February 26th, 2019 at 08:07 pm
Today my first (post-house sale) automatic sinking funds transfer happened. I am doing $500 every other Tuesday, broken down as follows:
Car Ins & Reg - $51.92
Car R & M - $38.46
Car Replacement - $54.56
Clothing - $23.07
EGadgets - $13.46
Gifts/Xmas - $38.46
Planners & Goodies - $3.85
Roth - $180.07
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Sinking Funds
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February 23rd, 2019 at 06:34 pm
Now that the cruise is paid for and my house is sold, I needed to change my paycheck withholdings. I filled out a new W-4, choosing Single-0. I upped my 457 plan contribution from 3% to 10%. At the beginning of the year, I upped my HCRA deposit to $900 per year, which is $37.50 per paycheck (no withholding from the two "extra" paychecks per year).
Yesterday was the first payday with my new lower take home pay. Here is how my bi-weekly paycheck currently breaks down:
Gross: $2,063.28
Fed w/h: $160.78
CA w/h: $43.20
Fica-Med: $27.53
CA SDI: $18.99
Pension: $144.43
Hlth Ins: $121.07
Dent/Vis: $5.80
HCRA: $37.50
Life Ins: $0.93
Union Dues: $32.98
457 Plan: $206.33
Net Pay: $1,263.74
That's what I have to work with. Going forward, I want to save enough cash to cover items I will need/want. On that list are a full sized truck and 5th wheel for moseying around North America, as well as replacing my current vehicle when the time comes. I want to remain debt-free for the rest of my life, with the possible exception of a mortgage.
When I last mentioned it, I was leaning towards a Class C motorhome. Since then, SB and I have decided to go in half-sies on a full sized truck and later a 5th wheel. The mid sized truck SB has now pulls our small travel trailer, but it is towards the upper end of what is safe. For this reason, we don't often move it. (Mostly just up the road a mile to a campground for black water dumps). However, a full sized truck has a much higher weight limit, opening up some fun possibilities.
I have a nice cash cushion at the moment, but it is ear-marked for various things. Some will definitely be spent soon-ish (car insurance), some will be spent eventually, though when is uncertain (travel). I still have significant saving to do to have my vehicle goals funded.
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Income
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February 17th, 2019 at 05:51 pm
Last weekend, we were without power from late Friday night through Monday night. This means a good many discomforts. Chief among them: no running water.
For heat, we have a small generator we can run which allows us to turn our space heater on low. The generator is gas powered, so running it longer than 4-5 hours requires going outside to add more gas. "So what?" you may ask. Well, our little love nest gets a bit chilly when the sun goes down:
We also have the option of turning on a stove burner. This is our warmest option. The stove runs on propane and is much more efficient than the gas powered generator. However, we will only use this option during waking hours.
I had to melt snow on the stove for a sponge bath to get ready for work on Monday. By Tuesday, thankfully the power was back. But it was a long, cold 3 days.
So when SB texted me this most recent Friday afternoon that the power was out AGAIN, with more snow forecasted, we decided to rent a motel room for the 3 day weekend. I started calling around, when a friend invited us to spend the weekend in her home. So that's where we are at the moment. It's snowing here too, but just a few inches and we have power.
It's always an adventure.
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February 7th, 2019 at 01:38 am
What a wonderful feeling of relief!
So the mortgage debt is gone, the Heloc debt is gone, and I have already paid my WF Visa in full. (I had overdrafted due to a bill pay error, so was paying 24.99% daily and could not wait one moment longer than necessary to put an end to that).
Over the next few days, I will be paying my remaining debts in full, sending money to my Roth IRA and various savings accounts, and making a small but (I hope) helpful gift to each of the two people I love most in the world.
Going forward, I'm going to see how much savings I can pile up in the next few years. Oh, how I am itching to retire.
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February 3rd, 2019 at 01:59 am
SB and I are at my house, clearing out and packing up the last few things. I am scheduled to sign docs on Monday, close on Thursday. The proceeds will be wired to my checking account.
I am going to miss this house, but I am looking forward to traveling light.
I bought another fancypants planner for 2019:
and so at the end of January I calculated my net worth, which I had not done in awhile. I did not include my vehicle as an asset, though I do have the loan added as a debt. I had limited space so just skipped it for this month. This spread is in the front of this year's planner:
I intend to use it to get back to tracking monthly. The 275k for the house is my best estimate for selling price minus commission and costs. In a few days, I will find out how close it is.
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