By: Revanche

Money & Life Report: February 2019

March 4, 2019

On Money

Income

Our primary income comes from our full time jobs. We earn money on the side, including tiny cash flow we don’t touch from an investment property and investing in dividend stocks.

Our side income comes from Swagbucks, rare sales on Poshmark, cash back sites (Ebates, Mr.Rebates), and tracking physical activity through Achievement (my introduction to it). Some posts have affiliate links that pay a tiny commission to keep the blog running.

The long term goal is to replace our day job income in case my health prevents me from working.

***

Dividend income. We received $504.44 in dividends this month – an unusually high month. Our year to date net dividends are $661.44. I reinvest all our dividends.

Book sales. I’m usually on the wrong end of that phrase! But I was thrilled to get the biggest quote I’ve ever gotten on an old textbook I’d used several years ago from topdollar4books. After giving myself my first ever blister erasing my notes (thankfully in pencil!) and sending it off firmly wrapped, this netted $45. They paid immediately (Paypal) upon receiving the book which was shockingly fast.

Spending

When buying online, I always check Mr. Rebates and Ebates for cashback.

Petco gift certificate. I did a quick survey to earn $5 and used it in combination with the 20% off repeat delivery coupon at Petco to get the current lowest price on 2 bags of dog food. We were down to our last bag – a 3 week supply for 2 big dogs.

I’m on the lookout for the next great sale at the local Pet Club. For now, these 2 bags buys us 6 weeks to wait for a sale. Being strategic saves us between $5-10 per bag, which creates $85-$170 savings over the course of a year. That covers the annual cost of their vitamins and antihistamines. They say that repeat deliveries aren’t eligible for cashback but their site says different so I’m going to hold ebates to that in a few weeks.

$1000 crate? Sera destroyed the wire crate we bought for Doggle 8 years ago after he had major surgery. She likes the crate fine if we’re home but she always breaks out when we’re gone. This wouldn’t be a real problem if she just wanted to hang with Seamus but of course she hurts herself on the way out and hanging out is NOT her only goal.

Despite having an abundance of accessible toys, she gets bored and rummages through anything she can get into and destroys it: JB’s toys, boxes, random things from my office. That’s annoying but it got downright alarming when she unearthed things we had forgotten about. Had she chewed up or swallowed that battery, she would have been seriously injured or worse! It’s not possible to dog proof a house when the dog is as small and strong as Sera, so we have to go back to crate training. But we need an extremely tough crate so she can’t hurt herself trying to escape. Friends recommended the Impact Dog Crate, per dog training friends who handle GSDs, which are mind blowingly expensive. As one friend realized immediately, though, we COULD buy less expensive intermediate crates that aren’t recommended by name by people who know but we could end up at the $1000 figure in the end anyway. I’m still trying to figure out ways to economize before we commit to this cost.

Seamus was all kinds of a mess mid-month so we dropped $800 at the vet trying to figure out what was wrong. Then what the hey, the President’s Day and February Dental Month sales are still on right now and the dogs are on their last bag of dental chews so that’s another $500 flying out the door. I ordered enough to hold them over about 5 months. I have no idea where I’m going to put all of it. Normally $500 only gets us 3 months of chews but I’m mixing it with the CET chews.

Clothing.

• Accessories, 2019: $0
• Clothes, 2019: $32
• Shoes, 2019: $0

Not spending

Poop bags: free PLUS three. Barkbox ran a promotion for their poop bags where you purchase a box of 300 bags for $12 and they send you a $15 Amazon gift card. Win win! I snagged our box and shared with friends since Bark encouraged me to. Friends who didn’t need any more bags sent us their box instead, getting a few bucks for their trouble. Our storage cupboard is stocked nicely for the next year! I’m more excited than a normal person would be over 900 free poop bags.

Giving

Our cash flow took a big hit this month with the $1400 in dog supplies and veterinary attention so our giving was minimal: Supporting 2 creators and donating a large bag of clothing to a Veterans’ organization.

Saving and investing

We’re only 4 years into the real estate experiment but that property’s HOA has been a real pain in the butt lately. I want to unload the property and just dump the money into an index fund nevermore to think about it. I have to run the numbers to see how much of a tax hit we’d take since there’s no way we’re going to live in that property in the next ten years, the location doesn’t work for us. Anyhow, if I’m tired of dealing with it, there’s no way PiC is going to enjoy taking care of this if it falls on his shoulders at any point. This was my experiment because I was interested in it, he was just giving me free rein as usual.

The whole point of having this property was to diversify our holdings so that it’s not all in the market but my exasperation outweighs the desire for this particular kind of diversification.

Thinking about the backdoor Roth… you know what, I can’t see the future but our income in retirement will almost certainly be lower than our income now so it doesn’t make sense to pay the taxes now to put that money in a Roth, even if it will grow tax free. I talked this over with a friend and given the unholy mess of what my IRA is now (a mix of pre tax and post tax non deducted funds), I might as well leave it be until we have a lower income year and roll it over then.

Miles & points

Alaska miles: 280,029
Southwest: travel credit expired. Sad but I’d rather let go of the unlooked for savings of $40/person than spend several times that much to use it up.
Chase Ultimate rewards: 323,642
Marriott Bonvoy points as the Marriott+SPG points are now called: 613,279

Net worth and Goals

Mini check-ins for our money goals this year.
Cash Investing: 39%
Mortgage Principal: $15,000: 15%

On Life

Still chipping away at my Interminable Work Task that sucks. Like a Group Project, no matter how much work I put in it, what other people do (or don’t do) is going to reflect on me more than whatever necessary work I put into it. I am now calling this thing the Group Project. One major half of it is going ok, but the other equally major half is still stalled and I have to put my shoulder behind it and PUSH uphill. Lots of metaphors because I can’t get into details. Wish me luck?

Kitchen delights. We’ve done a really good job of eating in. Not that eating out constantly is a real problem for us, it just feels like a bigger challenge because I feel the pull of the convenience of take out or even occasionally eating out when I’m tired or lack inspiration.

Instead, I’ve rummaged in the fridge and freezer to make: shrimp and beef or turkey tacos (with shiitake mushrooms!), mushroom and ground turkey omelettes, lettuce wrap tacos (ground meat plus cheese, avocado, and the heavenly indulgence of sour cream), ham and cheese rolled around crunchy cucumbers, sometimes wrapped in lettuce. I even made a big pan of enchiladas (half green sauce, half red sauce) with turkey and bok choy. The boy choy needed using up and it turns out you don’t even notice them in the tortillas. Also in a wildly triumphant moment, I made the closest approximation to my mom’s wontons ever! It was a fair bit of work but that was a very long time coming.

We’ve also developed a real hankering for the Costco frozen cauliflower pizzas. I can eat half of one in a go, which is probably not great.

Sharing is caring!

Email

Twitter

Pinterest

0