Yesterday was PFD DAY! YAY! Unfortunately, this is a September update, so these numbers are true through September 30 and do not include that extra $10,000+ we just got… but tune in next month to see that money added to the numbers… (at least we can count on our mortgage numbers to improve… the market may be a different story).
September is fall around here (sick of moose-in-fall leaves headers?). The leaves are entirely orange and red and all over. The belugas migrated through and we got to sit on a rock and watch them swim around on Labor Day. The sun is much lower in the sky and the ground is kissed with frost in the mornings. We got our first snow this week. The darkness has returned, which means we’ve had some great Northern Lights shows out our window. We did not attend FinCon this year, but we participated from afar. This is also my birthday month. We celebrated with Mr. T making a three-layer fudge chunk cake with chocolate mousse in between layers and drenched in chocolate ganache on top. Oh, and homemade vanilla ice cream. It was absolutely divine and better than any purchase he could have made. Overall, it’s been a lovely month.
The Numbers:
Our mortgage is now down to $86,075. Next month we get to throw two thousand more at it from the PFD. That will be thrilling! Market is down, so our investments are down. We currently stand at $53,994. Seems so little. But we’ll throw our PFDs in and then the market will magically go back up, right? Mr. T keeps saying the math does not back up my desire for the market to tank until we put the PFD in because the amount we have in the market far outweighs the few thousand we’ll be adding. He’s right, of course, but I always feel good when I throw a chunk in and then it goes up and makes money right away! So we’re at a total of $-32,081. Only $532,081 away from our goal (yikes!). Still plugging along.
Notable Expenses this Month:
$16.30 – We finished our bike chart! To celebrate, the kids get to choose what we have for dessert, and they always choose to go to frozen yogurt (they love the endless choice of toppings and, of course, choose really nasty combinations and love it). This is our victory outing, which was especially victorious because Mr. T did the last several miles on his dad’s 40-year-old bike.
$659.04 – A new front door and attic insulation for the Alaska Energy Rebate Program. We’ll get most of this back later.
$6 – Dollar Shave Club – I get 4 razor heads every 2 months and the handle is free! I’m a razor snob, so this company has changed everything! (Makes me think what other things I’m missing!)
$9 – Family ice skating night – Penny earned a free ice skating admission at school last year, so Mr. T took the girls ice skating to get Penny ready for recess ice skating this winter and help Florin learn how. Lui and I watched along the sidelines and paced the mall when he got restless (no purchases made, don’t worry!). Overall, everyone had a great evening.
$823 – We decided to replace Mr. T’s stolen bike. He bike commutes 2-3 times a week. That’s also a big part of his exercise routine. When he doesn’t do that, he feels a big difference, so we decided it was worth it to replace it. And we got one that would work with his existing studded tires so we wouldn’t have to replace those. We also had a run-in with trying to get his old bike back this month when it was posted on Craigslist. A cop friend of ours tried to meet with the guy, but he kept changing the time, and eventually wrote back and said “I just got home from work and it looks like someone stole it! Sorry!” Then he went dark. Nuts!
$80.36 – 6 pairs of shoes/boots and 4 pairs of pants – after assessing the needs of all three kids, this should be everything they need until the spring. We scored some great clearance deals, which was lucky.
$200 – Car Registration. Yikes! At least we no longer have to get an emissions test.
$9.60 – We bought a deal for our whole family to go to a farm in the Midwest when we go there next month to enjoy a hay ride, a corn maze, and some pumpkin donuts and apple slushies. We always plan our annual Midwest trip to my office in October so we can relive the fall. By mid-October, it’s pretty cold here and the leaves are gone. Because the season is so short here, we really like to live it up by going to farms to enjoy what we miss up here.
$1.56 – This is the service fee for the free tickets to see the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. This is a very exact tradition that has been going on, uninterrupted for over 700 years! We get to go the last night Mr.T and I are in London next summer. I’m thrilled!
Financial Phrases:
“My oldest is not okay with me spending his PFD to take him to France.”
“People are already spending their PFD like they have it before they even see the money.”
“You went to Costco the Saturday before PFD day? You’re crazy!”
How was September where you’re at? Any snow? 🙂
Accountability Friday: Last Friday through yesterday:
F(es)-Yes, M(ex)-Yes, T(Cam)-Yes, W(Ex)-Yes, Th(Cam)-Yes. Winning!
Fervent Finance
No snow here in NYC… yet. It’s definitely gotten much cooler though and has started raining. I heard a sound the other night and didn’t know what it was, it was rain, and I didn’t recognize it since it’s been SO dry here recently. As for financially, September was raise and bonus month for me, so I was able to put some money to work.
MaggieBanks
We had our share of rain deluge for about three days until one afternoon, it turned to snow. September sounds like a wonderful month for you financially! Congrats!
Our Next Life
That cop bike story is crazy! Good job finishing the bike chart! We are set to have an expensive October with a $4000 house staining bill about to hit. I feel nauseous just thinking about it, but if we didn’t do it, then our siding would wear out, and that would be a much higher bill. Definitely top of the list of things we will DIY when we retire! But I could definitely use your PFD… 😉 Oh, and we LOVED going to the Tower of London. It’s completely touristy, but it’s one of the oldest continuously operating places on the planet, and such fun for history buffs (or people, like yours truly, who treats the royals as the celebs to follow). 🙂
MaggieBanks
I love the Tower of London as well. I never had the opportunity to go to the nightly key ceremony in the past, so this will be thrilling! I’m sorry about the house staining. That sounds bad. And stinky. They just stained our neighbor’s house and my kids kept saying weird things like “ewww… it smells like sushi!” (?) It did smell bad, but I like sushi!