Money & Life Report: February 2026
March 4, 2026
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 $1156 in dividends from the stocks portfolio.
Spending
Most of my spending falls under giving this month but I did get a few more pieces of clothing from an independent artist in the name of supporting a small business and not only because I really liked the art. Justification!
My massage therapist is going through it right now, her spouse has been unemployed for months and it’s taking a toll. I tipped her really well to do my part in helping her. I look at it as an investment in my health really, she’s been really helpful keeping this rack o’ bones functioning for the past several years and if she goes under, I have nobody. It’s hard to find a good practitioner who really listens to me and does what I actually need to help the pain.
Not spending
Haircuts for two of us this month. An $80 savings. I haven’t had the time to cut JB’s hair nor mine but mine doesn’t seem to need a trim yet. That last round of chopping seems to have slowed down the growth. An entirely inaccurate way of interpreting what’s really going on, of course the cut can’t affect the rate of growth. It just feels that way since it felt too long within 2 weeks of my last 4 attempts. The latest attempt has been good for more than a month now so I’ll take it as a different kind of savings (my time and energy).
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.
Saving and investing
I’m toying with increasing our savings rate a little bit more and trying to decide whether it’s best to increase the regular amount I save every two weeks or to just dedicate our whole bonus to savings and leave well enough alone otherwise. The more stressed I get, the higher my impatience with our savings growth rate.
On Life
It’s been a really rough health month all around: mental, physical, emotional.
As hard as this job has been on me, seeing the toll of financial instability on other people in so many different circumstances reminds me daily that I can’t just quit without a very solid financial plan. It’s tempting to think my health would be vastly improved if I quit because this past couple of years has been so rough. But what if it isn’t? And add in the fear of sliding back into poverty, now with kids. That might be the last straw for my psyche. We’re reasonably solid now, but that’s with two incomes. We aren’t solid enough to weather any and all setbacks yet. Until we are, I’ve got to do my best to make it work and take care of my health.
Reading.
DNF Delilah S Dawson and Kevin Hearne, Kill the Farm Boy: The Tales of Pell. It was well written but I just couldn’t stick with it.
Ilona Andrews, the whole Innkeeper series. Comfort reading and preparation for the next Innkeeper book this year – I really hope it’s a nice meaty one.
Ilona Andrews, Beast Business. A wee novella to hold me over. I hope they return to the Hidden Legacy world again. I know they say it’s complete right now but I do hope they’ll want to come back and give it more stories. I hope that about every series I love, though, including the Kate Daniels world.
Ilona Andrews, This Kingdom will not Kill Me – extended preview. They warned us that they cut the sample off at a key moment and THEY SURE DID. I was well warned and I still gasped in outrage.
Ilona Andrews, The Inheritance. I read this in serial form on the blog and loved it. I especially appreciate the warning that they do not kill off the dog and that it will resolve fine, no unhappy endings.
Jesse Q Sutanto, Four Aunties and a Wedding. Could just have been my mood at the time of reading but this wasn’t as delightful as I’d hoped.