I received my property tax bill in the mail, and it does include the Homeowners Property Tax Credit of $991.00 that I was approved for. Total bill comes to $2,245.44 for the year. This also includes a discount of $9.89 for paying the full amount in the month of July. Last year, without the Homeowners Property Tax Credit I paid a total of $3235.36.  

Of the $2245.44 I paid this year, $1064.73 of it was “other charges” that includes things like, sewer benefit, sewer service, water benefit, water distribution and a bay restoration fee. Sigh.  

Before I retired, I had saved money into a separate savings account that I use only to pay yearly property taxes, car insurance, and condo insurance. When I am able to save any money from my monthly income (after my monthly expenses) and most of my yearly tax refund, I sweep it back into this account. Right now, I have a solid 15 years' worth of savings to cover these expenses. This account is not my emergency fund, I have a separate savings account for those kinds of expenses when they pop up. This system is working really well for me so far.  

This month so far, I have spent $28.93 on groceries. I’m trying to keep it another low spend month by using up what I have on hand. I was sent home with a bunch of leftovers from our 4th of July BBQ at my brother’s, so I’ll be using all that up this week. We had a wonderful time, and it was great to catch up with some of my cousins that I haven’t seen in a while. 

I was notified that my cell phone bill would be increasing by another $6 a month. Time to start looking around for a cheaper plan. I really dislike switching things when they work really well but at almost $66 a month with this increase, it’s just too much.  

The weather here in Maryland has been hot and humid and we have been getting a round of rain and thunderstorms nearly every day this week. Typical weather for us this time of year, except the storms seem much stronger with the last one producing a tornado just to the south of me.  

I hope everyone has a wonderful upcoming weekend!