My Uber Thrifty Month In Review - November

I had a most excellent month last month.  Once again all of our monthly bills were paid ahead of schedule, yay!  The mortgage was paid ahead as well and the principal balance continues to drop, yay!

Our annual auto insurance bill came due and I paid it in full rather than breaking it up into installments because they charge service fees if you do that.  I put it on my credit card so I can get the rewards points and plan to pay it off with money I had set aside in savings to cover that bill.

  

I did such a great job stocking the house with food in August, September and October that I didn't need to do much in the way of grocery shopping.  In fact, the first half of the month the only thing I bought was a jug of milk.  Right before Thanksgiving I picked up fresh produce and a short list of items for baking.  I used sales and coupons I'd downloaded online to keep the cost very minimal.

I received my annual cost of living raise at work.  Like last year I just increased my 40l(k) contribution to push my raise right into that account.  Since we are doing just fine with my current net take home pay it makes more sense for me to save it now and use it later.  Plus I'll get tax benefits for doing so.

I invested $75 into a Toro leaf blower that vacuums and mulches the leaves to help us better manage the massive volume we have to deal with each year.  It will also help us to better utilize the new compost bin we built this past summer in our backyard.  Additionally, I invested $12 into some new weather stripping for our front door to keep us better insulated this winter.  I'm sure we'll recoup that investment with a lower heat bill.

I stocked up on ice melt so we are prepared for winter.  I filled up the truck with fuel, topped off the wiper fluid and anti-freeze, and put the snow chains inside so I am prepared for the winter weather.  I also stocked up on litter, cat food and an extra bag of chicken feed so I won't have to worry about buying that and getting it into the garage when the weather is nasty.

I finished up my Christmas shopping and kept that expense relatively low as well.  I took advantage of sales, coupons and stuck to my list.  It worked out perfectly.  I also used my stash of wrapping supplies to get all of my gifts wrapped up and ready to put under the tree.

And of course, I'm sure you are all curious about my Laverne "pay off" goal.  It is going AWESOME.  In fact better than expected as I was able to make two really big payments last month and I may be done much earlier than originally expect.  Whoo hooo!

So that is that.  December has arrived already and the year end approaches.  So far, so good!