Cottage Countdown

LeighofMar

Payday today. Was able to squeeze out a little extra for both of us this payday to slowly make up for the September 1st missed pay. I paid off my surgery and Dr. deposits of $450.00. Feels great. Added 20.00 to the EF, which now stands at $340.00. House fund gained $100.00 for a balance of $530.00. General savings gained $100.00 for a balance of $8013.00. Progress, progress. I paid $600.00 to my CC which covered groceries, Sling TV, water, gas, power, and extra to the CC for the bath remodel. Balance $2850.00. My aim is to pay it off before the end of the year as well as the mortgage. Might have to get fancy in figuring out how to do this but it should work out money-wise. 

I was pretty happy with the grocery shop. The store sent me a digital coupon for $30.00 off my order of $250.00, which is my two-week budget anyway. So I loaded up everything I needed and several wants and sure enough, got everything to $254.00 and paid $224.00. That's with my 2 no-sugar-added safe chocolate bars that I can eat  Life is good again. And today is Friday so our company will buy us lunch and I'm excited for either pizza or Mexican today. Can't decide and will see what Mr. LoM says. 

Today I'm feeling the least amount of pain and swelling since last Friday so I hope I will soon be on my way up again. Still tired but that's every day with or without surgery   I still need to catch up on some retirement contributions and pull a permit today, get paid for a previous permit from our realtor contact, and then plan the budgets and savings for the business. It's a gray/grey? day today so I made a quick cup of hot chocolate with oat milk and I was very pleased with the taste and the creaminess. Sets my day off to a good start. 

savingholmes

Lovely win on the voucher. 

Glad you are gradually feeling better. Take it very easy. Over here you aren't allowed to life so much as a kettle at first.

Tahlullah.H

Glad the surgery is all paid for.  I am surprised that it wasn't more expensive.  Somehow, I thought paying for medical care would be the equivalent of needing to take out a second mortgage - your prices seem really reasonable.  In fact, I am certain it's less than what we have to pay for vet fees over here.  Hope you have a speedy recovery!

LeighofMar

Thanks, Savings and Tahlullah. I am taking it nice and easy. Tried to sleep in the bed but had pain laying on my sides so back to the recliner I went. Oh the medical bills will roll in but my surgery should be about 3500.00 and the good thing is they don't all roll in at once which allows me to pay them a little at a time as I go. So far I'm caught up on all my medical stuff but I know it's coming. 

Today I just need to stretch a bit and then rest some more. Mr. LoM is sleeping a bunch as his chronic pain flares so we're pretty pathetic right now. 

LeighofMar

Monday tasks. Pulled an electrical permit, invoiced the client, and got paid. Waiting on 2 more invoices to call it a day. Paid the balance of retirement contributions for June. I had only paid a portion in June and it's been this long until we stabilized a bit to renew the contributions, but that is a must for me so I am squeezing out dollars where I can. Hopefully, I can continue to contribute the rest of the year what is owed to us. Paid $200.00 towards Mr. LoM's medical bills. It started at $960.00 and is now down to $600.00. I am on a payment plan for his X-rays but only owe another $300.00 on those. I also need to tackle the business CC which is stubbornly at 3k for months. Every time I make some headway, something else gets charged on it and I have to let it sit as payroll and materials always take priority. I need to throw at least $100.00 at it for now. 

Drama with land lots again. Can't get the selling agent to give us a clear survey to see where the lot boundaries are. So annoying. We still are in love with a set of lots that the sellers want to sell as a group for a very reasonable 40k, but that would take all our business savings and with how uneven business has been lately, I definitely don't want to do that. We agreed we will wait until the beginning of the year when the house should be paid off and maybe we have a few more $ in the bank, then I would make an offer of 30k for the 4 lots and see what they say. They haven't sold to anyone else and I would love to start our building projects there. All 4 lots are uneven and would need a lot of clearing plus hookup to utilities which is why we will try to negotiate. We already have picked out plans for our 1st, 2nd, and 3rd houses that we would like to build. But it'd be great to just start with one for now. I always run ahead of myself. 

The weekend takeout budget was nice and low, $15.00 under budget so I will apply that to next weekend in case we want something a bit fancier than the usual fast food. And nice little surprise, our property taxes actually went down this year due to some bill the governor signed for Georgia so I should be getting a refund from the mortgage company, hopefully before year-end. That would be a nice bonus. Open enrollment for healthcare is coming up though so we will see what the new medical insurance prices will be. 

savingholmes

Hope you both recover well. 

Your business plans all sound exciting. Your mortgage free days are getting closer.

LeighofMar

Thanks, Savings. I'm so close now.

OP of $200.00 today brings me right to $11,000.00. After my CD matures in December, I will take that and general savings which should be about $9000.00 by then and put it all on the mortgage. I expect $2000.00 and change to remain. If so, then I will cash my I-Bonds and pay it off in one fell swoop. Projections say I will have about $8500.00 left after the mortgage is paid to reinvest in CDs and high-yield savings.

DH told me yesterday how he wants to get his van fixed so that we can travel after the mortgage is paid. His van pulls our mini travel trailer. I told him there wasn't money for it as business has been so uneven lately and we're still trying to catch up. But I decided to go ahead and use some of the business savings to pay off the company CC. I know it made no sense to keep a CC balance with high interest rates but it's just so hard to get to a certain # that I'm happy with and then let it go. But once I did, I felt a wave of relief. The company CC was at $3500.00, so I paid $3000.00 and the balance should be easily dealt with from business income. Now I can concentrate on giving him some money to address the van and saving again for our investment projects in the future. I still have a couple of months to hopefully rebuild all of it so we can be ready to go for the New Year. 

Still trying to process 2 permits for 2 different counties that are dragging their feet. But once processed and paid, I can add to the company pots, so I'll keep getting after them. 

LeighofMar

Well, we are such a study in contradictions. Not enough money in the business account for payroll despite $43k business savings. I took everything out of the main checking account that I could to pay us and will just budget what we get despite missing 600.00 from our paychecks. Work van is filled up with gasoline. I just did the grocery shop and will come right at budget or under, which is great. I've budgeted $50-65.00 for my oil change that I desperately need. Paid an extra $150.00 to the CC for my bath remodel so my balance there is $2700.00. I just charged the power bill and would have paid it with this check had we been paid in full but I can roll it to November's first check with no harm, no foul. So after all is said and done, I will pay the major bills like the mortgage for November, healthcare, groceries, still manage to put a reduced amount in savings, and hold on for two weeks with less than $200.00. But the annual art festival is here this weekend and tickets will be $20.00 and if I feel up to it, I want to go. I know. It's a ridiculous-looking situation. But I agree with what several other diarists have said recently. With everything going on, we have to be grateful for what we do have. My house is so close to being paid off. Business revenue is wonky but that's part of being self-employed and I'm in a privileged position to be able to WFH when I'm ill and not worry about losing my job. I have enough food and other than my bath remodel, no debt. And in the meantime, we still have to live. I've got ingredients to make our favorite takeout here at home so we don't get any this weekend and I should have enough gasoline to last me in my car for a while. It's crazy, sometimes stressful, and mad tapping of calculators to make sure I've got everything done, but it'll be alright. 

Still planning to offer on a group of lots at the beginning of the year. Our first home should be a 3/2 1150sq ft home Southern bungalow style. Hopefully, we can build for the price we're thinking as my home equity will be funding our first venture. But I'm feeling pretty good about that. 

I've baked another batch of cookies and Mr. LoM is cooking the chicken and green beans for lunch right now so I am ready to take a break from the screens. 

LadyWithAPlan

Hope you are largely recovered now from the op? Money juggling is a definite life skill it seems, cashflow when one has a small business or is SE is always a hard one. Hope you get it all sorted

LeighofMar

Thanks, LadyWithAPlan. I believe I've got everything sorted now. I'm actually looking forward to this weekend and seeing all my hard work and preparation pay off. I remember the days when missing paychecks or partial paychecks was a dire emergency and now with it being a valid, but doable, annoyance, I am feeling confident in my positions.

My brokerage received our retirement contribution deposits finally and I've invested in what I could. Ha, the market is so bad over here. Probably the same for you guys too? But I just have to remember when stocks are falling is actually the best time to buy and just keep closing my eyes at my falling balance and buy my funds. What a ride. I am about to drop off my car for its oil change and get that out of the way. Then I feel ready for the weekend.