Friday Fiscal Wellness Check June 13, 2025

           

    I copy the previous week, delete the old and updated as I go along the week as a way even when busy and not in a blogging mindset I'm accountable to myself. Here's my recap of Friday, June 6 to Thursday, June 12.

Avoiding Spending/ Saving on Needs

• Other than (see below) the unplanned purchases, I spent minimally this week.  I haven't had the first gas tank fill of June yet, but will tomorrow, and I have a goal to not use more than two tank fulls. My friend got my hard seltzer at Trivia but then I picked up two house made root beers, so spent $10 on entertainment.
• I made sure to cancel the boat insurance (see below) effective June 6th. I'm not sure what the credit will be, but it will help as insurance is due next month on the car my daughter drives. Tabs for my car are due by end of month. 
• I used of remnants of jam and two frozen bananas for one batch of mini quick breads on Sunday morning, and a second batch yesterday with the last two frozen bananas and a few handful of chopped up frozen fruit from miscellaneous almost gone bags in freezer. I'm completely out of ground flax now so added to the list. Even though eggs have come down, I still use ground flax in my quick bread both to stretch the eggs for eating or recipes that really are far better with egg, and to keep these breads plant based so my daughter can eat them. 
• Used up vanilla Greek yogurt, soon to go bad, in sort of a pound cake recipe, no eggs needed. I threw the remains of a bag of butterscotch chips in. 

Spent Intentionally

• No big bills or planned spending this week. 

Opportunities to add Funds/Windfalls 

• Entered Fetch receipts and played MS Rewards. 
• I sold the boat while away, officially getting payment and title swap on Friday. It was bittersweet in that it was my husband's retirement dream to be able to play at the lake and enjoy the boat all summer. It was nothing but expense and pain for me though. A guy I knew from our kids soccer days and his buddy purchased for a fair price. The money has been set aside and will go towards something my kids want at the lake to make their time there more enjoyable. 
• I opened a CD with the boat money. We have no immediate plans for it, so I think 4% return is much better than sitting with just .265% that the abysmal, but readily accessible money market.

Miscellaneous (added as a few things don't quite fit elsewhere)

• I'm up to date on the HSA reimbursement for health insurance. The initial payment reimbursement (May) went back into the sinking fund account I "borrowed from" but now with Junes reimbursed, I'll be on a good track for reimbursement prior to the next month due date.

Then, there are often other things that impacted my check book that came up without much planning or notice, or an all-out splurge.

• I had to get a new charger for the weed wacker. Then decided the one I had, which had a problem being permanently stuck in the edging mode should just be replaced. I ended up buying a full new weed whacker, but will have the old kept for use at the lake. The kids can just use the same battery and charger ( same model as daughter's). Things don't need to be pristine there, just managed. I used right away on Wednesday after charging and it was night and day not fighting with it in the locked position.
• With cleaning, I decided to finally figure out a better way to use the counter space in the corner and purchased a two piece under cabinet counter shelf. This helped double space for coffee, tea, and accessories. I know, so much for not buying random stuff. I have looked for a solution for years.

  

  My coffee and tea corner. 
  Sort of a place for everything.

  
  

     Daily Dinner Diary (Friday 6/6 to Thursday, 6/12). 

• Fri - Vegetable and chickpea curry, rice, naan
• Sat- made a small crockpot of soup with misfit items, tortellini, carrots, frozen spinach and idd cheeses. Made the broth with the last chicken bits and bones from the rotisserie chicken son had bought when I was gone. 
• Sun- rotini pasta with vegetables
• Mon- Turkey meatloaf, leftover pasts, mixed vegetables (I forgot to put the egg in the meatloaf so it just sort of crumbled, but it worked with the leftover pasta) 
• Tues- Tuna hotdish with broccoli 
• Weds- Leftovers
• Thurs- Pork loin chops, cheesy potatoes, green beans

      I've got to get groceries for sloppy Joe's and sides, beer, and wine for the family book club and cards night. My son plans to be at the lake as he works Sunday, so he'll pick up a few things to take along, but otherwise not much needed for groceries other than a bit of fresh veggies, fruit and bread. No doubt we'll need more as the week goes on, and I'd like to hit a few loss leaders when the local add goes up. I've got a lower than average spending target this month and buying the weed whacker/ shelf gives me more incentive to economize elsewhere. How was your week?