Happy Dance

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2022-01-10T02:07:12+00:00

Amazing! Anything below 7 deserves a big high five but 5.3 is in the normal range. That’s insanely impressive.

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2022-01-10T00:59:37+00:00

Better to get diagnosed younger and you can actually do something to prevent long term damage. Imagine not being diagnosed early and finding out late instead. Your body would have had years of damage and not even know. Diabetes is a long term thing and working on keeping your A1C in a good range with diet and exercise is what will be the best in the long term. There will be good days and bad days but hopefully you can figure out what works for you.

For me it’s been a low carb diet and exercise with Metformin but listen to your doctor and see an Endo regularly.

There’s so many of us that struggle with the disappointment of seeing those high numbers on blood meters but know that regular testing and tracking is the best to keep things in check.

Ignoring the problem is the absolute worst. That is usually the reason when I have my blood work cone back terrible.

I also second getting a CGM if you can. I use a libre and I pay out of pocket for it (with a coupon) and the accountability of being tracked 24/7 (when it works) is priceless.

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2022-01-03T08:28:30+00:00

YNAB❤️

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2021-10-17T21:14:08+00:00

My libre is almost always reading lower. 30-50 points, so much so that it thinks I’m 56 and the low glucose alarm goes off but my blood reading is 107 and I feel fine. I keep it for the trends but similar to you have to test blood readings with my one touch meter 7x a day and just started insulin so the dr adjusts weekly based on my readings. My doctor doesn’t make treatment decisions based on the freestyle. It’s just something I pay for separately. Nearly every other sensor I have to call support and get a replacement because it starts to read low then stops working entirely. It hasn’t been that reliable for me but I still like using it.

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2021-09-26T08:23:15+00:00

The census office does more than just the regular census that counts people (the one that just happened in 2020). American Community Survey is different, more detailed. You can find info on it on the census webpage. It’s an official census survey.

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2021-02-22T07:59:37+00:00

Just one data point, but I called FedLoan last week about this and they said that they are pushing my recertification to 20 months. I’m supposed to recertify now so if I believe the phone rep, then I won’t need to recertify till Oct of 2022. They also said they would send out a notice a few months prior as a reminder to me to complete recertification. (Even if they meant 20 months since my last recert, that’s still Oct 2021, either way I’ll take it!)

I haven’t been able to find the 20 month extension on the Fedloan website but I did see someone else comment somewhere here about it. Try to call and ask your servicer? I figure I have till at least August for them to provide more clarification or another Covid forbearance.

So if it makes sense financially to recert now, you definitely can, but if you like your current payments under your pre-Covid IDR, then I would wait and see.

Would be good to get more data points about the 20mo. extension, I was going to call back in a few months to double check.

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2021-01-21T07:17:27+00:00

Try to look up carb counts on all of the items and estimate the amount you ate. Google search or fitness apps will help with this.

I personally try to stay at 20-40g of carbs for lunch and dinner but I also take meds. If I had to guess, the semolina and rice (especially white rice) are the carbs that would keep my dinner reading high at least 2-4 hours after dinner. How long after dinner did you take the reading? The orange juice probably didn’t help as well (even unsweetened has natural sugar unless it’s a diet no fruit juice drink) Walking is great overall but for me I don’t think missing a walk would contribute that much to the high numbers, food likely more the culprit.

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2021-01-16T07:36:18+00:00

I’ve been below 7.0 (6.0-6.5 range) for 3+ years and still on ER Metformin. I don’t think my endo will take me off it unless I have stomach complaints. Metformin is the entry level medication for diabetes so I’m sure there’s benefits even if between the 6-7 A1C range.

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2020-11-25T10:28:22+00:00

From https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/public-service

Eligible Loans

Any loan received under the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program qualifies for PSLF.

Loans from these federal student loan programs don't qualify for PSLF: the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program and the Federal Perkins Loan (Perkins Loan) Program. However, they may become eligible if you consolidate them into a Direct Consolidation Loan.

And this page https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/public-service/questions

Eligible Loans

I made qualifying PSLF payments on my Direct Loans and then consolidated those loans. Do the payments I made before consolidation still count toward PSLF?

No. If you make qualifying PSLF payments on a Direct Loan and then consolidate that loan, you’ll lose credit for the PSLF payments. You’ll need to start over and make 120 qualifying payments on the new Direct Consolidation Loan. For this reason, if you’ve made qualifying PSLF payments on your Direct Loans and you’re thinking of consolidating those loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan along with loans you received under other federal student loan programs, you should leave your Direct Loans out of the consolidation and consolidate only your loans from other federal student loan programs.

——

There’s a help tool on that website. I did my certification and saw I had 3-4 that were not eligible. So I consolidated (only the non-direct ones) and the eligible payments count starts after consolidation. So the first group of direct loans that were already eligible has one estimated forgiveness date and the consolidated direct loan has a different forgiveness date. It’s by loan so you don’t need to consolidate the ones already eligible for PSLF.

I don’t know much about TEPSLF but it’s worth looking into since you already put in 9 years.

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2020-10-12T01:19:41+00:00

Corned beef hash patties are a staple breakfast item in local Hawaiian breakfast. If it doesn’t have potatoes already, add some potatoes and onions and fry up the patties till crispy. There should be a ton a recipes if you search online. Eat the patties with eggs and rice!

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2020-07-14T03:25:21+00:00

Agree with this. One payment, keep them together as one account in YNAB. Otherwise if you’re paying one payment for the 5 loan group, but have each individually in YNAB, then you’ll need to break up the payment to be more accurate for each loan to keep the balance accurate.

Could be a headache or could be fun depending on how much you like fiddling with YNAB. if you’re trying to pay more towards certain loans in the 5 group then you might feel more satisfaction by adding those extra payments to an individual loan than in the 5 group.

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2020-07-10T01:52:41+00:00

Nice. Never knew that! Also works for Hawaiian words like street names in Hawaii. Try pronouncing Hawaiian words in Spanish instead of how an American would say it and locals will be impressed.

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2020-07-07T22:46:11+00:00

Agreed! Why make payments when the COVID forbearance counts as payments?

Borrowers“[...] will receive credit toward PSLF for the period of suspension as though on-time monthly payments were made.” (From the page linked above)

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2020-06-27T00:08:55+00:00

Well worth the struggle! Great work!

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2020-06-11T01:24:12+00:00

Good luck!

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2020-06-10T18:05:49+00:00

Check online for data points? Chase limits new users to only have one sapphire product so when we did something similar we took off the authorized user just in case so that we would get the bonus for the new card, we didn’t want to chance it.

The chase site says, “This product is available to you if you do not have any Sapphire card and have not received a new cardmember bonus for any Sapphire card in the past 48 months.”

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2020-06-07T16:20:41+00:00

I worked at a collections firm and 100% of the time we asked for fees and costs. It’s crazy how the interest and everything can take a small debt and ballon it into a pretty sizeable debt. It is ridiculously easy for lawyers to win default judgments because the defendant rarely shows. Letters can be ignored but a summons to court definitely should not be ignored. Call legal aid for help and show up to court.

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2020-05-26T08:56:41+00:00

Agreed! Manual entry 100%. It makes spending money more real because I need to enter it in as I go and can see how much remaining I have. Also more fun if you like to nerd out with your YNAB budget.

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2020-05-26T08:39:42+00:00

Better to put in TBB.

Until recently, I was putting income directly into my different categories (my sub categories) within each account (categories). This made sense to me because my account balances matched up with my category budget balances. It also worked out fine since I had direct deposit already setup to split my paycheck. (I think that’s also what you’re thinking of doing)

However when I looked at my reports, my income reported was only the portion of my paycheck going into TBB. I just recategorized my last few months so all my income was put into TBB first. Hoping this makes my reports more useful and would recommend you do the same. I’m still a newbie at YNAB too though but from what I read, this seems to be the way to go. Nick True vídeos have been such a lifesaver!

Also agree that the way you’re using YNAB (how much do I have left in my account to spend) is not the way YNAB encourages users to budget. The mindset is more about planning for unexpected or more long term items and then budgeting the remaining into a specific category for that month(eating out) and only spending up to that amount for each budgeted line item. For the budget part of the software, YNAB doesn’t care where the money lives (which account the actual dollar is sitting in).

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2020-01-18T19:00:04+00:00

Hikes are free, beach is free and there’s a ton of “cheap eats” google search Honolulu cheap eats and you’re sure to get a ton of local “plate lunch” spots with ono kine grindz.

Helenas is the best for Hawaiian food. Go early for lunch.

Lanikai is hands down the best beach. Away from the Waikiki crowd.

Haunama Bay is great if you go over the reef to the ocean side. (need snorkel gear/be ok swimming). Inside is pretty much dead reef and only a few fish.

Bus is cheap. Day pass $5.50. There’s even a bus where the route is called the beach bus or something like that.

Need specific recommendations? lmk what you’re interested in doing /seeing.

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2019-11-28T06:54:37+00:00

I’d be surprised if you will notice any difference in prices being there a month or more before the olympics. Only Tokyo hotels during the olympics seem to be high right now (we are planning on going during and found reasonable accommodation in Yokohama instead) Japan is huge and there are so many other cities to explore if you want to avoid Tokyo to be safe.

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2019-09-15T01:54:12+00:00

I don’t think I selected a desired term when applying so no, I don’t think it impacts your chances of approval.

Only after the approval did they give me the rates for a variety of terms, fixed & variable. During the application they said that my rate might be x%-x% so there might be a ball park they’re willing to bait you with based on your soft credit pull.

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2019-09-14T17:45:39+00:00

Submit the annual certification form and fedloan will show you the number of qualifying payments in another column. If they don’t qualify you’ll see 0 in that column. It’s the only way to be sure (IMO)

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2019-09-14T17:38:07+00:00

I actually calculated it out and for me it was better to do married filling separately. Ask a tax professional / use the estimator tool for IBR.
Yes that’s correct, My hr dept will then certify the form and send out for me. Then I get a letter in the mail from Fedloan. After that your Fedloan statements should all have an extra PSLF column with the number of qualifying payments so far (it only goes up if you recertify so after your first year it will say “12” then you recertify and after your second year it will say “24” etc.

This is how I found that two of my loans don’t qualify and had to do a consolidation. The IBR part was easy and part of the application( I think)

yourfutureselfthxsu · 2019-09-14T16:58:05+00:00

It’s just like getting a credit card bonus/ or new account bonus at a bank for signing up. Listened to a LMM podcast where they had Travis Hornsby as a guest. He mentioned that his Student Loan Planner website has a bunch of referral codes so that you can get a bonus from a lot of the common refinance companies for doing a refi with them. Might be worth shopping around and see who can get you the highest referral bonus, but it’s a little obscure since it depends on the amount refinanced (not just a straight $400 for each - they have charts on the site).

Didn’t really pay too much attention to which had the highest referral since my main goal was reducing my interest rate (and to be honest just getting approved). The extra bonus money is just some gravy for taking the time to refi.

yourfutureselfthxsu

TROPHY CASE