I paid off the car loan today, about 1.3 years after purchase, to minimize accrued interest but at the same time spread out payments for cash flow purposes instead of paying in full with $ from withdrawn accounts. With that behind me, I should see a big difference in onhand cash month to month.

The only problem is I've misplaced my checkbook and can't find it anywhere. The last time I used it was to write out a check to myself ("Cash") the day before I left for my Vermont trip. I'm fairly sure I wrote it out at my desk and took only the check to the drive-up window at the bank.

So I'm just not sure how to determine my balance as I continue to write more checks and keep a new ledger. I guess I can print out the last statement and recreate the register. Argh. A real chore.

UPDATE:I found the checkbook! I'm so happy! It was in my purse, in one of a zillion little compartments (which I had checked before). I kept trying to recollect the sequence of steps, and I realized there was a possiblity decided to bring the checkbook with me just in case I was somewhere where they didn't accept credit cards (although I had already brought some cash with me). I have always disliked purses with lots of divided spaces, zippered pockets both inside and out. It's just more checking of spaces when you're looking for something specific. I would much prefer one large pocket on the inside and just one pocket on the outside. Sigh...Now I can balance my checkbook.

I did another trash cleanup last weekend, but this time, I wasn't organizing the cleanup; I simply participated in one held by a local woman running for state representative; she's trying to demonstrate her action-oriented style by doing different things like this. She called me a few times for some tips on running it and then thanked me publicly in her FB post, so that was nice. 

We've had a very cold spring this year so I plan to do my veggie planting this Saturday, when it will finally warm up into 70s/80s. I've been doing No Mow May, but since gas prices have risen so much, I've been doing that as much to save a few bucks since my mower will surely raise his rates, but also because I like to see all the wildflowers in the lawn bloom. I have been mowing smaller areas myself just to have clear paths to walk across when dumping cuttings in my woods.

So a friend of mine went to a local plant sale held by the local garden club in that town, and she texted me while I was at the litter cleanup asking if I wanted her to pick me up a cup plant, which seemed like a  nice plant, so I said sure, but later when I was googling for growing info on the plant, I discovered this plant is actually prohibited from sale in my state because it's highly invasive!

I relayed this to my friend and she decided to write a letter to the prez of garden club, whom she knew. The woman refunded her money and said the matter would be discussed at the next garden club meeting. Apparently members of the garden club took it upon themselves to grow seedlings from plants on their own properties with the idea of selling them at the plant sale. It wasn't only this plant. The garden club claims to sell only native plants, and yet my friend noticed lily of the valley and rose of sharon there, so clearly, more education is needed because they don't know a native from a rhinocerous!

While many people have heard that you should only plant native plants, they are often fooled by cultivars or "nativars," which are not the same thing and simply cloned plants that have been genetically altered in a pleasing array of colors, often, that are not available in the straight species. The straight species have co-evolved with insects over thousands of years and offer superior nutrition to pollinators compared to cultivars, which you can spot right away because they have these cutesy little names, like "Moon Glow" or "Blue Knight". But many cultivars feature a change  in leaf color, which alters the leaf chemistry so that it's no longer palatable to insects; sometimes, the flower structure is altered so much (eg, double petals) that pollinators can't even access the flower.

So I'd like to write a story about this. I could probably get it published in my town's local newspaper, but I'd like to approach the forest association my invasive plant group is about to partner with and get it in their newsletter. We've floated the idea already of me starting to write for them and they are receptive to the idea. 

I had yet another unexpected expense this week. I attached my hose to the back patio faucet for the first time to water some plants, and when I first turned it on, nothing happened momentarily, but then there was lower than normal water pressure. I didn't really think too much of it since I knew from last fall that the nozzle was clogged and needed to be soaked in vinegar. I watered my plants for about 5 minutes, then shut it off and went to do something else. It was only later that I discovered water had streamed down the back basement wall and partially covered the basement floor. The pipe had burst over the winter. Luckily, the concrete floor down there is pitched so the water runs toward one corner and is caught by the gravel French drains along the entire perimeter of the basement. Also fortunate is that newer hot water heater, which sits directly on the floor, is toward the other side, and the washer/dryer are up on a plywood platform. There is nothing much else down there that could be damaged by water.

I had a plumber here who installed a frost-free outdoor faucet which is a little different than what I'm accustomed to. It has 2 spigots with a long stem. When you turn the water off on the 1 spigot, about a third of a cup of water spits out from the second spigot rather forcefully; this is the way it automatically drains to assure there is no standing water in the pipe. It protects it from freezing in winter.  I was paying for his time running to a certain place to get it, which added to my bill for a total of $725. He gave me a few other options for cheaper ways to deal with the problem, but I knew it would look kind of tacky or involve putting a new hole in my vinyl siding to relocate the faucet, so I bit the bullet. Also, before, the faucet was actually loose and could be jostled a bit because it wasn't actually secured to anything. The plumber said the wood was rotted, he had to get a board, yada yada, so while it cost quite a bit more, it's now secure as can be.