Ceejay74's Personal Finance Blog

Assets:
NT's UK pensions:
AV: 22,397 pounds ($27,996)
SW: 29,047 pounds ($36,309)
FL: 6,462 pounds ($8,078)
NT's 401(k): $93,680
NT's Roth IRA: $48,994
AS's trad. IRA: $22,594
AS's Roth IRA: $71,675
AS's SEP IRA: $52,334
CJ's 401(k): $169,215
CJ's Roth IRA: $53,734
NT's flat: $212,500 (200,000 pounds value x1.25 -15%)
CJ/NT/AS house: $592,200 ($630,000 value -6%)
---
TOTAL ASSETS: $1,389,309

Debts:
US Mortgage $375,000
Loan from friends (duplex) $9,000
UK Mortgage 1 $27,546
UK Mortgage 2 $5,806
UK Mortgage 3 $6,115
---
TOTAL DEBT $423,467

Current Estimated Net Worth: $965,842

July 2020 estimate: $972,273

Change in net worth: -$6,431

Summary: Considering our net worth jumped about $40K over the past two months, and with all the chaos of late, not really surprised we lost $6K this past month. The loss may have been offset by this month's Roth contributions coming through; I'm not really sure.

I've requested automatic debit for our new mortgage but didn't get any notice it had been set up, so we mailed a check on the 30th. It'll definitely get to them before the 15th so I'm not worried, but it's weird not to have a US mortgage payment go through in the first couple days of the month!

Notes on the numbers above: House value estimates are usually approximate. UK pension values updated about once a year. UK asset values and debt amounts are calculated figuring $1.25 for every British pound.

Have you read that kids' book? I think it has another title too. Basically the character has very good luck and very bad luck every other page. I think about that book a lot lately because that's how 2020 feels. Every time something good happens, something terrible cuts short any sense of celebration.

Some of them are smaller things, but some are bigger. I never feel like I can relax for long.

Our youngest kid has had to get two COVID tests, once for a fever and once for a possible exposure at her summer camp. She tested negative both times, thank goodness. (Of course both negative results were shortly followed by some terrible news or event, but they're all starting to run together so I can't remember which they were.)

One really bad piece of news is that NT was laid off from his job last week. Very unexpectedly; it seemed like business was picking up. They'd already given everyone a temporary 20% paycut so it seemed like they were doing what they needed, but apparently they needed to do more. Several other people were laid off too.

He'd been with the company for 13 years, nearly as long as he'd been eligible to work in the U.S. The layoff itself was cold and awful, conducted via Zoom. But at least he's getting 13 weeks of severance pay, which should come in a couple weeks. So we'll be good through the end of the year. Even if I get laid off (which we all thought was much more likely), I'll get the same, so we'll still be good through December.

He's taking some time to clear his mind, do some stuff around the house, and help AS with her business. He isn't actively looking for a job yet but he does have a lead on one from a former coworker, so he's following up on that one.

Although it was obviously VERY unwelcome news, one silver lining is that it didn't happen while we were going through the refi! I'd been holding my breath hoping not to get laid off during it; it never occurred to me to be worried about his job.

So one piece of very good news is that the refi went through, and it ended up being much more beneficial financially to our actual budget than predicted. Here's the real budget impact:

Appraisal (478.00)
Estimated closing costs + wire fee (11,789.72)
Refund after closing costs ended up being much less: $9626.06
No Sept mortgage payment: $3254.50
Escrow refund: $5766.82

So overall, the refi had an immediate benefit to our budget of $6379.66!

Now when it seemed closing costs were ballooning to $16K due to insurance & tax stuff, I had them roll $5K into our new mortgage. If we hadn't done that, the real budget benefit would have been $1379.66. Still pretty great!

And our new mortgage, which we start paying in October, is about $300 less per month than our old one, so the benefit to our budget will continue. We got a 25-year loan, so it doesn't add any time to our payoff schedule either.

Many other good and bad things have happened in our lives and in our community, but those are the biggies in terms of actual impact to our day-to-day life. I'm sure 2020 has many more surprises, nasty and nice, waiting for us.

I don't have a US mortgage payment this month, in fact added nearly $5k to my principal due to the refi. (More on that in a separate post.) But our UK mortgage payments went through:
UK1: $192
UK2: $42
UK3: $43

So just $277 went toward principal this month.

Assets:
NT's UK pensions:
AV: 22,397 pounds ($27,996)
SW: 29,047 pounds ($36,309)
FL: 6,462 pounds ($8,078)
NT's 401(k): $96,078
NT's Roth IRA: $49,313
AS's trad. IRA: $23,169
AS's Roth IRA: $72,591
AS's SEP IRA: $50,695
CJ's 401(k): $172,906
CJ's Roth IRA: $54,182
NT's flat: $212,500 (200,000 pounds value x1.25 -15%)
CJ/NT/AS house: $592,200 ($630,000 value -6%)
---
TOTAL ASSETS: $1,396,017

Debts:
US Mortgage $375,000
Loan from friends (duplex) $9,000
UK Mortgage 1 $27,738
UK Mortgage 2 $5,848
UK Mortgage 3 $6,158
---
TOTAL DEBT $423,744

Current Estimated Net Worth: $972,273

July 2020 estimate: $952,110

Change in net worth: +$20,163

Summary: Jeez, even with adding almost $5K in debt due to the refinance, our net worth jumped again this month. I think we've gained $40K in retirement value over two months, which is, yeah, not going to be a lasting gain. I wonder if we'll reach a million in net worth before the bubble bursts?

Notes on the numbers above: House value estimates are usually approximate. UK pension values updated about once a year. UK asset values and debt amounts are calculated figuring $1.25 for every British pound.

This month's mortgage payments have gone through:

US: $778 to principal
UK1: $191
UK2: $40
UK3: $42

All told that's $1051 to principal this month.

Here are our current household debt totals (although we know they'll shortly be going up since I rolled some of the closing costs into the refi):

US Mortgage $368,029
Loan from friends (duplex) $9,000
UK Mortgage 1 $27,738
UK Mortgage 2 $5,848
UK Mortgage 3 $6,158
-----
TOTAL DEBT $416,773

We are hopefully nearing the end of the refi...this has been the least stressful one I've ever experienced. The AIMloan people are very responsive and clear, and also we have so much money in savings that it hasn't freaked me out when the closing costs kept ballooning.

The cost from the lenders has stayed steady but somehow we're having to pay 12 months of homeowner insurance, 6 months of property tax, plus put 4 months' worth of each into the escrow. So rather than the $2400 I was expecting, I've initiated a wire transfer for $11,759.72!

I've saved up about $4K to cover this, and we can float the rest for a couple months while I see how much we get refunded from our current mortgage company. I'm thinking our August mortgage payment will pretty much get fully refunded plus whatever we have in our escrow there, but since I really really don't understand mortgage math, I'm not going to speculate too much.

Also, once the new mortgage starts up, it'll be $300 less per month, so that will help us make up the difference. Worse comes to worst, we have plenty of money set aside for the kitchen reno and who knows when that'll actually start up.

So anyway, the wire transfer should be completed Monday, and our signing is Wednesday. We don't actually have an appointment but the AIMloan rep says they'll assign us a notary, so I assume we'll hear from them and we'll set up a time for them to come over.

After that I don't know how long it'll take for everything else to finish up, but AIM has been good about communicating each step, so I'm fairly confident they'll guide me through the last few bits. Fingers crossed!

Finally, some progress on the retirement goal!

Goal: $814,292 by March 2024

Current retirement balance: $565,234

January 2020 balance: $542,038

Progress since last update: $23,196

Still needed: $249,058

This interim goal is based on getting my and NT's retirement to 4x our salaries (currently $82,500 and $64,118) by the time we turn 50 and AS's retirement values to 3x her annual income ($75,940 in 2018) by the time she turns 45.
$82,500 x 4 = $330,000
$64,118 x 4 = $256,472
$75,940 x 3 = $227,820

It will shift anytime our salary/annual income changes. (The only exception is I won't lower AS's if she has a lower-income year, because her income fluctuates. So I'm keeping it at the 2018 level because her 2019 income was a little less.)

NOTE: I'm in a weird position because I got a 10% raise in February but a 10% "temporary" paycut in May. I decided to base this on my new salary of $82,500 instead of my old (and current "temporary") $75,120 salary. But that may change. I don't know. I'm still thinking about it. But that of course puts us farther behind because our goal is now that much more ambitious. (NT has also taken a "temporary" 20% paycut but we hope that will end in September, so I'm keeping him at his stated salary.)

There are 44 months to go before March 2024, so that means we need to gain $5660 per month on average to meet our goal.

The ultimate goal we're working toward is 8x our annual income by the time we retire at 65.

Assets:
NT's UK pensions:
AV: 22,397 pounds ($27,996)
SW: 29,047 pounds ($36,309)
FL: 6,462 pounds ($8,078)
NT's 401(k): $92,548
NT's Roth IRA: $46,606
AS's trad. IRA: $21,978
AS's Roth IRA: $68,610
AS's SEP IRA: $47,913
CJ's 401(k): $163,988
CJ's Roth IRA: $51,208
NT's flat: $212,500 (200,000 pounds value x1.25 -15%)
CJ/NT/AS house: $592,200 ($630,000 value -6%)
---
TOTAL ASSETS: $1,369,934

Debts:
US Mortgage $368,807
Loan from friends (duplex) $9,000
UK Mortgage 1 $27,929
UK Mortgage 2 $5,888
UK Mortgage 3 $6,200
---
TOTAL DEBT $417,824

Current Estimated Net Worth: $952,110

June 2020 estimate: $758,303

Change in net worth: +$193,807

Summary: Wow, thanks to the higher-than-expected home appraisal, we're suddenly nearing net-worth-millionaire status! Our retirement accounts were all up a fair bit too--maybe $20K? So that helped too!

If our refi goes through we'll add about $5K to our debt next month, so I don't expect to keep at this level. I'm also thinking the stock markets can't hold out against the recession forever, so those could tank at any time. Still, this is a nice number to see!

Notes on the numbers above: House value estimates are usually approximate. UK pension values updated about once a year. UK asset values and debt amounts are calculated figuring $1.25 for every British pound.

We're still in the refi process, but it does appear to be moving toward completion. AIMloan is a much more orderly broker than the person we worked with for our last two big mortgage actions (buying our current home and refinancing it).

I don't claim to understand everything about how refis work, but despite having to bring a lot more to the table than expected, it still feels like we're getting a good deal. Here's what's happened:

- They noted we'd have to bring over $13K to closing (or is it $14K or $15K? I have such trouble understanding the magic math of mortgages), despite having quoted closing costs of $2400. Say it's partly to prepay 4 months of interest, insurance and taxes into the escrow, and partly because our annual insurance bill is coming due. We have the cash on hand but since we still want to do a kitchen reno at some point, I asked them to roll $5K of it into the loan.

- In addition to rolling $5K into the loan, I believe we'll get $3700 returned to us from the existing mortgage's escrow account, and I have $3500 set aside for the refi. The very highest closing number I'm seeing (I can't tell if that's what we'll actually need) is $15,619. So that means the most we'd have to come up with, net, is $3419.

- Our home appraised for $630K (vs the $500K I estimated)! This means even with the additional $5K, our LTV is 59%. Our agent says this means a $937 drop in closing costs. So maybe the most we'll have to come up with is $2482?

- AIM also says there's a $1473 "aggregate adjustment" coming our way but I can't tell if that's already factored into the numbers. It also seems like the loan is based on a higher principal amount than what we owe, but maybe I'm reading things wrong. It's all so confusing! It does appear that the closing costs they're charging are staying the same and that the other fluctuations are due to escrow, insurance etc., so I'm just trusting the process at this point. Luckily we have plenty of money in savings.

- Right now it seems like we're just throwing tons of money at the refi, but in the long run, we should get a monthly payment that's $300 less than what we pay now, for the same payoff period we had before, so if that happens, I'm happy. Anyway, we do have expensive homeowner insurance and property taxes, so it kind of just is what it is I guess.

- I let our neighbors know about the appraised value and they said they're meeting with an accountant to get all their tax stuff worked out! If that happens, we'll start to explore the possibility of co-owning the home again. I had all but dismissed that idea forever because I thought they'd never clear out their unfiled tax returns. My neighbor said he's thinking we should do a trust where the home is owned among us but goes to our kids. (They don't have kids and they're our kids' godfathers so they want to leave their portion to them.) So we'll see how that all pans out. Definitely will be making sure there are no unfiled taxes and also will get a second opinion from another lawyer to make sure there aren't any pitfalls we're not considering.

Mortgage payments hit:
US: $776 to principal
UK1: $191
UK2: $40
UK3: $43

That's a total of $1,050 of debt paid.

New household debt totals:

US Mortgage $368,807
Loan from friends (duplex) $9,000
UK Mortgage 1 $27,929
UK Mortgage 2 $5,888
UK Mortgage 3 $6,200
---
TOTAL DEBT $417,824

It's been a month and a half since my previous post about what COVID has done financially to our household. What a wild ride it continues to be! At least my mental health seems to be settling into a more stable place; not happy, but more accepting that it's going to be a long long time before things get back to anything resembling normal.

Anyway, money stuff:

- Salary. Last time I wrote, NT had seen a 5% paycut. Now, the paycut for him is 20%. The bonus is, he gets Fridays off. I also now have a 10% paycut. I consider that lucky since 6 of our approximately 36 staff were cut last week. My workload is abnormally light so I don't at all feel secure in my position, but for now I'm still in it. At least AS's freelance business is still going strong!

- Net worth. As detailed in my previous post, our wealth has essentially stagnated since January. I know we're some of the luckier ones to even be able to hold the line, so I can't complain, but it's not a great feeling either to not be making any progress.

- Refi. After dithering for years about a refi, I suddenly bit the bullet and applied for one last night! We're preliminarily approved so we'll see how it goes. I've noticed I'm more willing to make sudden changes in my thinking during this whole crisis, so I do think this is a COVID impact. If all goes well and if I understand correctly, we'll spend about $3400 for a 25-year mortgage that's about the same P&I as our current 30-years, and no mortgage insurance should take us down a few hundred bucks a month, so if I understand the costs right, it should pay for itself in 6-9 months.

- Technology. Last time I reported we bought two Chromebooks for the kids' distance learning. Since then we've also purchased a Nintendo Switch to have some new games to help distract us. About $350 total for the system and a starter batch of games.

- Dependent care flex spending. Last time, I mentioned stopping contributions because it seemed like all summer care options were being canceled. Well, in the end three options did decide to open, so we'll be incurring some daycare expenses without the immediate tax benefit. I could have started up my contributions again but thought, what if there's an outbreak that forces the camps to close? What if one of us gets COVID and we all need to quarantine? So I decided not to. We did change the summer care schedules to just four days a week, and on Fridays NT entertains the kids, or we let them lounge around on screens if he's busy with errands or whatever.

- The UK flat. Early this year (January or February), we decided that Brexit had settled down enough to list our flat for sale, so our management company gave our renters notice. Then COVID hit. Technically the flat is still on the market, but we found new renters who signed a year lease, so anyone who bought it would have to take it over with them in situ. I'm glad we have renters to cover the mortgage, property taxes etc. though, even if it means even less chance the flat will sell anytime soon. We only missed one month of rent after all that, amazingly; the old renters moved out 5/31 and the new ones move in tomorrow.

- Regular household expenses. Last time, we hadn't used the bus in over a month. Since then, we have used it a few times to get the kids to daycare or to go to a store, but the buses have the front blocked off to protect the driver, so there's no way to use our bus passes. So we continue to save on that regular expense.

- Going out/shows. Last time I reported I'd gotten refunds from loads of canceled shows. Since then, I've bought a few concert tickets, for a late October show and two May 2021 events. I also continue to tip musicians whose livestreams I watch, because they're still working hard, and they need all the help they can get.

- Travel. Of the 4 air trips and 1 road trip we had booked before the pandemic hit, all have been canceld (either by us or the airline) except 1 air trip (sending the kids on their first parent-free flight to see my sister in Va.).
* We got airline credits for two of the three flights and a full refund for the one hotel that had been reserved.
* The big airfare, the one to UK, was fully refunded without us even requesting. That $5K was a balm to our budget and wiped out our shared-spending deficit. In different times I might've tried to save the cash for a future time, but...you know.
* We did however book two NEW trips: road trips to lakes to replace two of the canceled trips. A road trip to a secluded rental house is much less risk than a touristy destination.
* We are waiting to decide on the kids' trip to Va. but from what I've read, planes are not that risky comparatively, and my kids are well, well trained on safety and social distancing. MN and Va. are so far controlling the spread pretty well, so if that keeps up, we may go through with that trip.

Assets:
NT's UK pensions:
AV: 22,397 pounds ($27,996)
SW: 29,047 pounds ($36,309)
FL: 6,462 pounds ($8,078)
NT's 401(k): $88,673
NT's Roth IRA: $43,474
AS's trad. IRA: $21,004
AS's Roth IRA: $64,468
AS's SEP IRA: $45,695
CJ's 401(k): $153,837
CJ's Roth IRA: $47,862
NT's flat: $212,500 (200,000 pounds value x1.25 -15%)
CJ/NT/AS house: $427,281 ($454,554 value -6%)
---
TOTAL ASSETS: $1,177,177

Debts:
US Mortgage $369,583
Loan from friends (duplex) $9,000
UK Mortgage 1 $228,120
UK Mortgage 2 $5,928
UK Mortgage 3 $6,243
---
TOTAL DEBT $418,874

Current Estimated Net Worth: $758,303

May 2020 estimate: $743,824

Change in net worth: +$14,479

Summary: Our net worth finally surpassed our previous high which was way back in January. Five months later we have gained $545 in wealth. (And I'm certainly not counting on this amount.) I'm not going to do a retirement progress update yet though, because we've paid off about $5K in debt in those months, so I know overall our retirement accounts are still off their January highs.

I will be interested to see if our appraisal for the refi we're attempting will turn up a higher home value than what I have. But again, considering how weird everything is right now, not really counting on anything.

Notes on the numbers above: House value estimates are approximate. (I do have my eye on a comparable listing for the UK flat, but it's been on the market a long time.) UK pension values updated about once a year. UK asset values and debt amounts are calculated figuring $1.25 for every British pound.

Our mortgage lender sent a refi offer -- they FedEx'ed it which was a good ploy to get me to open it.

I like the rates they mention and that there are fewer fees. Plus it would be a chance to eliminate our mortgage insurance, which we're stuck with for the life of our loan regardless of LTV.

But they slapped this chart on the mailing and I'm totally confused. The new scenario shows a new loan amount that's over $120K lower than our current principal balance.

So what I'm trying to figure out is, why are they showing that lower amount? Are they trying to say we'd have to pay down to that amount to qualify for the refi? Or are they being sneaky and pretending this offer will save way more money than it actually would if I refi'ed the entire principal amount?

Either way, is this sneakiness concerning enough that I shouldn't even reach out to them? I didn't choose this lender; when we refi'ed, the lender sold our loan to this company. We haven't had any problems with them but don't really know anything about them either.

All our mortgage payments hit:

US: $774 to principal
UK1: $191
UK2: $40
UK3: $42

That's a total of $1,047 debt paid.

New household debt totals:
US Mortgage $369,583
Loan from friends (duplex) $9,000
UK Mortgage 1 $28,120
UK Mortgage 2 $5,928
UK Mortgage 3 $6,243
----------
TOTAL DEBT $418,874

CCF's note made me realize a quick check-in might be welcome! We live in South Minneapolis, the area facing the most unrest, but so far our block has been untouched. We're not getting much sleep but otherwise OK. Most protesters are staying home during curfew so the looters and arsonists are easier to target. Unfortunately there's some white supremacist activity that's very calculated to strike fear so we've been staying up very late watching the streets. So far they've not hit any private homes, though they've threatened to, so we're hoping they get weeded out before that can happen.

On the bright side, very proud of most of our neighbors for everything they're doing for one another. We haven't done much but we donated some money to various causes, and NT attended a rally and a cleanup.

I'll check in hopefully soon with a longer life update, including some more financial impacts of COVID-19 that have cropped up since my last life update, but for the time being I wanted to let you know we're hanging in there, focused on getting through the day to day as best we can.

Assets:
NT's UK pensions:
AV: 22,397 pounds ($27,996)
SW: 29,047 pounds ($36,309)
FL: 6,462 pounds ($8,078)
NT's 401(k): $85,506
NT's Roth IRA: $41,775
AS's trad. IRA: $20,447
AS's Roth IRA: $62,200
AS's SEP IRA: $44,055
CJ's 401(k): $151,556
CJ's Roth IRA: $46,042
NT's flat: $212,500 (200,000 pounds value x1.25 -15%)
CJ/NT/AS house: $427,281 ($454,554 value -6%)
---
TOTAL ASSETS: $1,163,745

Debts:
US Mortgage $370,357
Loan from friends (duplex) $9,000
UK Mortgage 1 $28,311
UK Mortgage 2 $5,968
UK Mortgage 3 $6,285
---
TOTAL DEBT $419,921

Current Estimated Net Worth: $743,824

April 2020 estimate: $703,686

Change in net worth: +$40,138

Summary: We lost $85K total value in February and March, and have gained about $72K back, so we're about $13K off from our pre-pandemic high.

Notes on the numbers above: House value estimates are approximate. (I do have my eye on a comparable listing for the UK flat, but it's been on the market a long time.) UK pension values updated about once a year. UK asset values and debt amounts are calculated figuring $1.25 for every British pound.

Hey, have you heard about this pandemic thing? :-)

The weirdest thing about this whole thing is that more than anything in my lifetime -- more than the great recession, more than the tsunami a few years ago, more than even 9/11 -- I know nearly every person in the world is affected by and thinks about COVID-19 nearly every day. We're all having the same moment in history, but every person's situation is slightly different. So all I can really comment on is how it affects me personally.

Mentally and physically, that's a whole story on its own; it's taking its toll of course. I'm just going to focus on all the financial things that have changed for me since early March when this really hit my world.

The bad:

- Salary. NT has been given a small temporary pay cut, equivalent to last year's pay raise, but other than that our incomes remain miraculously intact. We're all working from home at our office jobs. (AS has had her lowest 6 weeks of income ever, weirdly, since she started being an independent contractor, but it has nothing to do with the pandemic. She just got paid early for a bunch of things in the first quarter and is working on a lot of things now that she either already got paid for or will get paid for later.)

- Groceries. The schools used to provide 3 or 4 lunches per week for the girls, plus breakfast and snacks if they needed them, so our grocery bill has gone up. Liquor store spending has increased too, but that's mainly because we used to drink at shows etc. and that got calculated differently. I don't think we're drinking more than before; in fact it might be a little less for me at least.

- Technology. When it became clear the kids would be distance learning for a while, we decided we couldn't take turns on our computers forever, so we bought them each a refurbished Chromebook. Not a huge expense but one we wouldn't have made for a couple years, probably.

- Dependent care flex spending. We allocated $5K pretax for child care that was going to be used for summer camps/care. Well, the first summer camp has just notified us that it won't be happening this year, and we expect some or all of them to follow suit. Well, I've already had nearly $1700 withheld from my paychecks, and the current policy is that the money is use it or lose it. So unless I find a workaround, I might lose it. Two possible solutions: 1) I wonder if my old daycare lady, who is one of the most cleanliness-focused people I know, would take two older kids for a week or two. It'd give everyone in the house a much needed break and I could use some of my use-it-or-lose-it money. I may check with her at some point. 2) I heard from a co-worker that I could potentially move that money into my medical flex spending account. We haven't exhausted our current flex spending but it's possible we could over the course of the year, plus I believe you can carry over a few hundred into next year. We'll see.

- The UK flat. Early this year (January or February), we decided that Brexit had settled down enough to list our flat for sale, so our management company gave our renters notice. Little did we know what was about to take over. This is the last month they'll be paying rent, but our estate agents aren't allowed to do viewings, so our place is essentially sitting on the market. If we don't sell it soon, we'll have to start covering mortgage payments, utilities and association dues out of savings. We asked for advice and our management company said they could list it for rent simultaneous with it being for sale, so we're going for that. We have enough money in UK savings to cover expenses for probably a couple years, but hopefully it won't come to that!

The good:

- Regular house expenses. Since we can't really use them, we've been saving money on bus passes, carshares, ride-sharing and house-cleaning. I haven't stopped my bus pass being taken out of my paycheck, A) because it's a pain to stop and start it and B) it's a relatively small expense that supports our public transit system, but NT, AS and the kids haven't needed bus passes in a while. Most of those were reimbursed by NT's work so it's not much of a savings. The house cleaning was over $200 per month, so that has been more of a benefit to us.

- Stimulus money. Obviously that's been a benefit to us. We decided since we didn't really need it, we'd spread it around. So we've spent most of it helping nonprofits, artists, local and small businesses, etc. Some of it benefits us, such as local restaurant delivery, CDs, and gift cards to places we intend to go back to when they reopen, but some of it is just benefiting society as a whole. But anyway, it's made it easy to make the decision to give back to the community.

- Going out/shows. I had quite a few shows booked that were canceled, and I got most of them refunded. A few I had them keep the money for when the show got hopefully rescheduled, and a couple I donated the amount to the venue or artist. So I didn't see a big material benefit but I suppose I saved some money. (even though I'd much rather have the shows!)

- Child care. Once I realized summer camps would likely not happen, I canceled the remainder of my dependent care flex spending contributions. That will bring about $3300 (pretax, so less than that once it's taxed) back into our budget for the year. And if I do find summer care options, I have the $1700 set aside, which I'm no longer counting on getting back, so that will feel like something extra for free at this point.

The chaotic/confusing

- Travel. I booked 4 air trips and one road trip in February; two have been canceled and the other three are severely in doubt. For the one air trip I had to cancel so far, the airline had a deal where I got a credit I can use for two years. I'm wondering if I can get actual refunds if others are canceled. I'm not sure, but I guess even if I can't, they'll probably give us credits we can use later, so when travel is eventually allowed again, we'd be able to book a few trips using credits. So it hasn't helped our current cash flow but it may make vacations a lot cheaper next year if all these get canceled. (One was a trip to England for about $5K, the others were smaller/cheaper trips.)

- Summer camps/care. We do a thing where we use five different places to provide summer care, which gives the kids a lot of variety and keeps them from getting bored. However it's thrown planning (both money and logistics) into chaos.
*One place has canceled camps outright -- they're offering online courses but not for entire weeks, of course. We're getting a refund from that.
*Another is taking a wait-and-see approach for now -- they may try to go on or go virtual, but they're not making decisions and not requiring parents to make decisions yet.
*Another place is going to try and go on but with current social distancing guidelines, need people to commit to 9 straight weeks or nothing. We had signed up for weeks here and there. We have travel in the middle of the summer that we're not sure is getting canceled. We have weeks at other camps that we're not sure are getting canceled. They want us to make this decision by Monday, but there are so many other things in play it feels impossible! But we have to -- if we want our money back we need to cancel by the 18th, if we want the 9-week thing we need to sign up by the 18th. The kicker is of course, there's some chance the state will say no summer camps allowed at all, and all this scrambling will be for nothing.
*We're still waiting to hear from two more camps and trying to decide about travel booked in July and August.

There are so many big and little impacts but those are the main financial ones I can think of right now.

I only got halfway through recording my April payments last month, so my spreadsheet was mixed up and I couldn't tell what I'd recorded. So I'm just going by March debt totals to see how much we paid in April and May combined.

US Mortgage: $1,541
UK 1: $378
UK 2: $80
UK 3: $84

In total, we paid $2,083 of debt in April and May.

Current household debt:
US Mortgage $370,357
Loan from friends (duplex) $9,000
UK Mortgage 1 $28,311
UK Mortgage 2 $5,968
UK Mortgage 3 $6,285
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TOTAL DEBT $419,921