I've had so many plans of providing periodic life updates but alas, here we are.
My mood is for the most part still really good. What a weird year. Hit my highest net worth, and gross salary. But also my lowest emotional point - I bought a pistol permit and made a plan to end my life!
I still think money can buy happiness, though. That hasn't waivered.
I'm feeling good and I don't seem to capture those moments quite as well as the sad ones.
I think financially, I'm feeling really confident.
Emotionally - I'm fatigued. I'm tired of thinking. I'm tired of managing my emotions. I'm tired of planning for them. I'm tired of anticipating them. Despite all my regrets, I really just did the best I could. I think I just have to live with the fact that I'm just going to make weird choices when I'm emotionally charged because all I want to do is not feel that thing.
More on that..maybe.
Something funny happened. I did a quick search for some vegan treats and landed on a listicle of online vegan bakeries. I picked one called The Naughty Cookie since I wasn't limited to just 1 or 2 flavors. Well each time I visited their website, I would get an offer for 10% off if I handed over my email address. So I finally did, since I am quite a consumer this holiday season. When I finally decided to buy the cookies yesterday, there was no promo code to be found. I even submitted my email address a few times. Clearly this is a small business.
Well this morning, I wake up and apparently they captured my movements because they sent me an email that I had stuff in my cart still and would give me 10% off if I checked out. Of course I did! That's exactly what I wanted!
The other thing I'm really happy I bought was the cleaning service. I've been casually considering it since moving into The House but for different reasons never got around to it. Well about $300 later, I have a VERY clean house and it makes me so happy! I think I realized one reason I was hesitant to invite people over was because I never wanted to do a deep clean. So in my future life when my future husband comes to visit, I know just what to do. There's nothing like hosting people with the confidence of a clean house! And when they leave, I can have the cleaners come back! (This is of course fantasy because I currently have no one to invite over.)
And you want to know the best part! Well after I reached that OASDI limit, my paycheck increased by about $300. So that money was almost like 'free' money...well at least money I didn't know I had coming. So that is awesome.
And I think even though I'd try to set lower limits, I lost track of all my clothes shopping at Old Navy so I won't be too mad if it ends up being about $300. Which really isn't that much money. There are 3 pairs of leggings I'm not sure about which is only like $36 total but the big concern is I don't go anywhere so I'm just storing it up to collect dust! But anyway, I think everything at this point should be less than $300.
Oh well, I'm also giving myself permission to spend all my allowance this month. All of it!
Yesterday I moved some money around in preparation for 2023's financial tracking. I benefit from the buckets at this point. Before my savings strategy was simpler because it was just save as much as possible and live off the rest. Now I'm trying to spend more because I can (plain and simple), so I'm still trying to find the balance. I moved from - can I afford this? Should I get this?...to now it's more... do I want 1 or 3 of these things? When I go on vacation..it's not if I should go but more...how long do I want to stay?
I have to now remember to remind myself, this is unchartered territory and it's okay not to know! I think that's why I still scour FIRE blogs. It's less out of strategy and how-to...and more into...now what? How do I enjoy this money in a way that makes sense and is sustainable (especially given I have no desire to live forever).
There is still a part of me that feels like I'm going to be punished for being boastful or prideful. But haven't I been punished enough?
I know this year I declared no signs, and no destiny, but old habits die hard.
So what I started to say was in my moving money around... I realized I like the buckets. For me this is my version of giving my money a job. Now that my savings and spending strategy is more complex, I'm employing the buckets. I went so far as to rename my accounts so I could remember exactly what they're for.
I technically still have 4 bank accounts, but now they have more of a purpose:
Bank 1- local bank, for check/ cash deposits, and just to have something local if needed
Bank 2 - Hub
Bank 3 - holds checking account for recurring bills and home for Emergency Fund (~8k)
Bank 4 - on its way out; the plan is to leave $5 in each account and once my CD matures, I'm moving it over to Bank 3 for the rest of my Emergency Fund. I'm only keeping it because it's the bank tied to my iBonds and there's not an easy way to change that at the moment.
Bank 5 - whoops...I guess there are 5...this is my churning bank for bank bonuses. I cleaned that out too. But I think I'll store my charity money there only because I didn't want to open yet another savings account with Bank 2!
Anyway, it's way too complex a system, but I'm working on it.
I keep getting sidetracked. So as I was finalizing my latest money moves, the thought came to me that I have about $5k left over with no expenses ear marked for it and I still have 2 paychecks for December coming. What if I went ahead and switched my 40lk contributions to 50% now (instead of waiting till January). When I did the math, I realized I would be too close to reaching the IRS limit of $61k for the year...but this morning I realized... I think payroll would stop it wouldn't they? I was also concerned about missing the full 6% match.
But this morning I redid the math, and I think I can do it...further more... I think I want to do it!
What's funny is when I looked at my netpay at the beginning of the year and now and the checks are the same. So 50% pre-tax contributions nets me about the same as 30-something percent post-tax. How about that! I think for now the easy choice is just to maximize tax-advantaged accounts first, so this will be fun!
Other Reflections (ala Frugalwoods style)
Career: I love working from home. I love the light workload I had this year and hope it continues. I love my total compensation. It's amazing. Money is such a big delineator. It's made me more hopeful for next year. The best part about is the work from home, the light workload, and the pay. My least favorite: I still don't know what I'm doing a lot of the time; fear that 'real work' will start and I'll lose everything; and working east coast hours when I'm on the west coast in the summer. In ten years, I hope to have reached millionaire status in the next 5 and either enjoying a light workload and a modified version of early retirement or be completely work-free by choice!
Lifestyle: I love working from home. I love that I can cope with a solo life. I've identified 2 regular players that I can't seem to shake, and I'm finally okay with it. The boundary is to just let them decide how much we should be each in other's life. I can't make any more decisions about that. I am excited to commit to 1 more year of therapy via my pre-paid FSA account. I love that I discovered the magic of professional housecleaning. I can't wait to explore other things I can outsource now that I have disposable income! I love that I get to explore this idea of being a 'summerbird' next year. As my counselor reminded me, my life has a lot of flexibility and I love that! In ten years, I would love to be in a long-term committed relationship, preferably a marriage. But I think I would be okay with long-distance and extended periods of togetherness for a little while. What I don't love is how sedentary I am. I wish I would stretch more, either get physical therapy, or figure out something to make my chronic arm pain and butt pain lessen. Next year, if the mood strikes, I want to outfit my home office. Now that I'm considering working 5 more years (as opposed to quitting), I am looking into getting an adjustable desk; a more ergonomic desk chair and a comfy couch for the office.
I asked myself what would make living in The House less horrible, and for me it was the pest problem and the maintenance. Orkin and Merry Maids solves some of that. I think as long as my workload stays manageable being able to have this home base will make being able to explore other areas also more manageable and likely.
Finances: I love where my finances are. I love that I have a default savings goal as I still navigate how to increase my spending and straddle the leanFIREd but still working mode I'm still in. I don't have any high priority plans to look for another/second job or even to climb the ladder at work. I'm fine where I am. I may change when I have new goals. I fear I may be short sighted and not sure whether I should plan for more, but all this future planning just isn't for me anymore. Considering I've been planning to end my life for quite a while now, it's really a dissonant effect to plan for the long-term while also planning to not live long. In ten years I hope to have at least 1.5 million dollars, but mostly I hope to reach a million within the next 5..really 4 if we count this year...really I hope to reach a million by age 42 (stretch goal, this age is when I thought I'd originally reach FIRE500 so how funny would it be to double that!).
So that's where we are. I think for my own amusement, I'm going to change my payroll contributions to 50% for my 401k for December. How fun!
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