My leukemia's back.

[LittleLakePhil]

I've been asked how the Princess and I do some of the things that we do - mostly travel. My reply is , "Because we didn't when we couldn't." I started working and saving towards 'goals' when I was very young. Worked every bit of overtime possible, had side jobs, paid bills, then invested - now I can do/get basically anything I want. Good thing is I don't want a lot. The Gypsy Princess on the other hand .

I've been asked how the Princess and I do some of the things that we do - mostly travel. My reply is , "Because we didn't when we couldn't." I started working and saving towards 'goals' when I was very young. Worked every bit of overtime possible, had side jobs, paid bills, then invested - now I can do/get basically anything I want. Good thing is I don't want a lot. The Gypsy Princess on the other hand .

I wish I could travel Sour.... I've barely left the state of Michigan my whole life.
Before I got sick.... We really never had money to go anywhere..... God knows they don't pay you tons in the military..... Grew up around Detroit..... Picked K.I. Sawyer AFB as my first station. Didn't my whole AF enlistment here.... Never went TDY except a few hospital visits...
Been to Rochester Minnesota a few times for my Leukemia. But took the kids to "Mall of America" ......I have to be honest... I'm saddened all the time by how little of the world I've experienced.... But also while I was working I used up all my vacation days in doctors appointments and hospital stays.
Never had "vacation days" left over for vacation.
No the biggest issue...( Besides my wife has a hard time getting days off)....I get extremely homesick by day three....

And I mean extremely....I know there was a time when I went about 5 years without barely leaving Marquette county.... And for sure didn't leave the U.P....... I've been to the Detroit Area twice in the past 20 years.
Once to move my mom up here..... Once for a tiger game.

 

[LittleLakePhil]

Yep, I agree with you! If you don't have any credit history, banks won't want to loan you any money for something like a house loan.

I got my first credit card when I needed to buy a ticket from an airline. Without a cc, couldn't buy a ticket. Also couldn't rent a car without a cc.

Credit cards aren't evil, they're a tool and like any other tool... some good sense and caution must be used when operating them.

I just want one with no limit and no due date.....

 

[N F C]

I just want one with no limit and no due date.....

Might as well wish for one you don't have to pay back too!

 

[LittleLakePhil]

Ken has 2 cards, his American Express which is only used for hotels when we travel, and his Visa. The AmEx card gets paid off in full every month, and the Visa hasn’t been used for anything but token purchases, to keep it active, in about two years. It’s also paid off if we use it. I have none, and that’s fine with me. I am the most irresponsible person on the planet when it comes to money. I did pretty well when he was active duty Navy, but after he retired our financial situation was a mess, mostly because he continued to leave bill paying and such in my incapable hands. I got so far behind on everything it was obscene....getting the mail first and stashing bills, staring at the ceiling at night wondering how to rob Peter to pay Paul without Ken finding out, and catching the phone before he could. Then we had a major financial crisis, I ended up spending a night in jail for 2 bad checks, and we had a huge, ugly blowup. It was all out on the table. He borrowed from his folks, made restitution, and charges were dismissed. He took over. It took three years to get back in the black, and those were hard, hard years. Our credit was so bad most places wouldn’t take our cash!

“They” say that if you grow up dirt poor, in adulthood if you’re making a decent living you’ll either keep living as if the wolves were at the door or buy, buy, buy because you think you can. Ken lives in the first camp, I live in the second. But I gotta say, it’s nice to be “normal”....able to do the things we do without hurting ourselves, planning ahead for big things, discussing finances like grownups, and having room in my sock drawer for socks instead of it being full of hidden late notices, covered by a thin layer of socks. If the phone rings, I don’t break my neck to get there first, and we each have a key to the PO Box, so either of us can pick up mail when we’re out and about.

I told my kids, “Better a ten minute argument over a bill than 10 years of sleepless nights.” Tam is like her Dad....frugal, responsible, and living well within her means. Kenny is more like me, and so is Jenny. We’ve offered to help them gat a financial system and plan going so they can stop living paycheck to paycheck, and often not making it between checks, but I guess it’s just so intimidating they can’t wrap their heads around it. At least they are open with each other, not like I was, but they just have less than nothing for day to day, let alone emergencies - Kenny’s old car is sitting in Powell right now because it broke down there Christmas Eve and they can’t do a thing about it. We had to close our checkbook a few years ago, unless the girls need something that they can’t afford. About three years ago we paid all of their past due bills just to catch them up - over $900 worth - and told them then that that was it....they were either going to figure things out or flounder. It’s hard sometimes, but we’ve stuck to it for the most part. The exception was buying the hot water heater and having it put in last month, but they’d been without hot water for almost 2 months until Dad said “enough”. In fairness, they do repay us first thing with their tax refund checks, but if they aren’t going to do anything to fix their situation, we aren’t responsible for fixing it either. Jenny is out of work for 3 months every summer, day care for Kendra with her needs is impossible to find, unless it’s me, and I can’t do it with our schedule. They need to be able to set some aside for that three months.

Oh, crud! TMI again.

Not TMI at all Blooie.... You sounds like my wife. All the crap had to stop when I retired.... When her alcoholism hit rock bottom so did everything else..... All looks like a similar pattern.
I just told my wife I want a mailbox key.... Never had one. She was always a racer to the mailbox too.
Not anymore.....I have several C C. But haven't used one in so long came remember when it was....I think June I put a water pump on one..... When I first retired and was waiting for certain things to happen I used them... More than I wanted.... Paying for that right now.
But we're are making big payments and I'm not overwhelmed with CC debt by any means.
Thank Goodness.

 

[LittleLakePhil]

Prayers for Lisa..my mentally handicapped sis. Her breathing has been laboured while here, for Christmas but worse yesterday and especially today. Talked with the head nurse at her place, he says it's because of the fluid in her lungs, which is because of her enlarged heart... congestive heart failure, which is because of kidney failure. He said it sounds like we may have to take her to the hospital today. My guess..didn't get the question in...is that she'll have a shot to reduce fluid in her body. There are 5 stages of kidney failure. She is in stage 4. I'm so upset that I am just now finding out all of this. She will be starting dialysis the first part of Jan. 3 times a week. Lisa had told me some things, but boy, she didn't have it mostly right, but mostly wrong. When I asked the nurse if she was in stage 4, ...I had started reading like mad when she told me what little the could... he said yes, you didn't know that?? No, she was just moved out there, they assumed the last place was keeping me updated. Ugh! I knew it was bad, but not this bad. Poor thing..struggling to breath. .I can't believe they didn't let me know. The last place had told me that she would probably need it within a couple of years ago..this was last month..it hasn't been 2 years!

Big prayers.... Sorry hon.....
I hope they get things squared away with you sis.....I have bad kidneys from my transplant.
Hopefully they never progress to that point.

 

[LittleLakePhil]

Might as well wish for one you don't have to pay back too!

Yeah that way the whole no due date.... Kinda like the....."FREE BEER TOMORROW" sign over the bar at the American Legion .....

 

[LittleLakePhil]

Amen!

That's how my mama raised me. She was a single, working parent in the 1970's, with no support from my dad. He'd send $25 here and there, but never any real child support. We ate supper at Grandma and Grandpa's a lot. Their way of helping us, but I didn't know it was help at the time. I just thought we were spending time together.


DS 2 and DIL are very good with their credit cards. They pay it off monthly, to build up their credit rating. Apparently it helps keep your car ins. down, too.


DH and his sister. Raised together in the same home, same parents, same environment. They had very little when growing up. His folks were very frugal. His sister buys anything and everything just because she wants it. They have several rental houses, and she has used the garage of one of them as storage. They have a double garage and workshop full of stuff, an old camper in their yard being used for storage, and are renting a storage unit. One bedroom upstairs is so full they can't walk into it. DH, on the other hand, rarely makes any "unnecessary" purchases. I don't buy like SIL does, but if I see a kitchen gadget I want, or a pair of shoes or some clothes, I will buy it.


Prayers for you and your sister, Cynthia! Are you able to go to her appointments with her? Or get her records online? Through our clinic, there is a program that we can go online to get test results, notes from appointments, and ask questions. My mom had it so she could get Grandma's information since Grandma's hearing was so bad she didn't always understand what was being said.

Absolutely!

But you WERE spending time with your grandparents..... Regardless of why...

I buy tools.... Lots of tools.
We live in a shack of a house.... I've been fixing this old place since day one.
It's slowly coming around.... One project at a time.
But yeah tools are my achilles tendon..... And I don't buy cheap tools..... Most of my tools say "Snap On "..... Where a single wrench can cost around $100.
Guarantee there's well over $100K in tools in my little barn..... Can't bring myself to sell them. Still use them daily .... Although I don't have too... If I sold off my stuff we could go something with the money...I just don't know what. House is a few months from being paid off.... And without tools in don't know what I would do with my day.

 

[N F C]

But you WERE spending time with your grandparents..... Regardless of why...

I buy tools.... Lots of tools.
We live in a shack of a house.... I've been fixing this old place since day one.
It's slowly coming around.... One project at a time.
But yeah tools are my achilles tendon..... And I don't buy cheap tools..... Most of my tools say "Snap On "..... Where a single wrench can cost around $100.
Guarantee there's well over $100K in tools in my little barn..... Can't bring myself to sell them. Still use them daily .... Although I don't have too... If I sold off my stuff we could go something with the money...I just don't know what. House is a few months from being paid off.... And without tools in don't know what I would do with my day.

Having your house almost paid off is a big accomplishment Phil!

 

[LittleLakePhil]

Having your house almost paid off is a big accomplishment Phil!

It's one less worry.... If something happens to me wife will still have a house to live in.... Just has to pay the yearly Taxes.....

 

[LittleLakePhil]

Plus if something happens to me.... She could sell my tools..... Not sure how much total she could get for them.... But even if she got 35% of original value..... She have a bunch of free money to deal with... I'd want it set up so my kids would have a say in how the money got don't though..... Try and keep her out of trouble.