Cottage Countdown

LeighofMar

Thursday OP sent. I paid the 49.91 to bring it to an even 46,600.00. Then I had 25.00 in cash back rewards from my cc that I use for groceries so that was sent as well. New balance is 46,575.00. I should be able to get into the 45k bracket by the end of this month.

Our trip budget went well. We paid 400.00 for campgrounds staying in 4 cities in a week. We spent 200.00 of our 250.00 spending/fun/sightseeing money. Gas was probably 150 to 200 but the business pays for that. Overall, it was worth every penny. Now we are already trying to plan if we could go out longer, 2 weeks instead of 1 someday.

DH is soon on his way to pick up the groceries I ordered. Budget is 100.00 weekly and I spent 105.00 but I needed to restock the fridge and pantry since they were bare after our trip. I am planning simple meals as I just don't want to cook big meals during summer. Meal plan for next week should be
Meat sauce with zucchini noodles
Sweet chili noodle stir fry
Avocado tuna salad
BBQ drumsticks with potato salad for DH, regular salad for me.
Must make another paleo no bake chocolate peanut butter cup pie. It was so good. One of the best desserts I've ever made.
I have coconut frozen popsicles too for the hot afternoons.

Client owes us 2 weeks of pay so I couldn't contribute to our retirement accts for June yet :mad: Hope to catch up on all of that plus payroll for next week. At least it's quiet now since it's the 4th of July today and most everyone will take the 4-day weekend. We should schedule vacation a week before a major holiday more often .

Gstrang81

God, I'm so jealous of you living in an amazing country like the US with all the beautiful national parks! Enjoy and good luck with your mortgage plan. Happy 4th of July too

LeighofMar

Thanks G. I get jealous too when I see the beautiful countryside of the UK, the amazing gardens and oh my God the architecture in the villages and the country, lol. Isnt it always that way? But thanks for the encouragement. We will all get there.

LeighofMar

Principal and Interest OP of 318.60 made. Balance is 46, 256.40. Hope to get that down to 46,200.00 next Thursday so we can be on track to hit the 45k bracket next month. I paid 400.00 to my cc which was all the campgrounds for our vacation so thats paid. But car insurance for 6 months was due so I will have to pay that off next month. Plus about 140.00 worth of odds and ends on the cc for our trip. Once all that is paid , I can get my back brakes for my car done and then we can start the picket fence for the front yard. Yay! I believe that will give the house a nice boost in curb appeal.

Client owes us 3 weeks of pay :mad. so I havent been able to pay into our retirement accts for June yet. Hopefully he will be all caught up next week. But this definitely has the OH and I making plans for the next phase for our careers. We've always wanted to restore old houses instead of just doing the electrical in them. We have a friend doing this now and we may join a few of his projects so we can get started and then do our own. Im so nervous and excited as its been a dream of ours forever. It will be a big leap but its worth it.
Time to make yogurt and some desserts. I'm thinking maybe some pumpkin fudgy brownies or something. Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

savingholmes

Just caught up on your diary. You are doing amazingly well with the over payments.

LeighofMar

Thanks so much Savings. Its hard work but this site keeps me so motivated.

LeighofMar

Paid $56.40 today for overpayment Thursday. Balance is rounded down to an even 46,200.00.
Our client finally got caught up with all payments so we can now balance out the business account. We are now seriously taking steps to forge a different career path, and it's so exciting. I just opened a new business cc to help with the launch in case we need extra room in our budget. But we are going to go for it, and hopefully, this will be our finalized steps towards semi-retirement. Better late than never.
I've meal planned and ordered the groceries for the week that came to $112.00 :eek: plus I stocked up on some cereal that I bought in bulk for $32.00, but we have some pretty good meals planned that I shouldn't have to cook too much and will have plenty leftover. I'm thinking ribs and my paleo bbq sauce. My husband devours those whenever I make them. My pumpkin fudgy brownies came out terrific. Might have to make another batch of those. And hubby doesn't care for pumpkin too much so more for me:A. Looks like all the monthly bills are paid. Regular mortgage payment will go out next week, so I hope to budget what's left right now to put towards my cc. DH has already said tomorrow night he wants a date night/movie night with frozen pizza and chips and guacamole. I'm down with that . I hate that since I had to get me a frozen cauliflower pizza though that mine is $9.00 while his frozen is only $3.30. It's always the same. The healthier you go, the more you pay and the absolute junk is the cheapest. It's a shame and so backwards, but it is what it is. I hate making my own cauliflower crust, so I'm happy to buy it and just put it in the oven to save me some time and headache.
I had some money owed to my Ebates account that was still pending from May, so I contacted them and they took care of it and credited my account another $30.00. I wasn't expecting that at all, but I'll take it. When I get that quarterly check, it'll go straight to the mortgage.
It's so hot out. I'm hoping the thunderstorms will actually come so we can get some rain and I can read my book in bed. That's my favorite way to read. Plus my flowers could really use it too. I'm off to sneak another brownie.:D

savingholmes

It's nice when complaining pays off lol

LeighofMar

savingholmes wrote: »

It's nice when complaining pays off lol

Very true Savingholmes. I will email them again soon since I seem to be having trouble with Orbitz crediting them for all the trips I book for our client, and therefore, it interferes with my cash back. I should have some good amounts coming back, I hope.

LeighofMar

Just read the saddest thing on Reddit. Someone was asking for any financial advice for her elderly parents, father is retired at 68 and mother is semi-retired and works part-time at 67 but has recently been diagnosed with leukemia. If that's not tragic enough, the poster was looking for advice because obviously mother cannot work anymore due to being sick and they still have a car that's almost paid off and a mortgage of 100,000.00 left and a home equity loan of 16,000.00. That's truly awful to be at that age and still have a mortgage of that amount and now facing a serious illness. My heart bleeds for them. And with that said, today was payday for the end of the month so the mortgage was sent out today. I can't even imagine having that kind of debt over my head at that age.
Regular payment plus $97.59 OP brings the balance into the 45K bracket,:j so that's thrilling. Right now we're on payment 157 date 12/28, 9 years and 6 months ahead if I calculated that right.
We are just now launching our new business venture and not a moment too soon. Our longtime client, is late again with our payments. I just want to get paid so I can pay off the business credit card 100% and then use the new business cc for the new project. We're investing anywhere from1 5k to 25k, but it will be so worth it to get enough experience and eventually stand on our own restoring old houses, which is something we love to do. Even with the good pay from our longtime client, it comes with so many headaches and stressors, mainly for OH, that his quality of life has begun to suffer. With our new venture, we will be partnering with a company for the first few projects and then we will simply acquire our own and be in charge from beginning to end, which is how we like things done anyway. I look forward to the day where the only phone calls we're receiving is from the realtor letting us know if a property we were interested in is ours or not instead of constant crying from workers, constant complaining from client, and constant yelling from superintendents. We can't wait.
Groceries are ordered for tomorrow. With the heat, I'm cooking as little as possible and enjoying leftovers. I'm thinking:
Taco casserole with sweet potato noodles
Chicken zucchini pasta with avocado sauce
BBQ ribs
Chicken bacon ranch skillet

Distributing the finances today. $25.00 went to the house fund. $33.83 to the savings. $29.53 to the emergency fund. $32.50 to my grocery cc for some items I had to order besides the regular groceries. Probiotics and nondairy creamers. It's amazing how expensive it is to keep me alive :rotfl: That leaves a balance on my grocery card for $35.00 for the cereal I bought in bulk. I will use some fuel points and get gasoline tomorrow for $15.00 instead of a weekly $20.00 for my car. I don't drive a lot since I work from home and everything is close in town so that should last me a week, maybe a week and a half. Balance on my other cc is a little under 700.00 so I hope to pay the prepaid beach vacation of 215.00 off of that next payday and then will pay the rest off subsequent paychecks. After that card is cleared it's back brakes and front picket fence finally. Although at some point I'm going to have to force myself to the optometrist to get an exam and probably new glasses. I dread going since last time they changed my prescription I was sick all day with nausea and vomiting until my eyes adjusted. I really don't look forward to that at all again. I wonder if there's any way of preventing that.

Well I've rambled long enough. I hope everyone enjoys their day.:)