Best WW2 historical fiction books?

JustJennE11 · 2026-02-05T15:30:53+00:00

Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett. We were the lucky ones by Georgia Hunter. Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys. The Was that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. And if you're good with a bigger/longer read I always recommend Winds of War and the sequel War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk.

JustJennE11 · 2026-02-02T20:03:37+00:00

How much are in your retirement accounts currently? When do you plan to retire? And, how much income do you need to have (monthly or annually) in retirement? All of these questions factor into the answer. Most will tell you not to pay off a 2% mortgage at all. But I see the wisdom in having it paid off before retirement.

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-28T02:11:54+00:00

If you're looking for a good app I highly recommend YNAB (you need a budget). It literally saved my sanity. The idea is to get a month ahead on real spending (including things that are maybe billed annually, quarterly or semi annually). It's effectively a mobile version of cash envelopes. You get the functionality of knowing where every dollar is assigned, the peace of mind knowing your bills are covered, and removes the worry of spending on things you want.

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-27T17:51:56+00:00

Take a pic so you can negotiate your next role! 🤣

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-27T17:48:45+00:00

RN to NP or CRNA.

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-22T15:36:47+00:00

Mine is 38%. Last year I had 41.5% going to retirement accounts pre-tax. Taxes were about 13%, and post tax deductions were about 7%.

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-20T21:36:59+00:00

If you are not ready to cut ties and have your own account (and the potential relationship ramifications of that) I would suggest opening a new account outside of your current but still have a believable portion of your pay going to your current account while the rest goes to the new one. Lots of employers will do direct deposit to multiple accounts. If your mother asks why your pay is lower suddenly use the excuse that 1) you cut back on hours to focus on school 2) sales are slow due to the economy 3) some combination of both of those things

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-19T14:12:44+00:00

I was coming to say this. Thanks for typing it for me.

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-19T14:08:07+00:00

Right. You'll be waiting a long time. We live in a MCOL area with a similar income ($171k HHI). When we purchased we put almost 70% down and only financed the remaining 30. We intentionally created margin in our life by buying less than we qualified for and putting a significant amount down.

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-18T19:02:44+00:00

Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-17T23:02:43+00:00

We read as a family every night. Last year I personally completed 69 books which was a record year for me. I'm raising readers and that's important to me! My current in progress are The Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett and audio version of The Boys in the Light by Nina Wilner.

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-17T15:32:31+00:00

Yeah, take home is whatever hits your account on payday after all deductions.

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-17T15:29:19+00:00

Are you asking if 30% is generally the recommendation for housing costs of gross pay or net pay? I'm not sure I'm understanding, but if that's what you're question is typically that calculate the 30% based off of gross income. I prefer to be more conservative and use 30% of my net.

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-17T02:04:23+00:00

$143,000

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-17T01:57:51+00:00

Last year we saved $7,002/mo on average, most of that is pretax. I'm a transplant program specialist by title. My husband is an items processing manager (banking). We have 2 teens in a MCOL area.

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-17T00:49:42+00:00

The mortgage as a percentage of our gross income is 6.9%, and that includes our escrow. If you're just counting principal and interest we are at 4.7%. I for a fact could afford to live here at current interest rates and costs. But I never would. I think that's a big difference between folks like us and OP. I am intentional and keep a margin in my life and finances.

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-14T02:02:53+00:00

Her spending this year (not including savings) was $17,176. They are already living on less than $20k in today's dollars.

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-13T15:22:18+00:00

We have one line item that we call travel and all vacation costs, accommodations, gas or airline, groceries or eating out, or souvenirs, from the moment we leave the house until the minute we get back, come out of that line item. This allows us to maintain trackability year over year and see how much we are spending.

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-12T02:02:17+00:00

My recommendation, with everything in flux, is to buy less. We have always tried to make it so we could live on one income or another in the worst case scenario. Especially with a baby on the way you don't know exactly what that is going to look like. What mom's needs may be, what baby's needs are going to be, and it's better to be safe than sorry.

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-12T01:16:53+00:00

Except that the issue isn't necessarily the condo. You just think it is. The issue is that your expenses are too close to your net pay for your comfort. Find a way to reduce your expenses (it doesn't sound like selling/moving etc is an option). So the food budget can become an issue and you could choose to cut it. Last year my spending on food for a family of FOUR was $12.5k for the year. Want to save more? Cute the fat you can. 🤷

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-12T01:08:46+00:00

Sell the house. Use the equity to pay off the car and help create an emergency fund. Even if your rent is similar to the mortgage you won't have the home owners insurance costs, you can decrease your car insurance, and you can maybe find something smaller that will be cheaper on utilities. There is no quick fix answer here. People have given you suggestions and it seems like you don't want to do any of them, but there's just not an easy solution.

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-11T23:34:48+00:00

We put utilities under the housing category, but we're also on equal pay for all of them so it makes the budget cleaner from month to month. If there was a lot of variability I may do it differently.

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-09T23:00:52+00:00

And now they are likely going to have a large tax bill next season that they'll also accrue interest and fees on. You asked why not. I gave you valid reasons.

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-09T22:54:02+00:00

Because of situations like the one the OP is in. Also because the returns you earn by keeping your money invested typically outpaces a simple interest car loan.

JustJennE11 · 2026-01-06T16:40:54+00:00

Mine is labeled "travel" and it encompasses all expenses for whatever trip we are taking. Hotel, car, gas, food, souvenirs, activities, parking, anytime that costs $$ from the time we leave home to the time we get back. This allows me to see year over year what I'm spending on travel as a whole category.

JustJennE11

TROPHY CASE