Tag: money

With a Capital F

When the COVID19 Pandemic hit, I opted to not return the nursing home in an effort to maintain my health for myself and more importantly for Mother Fran. The thought of exposing myself to a building of over 100 people scares me. This has put a major cramp in my earnings so far for 2020. Luckily, I tightened my belt years ago and don’t need to make a big salary. I have been doing a lot, and I mean a lot of yard work in order to pay my bills and meet my financial goals. I don’t know if/when I will return to working at the nursing home; but I know it will be my decision. That is Freedom with a capital F.

My thoughts on money and how much I need have evolved over the last ten years. I worked primarily for one company for most of my 20’s, 30’s and into my 40’s. I worked my way up from a temporary relief worker to full time staff, to manager, coordinator and eventually director level positions. It was a human service agency so the money was not good, especially when I first started but I enjoyed my work, and met some pretty amazing friends.

Image by Bingo Naranjo from Pixabay
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Save Money and More! DIY

Recently, my honey and I drove to Florida in my trusty RAV4 named “Rainy”. It was a beautiful month and the temperatures were in the 80’s on several days. Often we drove with the windows open but we also cranked the air conditioner when we were too hot. My honey noticed water seeping onto the passenger car mat by her left foot. At first we thought our water bottle was leaking but then realized it was more than that. It seemed to happen when I applied the brakes and it was getting worse. My winter gloves were on the floor and I could almost wring them out.

What a mess! Image by Myriam Zilles from Pixabay
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Broke with a Silver Spoon

I grew up in a house or maybe just a time where money felt like one of those taboo topics; like sex and religion, that are not to be discussed with others. It seemed like if you had money and talked about it you were bragging and if you didn’t have money and talked about it you were begging. Today, too many of us don’t have a solid grip on our finances. We feel broke all of the time but we spend money like we were born with a silver spoon in our mouth.

As a kid, I didn’t have any money. Papa Jack retired from the NYC police force when I was 9 years old and we moved Upstate. He had a small pension and a rather frugal wife but they still had 4 kids in school. He worked at various places over the years and raised some animals (mostly chickens) and grew plenty of vegetables to help with the food budget. Money was tight but we always had enough.

This could have been my yard growing up! Image by Capri23auto from Pixabay
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My Brown Bag Plan

I am getting ready to cat and house sit for my sister and her honey for 3 weeks while they go on vacation. I will swing by their house every day and feed the cats, scoop their litter, and give them some loving.  I will also shovel snow, feed the birds, get the mail and make sure everything is fine.

My sister and her honey get a lot of mail. I bet they get more mail in 1 day then I get in a month. I receive bills electronically and pay them on-line. I hate junk mail and un-subscribe from everything as soon as I receive it. By the time they return from their vacation the kitchen table will be piled high with bills, magazines, flyers, newspapers, credit card offers, all types of junk mail and catalogues.

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Embracing the Gray

Growing up in the 1970’s as Child #8 out of 9 meant I was always one of the “little kids”, always one of the youngest. When my whole family gathered, I  always sat at the kids table, always got booted off of the couch for someone older, always wore the hand-me-down clothes. I spent my childhood wishing I was older – like a teenager! I wanted to go out at night with my siblings, I wanted to stay up late eating ice cream with Mother Fran, I wanted to babysit the neighbor kids to earn a little spending money. I seriously remember thinking “when I’m big, I am going to eat cake and ice cream for breakfast”!  I knew how to dream BIG.

Chocolate please!

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$43,000 Bucks Is Not Enough!

For the last few years, I have been reading several early retirement and financial blogs for inspiration. As I have already passed the BIG 50 milestone, extreme early retirement is not really feasible at this point but I love the concept nonetheless.

The blogs I read are written by people who maximized their income, minimized their expenses and saved like crazy. They worked incredibly hard for a period of time and socked away their money so they could retire in their 30’s. Go Google “early retirement blogs” and spend some time reading for inspiration!

Unfortunately, I do not walk in their shoes!

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