Lucky Robin's Personal Finance Blog

Tonight I added $10.34 to the coin jar. $9 of that was in ones.

I also went to the grocery store and bought Gatorade, pudding, cold medicine, soup, ice cream and Jello gelatin for my daughter, who has managed to catch a late summer cold that makes her throat violently sore, probably at the slumber party she went to on the weekend. I spent $71.35 on that. Crazy how expensive cold medicine has gotten this year. At least the pudding and Jello were on sale.

I have spent a lot on produce this weekend. I guess I am feeling nutrient starved or something (could have something to do with all the potato chips I've been eating this month). Or maybe I'm just holding onto that last gasp of summer fruits and veggies. Anyway, I am planning very carefully to not let any of it spoil.

I've been investigating some new recipes as well and will try out two this week.

Sunday:
Chorizo con huevoes
Brown rice
Nectarines
Steamed Zucchini

Monday:
Baked chicken
Corn on the cob
Strawberries
Steamed yellow summer squash

Tuesday:
Pork chops
Fried potatoes
Cherries
Green beans

Wednesday:
Black pepper chicken stir-fry (has lots of fresh veggies)
Watermelon
Drop biscuits with choice of homemade jams

Thursday:
Fried rabbit
Baked potatoes
Watermelon
Broccoli/cauliflower

Friday:
Homemade pizza with pepperoni, ham, yellow onions, and bell pepper strips
Cole slaw
Watermelon

Saturday:
Bacon cheeseburgers on homemade buns
Cole slaw
WAtermelon

I managed to recreate my budget spreadsheet and hopefully I've got everything on it. It's a good thing I almost always post everything to this blog or I'd have spent a lot more time on it than I did. I'm still recreating the Holding Tank spreadsheet, but I've got most of it done. I need to find one receipt and then I should have all the information I need.

Tomorrow I will actually pay bills and allocate money to funds. I have created a new fund, called the Moving Fund. We'll have to rent U-hauls when we move so I'd like to start preparing for that well before we need it.

I still don't know when the house will be completely done. It feels like it will never happen. We sprayed the mason bees tonight at dusk when they are supposed to be least active, but if the spray doesn't work we may have to hire an exterminator. Who knows how much that is going to cost? They are only in one small area, but just getting an exterminator to go out there is more expensive than a city call.

I just want to be done with it. It is such a money pit. I want to move on and start the future, but that house is holding us back. And may do so for some time yet. Even when it is done and can be put on the market it still has to sell. And having completely missed the summer season, we'll have it on the market at the worst possible time of year, the rainy and snowy season. Not too many want to house hunt in a foot or two of snow.

I am trying not to be discouraged about it and trying to keep a positive attitude. This month has been a hard one for me to keep a positive attitude in, though. We have accomplished so much this year and last, so why does it feel like we're completely standing still?

It is official. After today's payment, the mortgage is now under $10K. Boo yah!

Today was payday, but other than making a mortgage payment and going grocery shopping, I have not done anything about it. This is because I am still procrastinating rebuilding my spreadsheet. Well, I did make some progress. I loaded Office. Now I just need to build the spreadsheet, which I will do tomorrow since I have nothing else on the agenda, except maybe making more pickles.

I made and canned 6 pints of pickles yesterday:



I put my coin jar money into the Emergency Fund today.

$5912.45 Beginning EF Balance
+__32.50 Amount Added
-----------
$5944.95 New EF Balance

I went to the food co-op after the credit union because of locations, so the dividend check from the food co-op of $7.43 was not cashed until I'd already deposited the coin jar money. So that $7.43 is now in the coin jar for my next deposit. I also added $4.40 in change and ones to the coin jar left from my purchases today. I did have a bit left in checking so that will be transferred to the EF when I make the monthly $100 deposit as well. I will hit my $6000 goal without problems.

DH will be bringing work home with him next week. He'll have a week's worth of work to do during his two weeks off, so we'll get an extra paycheck (or two halves of one) next month, on top of the extra one we're getting because of the number of Fridays this month. Some of it will go to the January Money Fund, some to the Laptop Fund, and some to the Emergency Fund.

The $10 auto deposit went into savings today.

$5902.45 Starting EF Amount
+__10.00 Amount of Deposit
-----------
$5912.45 New Amount of EF

I have $87.55 to go to hit my August goal for the EF of $6000.

It turns out what I thought was a check from the food co-op for $7.43 can't be cashed anywhere but at the food co-op, so I haven't redeemed that yet. I don't want to make a special trip and will be shopping there this weekend so that money hasn't gone in yet.

I have been procrastinating like mad on recreating my budget and holding tank spreadsheets. I should be able to do it easily enough between my blog entries and my 2012 spreadsheet and my checking account. I need to do that tonight since it is payday tomorrow.

I need to pop over to the dentist and bring them the check from the insurance company. I've tried a couple of times and they were closed even though it was normal hours. They might have been on vacation. I don't know. I will try again today and if no one is there I will just mail it to them.

Do you ever have one of those months that it just feels like things are cosmically aligned to be out to get you? *sighs* August is one of those months for me.

The latest bit of news is that my pharmacy is closing. This is one of the last locally owned places in town, but the entire store and its sister store are going out of business. Mostly, though, I am upset because I am losing my pharmacist, who was awesome and went above and beyond the call of duty on numerous occasions.

Also they transferred all of my medication
information to Walgreens. I don't really think that's legal to do without patient permission because of medical privacy laws. I know doctor's can't release records without the patient signing something, so I can't see why they would do that.

I don't even know if Walgreens will accept my insurance, so now I have to have DH get on that. And have him check out the grocery store near our home, too. If Walgreens will take it I'd have to have them transfer it to the closer one to us, not the closest one to the old pharmacy, which is what they did.

I don't think the generic blood pressure medication is working. I have felt like crap since going off it. Headache with lots of pressure, average reading has been 130/90 and tonight's was one 140/95, and I feel swollen. And I'm getting dizzy the last few days as the readings have trended up. I'll call my doctor tomorrow and see about trying something else or upping the dose. They gave me a 90 day supply (do not know why because I was only supposed to be trying it for a month to see if it worked). Also my hands and feet have been very, very cold today. I'm not sure if that is a sign of hypertension or not, but it's not normal for me.

And to top it all off, Sweetie Belle bit me. We were doing so well with the behavior modification, too. She didn't break the skin, but it did hurt for a few minutes. I gave her a sharp no, because in my surprise I totally forgot I am supposed to let out a high pitched squeal like a rabbit does when it is hurt to let her know she hurt me. Don't know what I am going to do about her. If she continues to bite, she's out the door after she gives me one good litter. Maybe one of her babies will be nice like our bucks and not crazy like their mother.

She's purebred and pedigreed so I should be able to get a reasonable amount for her. I'd like to at least recoup the feed I've put into her. Despite her being insane, I can't see sending her to freezer camp. She has good bloodlines and will breed well and maybe someone with more patience and no kids would be a better owner for her.

If my spouse were to max out his 401K and he grosses around $175K this year with overtime and bonuses, can he take out an IRA as well? Does his income have any bearing on whether or not I can take out a spousal IRA? His company does not contribute anything at all to the 401K so it won't grow as fast as someone whose company contributes on the first 6%, so I think we'll kind of need to make up for that somehow. We plan to do the catch up when DH turns 50, but that's a little over 6 years away.

My daughter, son, and I made Korean pork dumplings (Mandu) today for the first time. It took all three of us as it is time intensive but less so with all of us working, (one person to separate the wrappers, one person to put the scoop of filling on the wrapper, and one person to seal the dumplings shut with egg white), but they were fantastic and well worth it. And it's a nicely balanced little meal with pork, mirin, dark sesame oil, bean sprouts, scallions, ginger, garlic, egg, and cabbage in a goyza wrapper. Protein, veggies, and carb in one neat little package. It should have had tofu, too, but I didn't want to dry tofu, so I left it out. I should have taken pictures. Ah, well, next time I make them I will take photos and post the recipe.

I liked them even better than the ones from the Korean restaurant in our town or the Hawaiian Barbecue franchise. I can make 100 dumplings for $10 (less if I'd not used free range organic pork from the ranch). They sell for $6 for 10, so quite the cost savings there.

I received a check from the food co-op, dividends for the year of $7.43 (I think) so I will deposit that into the Emergency Fund along with all the ones I have saved tomorrow.

I am hoping I can recreate my budget spreadsheets. I don't have a current copy saved outside my other computer, but I do have my 2012 budget and should be able to extrapolate from there. I think I can figure out what money was in which category of the Holding Tank from previous blog posts, too. From now on I am seriously backing up my spreadsheets onto a flash drive every week. I feel stupid for not doing that.

I think I can get through until payday Friday with only spending $30 on food. That should leave me with a bit of money to shunt into the Emergency Fund.

I've been having troubles with Swagbucks surveys. I get all the way to the end, hit submit, and then it goes Oops, we had a problem and it's lost along with all my time and points. Very irritating. I did get Swagbucks to credit me the 150 points for the one, but they said they'd only do it the once and only because I'd spent so much time on it. The survey companies they do business with really need to get their acts together. Fortunately I was able to make the daily goal without any surveys today. I didn't need the frustration.

I am trying to get back to posting my meal plans on Sunday. I don't even think I bothered to post one last week. I did really well with cooking though. No meals out.

Tomorrow I am going to make Korean pork dumplings for the first time. I am leaving out the dried tofu though. And using savoy cabbage instead of Napa cabbage, because I am not buying a whole head of Napa when the recipe only calls for six leaves of it. At least I can easily use up the rest of a head of savoy in cole slaw. Not quite the same as green or purple cabbage but still tasty. I will also be making a new rabbit recipe that I adapted from a chicken recipe and altered to make it out of ingredients instead of a mix.

Sunday:
Pork dumplings
Watermelon

Monday:
Pancakes with homemade jam
Bacon and eggs
Stir-fried green beans

Tuesday:
Oven-fried Buttermilk Cornmeal Rabbit
Steamed zucchini and yellow summer squash
Corn on the cob
Nectarines

Wednesday:
Grilled chicken
Fried potatoes
Blueberries
Cole slaw

Thursday:
Bacon cheeseburgers on homemade buns
Cole slaw
Watermelon

Friday:
Homemade pizza with pepperoni, yellow onions, ham and bell pepper strips
Blueberries
Salad

Saturday:
Meatloaf
Homemade rolls
Cole slaw
Cantaloupe

I managed to trip and spill a full glass of water on my laptop earlier in the week. I have been in the process of drying it out with a fan while searching for my service contract which I finally did find today. Meanwhile I raided the laptop fund and bought an inexpensive laptop (will replace another one eventually, anyway).

So Windows 8 bites. It really, really bites. I hate it. I loathe it. I cannot even describe the depths of my annoyance with this super user unfriendly system. And I got to know it pretty well, because about the fifth thing I did on it after installing antivirus software and antimalware software and ad block software and Office was contract a virus.

It should not take an act of congress to figure out how to reboot a system in safe mode. It should not be difficult to find the control panel. It should not be hard to get a text list of programs to easily search through for the suspected virus. All these things can be done in Windows 8, but it takes a ton of effort and a lot of internet searching to figure out how. What was Microsoft thinking?

Whoever designed this so-called upgrade should not be allowed to have children. Their DNA should be removed from the human gene pool. Okay, maybe I am overreacting a smidgeon, but it took me two days to get rid of the bloody thing and that only happened because I did a system recovery. Thank goodness I hadn't put much on it yet.

The stupid virus was Quick Share and datasrvrs and made pop up windows that talked. Ugh. Nasty, nasty piece of work.

Then Swagbucks pulled a stupid, but they fixed it for me. Awesome customer service, but then it had better be. I was ready to quit altogether if they didn't.

I also had a meat rabbit die on Sunday, which I don't think I mentioned, so that just set my mood for the week, between weepy and angry and slightly off-kilter. It was 13 weeks old when it died. If we'd have had the time we would have harvested at 12 weeks, but things got in the way, so we are waiting until DH gets back from Alaska. It was just over 6 pounds so it was at least 3.5 pounds of meat we lost. At least it didn't appear to have suffered.

On the bright side I have done really well at cooking meals this week. We had gotten pretty bad about eating out again so I've tried hard to get back on track again this week. One of my favorite things to make is fried potatoes, but I hate peeling them raw. I also hate that it takes quite a while to cook them from raw. So I baked them in the microwave first, which makes them very easy to peel and does not require any attention on my part. Then I cut them up and fried them and it only took ten minutes. A great short-cut and I can always bake them earlier in the day if I know I will be short for time later.

Also on the bright side, all of Piper's kits have their eyes open and have ventured out of the nesting box. And all of Phoebe's kits are turning into fat little butterballs. They are having so much fun playing in the grass and going through their tunnels or jumping over them or playing king of the mountain with them. Watching them makes it hard to keep a bad mood, but then I'd come back inside and growl at my computer again.

Well, venting helped. Thanks for listening.

It's Thursday so the $10 auto transfer to savings happened.

$5892.45 Old EF Amount
+__10.00 Deposit
------------
$5902.45 New EF Amount

$97.55 to go to hit my August goal of $6000.

Is anyone else getting pop up ads on the side of their blogs? I am trying to determine if this is something new to the site or if I just picked up a malware somewhere that just isn't being picked up by my different protection software. It could be the latter as my default search engine was changed this morning and I had to delete the AVG search. UGH.

I am about 2/3 of the way through the book Walden on Wheels. Not sure of the guy's mental state at this point, and am super annoyed at the overuse of the F-word and other certain body part references that are really unnecessary to the narrative, but all in all a pretty good read. The book is supposed to be about a guy who lives in his van while going to graduate school, but it takes more than the first half of the book to get to that point. But it is very interesting so far anyway.

Someone broke into the neighbor's house while I was taking DH to the airport early this evening. I guess they had been going door to door to see who was home and broke in when they found an empty house. They stood out in this neighborhood which is mostly full of doctors, nurses, and other professional families. You don't see a lot of shaved heads (except on the retired marine) and tattoos (except on the retired marine) around here that aren't of the delicate ankle flower variety.

Of course they had aroused suspicion and we all knew the neighbors were out at the lake today (our thriving neighborhood watch gets told of most absences) so when someone saw them go into the backyard they called the police, who were here for a couple of hours. They had three cop cars and one cop SUV with a big German Shepherd. The thieves had time to gather a lot of stuff in backpacks, but when the police arrived with their K-9 unit they dropped them and ran, so it doesn't look like the neighbors lost anything. They tracked them but we never heard whether they caught them or not.

The thieves jimmied the sliding glass door. This is one reason I don't want a sliding glass door when we buy a house. They are so easy to move off their tracks. Our neighbors out at the old house also had a sliding glass door that was jimmied by thieves so I've always been wary of them.

After the airport we had gone to the library and the grocery store, so we were gone about 1.5 hours. It was disconcerting to come back home without DH and see all that police activity. I was really glad I had locked the door when we left. I don't always when Mom is home, but I had a very strong, distinct thought that I should lock it. I am glad it is cool enough tonight that we won't need to sleep with the windows open. I am also very grateful for such a strong and active neighborhood watch and that our neighbors were safe.

We went house hunting today and looked at three houses. One was in town, 1.35 acres, 1950 square feet beautiful four bedroom, 1.5 bath, house in good repair, Craftsman from the 1920's, big kitchen, oak floors in dining room, living room, downstairs bedrooms, slate floors in the kitchen, laundry room and bathrooms, cabinets were solid oak wood, closets were made from cedar with real wooden shelves, full unfinished basement (dry) and root cellar. House stairs to basement too difficult for me, but outdoor access to basement has less and wider stairs, they are wider, and I can easily use them. No garage, no out buildings, no garden, no fence, one apple tree. Blackberries and huckleberries in the small woods in the back. City water/sewer. Great for solar. $299,000.

The second house we looked at was 1625 square feet, three bedroom, two offices, huge kitchen, handi-capped accessible master bedroom and bathroom, 2 full bathrooms, sun room, small green house, apple and pear trees, cherry tree, a huge garden space that had gone back to grass and weeds, but I could tell by the variety that it had excellent soil. Two car garage and shop. Car port over patio. Small garden shed. 2 acres. 23 minutes from town. Septic system and private well. There were water spickets access every 25 feet. It got plenty of sunshine, but had a wooded area with some nicely shaded grass for the rabbits. It had huckleberries and blackberries in the woods. Would be great for solar and wind power. $249,000.

The third house we looked at was 20 minutes out of town the other direction. It was large, 1958 square feet, open floor plan, but turned out to be a triple wide manufactured home (though the deluxe version with sheet rock and walls that actually touch each other. Some of the interior doors were kicked in or punched. It had a large garage, overgrown vegetation, huckleberries and blackberries in the woods. Not much open land in comparison to wooded land. Would not work well for solar or a garden without a lot of clearing. Large trees near the house so branches falling in winter would be a problem and pine needles would be in the gutters constantly. 4.87 acres. Felt very isolated and dark. Neighbors 5 acres away were swearing loudly and yelling at their animals. $300,000.

House 3 is definitely a no-go, while houses 1 and 2 will stay on our list. I am leaning most heavily towards house 2 for land, but house 1 for the house itself, but we still have a long way to go with looking.

Today was payday. I sent $500 to BoA and spent $38.70 on 100 pounds of rabbit feed. I switched to a new feed (will mix with the old to prevent tummy troubles, until old is gone) that was $15.99 for a 50 pound bag plus tax instead of $25.26 a bag plus tax. This is a feed that uses no soy, no corn, and no GMO. It's about 80% organic which is the closest thing I can find to organic in anything other than a 5 pound bag. It is also milled in the next county and most of the ingredients come from my state. They mill weekly so it is pretty fresh.

I've found a few houses that I am very interested in. The front runner at the moment is a fixer upper, but not a devastatingly bad one. It just needs new paint inside and out, the deck needs to be sanded and painted, the light fixtures need updating and the carpets could do with replacing. Normally I wouldn't even look at a house like this. But the bones of the house are very good, the price is great (foreclosure), and the pond is amazing, and the acreage made me look twice. It is $260,000 for five acres and over 3500 square feet. It has outbuildings for the animals. It is about 15 minutes from town. So it is on the list for now. If it is still around when we have sold our house, we will have our contractor look at it and give us his opinion. The taxes are $4500 a year, but with a $1100 mortgage payment, they are affordable.

Not much else in the financial arena.

Today was the $10 auto deposit to savings.

$5882.45 Old EF Amount
+--10.00 Amount Added
----------
$5892.45 New EF Amount

I know some people laugh at my $10 weekly auto deposits, but these baby steps have sure brought me forward over the years.

The propane bill came today and was only $49.91. I set aside $100 a month for propane and the propane fund was at $300. So I took the excess $250.09 and transferred it to the Emergency Fund.

$5632.26 Beginning EF Amount
+_250.09 Amount Added
-----------
$5882.45 Ending EF Amount

My goal for the month of August was to get the EF to $5800, which I have now flown past, so I am revising my goal. I want to hit $6000 by the end of the month. That is $117.55 to come up with. Since there are 4 more Thursdays this month so 4 $10 auto deposits will be made to savings, making $40 of that covered.

I added $3 in ones to the coin jar today, so I have a total of $16 in ones, so that makes $56 and I only need to come up with an additional $61.55 in the next 3.5 weeks. I think that is doable.

I don't think I've mentioned, but I've been dealing with a stomach virus since Sunday. I've been fighting with the insurance company since last Wednesday (going without my blood pressure and cholesterol meds for a week because of it, and the one that helps me walk), which makes me grumpy, vindictive, and...well, it's not a word I use but it rhymes with itchy.

I go to the doctor tomorrow, but for a sinus infection that has been reoccurring for months. I have a feeling I'm going to have to fight the insurance company on the medication I'll need, too. Because I'm resistant to Amoxicillan, Augmentin makes me barf, Biaxin gives me violent stomach cramps, generic penicillin in general gives me yeast infections, and I'm allergic to the sulfa family of drugs.

Which basically leaves me with Zithromax, which does have a generic, but then I have to take two packs in a row, not take a pack, wait five days, then take another pack. All that does is give me even more resistant sinus infections. There is a generic for Zithromax now that works fine for me, so hopefully it won't be an issue. And after all the fighting I've had to do for my medications, it turns out they are cheaper without the insurance. What the heck, Premera, you whiny, grasping, idiot company? Why are you throwing such tantrums over every bloody prescription when it turns out with you it costs $40 and without you it costs $15?

DH is going to talk to the benefit plan person (hopefully) when he gets back up there and let them know just how unhelpful Premera is being. Hopefully other folks are talking to them, too and they'll maybe ditch Premera. At this point, I'd rather go back to Aetna. Oh, and the stupid heads at Premera are sending the checks to reimburse the doctors to us in their name instead of to them even though we signed the paperwork saying to directly reimburse them. This should not surprise me from a company that listed my daughter as spouse and me as a child, but got our ages right. We are still trying to get new cards issued. Um, hello? Anyone home over there? I can't even properly describe how much I loathe this company. Although I think by now you have a good idea of it. *sighs*

Sorry to be such a grumperpotamus. I just really needed to vent. I did get my blood pressure and high cholesterol meds today. Still waiting on the one that helps me to walk.

Well, I didn't forget to plan it. I just forgot to post it. Washington state corn is coming into the stores and I'm taking advantage of it!

Monday:
Slow-cooked rabbit with leeks, onions, carrots, and celery
Cantaloupe

Tuesday:
Rabbit Noodle Soup
Fresh crusty bread
Cantaloupe

Wednesday:
Slow-cooked beef chuck roast
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Corn on the cob
Cole slaw

Thursday:
Whole roasted chicken (olive oil, basil, oregano, salt and pepper)
Baked potatoes
Corn on the cob
Cole slaw

Friday:
Bacon cheeseburgers
Fried potatoes
Salad with cheese, sunflower seeds, and 1000 Island yogurt dressing
Blueberries

Saturday:
Homemade Pizza (onion, bell pepper strips, pepperoni, ham)
Corn on the cob
Birthday cake (homemade)
Salad (as above)
Watermelon

Sunday:
TexMex chicken and rice (made with leftover chicken from Thursday)
Corn on the cob
Green beans
Watermelon

I didn't think it was humanly possible to have a worse insurance than Aetna, but DH's company's new insurance, Premera, is proving me wrong. They are automatically not allowing any brand name prescription medications even though the plan covers brand name medications. They are making us get preapproval for every freaking medication that is not a generic.

I have 3 medications that I have to take the brand name drug for, one of which basically keeps me walking. I have been through every generic in the book and they either had side effects that made me ill, or simply did not do the job right. I am so tired of insurance companies who think they know better than the doctor.

Medical insurance is supposed to be a benefit, not a hoop that they expect us to jump through every time we need to refill a prescription. We bloody well pay enough for it every month, plus the $2500 deductible. Premera was supposed to take over the contract as it was, but so far they aren't. They are only covering 60% of dental exams and cleanings when it is supposed to be 100%. Even with generics, a drug that was $2.53 before is now suddenly $15. It doesn't even cost $15. The pharmacy cash price is $11.03 so that is how I had them run it. I am just so frustrated.

Now I have to run down to the doctor's office, which is pretty out of the way, and give them my new insurance card information so they can sort everything out. Or try to. And hope I don't get charged for an office visit. Grr.

I added $2.95 to the coin jar today with the eventual destination of the EF. I also found a penny yesterday.

$400.00 Property Tax Fund
__19.00 Dues Fund
_300.00 Propane Fund
_500.00 Hawaii 2018 Fund
_505.21 Appliance Fund (Freezer)
_444.11 January Money
_600.00 College Fund
_700.00 Laptop Fund (DH Replacement)
1000.00 Laptop Fund (DD)
_400.00 Christmas Fund
-----------
$4868.32 Total Funds in Funds

And I also have $19 and $72 set aside for garbage and water/sewer which are paid every two months.

I paid the majority of the bills for the month from this paycheck and sent money to all of the funds. I need to create two new funds though. One for the transfer fee when we sell our house (in case we are the ones who have to pay it and not the new buyers) and one for the Thanksgiving turkey. Don't laugh. Organic pastured turkeys are expensive.

We went down to the ranch today and bought meat. We ended up with 4 beef chuck roasts, 1 pork shoulder roast, 8 pork chops, 1 bottle of their seasoning (which they threw in for free) and 18 pounds of hamburger for $300. They had some stewing hens for $7 each and I was really tempted, because old hens make the best broth, but I decided I'd rather spend that money on hamburger. And I knew I'd be making rabbit stock on Monday anyway.

We also went to a family reunion for a few hours before going to the ranch. It was okay. It's DH's mother's side of the family. Not too many people showed up this year. I got to see how big some of the babies have gotten and one of the cousins is pregnant. I was kind of bored because the people I usually talk to weren't there.

We swung by the house since it was sort of on the way back home. It's rather gorgeous inside, but...but, but, but, the stuff that was supposed to get done today did not get done. The new gutters are not up, the shed and play structure still have not been painted and the touch ups on the porch and on two of the outside walls where other paint colors show up haven't been done. I don't even think any of them worked today. *sighs* I will be so glad when this is really over. It was supposed to be done today. Not even close.

Anyway, here's the money out for this payday:

$1000.00 to BoA (will pay more next week)
__300.00 to Mom for August utilities
___24.05 Electric (Old House)
___44.87 Phone (Old House)
___72.56 Internet
___19.00 Garbage (Holding Tank)
__100.00 Hawaii 2018 Fund
___19.00 HoA Dues (Old House, Holding Tank)
__100.00 Property Tax Fund (Holding Tank)
__225.00 Monthly Family Chiropractic Care
__100.00 Propane Fund (Old House, Holding Tank)
__100.00 College Fund
__100.00 Appliance Fund
__100.00 Christmas Fund
__100.00 Laptop Fund
__300.00 Beef Fund
__100.00 Cash for week
___40.00 Allowances
__757.82 Car payment (plus extra)
------------
$3602.30 Total Money Out

I feel like we are really staying on top of things right now. I will still need to buy some produce, but we shouldn't need to buy meat for 6 to 8 weeks. I don't envision any other spending this next week.

Today was the day of the $10 auto deposit to savings, so I added that to my Emergency Fund. I also added the interest from my C1-360 account of $4.22.

$5618.14 Old EF Amount
+__14.22 Deposit and Interest Added
-----------
$5632.26 New EF Amount

My goal for the EF for August is $5800. I have $167.64 to go.

On Monday I added $6.08 to the coin jar. Yesterday I added $2.55.

Yesterday we bought 2 bales of horse quality hay and a 50 pound bag of feed for the rabbits. We also bought three feeder dishes to attach to the tractors for the various sets of kits and one of the 32 ounce glass water bottles since they had one in. And we bought a tunnel for the littlest kits. I can't find my receipts, DH might have them, but we spent close to $85.

We got takeaway yesterday from the Polynesian place, so that was $33.85.

I got gas on Tuesday, $50.00. (It shuts off automatically at $50, and I didn't want to go inside to further authorize my credit card). We haven't spent that much on gas this summer at all. This is the first time I think I've filled up since June.

Yesterday I got a prescription for $11.03.

And I think that covers all of the spending this week.

I am trying to get my grocery budget back under control again. Menus are based on foods currently in the fridge or freezer. I'd prefer not to go to the store for the rest of the week, except for milk.

Monday:
Teriyaki Pulled Pork in the crockpot
Homemade buns
Cherries
Cole slaw

Tuesday:
Fried chicken
Fried potatoes
Broccoli/cauliflower
Blueberries

Wednesday:
Waffles
Strawberries with whipping cream
Ham

Thursday:
Slow cooked rabbit in the crockpot with potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery
Cherries
Cole slaw

Friday:
Bacon cheeseburgers
Homemade French Fries
Leftover broccoli/cauliflower
Blueberries

Saturday:
Homemade pizza with pepperoni, ham, yellow onion and bell pepper strips
Cole slaw

Sunday:
Slow cooked beef chuck roast
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Green beans
Blueberry cornbread muffins

The workers are done with the inside of the house! The new gutters go up next weekend and the storage shed and the play structure get painted. That is supposed to be it. I really, really hope it is. They have spray painters so the painting won't take long at all. Hopefully that means we will be able to get it on the market in 8 days.

Although we might have a honey bee's nest that will have to be taken care of under the house. There are people on craigslist who are beekeepers who remove swarms of honeybees, so they might be able to deal with it. Mom wasn't sure, she just saw some honey bees going into a vent under the house, so she just suspects it. I haven't seen it.

I just want to put it up for sale. And sell it. And go house hunting. There are some nice small farms coming on the market and I'd like to maybe have the opportunity to actually buy one. I've seen three that at least in photos are perfect for our needs, and four or five that will do. I am really anxious to get started on the next phase of our lives, you know?

Today was payday. I transferred $100 to the EF and I had $36.50 in my coin jar ready to deposit so did that as well. This brings my EF to $5618.14. My goal for July was to get the EF to $5500, so I exceeded that quite nicely. My goal for August is $5800. I also added $5.54 to the coin jar this evening.

It looks like DH's next shift will be a 3 weeks on/1 week off, so we will definitely get one extra paycheck. DH says there is enough work that he will probably do two 3 and 1's. If that is so, we should be able to pay off the mortgage by the end of September without touching the Emergency Fund. I had forgot about the extra paycheck, of which we can send $3000 to the mortgage.

I made a mortgage payment today leaving us with a new total of $10616.89. Minus $3000 in principal will leave us at $7616.89. There will be the August payment of $700 minus the 52.50 interest, which will put us at 6969.39. Two extra paychecks in August and September will give us $7200. So if that all works out it's gone. I hope it does. I will be so happy if it does. I just want to own it free and clear, so that if it takes a while to sell, at least we are not making payments meanwhile.

Then that will leave just the van loan to start throwing money at. Without the mortgage payment and the extra principal we've been paying each month, we should be able to throw $1500 at the van loan each month.

Okay, on to the accounting of the paycheck:

$1000.00 to Mom Loan
__700.00 to mortgage
___90.00 Physical Therapy
___45.67 House Insurance
___41.16 Security Monitoring (Old House)
__168.00 Storage
___32.70 Life Insurance Me
___39.53 Life Insurance DH
___66.62 Car Insurance
__100.00 Emergency Fund
__100.00 Laptop Fund
__100.00 Freezer Fund
___80.00 Kids
__100.00 Cash for Week
----------
$2663.68

I also spent $200 on groceries and $100 to build up my over the counter medicine stock. I needed to buy Zyrtec, nasal spray, cold medicine, sleeping medicine, and heartburn meds. I also bought two bottles of hair dye.

DD dyed my hair tonight. It takes two bottles because from root to ends it measures two feet long and it is so thick it is ridiculous. So no more gray at all. It's a darker auburn than my own hair which is sort of a brownish, goldish, red with grey streaks at my temples that when I was much younger were naturally ash blonde streaks. I used to say I had chameleon hair because it has so many colors in it.

We used a natural hair dye that my food co-op sells. I haven't colored my hair in a couple of years so it kind of surprised me what a difference it makes. It took forever to rinse out, though. I think I may cut my bangs again. They are already in my eyes. I have gotten quite good at bang trims. I have been debating going in to have it done, but honestly, if it is just a bang trim it seems silly to waste $10.

I added $3.41 to the coin jar.

I paid the dues for the HoA at the old house. I read the enclosed letter and am mightily irked. Because so many people are letting their homes go into foreclosure, they are charging a $299 transfer fee. This really makes me furious with them. I have always paid my dues on time, I have always abided by all of their stupid rules, and when I sell my house I am going to have to pay them $299. It feels punitive and should not be put onto the folks who don't walk away. Also, if people are in foreclosure, it's not like they will have $299 to hand over to the HoA.

It certainly isn't in the CC&R's I signed. Of course the CC&R's I signed were for free use of the golf course, which they sold to a developer a few years later without input from the homeowners, free use of the swimming pool, which they charged special dues for to repair, and then the next year filled in with concrete so no more pool. They are supposed to maintain the greenways, but never did. Certainly not the one next to my house that I mowed weedeated for years every time it got 18 inches tall. They have $85,000 in the road repair fund (again raised with special dues), but almost never fix the potholes. They are whining about the clubhouse roof again, even though it was roofed five years ago, again with special dues.

I think I will send a "demand" letter when we sell asking them to waive the fee because of their failure to do anything out there and it generally being a sucky move on their part for all the reasons given above. Only in grown up speak. Also, it wasn't voted on. And if I have to pay it to avoid a lien then I am seriously considering trying to recoup it in small claims court. I don't think they can enforce something that wasn't in the contract I signed. They haven't put forth new contracts in 15 years. But who knows?

I darn well will never, ever buy a home with an HoA again.

Today is the auto transfer of $10 to savings. That brings the Emergency Fund to $5481.64.

I haven't been doing much on my Swagbucks the last couple days. Yesterday's goal was ridiculous. Dunno if I'll bother with today's either. Since they changed the Encrave offerings so you have to stay on the page the entire time it's running and can't do two or three things at once I've decided it's too much of a time waster.

Half the time when I do a SB search it tries to download a Trojan (SB is bad for this). Half of the videos don't even load even though I consistently update my flash player. It's getting so it is not worth the hassle. So I'm just passively running SBTV on the side of my page and periodically checking for codes. I'll put in the minimum effort to get my $25 in gift cards each month, but if they are going to make it too hard and too time consuming I may give up on those, too.