I’ve got a better plan for my money. I’ll hire Vanguard Personal Financial Services. In fact, I’ve already had a one hour talk with someone at Vanguard. I explained my problem: that I needed money from my Vanguard funds to help me pay my bills every month. I forgot to tell him that I have money in my savings account for emergencies, in particular, if the funds go down a lot. That way, I won’t have to sell a fund when the price is down and lose money.
But I really need to work on a budget. So I’m keeping track of every cent I spend. It’s tiresome and easy to forget to record expenditures in my budget book, but I really need to see where my money goes. For example, we own two summer houses in Prince Edward Island, Canada. In order to have a phone and electricity in the summer, I have to partially pay for them all winter. Can I afford it? I’d better. As it is the expenses for our vacations are split between me and my son and daughter. I’m hoping my financial plan will relieve me of worrying about these bills.

I’m devising a sort-of budget for myself. It’s taken me awhile to realize I don’t have access to Bernie’s money anymore. His pension, social security and VA payment hasn’t been available to me for a couple of years. But I do have three annuities payable to my checking account from all our investments which I had to take out of Vanguard and other places and buy immediate payment annuities. I get them every month in my checking account but they are supposed to go to Vanguard. Instead, I’ve been spending some of them.

I must cut back. What do I cut? When do I start?

I saw the moon tonight. It was hanging over Creamery Brook–the building with the apartments in it. It’s a very thin crescent, slightly reclining. Where would it go? Will it go to the south or the north? Or will it just sink over the horizon? I’ve missed it for the last few weeks or so. There’s either been clouds or it was hidden in the Eastern part of the sky which I can’t see from my seat. Maybe it is the new moon, or the stage right after the new moon.

A little later: It’s setting behind the apartment house–almost gone. the people with apartments on the western side of the building will see it slide down the sky and go beneath the horizon, as it always does sooner or later. I feel better now that I’ve watched the moon. I needed that.