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So much stuff I "need"

June 1st, 2022 at 11:40 pm

I've been buying stuff online at least twice a week.  It seems to be things I need: clothes (I'm sick of wearing hoodies at home, so I'm buying inexpensive tops from Walmart and other places on sale), bathroom cleaning stuff (Scrubbing Bubbles, extendable scrubbing brush), things for the home (plastic tablecloth protector) ...

Is this normal or have I succumbed to impulse buying? It is starting to bother me, but I can't seem to stop.  What should I do?

My spreadsheets tell all

May 18th, 2021 at 06:29 am

I'm pretty sure I'm in good company here with other spreadsheet users.  I would be up you-know-where without a paddle if I didn't use them. 
The most important one shows my actual and projected Cash Flows.  This makes it also my Budget that goes up to 2025. Each column covers two weeks. At the end of each biweekly period I zero out the balance and carry it forward to the next biweekly period.  
This process allows me to know how much to put into each Savings, Investment & Retirement account. 
My Retirement projections go all the way to age 90, God willing. 

What happens next

May 17th, 2021 at 07:27 pm

In 2009, I decided I would retire at age 55, i.e. at the end of 2019.  Are y'all ready for this?

In 2018, I fell sick and stopped working.  I had just started an amazing job with an OMG salary.  Fortunately, for my finances, I was there long enough to collect short-term disability.  Then I received some government support.

Late in 2019 (1 1/2 years later), I started to feel better and decided to start job hunting.  At the end of 2019, I was offered a job at a friend's company.  He knew my health history, and was fine with it.  In July of 2020, I had to be hospitalized.  My illness had come back threefold.  In October, my friend's wife was spectacularly rude to me on a zoom call in front of other teammates, so I left.  I asked myself: Why am I killing myself for these people? 

I was/am still sick enough that I'm now on government long term disability.  

Obviously, the biggest negative is my health.  Surprisingly, there have been positives also.  My husband and I are able to calmly discuss our finances and other things now.  He is a disaster at managing money, so we had clashed a lot on the subject prior.  I'm also now closer to my teen girl.  She feels that she can open up to me more now that I'm around instead of working all the time.  She listens to my advice and I listen to her because she is very wise for a person of any age.  I'll post more about her money management in future blogs. 

It seems like a lot has happened in a short time, but I guess it's been three years since I first fell sick.  It's a good thing I'm retired because going for lab work and getting blood transfusions takes up a lot of my time.

What happens next?  Time will tell.  I hope I'll be around to blog for a long time.  Cheers!