Snowflakes:

As stated previously, I consider any money that is not part of my regular income a snowflake.  A broad interpretation lol, but working for me so far.  My state refund came this morning.  It was $89.  About half was used on a purchase from a clothing store I frequent (more details on that in the next section), and the other half was sent to the credit card I'm currently working on paying down.  The balance remaining on that card is $315.  Between some other snowflakes I am expecting in the next few weeks (reimbursement for my wellness stipend, pending 3rd stimulus, and a small disbursement from my grandfather's estate), that card will be paid off by the end of the month.  Out of those upcoming infusions, I'll also be paying off another credit card (the 3rd and final one planned to be paid off this year!), adding to savings, and setting aside funds for educational expenses.  With my 2020 state taxes processed and completed, I can also file an amended state return for 2019, which I am hoping/expecting nets me an additional $400 or so.  That is all going to savings.  That should be it in extra money for a few months, but cumulatively since the beginning of the year, these have helped me make really great progress on my goals.

Spending:

At the beginning of the year, I decided that any frivolous spending had to be funded from snowflakes.  I can't stop paying bills or buying groceries....but I really don't need much in the way of clothes and home decor lol.  I've done very well with that so far.  I received a $20 reward from a clothing store I shop at for my birthday (which is next week).  They also had a promo that if you spent $100, you got $40 off.  So I figured I could find room in the allocations for snowflakes to come up with about $45 out of pocket.  I ended up ordering a nightshirt, a sleep bra, and a few pairs of underwear.  I can't justify ordering cute clothes right now, but loungewear is something that is definitely in heavy rotation so I feel like it was money well spent.  I also cashed out a $25 Amazon gift card from Receipt Pal.  This, combined with some gift credit I had left over from Christmas & some credit card rewards, went towards a new jewelry box, a decorative bottle, and a set of fancy bands for my new fitness watch.  I paid nothing out of pocket for these.  I still have $5 in Amazon credit left, to be saved for the next frivolous purchase.  Overall this month's spending is sitting around $165 after some credits I have coming in.  I do not include items I buy using gift cards in my spending.  I didn't pay for them, after all

Social Security:

My mother is talking about retiring, and is trying to decide if she is going to do so at the end of this school year, or if she's going to work one more year.  In 2 months, she has reached FRA.  It got me thinking that it's been a while since I checked what my anticipated SS payment would be assuming no more changes to the system.  I am looking at getting about $2500 a month at age 67.  I then went and checked the NerdWallet retirement calculator, and by using my current 401k balance/contribution rate, salary and estimated SS....it looks like I am in good shape for retirement.  If it gives me that result when I'm at a low point for savings, I am feeling hopeful.  My salary will only continue to increase for the next few years, and my savings will also increase expoentially.  My hope is that my expenses in retirement are lower than they are now as well.  So all good things.  I'm turning 42 next week, so 25 years to go lol.