December Budget Review
Monthly Review: December 2020 - 90% Savings Rate
Lets quickly hit the big events from December:
Paddle Boarding in the Swamp
Another Trip to Mississippi
Dave Chapelle + Joe Rogan Comedy Show
Kolby Cooper Concert
Great Home Cooking
Round of Golf
Booked Utah Ski Trip
Booked Spartan Race
Every time I look back at a month to write these, I’m shocked. I totally forget how much we see and do every month.
Day to day it certainly doesn’t feel that way. Working, living, eating all from home can feel very repetitive at times. I think we’ve just set such a high bar for activity that a week straight at home can make you question if you’re getting old and boring. I’m probably too hard on myself though.
Above you see a shot of me trying out the kayak mode of my new stand up paddleboard at Caddo State Park on the Louisiana/Texas border. It was a swampy but gorgeous area…maybe we are still adventurous. after-all.
There’s plenty going on this month. Beyond the swamps, there was time with family in Mississippi, concerts, good eating and an amazing stand up comedy experience. We got to see Dave Chapelle and Joe Rogan perform together!
I can’t give you all the details at once though…Let’s break down all the details.
After-Tax Income: $15,417
Happy to see a higher than normal income month come in around the holidays. Christmas always brings some extra expenses but luckily I had some variable income land to offset things.
Expenses: $1,494.87
At one point while living in Boston, I thought that any month under $2k was a solid win. Now, with low rent and limited outings…this actually feels like a huge splurge of a month.
There was some big ticket entertainment expenses, Christmas presents, paddleboard, and more so I think it’s all going to seem worth it.
Alrighty let’s break this down by category.
Going Out: $38.29
This month would see lots of good eating but most of it was home-cooking.
We did go out and eat once with each of my parents though. With my mom I got some good ole fried catfish fillets. Mississippi is where diets go to die but that’s ok.
With my dad, we hit up a hillbilly wing shack that even had a range of performers. It was an experience…I’ll say that much.
Free Brazilian Steakhouse Retirement Dinner
Speaking of dining experiences…the next one was one for sure. Me and Leslie get a lot of mail from old residents at our little condo. One was a postcard that mentioned a retirement dinner.
It mentioned that anyone nearing retirement was welcome to register. I assume they meant folks a bit older than us but technically we are nearing retirement, so I thought why not try.
It turns out that after listening to an hour presentation on index annuities, we were able to actually have a nice dinner with all the prime cuts of meat we wanted for free. We even decided to get dressed up and make it a real date night. Don’t take yourself too seriously, life is a lot more fun that way.
Secret Date Night
Leslie planned a secret date night at this beautiful property in Austin. It was technically free for the event that had music and fire-pits going, but she also pre-ordered us a pizza.
We do our best to keep an eye out for events like this to mix things up. We both work from home in our tiny 375 sq foot apartment and that means we have to get out as much as we can to stay sane.
The actual expenses I saw from this category came from a few drinks at a country concert, a pizza, and a giant cinnamon roll from the coolest gas station in America: Buc-ee’s.
Imagine a truckstop with 100+ gas pumps but no truckers are allowed. Filled with homemade bbq, pastries, beef jerky, and everything in the world with their beaver mascot printed on it. It’s an experience if you’re ever in Texas.
The total break-down for eating out this month was:
Cowboys: $5.20
Dominos: $4.75
Bucees: $4.15
Groceries: $71.80
Chocolate Gravy: It’s a Family Tradition
While maybe it is unfair to post pictures of food that I didn’t buy on a grocery run, I think it’s important to highlight some of the great home-cooking that December provided.
Above is my mom’s famous chocolate gravy. This dish is hyper local to certain pocket of the south. North Mississippi loves chocolate gravy but this particular recipe is the best.
It sounds weird but I think Leslie actually described the flavor the best. It’s like eating a chocolate chip pancake that has LOTS of chocolate chips.
Chocolate gravy isn’t the only good home-cooking I had though. During a guy’s weekend with one of my buddies, we got to take his new pellet smoker for a spin.
Man these ribs were fine! I’d put them up against any restaurant’s offerings. May have to splurge and get me one if we ever have a little more room outside.
We did have to buy our own food and pitch in for some Thanksgiving groceries we had last month. Here’s the full list.
Full grocery cost breakdown:
HEB: $9.89
HEB: $9.04
HEB: $2.69
HEB: $16.56
Thanksgiving: $7.54
Walmart: $3.65
Randalls: $4.98
Bills: $385.56
I imagine this will be about what my typical set of standard bills comes out to be every month.
One new monthly expenses is paying dividends. That’s the monthly membership we bought to the Cidery / Arcade (named CiderCade) that sits right next to our apartment.
For $16 a month we get unlimited use of the arcade and waterfront patio. If we ever get cider, we get it to-go in a growler. Much cheaper, and we really just come for the games anyways.
The full set of bills were:
Rent - $275.00
Internet - $15
Spotify - $10
Car Insurance - $49.32
Cidercade: $16.24
Travel & Entertainment: $461.34
Alrighty…something big must have happened. I hadn’t had travel expenses this high since the pandemic started.
Dave Chapelle + Joe Rogan = Comedy Heaven
The biggest driver of this category was definitely Dave Chapelle and Joe Rogan stand up comedy.
It was $291.86 per person…..
I was certainly shocked when I talked myself into it but I knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. That’s what saving this money is all about.
I was able to fight off the bots and score a table for eight of us. The venue was tiny and we ended up getting moved up even closer than where we started. In the end, I was five feet from the stage and will never forget that experience.
Money well spent.
Looking for Wild Gator
Our Christmas lists this year were both extremely simple.
Paddle Boards…the end
Thats all we wanted. You’ll see a $150 charge later on in the random category for mine. I basically took all the money I got for Christmas and put towards it. The $150 was what I ended up needing to pay out of pocket.
As mentioned in the intro, the place were we took our first voyage was Caddo Lake State Park. This swampy wonderland was a perfect place to test things out. We got temps up around 70 and the winds were low.
We camped out at the state park which was actually a nice stopping point on our roadtrip from Mississippi back to Austin. We pre-made burritos for our journey which made for a great meal reheated over a campfire.
More Country Concerts of Course
New month, new concert. This time around it was in San Antonio to see one of the younger names on the Texas Country charts, Kolby Cooper.
As always, give em a spin on Spotify.
Making Friends at 30
I’m very lucky to have some friends around Texas. Like my buddy who I say that concert with in San Antonio. Actually, my best friend lives in Dallas. Unfortunately, even though they’re in driving distance, I don’t really have any friends in the close proximity.
So Leslie encouraged me to lean into some of those apps that allow you to search for friends. So far, I’ve made two really solid friends this route.
This month, one friend actually invited me to do a little RC Crawling. This is like the rock crawling I used to get to do in Colorado with my Suzuki Samurai, except this time with small remote control cars.
Online friend apps and driving remote control cars may sound silly to you, but open yourself up a bit. Highly recommend both.
Fighting Homelessness Sustainably
I’m not really sure this activity belongs in this category but I for sure wanted to highlight it.
We went to an arts and crafts sale taking place at a property/organization called Community First. This plot of land is covered with really creative tiny homes. They are there in hopes of building a community to end homelessness.
Members get responsibilities and even jobs via the property. It gives the members something to be proud of and feels so much more sustainable than simply letting people camp in the city.
If you need a new program to donate to, give them a look!
Mississippi Roadtrip
Last, but certainly not least, was our roadtrip back to Mississippi for Christmas. I still wake up every Christmas morning in my childhood bedroom and have my dad come over first thing to open presents.
It’s dorky but it’s what we do and I love it. Let me know distract you from making fun of me and instead appreciate this great photo of Leslie with a horse on my dad’s farm.
I also booked flights to Utah for skiing. Utilized some Frontier vouchers I had so my cost was only $63 and I also snuck in a round of golf down in San Antonio.
The full list of expenses for travel and entertainment were:
Kolby Cooper Concert: $18.50
Dave Chapelle + Joe Rogan: $291.86
Utah Flight: $63.20
Golf: $32.00
Spartan Race: $28.78
Caddo Lake State Park: $27.00
Miscellaneous: $479.83
This category is largely dominated by presents for others and some out of pocket expense for the paddle board. I generally try to pick up presents throughout the year so they don’t all pile up at once.
So no… I didn’t only buy Leslie $80 or my mom $10 worth of stuff, it’s just what showed up this month.
There’s a picture of the paddle-board all folded up in it’s backpack. The things are incredibly stable and it’s hard to believe they’re actually inflate-able.
Here’s the complete list of random purchases this month:
Leslie Christmas: $20.50
Leslie Christmas: $59.13
Batteries: $8.64
USB: $7.52
Mom’s Christmas: $10.82
Caanan Gift: $37.88
Secret Santa: $15.89
Jacket: $43.29
BN Republic: $62.33
Paddleboard: $150
Home Depot: $2.59
Lowes: $2.94
GRID: $3.53
Charger: $3.20
Hayes Gift: $17.35
Walmart: $18.25
Return: -$43.16
Gas: $58.06
Another big roadtrip but when splitting gas costs on a car that gets 40mpg. Things are still pretty cheap.
Big Picture: Net Worth Increase $40,853 to $689,098
I’d be lying if I said all these sudden gains don’t make me nervous but here we are. In October I was anxiously awaiting the crossing of the $600k mark and now I’m already closing in on the $700k threshold.
Remember, all you can control is your spending and earning, your net-worth is what it is.
This month I saved $13,923 while the market gained me $26,930 for a total net-worth increase of $40,853
