Cottage Countdown

LeighofMar

Thank you all. I hope everyone has a nice warm weekend. 

LeighofMar

It's another happy Thursday. Tomorrow, I will redeem my CC cashback of $25.00 to the mortgage and then I am done charging on this card. Making progress on paying my surgery down. Balance is now 2400.00 from 3800.00.  Mortgage balance will be $20,675.00.

Retirement accounts contributed to, the last contribution for the year. I know it's a long game, but it certainly can be annoying when you make deposit after deposit and the balance stays the same due to market conditions. But I know it's gone down before and when it comes back up, I'm sure I'll be happy with the results. I have to just remember to keep contributing and buying while the market is down anyway.

Business savings, I've been taking 10% of all revenue and putting it in the savings pot. Once we get paid back from a loan to a colleague, we will be at $53k. I'm aiming for 100k as we really want to rehab the next real estate project on our own and would rather use cash than having to either look for a partner or beg for a loan/home equity loan. DH is relaxed about it but I'm irritated as there have been some good deals in our area that we haven't been able to acquire. I know I have to be patient but I'd rather lock down a property now so we can plan for the new year. 

For now, I'm just happy to be comfortable and warm in my home. Still fighting a flare but thankfully, it still seems to be mild and hopefully, I can avoid aggravating it so that it doesn't get worse. I also keep exercising to maintain my strength and booster my mood, which helps so much. 

Now to figure out what to do with the ground beef my DH took out. He took it out but asks me what to do with it. Sigh. I'm good with taco night or bacon ranch burger bowls, really don't care, but I might as well try to make it as I don't know when he'll be home. 

savingholmes

Happy New Year!

LeighofMar

Payday today. Good progress all around as I distribute the funds as best I can.
Mortgage OP of $75.58 brings balance to $20,600.00.
House savings $17.22 brings house fund to $2975.00.
General savings $88.00 brings this pot up to $5000.00.
Emergency fund $17.65 brings E-fund to $4277.00

Car insurance 325.00 paid for 6-month premium.
Ordered my groceries today. Hate that I have to pay a $10.00 delivery fee but as DH is working and I'm still in an illness flare, it needs to be paid. So far the bill is $145.00. That gives me a nice $105.00 buffer for the next two weeks to top up on snacks or anything I may have forgotten. Freezer is already full of meat so I didn't have to order anymore, which helps, but they keep running out of my GF bread, so I will need to purchase that somewhere else. I'm keeping meals simple to save money. Last night I spiced up some taco beef and cheese and stuffed a sweet potato with it. Leftovers today, yay! Now if I could just stop being lazy and make some desserts. 

Hope everyone's new year is off to a good start! 

Tahlullah.H

Happy New Year Leigh.  You kindly commented on my thread, so I thought I would join you on your journey.  I will read your past endeavours over the next couple of weeks and cheer you on.

LeighofMar

Thanks, Tahllulah. I look forward to seeing how this new year plays out for all of us. 

LeighofMar

100.00 sent as an OP to the mortgage today. Balance $20,500.00. My goal is to pay as much to principal as I can and pay off the rest with savings by December of this year. That is my main goal. I will still be adding to savings in the meantime to hopefully still have some left after paying off the mortgage. But I'm ready for it to be gone one way or the other. With my recent illness flare-up, I always have in the back of my mind that our annual healthcare out-of-pocket expense would be $18,000.00 if we ever had a medical emergency. Since being diagnosed 7 years ago, thankfully I have never been hospitalized for it but I'd be foolish to never consider the financial impact if I ever was. So this mortgage must go.

Health-wise, Tuesday was my worst day so far. But yesterday I managed a 20 min upper body and core workout with Popsugar Fitness on YouTube. I know how important it is to keep up my strength and stamina, especially now that I'm officially 45. I think I'll stretch today and relax my muscles a bit. 

On Monday I made a fabulous Whole30 Tuscan chicken. But since I've been more poorly since then, I'm just nibbling and will probably just have an omelet for dinner. For now, I'm resting and enjoying my tabletop fountain that I ordered. I put it on my plant stand and it's so cute and loud, perfect bubbling waterfall as background noise while I water my plants. 

Storms are predicted for tonight so I need to get my patio cushions in. 

savingholmes

Well done on the OP. You are so close now.

LeighofMar

Thanks, Saving. I am so excited to see the finish line. 

Friends dropped off some orchids for me. They have made my day. 

LeighofMar

I was so ill last night after having a super stable day. I can't figure my body out sometimes. I was able to get quite a bit of work done from the comfort of my couch which I am forever grateful for. I needed to work on both personal and business budgets and I'm happy with both. We came under budget with groceries and utilities. I budget 350.00 for water, gas, and electric and usually come in under. Plus this week, my supermarket gave me 20.00 on my shopping card for having ordered 4 times for pickup in the last few weeks. I didn't even know they were running that promotion. That plus I have one last coupon for 14.00 off an order of 140.00. So I believe this next grocery haul will be great.

Business-wise, we got paid from a client today. Mr. LeighofMar wants to take a month to a month-and-a-half off as he's been working so hard and his chronic pain has worsened. So I did all my calcs and it looks like what we have right now will let him take all of February off. That's wonderful considering that's not counting what we will receive from the last 3 jobs we're trying to close before then. So I'm quite happy with that. And those figures include our payroll, overhead, retirement contributions, and the investment pot. I love taking a set amount of money and seeing how many ways I can make it work. I know. Major money geek vibes there  :. 

That's enough work for today. One hour but that's all I've got in me and at least I completed my tasks. Off to rest some more.