It started snowing on my way home from work last night. This is what greeted me this morning:







And these 3 belong to a tenant. They would bark so furiosly at me each time I would come and go, I began feeding them treats. My comings ang goings still create an uproar, but now they are begging and so joyously hopeful. Just so you know, they can go inside. They choose to be in the snow, at the fence, where the treats are. Take a peak at (left to right) Cash, Kona, and Bailey:

Well, it is nice to have access to the interwebs again. My phone battery died and I had to wait for an Amazon package. No one sells phone batteries for my phone, not even a Verizon store.

We are so busy at work, I worked OT last Saturday and Monday (paid holiday), and am scheduled to work OT this coming Saturday too. I am liking my job so much more now that I have a full workload. The extra money will be nice, too.

On February 9th, all of the employees in my particular labor union are receiving a one-time $2,400 bonus. This is in lieu of any pay increase under our new contract.

I have paid for my HVAC unit, and now have the task of re-building savings before me.

In a couple of weeks, SB and I will be attending a murder mysyery dinner hosted by some friends of ours. We are required to dress like pirates. I was able to find a purplish-blue scarf, some black ankle boots, and a gawdy gold necklace at Goodwill, spending $8.20 for all of that booty. Now I am on a quest for a puffy shirt. It should be a fun evening.

My mortgage payment has posted. This month I paid an additional $23.56. My new balance is $159,050.00.

Chips to date: $2,244.36

Interest savings this month: $8.72

Interest savings to date: $323.92

Eventually, the interest savings on the chips I have already made will compound to $4,715.29, provided I own this house until July 1, 2042. Which I definitely won't.

In past years, I have used one large sinking fund nicknamed "CurveBall" for all irregular expenses. I have wondered if multiple dedicated sinking funds might work better for me. I decided to give them a try in 2018.

So, I played around with categories which would be useful for me and appropriate monthly deposit amounts. Since September, I have been making deposits each month. Starting now, I will use them as expenses arise and need to be paid.

Here is what I am depositing monthly:

Car Ins & Reg - $100
Car Repairs & Maint - $75
Clothing - $40
Electronic Gadgets - $30
Gifts & Xmas - $70
Planners & Goodies - $15
Travel/Vacation - $200
Total: $530

Additionally, I opened (with $1) sinking funds for car replacement and my Roth IRA. I expect to utilize them in the near future, so went ahead and opened them while I was merrily opening new accounts.