I feel like most of my entries this month have been about the grocery challenge, so I wanted to write one on a day that I did not have grocery spending to report to try to capture my other finance related updates!

Stimulus & 2021 Goals:  Last week, I did indeed get my $1400 stimulus payment, and directed it as planned.  I have not yet paid off the smaller card account, as I'm managing some cash flow, but I will by next Monday (expecting a transfer from somewhere else to come through).  I will not incur any additional interest by waiting to pay it off, though, as it'll still be before the due date/cycle closing.  Once that payment posts, I will officially have met my "pay off in full" goal for the year, which is exciting.  With my budgeted payments for the next card (based on minimum payment when it's maxed), I will achieve the next goal for the year, which is to have that card paid down to 75% utilization.  I do have a few snowflakes coming later in the year that are bigger that will also get partially directed there, so I will be ahead of that goal.

School:  I believe the last time I posted about it, I had decided not to take classes this summer, due to it just being complicated.  I changed my mind.  Again.    My issue was that I cannot use federal loans for these classes, since I will not yet be a matriculated student.  I have to use private, and with my current situation, I cannot get approved without a cosigner.  I decided to ask my mom if she would cosign, and she said yes.  I decided to take the classes for a few reasons - 1.  the way the tuition reimbursement benefit is structured, I will maximize my payout from the company by doing it this way (it's boring to go into but it basically gets me more money back) and 2.  next summer, I will be recovering from at least one major plastic surgery procedure (more on that later), so if I can load this summer up and make next summer easier, it'll be better.  I'm still waiting on my transfer credit evaluation to figure out what classes I need to take for my program overall, and then registration for summer classes begins mid-April, so I'll see how it all shakes out.  Either way, this will be the only semester for which I need to take a private loan, and I have to see what the repayment terms are, but because it will be cosigned, it will become a priority to be taken care of in the next few years.  

Dumbbells:  I have had several sets of dumbbells listed on FB marketplace, LetGo and Craisglist for quite a while now.  Lots of questions and nibbles but no bites.  I wasn't dying to sell them, but left the listings up.  I did reduce price a few times as I saw that the market was shifting.  I got a message on Wednesday night about my heaviest pair, which is the one I was most hoping to get out of my living room haha.  It's a pair of 65 pounds dumbbells, and someone offered me $200 for them.  I accepted, and he came by last night to pick them up and gave me cash.  This money will help make up a budget shortfall for next week's paycheck, fund a little bit of an Amazon purchase I want to make but am not letting myself use "real" money for, and I haven't decided what the rest will be.  I still have listings up for my 35, 45 and 55 pound pairs.  I don't plan to use those weights at home anytime soon....I am not currently lifting weights because it just makes me too hungry which is counterproductive to when I am trying to lose weight.  I'll revisit lifting after I reach goal weight depending on when plastic surgery is.  There's a lifting gym nearby that I am interested in, and it's very affordable.  Just not sure what my fitness goals are past weight loss yet.  

Surgery:  Speaking of goal weight and plastic surgery.....yesterday, after my second vaccine dose (yay!), I drove about 45 minutes away to my first in person consult with a plastic surgeon.  I've done a few virtual, phone and email consults, but this was the first in person.  I liked him very much, and I like his plan for me.  He wants to do two rounds of surgery, each consisting of a few procedures.  I will need 3-4 months in between the first and second round.  For the first round, he believes that my insurance will provide quite a bit of coverage based on my history etc.  But even without that, the ballpark prices he quoted before insurance were very much within the range I had determined I can live with for this surgery.  Because of my medical history, he would like me to get down a little bit lower than my goal weight was.  I am currently 12-14 pounds from my goal weight, depending on the day.  I am 27-29 pounds from his goal weight.  That's going to be a challenge but I can do it!  He would like to see me again in 3 months to see where we are at, and then we discuss.  I was not planning to have surgery before this December at the absolute earliest, so I have some time.  And apparently a new goal since I didn't have enough of those already....lol.  I do have a few more consults scheduled, and I may or may not keep them.  Right now, I am leaning toward going with this surgeon, but I do not have to decide yet.

Chime/Bank Bonuses:  I recently saw a quick & easy bank bonus for Chime, which is becoming a very popular online only bank that is known for no fees and posting transactions quickly.  The bonus I saw was to sign up using a referral link, set up an external deposit for $200 (they say DD but the blog said that any external ACH worked), and you'd receive $75.  Well, I didn't mind moving $200 from savings for a few days to try it out, if it could net me a very easy $75.  Opened the account Tuesday, set up the external account in my primary bank same day.  The account was verified Wednesday, I transferred $200, and yesterday, the transfer posted and they added $75 to my account.  Easy peasy.  Just waiting for the $275 to be transferred back to my primary bank now I have my own referral link, and if anyone is interested, it is at the end of this paragraph.  We will both get $75 if you open an account and transfer $200 from an external source within 45 days of account opening.  In other bank bonus news, I opened my next bonus account since the current one I am working on will be complete with Wednesday's paycheck.  I like opening them a few days in advance of when I am planning to switch the DD to them so I have time to get everything set up.  This is another easy one - $250 upon receipt of one single DD.  So this one will be completed with my 4/15 paycheck.  I already have the next 2 on deck!

Chime Referral Link: 

Pets:  An interesting development came about at dinner with my mother and sister the other night.  My mom has 5 cats.  One of them is "mine" (I was her person when I lived at home while she was young, I moved out for the last time in 2016 and she has gradually become less interested in me lol).  She is an absolute terror and my sister often jokes that she is going to hide her in my purse when I am leaving so that she doesn't have to deal with her anymore.  What started as a joke conversation about me taking her and one of the other cats (a very handsome fluffy boy), somehow turned serious into an actual conversation about me taking my cat (Mischa) and the other girl (Misty).  I went home and thought about it, and the next day proposed to my mother that we do a 2-3 month trial.  If either the cats or I am unhappy with the arrangement at the end of that time, they go back to my mother's house, no harm no foul.  But the companionship will be nice for me.  This will represent a need for a new category in my spending, but other than a moderate up front cost of buying some supplies, shouldn't be a large increase based on what they eat.  I do need to establish a vet fund, but I can add to it gradually, and my mother said if there are any vet bills this year she will help me since she was expecting to pay for them anyway.  They will come live with me the day after my mother and I return from Las Vegas next month, so we don't have to disrupt them multiple times.  I'm very excited!  

Misc Spending/Not Spending:  spending has been pretty low the last few days.  I did not need groceries for this week after my Fresh Direct delivery on Sunday.  I'll need to go over the weekend to prep for next week.  But it should be a small trip, under $35-$40.  I refilled my laundry card for $20.  I ordered something on Amazon for the cats for $5.95.  Yesterday, I overestimated the time it would take me to get from my second vaccine appt to the plastic surgeon's office, and I was an hour early!  So while I was waiting, I saw that there was a BJs store with gas about 2 miles down the road.  I didn't really need gas yet, but I had time to kill and it's cheaper there, so I got half a tank for $23 and change.  I was expecting a co-pay at the octor's office, but since we were not sure what my co-pay actually is (not printed on my card and I couldn't remeber if it's $30 or $35 for a specialist lol), they said they would just bill me for it.  On my way home, I stopped at a Starbucks, used a $4 coupon I'd gotten months ago, and a little bit off of my pre-loaded Starbucks balance, so there was nothing out of pocket there.  I'm pretty sure my grocery trip and another cat purchase over the weekend may be the only spending left for this month - unless I decide to treat myself to takeout or something this weekend, which is still TBD depending on what my plans end up being.  Basically, it would have to be under $10 to fit my budgetary goals, and also be able to fit within my calorie goals.  So we'll see what kind of offers I get and where my adventures take me lol.  

This has turned into a long enough entry for now!  Hope everyone is enjoying early spring!