Photo by Skyler Ewing on Pexels.com(Birds are beautiful.  I love watching them.  Something I’ve gained from 2020…) I’ve always been a pretty upbeat and positive person, but 2020 has challenged me in ways I didn’t think possible.  Staying positive has been the biggest challenge of them all.  It hasn’t been easy finding the ‘good’ in 2020, but I did, and I hope these things will help you see the positive as well. 10 positive ways 2020 has changed my life.  I am… Finishing home projects.  Not being able to go anywhere has enabled me to concentrate on what needed to ..read more

(In case you were wondering, I stopped blogging for a while so the robo boomer haters would stop commenting. Life is stressful enough without reading such garbage. BUT, this is my happy place, where I can talk about all things money and I wanted to continue to document my journey to retirement, financially speaking. Besides. There are way more nice commenters than mean, so I’m back. ) There are many ways the present pandemic has changed my life, but none so significant as the way I look at money.  After all these years, I thought I had it down. I didn’t. I’m still learning. After my husb ..read more

Yet, another inspirational video.  Happy Sunday.  Enjoy ..read more

We’ve all read it, seen, or lived it over the last several months.   Be it the news, twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, blogs, or any other venue, people have been expressing their opinions in a less than thoughtful way.  I would even go as far as to say they’ve been downright vile.  We all have our opinions, but we must remember different doesn’t mean wrong.  So, before you speak or put words down on paper, please T.H.I.N.K. Wouldn’t we all be happier if everyone followed this?  Just sayin.   ..read more

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com Life sure has been different since March.   Although I enjoy time by myself, I am mostly an extrovert.  Social distancing, wearing masks, and staying at home has been quite discouraging for me at times. However, I believe in remaining positive and try to find ways to make each day count.   Since I am mostly staying at home now,  I am constantly looking for ways to improve my surroundings.  I look for inspiration wherever I can. I happened to watch a video, IvyKitchen, and was so inspired that I thought I’d share.  It’s about a ..read more

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com I’ve written about using cash in the past, and most recently how I won’t be using it during the pandemic.  However,  I’ve changed my mind, and here’s why. It will lower my food bill.  My food bill was reaching all-time highs — upwards of $800-900 a month.  Not acceptable for 3 adults. Now that I’m shopping for food myself and use only cash, I will have a better chance of not overspending. It will help me lose weight.  (I know this is a stretch) This goes with #1.  There is an interesting phenomenon that has happened during this pa ..read more

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com We have just completed six months of 2020.  Can you believe it?  It has been the longest six months of any year I can remember. Anyway, it’s time to check in with our retirement preparation.  Our ultimate goal is to retire in exactly 43 months.  (I haven’t figured out the days, hours, or minutes yet, but I will soon ) When the pandemic started and the stock market crashed, I thought we would have to extend our retirement plan out two extra years.   When the market bounced back, we successfully rebalanced all of our accounts, a ..read more

Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels.com I failed June’s challenge — staying off of social media, the news, blogs, and YouTube was harder than I thought. I initially was doing well but it didn’t last. I failed miserably by Day 3.  Since June was a complete train wreck (and you know what happens when you see a train wreck) I found myself not able to look away.  If I didn’t read it or see it, my husband was sure to tell me about it.  It all just made me sad. Although I did a few of the things on my list, I didn’t do as much as I wanted. Like write more in this space.  I haven ..read more

It’s been quite a Spring, right?  Lots of information to take in.  Unfortunately, it’s been mostly negative, ugly stuff.  Death, destruction, and loss of income, to name a few.  An unprecedented time, indeed. The doomsayers, fear mongers, and political hacks have all come out in full force to inject more fear.  And, it appears they are doing a great job.  People are loose canons, just waiting to explode.  I know it has affected me in ways I didn’t think it could, but I’m drawing a line in the sand. No more. We have been fortunate.  My husband is still e ..read more

25 years ago a young guy decided to take a chance on a single Mama of two young girls.  25 years later he’s still here — with two more wonderful kids, two sons-in-laws and five adorable grandkids added to the mix. My daughter put together this compilation of pictures taken over the years.  What a wonderful love story it’s been. Joe – Thanks for taking that chance…here’s to another 25!   ..read more