Posting early because I know I will be too tired this evening.

I followed up on the unclaimed property and even found a new one to claim! We lived in many states and I forgot to look at one of them the last time I did this. They all want an obitituary or heir list. I never had to go through probate because I was the beneficiary on everything so I don't have any official court records stating I am her sole heir. If I write and publish an obituary now, would that look suspect? 

The other thing I did was call about the mortgage on one of my investment properties. It is the only mortgage I have and I was able to put it in a kind of forebarance for the next 6 months. I only have to pay half the mortgage until May. I stilll need to pay the other half at the end of the term, but by then the house will be sold. I am hoping to get off the program by February 1, and in the meantime it will allow a little breathing room in our budget. I hope it won't affect my credit too badly in the shortterm but we also do have plans for needing the credit right now so there will be time for it work itself out. They said that I would be reported as current, but in forebearance. 

The last things left to do at the house is take all the cleaning products home and the like one box of miscellaneous stuff out. And then get the yard trimmed up. I would love for us to do this ourselves but we don't have a ton of free time and it would be better if I could get my partner on board to help and I don't see that happening. So we will hire someone to take care of the last bit of the yard. 

I am making the last meal from the last grocery shop so that means it's time to meal plan and grocery shop again. I am trying to get us into the habit of making something that has leftovers on Sunday, since we have that day off from both jobs entirely (usually, at least) and then 2-3 easier weeknight meals. Friday and Saturday we do eat out at least once, partially for a treat and partially because we are beat and don't have the bandwidth to cook.  It is hard to cook all the time when working 80+ hours a week and even quick meals seem to take longer than expected. 

That's it for now! Tomorrow's goals are probably just going to be related to the business (keep selling tickets for the remaining shows) but hopefully I can get a couple new listings up and make a sale or two! 

Yesterday was a busy and productive day, but not one where I was particularly frugal.

The business we started is a live entertainment venue. I don't want to get too specific because I don't want to dox myself   Tuesdays are my day off from my W2 job (I work 32 hours a week there) so they are a day I try to get a lot done with the business. 

Before our weekly meeting I went to the house to clear it of some of the last things there. The cleaners came so hopefully the house will be on the market within the next week! It's a 3 bedroom + bonus room, 2 full bath on a double lot in a desirable school district. I am hoping it sells quickly and with a cash offer. 

Our show on Thursday is sold out so I wanted to make sure to do the bulk of the supply shopping yesterday, so I am not rushing on Thursday. Mission accomplished.

Yesterday was payday from my W2 and my new raise was on this check. It ammounted to $10 before tax/$8 after tax per paycheck. Obviously, every bit helps but it doesn't the clap on the back the CEO gave himself when announcing our raises. 

Last night we went to the VFW to watch the returns with local city council candidates. It wasn't as frugal as eating leftovers at home but it was fun, cheap and the money went to a good cause/stayed in our community.

Yesterday I did make a list of all the bills I might be able to lower. One thing I am offloading to my partner since the bill is in his name. Will update when it is finished.

I also took pictures of a roomba I have had for a couple years but rarely used. I cleaned it up and I am going to try to sell it on Marketplace. I am not sure if there's a market for it but I don't need it anymore and would like to try to get a few bucks for it. Otherwise, I will put it on Buy Nothing or take to Goodwill.

Tonight's plan is to eat the oldest leftover meal we have (baked potatoes) and freeze the remaining "soup" we have from earlier in the week. It was soup when we made it but it has pasta in it and the pasta soaked up all the liquid so now it's more of a caserole. It will be good for later in the month when we don't want to cook. 

I will also make sure the crock pot is clean so that tomorrow we can cook the crockpot meal I bough. 

Today I ordered weather stripping tape for our windows. Half of the windows in our apartment are old and very drafty. I do put the insulation on them but it is still too warm for that now, plus they don't last the full season because our cats are very bad boys and end up ripping them 2-3 months in. So I am holding out as long as possible. If there is leftover then I will take it over to the business because that too is a very old building. 

Other money saving tasks in the pipeline: There is a kind of substantial amount of unclaimed money for my mom (she passed years ago.) I tried to claim it last year but they told me I needed to prove I was my mom's only child and I don't know how to prove that other people don't exist? So I gave up. I am going to work on submitting everything and hoping that's enough. I am setting aside money for the black friday streaming deals so that we don't have to worry about the monthly payment. 

Not much else to report! 

It sure has been a minute! 

Our financial situation has not changed much since my last post a couple years ago. Two big things happened: I have a full time, semi remote job and we started a business! We have been in business 17 months and it looks like it will be profitable within the next 12 months but it is VERY stressful from a day to day standpoint.

Our (personal) monthly cashflow is in the negative and I am not sure how we've been able to hang on for so long. But every month I figure it out. We are about to put on primary residence on the market this week and once it sells we will have a LOT of breathing room. It won't fix all our financial issues but it will let me sleep at night.

The plan with the house is to use the money to help us make more money. So that means investing a portion in the business, using a portion to renovate 2 vacant apartments so we can get them rented out, and putting a small portion towards debt. Once all our properties are rented then we will be able to tackle the debt fully. 

In the meantime, I am looking at all our monthly expenses and trying to lower them, as well as increasing our income where we can. We have been lax about spending for far too long and really need to reign it in.

My goal is to lower one monthly bill/payment per day. 

Yesterday I cancelled the PBS add on we had for Amazon Prime. We love watching the documentaries but we have been so busy lately that we are hardly watching anything right now. That is an easy $5/month to eliminate.

Today I lowered my cell phone plan, saving me $10 this month. I don't know why my cellular data was so high last month, but I am not projected to use nearly as much this month (we're already 2 weeks in) so I lowered it to the next lowest tier. I love that Consumer Cellular allows you to do this! (of course the trick is remembering to lower it the next month!) 

I also did grocery shopping at Aldi this weekend. I usually go to Kroger because I almost always have a mystery shop for it but I have been so busy that I haven't been able to commit to mystery shopping. I spent almost $100 and got enough ingredients for 4 meals, for a total of 10 servings (plus or minus) along with coffee and a couple of snack options. I am very happy with this even though I know there is room for improvement.

I am still selling things online and my goal (that I have never reached!) is to sell $100/day. I try to list 10 new items 2-3 times a week, and relist all items after 30 days. I know the more active I am on the platforms (mercari and poshmark right now) the more my items are view and the more likely I am to have a sale. I just have to remember to spend a few minutes each day working on the accounts. (I do pay $9 for a monthly service that shares my poshmark listings and allows me to crosslist to different platforms and bulk delist/relist. It takes one sale a month to pay for it and it saves me hours of time when I remember to use it!) 

My plan is to update daily (or at least several times a week) with what bills I've been able to lower and what extra income I have brought in. I am still embarassed about the amount of debt I have but will slowly reveal it once I start making progress in lowering it.