Friday Fiscal Wellness Check January 3, 2025

  

     I officially typed 2025 within a date. New year, new opportunity to save, or dig myself a financial hole. I'm getting downright nervous as I see my three year average earnings dip lower and lower on my retirement account. I have no faith that the economy will rebound, so it's my duty to figure out how to be more responsible for my financial health. This sort of spending recap is for self accountability on how intentional I've been the last week and if I can find flaws that might help me make fiscally better decisions in the future. This is my summary from Friday, December 27 to Thursday, January 2nd. It was a bumpy week to say the least. 

Avoiding Spending/ Saving on Needs

• See below and the need to meal plan from pantry and freezer is evident. I got nothing for groceries for the house but fresh stuff we ran out of. I'm setting a target of under $50 a week for groceries and household the rest of January. My pantry is packed plus son will be gone for 10 days in the month. 
• Used gas coupon to fill up tank yesterday. 
• Bought a couple future gifts when I was in Walmart for 75% off. 
• Not a need, but when I went to unsubscribe from Acorn TV as I am taking a break from that streaming service, they offered a free month. I accepted and will cancel before renewal next month.
• And...we took advantage of a free week of Paramount and three of us have watched a few free movies only on that platform. 

Spent Intentionally

• Timed payment for car insurance on my daughter's car which is still on my policy. It's a better price and car title is in my name. 

Opportunities to add Funds/Windfalls 

• Nothing much here, and in fact, my accounts continue to creep down in value.
• More to share, but my retirement date has a set back. I'm exploring the impact of this change to ensure it's positive for me both financially and on my mental health. 

     Then, there are often other things that impacted my check book that came up without much planning or notice, an all out splurge- though nothing fun about this below. 

• My daughter got home to her apartment to find the kitchen sink backed up, for how long, she wouldn't know. She wasn't home since the 23rd. I ended up driving to get her cat and waited for maintenance to at least get the water drained and get plumber set up. I grabbed all my older towels before driving there...while I washed twice on hot, these will be used for dog towels or cleaning only now. We got the wet soak cleaned up and she stayed at a friend's ( as she was heading there for NYE anyway.)  I'll replace the towels with just basic ones from Kohl's, Target, or Walmart this weekend. 
• On New Year's Day, the plumber came pretty early and fixed. She has messages to the rental agency for a full mold check and took lots of pictures. But since a holiday, no answer. The smell was bad and it risked getting into all their stuff. The flooding was contained to kitchen but we cleaned every area and removed things to try and get it aired out. I spent a small fortune on heavy duty cleaning supplies and a dehumidifier; they didn't even have a mop and bucket. I've kept receipts, plus the cost to replace the small appliances that were in the water path. I'm hoping either the property company or her renters insurance will cover, but not holding my breath. 
• I took her to Panera to get a bit of fuel in us before we tackled the work. Like everywhere, Panera has gone up in double digit percentages and lunch for the two of us was over $30. 
•  I took her cat back with me but had wrong food. He's so picky and wouldn't eat what I had so another trip to get his food. I was already going to have him Saturday - Sunday so he's just staying here. He likes getting in their lower cupboards and until the issue is fixed, best he's not there.
• I have to repurchase tickets to something for my MIL. You might remember that I had cleared dates with her, but she forgot and scheduled travel with her sisters over the same date I got play tickets. I'll treat a friend and get tickets to something else. What, I have no idea so need to start looking and hope I can find a new date. 

     That's my year starting off with a bang. Two extra round trips to the city, wrong cat food purchased and not returnable (will donate), towels and small appliances to replace, and a whole cart of of cleaning and sanitizing supplies. I'm proud of how my daughter managed it. She got maintenance there within two hours on New Year's Eve and plumber next day. She took pictures and left detailed messages. She repeated that it could have been worse and didn't get too upset. She expressed gratitude for my help and that she and her roommate had options for themselves and pet if they couldn't stay in the apartment. 

     She was exhausted when I left late Wednesday, but the place was liveable again, minus putting anything back under sink and lower cupboards until remediation can occur. Maybe this is our one and only big issue for the year. Something tells me we need to be on guard.