Money & Life Report: October 2026
November 5, 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 long term 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 $255.80 in dividends from the stocks portfolio.
Our last paychecks were paid out, the lump sum for October and my month of hoarded PTO landed. My calculations of the PTO hoard were accurate! The company’s was not. They shorted me some hours so I had to make them correct that. Of course I did. They are absolutely incapable of doing their jobs right in any instance, shape, or form. I can’t stand incompetent people that’s one thing I was more than ready to be done with by the time the job ended.
Spending
Pies cost an eyewatering $35-40 here. This makes me very sad. I love pie and I can only rarely make them myself. When passing through apple orchard country this month, I picked up two 8-inch pies that are a better fit for us (and our freezer) for only $25. 😍 A treat AND a deal? Double win.
$$$$. We’re starting a new math support program for JB and holding our breaths that it will be the one that works. That’s a new $250/mo cost but it’s not optional, they’ve struggled for too long and not making progress is going to seriously impact their academics. Update: We’re getting a 10% discount for prepaying for a year. I asked, intending to use that to hit a credit card minimum spend to rack up hotel points, but unfortunately they only accept a credit card for the first payment. They won’t accept it for the prepayments. Humph. Very annoying. Still, I appreciate a 10% discount.
Not spending
For my birthday, I picked up a free Bundtlet from Nothing Bundt Cakes (yum), a free cake slice from Paris Baguette (meh) and a free apple pie from McDonald’s (yum). I didn’t make the trek to California Pizza Kitchen for my birthday freebie, it’s too far away.
For our anniversary, we enjoyed drinks and dinner courtesy of (redacted).
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.
We shipped a second giant order of food and basic household goods to the Red Shirt village, possibly overwhelming our point person, and it took a few weeks to make sure everything actually made it safely or was reshipped. Post coming!
Saving and investing
I moved the lump of PTO money to a holding account while I ponder whether it’s cash flow money or investing money. It’s an uneasy choice with the everything being so uncertain. I keep waiting for the AI bubble to pop and am trying to balance knowing that it needs to (but we don’t know if or when it will) and knowing that we have to stick with investing through the ups and downs. Do I hold my nose and dump it into investing since I won’t be investing next year while unemployed?
There are murmurings of the bubbles popping in South Korea, maybe now in China, and perhaps we are seeing a little hiccup with Alphabet’s stock drop which is good. It’s not nearly enough of what we need but it’s a start.
Net worth
The yellow (brokerage) and green (retirement) lines need to meet up with the blue line for my heartburn about money we need to live on fade (a little). It’s not happening this year. I’ve been terrible at projecting when any lines might meet any goal lines so I’m not making a big effort there. Doing quick and dirty calculations – at a 4% growth rate, we’d hit that line in 2035 and 2036 respective. At 6% growth, it moves up to 2032 and 2033. Much further than I’d like, of course, and I don’t know whether to be hopeful or pessimistic about the world and the market (two different things!) with the midterm results.
On Life
Reading. 5928 pages.
This was a bananas month. Every single weekend was full up which is very much more than too busy for me so I didn’t do much new reading. I started Shalini Abeysekara’s This Monster of Mine but didn’t make it through in time before it went back. Instead I reread Daggerbound a second time because I could. Also re-read the Kate Daniels series again stringing together access from Libby and Hoopla. Then dove into the Hidden Legacy series which I haven’t touched for a few years.
I hope you are taking the hugest cleansing breaths every breathed on this planet.
I spent most of the month in Japan and it was fantastic – but I made sure to be home so I could vote and was SO glad to be here on election night.
Happy November! Happy blue tsunami!
I’m glad you got every last penny you were owed for your PTO – whyyyy are the mistakes always in the company’s favor?
Well done getting through another month! And to correcting the corporate overlords about their $$ mistake on your PTO.