Lucky Robin's Personal Finance Blog

Two and a half hours waiting in the cold with two children on a AAA tow truck. That is how I spent my late afternoon and early evening. The starter on our van is the problem, completely out of the blue. It hasn't been acting up at all. But it is definitely the starter. On our flipping three and a half year old van. Hello, Toyota? I expect better than this from you. Who knows how much it will cost to fix or replace.

Also, AAA and your promised one hour wait time, can bite me. Single A, more like. I told them I was disabled and had kids in the car, too. Seriously thinking about switching to Allstate's road side service instead. My leg is in spasm from sitting in the van so long and I don't know if I will be able to walk without using a cane tomorrow. I am icing it now.

So I have recently been encouraged to see the positive side of things. So here it is: At least we had just bought dinner to take home. And were in a well-lit drive-in restaurant. And I didn't order the fish and chips because I can't use their ketchup. I usually order the fish and chips but was in a strange mood for a burger instead. Which comes with secret sauce, which doesn't make me get stomach cramps like their ketchup does. And I ordered onion rings so I did not need ketchup. So nobody went hungry.

And my mother was home and could take care of putting away the ducks, turkeys, and chickens, so they didn't stay out after dark where predators could have killed them.

And I had a book and the kids had the tablets my in-laws gave them at Thanksgiving, so they had entertainment. No one was bored, only cold.

Tomorrow I will borrow my mother's car to do the grocery shopping. I had planned to do it tonight, but that is out. I am hoping my leg works as I really hate using those electric ride on carts at the grocery store.

Well, I am off to feed and water and cuddle the rabbits. They always improve a bad mood!

$2000.00 BoA VISA
__400.00 Mom's Utilities
___22.00 HoA Dues
___50.00 Garbage (holding tank for January)
___75.65 Internet
__144.00 Water/sewer Old House
__800.00 Van Loan (includes extra principal)
--------------
$3091.65

I've got almost everything paid for the month. I will have a chiropractor payment of $225 in a couple of weeks, need to pay $1000 on the loan payment to Mom, and buy Christmas presents. A few medical bills and prescriptions will need to be gotten, but we're in good shape for that Then I just need to pay the the early January bills. We are in good shape due to my careful savings.

I forgot to add in the auto deposit of $10 yesterday. I also had $59.53 left over from the last paycheck, so I am sending that to the Emergency Fund, too.

$9596.69 Beginning EF Balance
___10.00 Weekly Deposit
+__59.53 Leftover paycheck amount
----------------
$9666.22 Ending EF Balance

$333.78 to go to hit $10K

She hasn't posted in ages. I'm a little worried about her.

Hey, everyone. I am getting kind of bored or in a rut with what I've been making for dinner lately, so I thought I'd ask you all what your favorite go to meal is, the recipe (or lack of recipe) you pull out when you are tired and cranky and know it will please everyone in the family (or just you, if it is just you). Something that is pretty easy to make, not terribly expensive, but still tastes great.

If you could either put a link to the recipe in the comments or leave a recipe in the comments, I'd be thrilled. My only two issues are I am allergic to mushrooms (so no dumping a can of cream of mushroom soup on anything) and almonds.

Editing to Add: No one here eats beans, either, so if any other ideas are posted, bean free ones would be better.

I spent $90 on physical therapy today. I've moved my day to Tuesdays until January. My PT's schedule is crazy for Fridays this month and I don't want to deal with it. I like consistent times.

I am still sick and I am going to try to go back to the doctor tomorrow. I am just not shaking this. I have been sick for over 2 months now and I am tired of it. I don't think I was on the antibiotics long enough. I don't know why doctors are so stingy with them. I told him flat out that a ten day supply would not be enough and I needed a full 2 weeks or I'd likely relapse. And what happens? 2 days after the antibiotics are done, the minor improvement I saw was gone.

I hate training new doctors. I miss my old doctor so much. They just don't make them like him anymore.

I also did two surveys from Pinecone on Monday and already got payment notification. They really seem to be peppering me with them the last couple of weeks. Not that I'm complaining!

We had an additional $360.13 to transfer to the December Money Fund. $59.09 was what was left in the checkbook after the last pay cycle. The rest was extra money in the paycheck since DH has finally hit that point where they stop taking that one tax out for a while.

$2447.00 Beginning December Money Fund
+_360.13 Amount Added
--------------
2807.13 Ending December Money Fund

I also added $100 to the Propane Fund for the old house.

$500.00 Beginning Propane Fund
+100.00 Amount Added
---------------
$600.00 Total Propane Fund

I went ahead and sent $100 to the Emergency Fund out of last Friday's pay.

$9496.69 Beginning EF Balance
+_100.00 Monthly Deposit
------------
$9596.69 Ending EF Balance

$1000.00 Loan to Mom (Nov. payment)
__417.00 AMEX
___29.13 Electric (Old House)
___47.92 Phone (Old House)
___45.30 Life Insurance DH
___44.66 Life Insurance Me
___71.41 Car Insurance
___48.75 House Insurance (Old House)
___41.16 Security System (Old House)
__186.00 Storage
__400.00 Groceries (Major stock up)
--------------------
$2331.33

I am still figuring out what to do with the rest of it. I have to pay for PT tomorrow and I'll probably send some to the Emergency Fund and the rest will go to next week's bills and some Christmas shopping.

$9490.39 Beginning EF Balance
+___6.30 Monthly Interest
---------------
$9496.69 Ending EF Balance


$503.31 to go to hit my goal of $10K.

Monday:
Fish and Chips
Coleslaw

Tuesday:
Steak
Fried potatoes
Green beans

Wednesday:
Rabbit enchiladas
Spanish rice

Thursday:
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Garlic bread
Salad

Friday:
Meatball sandwiches
Coleslaw

Saturday:
Teriyaki and Barbecue chicken wings
Fried potatoes
Green beans

Sunday:
Homemade pizza with pepperoni, ham, bell peppers, and onions

I just cashed out at Pinecone for the first time. I've just been generally lazy about it so have never redeemed points with them. I have done 26 surveys since I started so thus had 7800 points. I will have $78 coming to me shortly. Not bad. It's not as good as GTM was in its heyday, where I cleared $50 every six weeks or so, but it is the best I've found since GTM changed a few years ago.

With the holiday, I forgot to post the weekly $10 auto deposit.

$9480.39 Beginning EF Balance
+__10.00 Amount Added
--------------
$9490.39 Ending EF Balance

I hope your Thanksgiving was as wonderful as my homegrown one. This was the best Thanksgiving food ever and it was so great knowing how I raised and grew almost all of it.

Our feast:



My plate:

Yesterday I spent $166.22 to buy my son dress shoes and socks for his concert. I was very irritated that the teacher was insisting on dress shoes when I think that black tennis shoes would have been perfectly fine and definitely indistinguishable from the audience. But not having the proper attire counts against their grades. Ugh.

Unfortunately when your kid has a size 15 foot, you pretty much have to take what they have and you have to go somewhere expensive to even find a shoe size over 13. We went to a men's suit store. It was either that or Red Wings, which is more expensive. They are nice shoes and hopefully he can wear them for a while before outgrowing them. He is only 14 and since his father has a size 16 foot I can't be sure his feet won't still grow. I am sure when he does outgrow them they will be nice enough to recoop the cost a bit on e-bay, since he will only wear them to concerts.

I was also irritated that she required dark socks as well. All of my son's socks are white. The shoe and sock requirement did not come out until Monday. At the beginning of the school year all that it said was required was black pants and a dress shirt for boys and a skirt and blouse or a dress for girls. They have choir robes they wear over that anyway, so not sure why the shirt even matters, but whatever. We had plenty of time for and bought in early October.

If I had known about the shoes we could have bought online and saved some money, but there wasn't time. It was just really irritating to have an unexpected expense. Fortunately my daughter has both black flats and black boots so her footwear was covered.

The concert was okay, but it was very disorganized. The auditorium is too small for the sound system, or else the guy on the sound board just thinks that louder is better. The choirs were very good, except the poor girl who choked during her solo, as were the orchestras.

The jazz band was flat on one song and another song was the worst arrangement of Eleanor Rigby I have ever heard. Their 2nd song was really good, though, and the saxophone and trombone solos were wonderful. The percussion band was so overwhelmed by the loudness of the drums you couldn't hear the xylophones or the triangle at all. The drums seriously did not need a microphone. And the band instructor didn't know how to speak into a microphone, but had plenty to say. I've nicknamed him Mr. Mumbles.

Man, I'm grumpy. I'm still not over my illness. I think being out last night disrupted my routine and screwed with my circadian rhythm because I kept waking up all night last night. Which does not help anything ever.

I sold 2 dozen duck eggs today and so put $10 into the feed money jar. I've also given away 5 dozen eggs this week. 2 to my physical therapist, 2 to the chiropractor and one to my in-laws. Now I am down to just 18 duck eggs and 3.5 dozen chicken eggs. We will be making a couple pound cakes so that will use up a lot.

I found out from DH that he is going to be called back in early, on December 31st. So we have gone from 5 weeks with no pay to just 22 days with no pay. Way, way better, we won't have to touch the Emergency Fund at all, and I don't think we will need to touch the Christmas bonus either to cover the time off. That takes so much pressure off me right now. And it means I will definitely hit my $10K by the end of the year in the EF! We also don't have to be quite so tight with Christmas, thank goodness.

Tomorrow should be a much better day than today. A nice low-key Thanksgiving with the organic turkey we raised and butchered ourselves, potatoes we raised ourselves, green beans we raised ourselves, and homemade stuffing from homemade bread and homemade pie. It's a very self-sufficient meal and that feels really neat.

Monday:
Rabbit enchiladas
Cole slaw

Tuesday:
Roast chicken
Baked potatoes
Broccoli/cauliflower

Wednesday:
Baked potato soup
Pull apart cheesy bread

Thursday:
Turkey
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Green Beans
Stuffing
Chocolate cream pie

Friday:
Leftovers

Saturday:
Homemade pizza

Sunday:
Rabbit stew
Green beans

Now that I know that the 4 to 5 weeks without pay is taken care of, I need to turn my thoughts to Christmas and figuring out what I'm going to do about it. I've already told the kids we have a lower limit this year on how much we are spending. Usually we spend about $150 per kid, but this year it is $100. I'm pretty sure it'll just be videogames, that's usually all they want, though I may get the daughter some jewelry or something off etsy.

I know that I want a new breadmaker and a new purse, but the purse may wait until my birthday in February. If I can repair my old purse one more time, I think I can make it that long. I want season 7 of The Big Bang Theory, but I'm pretty sure my in-laws will get me that. Otherwise there is nothing else I really want or need, except a couple of metal dropping pans for two of the rabbit cages and that isn't really a Christmas present sort of thing.

I don't now what my husband wants. He usually takes care of himself, though.

MIL collects carousel horses and FIL collects nutcrackers so I usually try to find them some unique ones on etsy. Last year I found a stamped tin carousel music box and a steampunk nutcracker that were so cool.

I don't know if DH has talked to his sister about not exchanging gifts this year or not, but eldest niece there has aged out anyway. We stop giving gifts after high school. So that leaves youngest niece and SIL if we do need to give gifts. J is pretty easy to shop for. SIL we usually just give a gift card, but it's not going to be near as high as the last 2 years this year. We usually give her $200 on a Target since she is below the poverty level, and that way she can buy stuff for household use for a while. She's good at making it last a few months. But we can't afford to help her out like that this year.

We don't exchange gifts on my side of the family. My sisters and I quit years ago, and my mother quit for anyone not a grandkid or great grandkid about 4 years ago. So my side is easy.

I am trying to distract myself today. We lost Sienna last night, our nicest red doe rabbit. She broke her back. That is very easy for a rabbit to do if they get too hyper and jump around a lot. She was pretty hyper having her cage to herself again after weaning the kits. It was so sad and like a punch in the gut to go out there and see her like that. I will really miss her.

DH finally got the last signature on the over time signed off, so he will get 6 days extra. That should net $3688.

$3688 OT Amount
+2447 Amount Saved
+_500 Amount I should be able to save this pay cycle
-----------
$6635

Monthly expenses come to $6958.75, so I will have a shortage of $323.75. I think I might be able to squeak out more than the $500 listed above. I might be able to squeak out $750, bringing the shortfall to $73.75, but even if I can't, that money can come from the Christmas bonus which should be around $3900 if it is what it has been for the past 2 years.

That means at least $2000 can go to the 401K then. $1000 can go for starting DH's bachelors program, we'll take $150 to have a special dinner out for all four of us at a steak house, make up any shortfall for Dec/Jan loss of paycheck, and then the rest can go into the Emergency Fund, getting me my $10K by the end of the year.

We won't have to touch the Emergency Fund at all assuming the bonus comes through. And if it doesn't, then we'll only need to touch it by a small amount and it will still be over $9K, unless I can find some way of scraping up the extra. And sometimes I can. Maybe I will have enough when I cash out at Pinecone.

I feel like I can relax now. Not too much, I still have to stay on top of things, but I'm not all wound up in knots worrying about losing a good chunk of the EF now. We definitely won't be eating out any time soon and I'll have to pay even closer attention to the food budget and eating out of our food storage, but now that I know we can do it without likely touching the EF, it is my goal.

I took 3 surveys from Pinecone this morning. I am not sure if they just really like me right now or if it is a holiday thing where they are trying to get stuff done before Thanksgiving when people will be too busy to take surveys.

I haven't cashed in at all since I started doing Pinecone. I just figured I'd have them send me a check when it got big enough to be worth bothering with. After I get the notification that these 3 are in my account I will cash out. Not sure how much I have, but I've been doing surveys at least once a week for the last several months. I just don't feel like looking it up. I'll find that out when I go to cash out.

I am making rabbit stock today from all 8 of the ribcages from the rabbits we butchered last week. I should end up with about 3 cups of rabbit meat to use in meals this week (probably enchiladas) once I pick off the bones and 6 to 8 quarts of stock to can. The chickens and ducks will get the used up vegetables.

I may make up soup base instead of just stock. To do that I half fill the jars with diced carrots, celery, potatoes, and rabbit meat and fill the rest of with the stock. Then when I want soup I just bring it to a boil and add noodles to cook. I'm not sure if I have enough extra energy to do that, though. I am feeling better, but am still sick, though it is becoming more of a functional sick.

I need to remember to take the turkey out of the freezer tomorrow for Thanksgiving. And to weigh it so we know how heavy it is for cooking time. We didn't weigh it when we butchered it and DH forgot to weigh it when he bagged it up for the freezer. I think it is about ten pounds, but we need to know for sure.

I also need to bake a couple of loaves of bread for making stuffing on Tuesday. I need to pick through the potatoes and make sure there are enough that haven't sprouted for that day, too. I need to make sure I have the right poultry seasoning on hand, one that actually has sage in it. We have plenty of butter on hand.

I need to find what I did with my recipe for making chocolate pudding so I can make a chocolate cream pie. I need to buy heavy cream to make whipping cream. I already have the safe brand of graham crackers for making the crust. I will probably make the pie on Wednesday and do the cream last minute on Thursday.

Our menu is pretty simple for the day. Roast turkey rubbed with butter and poultry seasoning, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, simple bread stuffing, and pie. Since it is just me, the kids, and my mother, that is all we want. We don't like cranberry sauce or yams. My son is the only one who likes pumpkin pie, but he is fine to wait until Christmas for that.

This will be the first time in 4 years (I think) that DH has not been home for Thanksgiving. I know for the past 3 years we have gone to his parents house. I didn't want to go this year without him. Anyway, I always end up doing most of the cooking when I go, so this year I am staying home and my mom will help with the cooking. Since I still don't feel great, I don't want to put myself through the drama that my SIL and her eldest daughter always bring to gatherings on that side of the family. When DH is not with me, I just don't have the patience for that. He keeps me centered.

We have decided to finally start contributing to the 401K at the new company. We weren't when we were paying off the credit cards or paying off the mortgage, but we have decided that it was time now to start. DH is going to find out when enrollment is and then as soon as we can, we will start with it. His company does no matching at all. We are going to start with 1% and see how it affects our bottom line. If it is bearable, we will up it to 2%. We will have to see how much our medical is going to go up this year. 1% may be all we can afford.

If he ends up getting enough overtime that we don't have to use the Christmas bonus to get through the time off, and assuming it is the same amount as last year, I'd like to put half of it into the 401K. That we can do regardless of an enrollment period. The rest of it would be split between starting DH on his Bachelor's program and the Emergency Fund. But who knows on the overtime. DH is still trying to chase down the final signature. His company can be very disorganized at times.

I got some swag from my credit union. A wall calendar, a purse calendar, and a very, very nice pen. I do like free stuff that I can actually use.

I just got the mail and there was a letter in it from the Imaging Center. I was sure it was another bill, but couldn't figure out from what, since I've already paid for both my MRI and my daughter's CAT scan from her skull fracture. Turns out it was a refund check. When I got my MRI, I had to pay $125 up front, even though we don't have a co-pay. Well, my insurance covered more than they thought it would, so the $125 led to an overpayment.

The amount of the check is $35.73. I also had enough quarters in my coin jar for a roll, so rolled those, and I have 2 ones in there, so I am going to go make a deposit into the Emergency Fund with this money.

$9432.66 Beginning Balance
___35.73 Refund
___12.00 Coin Jar
----------------
$9480.39 Ending Balance

That leaves me with just $519.61 to go to hit my $10K goal.

There is a possibility that DH may be able to get an extra week of work in December. It has been signed off on by all but one person. If he does get that week, we will only have 4 weeks without a paycheck instead of 5. And it might just be enough that between one extra paycheck, what I've saved, and the Christmas bonus (assuming it is what it has been the last 2 years), we won't have to touch the Emergency Fund at all.

And in a best case scenario, I might even have enough left over to boost the EF all the way to $10K by the end of the year. That would be wonderful, but I am not counting my chickens before they hatch, or in my case not counting my rabbit kits before they reach butcher size.

$9422.66 Beginning Balance
+__10.00 Weekly Deposit
--------------
$9432.66 Ending Balance

Has anyone else noticed that the majority of the articles being posted on the home page are not about finances at all anymore? And that a huge majority of them are just downright...vapid? There used to be some really good articles, stuff that you could actually learn from about saving money or investing or using what you have, etc. I mean, one of the articles is about how sexist the new Barbie book is. Yes, it is, and that's important, but what does it have to do with personal finance?

Or the article about the new word of the year added to the Oxford Dictionary. I don't know. What is being put up is getting ridiculous. Content for content's sake is...well, almost as bad as rolling ads that chase you around the page. I expect better.

/rant

Every once in a while a charity that I no longer contribute to sends me letters begging for a contribution. I have written to them to ask them to stop sending me these as we do not have the ability to contribute anymore and it is just a waste of their postage. But they continue to send requests and sometimes these things have gifts in them. Usually they are address labels, sometimes note cards, pens, and even Christmas cards. This time it had a dime and a penny taped into it. So my coin jar is up 11 cents.

I really don't understand these places. If they need money so badly why do they waste it sending out goodies and coins. Why don't they just use the money to support their needs? Oh, well, it obviously comes from a fund-raising budget. But I won't feel guilty about these gifts because I have asked them to stop and they've ignored it.

Monday:
Rabbit Stew

Tuesday:
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Green beans

Wednesday:
Sloppy Hoppies

Thursday:
Rabbit enchiladas
Broccoli/cauliflower

Friday:
Homemade pizza
Cole slaw

Saturday:
Barbecue chicken wings
Fried potatoes
Cole slaw

Sunday:
Fried rabbit
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Green beans

Well, DH's company did actually send a gift card for Thanksgiving this year. It's a $50 value good at Safeway. The closest Safeway is 20 miles away. If they send us one for Christmas, too, than we will have a total of $200 in gift cards for Safeway. We will make one trip there to use them in December during the 5 weeks off with no pay.

$1947.00 Beginning Balance
+_500.00 Deposit
------------
$2447.00 Ending Balance

$9322.66 Beginning EF Balance
+_100.00 Monthly Deposit
-------------
$9422.66 Ending EF Balance

$9312.66 Beginning EF Balance
+__10.00 Weekly Deposit
-----------
$9322.66 Ending EF Balance

Well, I know for sure that I am going to be able to squeeze $500 out of this coming Friday's paycheck to go towards the five weeks when DH won't be working. I might be able to squeeze as much as $750 out, but I'm not sure. Prescriptions are due to be renewed Friday, and I don't remember how much that is going to be now that DD is on the new meds.

We are still waiting to hear if he got the okay to work a few extra days before the shut down. They were supposed to tell him within 2 days of his getting home and he still hasn't heard anything. This employer is so unorganized. He's calling them today to see what is going on.

So far they have not sent out the grocery store gift card that they usually send out before Thanksgiving. On a normal year it would be here by now, but since this is not a normal year, it wouldn't surprise me if they don't send them out at all. I am not counting on it coming. In fact, it would shock me if they send them out with the way they've been behaving towards their employees this year.

I am very glad we have our turkeys taken care of for Thanksgiving and Christmas. And that we have lots of food in the freezer and on the shelves. We will get through this. It'll be hard, and we may have to touch the Emergency Fund, but we will manage. I just wish we didn't have to.

I won't have to contribute to the Property Tax Fund during the month of December since I already put an extra payment in in October for December. Same with the Dues Fund. I have $500 in the Propane Fund plus a $50 credit with the company so I won't have to put $100 into the dues fund next time. We just turned the propane on this week at the old house and it has a full tank. We won't be driving much for half of December as there is no school so gas costs will be lower.

Next year I will try to plan a little better. We've just never had this many weeks to cover before. But I will start saving $200 a month towards next year's shut down in January and put aside one of the two extra paychecks DH gets during the year that doesn't go towards the regular budget. It'll be tight, especially if medical goes up AGAIN and I see no reason it won't, but we'll deal. We have to. It's not like there are a lot of other choices right now.

$9238.16 Beginning EF Balance
+__77.50 Deposit
--------------
$9312.66 Ending EF Balance