Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Same old, same old here.

My Dad was diagnosed with cancer. The survival rate of this cancer is 97%. Along those lines, they are doing nothing to treat this cancer (for the moment). It's just such an ugly and scary word. Honestly, 90% of why I am writing this down is so that I remember. I will never otherwise remember in this sea of terrible/worse news.

Other things going on...

I booked a very cute hotel in "Little Denmark" in Southern California. We are going to mostly redo the trip I missed in the fall. The purpose of this trip, during spring break, is to visit the small private college than MM(16) is very interested in. This college tour is more for the adults, since he has already been. I wasn't exactly planning to redo the trip I missed (I ended up being too sick to go). But as we get into the details we are using the in-law timeshare first two nights (2-night minimum) and we have to keep it to 3 nights if we don't want to board our cat. So we are just booking the same trip. Otherwise I might have added a night and stayed in Pismo Beach the last night. But we both have work and need to get back anyway.

We always stay at the same property in LA. It's a few blocks from Disney. MH mentioned the place cost "pennies" as far as timeshare points. Didn't think much about that until I typed it out just now. It certainly adds a convenience factor if we have a free home base that we can use frequently near this college.

Back to heavier things, we are also planning to relive our honeymoon for our 20th Anniversary in the fall. Going to Florida and spend some time with MH's Grandfather. He is slowing down considerably and so that is why we decided to kill two birds with one stone. & so it will be some parts fun and some parts heavy.

Florida, will figure out later. MH also wants to go to a film festival in Austin in the fall. I am writing this down for the, "I will never remember this" category.

{Edited to add: I started this post a few days ago. We may start locking in super cheap airfare during this panic}.

We are so spoiled by the weather right now. It's probably a very early spring. But usually spring is a season I don't really get to experience. After working in tax for 20-ish years. Last year I was working two jobs through May, so I most definitely did not experience Spring 2019. This may be the only thing lifting my mood right now. It was 80F degrees the last few days.

Of course, the down side to the weather is we haven't had any winter slowdown whatsoever and work is crazed. Because, of course... *sigh*

I still have a ways to go, but I suppose I feel more "caught up" and in some realm of normal. I've got quite a few little things that if I could just knock out this weekend I would feel pretty good. I need to wrap up some side work (major procrastinating), mail our state tax return (saves me $20 versus e-file), freecycle a couple of more items, etc. I am going to try very hard to get through most of this list Friday so that I can enjoy my weekend.

{I failed because Friday was totally and completely insane.}

There was a coronavirus death a couple of blocks from my office. There was no one on the roads the next day. ??? I called MH and said, "Is it Saturday?" He said no. I said, "Must be Coronavirus, I don't know." Yup, Bingo. I am glad the people in my office seem to be sane. Yes, of course you should stay home if you are ill or immunocompromised, but the freeways that day were a sign of extreme panic.

& Be Greedy when others are fearful.

That pretty much sums it up right now.

**15-year mortgage at 2.25%

**London non-stop flights $350 (round trip) from San Francisco

I'll run the mortgage #s this weekend, but seems a no-brainer at this point. Even with our only 5-ish years timeline in our current home. Heck, if we were further along on the college process I'd maybe even cash out some. (I am not participating in scammy student loans. Borrowing close to 2% for college without all the "student loan" red tape is another story). But it's too early, it's still very likely MM(16) will pick a college that costs pennies.

We are probably going to lock in some airfare this weekend (planned trips to Austin and Orlando). We may also consider some unplanned trips.

It's official. Ting is on the Verizon network now.

See blog link for how it works:

GIFTS:
------
$50 Barnes & Noble
$20 x 6 Target


MOVIES:
--------
$100 Regal


RESTAURANTS:
------------
$50 Cracker Barrel
$50 Olive Garden
$25 Chili's
$ 25 x 2 Jamba Juice (Birthday Gift)


RETAIL:
---------
$50 Kohls (Christmas Gift)
$ 50 x 3 Target

Note: Edited over time to remove used gift cards.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is the "Digging Out" edition of "Gift Card Balance" Updates.

Because... I was cleaning up and found a gift card I apparently completely forgot about. It was received the end of 2017 (just before life became endlessly insane). So yeah, that makes sense.

Edited to add: Ended up finding a second gift card today. MH had been asking me about the B&N gift card and I told him, "That's old, there's nothing on it."

I am too careful to just toss them, so I did double check. But I was really shocked that either card had a balance on them still. That was a nice $75 find today.

I am documenting now so that I don't forget again.

Yesterday was a day of finding things to make my life easier.

I just happened to see in the morning that DL's school was doing e-waste collections. If nothing else, we still had MM's old car stereo (the one that came with the car he inherited) and it's pretty big and bulky. So I figured I would drop that off. I also had a shoebox full of stuff (the older stuff, Best Buy probably wouldn't take). Hell froze over and MH let me recycle my first two smart phones. (He likes to hoard things, I've already asked a few times before. So I Was absolutely shocked when he said he had wiped the data and he was ready to let them go). MH also came up with another box. Some old mice, an old car stereo, some watches, a remote control car, and lots of computer cables. Stuff like that.

They took everything. That was so easy! We already started a box for next time. If we have something big and bulky we will take it over to Best Buy, but for all the little things that add up this is a much easier alternative.

We still have the old HDTV. I am waiting for my (newly divorced) friend to pick it up. She is starting over from scratch so is appreciative of the hand-me-down.

I did sell an item last week for $15. I had been trying to sell for maybe 6 months, but finally got it sold.

I did freecycle 6 empty cat litter buckets last week.

I had also just happened to take in all of our old batteries (several years worth) to the community center last week. It's where my aerobics class is but I stopped going for a few years and then I kept forgetting to take the batteries. It wasn't a separate trip so I guess it's just good I got it done, but we could have dropped those off at the school yesterday if we still had them.

A charity is coming by next week. I always have a perpetual bag of outgrown clothes and other items we no longer want or need.

That I remembered the batteries or dealt with the cat litter buckets, I think is a good sign. That I have the mental capacity to deal with any of that whatsoever... I've mostly dug from under 2018/2019. Phew!

The overall bigger picture is that I took an 8-hour professional class last weekend. (After it got delayed twice. Because of course...). The exciting thing about this is that it was my last big class for all of the rest of 2020. Woohoo! Maybe it sounds like extra punishment to push ahead so far after digging out, but I Was using the momentum, my "unlimited class pass" expires in May, and... If life continues anything like it has been the past two years, I don't take the calm and quiet weekends for granted. I scramble to get things done, because otherwise they never get done.

That feels so good. & probably explains how I have any mental energy whatsoever to deal with anything else.

I ended up being a couple of weekends later than planned, but my plan was for a do-nothing February. Not that I will literally do nothing, but just wanted to get all the nasty chores behind me and then slow down and take a breather.

I am kicking off the do-nothing "1/2 February" with a long 4-day weekend. A very well needed break. I don't mind doing some chores this weekend and focusing energy on the house. IT's just going to be more of a "doing what I feel like doing" kind of weekend, with no big commitments. I am also happy to just be doing current chores and not worrying about playing catch up.

Walgreens just totally blew my mind.

I think because we have a Walgreens very close to our home (really the only store within reasonable walking distance), I've just always gone there for convenience. It's not like it's a big deal to stop by on the way home and pick up a couple of things. (Though I otherwise tend to spend about -0- hours of my time "running errands").

I had an email today about a Walgreens coupon. I know I needed to pick up some feminine products and I had so many coupons at this point I just started throwing them in an online cart to see how the coupons sorted out.

Well, it sorted out to saving about $15. With FREE shipping. What!?

Once I applied all the coupons, it wasn't free (shipping) any longer, but I knew I needed some deoderant and could restock the toothpaste, so I picked up a few more "needs". The total savings ended up being $18 between sales and coupons. With free shipping.

MH already nagged me about carbon footprint, yadda yadda. I honestly don't give a flip. But it's probably rare that I will ever stock up on so much stuff anyway. For this order, I most definitely don't give a flip.

We don't buy anything in "bulk", but I will generally purchase two of every toiletry item just to lessen my trips to the store. (Buying two of everything and using sparingly, this might only mean one store visit every 6 months, if that even).

This probably explains why I have never been more strategic in this area. The other reason is my feminine product spending has always been very low. The exception has been since around 2017 when my hormones went whacked. Now I buy a *lot* of feminine products. Or at least a lot compared to any frame of reference that I have. It's probably wise to shop more carefully with coupons and so on. This just happened during a (rare) more high income time in my life so I haven't really bothered. But today Walgreens blew my mind and I feel silly for not doing this all along. (I look up coupons sometimes and stock up when there's deals, but clearly I could be doing better with this and all of our toiletry purchases).

Walgreens also makes it *so easy* to use manufacturer coupons online.

Received $70 bank interest for the month of January.

Snowflakes to Investments:
--Redeemed $0 credit card rewards (cash back) from our grocery card (back to 6% with the new year, but it pays out a month behind, thus $0 for now)
--Redeemed $99 cash back on Citi card
--Redeemed $21 cash back on dining/gas card

Other snowflakes to Investments:
--Redeemed $12 cash back on Amazon Prime card
+ $ 5 Savings from Target Red Card (grocery purchases)

TOTAL: $137 snowflakes to investments

401k Contributions/Match:
+$415

Snowball to Savings:
+$415 Side Income

Savings (From my paycheck):
+$ 550 to cash (mid-term savings)
+ $100 extra to mortgage

Short-Term Savings (for non-monthly expenses within the year):
+$1,500 to cash (Bumped up for 2020)
-$ 837 Home Insurance
-$ 160 Dentist
-$ 120 Prepay school lunch

TOTAL: $2,070 Deposited to Cash and Investments

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Only one paycheck this month. Literally, because my prior check had been advanced 12/31. MH is also off work. Thus, lower 401k #s this month.

Cash/Interest will be on the higher side until we fund our IRAs. It never makes any sense to decide until the year is over. Will start transferring the $12k to our IRAs (for 2019) once we finalize our 2019 tax return. (Until then, I don't have final #s of what we can contribute to tax-deductible Traditional IRAs; the difference will go to ROTH IRAs.)

Of course, I am always a month behind because these numbers reflect January Income minus December spending (December spending charged and paid off January 1). So when I sit down and enter all my income/expenses for the next month, I already know how the next month will shake out. Because spending is already fairly locked in.

Ugh, February is ugly! Spent way too much money in January. I have side income coming in (if I get it billed), MH should have one small paycheck (for at least 2 days) and I have cash out my ears. I know MH picked up a few Christmas things his mom reimbursed him for. & we treated the whole fam out to dinner again (another student concert for DL) and someone slipped us cash. Got some cash gifts for Christmas ($20 here and there). Plus, I sold a treadmill for $250 cash. This was before I got sick, so might have been November. We were going to turn around and buy a newer (used) instrument for DL. But then I got sick and it fell off my radar. I may keep the $250 on hand for that, but I have so much cash piling up otherwise it's past time to make a deposit. I will cobble together the extra money and make February work (and will zero out deposits versus expenses).

I am just going to roll with it this month and hope for a better February (spending). I know the problem is probably that our budget is way too tight. But we rolled with it so much last year I just left it that way. I just added some significant breathing room with my raise, so figured if we were muddling along without the raise, will do fine without. This just works for our personalities, we rather err on the side of over-saving. Better to save $500 and then have to pull out $100 if we were too aggressive. I will give it a couple of more months to see how things shake out. It may be too too tight, and we will adjust if necessary.

Edited to add: MH has one more paycheck than I realized, in February. He is paid bi-weekly and I got confused on the weeks. He just received a paycheck for $12. 😂 But will be a bigger one in two weeks. I am going to go ahead and change my numbers, and do our deposit to investments for January. If nothing else, I have *cash* to cover that.

Just tracking gift cards.


GIFTS:
------
$ 20 x 6 Target


MOVIES:
--------
$100 Regal


RESTAURANTS:
------------
$50 Cracker Barrel
$50 Olive Garden
$ 25 x 2 Jamba Juice (Birthday Gift)


RETAIL:
---------
$50 Kohls (Christmas Gift)
$ 50 x 4 Target

Note: Edited over time to remove used gift cards.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We've actually been using up some gift cards. Re-gifted a movie gift card and got through some restaurant gift cards.

What a week!

I will start with last weekend. We had our weekend away in Napa and it was lovely. We ended up using our Ruth Chris gift card the Friday before we went out of town. We did one fancy dinner out (Napa), as planned.

The highlight of our weekend was a 3-hour hike we did last Sunday. It was *amazing* and we didn't see a single other soul on the trail. A hidden gem, for sure. These are just a couple of pictures, or a small fraction of the views we saw.





Recent Post:
I can't tell you what I am doing with this latest reset. Crossing my fingers that the tornado around me loses some steam? I'm trying to be more assertive with work hours? But... this only works when everyone isn't out with some emergency or other.

This last week:
My employee was at the hospital all day Monday and thought she would likely undergo emergency surgery. So the work/life balance went down the tubes last week, between that and deadlines.

It only went downhill from there.
--Work Drama (including my other employee being MIA)
--Friend's divorce drama (horrible and exhausting)
--More work emergencies** (a spouse in hospital)
--Sudden death of a childhood/family friend who was 40 (flu/asthma?)

**Have I ever mentioned I work for a very small employer? Yeesh!

Honestly, it was kind of low on the "crazy scale" of late. Because in the past I really didn't mean to be cryptic but it was all happening faster than I could ever remember or process. I ended up having a mostly quiet weekend (this time) and so I can share at all some of the insanity. Which makes it one of the calmer crazy weeks of last two years.

My employee is doing fine. For now. So that is the best news I have right now.

If you hadn't heard, Ting is adding the Verizon network. They initially had the Sprint network, and then added T-Mobile at some point. Later this year it will be all three networks.

They don't have a date yet, but I will pass along if I hear. I just read that they want to roll out the Verizon option early this year.

It's nice to have the multiple options. At current I am on the Sprint network and MH is on the T-Mobile network. I will probably want to switch over to Verizon. This way, when we travel, we have better coverage. It's a neat perk that we aren't locked into all having to be on the same cell network.

I haven't otherwise done a cell/Ting update in a while. Not much to report. My mom dropped off of our plan. We had been going in 50/50 with my parents, for a while. But when we added our kids, I was just having my parents reimburse me $144 per year for their two lines ($6/month/each). We were using most the data/minutes and it wasn't worth tracking once we got so lopsided. Then my mom dropped out mid-2019 so I didn't ask them for any reimbursements last year. Will just cover my dad's cell phone ($6/month, plus some occasional extra travel expenses).

I just looked through the past several months and we've been paying $80 most months. That works out to $16 per month per line.

If you haven't heard of Ting, it's a no-contract, no-commitment cell service. You only pay for what you use. We just pay the $6/line and then we pool all of our data/texts/minutes, which are charged in addition.

We have been using Ting since 2013. They have been exceptional.

My Ting Referral Code:

I think we've always been fairly balanced and there's been an element of "cashing in past frugality" throughout my entire blog. Heck, my husband staying home with kids is probably the epitome of that. But I also think that set us backwards (you know, cutting our income in half) and so maybe it *feels* like it more these days that we are cashing in. There is definitely more to cash in, these days.

I think I am done working OT (for the rest of my life), so that is pretty sweet.

I am still loving my car, which has been a significant step up from any prior car we have owned.

Just some examples.

& now one more...

I personally *love* the gym and actually go to the gym. But... Our old gym went out of business and transferred me to a really horrible gym. I ended up dropping my membership last year. But... even the prior gym I had made some concessions for a gym that actually would fit my budget.

Because I had taken such a large pay cut, I did not feel that I could seriously join another gym last year. I have been going to my aerobics classes ($2.50 per class) and I never feel stronger than when I go to those classes regularly. (It's more of an aerobics/yoga/calisthenics class; the stretching is really key for me). I also purchased a heavy duty (used) elliptical machine. It's a long story, but haven't really used much. It may be too harsh on my knees. I have been really really careful because once I hurt my knee then I am down and have to start all over. I am already in "start over" mode with being so sick the end of last year. I was out at least 4 weeks that I could not work out at all. So, no idea if I will ever use or keep elliptical. It sounds more ideal but the really good ones are very large and expensive. I don't know if I will ever be happy with a home version. This was my giving it a try.

In the end, DL(14) is really into weights and working out. He has a pull up bar and some weights and he seems very happy with that. In fact, I think I mentioned the gym to him a few weeks ago (I don't remember why). & he was kind of just, "I am not a gym person." Maybe being a little too cheap and stingy. But apparently he started thinking about it and had a change of heart. I told MH that I was fine with it. That MM(16) started doing gymnastics around the same age, which is roughly $100 per month. So I threw out $100/month budget. Thinking that the adults might have to join also and just being open minded to giving him a comparable "gift". Not that I expected it to end up being that much.

MH and DL have been shopping around the gyms. But some of them don't even allow kids at all. Planet Fitness is silly for someone who wants to do big heavy weights (we just got one in the past few months, too bad because that one is probably more my style). We are getting a 24 Hour Fitness soon and so the gym we joined may be a placeholder until 24 Hour opens up. But the only thing that worked at all was a smaller regional gym that is fairly high end. They have *all* the amenities. Talk about a complete 180. Definitely the fanciest gym I have ever belonged to. I guess DL(14) had good timing, with all the January deals.

Oh yeah, but I have to back up. I really thought he would just join a more discount gym, at first. Some of the kids' friends were really pushing that they join the gym we ended up with. My initial reaction? UGH! For one, the sticker price is totally insane. (But no one actually pays that). These are people who are all in major financial messes. So this is why my initial reaction was to roll my eyes. I really did not think we would end up there.

But we did, because that's what works for us now. DL(14) is in heaven. I told MH I loved the gym and I am not picky. As long as they have ellipticals that work, is all I really care about. So he was a little nervous to sign up without me seeing it, but he did it. We all went over there last Sunday, to check it out. It was definitely a good choice. It's *January* and I didn't have any trouble finding a machine. So I think I am good. My needs are very basic.

MM(16) did not want to join. Fair enough, he runs 50+ miles per week with track.

We ended up paying about $85/month for the three of us. We chose this gym specifically because they allow minors to attend (and join?) without adults. It was also the only one that a minor could join that he liked at all.

When the friends were pushing and that was where we ended up, all I could think was I glad we saved our dollars in the past. This might be just a few years (max) that we enjoy the amenities of the larger gym. But we are more able to do that because it's not something we "expected" that we must have for the past 20 years.

In the end I think this is probably a zero net change to our budget because MM(16) has no time for gymnastics whatsoever with his current school/sports schedule. So it may just be that I move the gymnastic dollars over to the gym dollars. Just shifting things around a bit.

Edited to add: I almost forgot to mention, this is how DL(14) is dealing with his mental health ups and downs. Working out has helped him tremendously. It's really the only thing that seems to be helping him.

Also, I am glad my son knows that this is most definitely a "want"; he was doing very fine without.

I received dividend 1099s yesterday so was able to complete our taxes. I just am waiting for tax software updates now. (I probably won't finalize until I take my tax update class, probably in another week. Make sure I am not missing anything).

Now I am focusing on the kids. DL(14) didn't have any stock sales last year so I should just be able to report his interest/dividends on my tax return. The taxes on that should be $0.

I tried to pull their 12/31 statements to confirm YTD interest income last night but it was +$9 which didn't seem right. I thought the statement was off and decided to deal with it later. Well, this morning I am going through all of DL's statements making sure they match my financial records. I had no idea that their "7% interest" credit union had also done a special dividend this year. +$9, which made the actual interest rate on that account 9% for the year. Wow! (They got a bonus $8/$9 from both of their credit unions).

DL(14) had $53 interest income this year. His allowance was $150 for the year and he deposited another $325 cash during the year. It's hard to say because we switched him from cash to electronic system mid-year when we opened his checking account. Some of that cash may have been accumulated allowance money or gifts from prior years. & clearly he had some cash spending because I know he made some purchases but nothing that came through electronically. But as it stands, he received $528 (gifts) and spent -$0-. 2020 will probably be more thorough in the electronic records since he will have his checking account for the entire year. & I believe he owes me $20 for birthday/Christmas gifts. Will see if he just hands me cash for that or if he needs to make an electronic transfer.

MM(16) will be much more complicated, with the jobs and everything. In fact, he told me he worked for my old/forever employer in 2019 and I didn't believe him (I didn't remember that at all). But in the end, I do have some deposits recorded. I just looked and I did not do a great job of keeping track of that. Unless maybe I threw his pay stub in my tax file. (Is very possible). I generally don't wait for W-2s, or want to make sure the W-2s are correct. I have all that info in Quicken somewhere, so I can probably use that if nothing else. Or maybe he has the pay stub and can produce it. I should probably just ask him.

I will start checking that his bank/interest statements match Quicken. He did his own taxes last year (with my help) and I think he can just do it on his own this year. Even if I sit down and go through it with him every single year, by the time he graduates college he should be more than competent to do on his own. In my house if you have a job, you can do your own taxes. So that is why he did his own taxes last year.

Knock on wood, but the year is going well so far. More peace and quiet than I remember in *forever*.

I can't tell you what I am doing with this latest reset. Crossing my fingers that the tornado around me loses some steam? I'm trying to be more assertive with work hours? But... this only works when everyone isn't out with some emergency or other.

{I can't imagine what else I could possibly do within my realm of control. Which is why I am just at the point of crossing my fingers}.

MH has the month off, so I expect this is contributing to the peace.

I did "fire" one of my side clients. The feeling is mutual and it is all good. This leaves me with one remaining client. I am more than ready to move on and will be rid of them soon. But the workload is just about an hour a month, so I can give it a little more time. 12/31 is my hard deadline, not wanting to drag any more red tape into 2021.

Of course, *the* most exciting thing is that I am enjoying my first tax season off in 20 years. 🎈🎉🎈 I always worked several jobs in my teen/college years. Post college I have always had a busy/OT season. So... I have started semi-semi-retirement? Was a step down that I wasn't particularly planning or expecting.

A couple of weekends ago MH went to the Bay Area to help his parents with some things. I was not up to it whatsoever.

Last weekend we hosted a game night. In the spirit of trying to get out of "reactive" mode (just reacting to everything that is going on), this was our attempt to do something more proactive. When talking about it, we were pretty set on just setting a time every month with "no excuses". So when it turned out that MH already had a commitment on our first game night, I told him not to worry about it. & then I remembered why I never invite any adults anywhere, because they have to plan 90 days in advance or whatever. 🙄 Then MM(16) wasn't feeling well. But DL(14) pulled it through. He's definitely the most social and has always had a big group of friends. The played a lively game of Diplomacy. (I really didn't think anyone would play that with him. But the art school kids seem to embrace some of this stuff from a more theatrical standpoint). All I did was cook and clean all day Saturday (so behind on the house, and MH wasn't here to even run to the grocery store for me). But it was most definitely worth it. I enjoyed taking all that "work" energy of decades past (usually working Saturdays) and channeling it into my family and friends.

This weekend has been more of the same. I had an opportunity to do some unique charity work, so that was my big commitment this weekend. It was exhausting, but very rewarding. We also hosted all of our parents Friday night; DL(14) had another band concert. I am enjoying having the time for different things.

MH and I are going to Napa on another weekend. It sounds absolutely divine. It's such a short drive and we usually keep it very low key. Will probably do one nice dinner out and a hike. But MH's birthday is this month and I usually take off a weekend for that. So that will be more in the realm of our normal. I suppose it will be nice not having to cram and worry if I can really manage a Saturday off.

I do have a mountain of bad news, but it's sad to say that it doesn't feel like much because the pace has slowed considerably. Phew! I even made some comment a couple of days ago that 2020 was off to a much better start and MH looked at me like I was crazy. Fair enough, but these things are relative. His Grandma is very sick and we are worried about her. My Dad is going in for a biopsy next month. Etc., etc.

Edited to add: Things took a turn, back to emergency mode. We are rushing off to the Bay Area today because MH is so concerned about his Grandma. I am horrified by the idea of bothering her or bringing more germs, but it's what he needs to do so I will support him. (The kids and I will let her rest). I am still very grateful we had two weeks of calm and peace, before diving into the latest emergency. I think she will probably be fine. Her attitude has always been, "My arm is falling off? It's just a flesh wound." After hearing from "always completely hysterical in a medical situation" MIL we did skype GMIL and we both felt immensely better. She is clearly fine and shrugging it off. But we are being cautious because she is a 95yo with pneumonia.

I know I have shared in the past that I don't use the shopping carts at Target. Nor the baskets, most the time. If I can't hold it in my hands I don't need it. (Unless it's a very specific trip for more items or something larger). I have sometimes looked ridiculous and been asked if I need a basket, but it was worth not being tempted to spend more money.

So I felt, "Exactly!" when I saw this article yesterday:

2019 TALLY:

$550 Gift Cards (Citi, Moi)
$150 Bank Bonus
$ 70 Amazon Gift card (Amazon Prime, MH)
-----------
$770 TOTAL *ONE-TIME REWARDS*

Other Rewards:
$ 29 Citi Price rewinds (RIP)

Ongoing rewards:

+$320 AmExRewards (6% cash back groceries/streaming services)

+$83 Target rewards (5% discount Target purchases; mostly groceries)

+$177 Visa Rewards (3% cash back fuel/restaurants)
Ended up also using for groceries in Q4 (3% cash back)

+$887 Citi 2% card (2% back everywhere - health insurance/medical is the big expenses that we charge, is more than our mortgage payments)

Grand Total = $2,266

I just want to add that historical figures below do also include bank bonuses. They just don't generally work very well for us so I do not utilize as much. (We did -0- bank bonuses in 2017/2018).

Year 2011 = $4,164
Year 2012 = $2,782
Year 2013 = $2,623
Year 2014 = $3,128
Year 2015 = $2,585
Year 2016 = $1,906
Year 2017 = $3,578
Year 2018 = $2,096
Year 2019 = $2,266

Total 9 Years = $25,128
***Mostly Tax-Free Income***

MM(16) also earned a $150 sign up bonus, a $10 credit for switching to paperless statements, and 5% back on gas for one quarter.

Note: I have been tracking since 2011 because that's when the rewards got CRAZY. We have always utilized cash back on credit cards. It's just been extra rewarding during the past decade.

***CAVEAT - I absolutely do not recommend utilizing credit card rewards in this manner, unless you are in full control of your credit card spending. We treat our credit cards like debit cards; only charging if we have the cash on hand already. We've never paid a cent of late fees or interest.***

It's time... It's past time. Turning off the allowance for MM(16).

First I wanted to back up a bit. We started giving our kids a $2/week allowance at age 5, with the intention of them starting to learn about money. From that point on, if the kids wanted to buy something, most of the time it was, "You have the money, you figure it out." It's valuable to start learning these lessons long before you start having a bigger income to manage. Waiting until they got a job and started making $15/hour (a lot of money for a teenager) would be too late, in my opinion. Could be worse, but you miss a lot of learning opportunity if you wait that long.

I've posted before, but I really expected the $2/week allowance to increase over time. But my kids have been so frugal and careful with their money it never came up until DL was maybe 13 or 14 and recently asked for an allowance raise. (He hasn't spent any of it honestly, but he asked and I thought it was reasonable).

Both MH and I worked pretty steadily since age 15 and so I just always presumed we'd turn off these allowances once the kids turned 15 or 16 and got a job. The allowances have served their purpose. They are making 10 or 20 or 30 times as much with summer jobs.

In the end I had a miscommunication with MH. I could swear he was not down with turning off the allowance when MM got a job and when he turned 16? It's too small for me to care either way at this point. But... I don't even remember what conversation we had after that. But I put it on my calendar January 1 to turn off his allowance. (Lord knows I can't remember a single thing in the chaos of the last few years. No room whatsoever in my brain). I don't remember anything or why or when I even put this on my calendar. But I do remember clearing it up with MH that was not at all what he said or meant. He is now very much, "Why does he still have an allowance!?" I don't know, because I thought you wanted him to? So I am going to turn off that auto transfer today, saving us $3 per week.

I expect we discussed with MM(16) at some point but gave him a little notice. I put it in my calendar because I knew I would forget.

I suppose this makes the official cutoff age 16.5. It's worth noting if we want to be consistent with DL. (And... I put that on the calendar).

I skipped the last couple of years, but will revisit our Top 5 and Lowest 5 expenses for 2019.

{I keep track of all our spending/accounts using software, so I still have meticulous records even if I have mostly put it on ignore the past couple of years}.



2016 Commentary:
I highlighted the vacation spending because we aren't big vacation spenders and these are very one-off type expenses. Our annual budget is only $2,000 for vacation, and is more in the realm of what I foresee spending the next several years.

On the mortgage, we made an extra payment (or two?) versus last year. We should be under the $7,000 mark on mortgage interest in the future. This is one of those expenses that is snowballing downward very rapidly.

Auto expenses include repairs/maintenance, insurance, registration, fuel. (We pay cash for cars; no car payments).

{I do have details on the autos, and I also track expenses per vehicle. For 2016: $1944 fuel, $1800 insurance, $278 registration, $803 repairs/maintenance}.

Medical expenses are insane, but our insurance has covered almost seven figures in medical procedures for my husband (before age 40). So, at least I know we get our money's worth, and it's very important for us to have high quality insurance. I am sure given different circumstances we would have just gone "cheap". It's been our biggest expense for several years, so is nothing new. It's been our biggest challenge with *one income* living, but we live so far below our means that we have been able to deal with it. But I know it's so glaring that I should address.

**I have not included income taxes because is not a large expense for us.**

The interesting thing about our lowest expenses is that it tends to be our more luxury spending. I am sure I have said it a million times before, but will say it again. We don't do without. We just are careful and rein in costs, and shop around. & prioritize what is the most important. So most of our "luxury" type spending ends up towards the bottom.

I expect our total expenses to be about the same for the next couple of years. We have some home maintenance ($$$$) to tend to. Starting to talk braces for both kids. So stuff like that will probably replace our recent vacation spending. These are things we also want to take care of while our income is high and before our kids start college.

2019 Commentary:
Not much has changed but we did bump "Vacation" off of our list, as expected. Travel is not something we highly value and I don't expect it to be a priority in the near future (if ever). I can't even imagine why we'd spend $9k on vacation. 2016 was a ridiculous year of over-paying for just a couple of domestic trips to D.C. Very one-off.

Medical tops the list as always, but was bumped up with the Orthodontia expenses. (It's a medical tax deduction, so I lumped ortho with our other medical expenses).

Groceries bumped up significantly with MM(16) doing track this school year. So that bump up is mostly adding track for 6 months, though may include a couple of years of increasing appetites (in between). 2020 will be interesting with the full year of track. I had bumped up my grocery budget to $850 monthly ($10k annually) in 2020 but I wouldn't be surprised if I have to bump it up more mid-year.

I think where we are at with this is we give up and only have to feed that kid for another 18 months at home. There was some talk of revisiting Costco at some point, but we keep coming back to that it's just not convenient whatsoever. (It doesn't help that everyone we know personally who raves about Costco spends a bajillion dollars on food). We would probably be smart to ask our parents to pick up a few things here and there. We had some $9 pizza on Christmas and I wouldn't mind having a few of those around, but then again we don't have any freezer space and we just don't feel like re-inventing the wheel for 18 months. Meh.

P.S. We did offer MM(16) to reimburse him 50% (in cash) of any "employee discount" grocery savings he can earn us if he can get a job at the grocery store we frequent. It's actually walking distance from our house and a very strong job contender. Depends how many hours he can get there. If he wasn't doing track, it would probably be a done deal.

Mortgage interest is snowballing downwards, as expected.

Without any big vacation expenses, Auto takes it place back at #5. It was our first year with three cars.

Haircuts bumped up because my kids are interested in hair cuts now. MM(16) actually took himself for a haircut the other day. & I don't have to drag DL(14) kicking and screaming any more. Phew!

We mostly make it a rule not to buy any subscriptions and are pretty conscience about refusing to be nickel and dimed for anything. (Man those little things add up!) But... MH needed to sign up for a newspaper subscription (online for $20?) in order to continue to participate in the newspaper rewards program. He always gets free movie tickets and show tickets. This was $20 well spent. He won several movie and concert tickets in 2019 and he won another Kindle Fire? He easily won $500 worth of prizes last year. Sadly, they ended their rewards program (last month?) so there is no more of that. He did not renew this subscription, accordingly.

This last item didn't make the Bottom 5 list but is worth mentioning. MH signed up for a movie pass type deal with a regional theater (the one closest to our home) and pays $20/month for unlimited movies. Truly unlimited. Talk about luxury spending (what is a very high priority for him) taking up very little of our budget. That's been awesome. Just like movie pass, he is still running up reward points with every movies he sees, so this deal also comes with a lot of free movie passes so I can tag along (about as often as I would want to, which is not a lot).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some 2018 versus 2019 notes:

Car expenses went down by $1,200, though we added a third car. Some of it was MM(16) taking over the "third car" expenses when he turned 16 (mid-year). Most of it is switching to electric vehicle/fuel for my new/longer commute. & of course, we no longer have to pay for all that fuel to shuttle MM(16) around, so we had some cost savings there.

Grocery spending +$1,300 over last year.

Medical +$7,500 (+orthodontia) - clearly a one-off expense.

Professional Dues -$2,000. My employer (very unexpectedly) offered to pay and also reimbursed me for some 2018 expenses.

Misc. -$3,000
Not entirely sure what that is about, but we did consciously scale back on the show tickets and so on with my job change and salary reduction. Then again, I was making so much side income we had some "what the heck?" moments.

In 2018 we did replace our cell phones (ahead of expected job change and salary reduction) and bought a new washer and dryer. We did also buy a charger for the new car (an auto expense, I suppose). We did spend $2,300 on concerts and events: A few symphony shows, Iron Maiden, Weird Al, Sketchfest, Robot Wars, a musical, a book signing, and various smaller concerts and events.

In 2019 we did buy a (used) elliptical for almost $1,000 and a new TV and sound bar. But... LOL, we spent $70 on concerts and events. I suppose we took that very seriously that was the thing to go with my pay cut. I am actually surprised because I feel like we were pretty lax with all the side income I Was earning. This is also not completely fair because we spent $200 but it's offset by a $120 reimbursement from MH's friend for some concert tickets we bought (the year before).😁 We clearly had less bigger purchases and significantly cut down on the concert/event spending. It's just nothing I would have remembered, without seeing it in such glaring black and white.

I don't know that anything will change in 2020. My budget is pretty tight by the time I factored our actual grocery spending, tax increases, health insurance increases, etc. If we had some extra money I would like to go to the Symphony more, but the Symphony is expensive. It might be mostly on hold until our kids are done with college. Our art museum does some pretty amazing concerts for $10 or $20, so we will be creative and figure it out. We also do go to a lot of concerts and musicals (professional level) at the art school which is maybe why I don't *feel* much difference between the two years. & duh, we probably bought a lot of tickets in 2018 that we used in 2019.

2019 Goals

**Financial**

[X]$12,000 to IRAs 2019 (MAX)
...($12,000 @ 12/31/19)
...Not entirely sure how we will fund this. Because my salary decreased by $12,000 this year, this was the obvious thing to give. It will have to come from gifts, MH's income, my bonus, and/or shifting money from taxable investments. Funding our IRAs is always our first priority, but just will not be funded from my salary.
UPDATE: For 2019, ended up funding with second job and MH's income.

[X]$7,000 to savings
...($7,175 @ 12/31/19)
...$550/month, plus interest.
...Topping off with snowballs
UPDATE: Goal Met. Even when I subtracted out major expenses paid with cash, extra to mortgage, etc., we somehow ended up meeting our savings goal. I definitely over shot. Some "over preparing" on our part.

[X]$1,500 to investments
...($2,033 @ 12/31/19)
...Funded with snowflakes
UPDATE: Goal Met. Did better than expected, but did it with the snowflakes.

[X]9% of my full-time income to work retirement plan
...This is the minimum for the match; I'd otherwise rather fund IRAs.
Note: Maxing out IRAs is additional 15% to retirement. This is very deja vu to lower income years. The last time we saved 20%+ to retirement was during our lowest income years. This is due to substantial tax savings and employer contributions (how I am funding the entire 9%). Plus, if we max out IRAs regardless, it's a bigger percentage of a smaller income.

STRETCH GOAL:

[/]$6,000 to mortgage
...($3,370 @ 12/31/19)
...$3k per year to pay off in 20 years (from last refi); also ensures that we pay more principal than interest
...In years past I had funded with OT, but am no longer working at a job with OT. This is a placeholder because we skipped 2018. If we have a windfall of any sort, I'd like to pay down $3,000 for 2018 and $3,000 for 2019. For now, this is our lowest financial priority (expect to fund some home improvements instead during 2019, and tend to other expensive cash flow items first).
...2020 & Forward, our much bigger priorities will be college and down payment for next home ($$$$$). I don't expect to have any future mortgage goals (but to pay off when we sell in a few years).
UPDATE: 1/2 Goal Met. I ended up putting +$3k (2018 placeholder) as a stretch goal for 2020, and will be adding $100/month mortgage in lieu 15-year/lower interest refi. If MM(16) gets accepted to and chooses private college (likely), we will probably really and truly abandon future mortgage goals. For now, have more cash/income than we expected.

Some commentary from my original 2019 Goal Post:
Money that was going to taxable investments before, is now going to 401k. From a net worth standpoint, it's all well and good, but I am not thrilled because I feel like I need a bajillion dollars cash (teen drivers x2, braces x2, home repairs, etc., all in the very near future). "College savings" is accordingly on the back burner again, but I am okay with earmarking ROTH money (for college) during years we contribute 20%+ to retirement. Otherwise, it wouldn't make any sense to be so retirement heavy, at the expense of the rest of our finances, but everything is so "hell if I know," I'd rather err with piling up ROTHs.

I do also expect some side income in 2019, but will just be hoarding up cash to fund IRAs and to pay for big planned expenses.

All of the above is still true. It feels good to knock out braces ($$$$$) and is mostly why I worked second job 1/2 of the year. We don't borrow for things, we've always been creative and/or just make more money as needed.

College is still complete limbo, "Heck if I know." Somewhere between -$0- and six figures. Should be more clear in another 12 months. I could see just doing the 9% to retirement (work retirement plans with matches) if MM(16) ends up at private school. But it's too likely he will end up at our "cost pennies" alma mater, so I don't see the point of changing anything at this point. Could be drastic changes next year when we get out of limbo land.

+$105,000!

Wow, what a year! My money worked harder than I did this year, for sure.

{We've many times had six figure real estate increases in a single year, but have never had these kind of stock market gains}.

It was a good year to have this win. I had taken a pay cut and we had some significant expenses. Which makes it all the more incredible how the year turned out.

I was just excited and wanted to make sure to crunch numbers first thing to see where we landed.

We paid down the mortgage by $9,000 and the rest was stock market contributions and gains. (If you are wondering why I'd rather invest than pay down my mortgage more rapidly, this is probably a good illustration. Maybe especially considering that we have also had many $100k+ gains with a mortgaged home).

Today we could pay off our mortgage and still have $340,000 cash/investments. For the first time, we could do this with only cashing out about 1/2 our ROTH IRA and all of our taxable investments. It's the first time we could leave everything else intact (emergency fund, kids' college, rest of retirement, etc.). I am not tempted yet, but honestly, if I had an additional $50k in investments, we could pay off our mortgage AND leave six figures in our ROTH IRA. At that point, I would probably be tempted. Especially with just cashing out at a peak. Taking the money and running. I've always said there is a tipping point. I just have never been so close to the tipping point. If my stocks go up $100k next year, I wouldn't rule it out. (We seriously considered doing this with our house in 2005, but we just missed the boat. We had literally decided to move and cash out our house, doing a second "moving to a significantly lower cost region" move, but the market started to tank before we executed the move. We clearly weren't the only ones who had this idea). I am afraid we are probably in "will just miss the boat territory" this time too. Will see...

P.S. I'd honestly rather the market go down and be able to buy stocks cheaper. While it's fun to see big numbers on the balance sheet, I don't think of this huge stock market run up during my prime working years as being terribly useful to my long-term wealth.

We need our net worth to continue to increase (on average) $50k per year to reach our Financial Independence goal at age 50.

Estimate Net Worth Change for 2020:
Mortgage: Paydown $7,000
Investments: Contribute $4,000
Retirement: Contribute $21,000
Investment Returns: $18,000 (would need 4% gain)
TOTAL INCREASE: $50,000

Our net worth changes never look anything like our estimate (it's rare any asset class actually has an average year). But, I go through this exercise just to make sure my goal is realistic and doable.

P.S. We will likely hit the $1 mil mark with our assets this year. Just $30k to go... That will be a very exciting milestone.

P.S.S. Good Riddance to 2019! I wish I was more optimistic about 2020, but it's shaping up to be very difficult. I can only hope for some space whatsoever to breathe and process anything that is happening.

Received $60 bank interest for the month of December.

Snowflakes to Investments:
--Redeemed $0 credit card rewards (cash back) from our grocery card (maxed out 2019 grocery rewards).
--Redeemed $83 cash back on Citi card.
--Redeemed $33 cash back on dining/gas card; used for grocery rewards this month

Other snowflakes to Investments:
+ $231 Re-Invest Dividends
+ $ 8 Savings from Target Red Card (grocery purchases)

TOTAL: $355 snowflakes to investments

401k Contributions/Match:
+$1,400

Snowball to Savings:
+$1,100 MH Income
+$ 500 Bonus
-$ 250 Charity

Savings (From my paycheck):
+$ 550 to cash (mid-term savings)

Short-Term Savings (for non-monthly expenses within the year):
+$1,400 to cash
-$ 482 Flood Insurance
-$ 195 AAA
-$ 160 Vacation Expense
-$ 125 Yearbooks (2)
-$ 100 School Concert

TOTAL: $4,053 Deposited to Cash and Investments

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Vacation expense was $100 fuel and $60 eating out, MH's LA trip. We planned to spend a wee bit more on that trip, but I ended up sick at home instead. We canceled the one hotel night we were going to pay for, he used his parents' timeshare for two nights.

$100 school concert ~ $60 to buy tickets for us and all the grandparents. We also ended up spending $40 to feed everyone the night of the concert. This is the art school we pay -0- to, so I am always happy to contribute monies. I save a bajillion dollars with all the free/public art classes.

I guess MM(16) was sick that night (before he gave me his awful flu). Always someone can't make it last minute and I give away the $9 tickets. It always makes someone so happy. So when we got there I went up to the box office and told the lady buying tickets I had an extra student ticket if she wanted it. She didn't even look at me or say Thank You. I told MH, "Wow, that was really unsatisfying." Usually the response is more like, "Really????!!! Thank You!!" She looked so stressed out buying those tickets, I'd like to think I made her life a little easier.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So... I am completely dumbfounded by this update. This was our level of savings when I was working second job. But I guess that it comes down to getting my raise and getting that $800/month back. I wouldn't have thought it was going to be a particularly lucrative month, was more just our typical savings kind of month.

But... This probably sums up pretty well how I ended up with an extra $3,000 that I felt comfortable throwing at the mortgage. I decided quite unexpectedly and last minute to knock that goal out. Sidebar is updated. (Had $3k+ cash left over after setting aside $12k for IRAs; we also have a 12-month emergency fund).

401k was a little extra this month because I received a 3rd paycheck 12/31 (my small business employers always advance the last paycheck of the year for tax purposes). I did also receive a bonus, which bumped up my 401k contribution.

The bonus is a new thing I have never had before. I didn't blog about it because it was not too exciting. I mean, it's EXCITING. But... I didn't pay any taxes in whatsoever for my self-employment income this year, so I put most of my bonus to taxes. It was a choice that I made. (This had been my plan all along, but I had expected a summer bonus to cover it). It's nothing like it sounds. My tax rate only ended up being about 10% on all that side income. Because I ended up with $8k orthodontist expenses to offset my income. I know there is definitely a huge element of financial savvy and strategy that comes with my tax knowledge. Like knowing I can just withhold my SE taxes from my paycheck, and it's all the same in the end. (Which I felt was prudent because I had no idea where on earth my taxes would land this year, until I got confirmation of bonus this month). But... Honestly 90% of the time it is just being in the right place at the right time. I had $10k of write-offs I wouldn't have had in prior years, between the ortho and tax law changes. So I made out pretty well.

I still had $500 left over (from bonus) after that, which I threw at savings.

Edited to add: We did our "gift from in-laws to Charity" thing over the weekend. I ended up making all of our donations Sunday night, and realized I was about $250 short of what I Wanted to do. Which makes sense, because we used to allocate my old Christmas bonus ($250) every year to charity. {I guess I consider that more of a "Christmas Gift" than a "Bonus". My bonus this year was a few thousand dollars, which is the very new and different part. I have absolutely never before had an employer give me extra money "just because". To clarify why I said I hadn't received a bonus before}. I ended up subtracting $250 from bonus above and updating numbers.

I just put this as part of my comment in the forums. But I had wanted to share, so will just copy and paste.

How Christmas went this year:

1 - We did NOTHING for Christmas this year. Just dealing with a lot of personal crap and didn't have the time or inclination. We are always pretty mellow about the Holidays (buying the kids maybe one $20 gift each, something they could really use or enjoy). I would have thought doing nothing was more of an extreme/bah humbug kind of direction, but also not a big change from our usual. But... It was amazing! It forced us to be more thoughtful and creative and we had the best Holiday. (Including, my son made a sculpture for my other son. It was absolutely unexpected and hilarious). Other than that, we baked for each other and had some extra quality family time.

2 - My in-laws started a charity tradition a few years back. What we had said many times was, "We don't want anything, we'd rather help the less fortunate" and was more what we had been doing with our kids. So the first year (that MIL agreed to do this) my MIL bought a billion gifts AND gave us some money to give to charity. I've felt very many times, "She's not getting it". It's nice and I like the change, but there was lack of *getting* it. Until this year. This year there was a very noticeable shift. The gifts were very reasonable. If I was happy with it, this must have been extreme 180 for my MIL. (I got *one* material gift and a couple of gift cards. About the same for my kids). We focused far more talking about all of our charity choices ($250 per person to spend) and all the good causes we were excited about. We were able to donate $3,000 (as an extended family), and it was really neat.

Slowly but surely... (It took 12 years. I distinctly remember doing "contributions to charity in lieu of gifts" when my kids were in daycare and the only person in my circles that balked at that was my MIL. She has come a very long way).

I was actually completely dreading our Christmas celebration with the in-laws, because MIL had been on a particularly toxic/insane rampage this year. So... Having such a pleasant day with them was really unexpected. Phew!

Unfortunately, we got some really bad news over the Holiday. It looks like MH also has a parent with failing health who needs a lot of time from him. *sigh* So now we are potentially facing with both of our parents. I felt like the rug was yanked out from under us. Like, at least I could deal with all this insanity if at least MH's parents are perfectly healthy (which we thought they were). But... it does explain some things and allows us to be more proactive than reactive. We had both been getting pissy with how much his parents lean on him. There may be more to it (we know now), BUT a lot of it is my MIL doesn't comprehend that MH has a job now, that he has other commitments and is busy. (In her mind, he just eats bon bons all day??). So this was why we were getting so irritated. But it's different if you realize some of the underlying reasons they need so much help these days. Okay so, maybe something else has to give and MH needs to set aside one weekend per month to spend with his parents. Something like that. I am hoping this pushes us a little more out of "constantly putting out fires" mode.

I've been vague because I don't really feel comfortable getting into it, because have mostly not discussed with our families at all. But I think we both potentially have a parent with dementia. 😞

2019 TALLY:

$550 Gift Cards (Citi, Moi)
$150 Bank Bonus
$ 70 Amazon Gift card (Amazon Prime, MH)
-----------
$770 TOTAL *ONE-TIME REWARDS*

Other Rewards:
$ 29 Citi Price rewinds (RIP)

Ongoing rewards (through 11/30):

+$320 AmExRewards (6% cash back groceries/streaming services)

+$70 Target rewards (5% discount Target purchases; mostly groceries)

+$144 Visa Rewards (3% cash back fuel/restaurants)

+$804 Citi 2% card (2% back everywhere - health insurance/medical is the big expenses that we charge, is more than our mortgage payments)

Grand Total = $2,137

I am just doing an update because I did another reward.

I am so insulated from consumerism (average middle class consumerism, it's not like we don't buy anything...). But I sometimes feel so insulated that I am exposed to it more on SA than anywhere. Every once in a while someone will mention something I haven't heard of, or something that sounds really cool.

Well, it happened. $150 happened. There as some mention in the forums of electronic gadgets. Most of them I hadn't even heard of and I marveled a bit since we clearly like our electronics. But I guess more "useful to our needs and wants" electronics, versus "what everyone else has" electronics. My husband did buy some expensive bone conducting headphones earlier in the year but I considered that more of a disability purchase. (He only has hearing in one ear, can't reasonably wear one ear bud and hear anything going on around him). I was dumbfounded when he told me he was not able to listen to anything at his job and he felt it would make his low-skill job more bearable. I was completely horrified, like yes you have to buy this yesterday! He's been listening to books on tape and I think makes the work day much more bearable.

But... I didn't think anything beyond that until I saw a conversation on SA about the same headphones. Yeah, I don't have any headphones and I could probably use some. But I have never liked ear buds. So I had my light bulb moment and asked MH to buy me some. It looked like they were on sale significantly from what we paid, but he did choose the premium ones. I told him, knock on wood, honestly I never lose or break my things and I just wanted to get the premium ones too. (He had bought some in the past he did not like and didn't keep. So there was definitely a huge step up in quality with the higher end ones that were worth the money).

He was looking on Amazon a couple of days ago, but it would be like $80 instead of $150 if we signed up for the Amazon Prime card. IT's not a card we have ever had, so it was a no brainer. MH was kind of, "Really?! I thought you wanted to slow down on the rewards. I thought you wouldn't do these things for less than $200." Pffffft. It doesn't get any easier than signing up for a credit card to instantly get $70. I don't need to do anything. We didn't even need to put the charge on the credit card. I could probably cancel it tomorrow and be done.

It's most likely I will just cancel the card very quickly. It does come with 5% back on Amazon purchases, but we already have a 4-card system and it's becoming more of a 5-card system if we are going to use MM's credit card to max out our grocery rewards. I don't want a 6-card system. We don't shop enough at Amazon to bother.

{How I manage is I set all my cards on a monthly cycle and just pay them all off the first of every month. No tracking statements whatsoever. I also use Quicken/transaction downloads so I have all our charges/balances compiled in one place. & I pay them all out of my bank bill pay, so just one place to track and one place to make all the payments every month. Still, I don't want a 6th card}.

I am sure I could have saved more money (I later saw the Amazon store card was $100-off sign up bonus). I am sure I could have strategized or planned better. But in the "this will take a couple of minutes of my life and save me $70 right now" category, it works for me.

I will have to update our December rewards next week, but will probably end up at $2,300 for the year.

Edited to add: Amazing purchase! I thought I would just use for listening to podcasts on my phone (keeping up with Top 100 movies podcast), but I have been loving the hands-free phone calls. Makes my cell phone generally more usable (for calls). I was talking to my friend the other day while running around doing other things. I might be able to use at the gym but I have to make room for music on my phone. I don't have any other bluetooth devices so will need to use a cell phone to listen to music on new headphones. (In the past I've been more of a "cell phone for emergency" cell user, but I am slowly using more phone functionality. I've absolutely never played any music on my phone before, so I need to figure that out).

***CAVEAT - I absolutely do not recommend utilizing credit card rewards in this manner, unless you are in full control of your credit card spending. We treat our credit cards like debit cards; only charging if we have the cash on hand already. We've never paid a cent of late fees or interest.***

I did get my raise (two months ago). I received a 10% raise. I did some financial/tax planning and revised the budget. I've just been muddling through in the meantime, keeping our savings goals as our #1 priority. We've had enough side income to make do. Unfortunately, raise is all going to the budget. I increased grocery budget by about $200/month which is more realistic. +$200/month for significant tax increase next year, due to tax law changes (maybe not by dollars, but very significant increase by percentage). $150/month for a couple of years of health insurance increases. I also added +$100/month to short-term savings AKA "non-monthly bills" (a lot of small increases for various bills).

That's about it, except I added $100/month to our mortgage. Last I ran refi numbers, it actually didn't make sense to lose another 1% of interest. Is because we only plan to be in our home another 5-ish years. The savings has always been significant with 1% drop, on a 30-year mortgage. But not on a "5-year" mortgage. Anyway, we have never felt comfortable with a 15-year mortgage in current city with the economic uncertainty, and also because our health insurance is so expensive (far more than our mortgage). But we've paid down enough that a 15-year mortgage will now only add $100/month to our current mortgage payment. That, I can do. Is not a long-term commitment or an extra $400/month, which is what it was in the past. So we will just make an informal commitment to pay down our mortgage in 15 years. While well employed. I am relieved to be able to skip the red tape of another refi.

Even though I had initially lost $1,000/month (salary) with this job, it wasn't apples to apples. I lost $1,000 net salary every month but I gained +$600/month retirement benefit. Which was more what I had posted before, that I only had about $4,000 per year to make up. This raise puts me at -$600/month cash but +$700/month retirement benefit (compared to my salary at prior job). So I am up $100/month and am happy with that. I really did not expect to get up to my old compensation so quickly. My new job is significantly easier than my last job. It feels very win-win.

We will have to fund our IRAs with MH's income. That puts us way too "retirement heavy" or "retirement poor", but makes more sense than adding to taxable investments. I only feel comfortable doing this because we can access ROTHs any time. More win-win.

Since it's so relevant to this post, here is where my 2020 goals will end up. I am pretty much back to where I was in 2017 or 2018. The funding details are just re-arranged a bit (I used to fund IRAs with my salary, but I didn't have a work retirement plan).

2020 Goals

[ ]$7,000 to savings
...($0 @ 1/1/20)
...$550/month, plus interest.
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$1,500 to investments
...($0 @ 1/1/20)
...Funded with snowflakes

[ ]$1,200 to mortgage
...($0 @ 1/1/20)
...$100/month
...It was cheaper to just add $100/month (15-year payoff) than to refi down another 1%. We will just commit to the extra $100/month pay off while well-employed. Our plan is otherwise to just pay off when we sell in a few years.
STRETCH GOAL: $3,000 to mortgage
...I am moving 2018 mortgage goal here, to make up in 2020. Will see how I feel in 2020, but right now I feel is doable. It will also depend how college choices start to shake out end of 2020. Definitely a 12/31 kind of decision.

[/]9% of my full-time income to work retirement plan
...This is the minimum for the match; I'd otherwise rather fund IRAs.

[ ]$12,000 to IRAs 2019 (MAX)
...($0 @ 1/1/20)
...Will fund with MH's income

This puts our overall savings rate at 32%; 30%+ is generally what we aim for.

Edited to add: I changed the mortgage goal after cash (bonus/gifts) settled end of 2019. I added the stretch goal.

I am skipping Christmas this year. After another year from hell, capped off with a few weeks sick in bed. Just can't bring myself to care. We don't do much for Christmas in the first place, but I don't know that I've ever literally done nothing for Christmas before.

Our kids are content and don't want anything, so is not an issue.

MH has been so buried with everything that we didn't even put the tree up. We discussed light decorating at some point, but it hasn't been done so I think the boat has been missed.

Oh yeah, and DL(14) told me he disliked giving and receiving material gifts, so was not participating this year. He is doing some baking instead (the gift of consumable food; costs him -$0- to use our kitchen and ingredients).

In other randomness, MM(16)'s auto insurance came due. I was quoted $1,000 per year at some point and that is exactly what it ended up being for the next 12 months. MM actually hasn't had any expenses since he last paid insurance. He did a credit card reward that will cover about 5 months of gas. He's still churning through that reward. But he threw the $500 insurance on his credit card and will have to pay off next month.

For some reason, I was looking at his auto renewal and I noticed it was for 10,000 per year miles or something that is far beyond what he is driving. We had been reporting our miles and getting discounts for several years, but I guess that specific program ended in the past few months. I quickly changed his annual miles estimate (online) and was very generous in my estimate, presuming he may have a summer job and drive to more places than just school. (With track, he has mostly been driving to school because they bus them everywhere they need to be and he has no time for anything else). He's been driving about 2,500 miles and so I estimated 5,000 for the year. I didn't expect much because I figured about 99% of the cost of his insurance is "teen male driver".

So I was stunned when I received a $125 refund (for 6 months premium he just paid). I just saved him 25% with that catch. WOW!

So... I decided to just wrap the refund in a big box and to surprise him with that on Christmas Day. He will be very surprised and also very happy with that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Really, the only thing going on here is WORK. Work work work. I am digging out after missing a few weeks of work (bad flu season), and also digging out on the home front.

It doesn't matter what I do. I changed jobs. I dropped second job. I hired someone to do like 80% of my work at new job.

So I left work super late some night last week and was griping to MH (when I called him to tell him I'd be home late). I told him, "First world problems". Have experienced way too much unemployment/job uncertainty in my life to take the work for granted. So... First world problems. Well, he had the same story. After being told that Friday (12/20) would be his last day (he always has a long winter break). After that, they were starting to say he would get zero time off. UGH! & they were trying to appeal to whoever they were selling this to, so were saying it would be great he could pay his bills. 🙄 You know, this is a very part-time job so he can mostly be home with kids and fatten our retirement accounts. I don't know, but they sorted it out before he could tell him he didn't really want the work. The latest news is that he is working through this next week (which has become typical in recent years) but probably has most of January off (also typical). Phew! I am happy because *we* need a break. He is happy because he is getting paid for two Holidays next week. Kind of, "If they want to pay me 5 days to work 3 days, whatever."

My work situation should improve. I am only signed up for the one 9-5 job and will get to sit out my first tax season in 20-ish years. So it's all good. Like I said, I've done absolutely everything in my power. Just waiting for the Universe to cooperate with me.

I was doing some financial chores this morning and was looking at our total expenses for 2019.

One thing that stood out was our decreased car spending. I am long overdue for an update.

We purchased a plug-in hybrid in Fall 2019 when I changed jobs. Was a purchase we were probably going to do anyway, but the math changed substantially when I doubled my commute. I expect most of our "it's cheaper just to keep the old minivan we don't want" was due to how little we drove in the first place. I was scheming for many many years to replace. First, just doing a lateral change, and later wanting to buy an electric car. At the end it was 13-years-old and it was time to move on. But the math just never made any sense, and then suddenly it did make sense.

Which reminds me, we are comparing 8 months of gas minivan versus 12 months of hybrid car. I wasn't even thinking of that at first. Makes the numbers more astounding.

2019: $370 Electric fuel for hybrid
This pretty much covers my commute and small weekend trips. + any small errands in the evenings. Rounds out to $30/month. My commute is 200 miles per week.

The same commute would have cost $2,000 per year in minivan fuel. The savings is no small beans.

{We try to do *any* city driving in this car, because the fuel costs pennies in stop-and-go. This is why we also use this car for most night and weekend driving}.

2019: $270 Gas fuel for hybrid
This would just be Bay Area trips. Presume we did 20 trips, that would be about $13.50 per trip. Also substantial savings here. We can do part of the trip on electric, and the car gets about 45mpg on the gas engine.

2018 (8 months): $900 fuel spent on minivan

So I saved $260. Big whoop? Saved $700 when you adjust for a full year of minivan fuel.

Nope. Actually, we drove the minivan as little as possible. It was *mostly* my commute vehicle, but lord knows I drove our gas sipper whenever I could. The few months MH doesn't work, whenever I had to drive somewhere else during the day or needed to park in a small parking lot, etc.

2018 Gas sipper Fuel: $1,563
2019 Gas sipper Fuel: $ 820

Saved $743 on that car too. So we are back to *substantial* gas savings. Even though I *doubled* my commute. Did I mention that part?

Total fuel savings: $1,443, or $120 per month.

The hard part that is hard to carve out of this is MM(16)'s driving. We did pay for his fuel the first half of 2019 and added $166 fuel to our expenses for third car (plus I am sure he drove our cars a lot while he was still learning). But anyway, he was on his own the second half of 2019 and I am sure that also decreased our fuel costs somewhat.

Conclusion: Teen Driver + electric car = significantly reduced fuel costs.

Oh, and the other thing. MH only does city driving during the week, his commute and taking kids to school. So his car is only getting 25mpg or something horrific right now. UGH! I can no longer call that car the "gas sipper". It seems silly that I ever called it that. It does get 40mpg on the freeway and is why I called it that.

Which leads to the next couple of things.

REPAIRS
We had a lucky year on the car repair front. Very Very lucky. It was or first year as a 3-car family and we probably had a record year for car repairs (almost nothing).

Hybrid car is supposed to be very very low maintenance. Night and day compared to a large gas powered vehicle. It's also a much newer vehicle and will be under warranty for a while.

2019 Repairs: -$0-
BONUS: Oil change only once every 2 years; not due for another 9 months.

MM(16) is driving his car about 200 miles per month. Thought it's a 17-year-old car, low-miles driving keeps the costs down.

2019 Repairs: -$0-
BONUS: Mechanic told us to skip 6-month oil change this year because car was driven so little. (Basically, refused to change the oil when we took it in, because did not need). He may have an oil change this month.

MH car 2019 Repairs: $385
New battery, charge A/C, oil changes, replace windshield wipers, replace brake lights.

I had actually decided to just leave our "forever car repair" budget of $1,500 per year, even though we added a third car. Didn't have any room to increase that in the first place. But just let it go because I figured 2 new cars + one really old car would even out. Most years it's been a little more lopsided where we might have a 5yo car and a 15yo car. Now we have a couple of newer cars (don't expect much in repairs first 10 years) and we have a really old car. This year clearly worked out very well, but I feel like we were also just lucky. There is always something. Even on newer cars, tired need replacing, etc.

& finally, our plan to buy a second hybrid car...

Wish list: Want to buy a second Volt. We are *that* happy with the car. Somewhat of a lateral trade, with MH's vehicle. Actually, 100% lateral trade, if you factor the money we have saved (for 5 years) to eventually replace his car. Would be more short term cash outflow, but big picture/long-term wouldn't be spending more money than we would otherwise. The only thing I can come up with is we pay extra sales tax with more frequent car trading. Which would be very easily offset by fuel savings in this situation. So maybe some of why it feels so *shrugs* financially.

Last we discussed, we are considering a second Volt or an all-electric Bolt. We haven't test drove the Bolt yet, but it seems nearly identical in many respects.

For the short run, the all-electric Bolt is a no brainer. It would more than cover all of MH's city driving and save us a bajillion (more) dollars in fuel. It also has a decent enough range for our frequent trips to Bay Area. My only hesitation is that it would be such a short term purchase. MH has been looking for work (who knows where he may end up commuting to). DL(14) only needs a ride to school for 1.5 years at this point?

We last left it that we should wait one more year. It may make more sense to gift or sell MH's old car to MM(16) if he needs it for college. That is the other big question mark right now. No idea if he will need a car for college or not. (The car he has now is shared with his brother, so it stays here when he goes off to college).

It seems moot. We spent so much of our cash on this first Volt. In this case, we are looking in the $15k range (what we had spent on our last few vehicles). The Bolts seem to be losing value faster and more in our price range. The longer we wait the cheaper this car will be. I also still have hesitation about owning two identical cars. If any problems do crop up then it's problems x2. It's just so against my nature to put all our eggs in one basket so it weirds me out a bit. For these reasons, we may go all-electric. Get a slightly different vehicle, even if it is mostly the same. For MH's commute (a few miles per day, 8 months of the year) it would really cost pennies to run that car. It won't be anywhere near the $30/month I am spending on electric fuel. The all-electric is also even more low maintenance. I really do expect to significantly decrease our fuel costs for the long run.

If MM(16) does end up needing our car and we just give it to him, I suppose this also significantly increases the amount of cash we need to come up with to buy this newer vehicle. It should be a lot more clear next fall and that gives us time to save up the cash.

Just tracking my gift cards. Usually I have more credit card rewards, but not so much this time.


GIFTS:
------
$ 20 x 6 Target


MOVIES:
--------
$100 Regal
$ 25 AMC


RESTAURANTS:
------------
$50 Cracker Barrel
$50 Olive Garden
$ 25 x 2 Jamba Juice (Birthday Gift)


RETAIL:
---------
$50 Kohls (Christmas Gift)
$ 50 x 4 Target

Note: Edited over time to remove used gift cards.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We never ended up using any of the restaurant gift cards last summer, as planned. I think we are just not "eating out" people, but is probably compounded by "kids busy with their own things."

Will get through these eventually, but may not be tempted to get more restaurant gift cards any time soon.

I did pick up $300 worth of Target gift cards today, 10% off. For several reasons, I never did the full $300 before. But today I just bit the bullet. I always keep a stack of $20 gift cards to keep on hand for last-minute gifts. The rest, will use towards grocery purchases. (Still have one $20 card left over from last year, there were some others from last year that we used this month. I kept the one because it was a "happy birthday" theme).

Edited to add: Received a $25 AMC gift card. Strange gift since we have no AMCs in our region. Will add to the re-gift pile with most of the gifts I have received to-date. We decided most likely we will hold for FIL's birthday after Christmas, so I wanted to make sure I wrote it down and did not forget.

Received $60 bank interest for the month of November.

Snowflakes to Investments:
--Redeemed $0 credit card rewards (cash back) from our grocery card (maxed out 2019 grocery rewards).
--Redeemed $59 cash back on Citi card.
--Redeemed $30 cash back on dining/gas card; used for grocery rewards this month

Other snowflakes to Investments:
+$100 Birthday Cash**
+ $30 Surprise gift from credit union
+ $ 6 Savings from Target Red Card (grocery purchases)
- $95 Annual Fee on grocery card

TOTAL: $130 snowflakes to investments

401k Contributions/Match:
+$775

Snowball to Savings:
+$1,100 MH Income
+$ 215 Self-employment income

Savings (From my paycheck):
+$ 550 to cash (mid-term savings)

Short-Term Savings (for non-monthly expenses within the year):
+$1,400 to cash
-$5,750 Property Taxes
-$ 432 Disability Insurance
-$ 227 Car Registration
-$ 85 Museum Membership
-$ 50 Medical Expenses

TOTAL: -$2,314 Net
(Invested +$905, -$3,219 from cash)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**I decided to add my birthday cash to investments. Otherwise, I'd only have a $30 deposit, which is probably below the minimum that I can add to investments. There is absolutely nothing I want or need, so is probably the best use of Birthday money.

I was just going through the kids' accounts and saw that they also both received $10 from our credit union. Nice for them!

November was another month from hell. I was so sick that I missed work for 2+ weeks.

We had to cancel our LA trip. Well, MH went for a couple of days and MM(16) stayed home to take care of me. I feel pretty *shrugs* about it because we were maybe going to go twice in the first half of next year. I mean, it's a bummer and I had been really looking forward to the adults-only trip, but we may get a redo soon enough.

I've got a lot of friends and family going through some very tough stuff, so that is the stuff I need to tend to when I feel a little better. On top of everything else (which has been way too much), GMIL had a stroke on Thanksgiving. (I think she will be fine). There were other worse things that happened...

On the flip side of the coin, net worth is up $90k+ for the year. Finances just keep swimming along in the background. It will be interesting to see where things land 12/31.

2019 TALLY:

$550 Gift Cards (Citi, Moi)
$150 Bank Bonus
-----------
$700 TOTAL *ONE-TIME REWARDS*

Other Rewards:
$ 29 Citi Price rewinds (RIP)

Ongoing rewards (through 11/30):

+$320 AmExRewards (6% cash back groceries/streaming services)

+$70 Target rewards (5% discount Target purchases; mostly groceries)

+$144 Visa Rewards (3% cash back fuel/restaurants)

+$804 Citi 2% card (2% back everywhere - health insurance/medical is the big expenses that we charge, is more than our mortgage payments)

Grand Total = $2,067

I usually do a tally in November because I have my Target card year-to-date and it might disappear before I look at it again. Since it's a discount, it's harder to track than the cash back rewards.

It looks like 2019 rewards will be about the same as 2018.

***CAVEAT - I absolutely do not recommend utilizing credit card rewards in this manner, unless you are in full control of your credit card spending. We treat our credit cards like debit cards; only charging if we have the cash on hand already. We've never paid a cent of late fees or interest.***

Trying this again. Hoping for a slightly calmer month? Absolutely not holding my breath.

I spent most of September trying to make headway on the household/chore front, digging out of a very big hole. October I got caught up on my professional education. Phew! I was more motivated on the work/professional front, so am circling back to household chores. Plus, I suppose this one reason I despise housework. You just get to do it all over again.

My initial plan was to have a very light load in November/December, and is why I hit things so hard the last 2 months. Will see... "Very light" was clearly way too optimistic, but relatively it will be nice not to have 1,000 things To-Do + 1,000 things I am behind on. I am getting more caught up on the "life" front, in general.

The last big nasty chore on my list is to go to the DMV this week. Ugh! Maybe I will feel much better after that.

Yesterday we made butternut squash soup. Yum!

MH and MM(16) went to the movies to see JoJo Rabbit. They said it was great. It's $7 per ticket for first showings at the arthouse cinema. So they spent $14 there.

I mostly alternated between napping, major house chores, and crossing seemingly infinite little things off my list.

In other news, I asked for a 16% raise and got an okay, *shrugs*. 😁 I am so relieved that we are on the same page. It's not official/final or anything like that so I will hold off on a bigger post about it when I have more details. But I have never in my life (before) gone 13 months without a raise. Though my employer clearly compensates very generously... They skipped mid-year-bonuses, never gave me the mid-year raise we discussed last year, etc. I was starting to get really frustrated wondering if I was crazy or what. But I had my performance review and it was stellar. I had absolutely never discussed my prior salary before, so it was clearly now or never. I expected far more negotiation and just led with my prior salary. (Certainly not expecting that, as this is a much easier position, and I also have some other new compensation besides salary). My "head honcho" boss didn't skip a beat and said, "We will take care of you." & I know he takes care of his employees, so that was all I needed to hear. I feel like I am mostly out of limbo and relieved that we are all on the same page.

I am sure I could have pushed farther for a more immediate raise, but I am clearly much more concerned about the long-term than the short-term. They are also very generous with bonuses (something I have never even had before) so I get the sense that I probably created some first world problems for myself. If I potentially just turned 2019 from a "lower income year" into the "highest income year" (with all the side work I did this year to make up lost income). Will have some financial/tax planning to do when this sorts out. It will sort out this month.

Received $70 bank interest for the month of October.

Snowflakes:
--Redeemed $39 credit card rewards (cash back) from our gas/grocery card.
--Redeemed $133 cash back on Citi card.
--Redeemed $18 cash back on dining/gas/grocery card.

Other snowflakes:
$ 5 Savings from Target Red Card (grocery purchases)

{Note: Did not put snowflakes to investments this month,applied to large expenditure}

401k Contributions/Match:
+$750

Snowball to Savings:
+$ 900 MH Paychecks
+$ 100 MH Focus Group
+$ 265 Self-employment income

TOTAL: $1,265 snowballs to savings

Savings (From my paycheck):
+$ 550 to cash (mid-term savings)

Mid-Term Savings (cash saved for non-annual expenses/emergency):
-$ 3,700 Orthodontist**

Short-Term Savings (for non-monthly expenses within the year):
+$1,400 to cash
-$ 460 Car Insurance
-$ 260 Electricity^ (for prior year, electric car)
-$ 190 Misc.
-$ 120 Prepay school lunch

TOTAL: -$695 Net
(Invested +$750, -$1,445 from cash)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

^Electricity expenditure ~ we have balanced billing and so though we added an electric car to our household we haven't really been paying for it. Had a $260 accumulation I could have spread over next 12 months, but I just wanted to pay it off and be done. I didn't want to spend the next 12 months paying for the last 12 months of car charging.

Prediction from last month:
October should be a good money month.

Things went as predicted. We would have had +$3,000 to savings/investments if it wasn't for another orthodontist surprise. (More Below). & to be clear, I am in "significantly reduced salary" mode.

Unfortunately, November will not be any prettier. I just pulled $5,500-ish out of savings so that I can get property taxes covered for the next year. I am paying a little early and pre-paying. This goes in the "simplicity" category. Don't want to think about it for another 12 months.

**Most of the Citi card reward was due to charging some orthodontist expenses to a credit card. It was very out of nowhere, so I immediately pulled from savings and just paid it off. (This is what we had decided to do for LM, but MH just presumed we'd come to the same conclusion with kid #2. He didn't even talk to me about it! Just came home to, "I spent $4,000 today.") MM went in for a consult and he was recommended a similar treatment plan to his brother. I think it's probably where we would have ended up but I was just dumbfounded that MH didn't discuss with me. (I think this is just a side effect of us both being so run down by life at the moment). On the flip side, he was in such a hurry to pay, he whipped out the credit card. That's good because I got about $75 cash back to offset the cost. Wish I had known for DL's braces. All their fine print was that there was a fee for credit card. Just another reminder that it never hurts to ask! I swear, fine print is usually optional, from my experience. When it comes to bigger purchases.

I had been planning to spend around $12,000 on braces this year (expected scenario) and we are up to about $8,000 so far. So, it was kind of *shrugs* in the end. It probably helped that I was being very cognizant this was precisely why we had so much extra cash and everything has been pretty zen lately. We over-prepared, as we tend to do.

I just threw all the credit card rewards (this month) to offset the ortho costs.

October was some crazy month from hell, as they all are any more. So honestly, this was probably the most boring thing that happened. In fact, that was a "calm" week. I remember thinking it was sad that waiting for MH's MRI results and getting a surprise $4,000 bill is what I consider calm.

& there is more. Now, MM(16) is being referred to jaw surgery. The saving grace is I have two boys. The surgery I had at 16, they don't do until 20s for boys. Because they are still growing. DL(14) has my same jaw and was referred to surgery at age 23? That is very grey area with "cosmetic surgery for medical reasons" and not sure how that will shake out. I don't know what the heck MM(16)'s deal is but it's not the same. I believe they said age 26 for MM. But, the Ortho did happen to mention that our insurance had never turned down covering this particular surgery (if he referred). So that was a nice heads up. Regardless, both cans are getting kicked *way* down the road. It really really sucks that they both have to deal with this, but I don't have any room whatsoever in my brain (right now) for "things that may or may not happen in another 10 years."