My English Castle's Personal Finance Blog

I had hours of meetings today, but no classes. Thankfully the last meeting of the day was to tell us about the upcoming trip to ......Iceland! I think it will be spectacular. This is the first time they've organized a trip for students and faculty there, and I'm very excited. It's in two weeks.

A 30-minute break between meetings was the the occasion of my only spending today. I resisted many books, but did duck into my favorite bookshop for a coffee. I've been reading a lot, especially on rainy evenings.

We spent a lot of time today discussing our students' use of the dating app, Tinder. This is where I think I'm showing my age because it scares the heck out of me to think they're meeting strangers, probably very often in bars and well, not being as safety conscious as I'd wish them to be.


UK grocery prices seem to have stabilized. I've been eating very healthily--oatmeal (aka porridge--which always sounds a bit Goldilocksy to me) and fish and vegetables, I can tell I've lost weight as I'm walking all the time. It's just so fun to walk when everything is so interesting to look at.

I have a full day of classes tomorrow, so better head off with my book.

Yep, it's long-lost me checking in from London. I've been super-busy and am already halfway through my twelve weeks here. And it's still glorious. I like the new flat and have been very good about spending, bringing lunches and coffees to school etc.

I've been on some great walks. This neighborhood is between Hampstead and Primrose Hill, making it ten minutes walk from wide-open green space. Several days I've walked into Bloomsbury to campus through Regents Park. If I don't stop to gawp at things, it only takes 40 minutes. But the camels in the London zoo are always staring back at me as are the goats I can see through the fence, so it takes me a long time.

My big thrill--besides all the other daily ones--has been seeing a teeny bit of Sherlock being filmed. One of my students had her photo taken with Martin Freeman, so we're all excited about that.

Friday we were in Cambridge--fabulous. If the weather is good tomorrow, I have a few antique shops and charity shops in Hampstead on my explore list. I can always grade papers on lousy days, right?

Hi to all of you! I've been reading your news and enjoying all your updates.

Now that the stormy semester's done, London is three weeks away, and Christmas is lovely leftovers, I vow to return to SA. Three days of being ill, and more sleep than I've had in weeks, I feel almost rejuvenated.

More on planning and budgeting very soon.

Happy Christmas to all of you!

Just a quick hi to all of you. I'm super busy but hope to blog this weekend. But in more pressing financial news, I'd better go register for my flex spending for next year!

Our university had its Benefits Fair yesterday. I'm not sure what's up with that title; there's never a dunk tank or a corn dog or a merry-go-round, just a series of tables staffed by unlucky vendors.

It always makes me laugh because although we employ people of all ages from 18-80 or so, everyone at the BF is over 40. Always. And virtually everyone was talking about and seeking out dental insurance. My 50- percent coverage is as good as it gets; I'll just have to put more in flex if I suspect another year like this one. I always pick up the freebies, but they're not like they used to be. I did pick up some dental floss, a stress ball, half a dozen pens, a calendar, a pencil sharpener, and some other odds and ends.

The best news was that my very good health insurance is now offering an annual $150 gift card for taking their health screening every year. We're in!

In other assorted news, I've finished one of my free lance accuracy checking jobs. I await payment.

I'm again way behind on many things, and as much as I'd like to blame myself (ha), I think it's work. Those of you remotely interested in my mundane freelance work might remember I took on a textbook accuracy checking job. There remains more to do on that job, and their checker on another text just quit, Do I need more work? No. Do I want more work? No. Did I take on more work? Yep.

That work, my busy classes, the London recruiting (which has taken on mammoth proportions lately), and a sick kid for four of the five past school days has turned me a bit ugly. I honestly didn't even enjoy apple picking last weekend. I'm tired. I haven't done my ebay listings or a lot of administration around here.

But tomorrow is sort of the end of the teaching week, and London apps are due tomorrow. I've got to get things done this week. End of whine.

Good news? I parked illegally all day and got no ticket. There's an open bag of Kit Kats in my office and I haven't eaten any. My newbie prospective London students are cute as can be. The child is doing better. I made swell chili and great homemade applesauce. Tomorrow is payday. Ah, much better.

It's been a couple of flurried weeks between the weekend trip to Minneapolis for my nephew's wedding, three weeks of the new semester, my department chair deserting us for the loftier climes of the Deans' offices, and all the usual household and child raising issues. Plus the London recruiting.

I won't even rehash my many administrative issues with the university; let's just say they have a very hard time leaving well enough alone. I'm over my justifiable outrage about a couple of things, but not a couple others.

It was my birthday last weekend, and two years ago I started a new tradition which I really like. With some of the money inherited from my mom, I invite a number of my lovely women colleagues to go out for dinner. We order decent wine, good food, and two weeks before any one gets their first paycheck for the academic year, we relax, talk, and laugh a lot. It's pure pleasure for me, and a break from all the headaches and austerity we often face together. My mom would certainly approve. Her women friends meant the world to her. That was last Saturday. Sunday DH and DD presented me with a cake and some little gifties. All in all, a very nice weekend.

I'm still slogging away at a freelance textbook editing project. I don't have much nice to say about how so much of this work is outsourced and the result on the quality of the work. But I am looking forward to the cash.

Staying true to my pledge to sell some of the mounting piles of stuff, I've sold a textbook for $49 and a pair of DD's outgrown rainboots for $4.

Lots of work ahead this weekend--both prep and household duties but have decided to play trivia with a colleague this afternoon. I hardly ever get to see him, so this should be fun. We are founts of useless knowledge.

Wow--I did predict the week would be a whirlwind, and I was right. I met more than 100 new students on Wednesday, tried to deal with all the prereqs, adds and drops, book issues, personal issues, requests to borrow my text, students in the wrong classes, and a straight six hours of back-to back teaching from 8-2. By the end of the day I felt like I'd be through a tornado.

Today was the campus Study Abroad fair from 9-2--again non-stop talking with students with no time to eat, stop, or think. Then on to a department meeting. The best part of the day was talking with students about London. Three of last year's bunch came to visit, and I can't even begin to say how pleased I was to see them. It's a unique bond, spending 3 months together.

So now, I've decided to turn in early and handle all the odds and ends tomorrow. If I can get off the chair.

Yes, the new semester is just hours away. Am I ready? Let's just say I will be. No classes for me until Wednesday, so I have tomorrow to finish everything up.

I'll pop in for office hours tomorrow, but then head home for some much needed time.

It's been a busy weekend here. A grand fish fry complete with polka band on Friday, then a Saturday BBQ with my university women and their kids. Today DH, DD, and I went to the Parade of Homes--always interesting, if not quite my style.

In big financial news, I sold an old textbook for $99.
This will be a very squeaky financial month for us as we try to avoid moving money from savings. But in the past weeks we've had to pay over $2K for my gum surgery, the annual household insurance, the car insurance, and DH's tuition. There's not much wiggle room right now. The freezer contents are looking much more attractive, especially when supplemented with the garden's bounty.


More once I catch up--

The cute new shoes have arrived. I'm tickled.

Other than admiring the shoes, I'm spending the weekend mired in the freelance project accuracy checking. The material I'm checking is a disaster. It seems like it was written far too quickly, and I'm giving it a fairly scathing critique.

We're also in the process of moving books off our big set of bookcases to ready the room for the new carpet on Monday. I hope to sort through and divest some, but I'm fairly sure only mine will be sorted. As snafu knows, my DH will never surrender a book.

Onward!

I've been trying to put together an outfit for my nephew's wedding. A couple of weeks ago I got a great dress with matching jacket at Talbot's --pretty green linen, just the right length. And super cheap. But I've been fussing about shoes.
Now I could relent and wear beige sandals, but my family always teases me about my deep shoe love. I priced Lilly Pulitzer green shoes and decided they'd cost more than the whole weekend away, but today, found some very indulgent but beautiful Lilly Pulitzer three-color summer sandals with kitten heels with the same green tone as the dress. And on ebay for $24. Do I absolutely need them? No. Will they make me very happy? Yes. Adorable shoes, great fun colors, kitten heels, and $24. Well spent, I think. But I'd better do some more Swagbucks!

After another self-enforced viewing of the PBS Frontline series on retirement planning and mutual fund fees, I spent an hour on the phone with Vanguard who happily handled all the paperwork to get me out of a bunch of my higher fee mutual funds and into a nice target fund. I'm happy with the allocation; after years in brokerage, the last thing I want to do is fuss with trying to outwit the market.

We did it all online, and I'm so glad I got it done. I then called Schwab, which will be a trickier transfer, but sold most of my holdings (not all!) and will roll that into that Vanguard fund as well. I'm only sorry it took me so long. Simplify, simplify, simplify.

In other good news, the freelance editors are very happy with my work and have sent me another batch to accuracy check. I read two capstone projects, and have a stack of finals to grade. I also deposited $750 from my flex spending that cleaned out the account, but helped pay the periodontist.

DD's school registration was today at a lovely $203 bill. What doesn't get done tonight, will have to get done tomorrow. Lots to do!

Not sure whether I said, but I took the freelance accuracy checking gig. It pays well, but entails fairly serious work checking chapter and web content for a textbook I use. The publisher wants a quick turnaround on the content, so I'm working all day today on it. Or most of the day. I expect it to take several weeks of on and off work.

I also filled in for a colleague in his night class yesterday. He always pays me cash, so that'll be a couple hundred. And I took the garage sale money to the bank.

I also filed the flex spending reimbursement for $750 of my periodontal surgery. I need to take photos of various leftover garage sale items for listing on Craigslist and ebay. Maybe as a break from all this detail work.

It seems I have plenty of financial stuff to do. I had a long chat with another colleague about teaching more than a regular load. I'm rarely in favor of that; my teaching load is heavy, and to do a good job, I really can't take on much additional work, but she is teaching way too much. She and her husband are trying to save for a down payment on a house. They live in a two-bedroom rented duplex now, and have two children. To give the kids their own rooms, they've moved their bed into the living room. Both her husband and son have had serious medical problems in the last several years, and I'm worried about her taking on so much. I'd like to do something to help, but can't think of quite what. I was encourage to hear that her parents (who are also struggling financially) are moving into the flat below them. That will at least help with the babysitting.

The dreaded garage sale is finally over, and I think it went very well. We sold about 3/4 of our stuff, much of the rest has already made it to the charity shop. I held on to DD's snow and rain boots and will give Craigslist a shot at them.

My buddy made over $300 as she has bins and bins of kid's clothes, and I made about $141. We sold a few things for a friend for another $35. She brought sandwiches over and we sat under the tree and chatted. All in all a satisfying day with loads of stuff out of my house and some cash in my pocket.

We also ordered the carpet today, and I'm about to pay the homeowner's insurance. Now might also be a good time to take photos of the few remaining things to sell on Craigslist or ebay. Feet up and thinking about opening a beer.

Hey! I just noticed one of my 2014 goals is carpet for the family room. I think I'm about to tick that goal off my list. DD and I stopped at a couple carpet stores, and I looked on line for a bit, but a local chain has just expanded to our area and seems to have the best deals I've seen. I chose a couple styles yesterday for our very large family room, then sent DH to look on his way home. Happily he chose several of the same, so we're about ready to roll on it.

The room is big, so the carpet, even with discounts, will run us about $2000. But we'll do the removal ourselves. It should be quite an adventure as we have four huge bookcases along one wall that will need to be emptied and moved.

In other boring news, I'm headed back to the periodontist today to get my stitches removed. Tonight will be devoted to rummage sale organization.

I woke up yesterday and went for a long walk before DD even began the day. I ate well, slept well, had a good class, and feel pretty darn good. Same morning routine this morning. A solitary walk REALLY helps my wellbeing.

I have only two weeks of my current class left, have got the prospect of some nice freelance work, and have sent out next year's London flyers. I don't think I've said it officially, so I'm saying it now: I'm going back to London next winter/spring--enrollments willing.
All my SA folks are cordially invited to come visit.

With the smaller than expected periodontal bill, I think we have enough to swing the new family room carpet. DD and I are headed out to look at some in a bit.

And a colleague and I are having a (yuck) rummage sale here on Saturday. Tomorrow will be devoted to unearthing more things for sale. We'll throw the proceeds in the bathroom fund.

I cashed $50 out of Swagbucks today--also destined in part for the bathroom fund.

Phew. Sometimes emotional energy is so exhausting. I'm feeling for all my SA buddies who seem to be going through emotional issues right now.

We've had some too. My friend who had moved to Germany last year returned yesterday. All of mutual women friends were very happy to see her, and it's been lots of fun preparing her new place, but it's been long days. That joy is tempered by our sadness that her return really signals the end of her marriage. I think she moved to Germany to give it a final chance for them to sort things out as the husband really wasn't happy here. But their relationship just continued to deteriorate there, and he's returning with their 5-year-old only to leave them both in a couple weeks.

My "aunt" (long story) died yesterday, and although she was 98, we spent much time together years ago, so we're sad about that too.

The saddest news for us is my S-I-L's cancer surgery did not have good news. It looks as if the hysterectomy is not enough, and there's Stage 3 cancer in her tubes as well. And their son's wedding is a month away. So we're all pulling for her.

Somehow my DD and I thought it would be a good idea to binge watch some more "19 Kids and Counting." Unfortunately the season we were watching ended with the stillbirth of their last child which sent us both into a big crying jag. I sort of rallied, but DD, in 12-year-old hormonal storm, started connecting all our current concerns and is now sleeping in our bed next to my snoring DH. Looks like I'll be spending the night in her room.

Looking forward to renewed balance in the morning. And our best to all of you. Not much financial, but more on that tomorrow.

Ok, only my gums are in stitches, and I look like I've done a few rounds with Mike Tyson, but the dread gum surgery is over. Gone also is $1327 and another $60 for prescription co-pays. But it's done, and at this rate I'll be 5 pounds lighter by the end of the week.

I have another appointment for suture removal next week and more work on the other side, but the bulk of it is done. Great doctor, comforting dental tech, nice office staff; I guess that's as good as it gets.

I'm off to read some blogs, spend some time on e-mail, watch some movies, and read the new Cormorant Strike book.

Wow. We had a great hassle-free time in Minnesota. It was great to see relatives, and our trip to the Minnesota North Shore was fabulous. My DH had never been, and I was a bit concerned he wouldn't like it as much as I do, but he loved it. We did lots of hiking, gazing at Lake Superior, and visiting state parks and the National Monument at Grand Portage. There was plenty of history, plenty of great food, and lots of fun.

We went over on the food budget, but not much. I used up the gas cards from CVS, we had a couple meals in the condo, and everything went well.

I'm especially glad DH enjoyed himself as I'm trying to sort out options for an eventual return to MN as well as part of our future plans.

While we were gone I made a swift $9.00 on ebay which I'll add to the totals. I need to hunt around for more possible listings.

Post-vacation retrenchment means clean up, schedule review, and other fun. Happy weekends to all of you!

Excitement doubles here as I got another ebay item listed and it has plenty of bids.

In further accomplishments, I got lots of laundry done, we're almost packed for our getaway, and I opened a Vanguard Roth last night which will be the home for some of my older mutual funds. The fees on those older funds are just too high, and I really like the way Vanguard does business.

We're excited to see my MN family,especially my SIL--and the bride-to-be. Great to get out of here for a bit too. I'm getting stale. My daughter put it best last night, "Every couple of months, I like to go on a trip." I've been home since April. Gotta go.

I'm way too excited that my lagging ebay item has a bid. I'll need to list a couple more things, but indeed got everything else mailed and done.

We had fun last night at a football (soccer) match. A popular Mexican team was playing Swansea from the English Premier League. Since there's many more Mexican Americans than Welsh around here, we were a bit outnumbered, but it was fun to see. My soccer-loving husband had a blast. I brought in food and we tailgated a bit too. The ticket prices were horrendous at $40 a piece, but it's not very often we go.

Need to make a library stop and also buy some cards today. I seem to be buying lots of sympathy cards lately.

I wonder if anyone except Midwesterners use that phrase, Up North" to designate a particular place. In MN it meant places north of the Twin Cities--Brainerd, Alex, Duluth, and everywhere in between. Here in Cheeseland it means Rhinelander, Minoqua, and all of those parts of the state.

I spent a big chunk of yesterday searching for a getaway spot for us now that we're not heading to "our" lake. I found three that would take the dog too, and quickly narrowed it to the mid-range option. They've also knocked 10 percent off because we'll be staying midweek. Now I'm trying to budget meals. It has a kitchen, but we won't want to eat every meal in. I guess I'm figuring between $50 and $75 a day for the three of us. That will give us the opportunity to have some great local food, but not blow the budget further. Does that sound reasonable?

Frugality abounded (sort of) yesterday. I'm on the waiting list for the new Robert Galbraith mystery (aka JK Rowling)at the library, but I think I'm #367. I saw it yesterday marked down at Half Price Books, and had another 40% off coupon, so relented. I'll sell it back when I'm done. DD escaped without purchasing anything, but got a $5 reward in their summer reading program. She'll save that for later.

We spent nothing else, ate from the fridge and freezer, and started gathering trip essentials. I mailed my ebay sale, transferred money from checking to savings, and found a few more potential ebay sales.

In larger news, the university seems to have money available for online course development. My boss offered me a chunk of change to work on converting a class I already teach into a more viable online offering. Things are never done there until they're done, so we're cautiously optimistic.

We had some bad news about my wonderful S-I-L who has been diagnosed with uterine cancer. She and my brother have been married almost 35 years, so she's very dear to me. That news has also changed our plans for a week at my parents' lake place in MN that my brother bought from us.

So, I'm trying to decide whether we should be super cheap and stay home (ugh), go to nearby Door County (nice, but been there lots), or go from Minneapolis to the North Shore of MN. That would be my top choice, but we'll have to take the dog since our dog sitter is not available.

My DH has never been there, and if we can do it affordably we will. Now--on to hours of web site searches for prices and pet-friendly accommodations.
MY DH says I'm a travel-planning geek, so I have a lot to do!


Today's frugal missions will include transferring some money from checking to savings, depositing my U-Promise check of $14.46 and mailing my ebay sale.

My darling daughter turned 12 on Thursday. Although we had a chocolate strawberry birthday pie and her favorite chicken on Thursday, most of the celebration took place on Friday.

We took five of her friends to a local fondue spot. DH and I got a separate booth so they felt in charge, but I'd specified a cheese fondue followed by a chocolate one for them. They really enjoyed themselves, especially ordering something as fancy as fondue. The restaurant threw in a photo and took two of our coupons, so the damage was less than a party might have cost.

As far as gifts, she's a funny one to buy for. She wanted books and new sandals, but when I offered a phone, she turned me down. In fact, even the idea of a phone seems to stress her out. About half her friends have phone, and while she'd just get a prepaid, it would be comparable to her friends' fancy phones. But she doesn't want it. I think there's part of her that is reluctant --thankfully for me-- to enter into lots of that teenage fray.

The rest of the weekend was recovery and football. We also bought a new lawnmower after much deliberation. That $300 was not unexpected but not welcome either.

One of my ebay listings sold for ==drum roll== $2.79. The other has been relisted. I'll list more this week.

I almost had a no-spend day yesterday, but there's something about a 4 1/2-hour class that demands coffee. It's horrible 50-cent coffee, but it's just the ticket around 8 p.m.

I'm going in tomorrow night to tutor for a cool $100, and this new literature class is excellent. They're a chatty bunch, seem to be doing their work, and it's been a pleasant time so far.

In the continuing periodontal saga, it looks like I'll pay half, or about $1600. I may get a new bathroom yet, depending on other spending including the recent demise of the lawnmower.

I still need to list a few things on ebay, but one of my items has a bid.

I've listed two items on ebay thanks to Creditcardfree's inspiration. I'll aim for one more tonight. I suspect I have 12-18 things around here that would sell and I'd be glad to be rid of.

Let the challenge begin!

Oooh, I had a good shopping day today. I bought some nice groceries on sale at Target and even remembered my coupons. More grocery shopping followed that, all with great deals and double coupons on a few things. I'm not a huge Kohl's fan (blasphemy here in Cheeseland), but I picked up a cute black tee for very cheap after joining their new loyalty program. One more card to try to keep track of....

Yesterday DH and I did a walk around our house looking at trees that needed trimming, bare spots near the fence that needed something, and lots of other areas that needed a couple hours weeding. So after the football today, he trimmed shrubs, and I stopped at the garden center for some drastically reduced hostas. Hooray! Just what I wanted. Except for the third time in six days I was overcharged, this time for $10, and none of the clerks could figure out how to do a price adjustment. Twenty minutes later they finally figured it out. I'm very happy I brought the thermal bag for my frozen groceries, or I would have a car dripping with not-so-frozen yogurt soup.

I love these three-day weekends. We seem to get so much done. We finished some Netflix series that we've been watching, got most of the laundry done, and actually feel ready for the week ahead. Well, except for that weeding.

DH had a fraud alert on his Chase card Friday, and it indeed was fraud. This is his third Chase card this year. We expect the new card Monday.

Yesterday DD and I took advantage of a special at the theater to see "The Fault in Our Stars." We had read it together, so it was good to see the film together.

I enrolled for movie perks at the theater and we ate lunch before, so only spent $6 on the tickets. A quick stop at Target to return a few things rounded out the afternoon.

Today we had free ice cream and snacks at our town's 4th of July parade, then free red, white, and blue bagels. But we did spend a bit on lunch watching France vs. Germany. I did remember it's the first Friday of the month and we'll get triple Chase points as well as Aadvantage dining miles.

Tonight will be a picnic followed by fireworks. We've made traditional food and despite that Brit boy's muttering independence, we're having fun!
Happy 4th!

I got paid for my adjunct class yesterday and read a few more capstone projects.

We too had the bad Midwest storms Monday night. As I was teaching the first session of my new class, our lights flickered several times then went out. We're in an interior classroom, and it was pitch black. Within 15 minutes we got the word that it would likely be hours before power was restored, and our administrator sent us home.

Today I met with our Study Abroad office about next year's London program. Based on the increasing costs there, they're planning on increasing my stipend. It will raise student costs a bit, but the higher rents and strong pound really eat into the stipend.

Looking forward to having my DH home for the holiday weekend. I believe today was a no-spend day too!

On Sunday I bought a few things for DD's upcoming birthday celebration and was significantly overcharged at both Walgreen's and Michael's. I caught the Walgreen's error before we left the store, but ended up returning to Michael's to collect the $15 they overcharged. A further reminder to myself to check those receipts all the time.

Yesterday I set off for Target, mindful of Chicago Laura's willpower sticking to her Target list. But yet another SA blogger tripped me up. Before I left, I checked my last Target receipt to see if anything was on sale worthy of a price adjustment. And after I dutifully completed my Target shop, I found CB in the City's absent mindedness had crept my way. I'd driven to target without my wallet: no ID, no driver's license, no credit cards. So I bought nothing and drove home.

About to rectify this error, double-checking wallet and hoping willpower outs.