Condessa Posted February 19 Share Posted February 19 Baby is coming next month! I was offered some hand-me-downs for her that turned out to be in absolutely perfect condition. Many actually still have tags on them. Other than a few odd items like socks, we are set for clothes now. I got one of those plastic drawer sets for her clothes. I need to give the bassinet and car seat a good scrubbing and get a few more swaddle blankets, but other than that we’re ready. I was gathering paperwork to get taxes taken care of and discovered I had missed a change in a 529 tax credit for our state that meant we needed to contribute more to get the full credit, so I borrowed the difference from our emergency fund. I also have the IRAs topped up for last year now. It will take a while to refill the EF and to catch up with starting this year’s retirement contributions. Hopefully there will be a profit distribution from dh’s work sometime in the next few months that will help with that. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustEm Posted February 19 Share Posted February 19 We got our taxes in and expect the refund to come in the first month of March. Dh got his first paycheck with his new salary and the yearly bonus he gets last week. We put roughly 50% of it into his 401k and various savings categories. Some of it will be fun money and the rest paid our home owners insurance yearly premium. We don't have any major expenses in Feb so that is nice 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted February 19 Share Posted February 19 31 minutes ago, Condessa said: Baby is coming next month! I was offered some hand-me-downs for her that turned out to be in absolutely perfect condition. Many actually still have tags on them. Other than a few odd items like socks, we are set for clothes now. I got one of those plastic drawer sets for her clothes. I need to give the bassinet and car seat a good scrubbing and get a few more swaddle blankets, but other than that we’re ready. I was gathering paperwork to get taxes taken care of and discovered I had missed a change in a 529 tax credit for our state that meant we needed to contribute more to get the full credit, so I borrowed the difference from our emergency fund. I also have the IRAs topped up for last year now. It will take a while to refill the EF and to catch up with starting this year’s retirement contributions. Hopefully there will be a profit distribution from dh’s work sometime in the next few months that will help with that. What your baby is coming next month???? Wow, that went fast. Do you know what you are having? How are you feeling? So exciting. I think March is a good time to have a baby. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condessa Posted February 19 Author Share Posted February 19 4 minutes ago, mommyoffive said: What your baby is coming next month???? Wow, that went fast. Do you know what you are having? How are you feeling? So exciting. I think March is a good time to have a baby. Yes! My due date is actually April 5th, but we’re aiming for 37 to 39 weeks because of the blood pressure issues I’ve had in the past, so mid to late March. But so far my blood pressure has done really well. Baby is a girl to even things up at our house, and we’re going to name her Abigail and use Nabby as a nickname. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted February 19 Share Posted February 19 We’ve finished up our YOLO year of travel and have our noses back to the frugal grindstone. Our underlying habits hadn’t changed, it’s just that the travel spending has stopped. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted February 19 Share Posted February 19 11 minutes ago, Condessa said: Yes! My due date is actually April 5th, but we’re aiming for 37 to 39 weeks because of the blood pressure issues I’ve had in the past, so mid to late March. But so far my blood pressure has done really well. Baby is a girl to even things up at our house, and we’re going to name her Abigail and use Nabby as a nickname. Aww that is cool you will be even up. I am glad you are not having any blood pressure issues. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted February 19 Share Posted February 19 7 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said: We’ve finished up our YOLO year of travel and have our noses back to the frugal grindstone. Our underlying habits hadn’t changed, it’s just that the travel spending has stopped. I am happy that you got your YOLO travel in!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 (edited) Any ideas on filling, frugal, and tasty snacks for forty hungry teenagers? I've got several turns in the team snack rotation coming up. FWIW, I have a lot of bulk baking supplies to rotate through--flour, butter, oats, etc. are in abundance. I just need to balance sweet stuff with healthy stuff + protein. 40 people at $1.50/person = $60/turn is kind of my budget. It sounds generous, but I just hit that today buying broccoli + carrots + ranch in the quantities needed. I have 6 more snack rotations.... ETA: practice runs until 8-8:30 pm, so we're kind of in light supper territory. Edited February 20 by prairiewindmomma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saraha Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 (edited) 2 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said: Any ideas on filling, frugal, and tasty snacks for forty hungry teenagers? I've got several turns in the team snack rotation coming up. FWIW, I have a lot of bulk baking supplies to rotate through--flour, butter, oats, etc. are in abundance. I just need to balance sweet stuff with healthy stuff + protein. 40 people at $1.50/person = $60/turn is kind of my budget. It sounds generous, but I just hit that today buying broccoli + carrots + ranch in the quantities needed. I have 6 more snack rotations.... ETA: practice runs until 8-8:30 pm, so we're kind of in light supper territory. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches oatmeal raisin cookies and string cheese Edited February 20 by saraha 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eos Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 7 hours ago, Condessa said: Nabby as a nickname. Love this! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condessa Posted February 20 Author Share Posted February 20 10 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said: Any ideas on filling, frugal, and tasty snacks for forty hungry teenagers? I've got several turns in the team snack rotation coming up. FWIW, I have a lot of bulk baking supplies to rotate through--flour, butter, oats, etc. are in abundance. I just need to balance sweet stuff with healthy stuff + protein. 40 people at $1.50/person = $60/turn is kind of my budget. It sounds generous, but I just hit that today buying broccoli + carrots + ranch in the quantities needed. I have 6 more snack rotations.... ETA: practice runs until 8-8:30 pm, so we're kind of in light supper territory. Maybe homemade granola bars? With nuts to include some protein? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condessa Posted February 20 Author Share Posted February 20 My kids love beef stew but I haven’t made it in a while as I haven’t seen beef at a price I was willing to pay recently. They have been requesting it and I was looking at beef yesterday, and the cheapest cut was over $5 per pound, except they had beef heart for $2.50 per pound. I’d never eaten or cooked with heart in my life, but Google said that it has a nice beef flavor but can be tough unless cooked a long, slow way. I decided to give it a shot, and the stew was amazing. Everyone loved it. The meat was tender after long cooking, the broth it made was amazing, and I think that is going to be my go-to way of making beef stew from now on. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saraha Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 2 hours ago, Condessa said: My kids love beef stew but I haven’t made it in a while as I haven’t seen beef at a price I was willing to pay recently. They have been requesting it and I was looking at beef yesterday, and the cheapest cut was over $5 per pound, except they had beef heart for $2.50 per pound. I’d never eaten or cooked with heart in my life, but Google said that it has a nice beef flavor but can be tough unless cooked a long, slow way. I decided to give it a shot, and the stew was amazing. Everyone loved it. The meat was tender after long cooking, the broth it made was amazing, and I think that is going to be my go-to way of making beef stew from now on. Did it come cut into pieces already? Or did you have to cut it up? We always get the heart from the processor, but give it to the dogs for a treat and it’s so unwieldy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condessa Posted February 20 Author Share Posted February 20 4 hours ago, saraha said: Did it come cut into pieces already? Or did you have to cut it up? We always get the heart from the processor, but give it to the dogs for a treat and it’s so unwieldy It was already cut up. They also had whole hearts for 10 cents less per pound, but I went for the shortcut. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saraha Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 2 hours ago, Condessa said: It was already cut up. They also had whole hearts for 10 cents less per pound, but I went for the shortcut. For 10 cents difference I would too! How was the texture? In all my years I’ve never thought to cook one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condessa Posted February 20 Author Share Posted February 20 39 minutes ago, saraha said: For 10 cents difference I would too! How was the texture? In all my years I’ve never thought to cook one Slightly chewier than stew meat would have been, but still soft enough that I could easily cut my toddler’s meat into smaller bites with the edge of his spoon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 Well, it’s our turn to be impacted by massive tech layoffs. Dh is now looking for new opportunities. We’re probably going to have to relo again and I am a bit heartbroken about that. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 On a frugal note, is anyone up to speed on term life insurance or pay as you go phones? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 @prairiewindmomma I am so sorry about your dh. That is so stressful. I hope he is able to find something new soon. We have used Tracfone for years. A few of us are on unlimited talk and text plans and it works out to be about $16 a month when we renew every year. I know in the start we were able to get Tracfone phones bundled with a year plan on Ebay which were cheaper than just the phone from Tracfone's site. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjzimmer1 Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said: On a frugal note, is anyone up to speed on term life insurance or pay as you go phones? Sorry about your DH. BTDT and it sucks. I hope he is able to find something quickly. As far as phones go, I've used several different kinds of prepaid and all have always been cheaper than going with the big name brand companies. For us we really had to study out the coverage maps. When we are in and around cities it didn't matter so much but there are many rural areas we travel through for various things that we still wanted coverage. Anything thing that came up for us was when DH worked in a manufacturer building that do to it's construction materials blocked cell phone service, so we had to make sure we picked one that switched back and forth between cell service and wi-fi service (I think this is more common now but just something to be aware of). Anyways, Dh is currently on Republic Wireless and there are 6 of us using Tello (run on the T-mobile network). It takes a bit of legwork to find the best match for coverage and usage to match your individual needs but the cost savings has definitely been worth it for us. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condessa Posted February 21 Author Share Posted February 21 I was in a car accident yesterday (in the newer, recently paid off car) and spent the night in the hospital. Baby and I are both fine, though for a while there afterwards it was looking like she was trying to come early. I have never caused an accident before. I’m so glad the other driver was okay. I still don’t understand how I didn’t see the other car. I wonder how much they are going to raise our rates over this. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 1 hour ago, mommyoffive said: @prairiewindmomma I am so sorry about your dh. That is so stressful. I hope he is able to find something new soon. We have used Tracfone for years. A few of us are on unlimited talk and text plans and it works out to be about $16 a month when we renew every year. I know in the start we were able to get Tracfone phones bundled with a year plan on Ebay which were cheaper than just the phone from Tracfone's site. We have a couple of kids on Tracfone’s, part of our concern is that they have announced a coming closure of the network with Verizon’s purchase of them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 20 minutes ago, Condessa said: I was in a car accident yesterday (in the newer, recently paid off car) and spent the night in the hospital. Baby and I are both fine, though for a while there afterwards it was looking like she was trying to come early. I have never caused an accident before. I’m so glad the other driver was okay. I still don’t understand how I didn’t see the other car. I wonder how much they are going to raise our rates over this. Oh no. I am so glad you both are ok. How scary having that happen while pregnant. Are you home now? Are you in pain at all? I am sorry you are worried about raising the rates. That and having it be in the newer paid off car just sucks. But thank goodness you both are ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 10 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said: We have a couple of kids on Tracfone’s, part of our concern is that they have announced a coming closure of the network with Verizon’s purchase of them. Oh. I didn't know that all. BOOOOOOOOO. So Tracfone won't exist at all? Do you have an article on this? Wonder what that means if you just bought a plan for a year of service? We just did. And our phones? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 We received texts and letters in the mail. It was supposed to end in 2023, but the new date is November 2024. In a quick google: https://m.tracfonewirelessinc.com/en/verizonacquisition/#:~:text=We're excited to announce,1%2C See disclaimer below 1. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 My ds recently lost his Tracfone (long story). His pay as you go lapsed the same week (bad timing, per usual). In trying to get him set back up and keep his rollover minutes and preferred pricing, we would have to pay the new rates of $15/month rather than $99/year or $19.99/3 months. It has been a giant PITA. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 14 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said: We received texts and letters in the mail. It was supposed to end in 2023, but the new date is November 2024. In a quick google: https://m.tracfonewirelessinc.com/en/verizonacquisition/#:~:text=We're excited to announce,1%2C See disclaimer below 1. We got nothing. Hmm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 I found the letter. It linked to this page: https://m.tracfonewirelessinc.com/en/verizonacquisition 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lecka Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 (edited) We use Mint Mobile with paid-off phones. We have gotten our younger kids used/refurbished phones. It’s working out for us. We get 5 whatever of data, and the kids just run out of data early in the month most of the time. But they can still text or call. Edit: it costs $15/month per phone but I think that is with an annual payment. My husband is the plan owner and it’s been easy for him to deal with, but he has heard that their customer service is horrible if there’s a problem. Edited February 21 by Lecka 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saraha Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 2 hours ago, Condessa said: I was in a car accident yesterday (in the newer, recently paid off car) and spent the night in the hospital. Baby and I are both fine, though for a while there afterwards it was looking like she was trying to come early. I have never caused an accident before. I’m so glad the other driver was okay. I still don’t understand how I didn’t see the other car. I wonder how much they are going to raise our rates over this. That must have been very scary! Glad you and the other driver are ok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 3 hours ago, Condessa said: I was in a car accident yesterday (in the newer, recently paid off car) and spent the night in the hospital. Baby and I are both fine, though for a while there afterwards it was looking like she was trying to come early. I have never caused an accident before. I’m so glad the other driver was okay. I still don’t understand how I didn’t see the other car. I wonder how much they are going to raise our rates over this. So glad to hear you and baby are ok How scary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 On 2/21/2024 at 2:51 PM, cjzimmer1 said: Sorry about your DH. BTDT and it sucks. I hope he is able to find something quickly. As far as phones go, I've used several different kinds of prepaid and all have always been cheaper than going with the big name brand companies. For us we really had to study out the coverage maps. When we are in and around cities it didn't matter so much but there are many rural areas we travel through for various things that we still wanted coverage. Anything thing that came up for us was when DH worked in a manufacturer building that do to it's construction materials blocked cell phone service, so we had to make sure we picked one that switched back and forth between cell service and wi-fi service (I think this is more common now but just something to be aware of). Anyways, Dh is currently on Republic Wireless and there are 6 of us using Tello (run on the T-mobile network). It takes a bit of legwork to find the best match for coverage and usage to match your individual needs but the cost savings has definitely been worth it for us. Looking at Tello is the data a monthly balance? Meaning I am looking at the $14 a month plan that says it gives 5GB of data. Is that 5gb every month? Of course my last day of service with Tracfone is today and with this merger I am worried about buying another year plan on it. Sigh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 Chatting with the Tracfone customer service and this is what they told me You will get the full year of service. We are part of Verizon already and the changes have been done. You will keep your TracFone service plan and the same price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjzimmer1 Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 3 hours ago, mommyoffive said: Looking at Tello is the data a monthly balance? Meaning I am looking at the $14 a month plan that says it gives 5GB of data. Is that 5gb every month? Of course my last day of service with Tracfone is today and with this merger I am worried about buying another year plan on it. Sigh. yes, whatever data amount you select is the amount you get each month. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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