Monthly Review: January 2019

So the big news this month was the 10 day Hawaiian adventure I went on for $725! (Yep those blue letters will give you the full scoop)

Luckily while all that fun was being had my money was all business and the markets were being kind. We bounced back almost $20k this month and getting dangerously close to another major non-important financial milestone… $300K!

I also racked up over $200 worth of free food in under 24 hours which landed me in Forbes…I really should write this stuff up more often #WorstBlogger

Of course I couldn’t eat all that food myself so my co-workers enjoyed some and I still ended up with a haul of leftovers.

Now let’s break down just how it all unfolded.

Income: $7452.91

Nothing to see here but standard income. No extra per diem or work trip pay this month.

Expenses: $3778.95

What the what?! How does someone who claims to be so frugal spend almost four grand??

It’s actually pretty simple. I got a Southwest card that came with a free companion pass after meeting the minimum spend of $4k. I started looking for things that I knew I’d have to spend anyway but that could be front loaded.

• $1,500 for 1 years worth of child sponsorship to the Mexican orphanage I support

• Flight to Mexico

• Flight to Austin

• Several months of Netflix

On top of that I had several Hawaii expenses like helicopters, kayaks, rental cars, high end camera lens and four seasons dining… I guess this is how people spend $40k+ per year

Going Out: $64.11

Wait.. Didn’t you spend 10 days in Hawaii? Indeed I did and you can go read that article to get the full breakdown of how we got by so cheap on food but several stops at priority pass lounges, free breakfast at Hiltons and always being prepared with food containers all played a big part.

It wasn’t all scraps though. We were careful to pick and choose value like this fancy meal overlooking the oceans at the Four Seasons restaurant that sat me back $21.95 for my portion including some local beer.

Honestly though, that maple bacon we were served at the Hilton breakfast in Kauai might have been my favorite flavor of the trip but there was also garlic ahi tuna, fantastic tacos, and of course shaved ice.

Groceries: $63.69

I was on the road a good bit this month but the grocery bill stayed pretty average because in Hawaii we decided to buy groceries for several of our meals.

I did score a ton of free groceries from a friend that I helped move into storage for a deployment!

What tastes better than free?

Oh yea and I dropped $10 on a new container of truffle salt. I HIGHLY recommend getting some good quality truffle salt to add a nice kick to lots of recipes with just a little pinch.

Bills: $2571.51

Bills were pretty standard with the ones below and a couple other but the Mexico Sponsorship and Netflix were both annual prepay situations.

• Rent $837.50

• Car Insurance $49.32

• Internet $35

• 1 Yr Mexico Sponsorship $1,500

• Prepay Netflix $79.75

Travel: $560.88

The travel breakdown for the month.

• Air BnB for Mexico $17 (Giftcard covered the other $80)

• Hawaii Kayak adventure $50

• Hawaii Helicopter Tour $187.20

• Rental car $91.24

• Flight to Austin $103.30

• Flight to Mexico $103.39

Miscellaneous: $402.05

The biggest expense I had was a $288 wide angle lens for my DSLR but I think we already got a ton of value from it on the Hawaii trip.

Other items include

• Shoes $37

• Protein $31

• Book $14.65

• All Trails app $15

• Stain $15.46

That $15 stain along with some free materials for my buddy made perfect standing desk topper that allows me to record the podcast in a nice clean space.

Gas:  $126.65

This is way more than normal but we did a ton of driving in Hawaii. We would wake up at daylight and hit the road to really maximize our time. It also didn’t help that we got upgraded to a huge luxury SUV in Kauai without our request.

Big Picture: Net Worth Increase $23,238 to $292,571

Thank goodness for a bounce back. After dropping $26k in December, we’re back within arms reach of the elusive $300k milestone. I’m getting more and more comfortable with volatility which is so important to avoid emotions turning into terrible financial decisions.