Thrifty Thursday to Close the Year-Blogmas Day 31

      It's been 366 days since New Years Eve 2019. Like many of us, I had big goals to move forward financially. Considering at that point we had made a determination that DH would retire at years end, 2023, we had just four years of double income to invest in  projects round the house, pay for our daughter college, and build up cash so we could comfortably live on my salary alone, deferring tapping into DH's retirement accounts until I no longer  was working, two years later, give or take a few months.  Well we have moved the goal post a little bit, with DH now thinking he'll work another 4-5 months, then fully be retired by summer 2024, that is if his store stays healthy enough to remain open. He still is number crunching and determining when he might start taking  Social Security, at what point does the decrease in taking it early be too much of a hit to waiting it out, and so forth.

     I've added another year-bringing my retirement to March 2027, which would give me an additional full year of pension earnings, plus at the rate I accrue vacation, I'd likely only be working about three of those nine weeks to burn down accrual, plus make a hefty transfer into our Health Savings Account. Ideally, even though I could tap into my pension, I'd like to hold off at least until I turn 64, which would mean we would need cash savings of an emergency  account, plus 27 months of living expense. Yeah, I don't think it is realistic either and quite frankly I don't yet know all the rules around retirement accounts and when you have to start drawing from them, but we will learn over the next 36 months. 

      Until then, I'm concentrating on the small, and the less small economies within my control. With Christmas done, I tried to maximize where other spending went this week. Maximizing our time and resources is also part of my economic goals so a few to share this week are:

Time

• The obvious-Christmas Eve and Day was quite different but spending both with my nuclear family, including DS by  Facebook Video conferencing was special. 
• By taking precautions on Sunday including spreading out and wearing masks, and only seeing  MIL/Mom/Grandma, it was a nice afternoon. She had a little game for us all to play, of which I will insert at the bottom if you would like to give it a try.
• We had a long series of  holiday texts and banter with my siblings, and on another string with DH's siblings. 
• Watched the movie Soul with my girls on Monday, which was nice for the between holiday week and end of my work day.
• I've used the work week to catch-up on outstanding tasks and feel like the  New Year will run smoother. Other years I've taken the day after Christmas off, and then perhaps a few half days if DS was home, but with having the weekend following Christmas, I still had the work-Christmas separation. 

Reminder to use my time well.

Resources

• While I didn't overdo too much holiday food buying, we are using up leftovers. I made Philly Cheese sandwiches with leftover steak, but sadly, the trout did not get reserved and was binned. Fortunately it wasn't a large portion since I bought a smaller piece of fish to begin with.. 
• I also made a successful crockpot pasta with a lingering zucchini from the curry I made a few weeks back, some bagged spinach,  and the rest of the cut up peppers and remaining veggie skewers.
• I repurposed several gift bags-and noticed my MIL did as well. As I put things away, I'll stick any useable ones, plus, sheets of tissue paper that are not ripped into the wrapping supplies.

Pantry planning notebook-old photo, new use!

• This could be here or money, but I committed to joining a Pantry Challenge through a Facebook group. I'm finding lingering baking products and lot's of fruit bought when I wasn't sure how access would b to fresh fruit. I may do a series of Use It Up posts-maybe not. Thoughts?
• DD1 bought a cute blazer jacket a few weeks ago on clearance and forgot it before a load went into the dryer. It shrunk, but she was able to pass on to DD2, who is slowly building a few professional outfits for volunteering and internships. DD1 probably could have still warn it, but she generously passed on. She at least got 2 wears herself. 

Money

• Despite a lot of back and forth because the receipt wouldn't  scan clearly by using the phone, I got DD2's Out of Pocket co-payment submitted for reimbursement through my medical account. It will arrive prior to the Visa bill being due. I found a couple other lingering receipts totaling $72 and submitted them as well. I'll still carry forward just under 500, the max allowed, into the 2021 account.
• I didn't do too much post Christmas shopping, mostly just a look when I had to buy other things. I am restocked on  wrapping paper, and found a few gifts for next year at 50% off. (though honestly, I never would have paid the full price, so I'd say more about a 20-30% savings.)
• Each day this week I was of the mind set to order take out for lunch like Jimmy John's or Chipotle and each time made the thrifty decision to eat what we had in the house. When we next do Take Out, I want it to be supporting small business, and be of better quality than fast food. 
• This is DD2's, but she was longing for new books, and received Christmas money form her grandma. She ended up getting a set she has wanted for a long time at Half-Price Books, rather than at Barnes and Noble, plus a $5 perfect condition copy of Les Mis, also on her list. She used an old Target gift card for a third book-maximizing her spending. I think she did very well, as books bring her a lot of joy, particularly classics and editions that she plans to have forever. 

Time for the piggy to resurface. 

     I plan to continue to account for my thrift in these thee ways in 2021.While I am looking ahead to the retirement years, I owe it to myself and family to  live in the here and now as well, which is why the Time category needs to be a focus. Also, ensuring we are not being wasteful with the gifts and  resources provided to us is a priority. Time and natural resources are not to be scoffed at! Likewise, we won't flip a switch at midnight and declare the economies of the world are back to normal, that the the health of the world is back to normal. Small economies', and making sure we are being both smart and generous when we can will continue to be a priority. Each of us get to decide what these mean for ourselves. With this post, loosely connected to Christmas and the holiday spirit as it be, will be the end of Blogmas 2020. Happy  New Year to you all! 

THE GAME: Remove one letter from the word, in sequence, to end up with  8 different words. Each new word builds from the previous word by removing a letter. The letters stay in the same order, but you can remove any letter. You'll end up with a one letter word. (I'll share the answer on Saturday-if I remember myself by then!)

STARTLING

8.

7.

6.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.