Well we have 10 hours till it is 2026...can't believe this year is already over.

We are starting the new year with a savings goal of $40,000...hoping to save more but we will see.

We are still debt free

Starting with $7800k in savings

January menu planning all done

Meat order ready to go when stores open

monthly food order ready to go when stores open again

yearly budget is ready to go

We are ready for 2026 and its going to be the best year yet...happy new year to everyone here may it be prosperous for us all!!

AAHH America you really make life hard for people who have to deal with you but don't live there!!

Everything is going electronic in the US, you need to do everything online, so hard to get anyone on a telephone over there in an office, they tell you to do it all online...problem is you can't have accounts with social security etc online unless you have a US address...which we don't....so we ask them how do we do it online when we dont have a US address...they say you cant...well then how do we do things...you have to do it online....seriously its an endless loop...yet im guessing if we just didnt bother with it then they would be on us...Im just kind of over it...same with taxes in order to do it online over here we have to pay like $400 whats the point when we can do it ourselves...so we do a paper one every year...and will till they make it where we can do it online....I get wanting to do everything online but it needs to be for everyone not just the ones in the US....and I only see with the president you have it becoming worse. We will see what happens when we just don't bother anymore

So anyone who reads my stuff knows that us and the IRS are just at odds most years and hard to sort out when living in a different country....last year was the best year yet in dealing with them. 

So in july this year I wrote and asked them to take my itin back, I didnt want to be on my hubby's taxes, Ive never lived in the US, never worked in the US and frankly don't want anything to do with their tax system. They have sent me 2 letter latest being in nov saying they need more time, like they can't have an answer in 5 months.

I have decided to put my hubby as head of household but only put him on them this year, yes it will cost us more but I really don't care about that. When he passes, I won't get any survivor benefits from the US military and pretty sure I won't get any social security so I don't see that I need to be on them. 

I have tried looking online and can't find any information on this scenario, would I get in trouble for not being on them? Does anyone know where I can find this information...any information would be great

Well we have 1 payday left for the year but it will be going into savings as we dont need to put it anywhere else.

I have been working on my 2026 goals, they are usually the same each year or similar but it's how I keep myself on track.

So these are what I am doing

1. Going back to menu planning (havent done it in a few months)

2. Going back to using a budget, we had no bills as all paid so going back to using one

3. saving $40k....hoping to get to $50k but that would be a big big stretch...so $40 is what we are aiming for.

4. moving house and keeping our costs low as possible

5. get healthier..my biggest goal here and the hardest one I think

Once we move and I unpack all of my jars etc I will learn how to can food and start doing that and making my own bread etc as this kitchen is way to small to even fit all our appliances in...but I want to do more of this and when we buy a home I will make the best garden that will produce a lot of our fruit/vegies/herbs

it will be nice to start the new year off debt free and with some savings will update sidebar when the new year starts because I don't know how much we will have until then

I was out doing some shopping earlier this week and heard several conversations over the day about how many of them are in debt for christmas AGAIN!!

They were talking about what the lastest things that they bought their kids & grandkids, how much money they spent on them and got the kids whatever they wanted...a few of them...and I mean several of them said that they spend all year paying off their credit card just so they can pay it use it again for christmas....so wow all the interest they are paying each year on CC's just to spoil kids.

My daughter looked at me and said lucky we do christmas with cash and layaway (when they were younger), we have never used anything but cash for christmas. Even when we do things on the giving tree same thing, and donations to food banks and pet places. it all done with cash.

One thing I don't understand is over here we have a 6 month layaway so you have 6 months to pay it off and christmas comes but once a year and the date never changes so why don't people save for it? So my question is how do people do christmas here cash or CC's...just curious

I was reading back through my post this year and one of the major things that happened was as of august we are debt free which has helped us out tremendously. Our focus next year will be saving for a home so going to make that our goal for the year. 

I have been really slack on menu planning, and having a budget so have gone back to doing that next year, I have our budget up and will work on our menu after christmas, its summer here so will be lots of salads and BBq's.

Daughter has had her surgery so that is done, she is having a month off work to recover but that has all been paid for so she is happy and then she has a big job in march interstate then she will do IVF.

We are hoping to move by march into a new rental, wanted to move 3 months ago but it didnt work out that way...so we will see what the new year brings. 

Financially I think next year will be the best year for us and for once we are starting out debt free....

Well I can't believe we are almost at the end of 2025...this year has just flown by...so that means working on next years budget, we had a few changes this year so budget took a bit more work. So we became debt free, we still use CC but it is paid off each month. Hubby sold his car and got a scooter, so we have no more car expenses but we will pay half of our daughters since she does our appointments/errands etc more now, but that still cuts it way down. I paid all our bills for a year in august so many wont be due till sept 2026.....so I have a lofty goal to save $40k towards a house next year, I really want to save $50k but also want it to be reachable...so starting with $40k...love working towards goals. We will also have a move next year hopefully by march (at latest).

Daughter has surgery today...the hottest day of the year so far (102) and has to stay in overnight, I dont like that idea at all but know she will be fine. Other than that we have been decluttering and getting stuff done as we can...cant believe it is a week till christmas...although we still dont have our tree up yet should get around to that before christmas Im sure 😬

So our govt gave students 20% off their loans this year and if you paid them off after the 1 june then you got the 20% in cash...I paid mine off in august...was waiting for the 20% but it took to long so just paid it off. So I ended up with around $5400 to add to our savings...so that was nice.

Christmas shopping is done although hubby had his phone stolen yesterday so annoyed as he has only had it 6 weeks so now we have to get another one today so frustrating...hopefully we can claim on insurance

Other than that we are doing okay and just living 1 day at a time