Money & Life Report: November 2025
December 3, 2025
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 $1,142.96 in dividends from the stocks portfolio. (We spent six times that amount this month. UGH.)
Spending
$$$$. New phone. 😤
$$$. Fixed my old phone. 😤
$$$$. Reupping JB’s self defense class for another year. Still deciding whether we’re going to have them stick with it beyond that or not.
$$$$. SmolAc’s daycare went up again. It’ll be $2500 a month going forward.
$$$. I’ve been buying a fair bit of clothing on clearance and books from the book outlet at deep discounts but we needed to fill in some gift gaps. This year I filled a few of those with tea from Friday Afternoon Tea.
$$. Replaced my heating pad.
$$$. Bought a stack of organizing supplies to try to contain the mess that is our lives and the kids’ toys.
Not spending
I fixed the printer! I worried that would have to be replaced since it was refusing to connect with the internet and be useful. Huge sigh of relief. I kept grumbling that it cannot give up the ghost yet, I still have ink cartridges to use up. – Edit: Gloated too soon. It died again. ARGH.
My year-old laptop had been misbehaving a LOT and while it’s not entirely over itself, the falling over and dying has been happening a little less frequently. Only 2-4 times a day, down from 8 times a day. I’ll still need to troubleshoot it later, cross your fingers it can wait until after the new year. Maybe in February?
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.
A whole lot of direct donations this month to help folks close the gap on rent and the like. There’s always more need than cash flow but it feels much more fraught than usual.
Saving and investing
Just sticking to the plan and planning out next year’s investing plans/hopes. Frontloading the 401K on the assumption that I’m not long for my current job. The usual.
Net worth
In normal times, I wouldn’t be thinking about the lines too much, just sticking to the plan. In today times, I want all the lines up a lot while feeling really icky about our whole capitalism system.
On Life
It feels like I just blinked and somehow we’re here at the end of a month again. Did someone hit fast forward?? In a way, yes. We had big commitments for each of the kids this month so that always makes time zip by and I was really sick for most of the month. Everything was a hazy mess. But nearing the end of this month, things are finally on a more even keel at home and I cannot pretend that isn’t a giant relief. We have some meals in the freezer. We have nearly all the holiday gifts bought and wrapped.
Reading.
Eight Doors from Dawn to Midnight by Rachel Neumeier. An unexpectedly (because all I read was a quick blurb) engaging story with siblings who take care of each other for centuries.
3 days, 9 months, 27 years by John Scalzi. I had no idea what to expect from this book and as per usual, that was fine because it was thoroughly reliably readable. That sounds like faint praise but I don’t find every author readable at all times and it’s really nice not to have a book only work if I’m in the mood for it. This was good!
Lead and Silver by Seanan McGuire. I read the entire series first to get to Book 19, the better to savor the read. This last one felt different from all the others, though I can’t put my finger on why. Still my favorite characters, though, and I still want this world to go on for many more years. I will say this series has made going to actual Berkeley very weird for me. I see Telegraph and Shattuck through Toby’s eyes.
Snake-eater by T. Kingfisher. Ursula Vernon’s another imminently readable author. I can even read her horror (but not at night). This was a combination slow-burn of horror for me, though I don’t think it’s meant to be horror?, plus a slab of supernatural and some action. Definitely recommend.