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Hiking Poke-O-Moonshine Fire Tower

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Last Friday I took the day off from work to take advantage of the beautiful day and hike another fire tower peak. And to start getting miles under my feet on trails. With my September race quickly approaching, I’m scrambling to hike as much as I can.

This trail head is almost 2.5 hours away from our doorstep, just a few miles off of Exit 33 on the Northway. I hit the road at 5:30AM and was geared up and walking into the woods at 8:03AM… without any bug spray! I couldn’t believe I drove that far and didn’t pack any bug spray. I almost panicked because last month when I had hiked the mosquitoes were UNBEARABLE, and I wasn’t about to turn around. More on this topic to come…

I decided to hike the Observer’s Trail because I wanted as many miles under me as I could, especially because it was such a long drive. Out and back, this trail only totals 5 miles. Almost immediately the trail starts to head up but gradually and nothing to make me stop and need to catch my breath. It was a gorgeous sunny morning and everything looked so green! And because I was hiking solo, my senses were heightened; every chipmunk seemed to make me jump! And there were a lot of them! But I think I scared them too, many of them peeling out making their little screeching noises.

Before I knew it I came to a clearing that’s flooded due to beaver activity. After reading reviews, I was curious how the crossing would be and it was just dried mud but I could see how it would be a problem in the spring or after some heavy rain. I snapped a couple photographs and continued up.

There was a short section just below another clearing where the trail was wet with a small stream running. Nothing sketchy but I made a mental note for the run down. Eventually you come upon a short landing with a privy and lean-to; if you were to continue straight at this junction, you’d start heading DOWN the mountain and down the trail that begins in the old campground two miles up from where I started out. You want to take a left toward the old caretaker’s cabin remains to reach the tower. It’s clearly marked, especially if you turn around and look back at the lean-to (sign is on the front of the lean-to). From there, it’s only .3 up, pretty easily, with a gorgeous view southwest toward the 4,000ers.

Walking past the tower, there’s a spectacular view! Not only can you see the tallest ADK peaks, but you can look across Lake Champlain and see the Green Mountains. And if you work up the courage to climb the tower (I only went up three sets of stairs), you can clearly see more of Vermont and the lake. I sat up there for about 20 minutes eating a snack and snapping photographs, soaking up the views all by myself.

I was back and forth about running down the mountain because A. it was such a long drive and I didn’t want to rush things and B. I didn’t want to fall and get hurt and be alone in the woods, hurt. But once I hit the trail down, I started moving and grooving, convinced someone had to pass me eventually on this gorgeous day. And they did, a summit steward, about a half mile from the trail head. But I hadn’t fallen and I wasn’t hurt, so I didn’t stop and just shouted hello as I zipped passed.

I was back in the car and on the road at 9:40AM.

And didn’t have a single bug bite. There was the occasional buzz from a black fly on the way up but nothing annoying, even on the summit with the occasional breeze. Golly did I get lucky!

I loved this hike and wish it was closer to home. I’ll have to hike it again with my friend that’s just starting his tower challenge. Oh! And you can see the tower as you’re driving up the Northway, which got me excited and pumped to hike, especially while blasting the Black Eyed Peas. There were a ton of cars parked in the old campground when I left, I’m assuming to rock climb; the rock face is impressive!

This tower brought my count to 21/23

June in Review!

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June: the never-ending month of birthdays and extra spending.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the people we purchased gifts for this month, but golly, the extra spending seemed never ending because our gift envelope was empty before the month even started. I vow to never try to get pregnant that would result in a May, June or July birthday baby, ha! Too much information? I’m just being honest. Eight birthdays, two Dads for Father’s Day, a wedding and our favorite Troy brewery turned four… much to celebrate!

Despite all of the spending…

We paid off another student loan! 
When we started this journey back in September, we owed $14,443.03 on this student loan. It was originally taken out back in August 2005 and was originally projected to be paid off on 9/25/2029, according to Navient. We paid it off 11 years and 4 months ahead of schedule – boom pow!

We started tackling student loan 5 of 6! 
We are down to the final TWO debt balances! TWO! Yes, they are the largest but I can see that little flash of light at the end of the tunnel. We are now tackling unsubsidized Stafford Loan 1-03. The beau originally took out this loan back in August 2007 and its original balance at 5.8% was $12,000. When we started this journey back in September, the balance was $16,656.09 and if we stay on Navient’s track, our anticipated payoff date would be 2/25/2036. My personal payoff goal for this loan is October 2018… that’s a 17+ year difference! After all we’ve dumped on to the balance this month, the balance is now $11,239.87 rolling into July. *Note: we are just now under the original loan balance, ugh! Watch those income based repayment plans if you can…

Our income based repayment plan was denied. 
I discussed this on my IG stories a couple weeks ago, but realizing that some of you don’t follow me there, I’ll share on this space too. We refiled the income based repayment plan application at the beginning of the month and were declined because we filed our taxes jointly this year and both of our incomes were included in the decision making process. I then refiled indicating that our finances are separate, and we were declined a second time because the beau “makes more than the poverty line…”

…which is bullshit because when I asked what the poverty line is, she told me $44,000. Last year when we filed and were granted an IBR plan, he was making more than that number soooooo that makes zero sense and she couldn’t justify the difference in the decision making process. All they know is that he got a $2,000 raise and that’s “too much” money and think he can now afford a couple extra hundred dollars each month. A $2k raise only equals an extra $56 each payday. I’m frustrated because their process for granting IBR plans is flawed but I’m thankful I am on this plan because if we didn’t have a plan, going from a $65 payment to a $276 payment would be so so overwhelming. I didn’t fight it and they didn’t ask me why or how we were paying off the other loans so quickly, so I just let it be.

I got my fitness on!
The beau won a free gym membership at his work health fair day! Whoop whoop! Fully knowing he wouldn’t take advantage of the membership (he rows at home almost every day), he let me have it so that I could start spinning again. Love I tell ya. I reached out to my coach to readjust my schedule and I’m now spinning 2x per week, giving up my recovery runs. Spin it to win it! I’m still aiming to run 4 days a week and for the most part I stayed on track throughout the month of June. I ran 106.89 miles this month, a significant increase from last month! My mileage isn’t as high as I think it should be (because I slacked the last couple of months) but I’ve got two months to slowly increase the time on my feet. In July I’d like to hike at least 4x and complete 2 loops at each ARE STRS location. Gotta get more time on the trails, it is a trail race after all.

I survived my first month without meal planning!
This was hard, y’all. I’m a planner. We both enjoy knowing what we’re having for dinner when we walk in the door every night and I like walking into a grocery store with a specific list and a mission to come in under budget. It’s hard staying under budget without a plan! But we did it, BARELY, and I’ve already got a new game plan for July.

Instead of planning the meal, I’m going to plan the carbohydrate for each dinner. We’re pretty good at getting creative with ingredients and this way we’ll have a general idea of what we’re going to end up with. And this method will help me stick to shopping twice a month. In example:

Mondays: couscous
Tuesdays: rice
Wednesdays: homemade corn tortillas
Thursdays: pasta… and so on.

We have zero time to prep for our CSA delivery each Saturday but so far we’ve been able to easily incorporate / eat up everything. I can tell you it’s wonderful not purchasing lettuce! We’ve got so much growing in our garden, coupled with the deliveries, I’ve been adding lettuce to my smoothies to use it all up. I’m loving the variety – yes, even the zucchini (NOT my favorite)! I checked out the Chloe Flavor cookbook from the library and cannot wait to cook my way through it this summer; the scallion pancakes, cauliflower tacos and corn chowder were delicious! (You can photographs of those meals on IG FYI)

Other fun facts about June:
We finally got our chimney repaired! This home repair has been looming for the last couple of months but it happened the first week of the month and yes, not only did we pay cash ($1,000), but we got a slight discount for doing so. Cash is a motivator, friends! Once the work was done, we withdrew the last of our savings ($500) to dump toward debt, leaving $1,000 in our emergency fund per Baby Step #1.

The only other non-gift that we cash flowed this month that was not part of our original June budget were two metal clothes racks off of Amazon. Total: $2.89, using the Amazon gift cards that we earned from CDPHP to cover the remainder of the balance. We had one wooden rack that was probably 10+ years old and it finally broke from the weight of wet clothes and I knew this was an item I wanted to upgrade, and duplicate. Not only does drying clothes on a rack extend the life of your clothing, it also saves you money on your utilities bill. Win win!

Numbers wise, we paid off 23.41% of debt this month, totaling 68.14%! Two thirds of the way done! Our balance is now $28,401.41, having paid off $60,674.04 since September. LESS THAN $30K TO GO!!! Pinch. Me. It still blows my mind that that much money has passed through our hands over the last ten months. $60,674.04 of essentially extra money. That’s money we’ll never see again. That’s money that wasn’t spent traveling the world. That’s money that wasn’t spent fixing up our home, investing for our future, or given away to local charitable organizations that mean something to us. But soon we’ll be able to do all of those things, and more. February 2019 is my new payoff goal: I’d love to celebrate our second wedding anniversary debt free! You read it here folks, eight more payment months!

When I sent our final stats to the beau after I made our last payment of the month (I’m the nerd), he asked, “how’d our numbers get so big this month?!” This was my response:

  • $500 as mentioned above was transferred out of savings (we are officially down to $1,000, so this won’t happen again)
  • $1,500 reimbursement: the beau took a class this past Winter and paid cash from our savings in full; his job finally reimbursed him
  • June was a triple pay month for the beau: we deposited his entire 3rd check toward debt
  • the rest was all side hustle!

Story time!
For the last three days of the month, our bank account / spending was on hold (because we made our final payment for the month toward debt). The beau wanted a six pack – sorry, no money I kindly reminded him. The beau wanted to go buy waffles – sorry, no money I kindly reminded him. Well, the beau wanted ice cream… so he found a blood drive. After giving a pint of blood on Saturday, they gave him a coupon for one free pint of ice cream! I have never laughed so hard! Now THAT’S sticking to the budget and giving like no one else!

Goals for July: have any? Feel free to take the leap and share them below!

May in Review!

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May was a FABULOUS month for us!

Not because of our numbers, well, those helped too, but because I started teaching my first Financial Peace University class. I was nervous because I had never attended the class let alone led one, and because the response was lower than I expected. Our small group is pretty open with each other, not something that is required to attend the class FYI, but I think has really brought us closer. It’s a judgement-free zone and we make sure each of us leaves confident for the next step / week ahead of us. Nine weeks sounded daunting as I was making the decision to commit but we’re half-way through the course already and trying to figure out how we’re all going to stay connected when it’s over. And if you’re curious, I will most likely be teaching another class this fall! It won’t be free and it won’t be in my home — but I can promise that it’ll be just as good!

Now let’s get to the numbers!

Our income increased this month, which helped us DUMP cash toward debt! If you can’t cut your spending any further than it already is, you’re only other option is to earn more to make a dent in the process. I participated in Market Research one evening, I received a Young Living check, and the beau took on freelance work.

This month we reduced our principle balance by $10,785.23 or 22.53%!!! To date, we’ve paid off $51,992.72 or 58.37%!!! in 9 months! We only have $37,082.73 in debt left to pay off and to meet our goal, we need to keep this momentum up, big time.

To put things into perspective:

  • In September 2017, our monthly minimum payments totaled $718.27
  • As of June 1st, our monthly minimum payments are only $194.20

That means if an emergency were to happen and we needed to stop the snowball, only $194.20 would be needed to cover minimum debt payments. Not too shabby!

A lot of people are curious how we eat and stay on budget. We only plan our dinners, here was our meal plan for the 1st thru the 15th:

  • Mondays: fajitas
  • Tuesdays: veggie stir fry
  • Wednesdays: taco pasta
  • Thursdays: BBQ tempeh with a crockpot green bean casserole and sweet potato fries
  • Fridays: tofu & broccoli + a birthday dinner out
  • Saturdays: dinner out at a Mets game + tofu & broccoli
  • Sundays: king oyster mushroom pulled pork sammies + a Mother’s Day lasagna

My mom had been requesting this lasagna for months, so I offered to make it as an early Sunday dinner. I made the sauce and roasted the veggies ahead of time during the week so that it would be less to do on Mother’s Day (more time spent with my mom).

This was our second time making the pulled “pork” sandwiches via Bosh = so good! And we had enough leftovers for another meal, so we froze the cooked mushrooms…. we shall see how those hold up! I’ve never frozen mushrooms before, I’m hoping they’ll be okay and then we can just cook ’em up in the air fryer.

Oh yeah, we won an air fryer! Whoop whoop! Culinary Square had a giveaway for TNO and I entered after picking up a bridal shower gift. We’ve fried mushrooms, gyoza, sweet potatoes, chicken-less tenders, eggplant, zucchini, tofu and russet potatoes (home fries) – this thing is awesome! The beau tends to use more oil than I do (but he does get things a lot crispier than I do), so I was excited to use this device and cut back on oil. LOVE IT!  

The beau requested I buy canned green beans for the casserole because fresh or frozen were still too crunchy for him. Confession: I had never purchased canned green beans (or any canned vegetable for that matter). I was a skeptic at 40 cents a can but I have to admit, they were delicious! Yes, these canned beans were not organic and yes, they were in a can but I have to remind myself that these are the sacrifices we are making now so that we can invest more later. Don’t judge… at least we’re getting a serving of veggies.

Our meal plan for the 16th thru the 31st:

  • Mondays: tempeh jalapeno wraps with roasted broccoli
  • Tuesdays: veggie stir fry
  • Wednesdays: pasta with TVP sauce and roasted asparagus
  • Thursdays: Chinese takeout + tofu + broccoli
  • Fridays: tofu + broccoli + loaded potatoes
  • Saturdays: eggplant parm + loaded potatoes
  • Sundays: southwest quinoa burgers + tater tots

This month we cash flowed ($585) a CSA with Denison Farm – all USDA certified organic and I have to admit, I’m a little nervous about it. I’ve been rocking the whole meal planning thing and now I’m going to have to shop / cook on the fly with what we receive each Saturday at the Farmer’s Market delivery. I like shopping twice a month. And I also prefer shopping on my lunch break, avoiding the weekend crowds. Once the CSA begins in June, our monthly food allowance will decrease by $27 per week because of the prepayment amount. I’ll surely have an update next month with how I’m juggling this change.

We also cash flowed:

  • a birthday gift and two mother’s day gifts – sinking fund envelope
  • hair gel for the beau and soap for us both
  • a new website layout (business investment)
  • tickets for a show at the Egg (beau)
  • the beau signed up for a watercolor class at the Arts Center of the Capital Region
  • parking at the train station (the day we went to a Met’s game)
  • stuff for our garden (some seedlings, burlap, screws and twine)
  • our 6 month car insurance payment – sinking fund envelope
  • and a small gift certificate for an employee on my work team

This month I also tried to focus on my running more, as last month (April) it took a back seat… and I have a race to run in three months! I ran almost 70 miles in May, which wasn’t what I was aiming for but I’m happy with because I feel like I’m easing back into a routine and not overwhelming myself. I’m remembering what it feels like to be sore and getting use to being out of the house before 5AM.

June will hopefully bring a lot of miles… and a lot of cash because I’ll be working downtown again on Saturdays. I’ve picked up a side hustle at Annick’s during the farmer’s market – hey, I’m going to be down there anyway getting my veggies!

That’s it folks, we made yet another budget, told our money where to go, hustled and made it happen. No magic, just a plan!

[Again, sorry no photographs, I should be purchasing a new phone over the next three months prior to race day.]

Books I’ve Read this Quarter: Q1 2018

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Working for a library system has one major perk: library books are delivered to your desk!

With the start of the new year, I set a reading goal for myself because the most successful people tend to have one thing in common: they read. (click here for more) I had heard this while earning my Master’s but was reminded of it while listening to an episode of the Millionaire Theme Hour on the Dave Ramsey podcast. Are you sick of him yet? One of the questions he asks these successful (and not famous) individuals is how many books they read a year. Four out of five times the answer is more than 10 books a year. Insert my goal: 15

I’ve started the year off strong with the help of a long, cold winter and a honeymoon. Here’s what I’ve read this quarter and a brief review of each:


The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying by Nina Riggs // I really enjoyed this book. The author has a dark sense of humor that made me laugh out loud multiple times and really makes you think about what makes a meaningful life when you have limited time.


The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein // I read this book on the first full day of our honeymoon, relaxing in the sun; I couldn’t put it down! I cried and cried during the last two chapters – it’s written from the perspective of the dog and is just what I imagine a dog thinks during the course of its life. We don’t deserve dogs FYI.


Truevine: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother’s Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South by Beth Macy // I also read this book while on our honeymoon but wasn’t read in a day (5 to be exact). This isn’t my idea of a book to read while on holiday but I did enjoy the story of the two brothers who were kidnapped and forced to travel the world as circus freaks. The author does a great job at exploring the question: where they better off?


Living Well, Spending Less: 12 Secrets of the Good Life by Ruth Soukup // This book was on my must-read list for a number of months and I wish I had read reviews prior to taking it out. There was maybe ONE chapter that was exactly what I wanted/needed to hear – the rest, was mostly about living a good, Christian life = I can normally block this out (I am not a religious person), but it was really heavy and not for me. Her story felt very… weird… like a rich woman trying to act frugal but was still very much concerned with her designer clothes, car and perfectly decorated house. I’m not knocking her lifestyle, I just couldn’t connect with it while on my journey to financial freedom.


The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well by Meik Wiking // I also really enjoyed this little book! The illustrations were beautiful and the reading was inspiring – almost makes me want to move to Denmark! I can’t wait to take this book into consideration when we start decorating our home – and by decorating, I mean replacing light fixtures and paint colors etc. Also important to note: hygge is not about what you HAVE, it’s what you FEEL.

I’m “ahead” of schedule but must admit I’m falling behind; I don’t know if it’s the longer days or what, but I’ve had zero motivation to read this month.

5/15

Have any good book suggestions? Do you use Good Reads to keep track of everything you’ve read? (the beau got me hooked!)

February in Review

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February was an interesting month for us.

We paid off the beau’s car! 
When we started this journey back in September, we owed $10,106.53 on the beau’s car. He bought it (a 2014 Prius) on February 18, 2017 which means we’ve paid it off four years ahead of schedule AND within a year of the purchase date! Boom pow!

We started tackling student loan 2 of 6!
From here on out, it’s allllllll student loans. We’re now tackling subsidized Stafford Loan 1-01. The beau originally took out this loan back in August 2007 and its original balance at 5.8% was $8,500. When we started this journey back in September, the balance was $10,218.42 and if we stayed on Navient’s track, our anticipated payoff date would be 12/25/2031. My personal payoff goal for this loan is June 2018… that’s a 13.5 year difference in case you didn’t do the math. After all we’ve dumped on it this month, the remaining balance is $8,232.72!

We took a holiday / honeymoon in Mexico!
This trip was booked back in July prior to the start of all of this and frankly I don’t care if it was booked two weeks prior, we were going! It was paid entirely by cash, thanks to the generosity of friends and family who gifted us cash as a wedding gift. Seriously, THANK YOU friends and family! xoxo While planning this trip our intentions weren’t to be frugal, we just don’t prefer extravagant accommodations. No resort for us, or even a hotel; we hit up Airbnb which allowed us to book an entire house in a pretty remote area of Mexico inaccessible by road. It was lovely to say the least.

Returning home from the trip, we had about a thousand leftover and my first initial thought was to dump this toward debt. After all, Dave Ramsey says no holidays during the first four baby steps. In one ear and out the other, we both agreed to continue to keep this cash in a separate savings account and we’ll use it as needed for little mini getaways i.e. long weekends camping in the Adirondacks, a trip to NYC to see the Mets play, a weekend in NH with friends, and possibly an autumn trip to Montreal. I think our friends and family would agree with this decision too.

While in Mexico, we celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary!
Time really has flown by! It’s so cliché to say, but I can’t believe it has already been one year. On our actual anniversary, we traveled from Yelapa back to Puerto Vallarta, ate lunch at a wonderful brewery we stumbled upon, enjoyed a delicious taco dinner, and then walked the boardwalk along the ocean and caught the sunset… and drank more beer at that delicious brewery! It was relaxing, it was fun and it was an anniversary I won’t forget! I love the idea of spending our anniversary each year on holiday buuuuuuuuut with annual reporting in the library community, that won’t be possible. We’ll see what we come up with next year.

And because we were in Mexico for nine days, we saved money on both our groceries and eating out/alcohol envelopes! $229 to be exact! Hopefully we’ll see a savings on our utilities bill too next month! Our meal plan wasn’t very adventurous, a rotation of regular meals we enjoy, switching after two weeks.

I earned residual income while in Mexico.
More on this to come in a future post regarding MLM companies and how it’s working for me and has been over a period of time (I’m not talking legging fads), I earned an income while on vacation doing nothing. Was it as much as it has been in previous months while working toward earning that income? No. But it was income that I appreciate and value and not only did I deposit a portion of it toward debt, but I also invested some back into my friends and family who support me on this journey of abundance. I don’t share Young Living just because there’s the potential to earn cash, I share because I’ve been a fan of their products for a number of years (10+ years) and I know many people can benefit from them as well. Earning a paycheck is a wonderful thank you bonus for making a referral (because let’s be honest, we share our opinions about everything)!

I paid a hefty parking fine.
Long story short I got a ticket back in October for talking on my phone while driving… even though I wasn’t holding my phone. That’s a five point violation on your record FYI. Luckily, it was reduced to just a parking violation with a $225 fine. FINE BY ME! I’d gladly pay that over receiving that many points. Don’t worry, I’m no longer speaking on loudspeaker, I got a Bluetooth device for Christmas from Santa.

We still had fun.
Despite being on a budget, we both had some fun outside of the house this month. Oftentimes I think people assume because you’re on a budget, you don’t get to engage in other activities: not true! You get to decide how much money you spend on fun! The two of us are very content being homebodies, which is great because you save money however I know not everyone is like us. We might spend more cash on groceries because we like cooking at home, while you may add more to your eating out envelope because that’s what you prefer. Budget = options.

This month we participated in Nine Pin’s 26er challenge, sampling ciders #3 and #4. On Valentine’s Day we joined a friend at Rare Form for a chocolate and beer sampling. I had a date night out with an old colleague and friend, enjoying a sushi dinner and cashing in a gift certificate at the Latham Paint and Sip location. The beau had a bro night out with his old biz partner in Albany, checking out an art show and sippin’ on beers. We even had dinner out twice this month, once after our trip because the fridge was empty. We did all of this on a reduced envelope this month, normally $195, set at $100.

Other random facts about February.
We cash flowed an inspection, oil change, tire rotation and registration for the beau’s car. I re-upped my subscription with AAA, as I do not pay for those services via our car insurance. AAA is an expense you use once, see how convenient it is and keep in fear of needing again. Ha! I’m determined to take advantage of their discounts this year! I also renewed hosting for this blog, but for only a month. Dun dun dun. Oh! A little home improvement: we bought a doorknob. And a hot water bottle because hello, it’s cold in Upstate NY and this is my $17 solution for not turning up the heat. And relieving cramps.

Numbers wise, we paid off 4.25% of debt this month, totaling 25.09%! One fourth of the way done! Our balance is now $66,730.17 having paid off $22,345.28 since September. This system works, no need to try and reinvent the wheel or my other favorite motto: keep it simple stupid. According to these stats, we should be debt free by September 2019; two years after starting this debt free journey. It’s hard not to get consumed by that date and what’s “expected” of us each month to reach that goal, but on the other hand, it is motivating. I want to earn more money. I want to spend less. I want to live a life saving and spending my income in a way that makes me happy… not giving it to Sallie Mae. I’m constantly fiddling with spreadsheets to figure out how to move that date forward… and it is creeping up. Slowly but surely.

How was February for you? Did you hit any financial milestones?