Lucky Robin's Personal Finance Blog

Wednesday:
Pork chops
Fried potatoes
Green Beans
Apples/apple sauce

Thursday:
Baked chicken
Baked potatoes
Oranges
Salad

Friday:
Garlic Ginger Rabbit Stir-fry

Saturday:
Homemade pizza
Cole slaw

Sunday:
Crockpot roast beef with carrots, potatoes, and parsnips,
Cole slaw
Oranges

Monday:
Meatball subs
Cole slaw
Apples

Tuesday:
Tacos
Canned nectarines

I finally made it to the credit union today to deposit my Pinecone check, the $75 from selling a rabbit, and the rolled coin in my coin jar. I've had them for a week, but with the holidays, just hadn't had the chance to deposit them. I added it to the Emergency Fund.

$15.255.53 Starting Balance
+__,109.50 Deposit Added
------------
$15,365.03 New Balance

$634.97 to go to hit my first mini-goal for 2016 and $4,634.97 to go to hit my new big goal.

$15,245.53 Starting Balances
+__,_10.00 Weekly Deposit
---------------------
$15.255.53 New Balance

$36,000.00 Starting Balance
+_1,000.00 Deposit Added
__________________
$37,000.00 New Balance

$43,000 to go to hit my goal of $80K.

$15171.18 Starting Balance
+___10.00 Weekly Deposit
+___21.35 Extra Funds
+___43.00 Egg Sales and Coin Jar
---------------------
$15245.53 New Balance

Wednesday:
Pancakes and Ham (leftover picnic ham)
Canned Nectarines

Thursday:
Macaroni Rabbit Bake
Broccoli/Cauliflower
Grapes

Friday:
BBQ Rabbit Wings
Fried Potatoes
Broccoli/Cauliflower
Apples

Saturday:
Homemade Pizza--Italian sausage, pepperoni, bell peppers, onions, ham (leftover picnic ham)
Oranges

Sunday:
Steak
Baked potatoes
Green Beans
Drop biscuits with dandelion jelly

Monday:
Fried Chicken
Baked potatoes
Green Beans
Blueberry Cornbread Muffins

Tuesday:
Spaghetti with homemade sauce
Meatballs (lamb, beef, rabbit, Italian sausage)
Garlic Bread
Salad

I am really, really unimpressed with the new Dr. Scholl's socks that I bought. I bought two 3-packs at $14 each and each pair I have worn has been down my heel and halfway down my foot in the amount of time it takes to walk from the house to the car. They simply will not stay up.

It ticks me off. I expected the Dr. Scholl's name to live up to its reputation. After all, they make excellent shoes and inserts. But apparently they haven't a clue how to make good socks. Unfortunately you can't tell until you actually wear them. There doesn't seem to be enough elastic in the cuff.

It isn't just them either. The last set I got from Reebok and the last sets I got from Hanes and Fruit of the Loom like to slip down, too. I never used to have this problem. Are they just making crappy socks these days no matter the brand name?

I really don't like throwing money away like that. The only socks I haven't had major problems with this year or last are the big fuzzy slipper socks from Costco, but they are hard to get into a shoe. This is why I'm trying to learn to knit socks properly.

Anyone know if Kmart's Joe Boxer brand of socks stays up where it belongs? Or of any decent brand that does? I don't mind paying a little more if they actually work. They just can't be wool as I'm allergic.

DH's Christmas Bonus arrived in the mail and as you can see from the previous 3 posts I disbursed it amongst the Down Payment Fund, the College Fund, and the Emergency Fund.

This is the first deposit I have made to the Emergency Fund since...well, I can't remember. Since I hit $15K back in May or something. I had stopped adding to it to get other funds up and growing. I had intended to restart it in January, but figured I might as well get a bit of a jump on it. Hopefully I can get it to $20K by the end of 2016, but that's just a pie in the sky goal. It will much more likely be around $3K saved to get to $18K. But who knows? I like to aim high.

I was able to top off the College Fund so there is now enough for the first semester of my daughter's vet tech course, which she wants to start in January. Since she will have 18 months to complete the semester, I am not worried at the moment about adding any more to that fund, other than $100 a month going foward.

I also added $2000 to the Farm Down Payment Fund. I had also planned to set aside an additional $1000 to medical savings, but the bonus was $1000 less than it has been for the past few years, so that was just a tentative plan. We have always managed the medical, so I'm not that fussed by it, but I would have liked to have it set aside. Oh, well. We will be okay without it. If something huge comes up once the ridiculous deductible starts over, well, that is what the Emergency Fund is there for, loathe as I would be to touch it.

I need to buy a new microwave. The one I have has been limping along on its last legs for a while now and likes to shut down if you use the microwave for more than 10 minutes in a row. It comes back on again about 10 minutes later, but I don't imagine that can possibly be a good thing. I need to remember to measure the space it is in and make sure any new one I buy isn't too tall.

I have been knitting like crazy for the past few weeks. I have completed a scarf for my daughter, a scarf and a hat for my son, and a scarf for me. I have managed to knit two socks, the first of which is not wearable and the second of which looks lumpy, but is wearable, comfortable, and warm.

I have never knit socks before, so I consider the first one to be a learning sock. I unraveled it when done because I had dropped too many stitches. My biggest trouble is making the toe. I can do the cuff and the heel and the foot of the sock just fine, but I keep screwing up the toe when I try to attach it to the foot. I had to redo it twice for it to even look somewhat right. I am tempted to just get a sock loom and see if that helps.

I will try to knit the matching sock at least before going the sock loom route. I am sure it just takes practice. I really want to move on to mittens or gloves, though. Mittens should be straight-forward. Gloves will be more difficult, but I still think they will be easier than socks.

I do want to get good at socks though, because I want to make some booties for my niece. She's due in May so I do have some breathing room to practice. And booties don't take long, but if you can't master sock toes, than you can't master bootie toes either. I guess I can always knit a blanket instead if I can't figure it out.

$15,000.00 Starting Balance
+__,171.78 Deposit Added
---------------
$15,171.78 New Balance

My next goal for the end of 2016 is $20,000, but I will be happy to get to $18,000.

$34,000.00 Starting Balance
+_2,000.00 Deposit Added
---------------
$36,000.00 New Balance

$44,000 to go to hit my goal of $80K.

$629.75 Starting Balance
+870.25 Deposit Added
---------------
1500.00 New Balance

Goal for first semester is met.

My son and I went to view two of the farms yesterday. And the one house and all its outbuildings that I thought would be perfect were perfect, except there was a ton of water pooled under the house that you could see through the door to the crawlspace and the well pump house was also flooded. And those things would take a pretty penny to fix and at the current price of the home absolutely was not worth it. Also it had owls in the barn, which might be fine if you are raising large livestock, but not when you are raising rabbit kits.

The second house was...adequate. It was spacious and had land and a couple of outbuildings, one of which had a canning kitchen. But the barn had a badly cracked cement floor. There had been severe upheaving, so that parts of the floor were 8 to 12 inches higher than other parts. With my history of tripping over everything, that was not acceptable, and again would require quite a bit of work to fix. And I don't want adequate. I want it to be pretty and not need rewiring.

So neither house is a go. And maybe I should just take that as a sign to wait and not to jump the gun. Although I did see another house that I would really like to check out. It has 12 acres and is still within our price range. But...I think we will still hold off for now. It is probably wisest to wait until after the new contracts are signed at DH's work in March, anyway.

There are 3 very nice farms for sale right now. One is utterly perfect and two are quite doable. We have enough money for a 10% down payment on two of them and will have enough for a 10% down payment on the perfect one by the end of this year. And I'm swayed quite hard in that direction.

We would be able to afford the payments, all of our expenses, and still save a little each month. It would mean being a lot stricter with the budget. We've got a lot of play right now so that could be accomplished and we'd still have some breathing room.

We'd also be in our home for the first time since 2009. There is stress in living so long with my mother, even though I love her dearly and we get along quite well. I yearn to be able to have my own kitchen and do things my way and not have to schedule around her timetable, which is erratic at best and annoying at worst when you are trying to feed a family.

If we do this now, there are no ifs, ands, or buts about doing a 30 year mortgage. We would have to. I don't particularly like that idea, though, because we have only ever had a 15 year mortgage, and a 30 year mortgage would mean we could be 75 and 76 years old when it was paid off. Oh, I'd throw more money at it as we had it, but that would probably have us finishing at 65 to 70 years old.

The thing is, the practical thing anyway, is that if we buckle down and save super hard this coming year and throw everything at our down payment fund, we could have enough for a 20% down payment by December 2016. Which means we would lower our monthly payments significantly and have a 15 year mortgage. And it would be paid off by the time we were 61 and 62 years old, with no extra payments being made. With extra thrown at it, we might pay it off by the time we are 56 and 57.

The numbers make sense to wait out another year and save like the dickens. My head says that is the smartest thing we could possibly do. My soul says it is not quite sure it can cope with another year of living only in 1000 square feet with 2 teenagers and my husband. And only one bathroom.

We simply have no space. None. The house is very large, but this is the only space she allows us to use, plus we can cook in the kitchen (but must keep all our dishes and cooking stuff in our 1000 square feet). That frustrates me, too, because she has a huge kitchen with lots of cupboard space, two large living rooms, 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms for just herself. And two of those bedrooms are almost empty.

I am torn. I know what makes better sense. I really do. But it has been seven years. Seven very long years. And we wouldn't be struggling if we did it now. I feel like we are struggling though with the emotional part and being packed in like sardines. I want space. I want room to move. I want freedom.

I guess the thing I need to decide is what do I want most? Financial security is so freaking important to me. It is only one more year. Yet when I think about that year it is like a massive weight pressing down on my shoulders. One of these homes could be our escape hatch.

And 2 of them have open houses tomorrow. I will take my son and go look. Maybe in person they won't be as good as they are on paper.

I had 5 points from my shopping at Safeway in the last 30 days, which meant I got 50 cents off per gallon. If I keep careful track each month, I can gas up right before points expire, which generally coincides with when I need to fill the tank. It's a lot less these days now that we are homeschooling again (did I tell you guys that?) and I am not driving to and from the high school twice a day five times per week.

So I ended up paying $21.60 for 14.037 gallons of gas. That is $1.54 per gallon! It was priced at $2.03 per gallon if you used cash or $2.13 per gallon if you did not. I had cash. I cannot remember the last time I paid such a low amount of money for a tank of gas.

$380.06 Starting Balance
+_10.00 Weekly Deposit
-----------------
$390.06 Subtotal
+___.19 Interest from CU #2
-----------------
$390.25 Subtotal
+_39.50 Egg Money and Coin Jar
-----------------
$429.75 Subtotal
$200.00 Glasses Reimbursement
----------------
$629.75 New Balance

$870.25 to go to pay for the first semester. $5370.25 to go to pay for the full vet tech A.S.

I've switched to a Wednesday through Tuesday system, since I go shopping Wednesday mornings, generally. But I forgot to post it yesterday.

Wednesday:
Chicken Fajitas
Fresh pineapple
Pumpkin bread

Thursday:
Club Sandwiches
Salad
Cameo apples

Friday:
Bacon Cheeseburgers
Fries
Fresh Pineapple
Cole slaw
Pumpkin Bread

Saturday:
Teriyaki Beef Flank Steak
Fried Potatoes
Green Beans
Oranges

Sunday:
Slow-cooked turkey necks
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Roasted zucchini and yellow squash
Ambrosia apples

Monday:
Southern Fried Rabbit
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Broccoli and Cauliflower
Grapes
Pumpkin bread

Tuesday:
Tropical Rabbit Stir-fry
Canned pineapple

$340.78 Starting Balance
+_29.28 C1-360 Interest
------------------
$370.06 Subtotal
+_10.00 Weekly Deposit
-----------------
$380.06 New Balance

$5619.94 to go.

$330.78 Starting Balance
+_10.00 Weekly Deposit
--------------
$340.78 New Balance

I am going to nickel and dime my way there. $1159.22 to go.

$1000.00 Down Payment Fund
__225.00 Chiropractor Family Plan
__136.65 AMEX
___15.00 Checks
__120.00 Physical Therapy
___77.82 Internet
_2000.00 Chase VISA
---------------------
$3574.47 Total Money Out

$33,000.00 Starting Balance
+_1,000.00 Deposit Added
------------------
$34,000.00 New Balance

$46,000.00 to go.

$254.78 Starting Balance
+_66.00 Coin Jar, Egg Money, Farm Sales
+_10.00 Weekly Deposit
------------------------
$330.78 New Balance

$5669.22 to go.

I went ahead and added in tomorrow's auto deposit so I didn't have to do two separate posts. The cost of the vet tech program my daughter wants to do is $1500 per semester, so a total of $6000 for 4 semesters. It is a work at your own pace online college, fully accredited. You have 18 months to complete each semester. She wants to start in the fall, so of course my first goal is to hit the $1500 mark.

We have been lax on college savings. We used to have some money saved up, but when we paid off all of our debts we used that money, since DD had no clue what she wanted to do after high school and for a time we weren't even sure she would graduate or go to school at all. DH has used some of it on his education, too.

I'm not terribly worried about it. I'm more concerned with saving up for our down payment and our retirement and staying debt free than our kids' college. College is less and less a good deal for the student, saddling them with mountains of debt and not ensuring them of a good job when they get out anymore. Especially if they get the useless degrees so many kids get. In fact the cynical part of me is viewing college and its massive loans as part of the government's way of keeping money coming into the federal coffers while keeping average citizens as a debt slave for the next 30 years of their lives. Add to that the nastiness going on at many universities these days and I'm not sure I want my kids to have any part of it.

My son will go to the local technical college for engineering, which will save us vast amounts of money and likely end him up with a job as good as the one DH has, with all the nepotism and connections DH can use where he works to land the kid a job in his field.

So for now I will be putting all coin jar money, egg sales, and other farm sales money in the College Fund as well as any extra money I end up with from the grocery budget that carries over from the previous week. That usually goes into the coin jar until I can make a deposit. I'll probably add a line item to the budget as well of $100 a month. We'll have enough when the time comes as long as I keep focus on it.

Monday:
Baked potato soup
Leftover lamb and beef pot roast
Salad

Tuesday:
Tacos (beef, onions, tomatoes, seasonings)
Apples

Wednesday:
BBQ rabbit "wings"
Fried potatoes
Green beans
Oranges

Thursday:
Rabbit stir-fry with onions, peppers, broccoli, carrots, celery, and snow peas
Pineapple

Friday:
Sloppy Hoppies
Cole slaw
Apples

Saturday:
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Salad
Grapes

Sunday:
Rabbit stew with potatoes and carrots
Cole slaw
Canned nectarines

I was unable to pick up my turkey today because the road to the farm was underwater. Fortunately they called me before I left so I didn't make a wasted trip. Assuming the flooding has gone down I will be able to pick it up next Saturday. I am actually kind of glad I did not have to drive down there as I am still not 100% out of the brain fog department from being sick. DH will be home to drive down next Saturday if I am still out of it by then. Let's hope not.

I guess there was flooding in our county as well. Now that I don't live anywhere near the river I don't pay as much attention to those sorts of things, but I guess the mountain got 19 inches of snow and then it rained and caused the river to go a foot over its banks. There hasn't been much local coverage of such things because everything is on the events in Paris.

Luna kindled today. She gave birth to 4 kits. Since she missed on the last two breedings, missing today would have been her 3rd strike. At which point she would have been taken out of the breeding program become a house bunny because she is a love and totally would adapt to being a pet. I had my suspicions it wasn't her, but the bucks she had been bred with. This was a different buck who has never failed and he did his job.

I am still waiting to see the results from Ruby (who is building a crazy big nest), Serena, and Kalia. I'm pretty sure Kalia is pregnant as she is so like the woman who is 2 weeks over due and just plops down and doesn't move and prays for it to just be done already. She is always like that the last week of her pregnancy. She did build a nest last week. Serena has also built a nest, but it's hard to tell with her. She's a slim rabbit and doesn't show when she's pregnant. She also missed last time for the first time, so hopefully she won't this time.

These will be the last births of the year as I won't breed any of them again until February.

$2044.59 BOA Visa
___55.25 Garbage
__197.67 Christmas Fund
__300.00 Meat from the Farm
__200.00 Groceries
___50.00 Allowances
------------------------
$2847.51 Total Out

I probably won't spend all of that $200 this week since I just bought groceries yesterday. I just have one or two things to pick up that weren't at the other store.

The Visa was high this month because I had DH purchase all of his holiday travel tickets last month. Waiting too close to his travel dates at this time of year would mean his plane tickets would cost double of normal. So he bought 3 tickets on that month's Visa instead of the usual 1. Fortunately we are at a place in the budget where I was able to absorb that without too much of a blip.

I misplaced the Comcast bill for out internet. I need to find it. It's not due until the 21st. If I can't find it by the 18th, we will go in person and pay it. It is out near the airport and I'll be picking DH up that day so it won't be an extra trip. Usually I pay it at the start of the month, but as I had to pay some doctor bills then, I decided to wait until closer to the due date.

I never set it up to pay online as they charged a fee for online payments. I don't know if they still do now that online paying is becoming a norm, but the last thing I wanted to do was give them extra money. Plus I really didn't want them having the ability to just take money out of my account or off my card. I've heard too many horror stories about that company to let them have carte blanche.

I'll get it figured out, though. And look some more for the bill. It's got to be around here somewhere.

$752.33 Starting Balance
+197.67 Deposit Added
---------------------
$950.00 New Balance

It feels good to have that out of the way. Now I can start my Christmas shopping and get it done with well in advance. I pick up our heritage turkey tomorrow for Thanksgiving. I included that in the Christmas Fund as I didn't really want to have two separate ones listed here for such a small thing. I call it the Christmas Fund, but I guess it is really the Holiday Fund.

$743.33 Starting Balance
+_10.00 Weekly Deposit
-----------------
$753.33 Ending Balance

$197.67 to go.

I made it to the grocery store this morning without children, which is always so much cheaper to do. I bought everything on my list except one thing they didn't have and ended up getting some organic apples instead. I also bought a magazine. I had 2 good coupons for stuff on my list and saved $10.96 off my total. Since I mostly buy whole foods it is hard for me to use coupons at all, but I needed to stock up on some soup for DH and a condiment they had on the coupons. I ended up spending $135.02 total.

I have been shopping a lot at the new Safeway these last few months and I find I am saving a lot of money (about $300 per month). They are cheaper on most items. I almost never go into Haggen anymore. Their shelves are never fully stocked and it is frustrating to waste a trip there and only be able to get half the things on my list and still have to go elsewhere.

Between Safeway and Trader Joe's I can pretty much get everything but the filler free lunch meat. I will stop at Haggen and check if I am going by anyway and if they have the lunch meat (sometimes they are out of roast beef) pick some up. But I no longer go there specifically. It's a shame. They used to be such a good store a few years ago before the original owners sold it off.

After I shopped, I stopped at the Safeway gas station and bought gas. I had 5 points on my Safeway card so got 50 cents off per gallon. I also used cash so got an additional 10 cents off per gallon over the credit card price. I got 15.695 gallons at $1.81 a gallon, spending a total of $28.55. I timed it perfectly so that the majority of my October shopping points still counted and I had almost a completely empty tank of gas. Go me.

As exhausted as I am, and as sick as I still am, I am doing better on the antibiotics. Better enough to have cooked for the past 7 days. A week without takeout feels like a major milestone at this point. Now granted, some of the meals were pretty simple, just heating up food I'd previously frozen, like lasagna, or homemade TV dinners, but even so, no money wasted on takeout.

I have so much to do still, though. I need to clean up the garden beds I haven't gotten to yet. I've got rabbits due to kindle this coming weekend, but I've prepared their nesting boxes and given them to them, so now it's just a wait for it thing. I need to get their trays changed though. I did half of them on Sunday and need to get the other half done tomorrow. DS doesn't have school so we should be able to do it pretty quickly.

I finally made it through 3 hampers of laundry today, 4 loads of which were towels, and 2 loads of which were clothes. I think we have too many towels, but I guess it was good when I was too sick to do the laundry. I have one load of clothes and sheets left to do for me and then there is another hamper full of DH's stuff, but he won't be home until the 18th, so that can slide if needed.

I will have to drag myself to the store tomorrow as we are out of milk and I have a small list of other things to pick up. Then I have to pick up a prescription. I haven't gone out since Friday, so it'll be nice to get out of the house. Cabin fever, I think. I may go to water aerobics if I can drag myself out of bed in the morning. No school so I don't have to. Haven't done water aerobics since Tuesday of last week. I miss it, but it's hard when you have brain fog from an illness to move in the mornings.

We may be pulling DS from school and homeschooling again. I've found a good program that is heavily video based which he needs. He still hasn't recovered all of what he lost with the concussion several years ago, so lots of reading is just hard on him. But this combines words on the screen being read aloud and he just does so much better that way. He learns very well from hearing or hands on work and he can still memorize easily, but his reading is so slow. It's been over 3 years so I'm not sure he'll ever get that back.

He's just been so sick this school year he has missed more days than he's gone. By a lot. School is making him sick with all its sick kids and germs and then he comes home and gets me and his sister sick and I think for all our sakes it may be the right thing to do. He also complains that his math teacher can't keep control of the class so it is hard for him to concentrate. Math is usually his best subject and he enjoys it, but he just can't focus.

We'll make the decision one way or the other by the end of the week. The program is $100 a month, but I think that is worth it for our health and his ability to go at his own pace. I know he'll race through some things and go slow on others, but he'll be allowed to, unlike in public school. He'll also be able to take AP classes if he wants to, which are only offered before school currently at his high school.

Once he turns 16 in March he can join me and his sister at water aerobics, too, so he can get his PE credits that way. Or do the home school PE program at the gym. There is one.

It's a lot to take on homeschooling again, but I think this program will be far less hands on for me than the one we did before. I'll likely only have to baby-sit him through English. And we'll get a transcript from it so if he ends up going back his senior year to get a diploma things will transfer. Although I think he might be able to get a diploma through this program, too. I don't remember for sure as I have looked at a lot of curricula this week.

It would be nice not to have to be a slave to the school schedule anymore. Better all around for all of us.

Monday:
Baked chicken
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Broccoli/cauliflower
Orange/banana/yogurt smoothie

Tuesday:
Chicken Tortellini with homemade ugly sauce
Garlic bread
Salad
Pineapple

Wednesday:
Beef pot roast
Mashed potatoes and gravy (leftovers)
Green Beans
Orange/banana/yogurt smoothie

Thursday:
Sloppy Hoppies on Kaiser rolls
Sweet potato fries
Coleslaw
Grapes

Friday:
Rabbit stew with carrots and potatoes
Fresh baked bread
Coleslaw
Strawberry/banana/yogurt smoothie

Saturday:
Homemade pizza with pepperoni, ham, onions, bell peppers, and fresh basil leaves
Pineapple

Sunday:
BBQ pulled pork on Kaiser rolls
Fried potatoes
Green Beans
Strawberry/banana/yogurt smoothie

$662.33 Starting Balance
+_81.00 (Egg Money, Farm Sales, Coin Jar)
-----------------
$743.33 Ending Balance

$206.67 to go.

This weekend I will go to pick up my Thanksgiving turkey and pay the balance, so I'll deduct that amount from my end goal once I know what it is. I should have this account fully funded by November 20th. Then I can get to work actually buying the Christmas presents and have it done hopefully by the beginning of December.

The kids already know what they want. I want to get a strum stick and perhaps a small TV and DVD player for the bedroom. We don't have a TV anymore and I do get a little tired of watching DVD's on the computer. I think DH knows what he wants. Then it'll just be shopping for MIL and FIL, SIL, and one niece, since the other is now 20 and has aged out of our buying gifts. We don't exchange with my mother.

I think I'd like to have a small tree this year, and maybe a wreath for our door, but we'll see. It is hard to have a tree when we only have 1000 square feet of space and most of it is otherwise occupied.