Expendiarmo

Get a little money and it disappears like magic.

Part 1: The Plan

Starting a while back, G and I discussed how to handle moving when I can finally retire. G went into full panic mode., assuming I’d just randomly quit my job and sell the house, no warning.

Y’all. I can be an impulsive person. I’m never THAT impulsive.

So we discussed and I laid out my plans, and G’s panic receded. When I hit my full retirement age, I’d file for Social Security but keep working at least a couple of more years. We’d live on my wages, while putting almost every penny of the Social Security and some wages into zeroing our credit cards and paying off the car. High credit card bills and retirement are incompatible.

After buying a new AC with a credit card, we officially had high credit card bills. (The balance was already creeping up – the AC merely kicked it over the line.)

Part 2: Plan B

Then this year, my company changed their payroll service and our insurance hike was untenable. It was going to nearly $1600 a month for $7000-per-person deductible. Not an HMO with copays – this is 7000 we’d have to pay before the insurance would pay a single  penny.

HELL no.

G and I are both old enough for Medicare and Social Security, but had some key reasons to stick with my employer’s medical coverage, until now. Thanks to the change at work, switching over to Medicare was no longer optional.

Which also meant signing up for Social Security. And since it took several months from when I applied to when I got my first Social Security payment a few days ago, I got a substantial initial deposit.

Part 3: Plan B-and-a-half

Of the back pay, a few thousand went directly to the credit card balances. I meant it when I said zeroing out credit cards is my top priority.

🤓However, I also need glasses in order to keep working, and it had become a problem I couldn’t afford to let go any longer. The optometrist was on today’s agenda. I kept vision insurance through work. After insurance, it was a $500+ hit to the wallet for new glasses. I had budgeted for it, fortunately, and had the money to cover it. In fact, I anticipated 200-300 more, given how much everything else has jumped.

My last stop of the day was to buy a new phone. ☎️

I’d also budgeted for a new phone, with plans to keep it below a $$$ line I drew for myself in the sand. All reviews pointed to Google Pixel 8, which was beyond the line I’d set. However, the phone store made me a killer deal and — fingers crossed — it will hopefully get me through several years before I need another upgrade. It’s being shipped to the house and should be here sometime next week.

I ordered a case and screen protectors from Amazon because if I’m spending that kind of cash, it had better look pretty.

I picked the case shown at left, partly because I like the colors and partly because it was cheap. Not the cheapest, because the whole point is to protect the phone… but cheap.

Plan Different

My last post included a photo of a couple of pantry organizers G had made for me. They’d been sitting on the floor because organizing our pantry is a humongous job.

We finally started it today.

Notice I said started.

I’m doing my darndest to get everything labeled that doesn’t come from the store in a can or jar.

I’d love to tell you this is the complete organization, but I’d be lying. The table is full to the point of overflowing with stuff we’ve got to fit into the remaining space. We dumped a lot of stuff we knew we’d never use, and might be able to dump a few more things.

Unfortunately my dreams of getting all the extra spice bottles corralled didn’t happen with this round. Not unless I figure something out tomorrow.