Net Worth, Money & Life News: July 2015
August 3, 2015
Change from Jan 2015: 17.2% increase
On Money
I spent (an astounding) $200 on myself this month.
First, I lopped off several inches of hair so I’m set for several months. My attention span for sitting in a chair while my hair’s cut is shorter and shorter.
Then, I had a therapeutic massage (aka The Torturous Ordeal) that brought tears to my eyes but worked out the tension that had built up in my muscles. The smart thing to do would be not to wait 3 months between massages.
And, finally bought fresh razor blades. I don’t know why I hate paying real money for razors, but I do.
***
This year’s Comic-Con was the most expensive ever.
Thanks, Mint. I know.
But one pricey trip out of more than ten is ok since the change was made out of consideration for a friend’s health. Yes, I am comfortable saying my friend’s health and friendship is worth more than the unbudgeted money we spent. And I highly appreciate that we have the luxury of making that call and knowing we can repair that damage in a reasonable time frame. It won’t happen overnight but it won’t cause me serious distress while we work on that.
Also, I am learning to be more Zen about money hiccups. I’m already going to have to make up the cost, why add mental distress to the price we pay?
***
I booked a Hilton hotel for one of our upcoming social obligations using a lot of points, then a friend tipped me off to a different but still nearby location with a redemption at a much better rate, saving us 40K points! Woot!
***
It’s coming time to replace our phones. For the first time, about 5 years ago, I bought our phones, unsubsidized, outright so that we would have the flexibility to ditch carriers if need be. We’d been happy with them for a while but this year they’ve been doing their darnedest to commit hari-kiri. It’s not unusual for one of us to be cursing at our phones for refusing to load an app, pick up a call, turn back on when we didn’t shut it off in the first place…. It’s such a delightful phase we’ve entered. This isn’t an expense I’m eager to spend but it will be necessary. Probably by the end of the year. Phone research commences now!
***
My Vanguard IRA automated contributions started in June. It’s a significant chunk but not so much that it hobbles our cash flow, thankfully. I didn’t think it would but our spending patterns vary seasonally so there are irregular peaks and ebbs.
***
I do a very slow credit card churn for bonuses these days so the changes to Chase’s card policies limiting the number of cards you can churn in 24 months doesn’t seriously hamper our maximizing spending / income strategies. I’ve just about completed the minimum spend ($3000 in 3 months) for a United mileage card earning 50K miles that I’d like to use for an upcoming trip. Now I’m contemplating our next card.
On Life
A friend told me we should travel before LB is one because it’s easier. I think she failed to say “but that’s not saying much!”
Traveling with our family requires far too much cargo these days and PiC and I are forever trying to think of better ways to cut down. Try as we might, diapers, wipes, car seat, stroller (I need it, LB is too heavy for me to carry a lot already), bottles and all that gear take up space we can’t do without it yet.
***
Good news: Recently discovered that I can run (jog) further without getting winded than I expected. Bad news: still not nearly far enough. But that gives me a little hope that the regular walks we’re taking (Seamus, LB and I) are actually doing some cardiovascular good and motivates me to keep trying to get out every day. It’s actually a little bit tempting to get a pedometer so that I can put a number to my activity but have resisted so far because I don’t want another way to judge myself.
On that note, I keep thinking this but maybe it’s time to put it out here: I’d like to work up to running a 5K someday. Maybe in the next 365 days. In case of the Zombie Apocalypse or its equivalent. Also for heart health. Also to stop feeling like a slug.
On the credit card churn: I’ve wondered if that is something I should think about. I tend to just stick with the same no annual fee cash reward cards because it’s easy to do so. I guess I’m saying I think about it, but am too lazy to do something about it. But maybe I should make myself spend some time figuring out a system so I don’t accidentally mess up and incur an annual fee I don’t want.
On the pedometer: Heh, heh, heh! You definitely need to know yourself here. I got a Fitbit earlier this year. I had friends urging me to do so for years, but I resisted because I knew that I wasn’t doing a ton of walking and it would have been demoralizing. Now I do use to motivate myself…sort of. I don’t worry that I’m not getting enough “steps” because I’ve been unwell or slammed with work and barely able to deal with basic self-care (eating, regularly showering, stuff like that). But I am happy when I reach the daily goal. I was with one of my friends who is a Fitbit fanatic yesterday and she referred to steps/exercise as calorie allowances. Eh, that’s not my approach. I’d rather not beat my body to s*** so I can eat an ice cream; I’ll just skip the ice cream, thank you very much. Everybody is different, though!
I used to do 3-4 credit cards at a time, and just tracked them on a spreadsheet with a note for the cancellation date but that’s more work than I have time for at the moment and I don’t have that many large expenses in a short period of time right now. One at a time works best for low maintenance.
I’m with you on that approach to the FitBit. That’s the most likely way I’d use it, anyway.
I just applied (and was approved) for the British Airways visa. I think my next one will be the Citi Thank You Preferred and then the Chase Sapphire Preferred again since it’ll have been 24 months. I can put my grad school tuition on a credit card, so I plan to take advantage of that. I’m not a big fan of churning unless you know you have some big purchases coming up. Otherwise, it gets too complicated.
I love that you can pay tuition with your card. I was able to pay for undergrad tuition with a credit card and that generated some much needed extra income.
Agreed, I’ve backed off on churning to just do one card at a time because we don’t have large / recurring expenses that are chargeable anymore.
Yeah I’ve given up on my rewards checking account mostly since I’ve been bringing my lunch to work. It’s fine as a checking account anyway, no fees and such. My budget “only” calls for $7-10k of chargeable expenses per year, so that makes it difficult to churn credit cards without the tuition…
Agreed. I feel like this was my biggest issue with churning too. Plus, having the reward scheme incentivized me to push my spending slightly up to hit the churn, which of course was counterproductive for me.
RE: 5K motivation, I love the Zombies Run! app and loved it (when I had time to run). Friend uses a walking version, The Walk, and RAVES about it constantly. It’s just a little extra push to get out there.
http://www.thewalkgame.com/
Thanks for the suggestions! Once I have a working phone again, I’d like something that would help since I don’t think I can enlist anyone in person around here to be a walk/jog buddy.
{sigh} Would that I had had my financial act as together as you do when I was your age!! Dang, I’d never even heard of Vanguard at the time my son was born.
I hope you’ll report on what you learn about the phones. Sooner or later I’m going to be reduced to trying again with another smartphone (hardware that’s smarter than me is pretty daunting…). Whatever you find out is bound to be helpful for the unphonish shopper.
And here I am wishing I’d known about investing when I first started earning money š And necessity / mother of invention and all that.
Sure, if you’re interested, I’ll do a post on the phones when we nail that down.
Apparently a lot of new Mommies cut their hair off super short.. for that reason or the other reason is that they don’t feel womanly enough so they feel like they want to be more a MOTHER and not a “Woman”
I chopped my hair off too.. got rid of most of it and I kind of like the look. But I prefer longer hair on me š Just going to let it grow out for 2 years. DONE.
Huh. That’s just confusing. But I’ve never associated hair with womanhood anyway, I just cut my hair once a year cause I’m cheap. Unless my haircuts are $10, always will only get it cut once a year.
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