March Frugalistas 2021

[mommyoffive]

2 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Dishwasher died yesterday. Home Depot and Lowes in my area have only a few choices in stock. I really want a Bosch and can't find one within 300 miles. Doing the whole debate as to whether to do repairs on machines (washing machine and dishwasher) that are both at the end of their duty cycle life and have issues just to have something I can continue to use, or to buy machines I am not in love with just to have something on hand, or to do without a dishwasher for a while.  The washing machine is still limping along and likely only needs a new water inlet valve. (Repairs for each machine would be around $300, as dh is not available to do that due to work, repairs possibly more for dishwasher...)  At the moment, we are hand washing everything.

We went car shopping this weekend, but no real luck. 

Advice? Where is the line between repair/replace for you? On one hand, the $3k we put into the van three years ago got us three more years before it died.....but it's a harder call on appliances that work hard.

I usually calculate in the age of the machine and how long they are thought to live.  And then shorten that a ton because I use our things so much more.   If it is cheaper repair I might do it, even knowing that the $ might just be money down the drain.   But if it is somewhat expensive like $100 on a $300 or $500 machine that is older, probably not.  We had once or twice repaired our oven to the tune of having someone come out and charge $300.  That was dumb because it was probably in the $300 or $500 range.

We had to get a new water heater over the summer.  We threw $$ down the drain trying to fix it before hand and it didn't work.  And the repair man said it was better to just replace it because it was already 14.5 years old.  

Ugh that really stinks that you can't find what you want.  I wouldn't just buy the first thing if you think it is really going to bother you long term. 

 

[historically accurate]

DH found a car, a 2008 Toyota Matrix, this weekend; we were supposed to go pick it up this evening after he came home from work. However, his car wouldn't start this morning, so he has my van. I was supposed to go get a money order from the PO. And we're supposed to have 4 inches of SNOW this afternoon! I'm asking him to call the guy and see if they will continue to hold until tomorrow. 

With no car today, there is no school lunches. I have to cook - boo! 

Covid Relief money should be here Wednesday. 

yDD wants to sell her Bitty Babies (she has two) and their clothes. I am contemplating purchasing them from her - baby dolls are good multi-age toys to have on hand for littles, right? Tell me I'm not just being too sentimental here. 

Nothing else money wise going on. Same old, same old, which I guess is good in its own way.

[hjffkj]

1 hour ago, historically accurate said:

DH found a car, a 2008 Toyota Matrix, this weekend; we were supposed to go pick it up this evening after he came home from work. However, his car wouldn't start this morning, so he has my van. I was supposed to go get a money order from the PO. And we're supposed to have 4 inches of SNOW this afternoon! I'm asking him to call the guy and see if they will continue to hold until tomorrow. 

With no car today, there is no school lunches. I have to cook - boo! 

Covid Relief money should be here Wednesday. 

yDD wants to sell her Bitty Babies (she has two) and their clothes. I am contemplating purchasing them from her - baby dolls are good multi-age toys to have on hand for littles, right? Tell me I'm not just being too sentimental here. 

Nothing else money wise going on. Same old, same old, which I guess is good in its own way.

I would say you are being too sentimental. I mean are you talking about keeping for your own younger children(I don't know if that applies.) But if the answer is no, then just keeping dolls around for a random visitor seems odd. And if it is future grandkids, well for me personally dolls aren't in the special category for grandkids. Things like my vintage fisher price little people house is the keep for grands type thing. Not dolls

 

[mommyoffive]

1 hour ago, historically accurate said:

DH found a car, a 2008 Toyota Matrix, this weekend; we were supposed to go pick it up this evening after he came home from work. However, his car wouldn't start this morning, so he has my van. I was supposed to go get a money order from the PO. And we're supposed to have 4 inches of SNOW this afternoon! I'm asking him to call the guy and see if they will continue to hold until tomorrow. 

With no car today, there is no school lunches. I have to cook - boo! 

Covid Relief money should be here Wednesday. 

yDD wants to sell her Bitty Babies (she has two) and their clothes. I am contemplating purchasing them from her - baby dolls are good multi-age toys to have on hand for littles, right? Tell me I'm not just being too sentimental here. 

Nothing else money wise going on. Same old, same old, which I guess is good in its own way.

Same old same old is good money wise.  

I hope dh gets the car.  We are supposed to get snow here too.  Crazy it was 60 2 days ago.

Boo on no lunches and having to cook!  We won't have any lunches next week because of spring break.  

Yeah for stimulus.

Not being too sentimental.   I want to keep some of their things too.  It is hard to watch them grow up so fast.  I need some mementos. 

[mommyoffive]

34 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

I would say you are being too sentimental. I mean are you talking about keeping for your own younger children(I don't know if that applies.) But if the answer is no, then just keeping dolls around for a random visitor seems odd. And if it is future grandkids, well for me personally dolls aren't in the special category for grandkids. Things like my vintage fisher price little people house is the keep for grands type thing. Not dolls

 

I think what is special to each child is different from kid to kid and house to house.  I am keeping things that were special to each kid.  I am letting go of things that they didn't play with and hold no real memories.  But I think it is fine to keep whatever you want.  My kids play with dolls that were mine when I was a kid.  They had a doll stroller of mine (that they ruined from playing with it so much).  And a dollhouse that was mine that again they ruined from so much play.  I want them to have some things to pass down to their kids (if they have any).  I think it is neat to have something you played with and then have your kids play with it. 

My aunt has a whole closet of toys for when other kids come over and it was SOOOO appreciated when we would visit.  It kept the kids busy all our visits and they loved playing with toys they had never seen before.  For what it is worth she had one kid who is 40, but she still has all these toys that I played with as a kid there. 

[mommyoffive]

Got free meals today. 

Got the library craft.

Found out about our tax return.  Finally.   No big deal, we don't need the $, but not having things done stresses me out.  Much more than I expected. 

Birthday week in our house.  

 

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[hjffkj]

We just crossed the $1000 gross mark for the month! Aiming for $1000 net so here's hoping. We certainly have enough inventory to reach it. Just gotta keep listing at least 5 items a day. Sold that build a bear I bought in under 24 hr for $60! And a complete shot in the dark figurine I picked up for $1.99 and sold for $30.

I think after this month the family is going to have to sit down an discuss what our goals are for this money. Because at roughly $1000/month we're looking at some nice easy money earned.

[Carrie12345]

On 3/14/2021 at 6:56 PM, prairiewindmomma said:

Dishwasher died yesterday. Home Depot and Lowes in my area have only a few choices in stock. I really want a Bosch and can't find one within 300 miles. Doing the whole debate as to whether to do repairs on machines (washing machine and dishwasher) that are both at the end of their duty cycle life and have issues just to have something I can continue to use, or to buy machines I am not in love with just to have something on hand, or to do without a dishwasher for a while.  The washing machine is still limping along and likely only needs a new water inlet valve. (Repairs for each machine would be around $300, as dh is not available to do that due to work, repairs possibly more for dishwasher...)  At the moment, we are hand washing everything.

We went car shopping this weekend, but no real luck. 

Advice? Where is the line between repair/replace for you? On one hand, the $3k we put into the van three years ago got us three more years before it died.....but it's a harder call on appliances that work hard.

I don’t have an official hardline. For our washing machine, we paid over $200 just  to get it looked at, and it was going to be another 2 or 3 to fix. Part of me was like, well, we already went half way... But we would have spent more than 50% of a replacement, and would probably face more repairs or replacement  in the near future.
 

Then I spent over $70 to catch up on laundry because of delivery issues. So I did have minor regrets.

That was absolutely not helpful. Sorry! 

[mommyoffive]

8 hours ago, hjffkj said:

We just crossed the $1000 gross mark for the month! Aiming for $1000 net so here's hoping. We certainly have enough inventory to reach it. Just gotta keep listing at least 5 items a day. Sold that build a bear I bought in under 24 hr for $60! And a complete shot in the dark figurine I picked up for $1.99 and sold for $30.

I think after this month the family is going to have to sit down an discuss what our goals are for this money. Because at roughly $1000/month we're looking at some nice easy money earned.

You are doing amazing with this new venture!  It will be interesting to see what you do with it.   Congrats on your success. 

[hjffkj]

5 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

You are doing amazing with this new venture!  It will be interesting to see what you do with it.   Congrats on your success. 

Thank you.  It has been a fun little side hustle with the kids. 

[hjffkj]

 ultimate frugal move... dumpster diving.  I kid you not,  I got to Goodwill and someone had just dropped off 4 vintage large christmas blow molds.  The guy doing the sorting at the drop off door would not price them for me so I went in and asked the manager.  She said she'd be happy to price them once she finished up what she was doing.  30 minutes later and she comes out to tell me she can't find what I'm looking for.  Then disappears and comes back to tell me someone threw them in the dumpster out back.  

So, I went right out there and grabbed them.  If my kids weren't with me and it wasn't cold and rainy I would have kept dumpster diving.  They threw so many good things away.  There were skies, and a Le creuset dutch oven without the lid. That I didn't grabbed because I literally could hand it to my son because of how tall the dumpster was.

[mommyoffive]

5 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

 ultimate frugal move... dumpster diving.  I kid you not,  I got to Goodwill and someone had just dropped off 4 vintage large christmas blow molds.  The guy doing the sorting at the drop off door would not price them for me so I went in and asked the manager.  She said she'd be happy to price them once she finished up what she was doing.  30 minutes later and she comes out to tell me she can't find what I'm looking for.  Then disappears and comes back to tell me someone threw them in the dumpster out back.  

So, I went right out there and grabbed them.  If my kids weren't with me and it wasn't cold and rainy I would have kept dumpster diving.  They threw so many good things away.  There were skies, and a Le creuset dutch oven without the lid. That I didn't grabbed because I literally could hand it to my son because of how tall the dumpster was.

Ha!  I hope it was worth it.  You will have to tells us how much they sell for.  That makes me sad that they throw things out.  Ugh.  But I guess now you know where to get free stuff to sell.   That is some great stuff they are throwing away.  Nuts. 

Edited March 16, 2021 by mommyoffive

[hjffkj]

3 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Ha!  I hope it was worth it.  You will have to tells us how much they sell for.  That makes me sad that they throw things out.  Ugh.  But I guess now you know where to get free stuff to sell. 

I listed them on facebook market place for $400, we'll see how that goes.  Ebay comps are higher than that because of shipping. I really don't want to ship them, the shortest one is 38 inches.  But I will if these don't sell locally.

[mommyoffive]

4 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

I listed them on facebook market place for $400, we'll see how that goes.  Ebay comps are higher than that because of shipping. I really don't want to ship them, the shortest one is 38 inches.  But I will if these don't sell locally.

Well that will be totally worth dumpster diving!

[mommyoffive]

Just found out about dh's bonus.  It is double what I thought it would be.  I totally didn't expect that.  Very happy.  We  need to figure out what to do with this money this month.  

I need to go to the dentist, I am having pain.  😞   I have not gone this year because of Covid and I really wanted to wait until I had a vaccine.   Trying to work through that in my heart and mind.  

Picked up meals again today. 

We ordered take out for the birthday.  Not happy about it.  $45 bucks for Culvers.  We haven't eaten out in a year and I just wanted to get out of this birthday tradition.  Oh well.  But I hate spending that kind of money on one meal.

[cjzimmer1]

2 hours ago, hjffkj said:

 ultimate frugal move... dumpster diving.  I kid you not,  I got to Goodwill and someone had just dropped off 4 vintage large christmas blow molds.  The guy doing the sorting at the drop off door would not price them for me so I went in and asked the manager.  She said she'd be happy to price them once she finished up what she was doing.  30 minutes later and she comes out to tell me she can't find what I'm looking for.  Then disappears and comes back to tell me someone threw them in the dumpster out back.  

So, I went right out there and grabbed them.  If my kids weren't with me and it wasn't cold and rainy I would have kept dumpster diving.  They threw so many good things away.  There were skies, and a Le creuset dutch oven without the lid. That I didn't grabbed because I literally could hand it to my son because of how tall the dumpster was.

As someone who has dumpster dived for far less glamorous things, this totally made my night.  Hope you find some more good stuff on your return visit. 

Edited March 17, 2021 by cjzimmer1

[hjffkj]

2 hours ago, cjzimmer1 said:

As someone who has dumpster dived for far less glamorous things, this totally made my night.  Hope you find some more good stuff on your return visit. 

Ds12 who was checking out for me when I went to the dumpster with my 8 year old told me next time he's going in and I can be the person on the outside he hands things too.  I am ok with that.

It really made me sad to see what they were trashing.  My manager friend said since it was out of season is the most likely reason the guy decided to toss them. This Goodwill has TONS of space for large items where they keep furniture.  There is no reason they should be throwing away what they are.  They know tons of resellers shot there and should know they can make money off of them on off season things. So silly, especially since he did more work throwing them away than bringing them on the floor without a price, which 95% of their stuff is not priced.

[hjffkj]

I used to dumpster dive a lot as a kid all through college.  Many times at that Goodwill so I'm not shocked things make it in there but I specifically asked that guy to buy those items from him and he said no and threw them away. crazy

[Carrie12345]

Our stimulus check went through for a few hundred dollars more than I had expected. This will be good for helping the girls out!
 

I had a major financial freak out this past week or so. I chose our lender *somewhat carefully and was preparing for a 5% down construction loan, with the intent that we’ll later put our sale profits toward the principle. And then my loan person was like, “Oh, we only do 10% down minimums.”

😳

We were already prequalified, but I couldn’t find down payment info on any paper. So I spent forever completely rearranging my entire finances to make sure everything would work the second we get a land agreement.

And then my loan lady called and was like “Oh yeah, I was confusing that with a vacation home loan. You’re good.”

😳😳

But now I almost feel super wealthy for having more than 0 money, so that’s nice?

[historically accurate]

We got our Covid relief $ today. Now, I'll have to go down the list, purchase some things, pay some debt, and put some $ in the savings accounts. 

We will be picking up the car this afternoon. DH better love this car as it was a crazy time trying to get a money order for it. I went to the PO on Monday to get them, and somehow, my PIN number has completely fell out of my head over the past year. I have barely used it in person that I cannot for the life of me remember the PIN. So, I had to try again at Walmart (cheaper spot for a money order by the way) after I reset my PIN, and I ended up having to call the bank because the debit was over my daily limit. AAAARRRRGGGGHHH! Finally got it though, and we can pick up the car today.

yDD had her wisdom teeth out yesterday. She's doing pretty well today. Fortunately, it came out of the FSA $.  

[mommyoffive]

9 hours ago, hjffkj said:

I used to dumpster dive a lot as a kid all through college.  Many times at that Goodwill so I'm not shocked things make it in there but I specifically asked that guy to buy those items from him and he said no and threw them away. crazy

Yeah that makes no sense at all!

[mommyoffive]

1 hour ago, Carrie12345 said:

Our stimulus check went through for a few hundred dollars more than I had expected. This will be good for helping the girls out!
 

I had a major financial freak out this past week or so. I chose our lender *somewhat carefully and was preparing for a 5% down construction loan, with the intent that we’ll later put our sale profits toward the principle. And then my loan person was like, “Oh, we only do 10% down minimums.”

😳

We were already prequalified, but I couldn’t find down payment info on any paper. So I spent forever completely rearranging my entire finances to make sure everything would work the second we get a land agreement.

And then my loan lady called and was like “Oh yeah, I was confusing that with a vacation home loan. You’re good.”

😳😳

But now I almost feel super wealthy for having more than 0 money, so that’s nice?

Yay for more stimulus.

That is good news on the home building situation.  Did you find out about the land yet?

[mommyoffive]

45 minutes ago, historically accurate said:

We got our Covid relief $ today. Now, I'll have to go down the list, purchase some things, pay some debt, and put some $ in the savings accounts. 

We will be picking up the car this afternoon. DH better love this car as it was a crazy time trying to get a money order for it. I went to the PO on Monday to get them, and somehow, my PIN number has completely fell out of my head over the past year. I have barely used it in person that I cannot for the life of me remember the PIN. So, I had to try again at Walmart (cheaper spot for a money order by the way) after I reset my PIN, and I ended up having to call the bank because the debit was over my daily limit. AAAARRRRGGGGHHH! Finally got it though, and we can pick up the car today.

yDD had her wisdom teeth out yesterday. She's doing pretty well today. Fortunately, it came out of the FSA $.  

Glad your ydd is doing well.  I remember that surgery well.  I am not looking forward to going through that 5 times.  

Yay for stimulus.  Good job using it for smart stuff.

Glad the car worked out and hopefully it lasts a long time. 

[Carrie12345]

4 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Yay for more stimulus.

That is good news on the home building situation.  Did you find out about the land yet?

Nope. I have a back up in mind with great location, but an odd shape and need for major clearing/landscaping. Everything sucks in comparison. 😭

[mommyoffive]

Just now, Carrie12345 said:

Nope. I have a back up in mind with great location, but an odd shape and need for major clearing/landscaping. Everything sucks in comparison. 😭

AHHHHHHHH

The waiting is so hard.  Still sending some good luck your way.

[hjffkj]

We got our stimulus money minus $1400.  I'm guessing that is the babies portion and since they haven't finished processing our 2020 return they don't know about her.  So, we'll see that money at tax time next year. So, I'm spending the next hour paying bills, adding to retirement fund, and socking the rest into savings.

I've scheduled for someone to pick up the two nutcracker blow molds tomorrow for $100.  Once they do that I'll relist the other two separately and price them at $150 each.

[mommyoffive]

28 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

We got our stimulus money minus $1400.  I'm guessing that is the babies portion and since they haven't finished processing our 2020 return they don't know about her.  So, we'll see that money at tax time next year. So, I'm spending the next hour paying bills, adding to retirement fund, and socking the rest into savings.

I've scheduled for someone to pick up the two nutcracker blow molds tomorrow for $100.  Once they do that I'll relist the other two separately and price them at $150 each.

Yay on stimulus!

That is so awesome the blow molds sold already.  

[mommyoffive]

Good deal on pants at old navy

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[saraha]

Picked up the biweekly farmers to families box. They gave me two boxes, yay! They each had:

Gallon of milk

2 bottles of kefir

1 lb of mozzarella cheese

3 lb bag of apples

3 lb bag of potatoes

2 large onions

1 package of hot dogs

4 lb bag of precooked chicken patties

 

Edited March 17, 2021 by saraha

[mommyoffive]

2 minutes ago, saraha said:

Picked up the biweekly farmers to families box. They gave me two boxes, yay! They each had:

Gallon of milk

2 bottles of kefir

1 lb of mozzarella cheese

3 lb bag of apples

3 lb bag of potatoes

2 large onions

1 package of hot dogs

4 lb bag of precooked chicken patties

 

That is nice that you have one that comes often. 

[saraha]

Some of the food in the boxes I will use right away in my menu plan, but often I still have something left two weeks later when the next box comes. It’s great!

[saraha]

This is the third box we’ve gotten. I saw that the national funding will go through April. It’s easy to get them, the only thing they ask you is how many people in your household, no other questions! I don’t know how to find out where they have drop points. We can’t get the school lunches as they have been back full time for a long time, but this is great!

[mommyoffive]

3 minutes ago, saraha said:

This is the third box we’ve gotten. I saw that the national funding will go through April. It’s easy to get them, the only thing they ask you is how many people in your household, no other questions! I don’t know how to find out where they have drop points. We can’t get the school lunches as they have been back full time for a long time, but this is great!

So glad you are able to get the boxes instead of the lunches.  Yeah it is really hard to find out where they do drop off points.  You are lucky you found one and them come there often.  I wish that this program would have had a website that people could have found out where they were.   I couldn't find it for months around me and then just randomly saw it came 3 times.  But that is it. 

[hjffkj]

Dh has to work until midnight tonight to cover for a few people who are out so I'm going to spend my kids free time hopefully listing the sports jerseys I found a few weeks ago.  Clothing is just something I don't know how to photograph and post so I've been holding off.  But now is the time to get through some of it.

Maxed out our Roth IRAs yesterday and put a large chunk of our stimulus into savings.  Have a bit still sitting in our checking for possible things we need to buy soon.

March is turning out to be a pretty good day financially.

[mommyoffive]

13 hours ago, hjffkj said:

Dh has to work until midnight tonight to cover for a few people who are out so I'm going to spend my kids free time hopefully listing the sports jerseys I found a few weeks ago.  Clothing is just something I don't know how to photograph and post so I've been holding off.  But now is the time to get through some of it.

Maxed out our Roth IRAs yesterday and put a large chunk of our stimulus into savings.  Have a bit still sitting in our checking for possible things we need to buy soon.

March is turning out to be a pretty good day financially.

Glad March is such a great month for you.  Yay.  March normally is for us too with bonus and tax refund.

We probably won't get our refund back for awhile as still have to wait on something to file.  So this year it will be March and April that will be really good for us.  

 

So I have been spending way to much time looking at houses.  We thought we might wait 2 years to move, but now I am thinking maybe not.  Of course we always have the issue of where to move.  Plus I like having a lower mortgage so that we have more money for spending.   But we are less and less happy in our neighborhood.    There isn't much on the market, and to build it would be a year from now to move in because they are so far behind on building and slammed.   There are maybe 2 houses that I see that would work for us today.  They will go under contract this weekend I am sure.  But it is getting my wheels turning on if we should move instead of just staying here. 

 

[hjffkj]

9 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Glad March is such a great month for you.  Yay.  March normally is for us too with bonus and tax refund.

We probably won't get our refund back for awhile as still have to wait on something to file.  So this year it will be March and April that will be really good for us.  

 

So I have been spending way to much time looking at houses.  We thought we might wait 2 years to move, but now I am thinking maybe not.  Of course we always have the issue of where to move.  Plus I like having a lower mortgage so that we have more money for spending.   But we are less and less happy in our neighborhood.    There isn't much on the market, and to build it would be a year from now to move in because they are so far behind on building and slammed.   There are maybe 2 houses that I see that would work for us today.  They will go under contract this weekend I am sure.  But it is getting my wheels turning on if we should move instead of just staying here. 

 

That time of will we move wont we is so fun to think about but so stressful too. It is a hard decision to make. I think we thought about it for a year and then when we a major shift in values of our neighborhood we spend 6 weeks moving into my parents and getting the house ready to list. But we had been underwater since 2009 and I wasn't about to risk going back underwater on a house I hated.

[mommyoffive]

2 hours ago, hjffkj said:

That time of will we move wont we is so fun to think about but so stressful too. It is a hard decision to make. I think we thought about it for a year and then when we a major shift in values of our neighborhood we spend 6 weeks moving into my parents and getting the house ready to list. But we had been underwater since 2009 and I wasn't about to risk going back underwater on a house I hated.

Yep we were underwater for sooooo long.  We bought in 2006 and then it crashed.  I think in the last 2 or 3 years we could have sold and been ok.  But now we could sell for so much it is insane.  I mean we are in a small town and the boom is  hitting us.  It is crazy.  We are not in California or anything.  

Our neighborhood is a good place.  It is just that we want more land and privacy.  We have neighbors on all sides of us for the first time since 2006.  We are over it.  Of course everyone being home all the time in the last year makes it more stressful.  Normally we are gone 6 or more hours a day so the neighbors don't get on our nerves as much.  

We are so indecisive in everything though, so I don't know if we will ever just decide something.  But I am freaked that this will pass us by and then we won't be able to sell again.   

[hjffkj]

I sold the other two blow molds for $255 plus buyer pays shipping!! That was a pretty easy $355!

[historically accurate]

47 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

I sold the other two blow molds for $255 plus buyer pays shipping!! That was a pretty easy $355!

That is awesome! Totally worth dumpster diving!

yDD is feeling a little better today after her wisdom teeth removal. So, tomorrow we have a baking day planned. She is my pastry chef, so she has some cookies on the plan. I plan on making some "diet-y" meals so I have an easy meal if family is eating fattening foods. I've lost 5 pounds over the last month, and I'd like to lose a little more (ok, probably a lot more). 

DH's car is here. His old car actually died the day we picked up his new car, so rather than fix it and resell, we're just junking it. We were going to fix the AC for a couple hundred and sell for $1200ish, but it's probably not worth it. 

All Covid money has been spent and saved accordingly. AND oDD got CARES Act money from her school too. So she got extra $! It's also set aside for next semester. 

I placed my Walmart order for groceries for tomorrow pickup. Good because we're out of white milk - used a lot making ice cream, milk shakes and pudding for yDD. Still have a lot of chocolate from the school. I used some powder milk to make mac and cheese for dinner tonight. 

[mommyoffive]

1 hour ago, hjffkj said:

I sold the other two blow molds for $255 plus buyer pays shipping!! That was a pretty easy $355!

Way to go!  That was so worth it. 

[mommyoffive]

21 minutes ago, historically accurate said:

That is awesome! Totally worth dumpster diving!

yDD is feeling a little better today after her wisdom teeth removal. So, tomorrow we have a baking day planned. She is my pastry chef, so she has some cookies on the plan. I plan on making some "diet-y" meals so I have an easy meal if family is eating fattening foods. I've lost 5 pounds over the last month, and I'd like to lose a little more (ok, probably a lot more). 

DH's car is here. His old car actually died the day we picked up his new car, so rather than fix it and resell, we're just junking it. We were going to fix the AC for a couple hundred and sell for $1200ish, but it's probably not worth it. 

All Covid money has been spent and saved accordingly. AND oDD got CARES Act money from her school too. So she got extra $! It's also set aside for next semester. 

I placed my Walmart order for groceries for tomorrow pickup. Good because we're out of white milk - used a lot making ice cream, milk shakes and pudding for yDD. Still have a lot of chocolate from the school. I used some powder milk to make mac and cheese for dinner tonight. 

Yay for the new car.  I hope you end up selling the old one for  a bit. 

That is awesome that your oldest got some Cares Act money.  

[mommyoffive]

Ok got our taxes done.  We had to wait a bit longer even with the delay from the CPA for something for our taxes.  Ended up getting even more back.   Hopefully that doesn't take very long this year.  We normally get them back really fast.   Still pretty sickening to see how much we payed in taxes last year.  UGH.  And then to have property taxes on top of that.  

Bonus will be payed out this month too. 

Then on top we had stimulus.  So a ton of money in a month. 

Dh aced his class. Turned in paperwork for his work to cover.  But that money will just turn and pay for the next class. 

We spent the day yesterday looking at land.  While the stuff we looked at is in the most  beautiful area all the lots had issues that I think we decided we didn't like them.  Actually the land we looked at about a year ago is the best we have seen in the last year.  Which really sucks because the lots we like are sold.  I feel like we are going to be looking for years.   I would be fine with an existing house and if we found one we loved, but that is crazy hard right now.   I feel so down about it, because you just can't find much.  

I am trying to figure out how the Child Tax Credit is going to work.  Anyone know?  I haven't figured out anything for certain. 

 

 

Today, March 21st only, Walgreens is offering a FREE 8×10 Same-Day Photo Enlargement when you use promo code MARCH8X10 at checkout. Limit one.

[hjffkj]

13 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

 

I am trying to figure out how the Child Tax Credit is going to work.  Anyone know?  I haven't figured out anything for certain. 

 

From my understanding they have not figured out how it will work.  The IRS says it isn't sure if they will be able to start out with monthly payouts but they are trying to still hammer out the details.

But basically split out monthly starting in July you will get $250 for each child over 5 and $300 for each from 6 and 17. Then the other half of the credit you'll get with your 2021 tax refund. I think that is how it will be.  I do not know about how the income limits work though

[hjffkj]

Dh is applying for a management job in his department.  Two of his superiors told him that he should ( the 2 people who will be interviewing him if he does.) Application is due Tues.  It would be a salaried position and a significant pay raise.  So, we don't want to get our hopes up but it is an exciting prospect.

[mommyoffive]

8 hours ago, hjffkj said:

From my understanding they have not figured out how it will work.  The IRS says it isn't sure if they will be able to start out with monthly payouts but they are trying to still hammer out the details.

But basically split out monthly starting in July you will get $250 for each child over 5 and $300 for each from 6 and 17. Then the other half of the credit you'll get with your 2021 tax refund. I think that is how it will be.  I do not know about how the income limits work though

Yep, that is all that I have heard too.  

[mommyoffive]

8 hours ago, hjffkj said:

Dh is applying for a management job in his department.  Two of his superiors told him that he should ( the 2 people who will be interviewing him if he does.) Application is due Tues.  It would be a salaried position and a significant pay raise.  So, we don't want to get our hopes up but it is an exciting prospect.

Sending him some good luck!

[historically accurate]

9 hours ago, hjffkj said:

From my understanding they have not figured out how it will work.  The IRS says it isn't sure if they will be able to start out with monthly payouts but they are trying to still hammer out the details.

But basically split out monthly starting in July you will get $250 for each child over 5 and $300 for each from 6 and 17. Then the other half of the credit you'll get with your 2021 tax refund. I think that is how it will be.  I do not know about how the income limits work though

Your wording is a little off. It's $250 per month for each child 6-17 and $300 per month for 5 and under. Also $500 (not paid monthly, only as tax season refund) for adult dependents. Yes, you should receive monthly or at least quarterly payments for these amounts. I believe the final wording of the law was "periodic payments", but the intent was monthly. 

Income limits: Single/Head of Household filing income limit is $75,000. Married filing joint: $150,000. Phase out period (meaning amount gets smaller as income rises) til $95,000 and $170,000 respectively. Above those amoounts the $2000 child tax credit is available until $200K for single and $400K for MFJ. I don't know if the $2000 CTC is available for 17 year olds, or if it reverts to the under 17 age from previous years. 

Another difference from previous years is these new amounts are fully refundable, not only partially refundable, meaning you'll still get them even if your tax due is not up to the amount of the credit. 

[hjffkj]

One really important thing to know is that unlike the stimulus checks, if you are overpayed with the child tax credit you must pay it back

[mommyoffive]

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[hjffkj]

Reach my goal of netting $1000 on ebay.  Overall net is at roughly $1400 because of the facebook sales