January 17

$12 Fast Food

$0 Fuel 

Dinner:  Chickpea Tikka Masala (Instant Pot)

January 17th = UGH!

It was such a typical 2018/2019/2020 day for me.  What sums up these years is infinite disasters and emergencies, all very up/down, but usually nothing much comes of it.  

I made a comment to MH a few weeks ago, "It's a wonder that our parents can take care of themselves at all, any more."  Which I think sums it up pretty well.

Oh but first I do have to back up.  It was probably the best day I had in *years*.  It was so calm and peaceful.  The start of the day, anyway.  I took a very long nap (smart) and tackled some very long put off chores. 

In the morning I tried a new pancake recipe which came out great.  This was motivated when cleaning off the table and finding some syrup packets from some to-go dinner probably 10 months ago.  The pancakes were great and the syrup is gone.  Phew!

Just as I was gearing up post-nap for round 2 of chores my mom called to say she was at the hospital.  Which is horrifying by itself, but during a pandemic with mostly no ICU capacity...  This was just probably some of the worst news I could imagine.  My Dad had to wait for this week of all weeks, to end up in the hospital.

But I was probably more concerned about my mom, who is diabetic and is also not comfortable with driving (nor should she be driving).  She was stuck in the hospital parking lot.  I suppose I could have found someone (or she could have) to drive her home.  But I didn't know if I my Dad would end up hospitalized, so we dropped everything to get my mom taken care of and to give her some emotional support.  Is a 2-hour drive from my city to their city.

I had recently burned off the old gas in the hybrid and only put two new gallons in the car.  We quickly decided to just take the electric car.  Would get us there faster (no stops to fuel) and there would probably be some "Waiting around" anyway.  Figured MH could charge up the car while I took care of my mom.

In the end, my Dad got released about the time we got to their city (and was fine to drive).  Plan A was probably going to be to visit with my parents while MH charged the car. 

It took us about 20 minutes to get to my parents' house, after getting the news my Dad was free, which gave MH and I some time to talk it out and clear our heads.  My Dad just had been in a COVID-filled hospital, my mom must be exhuasted, and they are literally getting their vaccines in DAYS...  I decided not to go into their house at all.  Obviously drove all that way and visited with them briefly.  Just didn't stay long or go inside their house.

We left, grabbed some fast food and stopped at a charger we have stopped at before.  This time it was free if we just reserved ahead.   We needed to eat and I appreciated the pause and time out.  It was 9pm at that point and we got home around 11pm.

I don't really know what is going on with my Dad.  He has heart problems and so overall nothing new.  They resolved pretty quickly (about 6 hours) with meds. 

{Dinner side note: MH had been in the middle of cooking dinner, so handed off to the kids to finish preparing}.

We had some other dramas on this day that made it very 2018/2019/2020. & we had many more days like this in 2019.  It's just been a little more calm on this front (2020) with my Dad home 24/7 and my mom needing less assistance from me.  MH and I have been bonding over this because in 2019 we had often been traveling together to take care of our parents.  Or when I was too buried with work stuff, MH would just go take care of all of them.  If he was helping his parents with stuff, might as well check on my parents too.  We were talking about it recently (it's a wonder they can survive on their own) because his parents were being particularly needy a few weeks ago. 

January 15

NSD

Dinner:  Hearty Penne Beef

MH was sad that there was no leftovers with last night's dinner (read beans and rice).  It was *10* servings.  I don't know if there was any left at lunch time, but I did see MM(17) take two *giant* bowls that night.  & it was all gone by the next night.  Both kids are going through a growth spurt, plus MM(17) is also training more for track these days.  There's some element of always feeling like we feed way more than 4 people (and have doubled most of our recipes in recent years).  But...  It's probably been kind of quiet for a few month.  Sports plus a double growth spurt is a lot.  Both kids are definitely taller this week.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

January 16

NSD

Dinner:  Indian spiced lentils (crockpot)

This is a dinner that makes a lot.  MH was hopeful that maybe this meal would last more than a day.  Fingers crossed.

It's hard to guage because everything is so weird.  But...  I don't necessarily expect much change in our spending when things normalize.  Traditionally most of our day-to-day spending is gas and groceries.  With the electric cars, that just leaves groceries.  

I think the long NSD run (about a week) is more about the electric cars that anything else.  We did drive about 350 miles this month, so far.  I just charge the cars overnight, plugging them in when I get home.  (During the surge, I am commuting to work three times per week).

We are also in one-income mode.  Except early in the month when MH thought we would be getting $2K-ish in unemployment funds this month.  Since then, our spending is nothing.  One-income mode is a lot of it. 

GREAT NEWS TODAY:  I let go of my last remaining side client!  Woohoo!  It will be more official the end of January once I wrap up everything and send my final invoice.  But I think I am about 99% of the way there.  I stuck with them for 2020, mostly being too nice.  But, I had given myself a hard deadline of not helping them past 2020 accounting year.  I did not want to draw out any of that red tape into 2021.  I wrapped up their 2020 books this weekend and I can move on now.

It's been more about helping my clients through a rough patch (especially as we got passed 2019).  With our assets surpassing $1 mil and with a very good job, I have no intentions, plans or desire to work any more than the 9-5 at my day job.  This is the first time in 30 years that I can say this and it feels awesome.  Have been here kind of for a couple of years, but life has generally been insane and I guess I still had some of this side work to get rid of to make it official. 

{Age 15-45 I mostly always worked multiple jobs.  The exception was about 20 years where I had one job and a busy tax season with lots of paid OT}.  

January 14

NSD

Dinner:  Red Beans & Rice (Instant Pot)

This was a redo of a recipe that MH tried before.  It was too watery the first time, which has been a common Instant Pot experience.  But when talking to MH he told me he added extra water the first time because "it didn't look like enough."  I do think some recipes after that were just too watery (when recipe was followed).  But anyway, this one went better this time just following the recipe.  😁

MH is on the road to resolving his primary unemployment issue (they froze his account due to suspected identity fraud).  I don't think he could be any more boring on this front, having not moved for 20+ years, so it was pretty fast/easy to confirm his identity.  Now we wait...  In the meantime the unemployment department had another computer glitch that affected MH.  It just goes on and on and on...

We had personally decided it wasn't worth the hassle to re-apply when his last extention expired.  Is a very part-time/seasonal job (very small benefits) and it was just red tape hell last year.  But...  They just renewewed him automatically and now there is more Fed stimiluls that most definitely makes it worth the hassle.   It's been a little up/down, as it changes every five minutes if I think he will ever get these benefits.  

Yeah, MH came to me the other day and asked me for help to "reopen his claim" because they sent him a message.  We didn't rule it out because mostly nothing has ever made any sense with the unemployment office.  But it was weird enough I told MH, "I'd just give it a minute," and MH agreed.  The more we talked about it and put our heads together.  I just happened to see the next day (in the news) that was a computer glitch that they were aware of, that they were fixing, and that anyone who did "reopen their claim" just made a bigger mess.  So at least we dodged that bullet.  But now we are also waiting for the state to fix that mess too.

January 13

NSD

Dinner:  Chicken Fajita Subs

This is one of my favorite dinners.  It is not a new recipe.

Work was kind of absurd today.  Just a "full moon" kind of day.  Lots of drama.  

Better silver lining this day:  They bumped age 65+ to the front of the vaccine line in our state.  Right or wrong, I am selfishly very happy.  Our parents should be able to get vaccinated soon!  They have to sort out logistics of course, and all of our counties have since said, "We aren't ready yet".  But that makes me happy too because 95yo GMIL should definitely have a higher priority.  For all of them, it will be soon.

All the actual and real scientific information re: the vaccine (versus whatever random rumors are spread on the internet) are just too good to be true, honestly.  It has all sounded very promising, but I also haven't paid much attention since I felt comfortable with the safety of the vaccines.  Anyway, I saw a great talk yesterday (put on by a local science museum).  Had a lot of good information.  The light just gets brighter at the end of this tunnel.  If anyone is interested I can try to find a link.  There was still a lot of questions that remained and were addressed in this video, like how long will we need to wear masks, can we see our parents when they are vaccinated, can we still spread the disease after vaccination, when can kids get vaccinated?  The answers to most of the questions are all very promising.  

January 12

NSD

Dinner:  Red Thai Curry (Instant Pot)

DL(15) also made some hummus.  He tried a new recipe, it turned out really well.

I don't know what on earth is going on but, we got taken off lockdown with 9% or 10% ICU capacity.   ????  Was supposed to stay on lockdown until back above 15%.  I can't help but wonder if it's politically motivated (caving to pressure) and seems incredibly premature.  On the flip side, mostly no one is adhering to the lockdown so maybe it just doesn't matter.  It was probably more about getting people to use their brains over the Holidays, which as far as I can tell did not work whatsoever.  

Crossing my fingers that it's not just politics and they actually know something (they are going off projections, and things seem to be moving in a good direction).  

Nothing will change for us personally, it is very dire right now.   I don't want to be contributing to the stress on the healthcare system.

I saw last night that one of MM's friends was accepted to the local State college (saw this on Facebook).  Wow, that makes it all very REAL!  4 out of 5 colleges that MM(17) applied to are crazy competitive (including another State college) so I don't expect to have any news of any sort for a while.  But...  His "safety school" and the most under-rated college he applied to is our alma mater (yet another State college).  I don't know what to call it because it would also be an excellent choice and could also be his first choice.  It's more than just a safety school.  But, it is the one college where his acceptance is guaranteed and I wonder when he will get that official word.  Maybe any day now.

January 11

$ 260  Dentist

$ 331 Groceries

Dinner: Spaghetti

Both MH and DL had dentist appointments Monday. 

MH had mostly settled on 'every 10 days' grocery runs but with the Holidays and surge is now on a "once every two weeks" buying cycle.  It was a big grocery run, but the way the timing of the runs work out this month I think it will be a low grocery month.  $330 x 2 would be $660, or well below our $850 grocery budget.  Which pretty much never happens and is why I think it's somewhat just timing.  Will see...

I glanced at 2020 and we did have a $556 month in September 2020.  I guess it happens, once in a blue moon. 

Bay Are ICU capacity dropped to about 0% on this day.  We are in hell.  Between that and planned riots in our city.  I expect the next 10 days or so to just be some sort of crazy hell.  We have way too many loved ones in the Bay Area who are not in good health.  This has always been the most obviously concering part of the pandemic.  & so here we are at rock bottom.  (Lord forbid if they need any medical care whatsoever).

Silver lining:  GMIL should be able to get her vaccine any day now.  

I think COVID hit our circles (thus far) the hardest last winter when we had no idea what was going on.  I think it's likely I had COVID in Nov 2019.  That one is a little more out there and iffy.  (I think this mostly because of the pure look of confusion on my Doctor's face.  I had also never been so sick before, and it was attacking my lungs).  For reference, we were never really that concerned when GMIL likely had COVID last January (Hindsight 20/20, very likely COVID).  I overheard MH tell her that, "Monkey Mama was 1,000 times more sick than you are right now."  We were concerned because of her age, but at the time were both kind of, "Pfffft, she will be fine."  & we appreciated that reference because MH's family is 100 miles away and they were being crazy hysterical.  It was one look at her (on skype) and kind of, "She doesn't seem THAT sick."  The hospitals were full at the time and though the plan initially was to admit her, they weren't able to.  I think that could have saved her life.  If that wasn't COVID, she most definitely would have picke up COVID (or anything else) in the hospital.  There was nothing normal about that whole thing. 

At the same time, a family friend of ours (my age) randomly dropped dead.  Hindsight 20/20, obviously COVID.   A very young (early 20s) co-worker was also deathly ill at that time, they had no idea what was wrong with her.  I didn't know if she would make it.  Everyone just presumed she had what I had, though I had literally stayed home for 3 weeks and probably was another 2-3 weeks after that before she started getting ill.  But...  Of course now we know that it COVID spreads like crazy and is mostly asymptomatic, so I suppose it could have been what I had.  

I share because what I had been thinking was that maybe that was the *worst* of it, when we had no idea what on earth is going on and how to treat it.  Things have seemed to get a lot better over the past year.  But...  Now that we are in hell, it is a reminder that winter and flu season is just going to be the worst of it.  It's unfortunately Round 2.

January 8
NSD

January 9
NSD

January 10
$2 Birthday Gift for MH
Dinner: Chicago Pizza & Blackberry Cobbler

The kids' got a gift for MH (on Amazon).  I just ordered it and after they gave me $20 to cover the purchase, I realized there was $2 tax tacked on.  I just covered the tax, so $2 of the gift will be from me.  

MH and I don't buy each other gifts.  Haven't since we did the one-income/kids thing. 

I had some frozen blackberries left over from when I tried a new recipe for Christmas.  Decided to just make it again and use up the rest of the blackberries.  Is a very simple and delish crockpot recipe.

I am not going to go back and figure out dinners the first 9 days of the month.  But...  I generally throw in our dinners when tracking spending.

MH is planning a big grocery run tomorrow.  We discussed briefly re: what meals I wanted to make (he does 99% of the cooking).  Last two weeks was mostly new Instant Pot dinners, and it looks like that is the plan for the next two weeks.  We've been using the new Instant Pot just about every day.  Today I did some hard boiled eggs (this is probably my favorite thing about it, such a time saver).  

So...  Will be a lot of trying new recipes the rest of the month.

January 1
$53 MH Allowance Spending
$18 Monkey Mama Allowance Spending

I ended up buying myself something on Etsy.  MH made a few purchases.

We have some "forever" personal spending budget of $600 per year (no questions asked) spending that we generally stick to.  I'd say that most of my allowance spending is clothing (when it comes to clothes I clearly don't need) and most of MH's allowance spending would be movies.  The kind of stuff that we just don't *get* about each other.  But it's a pandemic and this does not describe whatsoever our curent spending.  It was just random stuff.

January 2
NSD

January 3
$160 College Applications (Done!)
$ 22  Table Cloth 

I think I replaced a 10-year-old table cloth?  I don't know, the dining table was piled high with crap and the old plastic cover I had was thrashed.  (When I looked up on Amazon to see if I could find it and the size of the plastic cover, it was 10 years ago).  It was time for a change, but I also needed some motivation to tackle the mess.  It is done... 

I told MH I wanted to pretend it was a possibility that we would host people in our house again (soon).  

January 4
$50 Script/Movie Purchases
$25 MH Allowance

I probably would have just thrown this all under MH's allowance, but he mentioned to me the other day he got a couple of humble bundles of assets he could use for future movie productions.  MH is so cheap/frugal he pretty much never spent a penny on his movie script writing aspirations the first 10 years or so.  These days, he is still being crazy frugal, but is willing to at least spend something on it.  Humble Bundle is generally where you get a bundle of software in return for a donation (is how I understand it, or how MH and kids usually participate). 

January 5
NSD

January 6
NSD

January 7
NSD

In the end, I noticed all the charges MH was doing and was thinking he was going a little crazy.  He told me later about the movie assets, which makes sense.  He then mentioned because he had not been expecting unemployment whatsoever that yeah, felt like he had some money to blow.

In the end, they froze his benefits (due to massive fraud investigation) so lord knows...  I think that's insane because they just want to verify his identity.  You know, the guy with the same address for 20 years, and same job for past several years.  But...  I don't know, maybe someone else applied in his name.  I just feel for people who rely on this money.  Whatever, we are just along for the ride.  (They also randomly stopped his benefits last year, I couldn't tell you why or how they ever fixed it.  None of it ever made any sense.  They jiggered with his account so much, I wouldn't  be surprised if that is why his account is frozen now).

I think I am going to do a tracking spending month.  A little late to the table, with it already being the 10th...   But I think it's just a good way to dive back into the minutiae and to get some more regular blogging.

In the end, our 2019 spending was the same as 2020.  We are boring like that.  We did actually spent $8,000 less in 2020, but the only reason was because we paid cash for braces (x2) in 2019.   Random one-time large expenses aside, we spent the same both years.  

That said, we are just driving on electric miles these days and are mostly hunkered down (COVID surge is crazy here).  So...  It should be a lot more no-spend and/or lower spend than our usual.  

Other random things I want to jot down before diving into expenses...

DL(15) did get his braces off.  Woohoo!

MM(17) finished his college applications.

We received $50 cash (from in-laws) for Xmas, to do take out from our favorite restaurant.  The kids' also each received $50 cash.  I rounded up all the $50 today.  I haven't gone to any bank since the start of the pandemic (and probably the only reason I would ever go in the first place is to deposit cash).  But I think once this surge passes it will be worth getting some of our cash deposited.   (I just don't want to forget.  For now, I put the cash away and will probably forget about it otherwise).

I've already done some commentary on 2021 goals, but this is the "pretty" version.

For now, these are pre-college goals.  To be re-evaluated as college decisions sort out in the next few months.

This is also a one-income goal year, presuming that MH is unemployed and that his unemployment funds are exhausted.  (You will see with the 'lower income' tax savings that the bottom line won't change much.  Goals will remain largely unchanged from prior year).

$12,000 to savings

...($0 @ 1/31/21)

...$900/month, plus interest.

...Topping off with snowballs

Can squeeze a lot more out of my paycheck with the whole reduced income *no tax* thing.

This may be redirected to college expenses.

$1,200 to mortgage

...($0 @ 1/31/21)

...Funded with snowballs

I had mostly decided to give up any extra mortgage payments (during college years), but then I got the stimulus money (round 2) and decided to just front load this goal. 

$12,000 to IRAs 2021 (MAX)

...($0 @ 1/31/21)

...Will fund with MH's income, or by shifting taxable investments into IRAs (if MH remains unemployed)

...Will not fund until the year is over.  This is for tax and planning reasons.  I won't know what mix of Traditional/ROTH IRA we literally can contribute until we do our 2021 taxes.  In addition to that, can make a more informed decision based on our financial and tax situation for the entire year.

Last minute add:

[ ]Pay cash for college

...This is so much a given, to me.  But I realize not everyone can read my mind, and so will memorialize in my goal list.

Details to follow...   First, we need college acceptances and real #s to work through.

I am just going to mix in current commentary with prior year commentary.

2019: +$105,000! Wow, what a year! My money worked harder than I did this year, for sure.

2020:  +$104,000

2019: We paid down the mortgage by $9,000 and the rest was stock market contributions and gains. 

2020:  We paid down the mortgage by $10,000, purchased a newer vehicle, and the rest was stock market contributions and gains.

2019: Today we could pay off our mortgage and still have $340,000 cash/investments. For the first time, we could do this with only cashing out about 1/2 our ROTH IRA and all of our taxable investments. It's the first time we could leave everything else intact (emergency fund, kids' college, rest of retirement, etc.). I am not tempted yet, but honestly, if I had an additional $50k in investments, we could pay off our mortgage AND leave six figures in our ROTH IRA. At that point, I would probably be tempted. Especially with just cashing out at a peak. Taking the money and running. I've always said there is a tipping point. I just have never been so close to the tipping point. If my stocks go up $100k next year, I wouldn't rule it out.

2020: Today we could pay off our mortgage and still have $430,000 cash/investments. 

My stocks did not go up $100K, and we have college to figure out.  If not for college literally starting this year, and being so close to our $500K retirement goal...  I don't think the tipping point will be until the mortgage is under $100K; we just aren't quite there yet.  

2019: We need our net worth to continue to increase (on average) $50k per year to reach our Financial Independence goal at age 50.

Estimate Net Worth Change for 2020:

Mortgage: Paydown $7,000

Investments: Contribute $4,000

Retirement: Contribute $21,000

Investment Returns: $18,000 (would need 4% gain)

TOTAL INCREASE: $50,000

Our net worth changes never look anything like our estimate (it's rare any asset class actually has an average year). But, I go through this exercise just to make sure my goal is realistic and doable.

Estimate Net Worth Change for 2021:

Mortgage: Paydown $8,500

Retirement: Contribute $8,500

Home Appreciation: $45,000

TOTAL INCREASE: $62,000

I am confident that we will have a home appreciation adjustment in 2021.  I did not adjust in 2020, because we've only had one home sell in our immediate neighborhood, at higher price.  I will give it some time before I update my net worth records. 

I am not going to rely on any stock market gains in 2021, to meet our goal. 

Lower retirement contributions are more realistic as MM(17) starts college.

P.S. We will likely hit the $1 mil mark with our assets this year. Just $30k to go... That will be a very exciting milestone. 

2020: DONE!  & yes, it was very exciting!  🎈🥳🎈

Not quite there with the net worth, because have the mortgage offsetting our assets.

P.S.S. Good Riddance to 2019! I wish I was more optimistic about 2020, but it's shaping up to be very difficult. I can only hope for some space whatsoever to breathe and process anything that is happening.

2020: More of the same.  Honestly, 2020 was by far the easiest year for me, of last 3 years.  Phew!  But...  What I expected to be difficult in 2020 is dealing with our parents' mental declines.  That has all kind of been put on pause during the pandemic, which means just kicking the can down the road.  Which means... I expect a very high stress and challenging 2021.  So, I once again leave a trying year without much hope for the upcoming year.

Back to the net worth commentary...

We have 6 years left on our "financial independence" goal.  We've started out so strong, that we have 6 years left to come up with $270,000.  That is $45,000 per year net worth growth that we are aiming for.  I think it's nice how it has worked out.  We expect to be saving less and possibly drawing down assets as we pay for college over the next 6 years.  $45,000 is a lower bar than we had been aiming for initially.  I expect a major push of working hard and getting college done without any debt.  But...  I am also feeling a lot of, "exceeded goals in recent years, so can chill as we get through the next few years."  The plan is to rely on our assets to do most of the work re: retirement and longer-term future.  That will be the "chill" part.

Edited to add:  Need +$25,000 to hit $1 Mil net worth in 2021!  Getting so close...

I will add this to my 2021 Financial Goals

2020 Goals

$1,500 to investments

...($2,074 @ 12/31/20)

...Funded with snowflakes

DONE!

STRETCH GOAL: +$3,000 mortgage

...I am moving 2018 mortgage goal here, to make up in 2020.  Will see how I feel in 2020, but right now I feel is doable.  It will also depend how college choices start to shake out end of 2020.  Definitely a 12/31 kind of decision.  

DONE!

$12,000 to IRAs 2020 (MAX)

...($0 @ 12/31/20)

...Will fund with MH's income

...Will not fund until the year is over.  This is for tax and planning reasons.  I won't know what mix of Traditional/ROTH IRA we literally can contribute until we do our 2020 taxes.  In addition to that, can make a more informed decision based on our financial and tax situation for the entire year. 

...In the end, we put so much cash to mortgage, car purchase, retirement (tax avoidance) that we will most likely shift taxable investments to IRAs for 2020.  Will finalize IRA funding/source in April 2021.

DONE!

We will get this done, with current cash and/or moving money from other accounts into IRAs.  Is not necessary in addition to mega 401K savings, but will move money around for the tax shelter.

Work is insane, but it's all relative.  Not as bad as my prior job was this time of year, so I am appreciating the quiet long weekend.  I suppose it's extra nice when Christmas is more than just a single day off in the middle of the week.  

Christmas Day was nice and quiet, at home.  The COVID surge is crazy here, so probably more on lockdown than ever.  COVID aside, it's not worth risking a longer drive (risking an accident) when the hospitals are full.  I expect it to be hell here during the next few weeks.  We've spent some time with our families this year, but now is just not the time. 

This was our fourth year of receiving $1,000 to donate to charity, our gift from the in-laws.  We have a long tradition of also donating my work Christmas bonus, was usually $250 (prior job).   In the end, I had decided not to donate any of our own money this December.  We will be scrambling to get our IRAs funded, with the newer car purchase, and with mega money funneled into our 401K to avoid taxes.  & probably factoring MH's unemployment, etc.

But...  Some random unemployment check showed up in the mail (I really thought we had exhausted benefits) & MH's Grandfather sent him a bigger Christmas check than usual.  So I decided to add $400 to the donations, for a total of $1,400.

In addition to that, I received a $100 cash gift from work, and a small bottle of champagne, in lieu of the annual Christmas party.  I couldn't fathom what I would spend that $100 on, I just wanted to pay it forward.  My plan was to just donate to the first thing I saw.  Thinking super local, like a neighbor in need.  

In the end, I rounded up and we donated a total of $1,550.  Our focus this year was on the food banks and homeless shelters, due to the pandemic.  

I also decided to send my mom flowers for her 70th birthday.  I just made her a birthday card, which was more than enough.  But...  I think because not being able to see her and realizing it was such a milestone birthday.  I decided to send her flowers.  

I was then extremely impulsive on Christmas Eve (when I was looking up the florist I used last time), and I decided very last minute to send Christmas flowers to GMIL.  She lives alone and is very isolated right now.  I am glad I did send the flowers, she was very surprised and happy. 

This pretty much sums up the Holiday for us.  I mentioned in a recent post that our Holiday focus is charity, not gifts. 

I know that we are extremely blessed.  

I've delighted in recent years in getting really good/creative gifts for my Dad in like the $10 range.  One example: a lifetime senior pass to the National Parks.  Others were more creative.

This year we went the complete opposite direction.  MH noticed that one of their favorite musical artists is doing private concerts.  The gift fits in the theme of recent gifts (very unique and special) but...  Went the polar opposite way as far as cost.  Was $250 + fees.  But it was also somewhat of a selfish gift.  That ended up being on my Dad's birthday so we made it a birthday gift.  He invited a couple of friends, and we also attended (online concert).  That was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  Amazing!  Making lemonade out of these lemons.

I've mostly never bought school pictures of the kids (the quality is generally terrible and/or way too expensive).  But... 10th grade seems to be the magic year.  They both had really nice 10th grade pictures.  That said, I think MM's 10th grade pictures were nice *and* reasonably priced. DL's (this year) were nice but the cost was completely ridiculous.  Whatever, I could at least send all the grandparents some pictures and make it a "Christmas gift".  It's extra appreciated because we generally never do formal pictures.

{It's senior year for MM.  The plan: Just going to have my Dad do some nice photos of him in the spring.}

As to the money for my Dad's gifts?  Usually MH's mom is *all* about the gifts.  But...  She didn't want the adults to give/get any gifts this year, so probably the money we usually spent on them, we redirected to my Dad.  So that probably evens out in the end.

{Our Christmas budget is $0.  We usually only buy for in-laws, and they give us more cash than we would ever spend}.

Today is busy busy.  The prior week ended up being completely absurd, and my client wasn't ready so I had to push off my side work to this weekend.  In the end, I crashed and did absolutely nothing yesterday.  Work has been exhausting.

Today is busy busy with various paperwork I have to tend do (financial aid forms, professional license renewal, latest forms for the study that MM is participating in  ~ in all cases just a lot of paperwork).  I want to get all of that off of my plate and I also have some side work to do (my last client, that I intend to fire next month).   MH and I also need to sort out menu planning for the next couple of weeks.  He's been down to shopping every 14 days with flu season and extra so with the current COVID surge.  We just started to think of some ideas for Christmas dinner.  I also want to try a couple of Instant Pot recipes.  I just want to make sure I can get my input in today, since I will be in the office tomorrow while he is grocery shopping. 

Edited to add:  I initially forgot the one financial thing on my mind.  I think I am just going to rip the band aid off and throw $3K extra at the mortgage.  It's a placeholder goal from 2018, when I never received my OT Pay (when employer sold company).  Cash isn't particularly high with retirement over-funding this year and car purchase (paid cash).  But... I do have the cash to fund this.  I am getting more resigned to just selling investments to fund 2020 IRAs.  It feels very "now or never", since I expect that all mortgage pre-payments will probably stop the next several years while we pay cash for college.  

I also had a "typing in this blog helps me process" moment because...  I totally forgot we sold off some investments this year to beef up our emergency fund (during pandemic; never in a million years thought my employer would have a record sales year).   That cash still in our investment account. So...  Duh.  It's not even a taxable event to move that money out of there into my retirement.  I could do it today if I wanted to.  I was more concerned about financial aid and creating more "income" but I guess that's moot.   

I updated my sidebar, now that I know how 2020 goals sorted out.  

I got my 2021 raise and so am able to start planning out next year.  

I am completely ignoring college, for now.  That is the giant question mark that will take some re-figuring mid year.

For now...  

I presume that MH will have no income.

I think it's possible his job will come back next fall, but wouldn't hold my breath that his company survives all of this. 

His unemployment expired this month.  He's not looking for a job, so I just presume no more unemployment income.  

Before I even knew what my income would be for 2021, the obvious was that I will have to choose between longer-term savings and funding IRAs.  I think the reality will fall somewhere in the middle.  I can probably fund one IRA and keep adding to our longer-term savings.  We do have $36,000 set aside in taxable investments, so that would give us 6 years ($6,000 x 6) to fund the second IRA.  & obviously the max will go up at some point, but we are also continuing to add to investments.  I feel confident we can cover the next 6 years. 

In the end, the college years are going to be very deja vu (financially) to the daycare years.  We were already kind of, "Meh, not sure it's worth MH looking for a job" and I feel this 1,000 times more as I run through the math.

What I was thinking was with a small cost of living raise and re-figuring one-income taxes, I might be able to squeeze $1,000/month savings out of my paycheck.  Currently I am saving $550/month for more longer-term and bigger purchases.  (MH was funding IRAs).  

In the end, when I took out everything but my salary, our income taxes were -$0-.  I did have a small cost of living raise, and so the $1,000/month savings is realistic.

In the end, while we've paid very little taxes since having kids, I was a little thrown off by my initial -$0- single income tax projection.  Not sure it's been quite that low since our kids were infants.   I eventually figured it out.  I had left my Traditional IRA contributions in my tax planning, which is something we never did in our early one-income years.  We always did ROTH IRA contributions instead (while paying very little in taxes).

Because $20K-ish of income is the difference between a 0% tax rate and a 50% tax rate...  I held my breath as I pulled out that $12K deduction, not knowing what to expect...  But...  Phew!  If we do ROTH contributions in 2021, our marginal tax rate was 15%.  I can live with that, and it would be a no-brainer to fund ROTH IRAs if it's just my salary next year.  

That will bring my savings down to $800/month, if I plan to withhold enough taxes to cover ROTH IRA contributions.

{I will also funnel 9% into my 401K plan}.

& so that is the plan.  I never make the final IRA decisions until the year is over.  We have the cash to fund 2020.  For next year, I will set aside the $800/month and will decide what to do with it the end of the year.  If we can fund IRAs with that, great, but I expect other things will come up.  Even at $12,000 per year (max), that buys us 3 years to shift taxable investments over to IRAs.  The IRAs will get funded, just not from my salary.

I think I will just keep throwing an extra $100/month at the mortgage, but that is going to be the first thing to go if we need the money for college.

We are also throwing around $150/month (snowflakes) to investments (can also redirect to college if need be).  

2021 goals will be roughly same as 2020 goals, but will increase cash savings goal (with extra tax savings) and change IRA funding to being funded from "other sources" than MH's wages.

General life update:  Life is absurd and crazy as ever, so no recent blog posts.  The work I planned to do last weekend was delayed to this weekend.  I am exhausted (emotionally, mentally) but at least have a couple of long weekends to look forward to.  

Also, lots going on financially (sorting out 2020, planning for 2021, college, etc.) so I have a few posts I want to try to get out today.  

I've got final #s for 2020.  

Expenses will be same as 2019.  The only noticeable difference is a reduction of auto costs by $2K-$3K this year, which will be a permanent budget change with the purchase of an electric car.  In 2020 we might have done a lot less driving, but in the future our fuel will cost a small fraction of what it used to.  Also less maintenance, no oil changes, etc.

While I am personally not surprised our expenses remained the same (we are aggressive savers without much fat in our budget).  I will say that this year was *easy* on this front.   I think we usually navigate a lot more pressure to spend money, and that just completely evaporated this year.  We might have also had more wiggle room in our budget for other splurges.  I probably don't remember an easier year on this front.  

Income was a record breaker this year.  The extra unemployment bumped our income by about $10,000 (above what we would have otherwise earned this year).  I will also receive a $3,000-ish retirement plan bonus, due to PPP loans.  & work was record breaking on the income/profit front, so I got another bonus on top of that.

At first I just attributed the mega income to the financial ease of this year.  But I do think it's the combo of extra income and less spending pressure.

Of course, the extra unemployment income was pushing off a tax cliff and so I put one month of my salary into my 401K.  I was hoping I could keep a wee little bit of my bonus, but it was not meant to be.  I had to put the whole thing in my 401K.

First world problems.

In the end we will be contributing 30% of our income to retirement this year.  Which is by far a record.  The prior record was 21%, the year MM was born.  (I had a generous work retirement benefit, and we had substantial savings to plow into our IRAs.  It ended up being a big % of a very low income year).

Of course, the 30% is even more exciting, because it was 30% of a big income year!

{Pretty much, we put all that unemployment income into my 401K}.

In the end, this is why I miss blogging.  I would have gotten here much sooner if I can write it out and process.  But... I guess I got there.

I started to think that's ridiculous (we do have other financial goals too).  & so I eventually got there that we don't *have to* max out our IRAs too.  Last I ran the numbers we could put $8K in our Traditional IRAs (which I will do for the tax break) but the ROTH IRA contributions seemed pointless and would free up $4K cash.  I just felt better realizing at least I could squeeze out some cash somewhere, from all this extra income.

Then I changed my mind again, because we have assets we can shift to IRAs.

In the end...  I am kicking that can down the road and making it an April decision.  I know it probably makes the most sense just to plow that money into our ROTH IRAs.  That money is *always* there if we need it.  But...  The only thing giving me pause is the whole college thing.  I think it will be easier for me to commit to the ROTH IRAs once I have some clarity on the college front.  Which should happen before April 15th, so I have some time.

If I could just sell off some taxable investments, it would be done.  But...  That's a whole other worm hole with taxes, college and financial aid and everything...  I've been very good about harvesting tax gains in the kids' accounts.  I have been not so good doing the same with our own accounts.  It's probably what I will do, but I am already so knee deep in financial aid forms and various tax projections.  Just more reason to kick the can down the road.   I will look at it next year with a clear head and a 2021 focus.  

Nope, there is no peace here.  *sigh*  Back on the crazy train.  I suppose I spoke too soon.  My one remaining 'dumpster fire' employee had *two* significant emergencies this week.  & my Dad got some all clear for maybe a week or two and is now sent back for a bajillion medical tests.  So... Back to the same old, same old. 

December is shaping up to be busy busy.  

My plan for this weekend was to get through all things financial aid and scholarships.  Instead of just completing everything ASAP, we moved some assets around and maximized our timing.   Sorted everything out by 11/30, so completing all of the financial aid forms this weekend. 

I did end up adding a College category in Quicken.  We've been spoiled with the schools paying for all things AP/ACT/SAT.  But...  Will probably spend $400 on college apps this month and $60 on financial aid form submissions.  I am just using MH's unemployment money to cover all of these fees.  MM applied for two State colleges already and will probably spend winter break finalizing his private school applications. 

The plan for next weekend is to do side work and to renew my professional license.  I guess my general plan was to free up the last two weekends of the year to be more relaxed.  

Work is so busy this time of year, I generally don't participate in the Holidays.  This year is probably extra low key with the cancellation of my work Christmas party.  I bought the kids some stocking stuffer type gifts, but that's about it.  Gum for DL, because he is getting his braces off!  I spent a whole whopping $14, and that may be the extent of my Christmas spending.   Charity instead of consumerism, is more of the focus for us.  

If things don't shut down entirely, DL should be getting his braces off around New Year's eve.  That's exciting!  (I don't know if dental/ortho is on the shut down list.  Prepping for a big shut down due to lack of hospital beds in our region).

It sounds like DL(15) is going to pass on getting his driver's permit right now.  I am not surprised whatsoever.  MM, MH and I were all "get our driver's license the minute we turned 16" personalities.  DL is the tortoise to MM's hare (they are so complete opposites) and so I was not surprised.  That said, he also never learned to ride a bike.  So we are going to lean on him pretty hard to at least get the license and the practice (even if he never buys a car and just embraces uber/lyft culture).  He just needs to rip off the band aid and do it.  He will never get easier practice than just driving to school every day.  In the end, he told us he wanted to wait out the pandemic.  I think that's fair enough and I will save the 'leaning on him' for next winter if he is still balking.  Winter break is a good time to do the online part of the driving course. 

Will have to sort out the car situation in that case, but will cross that bridge when we get to it.  It sounds like DL might be open to getting his permit over the summer.  At that point, we should have a much better idea if MM has any use of a car (based on college choice).  Then we sort out all things car.  

I did buy $500 in Target gift cards yesterday, 10% off.  I've never done the max before, but we had so much extra income this year.  And...  Expect so much less income next year.

In the end, I decided to load up all our (old) gift cards in our Target account.  So...  I ended up with $300 (probably everything I bought last year 10% off and never used).  We have $300 sitting in our account now and $500 gift cards to load once we get through these old ones.  We used to keep a bunch of $20 gift cards in hand for random gifts and stuff, but we don't seem to be using.  I had also earmarked some for school supplies, but didn't use the last couple of years.  (For high school, kids really mostly seem to need paper and pens/pencils, which MH stocked up on some point when on sale).

We spend about $100/month at Target, for groceries.  So is why I bought the $500 gift cards this time.  Instead of "saving gift cards for later", this time will just spend them down while MH is unemployed.  

In other complete randomness, I bought some nail wraps a while ago.  I picked them up on Etsy for $3-$4 per set.   They were so easy to apply and lasted for so long... I wanted to pick up some Christmas/winter ones for December so did my second order.  

I share because I have some friends doing Color Street? and a co-worker was buying some of those.  When I told her these were $3 on Etsy, she told me she had been paying $10 for some of them.  Yeesh!  

I hesitate to even think it but...  I've had a few weeks of calm and peace.  On the work front and the home front.  At work especially, all the problems seem to be peeling away.  It's shaping up to be the dream job that it was on paper.  It just took a rough couple of years to get to this point.

I wouldn't even know where to begin.  Even all the employees who are infinitely in the hospital, are leaving.  Lost a good employee (good for her, took a much better job) and maybe that will make my life harder in the short run.  But most of me is just, "YES!!" as I seem to be moving past this jinx where everyone who works for me is mostly a medical disaster (in addition to just having a dumpster fire life, in general).  It's been completely absurd.  It's very emotionally draining, in addition to infinitely covering for absent employees.  

I think this mostly says it all:  I took Thanksgiving week off of work.  As the time off approached I felt absolutely *shrugs* about it.  Didn't feel that I needed the time off whatsoever.  This is a complete 180 from the time off I took end of September, when I was just starving for some time and space.   That's how quickly things have done a 180.

Unfortunately, Dec/Jan/Feb is my busy season and I am a little overwhelmed by work To-Do lists.  But it's very relative.  A little busy by itself is a breath of fresh air compared to the work drama of the last few years.  (& it's nothing like 'tax season' busy).

On the home/personal front, I think everyone is out of the hospital and no one is waiting for medical results.  *knock on wood*

Thanksgiving was nice.  Just kept it to our household.  MH had the idea to make corned beef and cabbage (soaked in beer in the crockpot).  We made various desserts and appetizers.  The Holiday was probably more reminiscent to my own childhood when it was just my parents, sister and I.  I think MH just doesn't care that much for traditional Thanksgiving food.  We were grateful for the peaceful Holiday at home.

The Instant Pot arrived on Friday and I did a mac & cheese test run.  It was *amazing*.  I've never been able to make good mac & cheese before.  MH was a little less impressed.  By the time you pre-heat and de-pressurize and everything, it probably wasn't any faster than our gas stove.  I can see it wouldn't be worth the hassle for such a quick/simple dish.  But if I can't re-create that on the stove top then it's going to be a Instant Pot dish.  I don't know how much of it was the *right* recipe and how much was the magic of the Instant Pot.  I expect it was more the magic of the Instant Pot.

I am going to make a corn chowder today.  It just looked good and I have all the ingredients on hand.

That reminds me, we made butternut squash soup (crockpot) for dinner last night.  YUM!  

I think this is an attempt of a sum up and a reset.  I'm never going to get around to blogging most of the insanity of the last few years.  But...  Things are calming down a bit and I would like to blog more regularly.  Just not overly optimistic that I will have the time or that life will cooperate.  But mostly I just have to start from today, or it will never happen.

I need to work on the art of the shorter blog post.  😁 

Net worth hit $900K last week!  

The value of our home had stagnated for quite a while.  People are strongly favoring smaller homes.  But...  a house on the street behind ours just sold for $570K, or about +$70K more than I have our home valued at.  That seems to have knocked things loose from a very long stagnation.

For now, just going to hope to end the year with $900K+ net worth, and will leave our home valuation as is.  If some more homes sell in that range, I might bump things up to $950K (when I increase home value by $50K).  Probably a 2021 adjustment.

If I ever had a timeline goal for hitting $1 mil, I don't remember what it might have been.  But I'd say that age 45 is shaping up to be a realistic goal.  

I also came across some financial projections that I made a while ago.

In 2011 I did a 10-year financial projection.  I don't remember why, but I made two financial projections.  One of them presumed that we stopped saving.  I think I was just fascinated by the power of compounding.  Probably that, and just planning for a worst case scenario.

2021 projection (with savings): $800,000 Net Worth

2021 projection (stop saving) $470,000 Net Worth

In either scenario, we'd be in good shape. 

In 2014 I revised my projection.  It was a 2022 Projection, updated for my goal to have $500K in retirement by age 45.  I'd say that was an aggressive goal, but the stock market has humored us.

2022 projection (with savings): $880,000 Net Worth**

2022 projection (stop saving) $625,000 Net Worth

**I made a note on this projection that we would need to keep a $100K mortgage to meet the $500K retirement goal.  For now, retirement savings is the bigger financial priority.

The 2022 projection is fairly spot on.  Getting close on the retirement #s, but not quite there yet.  We've been able to exceed the 2022 net worth projection (in 2020) due to home values exceeding my conservative estimate.

I decided to do a new 10-year projection, out of curiosity:

2030 projection (with savings): $1.5 Mil Net Worth

2030 projection (stop saving) $1.2 Mil Net Worth

I just went with a more conservative investment return, and the first thing that popped out was $1 mil (retirement), which is my 'financial independence' goal.  What is fascinating about that was I think I kind of just didn't want to know, as we face college years and drawing down some assets.  In the end, current retirement contributions and a fairly conservative investment return should get us there.  The $1.5 mil figure above did include spending down assets for college.  It presumed that I just did the minimum 5% for 401K match and that we maxed out our IRAs ($12K per year).  That works out to about 22% of our income going to retirement; I personally do count employer match in our retirement contribution %.

$1.5 Mil projection = $1 Mil in retirement + $100K cash/investments + paid-for home (after downsize).

This was a reminder to really sit down and do the big picture math when we make those final college decisions.  It's probably a necessary step in making those decisions.  Is just not something I had done to this point.

I think mostly we already kind of know these things.  (But... doing the math is a still an important exercise).  I expect this is why I've been thinking that MH is probably going to just retire if his job is killed by the pandemic.  Is nothing we have discussed, but it just feels like it's time.  It's not like he would turn down an opportunity or a good full-time job.  But...  I just don't think we are really going to see the point of looking for another job. I should mention that I did not include MH's income in any of these projections.  It's more than just the stock market, the extra income has also helped us meet some more aggressive financial goals.

Christmas/Birthday stuff is very anti-climactic this year.  

I bought all my presents earlier this week.  I had already decided to get a new cell phone.  (Replacing cheapie phone bought when I considered cell phone use mostly for emergency...  Now that I am using phone more for work, podcasts, music... am buying a newer phone with 5x more storage space).  Made the decision a couple of months ago but was waiting out Black Friday deals.  MM(17) was the guniea pig and got the Pixel 4A a few months ago.  I will get the same phone.  At the last second, MH decided to just get one for DL too.  He has someone's old hand-me-down phone.  I really don't like going all in and everyone having the same device.  But I guess the price point is good ($350).  Pulled the trigger because they aren't putting these on sale for Black Friday (bummer!).

{That reminds me, there is a Capital One bonus.  $400 bonus if you open a checking account with them and haven't been a customer since 2018.  Something like that.  My plan was to pay for my phone with the bonus.  I am the only one eligible right now because it requires paycheck direct deposit.  I won't get the cash until next year, so will just add it to my 2021 reward tally}.

MH bought the phones Monday and I purchased a case.  We won't be very formal about it, MH will just ask the kids to cover the $8 as a birthday gift.  But we aren't going to bother wrapping it, I am sure.  Same with DL's phone.

Of course, the phone stuff was made complicated by Ting and is mostly why MH pulled the trigger.  I have to back up though.  Dish bought Ting a few months ago.  Ugh!  I removed the Ting referral link from my blog.  I despise Dish, I am not going to take money for referring people to them.  I don't mind passing along a good deal or a heads up, but don't want to profit from directing people to Dish.  Is just my personal hang up.  I never expected the Ting deal to last forever.  For now, is the cheapest thing I can find, so will stick with it as long as that is the case.  In the end, they just announced some new pricing/plans.  You can stay grandfathered under old plans, but the new plans will be even cheaper for us.  We are switching but we need new SIM cards.  MH sped along DL's phone purchase for that reason.  Might have at least waited for Christmas or his birthday or something like that, otherwise.  MM(17) got his phone a while ago and was transferred to the Verizon network.  Probably same for DL and I.  MH has some fancier phone and I hope he ends up on a different network.  It's just a nice perk (with Ting) that if we travel, we are on two different cell networks, so less dead spots between the two (or four) of us.  Before the new phones/plan, we were on 3 different cell networks (Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint).

The other thing on my "buy" list, but no strong need and just haven't got around to it, is a nicer and more ergonomic office chair.  Pretty much the first one I pulled up yesterday looked perfect (the arm rests flip up).  Is one reason I had never bought a nicer chair for my "office".  I just have a desk in our bedroom which is fine, but none of our nicer office chairs fit if they have armrests.  So... imagine my surprise when the first office chair that popped up had flip up arm rests.  There you go, problem solved.  Should have done this years ago.  (I was already working from home one day per week, before the pandemic.  & before that I was doing second job from home).

I told MH I found a chair on sale, he told me to just buy it.  Now that I am thinking I will work from home more in December, it will just be an early Christmas gift.  

The only Black Friday deal I am aware of that MH took advantage of was that he bought an Instantpot.  I think that was dumb because his mom has been *begging* to buy us one.   (& we both have birthdays very soon).  But whatever.  I think it could be a good dorm appliance; I think it's good we try one out before MM goes off to college.

Other doings...

Because we had some Symphony concert tickets for March (concerts canceled), we have a free subscription to the online season this year.  It's not the same, but it was nice to mix things up a bit.  We watched a concert over the weekend.

We just donated our tickets back to the Symphony, for the concert that will never be.  It's the least we can do to help them through a tough time.  They would honor the tickets for a future show, otherwise.

The art museum offered to put a freeze on our membership.  I instead renewed and picked a more expensive membership than we had before.  For this year it's in the vein of supporting them.  But I think it was a good move with a kid starting college next year.  The higher level membership gives us reciprocal membership to a *lot* of museums. 

Between that and the electric car (pennies to fuel), I think we are going to have no lack of things to do. MH and have been through "very low income" a couple of rounds before.  My maternity leaves, and our own college years.  We know the drill.  We aren't going to be sitting at home.   We always find things that fit within our means.  When our kids were small, we lived for those memberships.  But the kids were also happy to go to the same place over and over and over and over.  I think this is a more appropriate 'college years' kind of membership.  It will keep the adults entertained while pinching more pennies.   

This is just a little bit of this and that; I have a couple of other posts to get through this long weekend.

I feel like all I do any more is wait for medical results (just more infinite up/down/up/down).  MH just got MRI results; all clear for another year.   My Dad and BIL seem to be on the up/down/up/down merry-go-round.  They both have biopsies this week?  I don't know, who can keep track...

In other randomness, I am very pleased with a recent purchase/upgrade. 

These were my bed sheets:

They are probably 20 years old.  (I presume, because I have pictures of my kids on these sheets when they were babies).  What I like about the sheets is that they are sturdy.  There is nothing wrong with them.

I did well with internet shopping recently and got a nice mattress protector.  I decided to just buy a second one as a backup.  I don't remember why, maybe because my sheets are 20 years old, but I was looking at sheets.  OMG, these new sheets are the best!  Not only are they cute, but they are so soft.  I don't know if they are just going to fall apart in a few years or what, but am enjoying in the here and now:

It's possible I have aged/matured a bit during the past 2 decades.  But...  I also bought these:

These are fleece sheets, I haven't tried them out yet.  They may be nice in December/January. 

The cotton sheets were so nice that I ended up buying a set for MM(17). 

We got MM(17) set up at our credit union that had 3.5% interest.  It's gone down this year, but is still over 2%.  The limit is $5,000 (for that rate) but that's about what MM(17) has to put into savings. 

That reminds me too that the kids' other credit union (where they have 7% interest accounts) is merging with some other CU.  It's official as of last week.  I was pleased to see they are keeping the 7% accounts for now, but not holding my breath.  They moved that to youth accounts only (that part is new) so MM(17) will age out of that pretty soon. 

Probably the *big* thing here is college applications.  We are maxing out MM's IRA before we start financial aid forms.  So, figuring out what to do with that.  We decided to shelter some of his gift/college money and to just leave all of his (earned) cash since we are making this decision so early.  For reference, he decided around July 2020 (extended deadlines) what he wanted to do for 2019.  We don't even know if he will have a job next summer (with the pandemic) and college is still a choice between two extremes (pennies or $$$$$).  Anyway, if he's keeping his salary (parked in savings) this year in case (for the "who knows if he will need the money" factor), we will officially move it to some higher interest rate savings.  College stuff and these decisions has been the catalyst for opening up this new bank account.

It wasn't our plan whatsoever to put his college/gift money into IRAs, but it is what it is.  It's how we are dealing with this one-off limbo year.  It's limbo all around.  Aside from the pandemic, it's complete limbo until we start to solidify a college choice.  I expect this to be entirely moot during second year of college.  If he chooses the one pricey college where it matters at all, he won't have any assets left for the second year. 

Our assets are not as important (mostly sheltered in home equity & retirement accounts), but I am going to pay our property taxes first, and pay down this big credit card bill (for reward) before we start filling out financial aid forms.  Also, we won't have any clarity on IRA contributions (how much/which kinds) until we do our taxes, which is why I always fund after we do our taxes.  I can't speed up in this case (without a lot of red tape that's just not worth it).  This is why we are doing a super early (for us) IRA contribution for MM, but are not bothering for ourselves.  Actually, there's another reason...

We hit a tax cliff, with all the extra unemployment income this year.  This puts with 50% of the extra income going to the IRS (though we are in the lowest tax brackets).  Blech.  I decided to put my entire salary to my 401K last month; rather keep (in retirement funds) than give half to the IRS.

I know that "too much cash" is a thing, but...  It's a problem I have yet to experience in my lifetime.  With kids starting college next year and an unemployed spouse, I can't say putting 33% of our income to retirement funds topped the list for this year.  But, financial efficiency for the win.  (I don't think that MH or I have it in us to spend $3K just to keep $3K in more accessible cash).

I don't even know if we will do our IRA contributions in addition to the extra in the 401k.  I suppose we most likely will because we have taxable investments we can shift over to retirement funds.  I have the luxury to make that decision next April.   I did count IRA contributions (presuming we max out) in that 33% figure.

October Miles Driven:

Teenager Gas car: ??

Hybrid Electric car: 626

All-Electric car: 712

Total fuel costs September: $33

Note: Back to lower winter electric rates.

**Note: We received 90 FREE electric miles last month.**

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For reference, fuel cost in October 2019 was $110.    Savings of $77.

Fuel costs October 2017 (two gas vehicles): $196.  Savings of $163.                         

(Note: This was also when my commute was half as many miles)

Driving was mostly my commute, about 900 miles.  I did split the cars somewhat 50/50, but if MH had a 5-mile drive or wanted to get groceries, I left the electric car for him on those days.  Was not exactly 50/50, though mostly have been driving my car (hybrid) on Mondays/Tuesdays and the all-electric on Thursdays/Fridays.  Not only is this to keep both cars running and moving, but...  More to the point, we piled the miles on the hybrid during the past 2 years (30K miles in two years).  I do want to pile more miles on the all-electric and even it out a bit.  50/50 is just how it seems to be working out, for now.

These are all electric miles.   I came up with a rough estimate of fuel costs based on overnight electricity usage. 

I expect MH is frustrated with me because he is getting insane fuel efficiency on all the around town trips (taking kids to school to pick up this or that, getting groceries, etc.).  He wants to see how far one charge will go with his more normal driving.  The problem is that I expect it will go about 300-400 miles, and... it's going to take like a year to get to that...  

It's not all me and my commute messing up his test run.  He is working on a film project and did a couple of 100 mile drives (hence the higher miles on his car last month).  He did also take DL(15) to Tahoe when he had some days off of school (which is where he got a free charge).

November is probably going to be a similar miles month.  It's pretty quiet and not much going on.  But...  I am taking a week off work and imagine that we will be doing some smaller road trips.  

I didn't look at MM's car.  I just didn't get around to it yet.  I recall he did some "virtual" 5K with friends (that he drove to) and met up with his friends on Halloween.  He may have driven 10-20 miles.  

September Miles Driven:

Teenager Gas car: 5

Hybrid Electric car: 214

All-Electric car: 1,556

Total fuel costs September: $43.52

Note: This was our last month of higher summer electric rates.

**Note: We received 470 FREE electric miles last month.**

I would have guessed 10 miles on the kids' car. It was a whole whopping 5 miles. That was probably just one trip to the orthodontist. We had mostly been putting miles on the hybrid, so I drove the newer car to work some, in addition to a lot of test runs and some staycation drives. It probably works out to 650 miles commute and 700 miles bigger trips. With the two Bay Area trips and the two Tahoe trips, that makes sense. I don't foresee much driving (October), aside from my commute. I will probably drive somewhat 50/50. I want to put more miles on the newer car, to make up for all the miles we piled on the hybrid the last two years. But... I don't want to drive it all the time. There are some things I like better in my car.

Pretty much I am the only one driving anywhere (more than a couple of miles here and there) so I guess it's up to me. It will probably mostly sort out 50/50. Once the pandemic is over and/or we can equalize the miles on the cars, I can see favoring my car. We abandoned his/her cars when we had kids. I can see maybe settling a bit more into his/hers with our current cars. It's easier because they are both similar and same year, so no one's going to feel "stuck with an older car" or anything like that. & they are both so similar in size and fuel costs and everything. But... Will see how we feel about that after the pandemic. For now, I have two cars to choose from. We will be fighting over the all-electric car on weekday evenings and weekends (post pandemic). Probably whoever is driving farther gets the all-electric.

We had been switching sides in the garage, to refuel the electric car during the weekend. But we quickly figured out this is unnecessary. The cord will reach over the nearest car to the other car. This will save some hassle. I charge my car when I get home every night (I plug it in and set it to charge overnight). So we just have to remember to charge the other car Saturday or Sunday night. Long term, that should be more than sufficient. Maybe extra charging if we plan a bigger trip. I think when things normalize, I will also be better able to track real fuel costs. For now, I am just doing rough estimates based on overnight electricity costs.

I believe that MH and I both gave up a Free 100 miles. or 200 miles total. I realized my last free charge was going to expire, but the air quality was too questionable to be worth the free $2. It probably sounds ridiculous to take the time/effort to go sit and recharge for 45 minutes. But... After sitting so many hours and waiting for kids in recent years, I kind of miss the forced silence. To me, it sounds nice. Just being stuck somewhere, without anything productive to do and no one vying for my time. Plus, we've only had the electric car for a month. In my mind, 100 miles costs at least $10 (gas price). I think that is more to the point. MH did end up going out of town one day, but he took DL(15) up to Tahoe and there is all free chargers on that route, so he didn't bother to go out of his way to use up his extra free charge.

I was thinking that I hadn't put any gas in the hybrid since March? That was what I was recalling and I realized I probably needed to burn off some/all of the gas. Gas will go bad over time. But I put a pin on it while the air quality has been so bad here. (Logical or not, I just figured I didn't want to suck more ash or whatever into the engine). In the end, the car made the decision for me. We did experience "maintenance mode" when looking at Volts, before we purchased. So... I knew not to freak out. But when I left work one day it went into 'maintenance mode' and started burning off gas. What I had not realized is that you can still drive while it does that. (The car salesman smartly said, "Let's just wait," because you aren't going to get the feel of driving an electric car while it is doing some all out maintenance to the engine. But it had left me with the impression that you had to wait it out). So... It was a learning experience because I didn't realize it would start after driving the car. It would have really freaked me out if I had no idea what it was doing. In the end, I chose to burn off an extra 10 miles of gas because I was going to run some errands after work, and figured might as well. I didn't have enough electric miles to hit all my errands, and it's better to burn gas on the freeway (better mpg). Clearly I have a lot of gas to dump. It feels like throwing it down the drain, but it is what it is. When the pandemic started, our inclination was to hoard up gas (filled the hybrid), just for any worst case scenario.

In the end, I started thinking that I was pretty sure we drove to the Bay Area in July. So I looked it up and we did last put gas in the tank in July. The gas is not quite as old as I thought. It still feels like pouring money down the drain, but will probably plan one out-of-town trip with the hybrid and will run through the gas (before year-end). I am probably just going to put a gallon or something in it, of new gas, after that. Will see how long it lasts. The car needs some gas to function properly. But during the pandemic and with kids home and MH unemployed, I expect one gallon will last a very long time. When things normalize, will have more reason to run through the gas. In that case I might try 3 or 4 gallons and see how long it takes to get through. It's going to be weird. I can easily see us becoming a 100% electric-fuel household, even when things normalize. We do often have stuff going on after work, but if we just take the electric car for those trips, then that was pretty much the only reason we were using gas around town. Will have to use gas once in a while, but I already feel so, "Ugh," about it. It's just wasteful and expensive at this point. I've seen a lot of hybrid owners say they haven't bought gas in months or years. I am just experiencing this side of it for the first time.

I expect it will probably make more sense to keep a little more fuel in the tank and to just burn it off within 6 months or something. It's probably more practical to throw gas down the drain every 6 months (potentially) versus leaving very little gas in the car and having to go to the gas station more often. I honestly don't remember the last time I went to a gas station. Kind of the whole point is to not go to the gas station unless going out of town. So going from, "I don't remember when I last got gas" to "maintaining just one gallon of gas" sounds like an extraordinary hassle. But I think I need to try it in the interim. The other thing we can do is add fuel stabilizer to the gas tank to prolong the gas. I have some homework to do on that front. It's something we should probably consider also for MM(17)'s car. Until DL(15) gets his permit and starts practicing driving...