Net Worth & Life Report: August 2016
September 5, 2016
ON MONEY
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Spending
Credit card churn, Card #2 of 2016: After $1,000 of paying bills, I’ve crossed the threshold for the required minimum spending to earn 35K Alaska miles. I don’t have a specific use in mind for these miles but I suspect they’ll come in useful in a year or two. The first card was also an Alaska card, in my name, but only earned 25K bonus miles. Humph.
Open ended travel planning: 3 free RT domestic travel tickets costs 75K miles and $36 (we paid $75 for each card, so the actual total is $186). Our current total of 60K miles is still 15K miles short. It doesn’t look like Alaska does discounted mile redemptions like United does, so to shore that up, I’ll sign up for dining miles programs so that any spending we do also earn miles on top of any credit card award points. Then we’ll be set for a trip that costs more than $500.
FinCon is coming up! The cost of the hotel is quite a bit now that it’s just me but I have rather specific sleep and rest requirements so I can’t risk a roommate who might snore. You’d think it’s such a small thing to be fussed about and wouldn’t I rather save $400? Yeesss but I’d also like to enjoy the conference that I’m taking time away from work and family to attend which absolutely cannot happen if I don’t get real, adequate, sleep.
Homes cost money: The cost of not being a renter means that minor (but expensive) damages to the home structure caused by guests comes out of our pocket. We’re looking at $1400 in repairs right now so feel free to imagine my facial expressions.
Saving
Forced savings increase: Last month I bumped up my automated savings by $200 per check. I previously said it was per month but then realized that in my absentmindedness, no, that was per pay period. Whoops. Overreach! That’s ok, though, because I hadn’t been transferring cash to savings to transform our Side Money Earnings into true savings, and we all know that if you replace cash spending but don’t save that money? You didn’t save anything! So here we are, saving extra.
Our net worth: increased .49% from last month, and 55.9% from January.
Note: Most of our April bump was updating the assessed value of our home.
ON LIFE
So much coddling of body parts this month trying not to let the beginnings of a flare-up turn into a disastrous episode. Like Cloud, I have trouble moderating at the beginning of a health-related problem because it doesn’t seem like it’s serious enough to stop chugging along. And then of course, duh, it gets really serious and I’m out of commission for 2-3x as long. I tried ever so hard this time to stop and rest on the days (luckily, weekend days) where I could feel the early signs of muscle and joint pain turn into a severe flareup, and managed to head off at least two flares. So it works! The trick is to keep on top of my silly logic when I start trying to power through again.
Domestically speaking, I hauled out my sewing kit for a few projects. A gorgeously textured shirt handed down to JuggerBaby came pre-loved and pre-torn, so those seams were not beautifully but definitely functionally fixed up. An awesome plaid shirt, also a hand me down, had a button come loose the first day ze wore it so I took care of that. PiC’s pants pockets have a problem with fraying fabric and holes. I painstakingly fashioned a new pocket for him. Pretty proud of that last one – lost count of the number of times I jabbed myself with the needle but it was sturdy and almost neat looking by the time I called it quits. Also? I’m quite proud of not having anything of my own in the mending pile this time. There’s something oddly soothing about having a simple sewing project once in a while. I don’t do this more than twice a year, probably. Bonus: the pants are otherwise in perfectly good repair so he can get a lot more use out of them.
File under fitness: I was targeting around 2000-2200 steps daily when I first started using my iPhone but it’s been creeping upwards in fits and spurts, mostly when I force myself to attend social things.
I think I do best, as far as pain and fatigue goes, when I’m around 3000 steps a day but much more than that is a huge cost for negative benefits. It’s not the only measure of what’ll affect me but it’s incredibly useful to be able to put a number to some part of it.
:: How was your August?
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So hard to get the steps up. I slipped way down this summer when it was so hot, but have been making an effort to pull them back up to at least where I was in February. Good job on the sewing. i have a few things with rips or missing buttons I need to tackle as well.
Emily @ JohnJaneDoe recently posted…What They Don’t Teach You about Successful Salary Negotiation
I would be happy to lend you Seamus to help get those steps up 🙂 He enjoys being the guinea-pig-pup for this purpose.
I am so excited for you and for FinCon and for teeny (but important!) upward movement in the net worth category. I am right there with you when it comes to sleep. I will be sick for days if I don’t sleep on my own terms. I sucked at sleepovers as a kid, and I still can’t do them 😉
I am still grumbling about paying for the room entirely but I should really remind myself it’s for a good reason 🙂
You’re not going to FinCon, are you?
So… you’re using your new Alaska miles to come visit? 🙂
Maggie @ Northern Expenditure recently posted…Problems with the Pareto Principle and Outsourcing
That’s genius! I’ll have to look into accommodations options and see if we can arrange extra points to pay for that. Alaska 2018??
Eek! WTF that is some expensive hosting. But I don’t get it – how would damage caused by your guests be covered by your landlord if you were renting? Maybe it’s different over there but anything done by us or visitors, accidental or intentional, would come out of our own pocket.
NZ Muse recently posted…PSA: Check your credit!
In this case, this item could be considered part of wear and tear because there’s a history of these things breaking down at an unusual rate. Whenever we’ve had stuff like that, our landlords have been very good about covering the cost of replacement.
I think I may have just been lucky in NZ b/c my LLs have always had a similar policy to that in the US–if it is normal wear and tear on provided items, they cover the cost to fix or replace. For example, our toilet seat (of all things!) just broke in half. It was a cheap plastic thing, and had lasted the 2+ years we were here so far.
We tried supergluing it together but that only worked for a few months before it broke in the same spot again…we’d had enough!
Same with toaster, vacuum, brooms, etc…everything they furnished while moving in, they replace as long as we don’t obviously abuse the stuff.
I love my LL!
Alaska trip sounds so awesome! I’ve been nervously saving up some points myself–big trip and I hope they don’t get devalued. And I’m thrilled you’re going to FinCon, too… Can we meet up? Did you go last year and I was oblivious?
Good point about the devaluations! The major airlines seem to all have done one recently, here’s hoping they’re done for at least five years!
No worries, this is the first year I seriously considered going. And yes, email me?
I’m so jealous you’re going to FinCon! Sigh. Hopefully next year. And sometimes $400 for a good nights sleep sounds perfectly reasonable. The FinCon I went to, I roomed with three other people that I didn’t know and it turned out to not be the best idea – most of my roommates were awesome, but not all.
Mel @ brokeGIRLrich recently posted…Financially Savvy Saturdays #159
This is my first time in however many years it’s been held, so I hope it lives up to the hype 😉
Your experience was mine back at an SDCC a few years ago and totally soured me on roommates after years of enjoying the savings.
Hey! I didn’t realize you were coming to FinCon! 😀 We should definitely meet up while we’re there.
I’m getting my own room, for exactly the same reasons. My husband has made endless fun of me, but I haven’t been on a vacation in so long that I feel absolutely zero guilt. I am going to enjoy every minute of my solo-snoring there.
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DM me on Twitter, that’ll be the best way to get hold of me while we’re there!
Solidarity in solo hotelling 😉