Net Worth & Life Report: June 2017
July 10, 2017
On Money
Income
Our normal income comes from two full time day jobs.
We experiment with earning money on the side, including minimal cash flow that we don’t touch from an investment property and investing in dividend stocks.
Some side income comes from Swagbucks, selling clothes on Poshmark which is hit or miss, and tracking activity through Achievement (my introduction to it).
The long term goal is to replace our day job income before my health declines and prevents me from working.
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Chase bonus money: Our checking account bonuses came in! +$500! And I FINALLY got our coupon for the mortgage rebate so that’s been submitted. Now I’m just impatiently waiting for my $150 from the savings account and $595 to come in.
Poshmark sale! Woot! I sold a nice wallet I have no use for. It was a lovely gift but I don’t tend to change wallets often, just the bags they go in, so after seven years of it sitting idle, it was time to part ways.
Cell phone credit: A short chat with T-Mobile about our terrible cell phone reception this month resulted in a $30 credit.
Yes, this is all small change in comparison to our home-related spending but I’ve always paid attention to my pennies AND dollars and it does all add up.
A raise for you, and a raise for me! PiC’s company and mine apparently put their heads together to let the first half of the year go out with a bang – we both got raises which was great news in light of our increased expenses. Best of all, mine was just enough to hit a Major Milestone in salary! This was HUGE. We celebrated with a high-five, two bags of rawhides for Seamus the Ever-patient Pup, and a $71 pair of sneakers to replace my 12 year old shoes that are absolutely killing my feet, knees, and hips.
Spending
Our normal spending includes the living expenses for two households so this update ignores those ordinary living expenses. When buying anything online, I always check Mr. Rebates and Ebates for cashback.
A hemorrhaging of money
Obviously we’re not trying to spend every penny we make between now and the time we sell our current residence, but the sheer amount of work that has to be done means we’re carrying the costs of two households for a few months. The spreadsheets have been worked double time to make sure we won’t get in debt but things are going to be TIGHT.
Slippery slope spending
Frustratingly, there’s also a sense of “just add it to the bill” cropping up with all the money that we’re already spending. I don’t especially want to battle that feeling as well, in order to keep other non-house spending in check! Send help! I need the new shoes, that I’ll concede. But I also feel like I “need” to send various people gifts for happy life events and that one’s hard to fight back without feeling like Scrooge.
Stupid tax
At the worst possible time, I overlooked the fact that we didn’t get our car registration renewals in the mail and the first I was reminded of it was when they sent the late notices with $142 in late fees at the end of May. ARGH. I spent 40 minutes at the DMV to plead my case and they reduced the late fees by half. I’m still grumpy but better than nothing.
#GivingCards and Charitable Giving
I don’t believe in tooting our horn for every donation we make. The point of giving isn’t to brag, it’s to help someone in need. The exception is when the cause is sound and could use help. I’m delighted to be taking part in the Rockstar Forums’ giving project where they send out a $20 gift card each month to forum participants who sign up.
June Giving Card! We were working a ton this month and were running errands like madpeople.
In the middle of that, I heard that a friend of a friend’s unreliable car had given out one more time and they weren’t sure how they were going to pay for the replacement. I remember being there. I remember being a little kid, sitting in the backseat, while my parents struggled to make ends meet, not knowing that we had to eke out another twenty thousand miles on that car because there just wasn’t enough extra room in the budget to save enough for a new-to-us old car that year, or the year after.
Our expenses are sky high right now so I couldn’t double it this month but I’ve got a line item in our budget for next year when things even out to send a bit of money to the Giving Card program next year.
Saving and investing
We max out a 401(k) and IRA every year. We normally save 20% of cash of our net salaries but that’s on hold while we get ourselves sorted out.
Rebuilding the emergency fund
The down payment depleted our liquid assets and they’ll stay depleted until we sell our current place. It’s going to take months before that happens. I’m not making any assumptions on the kind of … wait, no, I’m making LOTS of projections based on a range of possible sale prices that we might reasonably expect, but I’m not banking on any one of them as a certain outcome. The only thing I’m absolutely counting on is that the first thing this sale money goes to after paying our broker, and the loans, is to refill our emergency fund so I can sleep at night.
Links from this month
- I always have to be reminded to ask for help
- Side Money Experiment: selling on Swappa
- Life talk: Simplicity and routines
On Health
My steps this month: 102,367 steps or 46 miles.
Viral load. If I can go two (or even three!) monthly updates without having to mention a cold, or a flu, or both, I’d be EVER so grateful! This is not that day, though.
On Life
July is FULL FULL FULL. It’s the Month of San Diego Comic Con, of course, the whole month tends to revolve around that. We’ll take a day to see family and friends but mostly this is the Time of the Geek. YAY!
Wedding bells! We have a wedding to attend! The gift has been sent. Our accommodations are booked with points, thankfully saving our embattled pocketbook. We just have to pay for food and gas to drive to the Secret Location. Seamus can come with us, so we won’t have to pay for dogsitting. Now I just have to panic about what we’re all wearing. I don’t know how formal this thing is and it’s going to be the middle of summer in Hotter than Heck California. What on earth will be appropriate and not lead to a literal meltdown? Stay tuned!
Congrats on the raise (and the accompanying new shoes.) And that’s some significant account bonuses, too.
July so far has been hot and humid (though today is relatively nice.) I spent week one in a wet bathing suit as often as possible. I’d love to do the same this week, but alas, we’re back to school which makes that harder to carry off.
Thanks! The bonuses feel like a drop in the bucket but I’m grateful for every penny!
School’s back in already?
Sounds like June went well, at least all things considered! Congrats on all the ways you’re earning extra income. I know it’s not always the most glamorized part of blogging and PF, but I think all of that really adds up! I love that you document it all. Have a blast at the wedding…and don’t melt!
Relatively, yes! Managed to hold on to my hair and everything.
Wow! What a busy month. Good news on the raises…and on all the little kickbacks and bonuses. Those have got to help a lot. And a wedding! Yay!
Hotter than a two-dollar cookstove here. It’s been up to 120 in the backyard. Right now is 111 out there, with clouds building. Wearing a lot of silky light tops here, which let the air circulate.
We just keep on trucking. And we managed to avoid melting so far, so that’s a win.
Oh man — slippery slope spending. I feel especially susceptible to it when the thing that brings me near the edge is medical spending. It’s like, “Well, just got bad news and spent $1000 so what’s wrong with a little $20 splurge?”
Sigh…
But, more importantly, congrats on the raises and the forward progress 🙂
Yes, medical spending seems to beget the worst other spending! I think it’s hard to keep exercising willpower when your body is feeling terrible or your mood has been dropped in a bucket by bad news.
I’m so glad that you and your husband both got raises. Great timing on that one! “I also feel like I ‘need’ to send various people gifts for happy life events and that one’s hard to fight back without feeling like Scrooge.” That’s a tough one. I draw the line there too though. A wedding means a wedding gift. No way to get around that one – and I don’t even want to get around that one. What you wear, however, can be as inexpensive as you like. My daughter borrowed her prom dress last month. (SO proud!) Is that an option for you? (Not a prom dress … You know what I mean : )
Thank you! I can’t borrow clothes because I’m a really weird small size, but I DID manage to find an old dress to wear so that was $0! Yay! 🙂
It’s clever that you budget $20-$40 per month to be on the lookout for giving opportunities. I think this is an idea I want to copy, since this is a way to be simultaneously proactive and systematic… far better than completely arbitrary acts of kindness based on how much fungible money we have on hand.
It’s easy to let opportunities slip by when you don’t plan to give, I think, so budgeting it is the way to go!
Congrats on your raises. Great job! That will help with all the expenses. Summer has been super busy for us as well. I’m ready for the kid to go back to school. 🙂
Thank you! It will definitely reduce the sting, I’m so glad they both came in. Summer goes by so fast, RB40 Jr will be in school again before we can blink 😉