Monthly Review: Nov 2019 - 83% Savings Rate

Lets quickly hit the big events from Nov:

1. Skiing Colorado

2. Rooftops & Concerts in Austin

3. Friendsgiving

4. We get a roommate/pet

5. Colorado Wedding

Now it’s time to get into the details:

Income: $11,518

This month had three paychecks instead of two.

Expenses: $1,951

If I’m under $2k, I’m not upset about it but Christmas pushed up the total pretty close. I’m totally ok with that though. It wasn’t me buying myself a bunch of crap. It was gifts and items for the house mostly.

We also got to spend a lot of time in Austin and Colorado so it was a fantastic month overall.

Going Out: $152.72

• Kome $7.58

• 9280 Tap House $6.50

• Total Wine $18.24

• Long Table $13.00

• King Soopers $10.79

• Fox Bros $9.12

• Dule Vida $14.00

• BK Belair $9.17

• Northside Tavern $8.00

• Benny’s $15.00

• Timberline Grill $8.64

• The Line $25.00

• Chicken Sammy $7.68

We had several awesome free meals yet again at the airport in Boston. First picture is actually one of the dinners we had after returning from a trip and you can scroll to the right to see a breakfast.

Groceries: $63.76

Eeh little higher than I anticipate going forward, but we had a house party.

• Target $3.73

• Stop n Shop $5.14

• Star Market $33.49

• King Soopers $2.35

• King Soopers $10.04

• Star Market $9.02

Most of our grocery expense was in relation to the house party we held. While we were in Austin, I was tempted to run this category up a little by bringing a bag full of sweet potatoes back.

Seven pounds for a dollar? Pure madness.

Bills: $1142.82

Bills were pretty standard this month but with the addition of Amazon Prime subscription.

• Rent

• Car Insurance

• Internet

• Cell Phone

• Gym Membership

• Amazon Prime

Travel: $124.39

Another crazy month on the road. These trips are what keep me going and also why I don’t understand the fear of living on less. We don’t cut back on the things we love at all. I’d say we do more than most people, regardless of budget.

Flights were booked prior to this month, actual costs for the month were:

• $57.15 Uber/Lyft

• $19.31 for Copper Chief Concert

• $47.94 for Rental Car in Denver

Slicing Slopes - Keystone, CO

I was lucky enough to get the Epic Pass for $150 with the military. This pass normally costs $939 and is only available certain times of the year. I convinced Leslie to get a version of the pass that was $700 with the promise we’d get her monies worth

Our first trip of this season was going to be to Keystone, CO. We already had our own gear as you can see with the giant gear bag Leslie is laying on. We rolled the dice and called a regular Uber and was blessed when a mini-van arrived.

When we actually arrived in Colorado, we did have a rough time dragging our gear around. We were staying with friends and didn’t need a rental car for a few days so we took the train -> bus -> walk route to their house.

But as you can see here and the landscape picture at the start of the article. Trekking our gear around was totally worth it. We didn’t have to pay for gear and our lift tickets had already been purchased. So now we just enjoy the slopes

Winter Wedding

The real reason for heading to Colorado in the first place was to attend a friend’s wedding. It actually turned out be incredible weather and was on a beautiful ranch.

And since we don’t get a chance to get dressed up that often. We may have taken the opportunity to go full photoshoot mode. This is my classic “there must be something exciting over on the other side of this large hay field” look.

Thankful for Texas

Every year for Thanksgiving we go down to Texas with Leslie’s family and then we do Christmas in Mississippi with my family.

We always go to some of her families land that are deer camps. Very rustic and off the beaten path. Things didn’t workout this year but we made the most of it with rooftop happy hours in Austin.

And when I’m in Texas… I see rowdy country music shows. Copper Chief put on a show and the venue was small enough to have no bad views but enough space to not be packed in tight.

Friendsgiving

We also had a big get together at our house with about 15 people. We made Sous Vide turkey sliders, rustic mashed potatoes, and some house drinks. It was a huge spread and we had leftovers all of the following week. No picture because, well I don’t feel like asking 15 people for permission ha.

Miscellaneous: $455.34

This category is much larger than normal or than I am comfortable with. I don’t like this category normally because it’s often a signal of buying stuff that can turn into dust collections.

But this month is different because a large part of it was either Christmas for others, or things I really needed.

The coolest was our new roommate/pet named Sharky. He’s a dedicated and loyal fella that cleans our house on command.

But here’s the full list of purchases

• Robo Vac $99.61

• Clothes $67.44

• Dad Chrimi $54

• Leslie Chrimi $146

• Dollar Tree $10.62

• Harness $45.25

• REI $20.40 ( literally lost these a week later :( … so sad)

• Game $5

• Steamer $7.03 (cashed in some amazon credits)

Gas:  $12.49

I pretty much never drive anymore and when I do it’s usually for work so the gas is covered.

Big Picture: Net Worth Increase $21,661 to $399,408

Wowza…. So stinking close to hitting the big 4-0-0.

Always fun to watch the front number roll over. Reminds me of watching my mom’s explorer every time it rolled closer to 400k miles.

Investments brought in $12,094 and income brought in the remaining $9,566