Money & Life Report: March 2022
April 5, 2022
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. There are ways to support the blog and our charitable giving in the sidebar.
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 $270 in dividends from the stocks portfolio. Our YTD monthly average is $188. Not nothing, but also not self sustaining.
Tax refunds. We had a series of mistakes in my accountant missing our cost basis on some stock sales going back to 2017 which inflated our taxable income. We’ve been correcting that for the past 18 or so months and the refunds have been slowly trickling in. We have received $1300, two more filings worth $3000 and I’m still waiting for the big kahuna to be processed for a whopping $5200. All of those will likely go right back to paying the tax bill due this year or next depending on when they’re filed and paid. Probably next year since the IRS is s-l-o-w.
We’re going to be fined for all the Form 8608 that she missed too.
Spending
In an attempt to have/generate some hope for a future with any travel at all ever again, I resumed credit card churning to drum up miles. This time it’s a 60k miles for $3k spending in 3 months on the Alaska Air card with a $75 fee. This was timed for a period when we have a bunch of bigger bills together, though imperfectly timed because last month I had a lot more bills I hadn’t planned on (the medical bills, smog checks).
I put a whole slew of bills on the Alaska card: car insurance, donations, phone and internet, a gratuitous purchase for myself of a set of art greeting cards (10% off and free shipping) from independent artists I’ve been admiring for over a year. These are for birthdays and thinking of you cards. We have some family who are separating and I wanted to have a few nice cards to send as far away moral support.
Our home insurances will be coming up next and that’ll go on our next card along with more donations and bills.
Not spending
Still holding out for the good socks to go on sale. The super cute socks that Nicole&Maggie recommended were reportedly on the thin side and I need thick cushioning so I’ll wait a bit longer.
Giving
On giving: we have worked really hard and been very fortunate that our hard work paid off in significant ways that I couldn’t have 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.
All year round I run the Lakota Giving Project, donate to organizations that help people and animals in need and do direct aid.
A really big contribution came in early this month and it was really good timing as we had a huge family in urgent need of food.
Saving and investing
Thinking more about the I-bonds: I CAN cash them out after a year and give up three months of interest or wait five years after which point I don’t lose the last three months of interest.
Given how much I hate their site, the temptation to ditch them ASAP, to take my 9 months of interest and run, is very strong. That is a very emotional decision since the money’s already there and it costs me nothing but irritation to leave it there so long as I remember how to log in. I did store the passwords and log in periodically to make sure it’s still working. We’ll see how long I can stand this little bit of grit.
Net worth
The numbers perked up a little bit. I was cleaning up my recordkeeping and realized that I’d never rolled over a Roth IRA from a holding company. I finally did that so it’s now on our spreadsheet. I’m glad it went in that direction rather than unearthing some forgotten debt. The market also headed up a bit as well so that had a little effect.
On Life
Food! My first try at slow cooker Kahlua Pork came off quite well. We needed more cabbage so I’m glad I only did half the shoulder roast the first time. Not that I had much of a choice, our pot isn’t big enough for a full 7-8 lb roast.
JB has declared that my chicken pot pie is their first favorite chicken recipe and my panko baked chicken is their second favorite. Lucky for them, the second fave is easier to make and they can have it more than once every six or twelve months. I should make up another couple of batches of pie filling. I’ve also been using my prepared sauces from Weee! to make Japanese curries and mapo tofu. I need more tofu heavy recipes.
Just like Heaven. A 2005 Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo romcom that randomly came across my radar on a heart heavy day. As I get older, I realize there’s a place for these lighter media that doesn’t ask much of us and delivers a good ending in a world full of the opposite.
The Blind Side. I’d never seen more than bits of this and I was curious.
Manifest. This show was quite confusing. Not bad, just not ideal for distracted, half listening type of watching.
Old Enough! (Netflix) This is amazing. It’s a show about little kids in Japan running an errand all alone and I’m a mix of enthralled (because it’s so cute) and horrified (because I’m a parent who hasn’t let their kid do something like this yet and I’m not sure it could translate to America).
KB Spangler’s Stoneskin: Prequel to the Deep Witches Trilogy (Amazon, Bookshop). This book answered some plot lines hinted at in The Blackwing War and I eagerly await the rest of the trilogy.
Tamora Pierce’s First Test (Amazon, Bookshop), Page (Amazon, Bookshop), Squire (Amazon, Bookshop), Lady Knight (Amazon, Bookshop), Trickster’s Choice (Amazon, Bookshop), Trickster’s Queen (Amazon, Bookshop), Wild Magic (Amazon, Bookshop), Wolf-Speaker (Amazon, Bookshop). I forgot I had already read the Protector of the Small but it’s always an enjoyable read. I liked following the next generation in the Trickster’s book though I felt hints of white savior syndrome there. Daine’s story was definitely compelling though. I always liked her character and was thrilled we had her story.
TJ Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea (Amazon, Bookshop). A thoroughly charming book. I never would have read it based on the title because I thought it was not in my wheelhouse but I happened across a description of it and
Jen Comfort’s The Astronaut and the Star (Amazon, Bookshop). A light read, freebie from Kindle maybe?
T. Kingfisher’s Clockwork Boys (Amazon, Bookshop). Thanks again for the suggestion, Teresa! You were absolutely right, I loved it.
yay, glad you liked them!
Maybe I should re-read Tamora Pierce again…
I support the re-read!
Oh man I recently realised how haunted I am by once losing the $ on an errand and how I was never allowed to go buy milk from the shop again.
I see so many neighbourhood kids playing unsupervised at the park and it blows my mind. I had such protective parents and it’s crazy to think in 3 years that could be Spud – but I genuinely think it would be fine.
Oh goodness, I feel like we’d have a similar kneejerk reaction but how else do kids learn? It’s not like we don’t make mistakes that cost money as adults too!
Yeah I have real trouble figuring out when I’ll let JB go off on their own. Part of that is they don’t have a trustworthy pack of cousins to look out for them the way we sometimes did.