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April Frugalistas 2021


mommyoffive
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Ugh,our tax return was accept on feb 17th, we e-filed. and still no update.  The site says not to contact them until it has been 21 days, which it has, but when after going through a million prompts I just keep getting "we're sorry, due to call volume we can not take your call at this time."  I can't seem to find the right time of day to call where I can at least be put in the queue.  I don't mind being on hold for a long time, just put me in the queue!  I can have the phone on speaker phone attached to me for hours if I need to.  

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3 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

Ugh,our tax return was accept on feb 17th, we e-filed. and still no update.  The site says not to contact them until it has been 21 days, which it has, but when after going through a million prompts I just keep getting "we're sorry, due to call volume we can not take your call at this time."  I can't seem to find the right time of day to call where I can at least be put in the queue.  I don't mind being on hold for a long time, just put me in the queue!  I can have the phone on speaker phone attached to me for hours if I need to.  

That is so frustrating.  That is such a long time.  

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1 hour ago, Soror said:

Nope! Or the bonus dh is supposed to get.

I reconciled the budget today (usually do at least a few times a week). Somehow I had messed up the transactions for cashback on my CC's. Not sure what I was thinking. Got that all lined out and all transactions entered. Need to make a grocery list and menu for tomorrow.

____________________

I still need to make an inventory and list of spring clothes. Ds probably doesn't need much of anything but socks. Dd1 will go through her own things and tell me. The younger two I need to look at.

Prime membership costs go through this week but I've already got it saved and set a goal for next year starting in May.

 

Oh man that sucks!  I am sorry.  I hope you get all of them soon.  

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32 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

Ugh,our tax return was accept on feb 17th, we e-filed. and still no update.  The site says not to contact them until it has been 21 days, which it has, but when after going through a million prompts I just keep getting "we're sorry, due to call volume we can not take your call at this time."  I can't seem to find the right time of day to call where I can at least be put in the queue.  I don't mind being on hold for a long time, just put me in the queue!  I can have the phone on speaker phone attached to me for hours if I need to.  

OUrs is the same, accepted on the 12th. Did you get your stimulus? We haven't but I expect that is because our tax return is in limbo land.

I have no hope of reaching them by phone. My brother didn't get his stimulus for many months last year and never could reach them on the phone. I'll have to shift some money from the vaca fund to cover the rest of the shop costs if the tax refund doesn't come in by summer, same with money for our little vaca in May. 

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I've been wanting a sign for the front porch but when I priced them they were $30+, which is not in my budget right now. I decided to make my own and had a board in the shop just the right size. I also have some leftover paint from house painting and projects last year. I'm hoping to get it started today.

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1 hour ago, Soror said:

OUrs is the same, accepted on the 12th. Did you get your stimulus? We haven't but I expect that is because our tax return is in limbo land.

I have no hope of reaching them by phone. My brother didn't get his stimulus for many months last year and never could reach them on the phone. I'll have to shift some money from the vaca fund to cover the rest of the shop costs if the tax refund doesn't come in by summer, same with money for our little vaca in May. 

We did get our stimulus. The weird thing is that prior to receiving our stimulus the status of our return was being processed expect refund on X date. Once the stimulus came through is when the status updates to 'still being processed a date will be given soon' or something along those lines. So, at some point they actually had an estimated time for when they'd be done. Now it is stuck in limbo.

We don't need the money but we do have things we have to put off until it comes, which is annoying. I just hope out of principle I see it before our first child tax credit payment

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13 minutes ago, Soror said:

I've been wanting a sign for the front porch but when I priced them they were $30+, which is not in my budget right now. I decided to make my own and had a board in the shop just the right size. I also have some leftover paint from house painting and projects last year. I'm hoping to get it started today.

Did you make one of those wooden Welcome signs?   They are so cute.

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Listed 8 things today, one sold immediately! 8 is a good start to my list everything this week goal. I'll likely list the 4 videogames I have to list tonight too since those are easy to list.

Along with listing all my inventory I'm also trying to spend this we getting rooms decluttered. First part of that is finishing the clothes season swapping. I think ds12 is the only one who needs clothes. Just a few shorts and shirts so nothing that will break the budget.

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Went to the dentist this morning.   I was having pain, but there isn't anything they saw with x-rays.  So that is good news.

All covered with insurance.

I might get an appliance to wear that would be $55 for grinding.  I will go back after my 2nd vaccine.   I was really nervous while I was there.  I am hoping it was a safe thing to do.   

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Went to Chick-fil-A after my vax as congratulations to myself.    
Tomorrow I’ll be going to the produce place, but hopefully won’t spend much. 
Oh, and I spent $1300 yesterday as deposit on a place for vacation in September.  🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️  But, you know what?  We’ll have earned that vacation when it gets here!    Also, in august, we’re supposed to get our son’s truck paid off, so we’ll have some cushion.  
 

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dh has his 2.5 hour phone assessment today at 3.  So, the kids and I plan on distracting ourselves with a visit to my brother's house.  We plan on hanging out until dh gives me the go ahead that he is done then I plan on picking up dinner somewhere even though we just got a grocery delivery.  

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44 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

dh has his 2.5 hour phone assessment today at 3.  So, the kids and I plan on distracting ourselves with a visit to my brother's house.  We plan on hanging out until dh gives me the go ahead that he is done then I plan on picking up dinner somewhere even though we just got a grocery delivery.  

Good luck to him.  Did he get some good tips on what it is about?

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1 hour ago, WildflowerMom said:

Went to Chick-fil-A after my vax as congratulations to myself.    
Tomorrow I’ll be going to the produce place, but hopefully won’t spend much. 
Oh, and I spent $1300 yesterday as deposit on a place for vacation in September.  🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️  But, you know what?  We’ll have earned that vacation when it gets here!    Also, in august, we’re supposed to get our son’s truck paid off, so we’ll have some cushion.  
 

Oh fun, where are you going on vacation? 

Congrats on your vaccine.  Such a relief. 

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1 minute ago, WildflowerMom said:

Cape San Blas, Fl.  We've been there several times.  This time we're staying in a different area and it'll just be dh, me, and the beagle (chihuahua will be passed by then, unfortunately).   Dh was adamant about it being directly on the beach so we can take the beagle walking on it.   She's only a little spoiled. 😆

Awwwwwww sounds dreamy.   A place on the beach that takes dogs,  is it a hotel or an airbnb?  So great to have that on the calendar to look forward to.  

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1 hour ago, hjffkj said:

dh has his 2.5 hour phone assessment today at 3.  So, the kids and I plan on distracting ourselves with a visit to my brother's house.  We plan on hanging out until dh gives me the go ahead that he is done then I plan on picking up dinner somewhere even though we just got a grocery delivery.  

Good luck to your DH.  Hope it goes well.

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Realized there is no way I'm going to keep the grocery budget as low as I wanted.  Costco has some things on sale this month that I use as quick meals during May when I'm working 6-7 days a week so I need to stock up this month.  That right there will blow the budget.  But we are doing good trying to find ways of using up things that no one wants to eat otherwise (like hot dogs).  I made a hash with bacon and hot dogs.  I cut the hot dogs really small and no one noticed them in it.  Afterwards they all were surprised there was hot dogs in it and said they were willing to eat that again. There is another famer's box this Friday so I have a plan if we get hot dogs again. 

Neighbor's fence is finished.  Not nearly as bad as I feared.  They started the front  of it back about 4-6 inches from the previous one, which meant mine no longer met up to theirs.  I had to buy one more panel and one more stake to have enough material to close the gap.  That was about $19.  They filled in dirt under the fence on my side so for now at least the dog can't crawl under.  However since we are on the side of a hill and that's the downslope, that dirt may wash out.  I did find some flat landscaping panel that could easily fill the gaps but I'm going to wait to see how it holds up first because obviously I don't want to spend the money if I don't have to.  I don't know if they planted grass seed along the inside of the fence or not so that would really affect how stable that loose dirt is. The other weird part is that they ended the fence about 2 feet short of where the old one ended.  So now there is a weird path between there new fence and the old one at the back of their yard.  They did leave up a couple of the boards on my side but there is a gap that my small skinny dog could squeeze through with the right motivation.  I just bought a new composter (I was planning on that anyways) and so I set it right in that corner to block any chance my dog might try to escape there.  So for now my only extra expense was the fence panel and stake.

Kids needed a bunch of clothes and ended up spending this month's budget and next months just to get them set again.  I let my budgets "borrow" from next month when I know it something that will balance out quickly.  Since I work so much in May, I know there will be zero chance of anyone buying new clothes next month (I mean I barely find time to buy food let alone anything else), so by June it will all be resolved. But it is insane just how quickly those expenses add up even when you are buying clearance or thrift sale clothes.

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On 4/11/2021 at 11:59 AM, historically accurate said:

 

  • Chocolate pudding cups - used up some chocolate milk from the school & I used the cups the school gives us to make individual servings

Can you share how you are making the pudding?  We've still got a bunch of milk from last week and will be getting more today.  This sounds like a fun way to use up some of the extras.

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18 minutes ago, cjzimmer1 said:

Realized there is no way I'm going to keep the grocery budget as low as I wanted.  Costco has some things on sale this month that I use as quick meals during May when I'm working 6-7 days a week so I need to stock up this month.  That right there will blow the budget.  But we are doing good trying to find ways of using up things that no one wants to eat otherwise (like hot dogs).  I made a hash with bacon and hot dogs.  I cut the hot dogs really small and no one noticed them in it.  Afterwards they all were surprised there was hot dogs in it and said they were willing to eat that again. There is another famer's box this Friday so I have a plan if we get hot dogs again. 

Neighbor's fence is finished.  Not nearly as bad as I feared.  They started the front  of it back about 4-6 inches from the previous one, which meant mine no longer met up to theirs.  I had to buy one more panel and one more stake to have enough material to close the gap.  That was about $19.  They filled in dirt under the fence on my side so for now at least the dog can't crawl under.  However since we are on the side of a hill and that's the downslope, that dirt may wash out.  I did find some flat landscaping panel that could easily fill the gaps but I'm going to wait to see how it holds up first because obviously I don't want to spend the money if I don't have to.  I don't know if they planted grass seed along the inside of the fence or not so that would really affect how stable that loose dirt is. The other weird part is that they ended the fence about 2 feet short of where the old one ended.  So now there is a weird path between there new fence and the old one at the back of their yard.  They did leave up a couple of the boards on my side but there is a gap that my small skinny dog could squeeze through with the right motivation.  I just bought a new composter (I was planning on that anyways) and so I set it right in that corner to block any chance my dog might try to escape there.  So for now my only extra expense was the fence panel and stake.

Kids needed a bunch of clothes and ended up spending this month's budget and next months just to get them set again.  I let my budgets "borrow" from next month when I know it something that will balance out quickly.  Since I work so much in May, I know there will be zero chance of anyone buying new clothes next month (I mean I barely find time to buy food let alone anything else), so by June it will all be resolved. But it is insane just how quickly those expenses add up even when you are buying clearance or thrift sale clothes.

Are we living the same life?  🙂   I am buying tons of clothes too, because the kids are growing and also wearing things out.   I have been shopping all the clearance sales, but still.  With regular clothes and dance clothes and shoes.

And I just did another Costco order on Sunday because there was stuff that the kids eat on good sale.  I don't normally order from Costco very much, but it was a good deal.

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55 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

And I just did another Costco order on Sunday because there was stuff that the kids eat on good sale.  I don't normally order from Costco very much, but it was a good deal.

When you say "order from costco" are you ordering dry goods that they ship or something like instacart to get the fresh/frozen stuff?  I'm just curious because the only way to get fresh/frozen around me is through instacart and their prices are so much higher it pretty much nullifies any discounts that Costco is offering.  Just wondering if there was some other option I was missing.

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1 minute ago, cjzimmer1 said:

When you say "order from costco" are you ordering dry goods that they ship or something like instacart to get the fresh/frozen stuff?  I'm just curious because the only way to get fresh/frozen around me is through instacart and their prices are so much higher it pretty much nullifies any discounts that Costco is offering.  Just wondering if there was some other option I was missing.

Ordering online and they deliver via UPS.  You can get dry good and some food that isn't dry.  But you are not able to get all the food.  I am not doing Instacart.  We are a good hour from a Costco and while dh could go there when we he goes to work, we are still sticking to Walmart pickup.  Safer and saves him time.  

I do by other stuff online from there too.  Clothes, toys, books, household goods, dog stuff, and on and on. 

 

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4 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Ordering online and they deliver via UPS.  You can get dry good and some food that isn't dry.  But you are not able to get all the food.  I am not doing Instacart.  We are a good hour from a Costco and while dh could go there when we he goes to work, we are still sticking to Walmart pickup.  Safer and saves him time.  

I do by other stuff online from there too.  Clothes, toys, books, household goods, dog stuff, and on and on. 

 

Ok that makes sense.  The stuff I need to stock up on is frozen foods for quick meals (things like chicken tenders) and I would love to have it delivered to my house even though I'm only 10 minutes away but like I said Instacart is just too expensive.  I've been doing my shopping in person but I tend to buy a lot of a few different items at a time so I can get in and out of pretty much any food type store in 20-30 minutes max(yes even costco).  I haven't bought much dry goods lately, I'm trying to wittle down my covid stash a bit first.  It was pretty massive because I had no idea how long the bare shelves were going to last and with 8 big eaters, I didn't want to get caught short.

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2 hours ago, cjzimmer1 said:

Can you share how you are making the pudding?  We've still got a bunch of milk from last week and will be getting more today.  This sounds like a fun way to use up some of the extras.

I'm just using the Jello Instant Pudding. I did chocolate to use chocolate milk - 1 small box uses 2 cups (2 containers) of milk for 4 servings. I whisked it all up in a big bowl and then poured it before it set into 4 of the little containers they give us - ours comes with lids, so then I popped the lid on and put in fridge to set. DH has been going in to work and taking one in his lunch and the kids are using them as snacks. They're very similar to the pudding cups you'd buy in the 4 pack at the grocery store. You could probably make pudding from scratch, but a box of Great Value Instant Pudding is about 64 cents, so I'm taking the lazy way.

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1 hour ago, cjzimmer1 said:

Ok that makes sense.  The stuff I need to stock up on is frozen foods for quick meals (things like chicken tenders) and I would love to have it delivered to my house even though I'm only 10 minutes away but like I said Instacart is just too expensive.  I've been doing my shopping in person but I tend to buy a lot of a few different items at a time so I can get in and out of pretty much any food type store in 20-30 minutes max(yes even costco).  I haven't bought much dry goods lately, I'm trying to wittle down my covid stash a bit first.  It was pretty massive because I had no idea how long the bare shelves were going to last and with 8 big eaters, I didn't want to get caught short.

Gotcha.  Getting in and out of Costco fast is no little feat.  I loved going to that store.  I haven't been in one in 17 years or so.  I used to live in IL and went to them as a kid/young adult.  So tempting.  We are closer to a Sams, but haven't ever gotten a membership there.   We live in a small town and when the kids were younger (and we didn't have a lot of $) I would do all the coupons and multiple stores for shopping.  We only had one grocery store in our town and sometimes they would gouge things because that is all we had.  Then the walmart turned into a super walmart and put them out of business.  Anyway it sucked way to much of my time going to other cities to shop and to much of production with little kids and babies where you had to time everything just right.  And every town that had a store was 20-30 mins away.  Our family was small and not big eaters so getting a Sams membership seemed dumb.  But now that 4 of my kids eat like adults a big box membership makes sense.  I would love to get their frozen or refrigerated food.  Some really great stuff that is easy too.  

This time I stocked up on cereal because my dh and kids are BIG cereal eaters and it was like $4 off a box and it is the kind they like.  Actually the last order I did had cereal and granola in it too.  They eat a lot of that. 

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3 minutes ago, historically accurate said:

I've been offline a couple of days, but popping on here to say, I just found out I got the job and I start training on Monday. I have to see what I have to wear as it will be in person for a couple of weeks. 

CONGRATS!!!   You totally rocked that.  Is it everyday in person for a bit?  Will you fit in homeschooling on the weekends? 

Awesome.  

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16 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

CONGRATS!!!   You totally rocked that.  Is it everyday in person for a bit?  Will you fit in homeschooling on the weekends? 

Awesome.  

It will be Mon-Thurs mornings for a couple of weeks. Kids are pretty independent at the moment, so I will leave lists for most things. We'll have the afternoons and weekend to catch up those subjects that need me. I have already been told that after training, my hours are my own choice as long as the stuff is done on time. 

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39 minutes ago, historically accurate said:

I'm just using the Jello Instant Pudding. I did chocolate to use chocolate milk - 1 small box uses 2 cups (2 containers) of milk for 4 servings. I whisked it all up in a big bowl and then poured it before it set into 4 of the little containers they give us - ours comes with lids, so then I popped the lid on and put in fridge to set. DH has been going in to work and taking one in his lunch and the kids are using them as snacks. They're very similar to the pudding cups you'd buy in the 4 pack at the grocery store. You could probably make pudding from scratch, but a box of Great Value Instant Pudding is about 64 cents, so I'm taking the lazy way.

You know, I never thought of using chocolate milk with the pudding mixes.  For some reason, in my head, white is what needed to be used.  With as much experimenting and improvising as I do, I don't know why it never occurred to me to try that.  I was googling pudding recipes that use chocolate milk and coming up blank.  Your method is so much simplier.

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1 hour ago, mommyoffive said:

Gotcha.  Getting in and out of Costco fast is no little feat.  I loved going to that store.  I haven't been in one in 17 years or so.  I used to live in IL and went to them as a kid/young adult.  So tempting.  We are closer to a Sams, but haven't ever gotten a membership there.   We live in a small town and when the kids were younger (and we didn't have a lot of $) I would do all the coupons and multiple stores for shopping.  We only had one grocery store in our town and sometimes they would gouge things because that is all we had.  Then the walmart turned into a super walmart and put them out of business.  Anyway it sucked way to much of my time going to other cities to shop and to much of production with little kids and babies where you had to time everything just right.  And every town that had a store was 20-30 mins away.  Our family was small and not big eaters so getting a Sams membership seemed dumb.  But now that 4 of my kids eat like adults a big box membership makes sense.  I would love to get their frozen or refrigerated food.  Some really great stuff that is easy too.  

This time I stocked up on cereal because my dh and kids are BIG cereal eaters and it was like $4 off a box and it is the kind they like.  Actually the last order I did had cereal and granola in it too.  They eat a lot of that. 

Pre-covid, I went to Costco weekly.  Costco, Aldi, and the best grocery store for prices are all within one block of each other.  I'd run into all three and be done in 1.5 hours or less.  I know where everything is, and I don't even bother walking down aisles that don't have what I want.  In Costco that's huge because there is so much that I "could" look at but I know I would end up with impulse buys.

We used to have Sam's until about 3-4 years ago.  Even though it wasn't as convenient as the Costco is, I still greatly preferred it to Costco.  Costco is a bit too high end/organic/fancy foods for my taste.  You know I just want to buy say a 50 pound bag of white onions at a good price and be one my way (I could do that at Sam's) or gallon of oil or whatever staple I needed in bulk.  But Costco would only have some fancy imported oil, or a 5 lb bag of red onions or whatever.  And cheese was always at least $1 if not more cheaper per pound at Sam's than Costco.  

But I can so relate to shopping with the littles,  I'm grateful they are mostly old enough that I can leave them home or in the vehicle and just get in and out quickly.

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1 hour ago, historically accurate said:

I've been offline a couple of days, but popping on here to say, I just found out I got the job and I start training on Monday. I have to see what I have to wear as it will be in person for a couple of weeks. 

Great job!  I hope the transition goes smoothly for you.

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2 hours ago, historically accurate said:

I've been offline a couple of days, but popping on here to say, I just found out I got the job and I start training on Monday. I have to see what I have to wear as it will be in person for a couple of weeks. 

 

CONGRATS!!! That is awesome!

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12 hours ago, historically accurate said:

I've been offline a couple of days, but popping on here to say, I just found out I got the job and I start training on Monday. I have to see what I have to wear as it will be in person for a couple of weeks. 

Many congratulations!

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Bought groceries yesterday.

Picked up ds scrip, I got the cost down to $260 with the manufacturer's coupon. I tried calling around to various places but couldn't get info without transferring the prescription first so I stayed with my own pharmacy which had the cheapest price on GoodRx by $30. CVS did tell me the cash price and it was $80 more!

Waiting on EOB's for ped and counselor visits. I don't think I ever posted but I finally got the insurance to pay on the $400 worth of visits last year. It took 4 calls, then I insisted I speak to a supervisor and it took 3 calls with her to finally get it straightened out. I've not heard back from the collection agency after I sent them a letter (hospital sent me to collection for a bill that was paid- that they told me on the phone with the insurance company was settled and done).

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My big accomplishments are more about forcing myself to do things I hate than the money, lol.

I finally went in to cancel my $10/mo gym membership after all these months! And I went inside Walmart to return chair cushions that weren’t quite right. I still have to return sneakers to Kohl’s and I’m hoping to convince myself to do it today.

And I got a refund and credit from Amazon. I had ordered a set of 6 storage bins, and two lids arrived broken. It is SO hard to find good bins in my area, so it was a big disappointment.  I’m using them to pack things that won’t be unpacked when we move (like seasonal things). It’s frustrating to have an action plan and not be able to execute it while I’m sitting on my butt waiting for loan processing stuff.

I need to actively offload some (many) books and I’m dreading the process. Less the selling/giving process, more the enormous mess it’s going to make pulling out totes of books.  I’m REALLY procrastinating on that.

China is supposed to be sending me a new battery for the vacuum I bought last year, so I’m expecting it to arrive the day after I completely give up hope that it’ll get here.

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hjffkj, fingers crossed for your DH's interview!

soror, insurance is the bane of my existence too. It's just never-ending, keeping up with the paperwork, making sure they're paying at the right amount, and trying to find the best deal with the limited knowledge I have. 

Carrie12345, I hear you on the little pesky things that just eat up time. I bought something for my mom on Amazon, and it didn't arrive even though it said delivered, so I had to ask Amazon to send it again for free. They did it, but I hated having to dig around to figure out how to do it. 

 

Some (most, actually) of my paycheck will be going to be set aside in a savings account as we have a loan that we can't make extra payments on, but we can pay it early. So we're setting $ into an account until the amount is equal to the payoff. So, I was looking around for "good" savings rate (good being relative when a lot of them are about .2% or below). I found this deal:   https://ww2.alliantcreditunion.org/ultimate-opportunity-savings?utm_campaign=suze21&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic&utm_content=suze_traffic  $100 deposited monthly in a new savings account for a year gets you $100 from the bank. Interest rate is .55%, which is better than the .35% I'm currently earning at Emigrant. Now, if I want to do this deal, I'll have to do one of those pesky tasks that Carrie12345 was talking about. LOL.

Today, I'm going through my closet to see what I have that is work-appropriate. I am far from a clothes horse, so it's slim pickings in my closet. I have 2 pair of dress pants (navy and black but I don't know if they fit yet), and a couple of jackets (one denim, one pink), but I mostly wear tees and leggings. My guess is I'll need a blouse or two and navy shoes, possibly a shell for under a jacket. At some point, I'm pretty sure I'll be giving the financial presentation to the board, so I'll need a small set of work clothes. I'm thinking something like a tiny capsule wardrobe. 

Oldest has gotten her final schedule. Looks like she'll be home in about 3 weeks! They cancelled spring break, so she's done super early. DH will probably have to go get her as I'll have my second vaccine shot shortly before she needs picking up, and I will have just started the new job, so I'm starting to plan that short trip for him. We should have a free hotel room through hotels.com which will be nice. 

ETA: middle heard back from summer camp. She was accepted. It's gone virtual, which not only makes me breathe easier but drops the price to a mere $20. She'll be studying rural medicine the last week of June. She's pretty excited.

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3 hours ago, Soror said:

Bought groceries yesterday.

Picked up ds scrip, I got the cost down to $260 with the manufacturer's coupon. I tried calling around to various places but couldn't get info without transferring the prescription first so I stayed with my own pharmacy which had the cheapest price on GoodRx by $30. CVS did tell me the cash price and it was $80 more!

Waiting on EOB's for ped and counselor visits. I don't think I ever posted but I finally got the insurance to pay on the $400 worth of visits last year. It took 4 calls, then I insisted I speak to a supervisor and it took 3 calls with her to finally get it straightened out. I've not heard back from the collection agency after I sent them a letter (hospital sent me to collection for a bill that was paid- that they told me on the phone with the insurance company was settled and done).

Good job getting insurance to pay for the visits last year.  Way to see that through. So frustrating to have to go through all that.

Yay for the savings on the scrip.  Wow, is that for one month?  

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2 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:

My big accomplishments are more about forcing myself to do things I hate than the money, lol.

I finally went in to cancel my $10/mo gym membership after all these months! And I went inside Walmart to return chair cushions that weren’t quite right. I still have to return sneakers to Kohl’s and I’m hoping to convince myself to do it today.

And I got a refund and credit from Amazon. I had ordered a set of 6 storage bins, and two lids arrived broken. It is SO hard to find good bins in my area, so it was a big disappointment.  I’m using them to pack things that won’t be unpacked when we move (like seasonal things). It’s frustrating to have an action plan and not be able to execute it while I’m sitting on my butt waiting for loan processing stuff.

I need to actively offload some (many) books and I’m dreading the process. Less the selling/giving process, more the enormous mess it’s going to make pulling out totes of books.  I’m REALLY procrastinating on that.

China is supposed to be sending me a new battery for the vacuum I bought last year, so I’m expecting it to arrive the day after I completely give up hope that it’ll get here.

Way to go on all the refunds.  It is so annoying to have to return stuff to different places.  It eats up a lot of time and sometimes feels like it isn't worth it.   

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1 hour ago, historically accurate said:

hjffkj, fingers crossed for your DH's interview!

soror, insurance is the bane of my existence too. It's just never-ending, keeping up with the paperwork, making sure they're paying at the right amount, and trying to find the best deal with the limited knowledge I have. 

Carrie12345, I hear you on the little pesky things that just eat up time. I bought something for my mom on Amazon, and it didn't arrive even though it said delivered, so I had to ask Amazon to send it again for free. They did it, but I hated having to dig around to figure out how to do it. 

 

Some (most, actually) of my paycheck will be going to be set aside in a savings account as we have a loan that we can't make extra payments on, but we can pay it early. So we're setting $ into an account until the amount is equal to the payoff. So, I was looking around for "good" savings rate (good being relative when a lot of them are about .2% or below). I found this deal:   https://ww2.alliantcreditunion.org/ultimate-opportunity-savings?utm_campaign=suze21&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic&utm_content=suze_traffic  $100 deposited monthly in a new savings account for a year gets you $100 from the bank. Interest rate is .55%, which is better than the .35% I'm currently earning at Emigrant. Now, if I want to do this deal, I'll have to do one of those pesky tasks that Carrie12345 was talking about. LOL.

Today, I'm going through my closet to see what I have that is work-appropriate. I am far from a clothes horse, so it's slim pickings in my closet. I have 2 pair of dress pants (navy and black but I don't know if they fit yet), and a couple of jackets (one denim, one pink), but I mostly wear tees and leggings. My guess is I'll need a blouse or two and navy shoes, possibly a shell for under a jacket. At some point, I'm pretty sure I'll be giving the financial presentation to the board, so I'll need a small set of work clothes. I'm thinking something like a tiny capsule wardrobe. 

Oldest has gotten her final schedule. Looks like she'll be home in about 3 weeks! They cancelled spring break, so she's done super early. DH will probably have to go get her as I'll have my second vaccine shot shortly before she needs picking up, and I will have just started the new job, so I'm starting to plan that short trip for him. We should have a free hotel room through hotels.com which will be nice. 

ETA: middle heard back from summer camp. She was accepted. It's gone virtual, which not only makes me breathe easier but drops the price to a mere $20. She'll be studying rural medicine the last week of June. She's pretty excited.

Yay for your middle daughter.  

Nice that your oldest will be home so soon.  What is she doing for summer? 

 

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10 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Good job getting insurance to pay for the visits last year.  Way to see that through. So frustrating to have to go through all that.

Yay for the savings on the scrip.  Wow, is that for one month?  

Yes, one month.

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17 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Yay for your middle daughter.  

Nice that your oldest will be home so soon.  What is she doing for summer? 

 

She applied to an internship but she wasn't chosen, so she had to find something to do. Since oldest's college is still online until fall, she's going to be taking a class. It'll open up her schedule options since it's the final prerequisite course before junior level computer science classes. She's also going to be fitting in some medical appointments - she's been having some physical issues this year that her doctor wants to get to the root of. She also needs to work on getting her driver's license! She's had her permit since she turned 16, but she hasn't gotten her license yet.   

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17 hours ago, historically accurate said:

I've been offline a couple of days, but popping on here to say, I just found out I got the job and I start training on Monday. I have to see what I have to wear as it will be in person for a couple of weeks. 

Hurray!!! Congratulations!!!

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1 hour ago, mommyoffive said:

Oh wow.  I hate that medicines are so expensive.  Does he have to be on it for a long time?  Is there anything that maybe changing insurances next time would help?  Can you use FSA for scrips?  Or HSA?  

If it works it will be used indefinitely. Our insurance only has one other plan and prescriptions are still 100% until deductible is met. We've not done the plan that has the FSA before because then we had to pay regular price for dh's clinic instead of $5 a visit and we used it a ton. Now, the clinic has changed hands I don't know if it is worthwhile it is something we will be considering again for open enrollment.

AFter deductible we just pay 10% and we'll meet his individual deductible in a few months with all the dr's, counselors, and meds. 

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34 minutes ago, Soror said:

If it works it will be used indefinitely. Our insurance only has one other plan and prescriptions are still 100% until deductible is met. We've not done the plan that has the FSA before because then we had to pay regular price for dh's clinic instead of $5 a visit and we used it a ton. Now, the clinic has changed hands I don't know if it is worthwhile it is something we will be considering again for open enrollment.

AFter deductible we just pay 10% and we'll meet his individual deductible in a few months with all the dr's, counselors, and meds. 

Well that is good that insurance will cover it when you meet the deductible.  That will be a relief.  

We only have a choice of 2 plans and we picked the higher monthly one because it does cover presriptions.  There were a few other reasons we picked this plan besides that.  The other one sounds like the one you are on where they won't cover it until the deductible is met.  We don't even have any prescriptions, but just incase we were to have them.   

I honestly hate picking insurance.  It is such a crap shoot of looking into a crystal ball.  We always end up going for the most expensive one and probably it doesn't pay off for us, but we are just to big of worry warts to not have it.  

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