean, I appreciate its beauty, but nothing else about it. It just makes everything extra cold and the roads hard to drive on. I used to love it when I was a kid, but now when I see snow, I think "Get off my lawn!" as if it were a recalcitrant child and I an old fogey.

My Amazon order came yesterday, too. Well, part of it did. It is still weird having things delivered on Sunday. I got a bucket white rice flour, a bucket of tapioca flour, a bucket of potato starch, a 3 lb bag of sorghum flour, and a 3 lb bag of extra fine sweet rice flour (that's more for cakes and pastries). The latter two came in paper bags. The first four are for the master flour recipe. I already had xanthan gum.

So today I will make up the master flour recipe and put it in the stainless steel canister I also ordered for that purpose. It should hold two batches of the flour recipe based on volume. Then I will make up the master dough recipe and go from there.

I really like the little one gallon buckets some of the flours came in. They are light enough for me to manage and air tight. I think as I finish them off I will transfer the flours that don't come in buckets to those buckets and relabel them. They all stack, so they will take up less space that way, and I won't have to deal with all the plastic bags. I should go through the white rice flour fairly quickly as that is what is used in the greatest quantities.

I am still waiting on a couple of things from that order, including the bucket opener, but I can use a paint can opener on them as well. I also got some pure palm shortening for making biscuits and a stainless steel ice bin for the freezer that should come today. The bucket opener isn't slated to arrive until February 3rd! Ridiculous. Prime has spoiled me.

I spent about $202 on the entire order, but in the long run, buying in bulk is much cheaper. The ice bin was pricey and so was the canister, but you can't beat stainless steel for durability and longevity. We try to keep away from plastic (especially single use plastic) as much as we can. It is not always possible, but we do our best to use glass, ceramic, wood, and stainless steel when we can. It is definitely hard with these specialty flours, because most of them do come in plastic. And plastic does keep out bugs and larvae, generally, so it is a trade off.

I guess as long as I am mindful about is, that is the best I can do.

I finally made it to the library today to do my favorite thing, save money on books. I picked up four novels and 3 cookbooks. The one that I am interested in the most is Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I can tell already that this will highly likely be a book that I actually buy if we like the end product of the recipes. I have three weeks to make these recipes and make that decision. It's a $30 book so not a decision I will make lightly.

It's a real catch all of gluten-free baking. I have been baking homemade breads and pastries for decades, but this is like learning to be a good baker all over again. The skill set is different. Fortunately this book seems to teach the skill set along with the recipes. Probably one of the reasons it is so highly recommended for beginners on Amazon. This is really something I want to get good at, because a loaf of Udi gluten free bread is very expensive, is only half the number of slices of bread as a regular loaf of bread, and those slices are also smaller. Making my own will save a lot of money in the long run, even if the ingredients are still quite expensive compared to wheat flour. I am finding bulk sources, though, to lower those costs.

I also have an apocalypse fic to read for pleasure, which is one of my favorite genres. I was supposed to read it last month for my book group, but the person who had it checked out had it overdue for 3 weeks despite my hold. Rude. Can't wait to take that into the bathtub and escape life for a while. I think one of the reasons why I like this genre so much is that they always have it worse than me, so I end up being grateful for my life even if it is one lived in chronic pain. Because, you know, at least I have electricity and the internet.

Not too much happened yesterday. I am a little bit better with the sinus infection today than yesterday, but still am not sleeping as well as I had hoped I'd be by now. Hence the 1:40 a.m. post. Are they ever going to fix the time stamp in the blogs? I've asked about it a few times. It's not been right for months. And still no icons. Anyway, my hip is acting up again because I spent so much time in bed and the chiropractor being on vacation for two weeks over Christmas. I've had 3 visits and it still keeps jamming up and it messes with my knee and ankle, too.

We did do a small grocery run for milk and fruit yesterday with money from last paycheck's grocery money, but other than that and some gluten free flours I will get tomorrow, I think the grocery budget won't be used too much this pay period unless there is a tremendous meat sale. I'll do a grocery tracking post when I am done with the shopping.

I am going to deposit what was left in the grocery money to the EF tomorrow. I want to get back into the habit of doing that again.

$9000.00 Balance Forward
-1000.00 Payment Made
---------
$8000.00 New Balance

So the new paycheck amount with the FSA money being taken out of it is $105 and some change, but the difference in paycheck amount is $87 and change because more being taken out pretax affected it post tax. That's not bad at all. We did get the FSA debit card thing sorted out. It was because it was Walgreens and they have sell other things, so we had to make sure it was run as a pharmacy purchase. Anyway, I've done up all the bills already since I could see the pending paycheck amount. I have a bit of money to transfer to saving tomorrow, but other than that the bills and budget are done and the yearly budget is done. Here's the where it all went:

$318.63 Tithe
_500.00 Utilities
_400.00 Grocery Envelope
_100.00 Household Envelope
_280.00 Chiropractor
_111.08 Internet (gotta do something about this!)
__36.00 Garbage
_100.00 Car Insurance Fund
_100.00 Gas Money
_100.00 Blow Money (Adults)
_120.00 Allowances (Kids)
1000.00 Monster Mom Loan
------------
3165.71 Total Money Out

I got nothing done today except make dinner and go to the chiropractor. I just don't have the energy yet and I think I will have to take it easy for a few more days. We aren't out of clothes yet and the towels can wait another day to be folded. We'll survive. I just wish I wasn't so cold. Even under an electric blanket turned up to high and with a space heater going in my room, my hands and feet are like ice cubes.

Tomorrow I have to take DD to physical therapy or I wouldn't even leave the house. I really don't want to sit there for an hour, but she wants me at the first appointment. Some days I just want to clip those apron strings hard, but with a disabled child I never will.

Mom is driving us all crazy right now. She's arguing historical facts and also things the End Times are right now and no one wants to listen to her anymore. I have to limit how much time I talk to her right now because she's going through an irrational period.

I think after we have finished paying off our debt to her we are going to take all of the bills except her TV/phone/internet and just pay them directly. Right now we pay for all of the garbage and then are giving her $500 a month for gas, electric, and water/sewer. But she is constantly complaining about how high everything is. I mean, I think she contributes about $50 a month to it total for the joint bills during the cold season and nothing during the warm season, but she just goes on and on.

So if we just take them and pay them it will be one less thing for her to complain about and then she can keep that $50. We're thinking about $200 in rent, too, maybe. It will mean achieving our goals a little slower, but will be worth the down tick on all the unnecessary stress she puts on us and herself freaking out over a 31 day billing month being more expensive than a 30 day billing month. Heaven help the March after February freakout.

We may need to install a handicapped ramp off the back porch, too, which will cost $1000. Mom is having issues getting up and down stairs and DD and I would also use a ramp if we had one. Mom doesn't want to pay for it, so if we do we'll have to save up for it or take that future month's contribution to the EF to pay for it. We are going to be here another six years so it is not the end of the world if we have to pay for it ourselves. We will get the use out of it. RA is a degenerative disease so I know that it would be nice just for me, really. Although, I can still do stairs fine, I don't like them and go down them sideways.

Oh, well. It's 1:45 a.m. I need to get to bed.

I am still exhausted, but DS and I had enough stamina to get dishes done today. We got 4 loads done. Everyone was sick for the past week, even DH, though no one as bad as me. I took it in fits and starts, though. It is the first productive thing I have done, besides make dinner, in a while. Tomorrow I will try to tackle laundry. There are at least 3 loads of towels to fold (DH did manage that much) and I need to put away the pile of clean clothes on my bed. I am done with the prednisone but I never got the energy rush of the previous times. That's a bummer because I have been only getting a few hours of sleep due to it. It would have been better to be productive, but Oh well. I just have 4 days left on the antibiotics. I hope that kicks it.

DD has been off wheat for 6 days now and continues to improve. DS's acne is clearing up. Neither one is having stomach issues at all and DD has not felt the constant nausea she's had for the past couple years, either. Can it really be so simple that this was what made her digest so slowly and painfully and bloat to a rock hard stomach? She doesn't have celiac at all, they tested for it, but obviously she does have an issue with wheat, otherwise stopping it would not have been so positive for her. If this is all it takes to stay out of the ER and stop spending so much of our medical budget on it, that's a miracle in itself.

Speaking of medical, it's weird to start having to spend for it again. We maxed out in July, I think it was, and everything had been free since. I know a few months of DD's physical therapy, which she starts on Wednesday will eat up a large portion of the deductible. Our HSA card is not working as they said it would. They said we could start using it on January 1st, up to the full amount of the yearly draw, but when DH tried to use it for 2 prescriptions, less than $25 total, but it didn't go through. He's going to try to get that sorted out tomorrow. We may just end up submitting everything each month, which will be a pain, but whatever.

Once I see what the exact new amount is of the Friday's paycheck on Thursday (things will change a bit due to the HSA withdrawals), I can complete my 2020 budget template and my January budget. They are pretty much the same, I will just be adjusting a bit. I think it is around $113, but it will also affect that amount of tax taken out, so I've got it roughly, just not perfectly. I prepared that part before Christmas, I think.

Tomorrow I will catch up the Medical Fund savings account by entering it all into the spreadsheet. I've let is slide, just making sure there was a hefty balance on the things we did buy, mostly OTC meds. Nowhere near the balance of nearly $2000 (haven't transferred the other $2000 in there, still in the online account), but now I have to reconcile the account. Which is fine.

DH and I really need to get on the ball to figure out our 25th Wedding Anniversary getaway. I was too tired to look at places, but it's mid-March, so maybe tomorrow. He has done some preliminary looking. All I really know is I want to be near a view of the water.

I also want DH to take me out to dinner for my 50th birthday mid-February. It will be a week after my mother's shoulder surgery so the kids will stay home to take care of her. I want a good ribeye or prime rib, a sweet potato, and either mixed veggies or their salad. Not their broccoli, they don't cook it long enough, and no bread. I don't want to have to cook myself so we will just go to Outback one county over.

I need to try to get myself to the library tomorrow. I haven't had a book since before Christmas, not that I could focus for long, but it has still been driving me crazy. I was so out of focus, I could not even concentrate on a movie plot. Watched a lot of mindless stuff, like Say Yes to the Dress, I Didn't Know I was Pregnant, and Paternity Court on Youtube. Yesterday, I was finally able to switch to documentaries and a movie (action adventure, so straight-forward plot).

I dragged myself to the doctor on Monday and after 4 days on antibiotics and prednisone, I am starting to see a minor improvement. I had some wheezing in my upper chest, that wasn't quite bronchitis and a massive sinus infection. I waited too long to go, but I always think it is just a cold that never leaves. I am sleeping a lot, but in fits and starts. That's the prednisone. It always messes up sleep. I am starting to get a little strength back though, and my desire for real food instead of take out has come roaring back.

I did manage to make dinner two nights in a row, beef stew with gluten free flour for the gravy, and herb baked chicken, herb roasted potatoes (different herbs), and broccoli last night. Tonight's dinner is loaded baked potato soup, although I might make steaks on the side. Usually I don't, but that can be a very carb heavy meal if I just go with the bacon as the only protein source. It depends on how much energy I have. This will be my first time making it using gluten free flour in the roux. The stew gravy went well, though, so I can't imagine the roux will be bad.

I baked my first loaf of gluten free bread last night. It turned out pretty well despite me leaving out the sugar. I was wondering why it took so long to rise, but the yeast didn't have any sugar to eat. Next time it should rise in the allotted time frame. I didn't realize until I tasted it that I had done that, but when I thought back to it, I didn't remember putting sugar in with the warm water and yeast to proof it. It still bubbled without the sugar, so I know the yeast was active, just it would have been more active with it.

It looks like bread and it tastes like bread and is nice and soft, but I can definitely taste the eggs in it. I don't usually make egg breads. There are other recipes I will be trying to, but I will do this one again properly first. The interesting thing about gluten free bread is that if you cool it upright on a rack the top will sink, but if you cool it on it's side, rotating it occasionally, the top doesn't sink. Also, you have to wait three hours for it to cool before slicing it. Slice it sooner and it will crumble, but that goes away completely with the cooling time. I did a lot of research before starting this journey.

I will be attempting gluten free pizza dough tomorrow. I may do one with gluten free flour instead of two and do the second one with cauliflower crust. The second I know is good. On the agenda for when I feel a lot better will be learning how to make gluten free cookies, brownies, and cakes. Not often, though. Just on occasion. There is a birthday in February (mine) and March (DS's) that I want to make gluten free cakes for and I want to make sure they taste good first so I will have to experiment a bit.

DH and I need to start looking for a place to go to for our little holiday getaway for our 25th wedding anniversary in March. We don't want to go too far away, within a couple hours driving distance, but I am not sure if we want to go back to the place we were at before in March. It has quite a steep hill down to it and there is often snow on the ground still in March in that area so it might make it hard to get back up out of there and we don't have chains for the van. I do want to be by the water, though. It really recharges my batteries.

Our retirement accounts went up $565.58 since I last checked them which was on payday, I think. Just wanted to know how we closed out the year. After a year and a half of throwing 5% at the 401K to get the free matching we have done pretty well. And we'll be able to bump that to 7% in another 6 months or so, and once there that pretty much leaves us in a great place for taxes, assuming no one plays games with the tax code again or I don't finish my book and sell it this year.

$16,678.57 401K
+_9,822.00 IRA
---------------
$26,500.57 Total Retirement Balance

I guess it actually went down some Monday according to DH, but it all came back and left friends behind. I am glad we have made so much progress on building for retirement. We are so far behind, but we do need to get caught up as soon as we can manage it. That and save, save, save money.

My two main goals for 2019 were to pay down debt and to to lose weight. Unfortunately I yo-yo'd all over the place with my weight and still haven't gotten my act together. But on the debt pay down I excelled. I had planned to pay off $12,000 this year, but ended up paying off $16,000. I exceeded my goal by $4000. This is the first year in a long time that I have felt like I was making serious progress.

My goals for 2020 are:

1. Lose Weight and Go Back to the Pool.

2. Finish paying off the $9000 we owe by June. Sooner if possible.

3. Save $12,000 to the EF from July through December. That will put our EF close to three months of expenses. It will take one more month than I have in 2020 to get it there unless we get a windfall (and MIL has been giving us quite a bit).

4. Up retirement savings to 7% in July. Once the EF is met, I'd like to up it to 10%. There is also the possibility of a raise. When DH got the last one, they told him he wouldn't be up for another one before July 2020, so here's hoping he gets one even if it is just COL.

5. If I hit the EF amount before the end of this year we will be able to start saving up for a house. That will be a long process, though. We ought to be able to save $24K a year once the EF is up to snuff. The way house prices keep rising we need at least $75K for a down payment of 20%, but if we want breathing room in a mortgage payment I would want to double that. So we'd be at this for 6 years, maybe.

Used to be you could buy a house for $350,000 and now it is more like $450,000 to $650,000. This is just in the last five years. I would love to move to a low cost of living southern state once we retire. Just not one with crocodiles, snakes, and scorpions. The warmer weather would be better for my health.

Another option we might consider is to save up and buy a piece of land, then save up and put in a well, then save up again and put in a septic system. Once that is done, we could get a construction loan with the new, improved price for the land as collateral and build the house. We can still get land for about $35K for an acre in some parts of the county that are not too far from where DH works. A well is about $40K and septic is about $30K. Having it ready to go though, will increase the value of all of it from $105,000 to $150,000. Anyway it is something to think about as we get closer.

$10,500.00 Balance Forward
-_1,500.00 Payment Made
----------------
$_9,000.00 New Balance

If I pay $1500 a month going forward, this will be paid off in June. If only $1000 it will be paid off in September. If I can manage $2000 it would be paid off in May. And the real stretch would be if we could pay $2500 a month it would be paid off in April.

Now all of these are technically possible, since I had budgeted $1000 a month to the medical fund that we will no longer need to be contributing to (at least through June) due to MIL's gift. But $2500 would be with no money going to eating out or fun. $2000 would be more doable unless I decide to beef up the EF a little bit. The other option is to raise our 401K contribution to 7% and see how that shakes out. I might also open a spousal Roth IRA. In addition, I might bump the food budget up $200 a month so we can have more organic meat choices again. We will see.

As I plot the budget for 2020 these are all things I am thinking about. Also my payoff months might also be affected by by how much of a tax refund we get. Regardless of my choice here, after it does get paid off the 401K will definitely be bumped up to 7% and possibly 10%.

In 6 days our retirement has gone up $766.99. I am really glad that at least so far the impeachment vote doesn't seem to have wrecked the stock market.

$16,148.46 401K
+_9,786.13 IRA
------------
$25,934.99 Total Retirement

MIL gave us a check for $6000 and the Christmas bonus was deposited for $911.26. The bonus was $1300 before taxes. I really wish they did not tax bonuses at 25%. I mean, maybe if your bonus is in the 5 digits, or even mid to high 4 digits, but when it isn't even the amount of a paycheck? The government is irritating at times. I know we'll get a better tax refund due to them taking so much, but I'd really rather have it now and not when we get that back. I complain about this every year.

So plans for the money are to have DH get his crown, around $1000, and my chipped tooth repaired, around $300. Then we'll put $2000 into the Medical Fund. It is at a little over $1800 so this will give us enough money to cover the deductible and the out of pocket max between this and the FSA. We'll put $2000 into the Emergency Fund, save some of the money for our romantic getaway in March for our 25th wedding anniversary, and order a few things I have been putting off.

Then since we won't have to be paying anything into the Medical Fund for next year after this coming payday, we will take the money that we were paying into that to pay on debt. DH and I have an agreement that we won't use money from his mom to pay the debt to my mom. That's not what it is for and it is not why she gave it to us. She wants us to use it for medical, for vacation, and to beef our EF back up.

I'm not sure where we are going yet for our trip, maybe the same place as in September, but it won't be far from home. I think we will just buy some really good food to take with us and a good skillet (can't trust what is in the rentals to not be warped). I am thinking some ribeye steaks, some crab or shrimp or lobster, potatoes, and good vegetables for dinners, bacon, toast, and eggs for breakfasts, and sandwich fixings or burgers for lunches. We both like my cooking better than restaurants and DH helps with the chopping and peeling for dinner and makes breakfast so it doesn't all fall on me.

I am very relieved to get this money, though. It takes a lot of the stress for next year away in one fell swoop.

Retirement has popped up a lot over the last couple of days, but after the vote last night, I am waiting to see what the stock market does when I get up in the morning before I update it. I just hope it doesn't put us back under $25K, though it was almost to $26K today before the vote.

We didn't make it to Costco today, so we will try tomorrow. Instead we got our Christmas tree put up. Well, not our good Christmas tree, but one we got on clearance at Lowe's for $55.00. It was one of their floor models. It's a simple four piece tree that comes prelit with both plain bulbs and multi-colored bulbs. They are bright, but then all LED lights are. It's nice to set something up so quickly, especially since our good, big tree is in the back of the storage unit.

We used Mom's ornaments as ours are also in the back of the storage unit. Then DS set up one of his trains underneath the tree. It looks really nice through the front widow and adds to the Christmas lights in the yard from the road. I'm trying to convince Mom to put up her giant wreath above the mantle, but not sure I'm going to get her to dig it out. It's really beautiful and has a ton of decorations.

We haven't put up a big tree in several years. I have my little 2 foot tall tree that we don't even take the lights and ornaments off each year, just place it on the top shelf of the closet and then pull it down again when we need it. That's all we have been using. It's just a hassle when the space is limited. And Mom didn't want one at her end for the last couple of years, either. I wouldn't have put one up at all if she and DS hadn't decided they wanted one. It's hard to feel Christmassy in this house most years. I don't have a lot of Christmas spirit like I used to.

We need to pick up a real tree for MIL tomorrow and take it out there. I'm not even sure where to go since the stores aren't selling them this year and I haven't seen a boy scout lot either. There is a big fruit stand store that has sold them in the past so maybe there. I have seen several cars with them on top so someone is selling them. If worst comes to worst we can go pick one up at the tree farm near where we used to live. It's a bit of a drive, but I know they will have them there.

We have completed all of our Christmas shopping which is good. Everything has arrived in the mail or will arrive by Monday.

I did go and order some new bras since Lane Bryant was having a buy one get one 75% off sale on them. I paid $81.39 for 4. It would have cost 119.81 without the sale. Bras in the higher sizes are always so much more expensive for not really that much more material. Oh, well, it was a good sale with free shipping. Much better sale than the usual buy one get one half off sale.

Now all I have to do is order another set of new socks for me and DD and everyone should be set on clothes for a good while.

I am so excited to have retirement hit $25K. It has been a rollercoaster month so the fact that it got here despite all the garbage that is going on in government this week is amazing.

$15,509.10 401K
+_9,648.50 IRA
------------
$25,157.60 Total Retirement

My next happy dance moment will be when the IRA hits $10K on its own. Since we don't contribute to that one at all, it may take a while, but we'll get there.

I'll do a grocery rundown probably tomorrow after we've been to Costco, but there was a great sale at Fred Meyer today on Afrin. $4.99 a bottle. It is usually $10.99, so at this price we really stocked up. I got 10 bottles. We go through this stuff fast around here, due to allergies and colds. I know you aren't supposed to use it consistently, but my son and I are addicted to breathing so we do. None of the prescription nasal sprays work for us. Now we have a bit of a stockpile at a fantastic price.

I used some of my allowance money that I have been saving to order a tenor ocarina and a music book. I really like my bass one, and am progressing quickly, but it is a little too big for my hands, so I will probably pass that on to DH. I tried one of my son's tenor ones and it fits my hands a lot better. Although I am getting one that is less traditionally shaped, also, because it will be easier on my hands. It is shaped sort of like a spear head. It was modeled on the Adegan crystal (which I don't care about) and is hot pink. It's very pretty. This is what it looks and sounds like if you are curious about my latest musical obsession:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6_uZ9b6qFQ and my current one looks and sounds like this minus the triforce symbol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4RUyqASPKM

I was also tempted to get the 6 hole one that is shaped like a Tardis but it is in G Major, and all the song books are written in C Major. I may still get it for my birthday in February, just because I'm a Whovian from way back, but as a collector's thing more than a music thing. Although you can play Doomsday on it, so I might just learn to play that if it doesn't break my heart and that song easily does. Smashes it to bits and washes away the pieces with my tears.

Anyway the one I did buy and the 30 lesson music book cost a total of $87. Free shipping as they are having that until the 15th. I have $63 left of Christmas money, but I may just put it in my allowance folder and save it. I'm saving up for a new computer. Not hard or anything, just so that when this one goes I can replace it immediately. I reckon I probably have about a year left on it, assuming I don't spill anything on it. The DVD drive doesn't work and hasn't for about a year, which is annoying since I like to watch DVD's on my computer better than on a TV. And the mouse pad thing has been on the fritz for about 18 months so I use a regular mouse with my laptop.

I seriously think I may get a desktop this time. They seem to last a lot longer and the keyboards hold up to the amount of typing I do much better. I can't even count how many laptops I have worn the keys out on. Never had that happen on a desktop keyboard. I do like the convenience of a laptop, though. We'll see. I have quite some time yet to figure it out.

Not too much going on on the financial front today, but I did have to run to the store and spent $10.99. I had buy some breadcrumbs for the meatloaf I made for dinner tonight as I only had 1/3 cup and I needed a cup. They have stopped carrying the brand I normally have so I had to read all the ingredients on the different ones they had. We ended up going with Kikkoman as it only has four: wheat, salt, cane sugar, and yeast. Eventually I would like to find a good gluten free breadcrumb, but the one they had had xanthum gum which is derived from soy and triggers DD's soy allergy. I also picked up some of those Simply crunchy Cheetos for DD.

I still have quite a bit left in the grocery envelope, $100, and I refill it on Friday. I think that I will just get out $300 this time and throw the extra $100 into the Medical Fund.

Oh, we did find out what the bonus will be and how much additional (it's a percentage of income) they will put into the 401K, but we aren't allowed to talk about it until it has been issued. It's not quite as good on the money as last year, but still good. I don't remember what they put into the 401K last year. I'll have to ask DH. I think most of the bonus will go into the Medical Fund, though.

We still don't know if MIL is going to give us more money this year or wait until the start of next year or at all. That's why I'm throwing so much into the Medical Fund. I just want to be ready for it since DH needs a crown. Otherwise I'd throw it at the Mom loan which I still might if we find out from MIL before we get it.

I did order all the clothes I wanted last night. It is my Christmas present from MIL. I have a lot of shirts that I have been sewing up the holes in for a couple of years. They used to just be in the seams, but now the fabric is wearing out in other places. I love these shirts otherwise I would have replaced them long ago, but now I have to give up on them. So I went ahead and ordered 5 t-shirts and 6 long sleeved t-shirts. 4 of them are on back order, but that's okay, 3 of those were short-sleeved and what I need now is long-sleeved.

On the old shirts, I will cut off the backs and make them into handkerchiefs. We get to a point in the winter when our noses are too tender for tissues due to colds and having them is a Godsend. Or my other option would be to cut them into strips for a rug, but DH has yet to build my rug loom, so I don't see the point in that, although if he did than I could use the whole t-shirts.

I'm not even sure I'd want to take on a new project right now like making a rug since I am already typing a lot each week and learning to play a new instrument, though. I probably have enough on my plate as far as hobbies go.

Well, I'm learning a new instrument. My son talked me into buying a bass ocarina. It is a plastic one, not a ceramic one, because lighter is easier on the rheumatoid arthritis. An ocarina is a type of flute. It's shaped like a sweet potato though. If you play any of the Zelda games you've seen one. I have some experience with a regular flute and a one octave wooden flute and have messed around with the Tonette which is a one octave song flute as well.

It's also treble clef which is the same as the violin, strum stick, and the right hand on the piano and organ. Aside from the bass clef for piano and organ's left hand, I also know the alto clef for the viola. But treble is easiest to pick up a new instrument in.

I've done 4 lessons so far and can play a half dozen songs. I find it funny that no matter what instrument I have learned over the years they always start with Mary Had a Little Lamb and Hot Cross Buns. I've also mastered Ode to Joy (also early in every instrument), Frere Jaques, Long Long Ago, Jingle Bells, Gently Row, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and a couple others that I can't play at tempo yet, but can muddle through. Today will be my fifth day practicing and Brahm's Lullaby is in that lesson, so grown up music is coming.

When I do my new lesson, I always do all the songs from the previous lessons first and some of the fingering exercises. It helps to cement stuff in even as I move on to new lessons. I've found it is the best way for me to learn. I kind of do immersion when learning a new instrument.

One of the things that really helps me with this time of year and fighting seasonal depression is keeping my mind active and being challenged by something. That's why I tend to work on playing music or learning French more in the winter and early spring. I also take 5000 IU of vitamin D and use a happy light.

I started taking Moringa about ten days ago and it has made a huge difference with my RA symptoms. I also seem to be sleeping better, my skin is clearing up, and I have less muscle soreness from my fibromyalgia. It's not gone, but it is there. I am waking up feeling like I slept, which is really nice. I still tire out very easily and have to pace myself, but the enervating exhaustion is gone most days. I'm feeling better than I have in a long while. They tout it as a miracle tree, and I don't know about that, but it does help along with the Embrel and the Hydroxychloroquine.

And I've felt up to making meals a lot more often, too. Which helps with the food budget a lot. Tonight we are having herb baked chicken. Spice Islands has this Garlic Herb Seasoning that comes in a big container from Costco and it is our new go to seasoning.

I don't even miss Lawry's anymore or Paprika that much, which used to be our go to seasoning before my daughter had to quit using any spice that was hot (as opposed to warming like coriander, cinnamon, nutmeg). This stuff has been fantastic on chicken, beef, and salmon. I haven't tried it yet on pork or lamb or other types of seafood, but I can't imagine it won't be good. I've been looking for a long time to find an all purpose seasoning so this makes me very happy. It's the little things in life, you know?

$15,259.56 401K
+_9,478.38 IRA
-------------
$24,737.56 Total Retirement

$262.44 let to hit $25K.

Monday:
Garlic Herb Baked Chicken
Sweet Potatoes
Green Beans
Oranges

Tuesday:
Beef Stew with potatoes, carrots, celery, and parsnips
Broccoli
Apples

Wednesday:
Chicken Stir Fry with broccoli, carrots, celery, cauliflower, cabbage
Rice
Oranges

Thursday:
Sirloin Steaks
Baked Potatoes
Zucchini and Yellow Squash
Apples

Friday:
DH's work Christmas party
Baron of Beef
Roasted Red Potatoes
Green Beans with Almonds
There are lots of other choices, but none of them appeal to me. The kids will fend for themselves.

Saturday:
Bacon Cheeseburgers
French Fries
Cole Slaw
Oranges

Sunday:
Pork Roast smothered in Onions
Butternut Squash
Green Beans
Apples