In January we didn’t have a mortgage to worry about and we took a spur of the moment trip to the Sierra Nevada for a weekend getaway for the MLK holiday weekend. While I usually dislike spur of the moment money spending, this trip to the snow was exactly what we needed as a family; just a few days out of our house in new surroundings doing absolutely nothing. Somehow we managed to stay in the black this month despite…
The other day I was going over my expenses and admiring my low transportation costs. How have I have gotten so lucky that my transportation costs are only 8% of my household monthly expense? That’s pretty good considering how much it costs to commute out here in the Bay Area. Tracing back my path to this point, I realized that it’s sheer luck that my transportation expenses are so low. Okay, maybe not 100% luck, but it definitely feels like…
December finances…we ended up spending more than we have in quite a while last month. It’s always annoying to see our expenses fly through the roof after doing well for a period, but this is life, I tell myself. I’d like to think our budget-busting was for good reason. Our home refinance went through and relinquished the January mortgage payment, and they ended up loaning too much to pay off the old escrow account. So a check for $2,000 was…
My money consists mostly of tiny black illuminated numbers on a computer screen and a plastic card I wave around in exchange for goods. Sometimes I’ll get a letter in the mail and my money numbers will be printed on an official piece of paper, but these balance numbers will be old and inaccurate. It’s far better to use a computer or phone to interact with my money. It’s phantom money after all. It shoots around the world at the…
It’s been a long time since I can remember a year where I’ve experienced so much while doing so little. I always thought an abundance of choices in life was what gave us the most room to grow and define ourselves. Yet, this year, this 2020, it’s the lack of everything that has defined me. The lack of travel, the lack of drinking, the lack of visiting friends, the lack of work. The lack of choice has irrevocably altered my…
I wake up twice every morning. The first time I wake up is at 4 am. This is the time I like to wake up. My alarm is set to this time. If I can will myself out of bed at 4 am, I’ll have time to meditate and sit at my kitchen table to slowly drink my morning coffee, maybe even get in some reading or writing before heading out. The second time I wake up is at 4:30…
In November, we reduced our after-tax auto investments into Vanguard by 80%. While it stung a bit to reduce these investments, seeing my Wells Fargo checking account fill back up felt even better. Mrs. Disengaged especially likes the “cash cushion” and I’m a happy wife happy life subscriber. Now that we’ve eased the cash burden from some of our fall escapades, we will reengage our typical weekly investment amount starting this first week of December. Not to mention a bit…
The construction industry is unique in that we purposefully and dutifully work ourselves out of a job as fast as we can. That’s the goal. When a job is complete, the project team disperses across the company and new teams are formed. This constant churning allows me to become somewhat accustomed to change, not that the same nervous feeling ever goes away when it’s time to walk into a new office and meet my new team. I just know the…
Winter and Thanksgiving are upon us. It’s a spendy time of the year for the entire world. Black Friday on this side of the world, and Singles Day in the most populous country in the world. In the Bay Area, daily highs this time a year hang out around the 50’s and 60’s with lows in the 40’s to ’30s. More than cold enough for this Californian to warrant the use of my fireplace. Usually, winter holidays mean getting together…
I live 42 miles from downtown San Francisco where I’ve worked for the vast majority of my career. My commute on average is 3 hours a day. 1 hour in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. This equates to 32.5 days of commuting a year. I believe I’m being as efficient as possible with my money by choosing to live in a “cheaper” suburb, but is commuting to work really the most optimal way to live in a high…