2018: Our year in review
January 2, 2019
2018 highlights
EARNING, SPENDING, SAVING
The good
- On a Think Positive kick here, we’re making slow and steady progress on our mortgage. Instead sinking into the pit of despair at the enormous task in front of us, I’m keeping an eye on how our payment to principal is steadily increasing with every payment: January was $883.99. December was $924.1. Progress! Reallllly slow progress. I committed to reducing our mortgage principal by $10,000 in 2018, we reduced it by about $12,500.00.
- I budgeted an even amount every two weeks from our normal paychecks to be saved up for large payments (insurance and property taxes are the worst) and it worked out really well this year. This is the first full year we’ve done this and I’m pleased as punch that my system worked. There was sadness when the money left but no stress over whether we could cover the bill. Making enough money also SERIOUSLY makes a difference there of course and that’s a huge good thing we have going for us right now.
- It’s still early days yet but my diet changes seem to be improving my pain enough that I can reduce my pain management medications. We’ll see if this is consistent through 2019. Nothing dents the chronic fatigue that has been plaguing me for years but I’m ever so grateful for the days when pain is low. I haven’t had so many “low” (for me) pain days in a single year since I was a young teen!
- I’m not sure if it’s called an abundance mindset but I think that being mindful of being generous and giving, less stingy and miserly, even when the worrywart part of me fears things will get too tight has made me open to the idea that, barring a major dislocation in our jobs or lives, the money will come in and I can continue to breathe normally even during rough waters, of which we have had many this year. Big picture, we’ve gone through a lot of challenges together so I should have faith in us but it’s taken me a very long time to do so.
The bad
- Stress has been at an all time high this year and it shredded my patience.
LIFE
January! I started the new year with two big goals in mind. Only one of them survived: completing the process of cutting off Dad feels like it was ten years ago, not just one year ago, in the level of stress relief this has afforded. The other one, tracking our spending daily lasted until Feb 2nd. I never went back to the spreadsheet. Apparently I can only do this if I write it in a paper planner.
February! We hosted a lovely Lunar New Year dinner. I very nearly set myself on fire cooking it (one person thought I was being a very impressive chef with gouts of flame until he saw my face). I had some trouble getting myself in the right mindset for tackling the world.
March! I evaluated the ROI for our credit card churning which was an incredibly useful exercise, while we thought hard about our child’s education and future.
April! Our dietary changes started here.
May! Six months of following up with Chase led to finally getting our rewards, and I nearly flushed them down the toilet.
June! Hawaii!
July! San Diego Comic Con <3 I felt very very loved by my San Diego family on this trip.
August! Mental shifts about our money: being more hopeful, inversely related to less risk averse.
September! Mental shifts aren’t easy! Two steps forward in August, one step back in September as I think about recessions and our money.
October! ALL ABOUT THE VOTE. I spent a lot of time this month juggling work problems and reading up on the issues for our ballot. This was hugely time consuming and I still had to lean on more politically savvy friends to fill the rest of the ballot. I also reviewed our (not) readiness for retirement.
November! We’re settling into our home. I got into hand sewing and love it but don’t love spending money on a hobby. That feels unfamiliar and wrong but since it is a whole lot of fun, I’ll try to find ways to do it frugally. Picking up bedsheets for fabric on the cheap from Marshall’s/Ross/Goodwill might be an option if I have the energy for those shops.
December! We survived! It was a working holiday month so everything was hectic, very full of things to do, until the very end. We ran errands on NYE and had a pretty good time venturing into the city proper for the second time this year. We’re homebodies, what can I say? This is also why my books-read-last-quarter list is so long. It’s not that I had much free time, I just spent all of it reading.
GETTING THINGS DONE
Plan for 2018
- {Money} Save 30% of our income, max out PiC’s 401(k), my IRA, an IRA for him.
No, Yes, Yes, Yes. - {Money} Organize our retirement funding for tax and income efficiency.
Work in progress….I sometimes feel like I don’t know what I’m doing here and keep grabbing the wrong end of the stick to start figuring it out.
- {Money} As part of the above, research the backdoor ROTH IRA and decide when would be best for us to do one. I think I’ll need our CPA’s help running some numbers for this.
Our marginal tax rate is little too high to do the Backdoor conversion this year. The right year would have been when I was off on maternity leave but I was definitely not ready at the time. - {Money} Decide if we’re going to hoard more cash (investing it) or pay down more mortgage, then do it.
Mostly investing, a little paying down mortgage principal. Made one last small payment to principal on the last day of the year to make the mortgage an even number just because I like even numbers.
- {Life} Mail hand-written letter to one of JuggerBaby’s surrogate grandparents every month. We always send hand-written thank you cards to the loving surrogate aunts and uncles who think of zir or send lovely thoughtful gifts but I’d like to be more proactive in this area, and sharing a bit of life in a more meaningful regular way instead of reacting to their generosity or hoping we can visit.
Good in the beginning of the year, tapered off in the latter half of the year. Making up for it with photos. - {Life} Prepare one New Baby Care Package to send to an expectant mother friend per month. The first half of the year is spoken for! This is a hobby though sometimes I think it’d be a fun job.
We only had a couple expectant mother friends this year, gifts were given. - {Life} travel will definitely be happening this year, that’s not a question. The open questions are: how much of it can I travel hack and will we enjoy it all? I’ll be setting up a travel calendar to address these questions.
We had a real vacation for the first time in ages! It was lovely.
2018 NUMBERS
- TOTAL MONEY – Our Net Worth: +4.22%. Our ratios (cash:real estate:investment) shifted from 16:55:29 to 11:57:32.
- ANNUAL DIVIDENDS – $3,147.20.
- SIDE MONEY – $1,900.66 was earned from random surveys, Swagbucks, Mr. Rebates, and ebates. $1,340.00 was earned from Craigslist sales making a total of $3,240.66 in alternate income.
- BLOG MONEY – The blog earned $422.50. This just covers hosting fees and I suspect 2019 income in the area may drop even further.
- FREELANCING – I picked up $821 in freelance gigs this year but that fell off sharply in the latter half of the year – I didn’t have time to sustain the full time job plus freelancing. It makes much more sense to focus on the main job which can give me higher returns in the way of increases when time is strictly limited.
My net worth went up a teeny fraction – less than 1% even though I maxed out my 401k and paid extra toward my mortgage! I calculate it by adding up my retirement accounts + emergency fund + very conservative estimate of my house value minus the mortgage balance.
How do you calculate your saving rate? Do you include the mortgage pay-down? I struggle with this a lot. I think the best version I saw was on Angela’s Tread Lightly/Retire Early, but I can’t find it now.
Sorry, I thought I answered this and must not have saved my answer!
My saving rate – I don’t get too precious about it. I add up all the cash saved and invested pre-tax money and divide that by our gross income. I don’t include the mortgage paydown, I figure that will be reflected in our NW and that’s good enough.