East Coast Saver (Wink)

I haven't seen you post in a while, hope everything is OK!

Income Total: $1700.00

* $1500 Recurring monthly retirement account distribution
* $150 Swagbucks(cash out to PayPal)
* $50 My Points (cash out to PayPal)

Total Spending: $1513.85

Total Savings: $186.15 (difference between monthly income and monthly spending)

Fixed Expenses:
Verizon bundle (internet, cable, home phone): $160.25
Cell phone: $59.90
HVAC and water heater contract: $27.95
Condo Fee (includes water) $190.00
Health Care: (includes health, dental, vision, prescription plans) $450.90

Variables:
Utilities: $83.70
Gasoline: 0
Groceries: $236.31 (I stocked up on meat, so spending was up a bit)
Health: $70.02 (co-pays, scripts refills, vitamins and personal health care items)
Take Out food: $36.70
Shopping (on-line): $198.12 (see note below)

* Condo is paid in full
* Car is paid in full (2017 Camry)
* No other debt

Shopping: I have a list of things that I need and started purchasing them.

Michelangelo 12-inch skillet with lid. I have been researching new pans, and Lucky Robin mentioned this one in her blog. I love it! Great quality. I plan to buy the 2 smaller size pans from this line in October.

Black out curtains for the guest bedroom. The bedrooms in the condo face the front of the building and have almost floor to ceiling windows. Great for letting in light during the day, but I face the parking lot and there are some lampposts that are pretty bright. I had white shears in there but with my sister and BIL potentially coming for Christmas I needed heavier ones for privacy. I don’t want blinds (too much to clean and expensive for such large windows). These curtains did the trick, true blackouts.

2 new nightshirts. Mine were really worn out

2 Christmas gifts (getting a head start on this)

Restock order from Walmart for some household items (free shipping).

A few years ago, when I was looking for condos there were several things that I knew I wanted and were really must haves. I wanted this to be my forever home, where I could safely age in place for as long as possible.

A top floor, one level, unit (I didn’t want to hear people above me walking around)

An elevator building

A dedicated parking space

A full sized, side by side, washer and dryer in the unit

Central air and heat (owner controlled)

At least a half bath for guests to use (in addition to a master bathroom)

Something newer with lots of light

Open concept living, dining and kitchen area

Decent storage

Well maintained common areas and some green space

A balcony for some outdoor space

A short distance from my brother

It seems like a long list, but I did manage to find something with all those must haves. I knew at some point as I age too many flights of stairs would be a problem, so I really needed a building with an elevator since I wanted to be on the top floor. I originally wanted just a one bedroom, I didn’t want anything too big but could not find a one-bedroom place that had a guest bath, so I wound up with a two bed/two full bath. It's about 1200 square feet. Now, I am glad to have that extra bedroom for when my sister and BIL come to visit.

The only thing it didn’t have was a walk-in shower. Both bathrooms have full tub/shower combinations in them. I knew that eventually I would re-do the master bathroom and have the tub removed and replaced with a walk-in shower with the appropriate grab bars needed for when I am older. I will also have the tile flooring and toilets replaced in both bathrooms. The floor tile is cracking in a few places and I have replaced parts on both toilets so while I have my contractor here, I will just replace them. I plan to use LVT (luxury vinyl tile) on the floors. I am so over tile and grout. The LVT is really beautiful, durable, and easy to clean. I have the money saved for the work, but I’m going to wait a while until I feel more comfortable having workers coming in and out (COVID). It isn’t an urgent project.

Before I moved in, I had the whole place painted and had all the carpeting removed and had hardwood floors installed. The kitchen was in great shape and didn’t need any work. The previous owner had re-done it with all new stainless appliances, new cabinets and counters and a new sink and faucet.

My color palette preference is light grays, creams, beige, light blue, with teal and a few pale-yellow accents here and there for pops of color. My hardwood floors are a dark brown. I like calm, peaceful soothing colors. My friends and family say that my place feels very comfortable and cozy! I feel so happy here and I am very fortunate to have found my forever home.

My brother is in the process of having a small addition built on his house. He went back and forth between moving to something else or staying in his current house and modifying it to make it work better for their needs in retirement. He is having the laundry room moved to the main floor from the basement, adding an additional full bathroom and enlarging a bedroom and closet. This made more sense for them then moving.

Are you planning to age in place and stay in your current home? Remodel? Downsize? Relocate totally to a new state? It’s such a big decision.

The weather in Maryland has been beautiful the last few days! Low humidity, temps in the lower 80’s with a nice gentle breeze. Just perfect. I don’t know if anyone reading is from Colorado, but I saw on the news that they went from 90-degree weather to snow in 24 hours? That’s pretty drastic if true!

Anyway, we took advantage of our nice weather and my brother had a small family cook out on Sunday. We sat outside all day and had fun playing some games and discussing the possibility of a vacation next summer. I don’t want to get my hopes up too high, but it was nice to think about. We’ll see where things are next year.

On Saturday my BF and I met up at the park for a very long walk, then we went to lunch. Our favorite restaurant has outdoor seating and since the weather was so mild it was very comfortable. After lunch we parted ways and I did some grocery shopping then home to complete some chores. In the early evening I went out on my balcony with my book and I was so relaxed I almost fell asleep! I love the fall and can’t wait for it to really kick in.

Today was an at home day. My sister called, and we talked for a very long time. We are still planning for her and her husband to come for a visit at Christmas. I really miss her and hope everything works out. Not much else happening, I’ve been feeling a little down lately, but this weekend cheered me up. It was good to get out and be with my favorite people!

For the month of August, I spent a total of $176.92 for groceries. My goal for the grocery challenge was to spend $20 less than I did in July. My total for July was $198.21. I came in $21.31 under! The challenge really helped me to focus on what I was buying, stick to my list, and to not make impulse purchases.

I know I will be spending more in September. I want to stock my freezer with some meat, and frozen veggies and fruit. And I need to restock some things in my pantry.

I received an energy usage report in the mail from my utility company. So far this year I have used 12 percent less energy than last year. I am happily surprised by this because I thought that since I retired and have been home a lot more, I would be using more energy. It was also a really hot and humid summer here in Maryland, one of the hottest on record. I try and limit my dryer usage, keep the thermostat set at 78 degrees, turn off lights and keep things unplugged when I’m not using them. I guess these measures made the difference.

I’m doing well with sticking to my new budget since I retired. Leading up to retirement I was so focused on saving that it’s been a bit difficult to give myself permission to spend a little. I will never be a be a big spender, it’s just not in my nature, but if I see something that I want (not necessarily need) and there is room in the monthly budget I’m going to loosen those purse strings and treat myself here and there.

The weather the last 2 days was glorious! It was cooler and less humid, and I could really feel the difference in my energy level when I went out for my walks. Today it is overcast and drizzly but still less humid. I love cooler weather!

Income Total: $1637.00
* $1500 Recurring monthly retirement account distribution
* $100 Swagbucks earnings (cash out to PayPal)
* $25 My Points (cash out to PayPal)
* $7 Amazon gift card (earned through Swagbucks)
* $5 CVS gift card (earned through Fetch)

Total Spending: $1421.23

Total Savings: $215.77 (difference between monthly income and monthly spending)

Fixed Expenses:
Verizon bundle (internet, cable, home phone): $160.25
Cell phone: $59.90
HVAC and water heater contract: $27.95
Condo Fee (includes water) $190.00
Health Care: (includes health, dental, vision, prescription plans) $450.90

Variables:
Utilities: $116.05
Gasoline: 0
Groceries: $176.92
Health: $20.73 (co-pays, scripts refills, vitamins and personal health care items)
Take Out food: $38.70 (Includes a birthday lunch for my brother)
Shopping (on-line): $54.84
McAfee yearly subscription $69.99
Charitable Donation: $60.00


* Condo is paid in full
* Car is paid in full (2017 Camry)
* No other debt

For the week of 8/16 - 8/23 I spent $34.99 I needed fresh produce mostly, as well as bread and a few other things. I’m posting a day early as I know I won’t be shopping again until next week.

Recap so far:
Week 1: $102.97 (stock up)
Week 2: $ 0
Week 3: $34.99
Total so far is $137.96 which leaves me $40.25 for the rest of the month to make my goal of spending $20 less for groceries then I spent in July.

The past week was quiet, but the weather was beautiful! We actually had a few great days in a row with lower heat and humidity, and I was able to get outside to walk. It felt rejuvenating to soak up some sun and get some fresh air. My best friend and I went for a drive to a state park with beautiful surroundings and spent a few hours walking and talking. Since we went during the week there were only a few other people around and it was easy to stay socially distant. Then we stopped for some take out lunch. It felt like a little piece of normal.

I somehow managed to strain my back pretty good so I’ve been hobbling around the past couple of days and using a heating pad. It's been hard to get comfortable to sleep so I’m really tired too. It does feel a bit better today though so I’m hoping for a decent night's sleep tonight and less pain tomorrow!

For the week of 8/8 -8/15 I spent $0.00!! Yay! Last week I did a large stock up, so I really didn’t need anything else so far. My goal for August was to spend $20 less for groceries then I did in July. My July total was $198.21, so I have $75.24 left for the month of August to make my goal. I will need to go this week sometime for a few things I am running low on, like fresh produce and bread.

I’ve been really focused on zero food waste. I think that volunteering at the food distribution center for a while now has really opened my eyes to just how badly people are hurting. Our food distribution process is much like what you see on TV. People line up in their cars and when they pull up, we place the food and supplies in their trunk, and they are on their way. There is often a line before we even open, and we usually run out of food before we run out of people who need it. There is a church right down the street who helps people who are walk-ins because they do not have cars.

Out of curiosity, I watched some You Tube videos on people who dumpster dive for food. It is astounding how much food that grocery stores throw away. Food that is not even close to being expired or recalled. Just tossed for no apparent reason. Why isn’t this food donated? We seem to be such a throwaway society.

In other updates, my brother’s birthday was last week so I treated him to some delicious take out. We also had a very small family celebration with cake and gifts. It was a nice day, and I’m grateful for it.

My sister, who lives in Texas (I’m in Maryland) had some bad news regarding her husband. He has been battling cancer, and his last test results were not encouraging. I wish I could go and visit but because of the virus it’s just not possible right now.

Not too much else going on, the weather here in Maryland continues to be very hot and humid with thunderstorms that roll through every few days. I’m really ready for fall and cooler weather.

For the week of 8/1 -8/7 I spent $102.97. I’m posting a day early as I know I won’t be shopping tomorrow. This was a big stock up shop as I was out of almost everything. My goal for August was to spend $20 less for groceries then I did in July. My July total was $198.21, so I have $75.24 left for the month of August. This doesn’t seem like a lot, but I think it's doable. I don’t anticipate needing anything at all next week. This is just for groceries, no pet supplies, cleaning supplies or personal care items. It also does not include any take-out food.

I usually shop at Aldi’s, but I wasn’t feeling well on grocery shopping day and when I drove to the Aldi the parking lot was packed and I just wasn’t up to a big crowd in the store. I drove back over to the grocery store right down the street from where I live and got everything there. They are a bit more expensive, but they usually have everything I need, and the store never seems too crowded and it’s very clean. So, my bill was probably a bit higher than if I had gone to Aldi.

Before I shopped, I carefully went through my pantry, fridge and freezer to see what I already had. Then I did some meal planning and made my list. I checked the store circulars for sales on things I needed. I was well prepared! I find that careful planning is really key for me to keep to my grocery budget.

I did get another good deal on eggs at .99 a dozen. I was surprised that almost everything I bought was at the same price as the last time I shopped, so I didn’t notice much, if any, of a price increase on my usual staples.

Breakfasts for me are usually an egg or two, a piece of toast with butter, and coffee with cream. I might make French toast occasionally or have oatmeal and fruit. Lunch is mostly either chicken salad or tuna salad. Sometimes I’ll have some soup or a grilled cheese. Dinners are usually a protein and veggies. I eat a lot of simple stir fry’s. I might have pasta with meat sauce once in a while. For snacks I keep apples, other fruits, nuts, and air popped popcorn. I don’t buy other types of chips or crackers because I have no will power if I have them in the house!

I will post the week two grocery challenge thread on 8/14. Please join in and post your grocery totals and goals if you want!

Income Total: $1650.00
* $1500 Recurring monthly retirement account distribution
* $125 Swagbucks earnings (cash out to PayPal)
* $25 My Points (cash out to PayPal)

Total Spending: $1452.93
Total Savings: $197.07 (difference between monthly income and monthly spending)

Fixed Expenses:
Verizon bundle (internet, cable, home phone): $160.25
Cell phone: $61.67
HVAC and water heater contract: $27.95
Condo Fee (includes water) $190.00
Health Care: (includes health, dental, vision, prescription plans) $450.90

Variables:
Utilities: $91.25
Gasoline: 0
Groceries: $198.21
Health: $15 (co-pays, scripts refills, vitamins and personal health care items)
Take Out food: 31.70
Shopping (on-line): 0

Hair $140.00 (color, cut, style and tip)
AARP yearly subscription: $16 (once a year expense)
Dryer vent clean out: $70.00 (required by the HOA, once every 2 years)

Note: I paid my yearly property taxes: $3194.34 I do not count this in monthly expenses as I pay this once a year from a separate savings account specifically for taxes and insurance expenses.

* Condo is paid in full
* Car is paid in full (2017 Camry)
* No other debt

I decided to do a grocery spending challenge for myself for the month of August. This is a problem area for me, so I want to try and keep myself accountable by posting how I’m doing here. Plus, I think challenges can be fun!

In July I spent $198.21. I am a single person so that is just for me! I’m also not on any kind of special diets and I don’t buy all organic. I do intend to continue to eat a healthy diet of fresh fruits and veggies and try and stay away from too much processed foods. I’m not trying to only eat rice and beans all month (although I like rice and beans)! This is for food only, not any household, personal care products or pet supplies. Part of this challenge is to really pay attention to what I already have in my pantry, fridge and freezer. I have some things, but I’m not starting out fully stocked. I anticipate my first grocery shop of the month will be a larger sized one, and then hopefully smaller shops the rest of the month.

My goal is to spend less than I did in July. To make it more interesting I will place a goal of spending $20 less then July and see how I do.
If anyone wants to join me for this challenge, I’ll be posting a weekly update where you can also post your progress. Please join in if you would like!

Financial Update:
My car insurance company issued a refund for June for $15.19. This is a continuation of offering this discount that was given to all customers in April and May.

I rolled up $25 in pennies and cashed them in to my bank. They were happy to take them.

So far for July I cashed out from both Swagbucks and My Points for a total of $150. I use the cash payout to Paypal, then just transfer the cash to my bank.

I am on track to stay under budget for July.

Upcoming Purchases:
I will be purchasing a filtered pitcher of some sort (like Britta) so I can stop buying bottled water. I’ve been meaning to do this for some time. I will wait until August, so it comes out of that month's budget.

I am researching treadmills. I need to exercise more, and I prefer walking. I had an old one several years ago and I did consistently use it. The weather here has been so hot and humid that it is limiting my ability to walk outdoors, and it gets way too cold in the winter. When I retired my plan was to use the gym at the college (which I can use for free as a retiree benefit) but who knows when it will reopen. And it will just be nice to not have to go anywhere on bad weather days or when I am just too lazy to go out!

Prepping: (I am prepping for Fall just in case)
I have been building up all my paper supplies, vitamins, cleaners, hand sanitizer and any other household and personal care products that I use. I am in pretty good shape with these types of products overall.

I have also just begun to stock my pantry. I only stock up on food items that I usually eat. I have some rice, beans (I use these for chili) pasta, pasta sauce, canned soup and meats (tuna and chicken). I will wait until later in August to stock up on freezer food. I’m really cutting back on the amount of meat I eat. I buy just a few extra things every time I go to the grocery store.

Life: Things are going pretty well overall. I am staying busy with reading, puzzles, word games, sketching, cleaning and safely visiting with my brother and my best friend to socialize a little. I feel like I have fallen into a pretty good routine, which is good for me since I function much better overall with some structure to my days! I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe.

My spending so far this month is at $1326.15. All my regular monthly bills for July have been paid except for my cell phone bill which will be due later in the month. The only other spending I anticipate will be one more small grocery shop. I still have $173.85 left for the month to cover those costs, more than enough.

When I first retired, I set a strict monthly budget of $1500. I was a little worried that would be too restrictive and I wouldn’t have much left for a few indulgences here and there, but so far so good! I spent $140 for a salon visit (color, cut, style and a generous tip) and I picked up some takeout a couple of times, so I’m able to splurge a little here and there.

The salon visit went well. They keep the front door locked so there is no walk-in traffic. When I walked in the first thing I noticed was the smell of Lysol! The salon was spotless.They took a temperature check and asked me a few screening questions. There were only 3 employees there, my stylist, one other and the receptionist. The only person to get close to me was my stylist who wore both a face mask and one of those full plastic face shields. She also shampooed me, no separate shampoo person. I went with a short bob style that I love. I won’t have to go back for a few months, and we will see how things are going at that time. This visit gave me such a boost! A little bit of normalcy in a dark time.

CB In the City’s post earlier today got me thinking about all the loose change I have so I started rolling it up. Once I get a decent amount together, I’ll take it to the bank and cash it in. A national shortage of change is another thing happening as a result of this pandemic that I never thought I would see.

I made some loose plans to go over to my brother’s sometime this weekend for dinner, probably burgers on the grill and sitting outside which we love to do. And my BF and I continue to walk together a few times a week, so I’m getting enough socializing to keep me sane. I think being an introvert is coming in handy! Stay safe and well everyone.

I went to the grocery store today and spent $62.05. I am well stocked for the next two weeks. Aldi had a great sale on eggs at .49 cents a dozen (large eggs). I picked up two cartons. Just for fun, and because I am somewhat bored, I calculated the cost of breakfast each day using the eggs, toast, butter and coffee:

2 eggs: .08 cents (this would be more usually, but I am using the Aldi’s sale eggs)
1 slice of bread: .20 cents
Butter on toast: .10 cents (not exactly sure but it can’t be any more than this, I don’t use a lot)
Coffee: .27 cents
Creamer: .10 cents
Grand Total .75 cents!

Sometimes I will throw some veggies in my eggs if I have any leftover, like peppers and onions to make more of an omelet. If I do this, I would add on another .25 cents, making the total $1.00. This is a typical breakfast for me. When I first get up, I drink a bottle of water (16.9 oz) to hydrate, then have my meal. I really don’t mind eating the same thing every day, but if I want something different, I’ll have oatmeal and fruit.

I also made a pot of creamy potato soup using the free potatoes I got last week. I’ll be having that this week for either lunch or dinner, along with a spinach salad. I can’t imagine that this soup cost more than $1.00 a bowl. It was a basic recipe but very good!

I stopped at CVS to pick up a prescription and a case of water. At the checkout they had very large bottles (32 oz.) of Germ X moisturizing gel hand sanitizer for sale. It was $9.99 and I was running low, so I picked it up. This will last me a very long time. The water was $2.99. So, for both items the total was $12.98. I used $13 of extra bucks to pay for it so my cost was zero.

I have an appointment on Tuesday to get my hair colored and cut. I really need a haircut! I haven’t been to the salon since the very beginning of March before everything shut down. My stylist said they are strictly adhering to all the required safety rules including reduced staff and customers, sanitizing the stations between each use, wearing masks, and the required distance between stations. She’s a good friend so I trust she is being extremely careful.

Not much else happening, it was a quiet weekend. I hope everyone is well!

It is extremely hot and humid in Maryland today. Summer is not my favorite season. The humidity just seems to drain all my energy really quickly. I did venture out to run a few errands though. I had a coupon from my grocery store for a free 10-pound bag of russet potatoes. I dropped half of these off to my brother as I will never eat that many! I’ll need to find some recipes for what to do with the rest.
Then I went over to CVS and bought 5 bottles of shampoo, and a 6-roll pack of paper towels (the really big, jumbo rolls). After using coupons and extra bucks I paid $5.69 out of pocket, and .95 cents of that was tax. I also received another $10 extra buck to use on a future purchase. Extra bucks are just like cash, you can use them on anything you want to buy. CVS is giving away a free item a day to its CVS Carepass members through next week. Today’s item was an apricot facial scrub, worth $4.39, I think. So that was a nice freebie.

A friend from work called me to vent a little about having to physically go back to work. She has been working from home.The college is reopening and ending the work from home option on August 1st. She is really worried about being exposed to COVID. Everyone is required to wear masks, and all staff will be given the full plastic face shields as well. There will be temperature checks, and they have hired safety monitors to patrol the campus and buildings to be sure students are being compliant with wearing masks, and social distancing. There will also be extensive cleaning efforts by the maintenance staff. They are going to try and offer only one third of classes in person, with a third being virtual, and a third being a hybrid combination. Class sizes will also be smaller so students can spread out in the classroom.

I can’t even imagine how this is going to work in K-12. What a decision for parents to have to make for their children. Is it safe to send them back? How will the buses work? Cafeterias? Does it do more harm to their development to keep them home? I know that the public-school system in my county sent out a survey to all parents for input on what they would like to see. So much to consider.

Income Total: $1654.65
* $1500 Recurring monthly retirement account distribution
* $100 Swagbucks earnings (cash out to paypal)
* $54.64 Credit card cash rewards

Total Spending: $1326.00
Total Savings: $328.65 (difference between monthly income and monthly spending)

Fixed Expenses:
Verizon bundle (internet, cable, home phone): $158.83
Cell phone: $61.28
HVAC and water heater contract: $27.95
Condo Fee (includes water) $190.00
Health Care: (includes health, dental, vision, prescription plans) $450.90

Variables:
Utilities: $75.66
Gasoline: 0
Groceries: $225.91
Health: $70.02 (scripts refills, vitamins and personal health care items)
Dining Out: 0
Shopping (on-line): $65.45 (includes a birthday gift for my niece)

* Condo is paid in full
* Car is paid in full (2017 Camry)
* No other debt