Considering the month of July is almost over, it's probably time to update my June expense report here. While I would have liked to just skip going through the details at this point since the month is weeks past, the accountability of this blog makes sure that I still do it, even when I'm really…
Well, I think I had some unfounded hope at the last quarterly update back in April that things would be more back to normal by now, but they clearly aren't. COVID cases here in the United States are higher than ever, and I'm concerned what 4th of July gatherings are going to do to them…
COVID-19, protests over police brutality, continually high unemployment, and a looming recession (but hopefully not a depression). May, and all of 2020 thus far, has been a wild ride, and it appears that the uncertainty will be with us for a while yet. Thankfully, we are very, very lucky to have our jobs right now,…
April's spending looked pretty similar to March, and both looked very different from months prior. COVID-19 spending looks like food, drink, and housing expenses, with very little else. While this might change a little bit through the summer months, I expect things to look pretty similar for much of the year. When travel isn't really…
March was the first full month that our lives were entirely impacted by the Coronavirus, and this financial update clearly shows how different the month looked than previous ones. April will look different yet again, and it's hard to know right now what the rest of the year will bring. For the same reason that…
Going through our February expenses was a serious trip back in time. I really, really didn't have my heart into while reviewing credit card statements this month, because February feels so long ago. Even earlier in March feels like long ago. One thing I'll say for this global pandemic thing - weeks and months feel…
January was a month we'd expected would be an expensive one, since the majority of our Iceland trip landed then. We also had our "second Christmas" with my in laws in January thanks to the sickness that pushed off celebrating on the actual day. Even so, July was a more expensive month with our dog's…
And with that, it's a wrap on 2019 and the second full year I've tracked our expenses to the last dollar. I feel like maybe I should be more frustrated that we ended our year short of a fifty percent savings rate - even short of last year - but I'm really not. I would…
We had dinner last Wednesday night with our old neighbor's family while we were in Austin, and it turns out that his sister works in finance. We had some great conversations in general and I really liked her (and the kiddo had a great time with her two girls), but one comment really stuck with…
At this point, we are absolutely not going to hit a 50% savings rate again this year, though we should be above the 40% mark. Much more than last year, I'm actually okay with that. I expect that we will hit that savings rate eventually (or, at least, when we stop paying for childcare), but…