Money & Life Report: June 2024
July 2, 2024
On Money
Income
Our primary income comes from our full time jobs. We have minimal income from investing in index funds and dividend stocks (all reinvested). We earn money on the side to supplement our main incomes. We get a bit of income from Swagbucks, cash back sites (Rakuten, Mr.Rebates) and affiliate links to Bookshop and Amazon sometimes pay a micro-commission to keep the blog running. The sidebar has ways to support the blog and our charitable giving.
Our long term goal is to replace our day job income with passive income before my health prevents me from working. I know from my Mom’s experience that qualifying for or relying on disability is incredibly tough or near impossible here in CA. Aside from that, I aim to do my best to make the most of what we can do while we can.
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Dividend income. We received $511.25 in dividends from the stocks portfolio.
Spending
Gardening: I spent $120 on setting up a watering system for the plants for the days I can’t haul water, or when we’re traveling. Thank goodness for a friend who’s an expert in these kinds of projects! We spent an hour shopping and another hour and a half setting it up. I would have spent 5 hours on my own just trying (and failing) to figure out how to do it!
While buying JB’s friend their birthday present, I ended up getting Bluey tees for almost everyone in the family. Oops!
Giving
We have worked really hard and been very fortunate that our hard work paid off in significant ways that I only dreamt of when I first started this blog. Though we have not reached our FI number where I can feel like all income is gravy, we’ve always felt it was important to lend a helping hand. Many people say they’ll give back later, when they’re financially set. I say that if we don’t practice and prioritize giving now, we won’t give later either.
We donate to organizations that help people and animals in need and do direct aid.
The Lakota Giving Project is year-round now and we always welcome donations to support Lakota families. See how you can help at the link.
In March, I went to the oldest entry on the Okini list and found this one that was more than a month old for Family J: “This family, grieving the loss of a son, needed assistance. They are in need of hygiene product and pantry food. Family is also struggling with heat and asked if anyone would be willing to chip in for propane. THEY ARE DOWN TO 5% LEFT IN THEIR TANK and have no other heat source. They have been everywhere for help, but there are no programs. There is an infant in the house.”
The infant still needed diapers and formula so I worked on that while waiting for an answer as to whether they had been helped with propane yet. We sent them 2 boxes of diapers, a case of wipes, and 3 large canisters of formula.
The coordinator confirmed their propane needs were met, and passed this message to share with our group: Thank you for all you have done for this family I know you have made a difference in their lives.
Our second family, A: This elderly mother and her family would really appreciate a helping hand. They have very little and often run out of everything. she lives in the country and are having a hard time . She really appreciates anything that is done for her. They have been sick, when she was well enough to go back to her part time job she was let go. They have hardly any food left…..Hopefully someone will be able to help. People are always dropping of Dogs and she tries to help them but lately she has hardly enough food for her family.I put together a large order of supplies for this family to tide them over for a good spell trying for a balance between nutrition and volume. For food, we sent 25 pounds of rice, cases of cup noodles, pancake mix and syrup, oatmeal, hash brown potatoes, black beans, canned chicken, canned Vienna sausages, chicken stock, salt, cooking oil, canned green beans, fruit cups, saltines and peanut butter. We also sent household goods: dish soap, bar soap, shampoo and conditioner, toothpaste, toothbrushes, pads and tampons, laundry detergent, cleaning gloves, scrub sponges, a bucket. Last but not least, 4 large bags of dog food.
In April, the organizers let me know that the community is helping a lot of unhoused families and the Allen Youth Center was offering hot food and showers to those individuals. There was a good sale on towels so we sent them 20 towels to help with the shower supplies.
In May, we packed three giant boxes of diapers, books, and clothes to ship to the Allen Youth Center.
In June, the end of the school year rolled around and JB and I tackled our unexpectedly massive task. We gathered the entire collection of left behind clothing from a local school, 13 garbage bags full, and did laundry, morning to evening, for three days straight. We were able to ship 217 jackets and sweaters, everything in good shape because we weeded out anything that was beat up, all for the price of shipping ($90). I was really proud of JB for helping with all that work without a peep of complaint. They’re understanding what we’re doing and why, and that means a lot.
Saving and investing
Edit: More adjustments to come while I plan to max out my new 401K!
Net worth
Nothing terribly exciting here, which is how I like it. Well, unless the swing were to be a dramatic INCREASE but there’s no real reason for that to happen. Slow and steady, we’re the tortoise.
On Life
Being back in my hometown is not good for my mental health. It brings back a creeping looming doom-y feeling I harbor with regards to my estranged family and eventually having to deal with them. I also feel all kinds of guilt for not seeing everyone else back there when I’m also swamped with work. It sucks, all around.
Work and health have both been suffering this month, I posted this half done!
Reading
Emily Edwards, Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man. I can’t remember how I came across this book but it’s a fun read. A period mystery, Girl Friday bit of a romp. I didn’t quite see how all the pieces really came together but that’s not much of a surprise.
Zhang Ling, Where Waters Meet. I couldn’t remember where this one came from either but it was … well, I didn’t know what to expect and it had a lot more deep layers of emotion than I’d expected.
Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures. It’s weird, this has to be the first Pratchett/Discworld book that didn’t click (no pun intended) for me. Took ages to get through it.
Sarah J Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses. This was very Beauty and the Beast in Faerie but a relatively easy read. Sort of. The family dynamics bothered me a lot.
Annette Chavez Macias, Big Chicas Don’t Cry. A good read except for the choice to use “Inland Empire” as a city which jarred me every single time. It’s THE Inland Empire, it’s a region, not a city, and it’s a tiny detail but it bothered me the whole book. A totally made up city would have been less jarring.
Interesting– Pyramids is the first one that really didn’t work for me. I’m currently rereading from the beginning (on Eric right now), so Moving Pictures redux is in my near future. For some reason I don’t understand, I have been appreciating the Rincewind books more as a middle-aged person than I did as a teenager. I have no idea why.
nicoleandmaggie recently posted…Replacing the battery on my kindle
I’ll be interested to know if Moving Pictures works for you. I suspect it’s my brain right now, it’s failing to appreciate or properly follow Reaper Man and I can’t ever remember as many as ONE Discworld not landing for me.
I do have a deeper appreciation of Rincewind, though, that much I recall from earlier this year.
I don’t remember disliking it before and can vaguely remember machinery being run by imps and maybe explosions? So I will probably like it.
Death is one of my favorite characters, possibly my favorite. Though granny weather wax and Tiffany aching may be better.
Nicoleandmaggie recently posted…Should women be more like men?
You remember reasonably correctly! I know it’s my brain right now because I remember liking it before, I love Death, and my brain is falling flat on a lot of fronts.