Net Worth & Life Report: October 2016
November 7, 2016
On Money
Income
Our normal income is two full time day job salaries. We earn money on the side, including minimal cash flow that we don’t touch from an investment property. The goal is to replace our full time job income before my health gives out and prevents me from working.
Poshmark: I talked about the reselling experiment earlier this year as part of an ongoing effort to earn money separate from our day jobs. It’s quite slow, no doubt because I don’t own spectacularly covetable items, but I’ve made three additional (small) sales since, netting an additional $32.
I have no intentions of becoming a boutique shop so using Poshmark to move used clothing and shoes out (shipping is paid by the buyer, I can schedule free USPS pickup for the items I’m shipping, money is available for transfer 3 days after delivery) is worth the fees ($2.95 for sales under $15, 20% for sales over $15). The earnings are almost secondary to clearing up the clutter on my ongoing closet curating quest.
Swagbucks earnings: I use Swagbucks. Here’s a handy tutorial if you’d like to join and earn. This month I’ve shared some Swagbucks promotions for extra SBs. I aim to keep them unobtrusive, but I prefer them to sponsored posts because I’m just sharing offers. Earnings are minor, but it costs about $600 a year to keep this blog up, disregarding my time, and that’s before paying for FinCon. Since this blog’s been in the red more years than the black, a bit of cash would help. This isn’t a reliable source of income but it’s a decent steady earner for now which preserves our capital. I hope it hasn’t bothered anyone and maybe some will be helpful or interesting. Let me know!
Spending
Our normal spending covers the living expenses for two households: lodgings, insurance, utilities, etc. This update ignores those ordinary living expenses.
Comcast: We don’t have many internet provider choices here (does anyone?) and Comcast just keeps on being a mediocre disappointment. I used to switch between them and AT&T but it was hours of hassle to go back and forth. We saved a good amount when I did (around $360 a year) but it also took hours that I can no longer spare so it’s a cost we have to swallow.
They sent an email saying that they’re going to start capping our usage on November 1st to 1 Terabyte (1024 GBs). Our average usage the past three months has been about 238 GBs so we’ll be well within the limit. That’s useful data, it tells me that I can’t save anything by switching to my hotspot device (MyKarma) fulltime.
Target haul: There’s a weird allure at Target that makes it a dangerous place. Is it the ambiance? The bright colors? The sometimes awesome deals?
Whatever it is, I have a hard time resisting the urge to browse. To avoid the temptation, I save it all up for an online order. Their online shopping user experience stops short of torture so there’s zero lingering.
This time, their ineptitude worked in my favor. I started with an order of 5 items (2 packs of cotton swabs, 2 lotions, a sweater) for $28, and received a $5 promotional gift card. They screwed up my address so I had to spend time following up online which was a pain but in the end, I paid $10 less for a bigger order than I planned and we’re now owners of 30,000 cotton swabs. No regrets!
I do have questions, though:
- Why do men need their own Q-tips? Will you not use regular Q-tips?
- Why was L’oreal facial lotion cheaper than the generic brand?
- Why was expedited shipping on Saturday for Tuesday delivery $90??
Baby gear: We avoid buying stuff for JuggerBaby on the premise that zir basic needs are met – food, shelter, clothing, and the luxury of lots of free toys and books. Once in a while we concede and pick up a bit of baby-sized furniture. PiC’s great at finding high quality stuff that will last years, and hold its value when we decide to resell it. This time, he found a great Stokke high chair that ze can use for several years, bought for $100. It retails for $200 and still sells for half the price as a used item, so we can expect it’ll be worth something in some years. We may also look out for a toddler sized table and chair set so that ze can draw more comfortably.
Car gear: We made $200 on a car rack that we couldn’t use on the “new” car, but it went right back out again ($150) when PiC found the right replacement so that we can safely road trip this winter.
Giving and spending: Even while I feel like money is flowing out the door much faster than it’s coming in, despite my earning extra income beyond our regular day jobs, it’s coming to the end of the year when I traditionally identify charities that we should make donations to before December 31, 2016, if we hadn’t already done so. It’s a weird feeling to look for more ways to spend money after a year like this.
And sometimes those ways present themselves without my needing to look. We’re in the habit of sending care packages when someone close to us suffers a loss. I’m always glad that we keep a tight rein on most spending that allows us to spend a bit on providing comfort to friends.
Saving
Business as usual: Our savings are automated. PiC maxes out his 401(k), Vanguard takes $458 monthly for my IRA, then we save 25% off the top of the remaining paychecks after pre-tax accounts and health benefits are deducted.
Saving thanks to Swagbucks: I’ve been hoarding my SBs so that I could redeem for one large PayPal check in addition to funding JuggerBaby’s diapers with the discounted redemption once a month and I’m just about ready to place the order! The PayPal check goes straight to savings. The Amazon gift cards have replaced my hard earned cash to buy necessities and the occasional gift from Amazon, and I simultaneously add that amount to our savings as well.
Our net worth: went down 0.9% from last month, reducing the total increase from January to 128%.
The markets shivered in fear this month, or so it seems by the look of all our investments. I’m assuming that’ll be true through mid-November.
Our asset allocation has stayed largely the same, and I’ll leave it that way for the next month or so, except for the cash I have set aside for any Election Day stock drops.
On Life
On Fitness: Yoga hasn’t been happening every night, and even after only several weeks, it’s clear that nights with yoga are better than nights without. It’s not huge, but I notice a lot more stiff muscles, and creaky joints, on the nights we have to skip. Thanks to having guests, and visiting friends on the weekend, my steps have gone way up. This would be a good thing if it was in combination with yoga because without it? OW. Many days of ow.
On catharsis: I shared something incredibly personal this month.
On fun: We were really active this month, despite my heavy workload, going to the Cal Academy, the parks, to visit several friends. Halloween was a bust, though. Heavy (welcome!) rainfall kept us indoors and it’s clear that JuggerBaby has inherited my dislike of being dressed up. Drat.
On backing up precious memories: I spent several hours making sure that our photos from the last two years are backed up in at least three different places. Vital documents are next on the list. It’s possible my priorities are backwards 🙂
On holidays: Halloween isn’t my favorite holiday. I’m looking forward to having my favorite cousin over to cook a ridiculous dinner for three adults. Then I’m pulling out our Christmas lights in a few weeks and decorating something like the bike, or the armchair, since we won’t be getting a tree. No point, since we’ll travel a bunch around Christmas. :sad face: The whole POINT of growing up was to be able to get my own tree.
On health: Is it a surprise at all that I’ve been sick for the past two weeks? Anyone want to take bets on whether I can kick this before 2017?
Nice to see that little extra money coming in from Swagbucks. I love using apps like these, because eventually, you end up with that nice little bonus without even realizing it. I’ve been using ReceiptPal and ReceiptHog for a year, just diligently taking pictures of my receipts. It’s horribly slow going, but eventually, I’ll have $100 that I earned just from taking a quick picture of my receipts before tossing them.
Yes, definitely! It adds up so it’s worth the effort for me while I only have a few free minutes here and there. I hadn’t heard of ReceiptPal and ReceiptHog, thanks for mentioning them, and thanks for stopping by to comment.
I hope your health ticks in the up direction soon!
I haven’t been investing personally for very long, and I’m finding it difficult to be calm and positive when I add to my Vanguard accounts and – a few days later – the total value is lower! I’m trying to think of it as the stock market going on sale, but it is a challenge.
I will try to copy your ability to keep cool about it and look for the opportunity.
Thank you!
Depending on how old you are, it’s easier to be calm about the stock market’s day-to-day ups and downs when you keep your long-term outlook in mind. If I may offer a bit of advice, as well, don’t look at your accounts more than once a month 🙂
I’m still trying to catch up on sort of a blogbook-style photo book I used to make annually to document our life/children’s lives/travels, etc. I just finished 2012. Ugh. Still 4 years behind. And I’m with you on prioritizing photos. 🙂
Well, you have plus TWO more kids so being just 4 years behind isn’t too bad 😉 As long as they’re actually backed up!
Automated savings is the way to go! Sure makes it SO much easier to save. And companies like Swagbucks are so awesome if you can take the time to do their little tasks! I’ve been hoarding some mad swagbucks points and ibotta cash that I’m really excited to cash out on when it gets closer to Christmas 🙂