Ugh, I got a bill for $10 from Spectrum. I was ready for a fight with customer service, but luckily it wasn't necessary. I double-checked my account and I did in fact owe them $10. My budget app was showing I had paid them, but my actual bank account showed I had been refunded the extra $10. Phew!!!
I hate dealing with customer service people.
Anyway, I'm glad too that the struggle wasn't whether or not I had the $10 to pay. FIRE for the win!
Anyway, sometimes we forget the good systems we have going for ourselves. I know I do all the time. When things are running well, I forget to pat myself on the back. Some people still pay their bills every month with a check or log-in and pay.
I'm glad that my bills (and income) are consistent enough that I can put my bills on auto-pay right from my bank account. And the thing I do that I think is a little more efficient, is instead of logging into or setting up an account with each individual biller on their individual platforms (groan, more-logins), I just use the Bill Pay feature from my bank!
I helped set up a committee member with this and she has benefitted it. I have my rent/mortgage, internet and utilities on auto-pay with my bank's bill pay. And since it's the same amount every month, I have that amount automatically routed from my paycheck each month. (Plus a safety net cushion of course.)
I still attribute a large part of my financial awakening to that little bill pay window from my old credit union. It just had the nice tally of how much my bills for the month would be. That was my first taste of tracking expenses as a career lady.
I'd set up budgets before in grad school but it was mostly to balance the money because you got your student loan payments in lump sum. So I mostly needed to figure out how much I had to leave out for rent.
So yes, auto-pay works for me for expenses and savings.
And as I move away from aggressive savings/accumulation, I'm finding the multiple buckets helpful. I know at some point, I'm going to streamline that, but for now I have quite a few separate pots of money. Especially since I have this second life running concurrently with my working life.
Which brings me to my next topic. Travel.
I was watching Below Deck Adventure and it sparked some interest to get out of this house and go on some adventures. I've just had it in my mind that I can do a quick getaway to Cancun or Cabo for $600. But that has not been the case. In my most recent search, it seems that's maybe the price PER PERSON on a 2 person adventure. The cheapest I could get for an all-inclusive 3 night stay was a little less than $1500.
That's just not the cheap adventure I had in mind. So just another reminder of the premium I have to pay sometimes for solo life.
So looking at this trip, the Golden Girls trip to Antigua... I just can't seem to make international travel work this year.
Fifteen hundred dollars is not enticing in the least for a short trip to Mexico. I've been to Mexico twice already and I've been to the Caribbean before as well. Beach vacations just don't do it for me, I guess. I'll go for free, of course, but it's mostly the water sports that seem fun.
So I think it's a no for now on both trips.
I re-looked at Cairo, and I was at first really nervous that they wouldn't offer the independent trips again, and was actually just okay with it because... life. But then wouldn't you know - they popped back up for the new season. So I'll be right back here next year. But just like traveling itineraries, it's way too soon to book or think about life in 2024. Definitely no sooner than Q4 of 2023.
And then Gate1 was having a Valentine's day special, so I clicked just to see. Western Europe is not really on my bucket list unless it's a really good deal. Honestly, I'd probably go anywhere that felt like a really good deal. Well after clicking around, I could probably spend a long weekend on an independent trip to Paris. And if they had Wednesday departures left, probably would have impulse bought because I really want to do something fancy for my upcoming birthday. But there was only Saturday departures left and that would mean taking off 5 days of work vs 3. So it was a medium pass. The independent trip was around $1400, which is not too bad.
But then I looked at the fully escorted trip and there was a Paris trip that also visited 2 other countries. That piqued my interest. 3 countries in one trip! Yes, sign me up. And I don't have to do any of the planning. Yes, please! I was tempted but again the Wednesday departures were sold out. And 5 days could be okay, but 3 days off work would be better.
So if I had a list of trips, this would be on it.
But I don't.
I already have my plans for this year. And I'll be staying largely stateside.
But I'm open to a great deal. Right now the fully escorted trips on Gate1 will run me about $2500. And actually with my very generous $20k Lifestyle budget, I could afford to take quite a few of these. But probably not this year. And I'm surprisingly okay with this!
Welcome to middle age.
I re-read some old Root of Good posts. He actually reached millionaire status in 10 years. I don't have good records of my financial details before 2018, but I wonder if I could be a millionaire at the 10 year anniversary of my big girl job. That would put me at Sept 2025.
OMG, that's only like 2 to 2.5 years from now! How scary!
In Sep of 2025, I'll be 41. Wow. That used to seem so old, but now it's just 2 years away. Wow.
I'm getting used to this adult-years of timing. Even things I want to do... it just takes 2 years for stuff to happen. We have so much on our mental plate, that even though the number of hours in the day doesn't change, my desire and energy sure does.
Just speaking theoretically because I'm intentionally not making any concrete plans for 2024, but I am going to have to accept the reality that it'll take a while for me to travel with points or for me to get to a point where travelling with points will be fun. And until then, I'll be okay with having a very padded Lifestyle budget.
It was also nice to be reminded of someone else who chose a cheap house in a low cost of living area. So that they could re-purpose their spending for something else.
A nice lake and trails would be nice, but the ultimate priority is affordability.
I will say considering I hibernate in the winter anyway, I might be open to a new location if it's cheaper and offers a bit more in terms of amenities. Oh well, I'm not solving my housing problem anytime soon..... 2 years.
After the last few stressful Sundays trying not to think about work, I'm glad I didn't leave as much for Monday as I had. It feels better. Still nervous about a meeting on Tuesday, but I at least have a basic level of preparedness so I can go into the work week with just a smidge less dread.
Oh! I got some red pop from the dollar tree this afternoon. And it hit the spot! I splurged and bought a nice cold soda. I almost didn't see it because that store is a bit organized. But I know I'm not the only one who goes there for snacks because their inventory definitely sees a lot of turnover. It used to be a better kept store 3 years ago when I moved in, but now it looks just like every other sorry Dollar Tree. Oh well.
Kinda bummed I didn't make my Valentine's Day dinner and a movie happen, but there's still time.