About sixteen years ago, I met him for the first time. My trainwreck sibling brought home this adorable puppy he had no business adopting because he had not one thing in his life that wasn’t a mess. I was furious at my sibling – he didn’t even take care of himself, how could he drag
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December 8, 2020
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 and cash back sites (Rakuten, Mr.Rebates). Some posts have affiliate links that pay a micro-commission to keep the blog running and I’ve added a way to support the blog in the sidebar to the right!
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.
***
Dividend income. We received $752 in dividends in November from my individual stocks portfolio. We have two months in the year that are this high: May and November. It’d sure be nice if all months were this high, I’d feel like I was really getting somewhere with our income replacement. Our YTD monthly average is $350.
Our annual dividends from our index funds total is about 70% of the individual stocks portfolio total. Our YTD monthly average there is only $236.
This isn’t anything to sneeze at but we’re a far way away from income replacement.
Rakuten. I mostly do my shopping through MrRebates but sometimes there are shops that only do cashback on Rakuten. I wonder why Target still hasn’t come back to MrRebates. This was an accumulation over quite some time because we don’t use them as much, but we also had a $34 payout from Rakuten.
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December 7, 2020
Week 37 of COVID in the Bay Area.
Week 37, Day 255: I wanted to support a local bakery for our holiday meals. I found one nearby and we ordered two large pies. The online order form offered free delivery to locals but we couldn’t pick a date or time at the time of ordering, we had to call to arrange that. We asked for a delivery well before the holiday, to avoid a rush right before Thursday, but that’s when things got odd. We agreed to a late afternoon delivery. That evening I got a message asking (basically): you want the pies or what?
I called back ten minutes later and the guy said he had already gone home. He was willing to go back to the shop if we wanted them tonight, though. Erm. Yes, that’s why we set up a delivery timeframe and date? Please, my pies…
He then started debating when would be best and kept asking for directions which confused me. Surely you have a method of getting directions based on the address provided when offering a delivery service?
Then he decided that he had to charge me a delivery fee of “only” $15 (just about the cost of a pie) in addition to the prepaid pies. I … What? When he finally showed up, three calls and more than an hour later, he said that they couldn’t charge our card we’d previously used before to pay the delivery fee. We’d have to go order $15 worth of product on the site instead… and not pick it up. This whole experience was deeply confusing.
To top it off, the pies weren’t even as good as your average grocery store quality.
We had Thanksgiving Round 1 and most if it was delightful with one exception. I am really glad we chose to order in this year. We were in no shape at all to cook and bake and cook and bake.
Week 37, Day 256: Every so often I wonder if I remember what I’m aiming for with our hopes of early retirement (along with CAN we do it?). Sometimes I wonder if I’m motivated solely by a crankiness that comes with dealing with selfish or incompetent people too often (I am), or what I would DO. But Mr. 1500’s summary of their version of early retirement with two kids helped remind me My retirement is an expansion of everything I used to do on weekends.
This feels a lot like what I’m seeking. There’s the from the negative space creation which means removing the requirement to report into a set obligation for five days (or more) a week to generate income. Then there’s the desire for freedom to do what I would normally choose all week long, not just on the weekends. More reading. More cooking. More dog time. More cleaning of the sort that I enjoy. Maybe not more long term commitments? But I seem to be incapable of not creating projects for myself…. and honestly that should be fine because I care about those projects but necessarily limit them when 40-50 hours of my life a week are committed.
Week 37, Day 257: It’s always confusing to me why contractors or subcontractors who are doing work for you don’t bother to tell you when they’re not going to show up for the day. I find it infinitely more annoying that they didn’t inform us they weren’t coming so we wouldn’t wait on them than the fact they didn’t come. That’s so inconsiderate!
***
I have been consuming excessive carbs and sugar this indulgent week, but I’ve also been extra sleep deprived and working harder than usual, so it’s a tossup whether my hands are swollen because of overuse or because of what I’m eating.
Week 37, Day 258: We ate Thanksgiving leftovers again for actual Thanksgiving Day. I have no regrets. Except maybe for the pies. Maybe I would have paid extra for another type of pie from Mariposa Bakery instead. We won’t be ordering from this bakery again though, I know that much.
Week 37, Day 259: I spent a few minutes browsing Black Friday sales but mostly wanted to focus on shopping from small businesses if we bought anything. I’ll decide tomorrow if there’s anything we particularly could use.
Bookshop.org has free shipping all weekend too so that’s something I might want to check out. But I am pretty much done with holiday gifts so this would be gratuitous shopping…
:: How was your week?
December 4, 2020
1. After many days of being cooped up (I was too tired and in pain to do much), we made our way to a local trail for a slow trudge (me) and a bike ride and run (them). It was really good to breathe outside air and see nature again.
2. We’ve had three sunny days in a row and that’s just awesome.
3. I’m not watching it day to day because I simply don’t have the attention to spare for it but PiC has been documenting and overseeing the yardwork and there is progress! I can’t see the vision yet, it’s still too early, but I see enough to have hopes it’ll be good. Sort of. Working on that optimism.
4. I appreciated the highlight of our work for the Lakota Families. I’m working on one last family’s needs as we speak!
5. Target has two offers right now that may come in handy: 10% off a single purchase through December 12 and 10% off gift cards this weekend December 5 and 6.
Challenges this week: My hands are still swollen and it’s unclear why. I’m experimenting again to see if it’s dietary or other reasons. But I should probably just let it go and work with what I can do, practice that not dwelling on the negatives thing.
Grumbles: We had a referral from a friend and ordered our meal from Good Eggs this year. While most of our selections were good, the brussels sprouts dish was pretty bad. I think they forgot to actually season ours…
I absolutely didn’t skip Black Friday and Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday on purpose. The only thing I remembered to do was order some things for our final Lakota family of the year (yay). I had zero time or energy to see if there was anything we could save on for the rest of us (boo). I had every intention of picking up some book gifts through bookshop.org because they had free shipping and simply … could not. But we did buy books from our local shop directly for holiday gifts a few weeks ago so I’m going to let myself off the hook on this score. I knew I’d be exhausted going into this holiday season and that’s why I made such a point of completing gifts early.
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December 1, 2020
Problem-solving
I see evidence of JB attempting to solve problems in very five year old kinds of ways. If one stool helps you reach up high, surely two stools stacked on top of each other is better? Until a resounding crash ensues, where they call out: I’M OK! JUST A LITTLE BLOOD BUT I AM TOUGH!
I see a variation on this theme later when they offered to fetch things from my closet and those things include a sweater hung on the top closet rod: a different stool stacked atop the previous base seems to have worked.
“I cleaned up the crumbs!” they shout from the other room. I’m not sure what that means until I come out and find the small dustpan filled with crumbs set near the garbage bin. They couldn’t empty it into the bin without making a mess.
Instead of “good morning”, JB says…
“Wake up sleepies, the early cats get the fish!”
“Mommy, if you die, baby dies.”
“Do you remember your dreams? MY best dream was …”
Kindergarten is …
Their 13 year old playmate asked: how’s kindergarten, what do you like?
JB: Kindergarten is boring. We just learn one letter a day. I already know my letters! My favorite part are the videos.
It’s sad but true. They like kindergarten because it’s easy and fun and they can sort of socialize in the sense that they see other people. But academic learning? Nah. That’s really not happening.
They are picking up a slew of DELIGHTFUL habits from the teacher though: complaining every flerken day about being tired and how hard things are and how much they wish they could be back in the classroom. 🙄🙄
I can’t stand their teacher. (more…)
November 30, 2020
Week 36 of COVID in the Bay Area.
Week 36, Day 248: I can’t believe that I made it to 7 pm without needing to cuss out someone at work. That’s a first for all Mondays nearly this entire year. Here’s hoping that it isn’t just deferred to tomorrow though I know there’s one specific email that’s going to piss me off when I get around to it.
We had homemade meatballs and sauce from last weekend ready to go for lunch today, and leftovers from yesterday’s Japanese curry dinner was our dinner tonight so on the meals front, we were very pleased with not having to think very much about it. JB doesn’t actually like eating the meatballs very much but they love making them so I promised they could make the next batch.
PiC did the Costco run this evening to make sure we’re stocked up on staples as we see the curve of COVID cases start to trend upwards again. Brave soul. He brought me the large bag of clementines I was craving.
Our Penzey’s gift cards arrived today! I’m gifting one to a friend and this will complete the last of the holiday gifts I intend to deal with this year.
Week 36, Day 249: I caved over the weekend and decided yes, we should order in our Thanksgiving meal this year. I’m just too tired to cook our usual feast which I normally love to do.
PiC would happily volunteer to do all the cooking and then end up stressed, and grouchy in the kitchen trying to do all the recipes I have practiced but he has not all these years and no one would have a good day. He can and does cook just fine but the pleasure of creating a full Thanksgiving meal is something I’ve hogged to myself making it all unfamiliar territory for him. I’d rather spend the money and order in this year so we can all take some time to just be together and rest and not have us be a play of one harassed parent and one harassed cook.
I texted a friend for a referral code to Good Eggs which gave us $25 off for our dinner. That covered all the fees off the five dish order. It’s definitely too much food but I don’t care, we’re going to enjoy those leftovers! We also ordered a pie from a local bakery.
What are your favorite Thanksgiving foods? Did you enjoy any of them this year?
Week 36, Day 250: We’ve been avoiding people as usual but because of the yardwork, PiC has been exposed to people who aren’t masking properly when they’re talking to him. Our GP was happy to set up a COVID test for him and since he mentioned I was also not feeling 100%, she went ahead and set me up with a test order too. I love our GP.
We can’t be seen until the weekend, which is fine, I’m just grateful we don’t need to jump through a million hoops to make a test happen. It should be this easy for everyone.
Week 36, Day 251: February 1st was the last time we dined out at a restaurant, and March 7 was the last time we attended a social event with friends. It’s really weird to think about those specific dates as lasts this year. We barely remember what happened in January. We have no real anticipation of when we’ll be able to do any of those things again either. It’s such a weird time right now.
I still get travel deal emails and while I am absolutely not getting on a plane in the foreseeable future, I had a moment of wondering: what fabulous luxury vacation would I want to take in the far off future when that kind of thing is possible again?
Pre-COVID, I hoarded points and miles for a possible fantasy trip to Japan for a few weeks. I wasn’t sure how I’d make that happen but I wanted to have the points and miles to burn. I’d imagined we would eat our way around the country, meeting up with some friends in the cities and outlying countryside. I really do travel on my stomach. Now it just feels like getting as far as being on the plane safely would be a big accomplishment and adventure!
But maybe we could go somewhere balmy and warm and islandy with cocktails and the ocean and time to just read and be. Well, no, that’s not going to be how our vacations look for a very long time with two kids in tow but maybe something LIKE that is vaguely possible.
Do you have any travel yearnings right now?
Week 36, Day 252: I do not have Zoom fatigue the way most people have it. I have too many calls with humans fatigue which is a far bigger circle. I also have people fatigue. Because we don’t have enough to do, we need to spend time fixing the FSA account allotment. We checked on our options since we cannot use up the remaining balance and at the end of that conversation, they were told to leave it alone for now.
Naturally someone then decided to take the initiative and changed our election amount to an arbitrary new dollar amount that’s less than the amount already approved for payment this year. Not helpful!
:: How was your week?
November 27, 2020
1. Actual cold has set in. We always have cool temps around the 60s but it’s now down to the 40s-50s range which is Cold for me. And I am ever so grateful that the money we’re paying for running the furnace isn’t just thrown away because we actually get warm air all through the house now! Yes this isn’t new anymore but I still appreciate it every day we run it.
2. All holiday gifts have been purchased, and almost all of them have been wrapped and delivered. I WIN!
3. We found a local Japanese curry place and a) they are taking lots of precautions (take out and delivery only, phone and online orders only, masks required, no indoor dining) which makes me so happy to support them and b) their food is delicious and makes me doubly happy to support them and my belly’s needs at the same time. Absolutely delightful!
Challenges this week: Brain fog. So much tired and brain fog.
4. I FINALLY got our mortgage loan number and our online account set up so I could pay the next bill. It only took 6 weeks, 19 emails, and 3 phone calls. Why did they have to make it so hard for us to pay?? The refinancing bank immediately sold our loan, that’s why.
But YIPPEE for getting that set up and paid, finally! I was getting extremely squirrely.
5. I decided to add the Target RedCard to our wallets. We previously mostly shopped them with gift cards but lately we’ve had to use them more for staples that we can’t get elsewhere. It made sense to use their credit card for that 5% discount and the better return window.
It also helps stretch our donation dollars further when we buy for other people like our Lakota Families.
6. We braved Costco the Sunday before Thanksgiving to stock up on a couple weeks’ worth of essentials and we made it out intact! You should have seen it there. You’d be proud too.
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November 24, 2020
In Update #18, pre-pandemic, I was talking myself around to being less irritable about the rental. This is supposed to be a long term investment, we were relying on the cashflow to cover the costs and the little left over to build up a buffer to cover long term costs. This property was the first brick, a cornerstone, of a decades-long investment strategy starting in 2015. I had grand plans.
However.
We started 2020 with clearing out the absolute shambles left behind by Tenant 2. I emptied out the coffers and added more money out of pocket to renovate the entire place from top to bottom. That was a lot of money and a lot of work even just to oversee from afar and I had hopes of a good fresh start.
Tenant 3 seemed lovely on paper. They had stable jobs which was nice and we were finally charging market rate.
Then the pandemic shut downs began.
Then the neighbors started being horrific trolls.
Then Tenant 3’s jobs needed them to move.
Then the PM wanted to quit managing the property because of reasons that I am almost positive are simply code for racism (or laziness).
Insert a very long sigh and some cursing and more sighing.
I finally admitted that I am not only not enjoying this investing venture anymore, I kind of hate it. I hate the PM’s inability to communicate clearly, I hate their refusal to manage in the way that I asked. I hate the HOA and their non-responsiveness to tenant issues and to my emails and the constant violation notices for the smallest of infractions. I hate dealing with people, period.
Everything about this experiment forced me out of my comfort zone. While that was a good learning experience, it turns out that everything about this type of investing rubs me the wrong way.
I did some initial research on both sides. I searched for a new PM and talked to my original broker to suss out the market. It seemed like a pandemic would be a terrible time to sell but the initial conversations suggested that it’s good enough.
After the broker did a thorough walk through, I made the decision that it was absolutely ok to simply not want to do this anymore. Luckily, financially, it can also make sense to sell now.
I gave the broker the go ahead and the man went to WORK. He had that property listed by the next business day, and held ten showings the day after that. We had offers in hand that night. I was stunned. Happy but stunned! We had a brief ten minute conversation and chose an offer to accept.
We had to have an appraisal, negotiate on the results of that appraisal, have an inspection done, and then finalize the details of the offer. I must have e-signed half a dozen addendums. Then we had a notary come out and I whipped through those forms.
Until the end, it all moved really quickly. We got stuck the week of closing on some incorrect demand statements from the local utilities and I had to spend about 6 hours that week sorting out the various utilities and talking the escrow officer through the discrepancies because I wasn’t going to wait around for my payment for 3-5 more days when we were so close to the finish line!
From the day I officially told our broker to list the place to the day we closed: exactly 7 weeks.
I will love…
Not dealing with the HOA anymore.
Not paying bills associated with the rental anymore.
Not dealing with the PM’s constant phone calls, instead of texts and emails as I had insisted we conduct business from DAY ONE.
Not dealing with the PM’s excuses for processing payments late even when the tenants pay on time.
Not dealing with the PM’s inability to proactively communicate.
Not having to vet new tenants.
Not having to drop everyone to deal with someone else’s broken utilities or appliances.
Not having to maintain a cash reserve for the rental.
The feeling of FREEDOM from this rental is glorious!
With glee, I happily deleted the scheduled payments for the HOA, the line items for the rent and the mortgage in my annual cashflow spreadsheet, and the rental mortgage off our net worth. I transferred the rental’s cash reserves back to our accounts since I had saved a full year of mortgage and HOA payments specifically for the pandemic out of pocket and it “owed” us about $10K in repairs anyway.
I suppose it’s possible that when I don’t have a full time job, one and a half kids, and two dogs to take care of, I might want to try some kind of ethical real estate ownership again but for now…
“So long, farewell
Auf Weidersehen, goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye”