Just a 46-year-old mom of 2 in Northern California. My kids are Monkey Monkey(MM) and Drama Llama (DL). I am married to Monkey Hubby (MH). **Feeling lighter:
--Shredded a huge pile of financial documents. Most of which are moot any more, in the electronic age. Phew!
--Gave away my wedding dress! It was a huge space hog that I have been wanting to get rid of for a long time. I tried to sell it but wasn't sure of size and really didn't want to open the box and deal with it. I was only getting flaky no-shows. So, dh asked me if he could list it for free over the weekend - he was sick of it taking up space in the living room - it was gone basically in minutes. It seems we couldn't give it away last we tried. It sat in my closet for 13 years - I am so relieved it is gone!
I could let it sit in my closet another decade, but it had to go before we downsized. The people who took it were extremely grateful, so dh felt happy about it. BUT, they hadn't even taken it out of the box yet. !! Will see... I hope they like it and that I was in the ballpark with the size.
**Since it is the most expensive year ever, the big expense this month is new van tires. I thought I was keeping more on top of things, but we had some rain and I glanced at the tires as I left Tuesday, out of habit when the weather turns. I was horrified when I looked closely at the tires - getting kind of bald. So, the van has been grounded - will get the new tires today. Turns out we got good tires - they have about 60k miles on them. I was shocked we had bought them all 4 at once and they all still seem to be the original. In the past I have had horrible tire luck. Dh's car is on a "replace 2 at a time" schedule, so is usually more of a non-event. I think two of his tires are on schedule to be changed, but they look pretty darn good - like they actually have some tread. 
I'll look more closely once we get the van in tip top shape. His two tires will still be mostly a non-event - smaller and cheaper.
We have a big road trip in a few weeks, so it will be nice to have new tires. We were going to take the car in for a check closer to our trip. We decided to get a "safety check" with the new tires and will do an oil change the week before, just to have a double check of fluid levels and such.
I also won't be surprised if it needs some brake work or if it's time to change some belt. Will see... I've crossed 100k miles since last I took the van in to our mechanic, so he might recommend some preventative work. Might not, since they only recommend work that is truly necessary. I am sure they aren't cheapest for the tires, but the peace of mind is priceless.
**I am shuffling bank accounts around. I am going to close a CU account I have that has dropped interest rates over the years. I have about $24,000 over there and transferred the bulk of the money over last night. Honestly, we have saved up much more money several times over. We put a $50,000+ down payment on our first condo. & so on... So, on some mental level, it's nothing *that* exciting. BUT, when I transferred all that money to my checking account, my heart skipped a beat. Holy cow!! What a lot of money to move around at once. Just some thoughts like, "Man, I hope I didn't screw this up and send this to someone else's account." Which is a ridiculous worry.
For reference, $23,000 is more than we paid for both our current cars, combined. It is a huge chunk of change! It's just funny how one small difference in looking at it can make it feel so different.
I also wanted to share because it was a savings effort over time.
I opened this account in 2009 with $5. I transferred over $7,000 from another savings account. The rest was saved over time. I added around $7000 over the course of 4 years. (An average of $145 per month). I earned about $500 of interest on this account. I deposited $9,000 of overtime money into this account and $5,000 in gifts. I pulled $3,000 out at some point to put down on the mortgage.
That said, most of that build-up was only in the last couple of years. We had gotten to a place where we could just save 100% of our windfalls, to cash.^^ Because our IRAs were maxed out and we were contributing a fair amount of extra to mortgage, and so on.
I actually pulled out the home repair monies, this past month or so, from another account.
^^This just means that we have no other needs or obvious goals. Cash is holding tank for mortgage paydown or other investments. Or in this case, we could really use some cash.
**This reminds me:
Mortgage progress!
Got my paycheck and paid the mortgage. Added $25 for credit card rewards. & added $10 carpool money. I calculated $1 per day, and rounded up a bit for the very short school month. Our next payment will put us in the $190,500 realm. If we hadn't had such a year, I'd just throw an extra $501 to it and be done. Down to the $189,999. That 8 looks so nice! Another $10k milestone.
The reality is it is going to have to wait a couple of more months. I doubt I will put anything more than snowflakes to the mortgage for the rest of the year. The year has been too brutal. I will have paid $6,000-ish in home repairs and would still like to pre-pay $2,000 to the property taxes. I think it's fair to give up in a year like this, but doesn't mean I give up for the long run. Next year will be a new year. I won't beat myself up that I had $8,000 cash to direct to other home stuff. Maybe next year I will have $8,000 extra for the mortgage. I can hope!
This & That
September 5th, 2013 at 01:23 pm
September 5th, 2013 at 02:20 pm 1378390832
September 5th, 2013 at 08:40 pm 1378413631
September 5th, 2013 at 10:18 pm 1378419521
September 5th, 2013 at 11:02 pm 1378422147
Just unbelievably nosey.
September 6th, 2013 at 12:45 am 1378428358
September 6th, 2013 at 02:38 am 1378435104
September 6th, 2013 at 08:29 pm 1378499391
I know you'll have that mortgage balance down to $189k by the end of the year.
September 7th, 2013 at 05:47 pm 1378576050
September 7th, 2013 at 05:48 pm 1378576085