3am phone call & Goodbye trees - Thriving week 26

Update: He was sent home with pain and anti nausea meds and instructions as to what to watch for. He is feeling better and relieved. I got the girls all ready with the older one being a terrific help and took them to daycare and camp.

————————————————————————————————————————-

I was awakened at 3am this morning by a phone call from my DIL saying that after talking to the doctor phone help line, she needed to take our son to the ER. Could I come quickly to stay with the grandgirls and get them to daycare and camp? 

They were in the car and ready to go to ER when I arrived. So far he has had quick care including tests and meds to make him more comfortable but no diagnosis yet. Probably something treatable by meds or he needs his appendix out per Dr. Google. I’m waiting for the girls to wake up and mainlining coffee while watching the San Francisco skyline emerge as the sun rises.  Glad we are really close by and that I am an early riser!

————————————————————————————————————————-

I’m also really glad the neighbor’s trees came down on Monday which means no annual pruning and associated cost for fire insurance renewal! Also no messy flower and leaf drop to clean up. 

Before

After

The view from our balcony looking across San Francisco Bay is expansive now!

On a clear day you can see the Bay bridge and much of the city skyline.—————————————————————————————————

We have decided to put up a balcony privacy screen in the corner where they were so we don’t look in neighbor’s back yards when we are seated but we will still have a view through the railing on the rest of the balcony. It will also help with the wind. We will leave the rest of the balcony railing open and have a much wider view now which is great. 

Here’s the rest of the befores and afters.

Tax Return Headaches!

Once again I am doing our taxes myself using TurboTax. Why do I do this to myself 😤

The hardest part was finding the info I needed from purchasing our former house and figuring out what I could enter. Once the return is done I need to go back and make sure I have clear documentation in the file to support what I did.

We are going to owe $$ as it is the first year Hubby had Social Security for a full year and we don’t have taxes withheld but rather pay estimated taxes. I dropped the ball on increasing the estimated payments in all the moving chaos.

So far I have done two 2 hour sessions and now it says it is time to review it. Since I have an headache after each two hour session the review will have to wait for another day! 

We will sit down together and do the review.

Any predictions on whether or not trying to submit electronically will work this time after not working the last 2 years? I’m not holding my breath!

Do you do your own and hire someone?

Managing utility costs - what to do?

Our home is all electric and it is up to us to manage our use and pay for it. We are anticipating using even more electricity in the future because we have been having chats about our next car purchase/lease being a traditional hybrid or plug in hybrid is the way to go at this time in our lives.

Electricity rates have gone up, the public utility is changing everyone to time of use plans at the beginning of March, and our city moved everyone to a secondary provider so it is all complicated in terms of charges.

I went online to the public utilities’ plan comparison tool which told me it wouldn’t be accurate because of the secondary energy provider. I’ve been unable to figure out the interaction of the two companies in terms of how we are charged despite having a Ph.D. and an affinity for math and complicated information. However I admit to a lack of interest in spending a lot of time on something that should be communicated so that it is easy to understand. 

So I used the inaccurate comparison tool to pick the best time of use plan and went with it. They all have higher rates from 4 to 9 pm so that part is a wash. We will run the dishwasher and do laundry at low rate time but everything else pretty much is time independent or weather dependent although we could adjust the thermostat a bit more perhaps. We’ll see if it lowers our energy use and/or our energy cost.

We already improved our attic insulation and dealt with drafty windows and doors so no further gains to be had there.

I also got out the dishwasher, washing machine and dryer manuals and looked for possible setting changes to conserve energy. Made a few setting changes and again we shall see what happens.

It is also time to reschedule the electrician to come and replace more incandescent ceiling can lights with LED fixtures as the Covid infection rate is dropping and we have bought better masks so I feel comfortable having them in our home working.

We aren’t faced with the difficult choices I understand many European’s are having to make given the greatly increased cost of heating, etc. there but I would like to be a good steward of natural resources and our own resources.

Have you made any changes to reduce your energy use as prices have risen? Are you thinking about any others?

Managing Your Cash Flow: A critical part of living on retirement income

My older son keeps asking me what advice I have for dealing with elderly parents and for retirement in general.

One thing that popped into my mind after our last conversation was that most retirees really need to get clear on when those non-monthly expenses will hit and how they will manage their cash flow to manage those. Then there are the expected but unplanned expenses like car or home repairs and other one time bills.

What approach do you use to manage your cash flow? Transferring money in and out of a savings account? Sinking funds? Cash envelopes? Credit card debt or installment payments? Live on last month's income so you are always a month ahead with cash flow? I'm sure there are other approaches that aren't coming to my mind right now.

Now that we are in our 3rd year of living on retirement income and savings with the ongoing expenses of our new home, I am really seeing our own financial pattern. First quarter of each year has predictable large annual and quarterly expenses. Then there are some other months that  have extra expanses that are unpredictable like car repairs. Plus the one time expenses we choose such as home improvements or travel.

We are extremely fortunate to have the end each so far with additional money to put our savings, but there are many months we would be in the red if we didn't have savings to transfer into our checking account. I've set up a table by month to show when irregular expenses are due so I can plan the next month's cash flow once I know the actual amount of each as they do change each year.

Something for those not yet retired or changing their living situation to consider.

Same old same old - spending and saving balance

How do you live on your retirement income? We have kept going managing our income vs outgo about the same as always with a bit less concern about frugality. Habits are still there and serve us well though.

I should note that we do not do these things to make our lives unhappy or to suffer. We spend plenty on eating out for example and pretty much do what we want. I do like to see our money spent well though when it produces the results we want for less!

Also, we anticipate living for another 25 to 30 years and know many of those will be more expensive than our early retirement. Determined to enjoy each year we are allotted though.

So here is a couple week's discretionary spending with an eye to savings.

- Returned 2 items we weren't going to use - $7.25 back in our pockets.
- Went to see Rocketman - but on $6 Tuesday which is less than the usual senior price.
- Went out for pizza and beer at a local brewery and brought home the leftover pizza for lunches.
- Ordered 2 Nuetrogena sunscreen tubes - but through Amazon subscription which saves $4.50 over CVS current price.
- Bought 2 copies of 1984 as my book group has decided to read it and discuss in terms of modern life - but bought for $1 a copy and my Friends of the Library bookstore.
- Bought what I wanted at the grocery store - but stocked up on canned low sodium beans as they were on sale.
- Went out to lunch with friends - but ordered a small meal and drank water.

Our do it ourselves activities.

- Washed the screens and windows in one more room. 3 rooms to go but it will get done eventually
- I probably should get the carpet professionally cleaned but I'm still spot cleaning. We'll see if we are going to move or not before paying for a cleaning service.

The hire someone else list.

- It has been impossible to change the water filter in the frig for over a year and since we are probably going to sell it is time to get it fixed rather than just not getting water from the frig. Scheduled the appliance repair person. One of the shelves in the door needs replacing too so I'll have them get the correct part.

The just don't spend wins.

- I volunteered at the Pet Club Ice Cream Social, raffle and pet photo even - but did not take any money so no raffle tickets and my dog is stressed at these kind of things so didn't purchase a professional photo of her as I left her home. My time is my contribution.
- Hubby followed up on getting the sprinkler system leak fixed that was creating a pool of water (complete with tiny frog!) next to our house. The HOA fixed it which is why we pay our monthly fee.
- So far so good on my 3 month clothes buying spending freeze.
- After 2 years and 2 months we are still managing with one car!

So far in 2 years of retirement we are being able to spend less than comes in so we can continue to add to our savings or make significant gifts to our adult kids. I know this won't continue especially if we do move to a more expensive housing market and the single family home maintenance but it has been lovely.

Worst retirement financial decisions you have made?

This is a hard one for me as I don't think we have made many yet. However the best decision we made from a family care taking perspective will probably be a poor financial decision.

The thing is we are going to end up moving twice while living independently. We moved to our current location because it is near my FIL's assisted living facility and today that is proving again that it is a good care taking decision ad Hubby was able to pop over to be with his Dad when he was taken to ER this morning. In fact he was just admitted with treatable problems.

However when he is no longer alive the plan is to move near our granddaughter (oh and her parents!). Our local son and DIL want to move there too so we will all live in the same area and be able to help each other and enjoy being on site grandparents, uncle and aunt.

That means we will be selling and buying a home again with all the associated costs as well as moving expenses. And in just the year we have been here, housing prices in the east bay area of California have skyrocketed.

So that is our biggie! How about you?

Best retirement financial decisions you have made?

I have been taking stock of what we have done right and what I would have done differently during our first six months of both of us being retired. Let's talk about the financial front for now.

As you know we sold and bought houses as part of moving across the country to be near family. We rather reluctantly decided to live where we are currently because it is near my FIL's assisted living facility. That has turned out to be a good decision not only because being near him is a good thing but also for the financial impact. For one thing, it has certainly reduced our travel costs as most of our travel in the past was to visit family. Unfortunately it has also made us less likely to do other travel as we have yet to find a way to leave our special needs dog while doing so.

The main thing about moving in financial terms though was that we were able to buy a property that suits us at this stage for a little less than we received from selling our Atlanta house. Our monthly home related bills are lower too even with the HOA fee. As a bonus, after living here a year we do like it and are quite comfortable.

Secondly we decided to try to live with one car instead of two. That decisions was prompted by the need to only drive two vehicles across the country - the rental U-Haul and one car. So we sold the oldest, highest mileage car and kept the newer, albeit smaller one. We figured we could always buy a new one if we truly needed it and thought we would probably get a hybrid do to the increased driving that we would be doing as we travel longer distances to spend time with family.

The good news is we haven't yet needed that second car. So our gasoline bill has gone up as we drive more overall, but our car insurance, licensing and maintenance costs are lower. So far we haven't even used Lyft or Uber although those are options. We have each used the free to us city operated shuttle bus, taken the metro to the airport, or accepted rides from new friends (especially when DH is going to play pickle ball with those friends). So far so good on this front.

We both went on Medicare after the move and had to decide what to use as supplemental medical insurance. So far we have managed to keep our insurance costs about the same (which was a priority) while improving our coverage in the sense that our co-pays are almost non-existent except for prescriptions and dental. I do know that this outcome is at the whim of the market, but so far so good.

The biggest decision we have had to make so far has to do with when to take Social Security or to start withdrawals from retirement funds vs living on DH's pension and our cash savings. This is a work in progress. We decided to take DH's federal pension with survivor benefits which did lower the monthly amount but gave me peace of mind for my future financial security. Since I am older and have a slightly lower SS payment I started collecting at the same time I started paying for Medicare. Right now the plan is to hold off on DH collecting SS until he is 70 - again to maximize my future financial security (as well as his if he lives longer). We are hoping to wait until mandatory withdrawal age on our other retirement accounts but will start withdrawing sooner if we need to.

So how do I know all of this is working out?

The best decision of all is that I have tracked our income and expenses for years so I know exactly what we need to have to spend and what our cash flow will be. We continue to practice being frugal where we don't care how much we spend so we can spend on what we really want to and care about. Also we revisit our decisions about every 6 months to make sure we are on track .

How about you? What have been your best retirement financial decisions so far? We'll talk about the worst ones later LOL.

Making sure you have Money for Retirement

This looks pretty interesting although I haven't read through it all yet. I like that it focuses not only on goals but also on risks - market, health, longevity/mortality, event, and tax/policy risks specifically.  Although it is aimed at those not yet retired I firmly believe in revisiting one's plans regularly to make sure you are on target.

Vanguard

I just read the introductory section on goals and really like the order in which they listed them:
- Basic living expenses (as in you need a budget folks!)
- Contingency reserve (those unplanned but expected events such as large healthcare or custodial care expenses, car or home repairs, etc.) - If you are still working this would include job loss and short term disability situations as well. I would add natural disasters if you live in an earthquake prone area like I do, etc.
- Discretionary spending (surprise! they list dining out in this category although I put it in our budget as I do vacations however a major trip I would consider discretionary as are large gifts)
- Legacy (leaving $ to heirs or charities)

Of course you might prioritize leaving a financial legacy over discretionary spending but you can't argue with basic living expenses and a contingency reserve as top priorities.

If you read this let me know what you think please!I'm going to work through it and will post about it.

Banking Wednesday: Retirement Finances

I have decided to deal with most financial items on one day of the week and Wednesday it is. So here are my Retirement Financials for the week.

1. The local newspaper raised their rate $9 a month without notice to just over $35/mo for a skinny little throwaway with lots of ads. We decided to cancel.

2. We made a decision regarding how and how much to contribute to our granddaughter's 529 fund and mailed the first check. Hope I'm still around when she starts college or whatever she decides to do after high school. 17 years to go LOL.

3. I thought we had to pay our excess liability insurance annual bill this month, but I looked it up and our move changed the renewal date to May. So I decided to look up all the rest of our insurance new renewal dates too so I can be sure we get and pay the bills online. In addition to auto insurance and excess liability we have standard homeowner's and earthquake insurance policies. We stopped our life insurance as we started collecting retirement benefits as we no longer need to replace income but instead made sure all of our beneficiary documents were up to date on pension and retirement accounts.

4. I started figuring out what documents I have or need to send to the tax accountant. Most won't be available until the end of January, but at least I have found what I do have and made a list of the others.

5. We both registered on line for our health insurance Medicare premium refund program ($600 each) and mailed in the documentation required. I also completed the online health questionnaire and got $50 on a debit card to use for prescriptions.

6. The personal loan repayment check we received reached our credit union in Georgia and apparently cleared - yeah!

7. An online item I returned was received and processed for a refund.

First Social Security payment!

My first ever Social Security payment was deposited in my checking account today. I was able to wait until I was 68 to start collecting which I know is an impossibility for many people.

We are hoping Hubby can wait until he turns 70 since his Federal employee pension starts this month and we have savings to draw on. The rationale is that then his will be higher than mine so if he dies first I will be able to collect a higher amount. Who knows if this is the right decision!

How have you, or are you thinking about, when to collect your Social Security?

Taking a deep breath after our move

Lots of things about our cross country move are working out very well. Our new house is comfortable, neighbors are friendly and the weather is divine. We have seen more of our family in the last 4 months than we have in the last 4 years - and that is wonderful. We are ready for the next phase of life as Hubby retires at the end of September and we figure out how to spend our time individually and together and how to make new close friends.

But .... we were talking last night about the unexpected expenses that have come with this house; not that we didn't expect some but still there have been more than anticipated. Some have been choices such as the quality of the den furniture we ordered but others were total surprises such as having to replace a relatively new water heater and a recirculating water pump.

So I think we are going to take a pause and hold off on a big expenditure that would be a quality of life improvement and also not necessary. The water here is extremely hard which is why the water heater had to be replaced. As long as we periodically flush the new one it should last a lot longer. However the washing machine and dishwasher could be damaged over time.

We have looked into a whole house water treatment system that would be great at solving this problem and making the water taste great without adding salt as many systems do. It would also make cleaning a lot easier as the hard water leaves deposits. But at $3,750 to purchase and install is it really worth it? A spending pause seems right so we can really think this through because honestly I'd rather take a vacation!

2 questions:

Any experience with really hard water and ideas for cleaning materials and steps to take to prolong the life of appliances?

Do you ever take a spending pause to contemplate your priorities overall or in a specific area of your life.

Analyzing your current vs retirement living costs

An Exacting Life took a look at what annual/monthly/daily costs were for her and her husband when there was no daily random spending. Of course she is Canadian so the big elephant in the room for those of us in the US - medical costs - is quite different.

What a thought provoking way of looking at our annual expenses especially if planning a change in housing, location and lifestyle as we are doing.

I decided to do the same analysis for our current location and lifestyle and then consider the parts that will change when we move to different housing. I am only including fixed and unavoidable costs.

House - maintenance, utilities, insurance, property taxes - not one time costs for preparing to sell
$12,271 a year
Medical/Health - medical insurance, medical/dental fees, prescriptions, over the counter meds
$10, 915
Grocery - food, wine/beer, toiletries, paper goods, cleaning products
$6,500  
Dog - vet, medications, food - she has been ill this year
$3,750 
Cars - maintenance, insurance, gasoline, licenses for 2 cars
$3,225
Communications - cable including landline & internet, cellphone but not newspaper, printer ink
$2,618
Life and Liability Insurance - life insurance for DH while he is still working and excess liability
$2,058

$41,337 a year; $3445 a month; $113.25 a day!

What I haven't listed is clothing, haircuts, makeup, travel, eating out, movies and other recreation, books, gym, gifts, donations, newspaper, printer ink and lots of other random expenses that are variable and discretionary.

So what do I know will change with our planned location, housing and lifestyle changes.

Housing: We will pay an HOA fee of about $500/month that will cover exterior maintenance, structure insurance, water, garbage pickup, and provide 50% off the cable bill, access to a pool, gym, etc. We will still be responsible for other utilities, property taxes, insurance on our possessions, and interior maintenance. I sense that will come out to about the same.
Medical/Health: We will continue our same insurance and I will start paying for Medicare but will have low or no copays as a result.
Grocery: No change.
Dog: This is uncontrollable.
Cars: We are going to try having one car but our insurance will be higher and we will buy more gas at higher prices. Minimal if any savings.
Communications: Cable a bit less? 2 cellphones instead of one.
Life and Liability Insurance: At last a savings. We will drop life insurance once DH retires as then I would have a % of his pension guaranteed if he dies first.

Bottom Line: Pretty much a wash but that is actually good news. We are moving to a much more expensive housing market and if we are able to buy where we intend, we can keep our costs from going up.

How detailed is your retirement budget?

Earlier this week The Frugal Queen asked if we have really budgeted for everything. I'd have to answer no as I base the year's budget on last year's expenses and known increases in things like health and car insurance or property taxes.

Some people keep separate online account "envelopes" to save in advance for the rare and/or unknown expenses that pop up be it car or dishwasher replacement, vet expenses or whatever. We keep general savings and investment accounts.

This month's unbudgeted and unexpected/unplanned expenses have me wondering if that is the best approach once we are living on retirement income. Just yesterday it was a new car battery for our older car - $166 that was not included in the annual servicing & licensing budget. We do budget for poodle princess's monthly shot, meds, annual exam & grooming, but this month she had lots of tests and changes in meds and food - $718 and a substantial financial gift to elderly relatives who are struggling financially.

I have no problem with any of those expenses and am happy we can afford them. However, I didn't really budget for any of them and I'm wondering if there is a change that would be helpful to try as I know our first year or so of living on retirement cash flow is going to take lots of adjusting and planning.

Please share your ideas and experiences!

The dog ate my retainer and other early 2016 budget adjustments

This morning my dog was in pre-anesthesia mode because of a scheduled dental cleaning so no food or water. This of course was really unsettling and disturbing and probably other things to her.  Her solution? She pulled my retainers off the dining room table and try to eat them. She destroyed one but I think the other more expensive one is fine. She has never shown any interest in them or pulled anything off this table before but you know what they say about desperate times! And at least it is time for my annual checkup with the orthodontist so some of the cost was planned. But mostly that is one unexpected budget item.

Do you think I should list it as a health care expense or dog expense LOL?

Fortunately her cleaning went well and was 4 years later than the vet had originally predicted it would be needed so I guess we saved money by brushing her teeth and giving her Greenies the last 5 years. No extractions; $366 (plus a new retainer)  in case you are wondering what cleaning the teeth of a 16 pound dog costs these days.

Then there is the medical bill incurred by my husband near the end of 2015 that the provider has not yet billed. Our share is $855 and I forgot to add that to our projected healthcare costs for 2016.

Oops.

It's only January 5th - I thought we would have a bit more of a grace period than that on my budgeting efforts!

Kicking off the BEST new year

We had a low key and fun New Year's Eve with dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant and then a cozy evening at home. I tried a new to me dish - shrimp with crispy sweet basil and vegetables and boy was it delicious. I ate the whole thing which made it easy to start the first day of the year off right food wise.

I have decided that the BEST thing I can eat for breakfast is oatmeal with fruit and soy milk. Sometimes an addition of peanut butter. Oatmeal is the one breakfast food that keeps me from getting hungry before lunch. So this morning it is microwaved oatmeal, half a banana and 1 tablespoon of peanut butter with soy milk.

I've finished off my financials for 2015 and am delighted that we saved 35.5% of our income! Go us. I usually think in terms of a dollar goal for savings and always fall short. Looking at it this way, we did great.

I did splurge a bit on the dog yesterday - replaced the 5 year old pad in her crate. A bit needed although she does love her crate for naps even with the old pad. The old one will be back up for a while as I do wash them. I couldn't remember the brand and had cut off the tag so I went back to the (expensive) pet store we bought it at the day we adopted her. They were just getting a shipment unloaded from a truck and there was exactly what I wanted in that load. I also got her more of her Harry Barker prickly pear shampoo + conditioner so I wouldn't need to order it online. Don't you love the brand name?

Today is finally a brisk weather day with no rain! I think I'll use this luck to get out and spray the driveway for weeds as well as the foundation for bugs. A nice long walk is in the plans too. I'm joining in with Ilona on her 1000 miles in 2016 walking challenge. I started yesterday (why not?) with 2.4 miles. Want to join in?

Lastly, I remembered that I had stashed a free 2016 wall calendar and pulled it out. To my surprise I actually had 2 free ones put away so I will donate one tomorrow.

Here's to your BEST year ever.

Pre-Retirement Finances - 2015 results and 2016 expectations

How are you faring economically as you approach or manage retirement?

The year has almost ended and I've been looking at our 2015 expenses to plan for the coming year as our income will stay the same for the most part. I'm still delaying collecting social security so that it will increase as I am betting on a long life. My parents lived to 88 and 92 and I want to maximize those payments as an inflation hedge. I'll start collecting some time after DH stops working full time in 2017.

2015 expenses

- Our cars cost us 3.6% less than 2014. Insurance was up but gasoline and licenses were down.
- Clothing and haircuts were up 49.8% as I redid my wardrobe.
- Phones, cable and other communications up 3.6% mostly due to cable bundle increases.
- Contributions were down 14.36% and dog costs down 27.7% as she did not have any illnesses beyond her routine care.
- Groceries, alcohol, household supplies and toiletries were up 8.5%
- Gifts were down 24.3% as we made no large cash gifts in 2015.
- Health care costs and housing costs (maintenance, insurance and property taxes mostly) were up 27.4% and 24.7% respectively.
- We cancelled my life insurance so life and excess liability insurance costs went down 28.9%.
- Recreation costs were down 22.52% due to decreased travel costs.
- Taxes were up 14.8% as we paid more realistic estimated taxes after a year of refunds due to filing amended tax returns to correct our ignorance of state tax laws for those over 60.

So overall, our expenses went up 5.25% which is not sustainable given current returns on investments.

2016

Expense expectations

Our health insurance cost has increased by 8.8% and our share of the cost of prescriptions and treatment has gone up as well. I am expecting our car insurance, homeowners insurance, life insurance and property taxes to increase in the 10% - 20% range each. I imagine Comcast will raise their rates as well.

What will go down? Car licenses. Gifts. Travel costs if we only go to California as we now have family guest rooms to use at both locations. My clothing costs as I am committed to buying fewer items. Books, hobbies, classes - all $0 as I plan no spending there.

I can try to reduce or maintain our spending on food but costs have been rising and healthy eating is important. Dog care, health related items, home repair, gasoline, etc. are all pretty much out of my control as they are necessary and I have to pay what they cost. We will likely start doing some pre-sale improvements as well although those may not start until 2017. We will make one major furnishings purchase of a new mattress and bedding. Research is necessary for that one!

I will continue to pay for Pilates sessions as a health investment. I want to take one vacation that is not a family visit so that will be added in. We haven't decided where it will be yet but probably in the US. We will keep going out to eat occasionally but have decreased that in the last couple of months as several of our favorite restaurants have closed.

Income expectations

My husband is federal employee and they are to get a 1% raise. He will get a yet to be determined bonus based on performance evaluation. The annuity payments I inherited from my parents will end after October's payment. Interest rates may go up slightly on our savings. I think this will be a wash.

Stretching in the 5 weeks of December

I am going to make the challenge for this month be to stretch my mind, body and money! I know that there are only 30 days in December but I'm challenging myself from November 30th through January 3rd to get in those 5 weeks and hopefully set some new habits.

Mind:
- Read one non-fiction book a week so I can learn something. I'm in the middle of a history of the British Women's Institute right now and it is interesting. I also have a travel book we bought duirng a museum visit last week and need to get going on it.
- Go to a free Christmas chamber music concert.
- Cook something new to take to my book club Christmas party. I'm thinking a great hor dourves dish or perhaps cranberry almond biscotti to use up ingredients in my pantry. Or even both?

Body:
- Use my stretching DVD at least 4 times a week and do not pay for stretch classes. I started November 30th!
- Walk the dog every day. (0.75 miles)
- Take one urban hike each week. I have mapped two routes. One is 2.5 miles. The other is 4.25 miles.
- Pilates session each week. If my trainer is off for vacation be sure to schedule with someone else.

Money:
- See how long we can go without eating out! We had a great time including eating out a fair bit during our Thanksgiving week staycation and family visit. I am usually the one who suggests we go out so I am the one who needs to do better at planning to eat at home.
- Do not buy any books. I have started a list of ones to request inter-library loan.
- Order Christmas gifts from kids lists and have shipped directly to them or send checks.
- Stick to no clothes shopping. My one exception is a pair of sweatpants if I find ones I really like.
- Order debit cards for each of us.
- Check husband's SS statement.
- Get free credit reports and read carefully.

What are your goals for the month?

Ongoing thriftiness

Often I don't think about the things we do that help us build our retirement nest egg while enjoying eating out, travel, Pilates, movies & theater, and other pricier things. Instead I have mostly focused on our pre-tax retirement accounts from work and the money I inherited. We are very fortunate that at this point we are able to plan and spend on what we enjoy while still saving for the future. Of course it helps that we aren't into buying the latest cars, décor, etc.

I think once we are retired, that these small thrifty things along with our use it a long time & keep it in good repair philosophy is what is going to keep the money going for the rest of our lives especially since we are moving to a more expensive housing, insurance and general cost of living area. As I've mentioned we come from long living families and hopefully have a lot of years ahead of us to finance and enjoy!

Some of the things we do routinely are listed below. What do you do that I could add to our habits? Where do you get your inspiration for living a full life while managing your assets?

Clothing:
- Wash laundry in cold water, buy inexpensive laundry soap on sale and use white vinegar as softener
- When shopping for new clothes for myself I start with consignment/thrift store, then discount store (Tuesday Morning, Marshalls, etc.), then lower cost department stores and finally higher cost ones but watching for sales.
- Mending/alterations are done by me

Food:
- Hubby takes lunch to work almost every day and I eat lunch at home now that I am retired unless I am having lunch out with a friends
- We cook dinner together most nights going out about once every week or 10 days
- Make bread crumbs out of bread ends, freeze overripe bananas for banana bread later, make chicken stock from carcass and generally minimize food waste
- Use coupons and/or shop sales for items I would buy anyway

Utilities including phones:
- Turn off lights when not being used
- Keep thermostat setting as high/low as possible in summer/winter
- I keep a spreadsheet of our electricity, gas and water usage which enabled me to see a few years ago that there was a leak in the water main. It was costly to fix but we were able to get a partial refund.
- Right now we have very low cell phone costs - Hubby has a work phone and I use a Tracfone. Not a help when we travel and wish we had all the lovely iphone features but work for day to day. We will switch when he retires.

Home:
- Do all yard work and housework ourselves; we do hire out tree trimming and heavy landscaping
- Do home repairs ourselves if possible
- Use linens, furniture, decorative items, etc. as long as possible and then replace through consignment stores or sale items if possible

Finances:
- Pay all the bills I can online to save on stamps and checks
- Track and monitor our spending
- Review bills and accounts routinely; contest or change providers as needed

Health:
- Keep vaccinations current and take medications as prescribed
- Keep up on routine preventative medical and dental care services
- Plan meals to meet our low salt, non-dairy, gout appropriate diet needs

Autos:
- We keep our cars a very long time and follow the preventive maintenance guidelines
- Combine errands to save on driving
- Get insurance discount for completing a safe driving course online

Recreation & Hobbies:
- I check online listings for free musical performances at a nearby college, outdoor activities, etc.
- We purchase an annual membership at the art museum which enables us to see all exhibits including the special ones at a much reduced cost
- Most books read are from the library

Other:
- Use scrap paper for notes/lists and print on back of sheets
- Buy note cards at thrift store
- Reuse plastic shopping bags and newspaper wrappers for dog pickup and trash
- Wash dog in bathtub between grooming appointments. Keep up with her ear and eye cleaning and medications to avoid further vet costs.

 

 

Ah, taxes are so complicated

Being my usual organized self I filed my taxes as soon as possible. Then I received more tax documents related to my inheritance. Just so you know, these K1s don't have the same deadline for delivery as everything else. They made filing amended returns complicated so I had to take it all to an accountant. Good thing that I did.

Turns out that since 2011 when I turned 62 I have been eligible for deducting some income from Georgia state taxes. We are redoing state returns for those 3 years as well and will get back a nice  amount of money.

So it seems that I need help each time something significant changes in our financial lives! When we move back to California and each year we start receiving retirement income from various sources I will have to remember this and hire a professional to do our taxes for those years to make sure we do everything correctly! Self sufficiency is only good if it produces the correct result LOL.

Happy tax day.

How much time do you spend managing your everyday finances?

I seem to spend a lot of time on things related to our everyday financial life. Today I spent a fair amount of time on these things.

- verified a credit was applied to our credit card for a returned item
- cancelled an automatic payment for a service we won't be using any longer
- called our health insurance to see why I am being charged a copay for an annual physical (the clinic charged for 2 office visits because we discussed my test results - guess they can do this???)
- filled out a form to get reimbursed for health care used by our pre-tax health savings account
- updated our checkbook for auto deposits and payments made through online bill pay
and
- contemplated what I am going to have to do to submit amended tax returns to the IRS and state due to a late input of information regarding taxable portion of my inheritance.

I also got to wait patiently while a clerk refused to read the instructions on how to use an online gift card I presented for a purchase. Instead she voided the entire sale. Finally her manager came over and quickly did it correctly.

I can see why some people just shove it all in a drawer or into the recesses of their mind. If I was still working full time I would be squeezing this all in between dinner and bedtime so I am grateful that I have the time to devote to it on a rainy and chilly day.

Now to figure out what documents I will need to present to prove my existence and current name so I can renew my driver's license! I am not renewing it until summer but I am starting now. Sigh.