Not A Bad Weekend

 

This picture will continue to be the header of my blog until I'm able to establish some better habits. I originally wrote "good habits" but I'm trying to stay away from negativity - so things are not "bad" vs "good". How about good vs better for positivity !

Today started off productive. I grabbed the plumbing fittings I bought last night and put the sump outlet back together right after I fed the cats. It's working better, but the coupler I bought is 1.5 / 1.5 and really needs to be 1.5 / 1.25 for a tight fit. I ordered one from Amazon and it should be here before next weekend. Once the snow is gone I'm going to reconfigure that connection so that it goes to the ground from the outlet and then out into the yard. That should prevent it from being damaged by snow again. While I was out there I noticed the siding that covers the basement access is damaged from the snow. I will see if Will can fix it in the Spring and make me a wooden inverted V shaped protector to use going forward. It would be like the ones you see people put over their shrub's to keep the snow from crushing them. If things continue to go well, I plan to go ahead with the porch renovation this year.

I had breakfast when I was done with that and later got the laundry started. I also cleaned out all my email accounts, gathered up whatever tax documents I've received and also worked on updating passwords on my accounts. Many of my passwords are years old and there are some accounts where I never recorded the passwords. It was slow going but I made some good progress. I checked in on my Experian alerts and my credit score is back to 850 ! It had dipped a little because of all the charges associated with Disney. Those were all paid off so I'm back to more typical amounts. I also checked in on my 401k and my pension plan. I have over $500k, so I'm a "half a millionaire" .. lol ! I also have about $2500 in my HSA, though I just used a couple hundred to pay my urgent care bill. I also have another little account with a value of about $850. My projected pension, if I work until I'm 67, is about $2500 a month. That's not bad as I would also collect social security and have income from my 401k. I also looked at what my pension would be if I retired in 2025 and it would be about $2300. I really should consult with a financial planner soon. I think I can do that through Edelman Financial Engines, who manages my 401k. The numbers make me more inclined to search for a good remote job. Even if it pays less, my pension could make up the difference as long as I have reasonably priced health care through the employer. I'm actually looking at healthcare companies as I figure medical benefits would be cheap !

I also dug up the details for my medical, dental and prescription coverage. I have the app for all 3 on my phone now and I've recorded the log in information. This way I won't be caught unaware if I get sick again. I also realized the insurance card in my car expired on 1-14, so I printed the new one and put it in the car. I bought a couple other things on Amazon - slippers, small plastic food containers and a larger insulated bag. I looked for slippers in Walmart and they had none .. which is so odd. The plastic containers are to prepackage the ingredients for my protein shake. The larger insulated bag will make it easier to bring everything I need for a day at the office. 

I went in to "start" my tax return and ended up finishing and submitting it ! I should get my refund (a little over $2k) in a couple weeks. Last year I procrastinated until April .. so I'm way ahead of the game this year ! I was shocked to see that my total income for 2023 was 6 figures ! This is the first time in my life I've made that much money ! I can't wait to see what my bonus and raise look like in March ! There was a time that I would file my taxes this early because I desperately needed the money to pay property taxes, which were usually late. It feels good to not be desperate for that money. It will all go into my savings. My monthly expenses will increase once I go back to the office, but maybe I'll spend less on food now that I'm going back to Nutrisystem 100%. I won't have to make weekend trips to grocery shop or get gas - it will become an after work task. I'll use less water, electricity and toilet paper, so that's a little more savings. I'm in great shape financially, so I'm not worried. I didn't blink an eye when I was going to the casino and throwing away $400 every weekend ! 

I'm glad to have the laundry done. Tomorrow I need to gather the trash and make sure I put it out tomorrow night. Since I'll be going to the office I need to get in the habit of putting it out the night before. I have a lot of recyclables and I want to get those caught up now. I think I'll put the recyclables out on trash day before work, just so animals don't get into them. I didn't get the dishes done this weekend but I'm going to try and do that during lunch tomorrow. Carpet needs a quick vacuum and the litter boxes need attention too.

I made a lot of headway with cleaning out and organizing my email and my account passwords. I still have a lot of accounts to work on, but I will do that over time. The goal is to log into them all and change all passwords. The loss of my phone doesn't seem to have exposed any of my private data, so that is a good thing ! I think it helps that my phone had a passcode and I was able to cancel the service quickly. My phone was marked as stolen so they wouldn't have been able to activate it. I don't know that they can hack into the SIM card. I guess they can't since I've seen no unusual activity on any of my most sensitive accounts. Scumbags !! I come Karma slaps them hard for making off with my phone ! 

On that note, it's long past my bed time !