That’s the headline of this story. But that moment in time is just a small piece of the story. Even the whole lead-up to that moment is just a blip compared to what is to come. 

But the task for today was to take a look at year one. 

What was it like in those 365 days when there was no employer or ….

It was funny, as I tried to write that previous sentence and finish out all the things that I no longer have now that I’m financially independent or “retired”, I almost wrote words like agenda, calendar, obligations, etc.

In reality, there will always be schedules and conflicts and other people’s lives to take into consideration. 

Life is quite resilient at keeping you busy

The primary feedback I received after previewing my original take on this post was less inquisition into what I was doing in retirement, how I was affording it, why I was doing what I had chosen to do, etc.

No, the real question I seemed to have left unanswered with my original take was how it feels. 

How does it feel to be financially independent? 

The ability to answer this question is the answer to this question. 

For me to really sit and process what this accomplishment feels like, to reflect on the first year’s moments, and to just feel all the feels. 

To do that, I needed some uninterrupted space, which led me outside. In turn, that led me to turning off the overly bright lights, and I needed to put on the right clothes on so I didn’t get cold…. This is a deliberately long winded way of saying. 

To process how it felt to be void of work, took a lot of work. 

I often hear people questioning what someone could possibly do to fill the void that will be left from their career, when in reality the number one thing that person has been needing all along is a little void. 

Our whole lives are focused on increasing our ability to produce and we often do such a good job increasing production that we lose the space to process. 

Being financially independent lets me be me. It gives me time to figure out who that is. It gives me time to work on my shortcomings and hopefully, time to show myself some gratitude. 

It makes me cherish each day even more because I know each one comes with so much potential. 

I’m not sure why, as I try to write out these thoughts, I keep saying “it” in reference to retirement instead of simply expressing how I feel. 

I feel so grateful for the abundance of time that I have and I feel like it’s my responsibility to be the best friend possible, the best brother possible, the best son possible. I don’t care how equitable the effort is for the relationship. I fully understand that it may be me asking a friend to meet up 5 times before I get a single yes. 

I could try to keep score, I could not be the one to call first, I could sit and wait for someone to make time for me…but at the end of the day the person who gets hurt the most is me. 

I cherish being able to do more than my fair share. Everyone has their struggles with finding purpose and cause, but while we search for that, our family and friends are a great place to start. 

I find a lot of fulfillment in being a good friend, good spouse, good brother, and a good son. 

The freedom feels amazing and it’s extremely motivational. 

That combination will hopefully drive a lot of positive changes inside of you. 

My advice would be to give yourself some grace and practice some patience when you consider how you hope those changes might trickle into those around you.

Financial independence might put you in the perfect mental spot for growing as a person and you would naturally want to pull your friends and family right along with that growth

But you must remember that the conditions might be perfect for you, and even if you have the best of intentions, the conditions just may not be right for them. 

So how does retirement feel?

• Relaxing:  just being yourself and no corporate costume 

• Awkward: Realizing every American interaction with someone starts off with work followed by me trying to explain the situation and balancing the outward perception from <oh poor thing is jobless> to <this prick trying to flaunt how good he has it>

• Proud: as someone who is often hard on himself for not sticking to things, financial independence took real commitment for ~9 years. 

• Scary: that I’ll have great ideas I want to try, memories I want to make, relationships I want to strengthen, or  things I want to discuss… but discover that those I want to do it with don’t want those things at all

• Relieving: A year in, I find similarities to the relief I felt when telling everyone I gave up alcohol. Saying out loud that I’ve done something that 99% of people will never do feels very weird at first, but then I adjusted to that 1% weirdo being my story, and the people who truly care about me let you be that 1% weirdo. And that exchange ends with a lot of relief. 

• Responsibility: I feel a responsibility to push the people I love the most to take ownership of their financial lives 

• Satisfying: The satisfaction is not from feeling that everything that needs to be accomplished is accomplished. My sense of satisfaction comes from knowing that the first year of retirement was worth every decision and delayed gratification even if it’s the only year of financial freedom I ever get. 

There are a lot of wild stories in year one and I’ll be sure to give you some of those, all the ins and outs of what it technically looked like to be retired for a year. 

But if this is as far as your attention span wants to bring you, I wanted to make sure I got out how it feels. 

My focus here will mostly gloss over the lead-up and mostly gloss over the long-term ramifications, instead, I will just sit and reflect on my experience with the first year of retirement. 

I will take just a second and lay out how I got here. I grew up in a small town in Mississippi. A high school scholarship to Air Force ROTC and academic scholarships allowed me to graduate with a debt-free computer engineering degree. I made money going to college but that’s yet another article. 

My first duty station was in Colorado. It was there that I realized all my goals had been accomplished and yet I was depressed for the first time. Eventually, that led me to inspect what really makes me happy. The answer to what made me happy was time with friends, family, and exploring new places. To gain access to that time I needed enough passive income. And that is how I discovered the concept of financial independence. 

That financial independence journey kicked off in 2015. The next eight years would put me in three states and included four more years of Air Force service followed by four years of a corporate career. 

Over those eight years, I started with a 65% savings rate and that eventually climbed to 90%. I plugged away all those savings into investments which were primarily total stock market index funds. I made certain to never skimp on experiences and enjoy the ride while also stashing away for the future. 

Fast forward to 2023 and I had finally made a plan for my retirement date based on projected income and stock grants that I would receive. I planned to retire in June of 2024 after my next big batch of stock was given to me. 

Plans are always hilarious, aren’t they? My company was also bought out in 2023 and I was offered a severance package in November. That severance package would pay me my salary and grant me the stock that I was owed through June of 2024. 

So yes, I was technically laid off. I didn’t get that moment I had built up in my head where I got to make this big announcement and leave on my terms. That part was tough, I’ll be honest. The reality is that I got exactly what I was hoping for financially and I received an extra six months of freedom. Some people might try to poke at the fact that I was laid off, but in the end, you can call it what you want. November 2023 was the last month I ever needed to be employed. I retired at 33. 

There we go, my whole life and financial independence journey wrapped up in a page worth of text. Now let’s get into what the real purpose of this post is for, what year one of retirement looked like. 

The only drawback to the severance was that I entered retirement without real plans. I had a trip planned to Killamanjoro which was supposed to be the retirement celebration but that wasn’t until August of 2024. So what would I do for the 9 months preceding that trip? 

What would I do now that 40 hours a week and extreme amounts of mental energy were just freed up? It honestly didn’t feel like a big burden to overcome because I was making Christmas ornaments for my mom with my laser engraver, hosting my niece for her first trip to Austin, enjoying unplanned visits from friends I hadn’t seen since high school, taking advantage of my Movie Pass subscription, working on the plan to flip a house I bought for $5k in Mississippi, trying out new packaging for Ripped Dip, attending consumer product good meetups, participating in local markets with Leslie, and experimenting with new recipes. And that was all in the first week…

The question people seem to struggle with the most, even more so than wondering how I retired so young, is how I wouldn’t go insane from boredom. Thankfully, I’m interested in almost everything. I love to learn about and how to do everything. It’s a blessing and a curse because I tend to go deep into an area for short bursts and then move on to the next thing without ever getting bored.

I’ll drop a more detailed overview of the year at the end of the article. Even with the overview, it’s hard to express everything I did in a consumable way. So many of the days between travel were filled with little things that I wanted to do and brought me some joy. Whether that was just walking outside and listening to a podcast, working out, trying a new recipe, or even mowing my friend’s yard while he was at work. 

The most amazing thing I got to do was just be myself. No matter how wonderful my work environment was, I still wasn’t able to fully be me. I had to act like I cared about things that meant nothing to me. I had to act like I was mentally invested in the direction of the company. None of that was true. 

I do love solving problems, and work gave me that outlet. I also enjoy mentoring others and work gave me that outlet. But I didn’t get to choose the problems that were important to me, and I didn’t get to seek out the people I felt like I wanted to mentor. In retirement, I didn’t only do things for myself. But, If I was doing something for someone else, I got to choose what I was doing and who I was doing it for. 

Once people get their heads wrapped around what life might look like, then they normally settle into the more logistical questions. How did you retire and how are you funding your lifestyle? 

As I mentioned earlier, my main method to reach early retirement was the stock market. I have faith in the work that has been done to show that somewhere between a 3-4% safe withdrawal rate is a pretty comfortable place to be where you can feel confident that you’ll never run out of money. 

I’ve tracked every dollar that I’ve spent since I started this journey and I knew I could live a heck of a life on anywhere from $2500-$4000 per month. $2500 is the more typical month for me and $4000 would add some extravagance. To achieve a safe withdrawal that puts out $4000 per month I would need $1.2M of investments. That number is if I had no additional income. 

In the end, I retired with about $1.7M. But the nest egg wasn’t the full story. We also put our primary residence on AirBnB. Over the last year, it has brought in over $30k after paying AirBnB and cleaning fees. After splitting that with Leslie, that brings my cash flow needs down to $2750 per month to hit that high-end number. 

It doesn’t end there. We manage an apartment in downtown Austin that brings in $200/mo each and I have a hard money loan out that pays $1800 per month. Now I’m down to only $750 per month I need to cover. On top of all that, I receive some income from my time in the Air Force and I’m hoping to have the house I bought for $5k in Mississippi renovated and rented for ~$750 per month. 

It turns out, that with the variety of income streams and my actual cost of living being closer to the $2500 per month end of the spectrum, I’ve been able to continue saving money since I retired. I also had that lump sum of cash and stock from my severance. 

That has all led to my net worth increasing from $1.7M at retirement to $2.1M on my 1 year anniversary. This also means that when we factor in Leslie’s investments, she’s able to take some time off with me. 

She continued to work for most of my year of retirement but is going to take some time off for our big 6-month international trip that kicks off in January 2025. 

So the money part has been shockingly simple so far. I haven’t had to stress about draw-down strategies because nothing has been drawn down. I continue to invest more and more. Even if our lifestyle increases and we get to a point where we break even and can’t invest anymore the investments will continue to grow. 

If I never saved another penny, I’d likely have $4M by age 42 and $8M by age 50. That’s in today’s dollars, so that does take into account inflation. I don’t even know what I would do with an $8M nest egg that’s capable of pumping out $320k per year when I’ve only ever spent over $32k in a year once in my life. 

Ok, so you can see why I chased financial independence, how I achieved financial independence, how the money works in retirement, and what highlights I had in the first year. But what do I think about it as I reflect on it? Is it what I thought it’d be?

My thoughts on it are extremely positive. My frequency of happy days has greatly increased, my step count has doubled, and my fitness is as good as it has ever been. I would warn people though if they think it’s a magic bullet. I’m still very capable of having a bad day. This whole thing could go very poorly if you don’t have a solid foundation and I pride myself on self-work and self-improvement to make sure that foundation is there. 

I take advantage of my newfound free time to reflect on days and situations and try to understand myself better and how I can be better. 

It isn’t exactly what I thought it would be, but that’s also to be expected since it happened six months sooner than I thought it would. I’m kicking off year two with the big six-month trip which feels closer to what I imagined. But year one has been a blast. 

What about the warts? What are the parts of retirement that weren’t so great?

Constant travel and moving around comes with a lot of amazing experiences but it also makes fostering a community extremely hard. The other unglamorous part that you probably won’t see someone posting on Instagram is living out of a suitcase. Constantly packing and unpacking can be a grind. 

Normal social interactions have also become a little tougher in this era. You quickly realize how much of everyone’s conversations revolve around work and complaints about the office which we no longer can relate to and have a hard time caring about. Conversely, it’s hard for anyone to relate to what you have going on when you’ve completely lost track of what day it is and are between multi-week trips across the world. 

There are also psychological challenges. I have a tug of war between telling myself that it’s ok to be happy and content while also questioning if I’m telling myself that as an excuse to make up for my lack of making some big splash, starting a company, or taking on some huge effort. 

I also am not naive to the fact that in time, I may want something different than this extreme amount of travel and variety that I currently have. But that day isn’t today and I’m going to soak it all in while I’m here. I’m sure the day will come when I crave more stability and I’ll cross that bridge when it gets here. 

There’s no way to know where life will take me. That has become abundantly clear over the years. But for right now I’m taking advantage of this time. I love the fact that I can be a more involved friend. I can meet people where they are and on their schedule. I can give more than 50% worth of the effort to the relationship. I don’t worry about whether it’s equitable between me and a friend because I know I’m in a unique position to give more right now. I could be petty and say that I’m not getting back what I’m putting out but in the end, that doesn’t serve anyone. 

Next year kicks off with a trip of a lifetime across the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Italy. Then it’s back to the States for a few months before we get to have all of our friends and family descend on Austin for our wedding. That’s how year two is shaping up and I have a feeling year three will be just as wild and amazing. 

Retiring in your 30’s is an unusual path but it is so worth it. Regardless of how old you are or what your aspirations are, I encourage everyone to take control of their finances and build a life that works for you and your loved ones. We only get one life, and if we’re lucky that life gives us 80+ years of memories. Do everything you can to pack those years with memories, solid relationships, happy days, and positive impact. 

If you’re curious about that deeper dive into what this last year has looked like, I’ve included that below. Thanks for stopping by and sharing this journey with me.

December

• Hosted my niece for a week in Austin

• Made custom laser engraved gifts for my mom and good friend

• Tried Franklins BBQ and Interstellar BBQ for the first time

• Planned and purchased everything for a kitchen remodel

• Saw several movies

• Redesigned ripped dip packaging

• Attended consumer product goods meetups

• Went to the trail of lights

• Did a baby kangaroo feeding experience

• Redesigned my Dad’s upstairs to be a sudo apartment in Mississippi

• Ripped up old flooring and prepped concrete for staining 

• Replaced all the windows in the flip

• Spent two weeks in Mississippi

• Enjoyed Christmas with my family

• Tons of workouts

January

• Two weeks in Mississippi

• Someone hit and totaled my Tesla

• Redid Kitchen in Leslie’s family beach house

• Lots of other projects there like replacing all the hardware for the doors

• Spent a week on the Texas coast

• Saw several movies

• Lots of cooking

• Lots of workouts

• Dove into Ninja Creamis

February

• Spent two weeks on the Texas coast

• More beach house remodeling

• Went to the Austin Symphony

• Took the train to Dallas

• Completed the purchase of my New (to me) Tesla Model Y

• Spent a couple of days with my best friend in Dallas

• Spent a week in Mississippi

• Lots of remodeling on the flip house

• Attended a Rodeo

• Took my niece to a concert in Nashville

March

• Spent two weeks in Mississippi

• Played golf

• Replaced doors and painted the exterior of the flip house

• Drove back to Austin

• Tried a new boxing class

• Did my first Dexa scan (10.1% body fat)

• Spent a week in Miami

• Attended Ultra music festival

• Went to two additional concerts

• Drove back to Texas Coast

April

• More remodeling on Texas beach house

• Found outfits for our engagement (surprise to Leslie)

• Made pies/desserts for Leslie’s Brother’s 50th birthday

• Spent two weeks in Portugal

• Got engaged

• A quick trip to Paris

• Volunteered for Preservation Austin home tour

• Spent a week in Puerto Vallarta

May

• Hosted my parents in Austin

• Threw an engagement party

• Another trip to the Texas Coast

• Yoga wellness day trip

• DeadMau5 show in Austin

• Spent 10 days in Chicago

• Attended Beyond Wonderland music festival in Chicago

• Tons of catching up with friends, sporting events, new restaurants, museums etc

June

• 4 more days in Chicago

• House sitting for Leslie’s brother

• 10 days in Mississippi

• More work on the flip house

• Cookout for Father’s Day

• Consumer Product Goods event

• Spent a week in Alaska

• Took a private plane flight around the glaciers and mountains

July

• Spent two weeks across Oregon/Washington

• Odesza concert at The Gorge on the 4th of July

• Oregon Coast stay

• Clamming

• Exploring Portland

• Berry Picking

• Beautiful hikes

• Highland cow experience

• House sitting for Leslie’s Brother

• Week in Puerto Rico

August

• Traveled to southern Mississippi

• Attended my Aunt’s wedding

• Spent a couple of days with my Aunt

• Spent over two weeks in Africa

• Hiked Kilimanjaro

• Did African Safari

September

• Boat day Lake Austin

• Knocked off some local Austin restaurants from the wishlist

• Began planning our 6 month international trip

• Started taking running more seriously

• Mississippi state vs Texas football game

• Hosted friends from Mississippi

• Kygo concert

October

• F45 photoshoot

• Celebrated Rhonda's birthday

• Staycation downtown Austin

• Maggie Rogers concert

• ACL

• Domdolla concert

• Baking spree (first biscuits, high protein desserts)

• Started building cookbook

• Vintage culture concert

• Ride along in a rally car

• Leslie 10yr college reunion

November

• Austin Networking getaway weekend

• Wedding Expo

• Hosted 5k / Friendsgiving

• Spent 11 days in Dallas with my best friend

• Creed concert

• Hyrox race

• 4 days in Mercury Texas for Thanksgiving

• Wooli concert

Let’s quickly hit the notable moments from February:

1. Skied three mountains in Colorado

2. Flew to Mexico

3. Hot Springs

4. Roller Coasters / Caverns

5. Built a dining table

6. Songwriters Performance

7. Good food…as always

****As always, every category depicts what I spent, what I made, and how my net worth changed. Just me, not our household****

After a slow January, it was time to hit the road again.

I got a chance to see the team I work with, some for the first time ever in person. While out in Colorado, I was also able to hit the slopes on three different mountains.

And although we started the month off in the snow, we left town on the last day of Feb for a 10-day jaunt down to Mexico.

Somewhere in the middle I was able to eat too much good food, and build us a dining table for some future dinner parties.

Keep scrolling for the full breakdown.

After-Tax Income: $37,991

A truly humbling number for me.

It comes as a mix of regular pay, commissions, 401k matching, VA and restricted stock.

It’s weird to think that one month could provide me the means to pay my half of the mortgage for two years. Hopefully, more than that when we get on Airbnb someday!

On to the expenses

Expenses: $3,581

In this new world for me where I have a mortgage and a large payment on my truck, this is actually not a bad month.

Big ticket items included Skis, documentation to get a short-term rental license, a visa for Saudi Arabia, and the monthly payments for the truck/house.

Let’s break down the expenses in detail.

Going Out: $142.07

A bit higher than normal for me but this did include some time spend in Vail and Beavercreek which aren’t known for their value meals.

One of my favorite stops was to the Hot Springs in Colorado which had amazing weather and views, plus we even met some folks from Austin.

But what would a post from me be without a snap from the lounge showcasing my food haven that is the Amex Centurion lounge?

It’s a pretty terrible photo but the steak, shrimp, and veggies were honestly delicious. I’m always impressed with their offerings.

On top of free food, we’ve also been utilizing the Too Good To Go app which allows us to help prevent food waste while also getting food for huge discounts.

Like this local BBQ food truck which has become one of our must grabs when they come available.

Or this catfish dinner which was only $5 and satisfied all my Mississippi boy food cravings.

The total break-down for eating out this month was:

• Hot Springs Drinks: $11.50

• Vail Brewing Company: $16

• The George: $19.50

• Wendy’s: $1.85

• Angry James: $17.93

• Gabriela’s: $11.25

• Too Good To Go (4x): $12

• El Segundo: $25.52

• Kerby Lane: $17.26

• Irene’s: $15

• Donut Palace: $5.52
  
  

Groceries: $144.97

This month was another high one, been on a bit of a streak, but from my experience, it all averages out.

This included shopping at Trader Joe’s while traveling and stocking up on protein shakes thanks to a killer UberEats promo at Costco.

We do eat pretty healthy for the most part but I was pumped to get the pizza oven rolling again and really overachieve on my carb quota haha

There were several more pizzas cooked but I tend to start eating before I start grabbing photos.

On our trip to Colorado, I pulled out one of my old tricks which is to toast up a bagel, make a breakfast sandwich, and wrap it back in the plastic wrap the bagels come in for a nice lunch.

I’m not sure this picture has the makings for a Hardee’s commercial but it helped lower the food expenses so I’ll take it!

Full grocery cost breakdown:

• HEB: $17.51

• HEB: $16.54

• HEB: $9.14

• Sams: $39.14

• Costco: $24.88 (protein shakes delivered cheaper than I could buy myself, thanks Uber Eats)

• Trader Joe’s: $25.74

Bills: $2,248

Oooh boy… with standard bills that high, I feel like I’m losing some street cred.

But it’s all part of the plan.

I want to see what it’s like to have the house and truck that I want. Will it make me happier? Will it be something I want to budget for the long term?

The good news is, they can both be sold easily with no financial impact.

The house has already appreciated and the truck was bought below invoice with surging prices. Creature comforts and a low-risk experiment… I’ll take it.

The full set of bills was:

• Mortgage: $1,473.29

• Internet: $27

• Spotify: $10

• Utilities: $84.13

• Truck: $650

• Netflix: $4.50

Travel & Entertainment: $288.57

If you’ve visited the site before, you’ll probably remember that I list the costs that I incurred in a given month as well as the activities that I did in a given month.

So some things we’ll cover here were paid for previously, and some expenses are for future activities.

This month we hit both ends of the temperature spectrum.

We spent several days skiing in Colorado and left out for a couple of weeks in Mexico.

Let’s chat about Colorado first.

Skiing in Vail… My happy place

February is the start of our new Fiscal year at work. It is also where the majority of my team lives so Colorado was an easy choice for us to get together and strategize for the upcoming year.

I tacked on a few extra days (at my expense) to utilize my Epic Pass and actually got to ski three different mountains while I was there.

Skiing was the highlight for me but it is something I’ve done plenty of times, and I talked about the hot springs earlier (amazing), but I’ve done that before too.

What I hadn’t done was visit this little amusement park fused with a cavern tour establishment near the hot springs.

The place is called Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park.

It had these awesome caves as part of your entry. The guides walked us through the story of the people who found them and how they’ve been managed as privately owned natural beauties.

There was also this incredibly fun roller coaster contraption that we rode at least four times.

This is a stock photo from their site but this little thing is a blast. You can ride with two passengers and you’ll be certain that you’re about to fly off this thing…but you won’t.

Weekly Date Night Tradition

Leslie had this awesome idea for us to alternate planning a date night each week.

The one I’m highlighting here was a really cool space at a private club they opened up to the public for a songwriter night.

Not sure I can make it a month without live music.

One last freebie for the road!

On the final day of February, we started our journey to Mexico where we’ll be spending a couple of weeks with my podcast co-host Cody and his fiance Lauren, our friends James & Emily, as well as a host of other folks we’ve met through the personal finance space.

I’m very excited to update you next month on how Mexico goes and equally excited to cover my journey to Saudi Arabia in May.

The full list of expenses for travel and entertainment were:

• Caverns: $35.10

• Beaver Creek Parking: $5

• Hot Springs: $32

• Koe Wetzel Tickets: $60.73

• Saudi Arabia Visa $140

• Movie Tickets: $15.74

Miscellaneous: $757

The big expense here is for my new skis which I decided to treat myself to for my birthday.

I had been skiing for 7 years on a pair of $50 used rental skis from an Air Force base.

I feel like I earned the right to upgrade.

Paid the city of Austin for wasting months of my life a certificate of occupancy so I could finish our Airbnb application.

I also spent a little money at lowes as part of my dining table project.

Before the structural engineers come after me, I know I should probably put a runner on it, but I did beef up the supports underneath and I just really like the minimalist look it has without the runner.

We need to get some chairs for it but I just mocked up the scene with our barstools. Very happy with this little project.

Here’s the complete list of random purchases this month:

• Lowes: $72.05

• ATX Bikes: $13.70

• Lowes: $23.27

• Shoes: $30.30

• Certificate of Occupancy: $114

• Watch $54

• New Skis!: $450
  

Gas:  $0

We just really don’t drive much some months so when you start off on a full tank in both cars, sometimes you don’t spend any on gas.

Big Picture: Net Worth Increased $9,464 to $1,072,916

Well, the market did its best to stop me from moving forward but thankfully I was able to fill the bucket faster than it could leak.

The only thing I can control is my savings, and that’s what I have to keep reminding myself of and remove all emotions related to the market.

I saved $34,409 while the market pulled back $24,944 worth of value for a total increase of $9,464.

If you made it this far, all I can say is thank you!

And if this feels like it’s a bit far in the journey to be relatable, don’t forget that I started tracking when I only had $38k!

That was in 2015 and I started blogging about my expenses and net worth in 2017 which you can find here.

Until next time

Let’s quickly hit the notable moments from January:

1. Rounded out Marfa Trip

2. Built out Garage Gym

3. Finished Giant Wall Art

4. Leslie’s Launches into Candle Making

5. Friend’s Shrek Themed Bday Party

6. Lots of Wood Foraging

7. Became an Electrician

8. Fishing

****As always, every category depicts what I spent, what I made, and how my net worth changed. Just me, not our household****

Other than driving back from Marfa, there was no travel happening in January.

Kinda wild looking back at the month and realizing how different it is from almost any month we’ve had the last year.

But with that time at home came some projects. I’ve been especially getting interested in woodworking projects.

The problem is that I need to practice certain techniques but wood is too expensive to just be playing around with.

No fear though, craigslist and Facebook marketplace to the rescue.

The world is full of free stuff and the possibilities just got bigger now that I have the truck.

I got pallets, broke down a huge shipping crate, even took an old piano that had been gutted and turned it all into useable wood pieces for upcoming projects.

We also sprinkled in time with family, good dinners inside and outside of the home, and getting our house closer and closer to where we want it to be.

Keep scrolling for the full breakdown.

After-Tax Income: $18,253

Our company has a $9k 401k match for the year, but they also break that down into quarterly limits of $2,250. I maxed out my 401k well before we entered the fourth quarter so I didn’t get that match during the calendar year of 2021.

Luckily, they look back on the year and make us whole in January to make up for those of us that contribute too quickly.

So I got a nice chunk of 401k match for tax-year 2021, some more matching for 2022, my HSA employer contribution, and some commissions this month which gave the total a nice uplift.

On to the expenses

Expenses: $3,307.58

I used to feel uneasy about going over $3k in a month. It was pretty rare. But with the new house, I’ll be very happy if I can continue to land on numbers in this realm.

I think we’re about 4-months away from being in a good spot to start allowing the house to pay for itself via Air BnB so it’s only temporary in my mind.

Travel is also a big-ticket item this month with buying flights to Mexico, booking 3 nights near Vail, Colorado, and buying two different festival tickets for Leslie as a V-day surprise.

The beautiful thing about getting behind on writing these is that she already knows about the surprises before I have to splatter the info on the internet.

Let’s break down the expenses in detail.

Going Out: $127.72

We’ve been instituting date nights each week. Every week we alternate whose responsibility it is to plan what we do and generally keep it a surprise.

I took us to a local Mexican spot we’ve been wanting to try for a while. I didn’t seem to get a picture of the Al Pastor street tacos but they along with this choriqueso were phenomenal.

All of our excursions weren’t solo. We met up with Leslie’s brother for a lunch out at one of our favorite bars/venues in walking distance and had Ms. Pearl joining us. I think Leslie would trade me in for a frenchie if she could.

We also went out to Jester King (one of the best breweries in the country). They gave away one free beer if you came and got your booster shot. We took them up on that and stuck around for pizza and a few more drinks.

The total break-down for eating out this month was:

• Jester King: $32.74

• Dairy Queen: $3.44

• Lums: $10.09

• Watering Stop: $13

• Shu Shus: $6.47

• Gabriela’s: $11.25

• Too Good To Go: $11.98

• Armadillo Den: $17

• Aviary: $21.75

Groceries: $128.41

This month saw the groceries a bit high again but I think it was mostly because we were stocking up on some higher-end items like protein shakes from Sams.

I’ve progressively allowed myself to get more comfortable with expenses in this category that are helping me maintain a good diet and add a lot of convenience.

Sam’s also has great prices on lean ground turkey and pre-cut broccoli florets. When you got like six chips left over you stick them in the hummus for that fancy effect.

It wasn’t all health foods though. You know I can’t quit making my pizza but it had been too long and I was a little rusty.

I had a snafu with the dough which lead to my first ever Calzone. Beautiful creations can come from mistakes I guess.

I doubt we see averages this high in the grocery department but I think the protein shakes are here to stay.

Full grocery cost breakdown:

• HEB: $19.47

• HEB: $26.10

• HEB: $9.73

• Sams: $25.18

• Sams: $31.16

• Walmart: $7.48

Bills: $1,587.96

I wish I could just say this is the new normal and I’m used to it. See the problem with that is my truck payments are kicking in next month.

Geez… am I just ruining the financial position I worked so hard to build? You’ll just have to keep an eye out for all my thoughts there and why I’m purposefully spending so much more money.

That’ll be a standalone post and I hope to get it out soon.

The full set of bills were:

• Mortgage: $1,473.29

• Internet: $27

• Spotify: $10

• Utilities: $77.67

Travel & Entertainment: $1,190.29

I think not traveling gives me way too much time on my hands and therefore I end up spending way more on travel.

This month we basically didn’t go anywhere but we made a lot of purchases for the future.

• Flying to Mexico in March

• Colorado Trip in Febuary

• Music fest in Idaho for June

• Music fest in Chicago for August

• Multiple stand-up comedy shows

As always though, I’ll just talk about what I actually did this month even if those don’t line up with what I spent this month.

None of this is really travel but…kept me entertained I guess.

House -> Home

If you read last month’s article, you saw where I started work on some type of wood art project. It probably didn’t look like much then but now we have the finished product and I couldn’t be happier.

These big guys are 43” squares. They were made out of a lot of 1x4s. I’ve gotten so much good feedback that I think I could sell them and want to explore that.

I made these for around $50 apiece in materials but I see them selling for over $500 on etsy that are this size. I do need to get some examples built with different designs and just generally practice and get more proficient….but the wood costs.

So I look to the wild for free wood.

This giant crate not only came with some night 10ft 2x4s that I hope to help build a table but also good plywood for making the backing of art pieces and/or adding floor structure to my attic so I can store things.

The fun didn’t stop with that crate or just simple pallets. I also picked up a baby grand piano that had been gutted for parts. All this was broken down and cut into more standard rectangular planks for future projects.

It wasn’t all just wood projects this month though. Another big thing that drew us to wanting a house was having an at-home gym setup.

We took some rubber horse stall mats and laid out a nice flooring on one half of the garage. Then hung an extra TV we had over two free body length mirrors we got.

That along with the multi-position bench and Bowflex selectable dumbells has created a pretty functional space. We’re adding a pull-up bar soon and maybe some kettlebells.

Another thing we hated about our condo spot was not being able to store and use my pizza oven when and where I wanted to.

With the new house we have no silly HOA and that’s no longer a problem. But my custom cabinet was looking pretty rough.

From the day I got the giant piece of butcher block (the picture is only half the original piece) from Facebook for $30, it really needed to be refinished.

Having gaps in the protective coating along with all the weather it has been abused by, meant it needed to be refinished. So I sanded it down and gave it a few nice coats of urethane and she’s looking great again.

Then my attention turned to the other side of the garage.

I am extremely committed to parking my truck on the non-gym side of the garage is a must-have for me. But I also want a space to work on projects.

Luckily there is a 30inch deep step-up of concrete on the side my truck goes on. So while I can’t park the truck and do projects on my work table at the same time, I have both options.

I took some garage organizing stuff my brother got me for Christmas and made my workspace dreams come true.

This is a weird recap month so I’ll just continue to spew the random things I did around the house. The next one might come as a shock.

Yep… dad joke engage. This is a picture I took of myself while in the attic where I was trying to fix an outlet in our bathroom that never worked yet somehow made it through the inspection.

It took me a long time to diagnose but with the help of Captain DIY (check him out on twitter) I now can charge my toothbrush somewhere other than my bedside table.

I can’t take all the DIY credit this month though. While we were in Marfa, Leslie pitched the idea to the Marfa Spirit Company (distillery) that she should make them a candle to sell in the giftshop

It turned out to get a lot more serious than I think she initially thought and next thing you know they’ve ordered 50!

These were a few testers she sent off in concrete vessels. She’s refined the scent and the vessels and will be shipping those off at the end of Feb.

End Things with some Feel Good

My neighbor is a funny elderly veteran and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know him. I love having neighbors and not just people in a complex you live at.

We really feel like we’re a part of a community now.

One thing I noticed after moving in was how tattered the man’s U.S. and Texas flags were.

So I snagged him some new ones to surprise him. I quickly stopped seeing him at home though and couldn’t find a good time to give them to him.

Finally, I see both vehicles there and go to surprise him. That’s when I found out he’d been at the hospital in rough condition but was back home and recovering.

I wasn’t sure how much he’d care about the flags but it almost brought him to tears he was so thankful. He’s not someone who couldn’t have afforded the flags himself, I think it was genuinely the gesture that moved him.

I don’t say all this to pat myself on the back, but to remind folks to look out for these asymmetrical opportunities. Times when you can do something that is not even a large burden to you but can completely change someone’s day.

Most of the things I covered don’t really line up with the expenses for the month but you know I have to list them out.

The full list of expenses for travel and entertainment were:

• Mexico Flight: $292.45

• Big Bend Gas: $30.36

• Joe Rogan Show: $37.74

• Colorado Hotel: $201

• Vday: $134.30

• Vday: $221.42

• My Ticket to Idaho Music Fest: $221.42

• Comedy Night: $21.55

Miscellaneous: $263.09

A couple of small things for the house, replacing my running sunglasses, and materials to build some projects paint a pretty good picture of this random category.

Oh, and my sweet house shoes that look terrible but keep my feet toasty warm from Chacos was also a must-have expense.

Here’s the complete list of random purchases this month:

• Aloha Dental: $20

• AWS: $1.28

• Ikea: $37.76

• Cabinet Latch: $5.41

• Sunglasses: $27.06

• Caliper: $11.90

• TV Mount: $8.68

• Root Killer: $13.38

• Pull-Up Bar: $16.23

• Home Depot: $66.39

• Chaco Shoes: $53.03

• Dollar Tree: $1.98

• Haircut: $9

Gas:  $10.11

When you don’t go anywhere, you don’t buy gas. I entered the month with a full tank in the truck and she’s got a long-range.

Big Picture: Net Worth Decreased $33,792 to $1,063,451

These months when you go backward sucks, but it’s just part of the journey. I certainly get a lot of emotional comfort from still having a well-paying job to minimize the pain of market corrections.

With all that being said, I saved $15,099 while the market pulled back $48,892 worth of value for a setback of $33,792.

How bad will the portfolio get hit before things start coming back? Guess you’ll have to tune in next time

Let’s quickly hit the notable moments from December:

1. Brought home my new F-150!

2. Spoke at my High School Alma Mater on Finance

3. Three weeks in Mississippi

4. Christmas Carnage

5. Big Bend

6. Marfa New Year

7. Big Country Concert

****As always, every category depicts what I spent, what I made, and how my net worth changed. Just me, not our household****

She’s here!

Leslie is probably even happier than me so that I can stop talking about getting a truck and instead start actually enjoying it.

Originally, I was going after the new Ford Maverick which is a 4-door hybrid truck that costs less and gets 42mpg. That all sounds way more rationale.

The problem?

• I test drove an F-150 and fell in love

• I believe I can drive for a year and see almost zero depreciation

  • I got it for 3% below invoice and the supply chain issues are making that a great deal

• I want the ability to pull a camper so we can put our house on Air BnB periodically

I actually flew to Philadelphia and drove this beauty back to Mississippi for Christmas. That seems like a long way from Austin (oh…it is) but it saved me over $5k and I had a great experience with the dealership.

That wasn’t the only big thing that happened this month though. As I said above I spent weeks in Mississippi which included speaking at my old high school and an insane wrestling event. My dad and I did a huge bourbon trail trip. Then, we headed south and spent some time in Big Bend National park followed by a New Year celebration in Marfa.

Want to see how this month shakes out? Well, keep scrolling for the full breakdown.

After-Tax Income: $16,538

This month’s income was normal pay plus a nice little chunk of my Restricted Stock Units vesting. These are shares of your companies stock that are given to you but don’t become tradeable or truly yours until you’ve held them a certain amount of time.

Generally, these shares are slowly handed over to you quarterly. If you have multiple allotments, then you could be receiving them every month if those cycles aren’t lined up.

If you’ve been following along, you’ll know I actually just got some last month, and have more coming up in Feb and March.

On to the expenses

Expenses: $4,526

I’m not sure how many months it is going to take me to be ok with these large numbers but I know I can turn these off if I ever really want to. We can (and will) use Air BnB to offset our housing costs.

And worst case… we sell it.

Then there are also a lot of random expenses that come when you combine major vacations, new vehicles, and Christmas.

I’m confident I’ll be able to wrangle my expenses back to a more sustainable number.

Let’s break down the expenses in detail.

Going Out: $423.55

This category is a bit weird this month.

The total seems really high even though I actually barely ate out at all.

That’s largely because I always put alcohol purchases in this category even if it’s not out at a restaurant.

And when you go on the bourbon trail in Kentucky… You bring home a lot of alcohol.

I did have some meals out however including this massive burrito at the Corinth,MS staple, Mi Toro.

Pictures don’t do this thing justice and it’s filled with various fajita-style meats (shrimp, steak, chicken, bacon, chorizo) all for only $16. Shout out to my mom for this dinner.

I mentioned earlier that I flew to Philidelphia to get my truck and with that came a long layover in Denver. I was more than happy to see that on the itinerary because that meant I got a stop at the Amex lounge to load up on free food and drink.

Ok, ok… So I haven’t actually mentioned a single meal out that I paid for yet but I promise they existed. Here’s a beautiful duck pizza I got at Pizza Grocery back in my hometown.

The total break-down for eating out this month was:

• Comrade Brewing: $22

• The Get Set: $9.85

• Bourbon Collection: $350.90

• Kermit’s: $10.33

• High Sierra: $10.05

• Pizza Grocery: $17.25

• McDonald’s: $3.17

Groceries: $59.29

I actually barely spent anytime at home this month so I’m a little surprised I even spent this much on groceries but here ya go.

Full grocery cost breakdown:

• HEB: $15.95

• HEB: $43.34

Bills: $1,867.90

Still so weird seeing my standard bills being higher than my total budget has been most of my life but that’s part of this housing experiment we’re going through.

The good news is that we are building equity and the estimate is already up $40k on the house sense we purchased.

The full set of bills were:

• Mortgage: $1,473.29

• Internet: $10

• Spotify: $10

• Utilities: $82.61

Travel & Entertainment: $473.48

The big expense for this category was the $332 for the Air BnB in Marfa along with the $45 distillery tour also in Marfa.

That’s the majority of the expenses but is only the tip of the iceberg as far as experience goes.

Let’s break down Big Bend, Marfa, Bourbon Trail, Wrestling, Concerts, Philly->MS road trip…. ok, that’s a lot but here we go.

Big Bend + Marfa -> Lookin’ Good Texas

If you told me a few years ago that there were beautiful mountain filled areas of Texas that made you feel like you were in Utah… I would have been shook an probably laughed.

But it’s true!

Nestled on the Mexico border, Big Bend National Park is an incredible place and comes without the over-saturation of people you’ll find at Zion, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, etc.

Don’t get me wrong, I love those places too but there’s something about enjoying nature and it still feeling secluded.

The little town on the edge of the park, Terlingua, is also a fun little spot. Marketed as a ghost town, it does have a tiny population but has plenty of fun little bars to service the community.

It’s also home to the largest longhorn I’ve ever seen.

From Big Bend, we headed up to Marfa which is an enigma of a town for sure. Located about 5 hours from anything, this little town has turned into a magnet for art of all forms.

Even Beyonce has been to Marfa y’all.

The crew and I took in all the nature, art, and good eats that west Texas had to offer. These are both very remote locations but I couldn’t recommend them any higher.

Kentucky Bourbon Trail

So this new bourbon hobby is quickly becoming expensive but at least I’ll have a nice glass of it to console me when I look back over my spending.

As always, I did a good bit of planning and scheduling to make the most of the trip.

The distilleries we hit were

• Willet

• Buffalo Trace

• Woodford

• Bartons

• Four Roses

• Wilderness Trail

• Glenns Creek

We even found a bottle at Wilderness Trail that my dad fell in love with. That’s the awesome thing about bourbon. It brings people together to compare what they like and sample each other’s collections.

Plus, there’s the thrill of the hunt. I scored a few bottles that I could easily flip and make a profit or set aside for special occasions.

I also now have a lot more respect for bourbons that are aged or 10, 15, 20+ years. The evaporation alone leaves some barrels completely empty. Imagine waiting 20 years only to open up a dry barrel….

Live Music & Good Causes

The funny thing with this section is that I didn’t even change the header. Last month I was talking about a concert and a cancer benefit.

This time the two areas were combined.

There are these events across the country called Acoustic Christmas. They’re country concerts that are stripped down and the proceeds go to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital.

Some of the artists featured include:

• Parker McCollum

• Russel Dickerson

• Michael Ray

That’s not the only good cause I feel like I helped this month though.

I had a chance to go back and tell my story to the graduating class of Biggersville High School in north Mississippi.

The very same school I graduated from with no clue that the life I’ve built was even possible. It’s hard to really break through to teenagers at times but my hope is that one person will take one nugget and that makes it all worth it.

My niece was even in the class… I’m getting old.

The full list of expenses for travel and entertainment were:

• Uber: $6.50

• Marfa AirBnB: $332.26

• Big Bend Gas: $9.02

• Big Bend Motel: $31.36

• Distillery Tour: $45.00

Miscellaneous: $1,572.96

Think goodness I saved a lot off the price of my truck because I’m sure sinking more into it ha.

I paid to get a ceramic coating for it and some nice fitted floor liners. I’m hoping these upfront investments help keep the truck at a premium value as long as possible.

While those are the biggest random expenses along with Christmas presents, they’re really not that interesting.

What is much more exciting (to me at least) are some of the wood projects from December.

The pic above may not look that intriguing yet but come back next month to see the finished product hung on the wall and I think you’ll be pretty impressed with the transformation.

Speaking of transformation. My whole life, my mom’s utility room has had nothing but cardboard walls.

So for Christmas, I decided to recover them for her.

I still have a few pieces I need to install next time I’m home and add some trim boards to cover up the gaps to give it a nice finished look but it’s a huge improvement.

Woodworking is quickly becoming a big hobby of mine. Add that to the long, long, list of hobbies.

Here’s the complete list of random purchases this month:

• Ceramic Coating: $816.75

• Floor liners: $221.44

• Wash Buckets: $12.81

• TJ Xmas: $30.73

• State Woodford Bottle: $30.73

• Dad Xmas: $191.52

• Car Wash Setup: $109.10

• Sister Xmas: $4.23 (after $50 rebate)

• Fabletics: $49.95

• Cutting Boards: $5.70

• Work Table: $100

Gas:  $129.55

Driving back to Texas from Mississippi is the biggest driver for the gas spike. It’ll be curious to see how the truck changes what we spend in gas but I did average almost 27 MPG from Philly to Mississippi in the F-150!

Big Picture: Net Worth Increased $17,335 to $1,097,244

October brought the big move into the 7 figures and now I’m glad to see a little breathing room.

The only thing I can really control is my spending. The market is going to do what the market is going to do. (I really need to remember that)

With all that being said, I saved $11,911 while the market through in $5,424 for a solid increase of $17,335.

I have this sneaking suspicion that the next couple of months won’t be so kind….

Let’s quickly hit the notable moments from November:

1. Dad comes to Austin for 10 days

2. Thanksgiving in the Hill Country

3. CHVRCHES Concert

4. Garrison Bros Distillery Tour

5. Cancer Benefit Event

6. 25 person Friendsgiving (including FI friends)

7. House Improvements

8. Veteran’s Day Freebies

****As always, every category depicts what I spent, what I made, and how my net worth changed. Just me, not our household****

The absolute highlight of my month was having my dad come down to Austin to visit. I’ve lived all over the country and 99% of my family live right where I grew up. I’m always encouraging them to come visit and am always so happy when they do.

As part of his journey down, we did some sightseeing and a few days out in the Texas hill country to do a big family Thanksgiving with Leslie’s family.

We also had a big Friendsgiving at the new house which included 5 folks that I met exclusively thanks to the financial independence community.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a normal month without also tossing in some live music, good food, and a project or two.

Want to see how this month shakes out? Well, keep scrolling for the full breakdown.

After-Tax Income: $14,098

This month’s income was normal pay plus a nice little chunk of my Restricted Stock Units vesting. These are shares of your companies stock that are given to you but don’t become tradeable or truly yours until you’ve held them a certain amount of time.

Generally, these shares are slowly handed over to you quarterly. If you have multiple allotments, then you could be receiving them every month if those cycles aren’t lined up.

On to the expenses

Expenses: $4,277

Not gonna lie, even though my savings rate is still golden, seeing numbers this high gives me some anxiety.

The major reason for the giant increase is certainly the house. Good news? I strongly believe that once we get it set-up as an Air BnB that we can spend large swaths traveling the country/world and have it pay for itself.

Even more good news? I’m also very confident that if we realize it just isn’t for us and we want to break ties, we can just sell it.

Even with this increase in spending, I’m still financially independent, I’m just not as way out in front as I used to be. So yea, I’m a little nervous, but I also must remind myself that I am not locked into being a homeowner for life.

Let’s break down the expenses in detail.

Going Out: $84.82

There was very little going out that is going to show up on my budget this month for a few reasons.

1. My colleagues grouped up in Austin to plan out changes for the upcoming year. That meant meals on the company card.

2. My dad was in town and covered a few meals for us. We hooked him up with a place to stay and tickets to the activities we did so it wasn’t completely a one-way street.

3. The dinner below (delicious but might look odd) was for Leslie's sisters birthday which her mom picked up the tab for.

I always try to be as transparent about that stuff as possible and I hope y’all can appreciate that.

I did pick up some meals from one of my favorite food-waste-saving apps called Too Good to Go and a batch of Kolaches to feed the Thanksgiving crew for breakfast one day.

The total break-down for eating out this month was:

• too good to go: $11.98

• too good to go: $11.98

• Specs for party: $11.34

• Lustre Pearl: $10.36

• Subway: $3.41

• Kolaches: $28.22

Groceries: $97.93

This month had some negatives and positives as far as impacts to the old grocery budget.

Starting off with the things that kept it low was all the Veteran’s day freebies out there. My mode is generally to hit up places that do to-go orders.

Then I go to my random cash jar (I never use cash) and use that for tips.

So what to do with all this bounty?

Make pizzas of course!

Above you can see some pizzas I made including a yellow curry boneless wing on the right and a bbq brisket pizza in the middle.

I did a terrible job of taking pictures from Friendsgiving. It was the most random assortment of my friends which is exactly what I love about this time of year. Just bringing folks together.

I made some bomb sliders, an awesome cornbread casserole, some sweet potatoes crustininis and even some air-fried turkey skin (sorry to my vegan friend).

While I didn’t capture my sous vide turkey sliders, I did grab a photo of my grilled turkey legs from some of the left over turkey that I didn’t cook for the crew.

Every location we’ve lived in has called for adjustments to the way I like to cook and at the new house, I’m really digging my ninja foodi grill with the temperature probe. It cooks things like this turkey leg just as good as a normal grill and with much easier precision.

The home cooking didn’t stop there. Internet, I give you my mom’s sweet potatoes casserole.

Some recipes have a marshmallow top, some have a pecan/brown sugar crust….the recipe has both. Hiding under that marshmallow top is a hefty amount of roasted pecans, butter, brown sugar and of course, sweet potatoes.

Maybe it’s a side, maybe it’s a dessert…all I know, it’s delicious.

Full grocery cost breakdown:

• Randalls: $5.00

• Walmart: $13.16

• Walmart: $4.35

• HEB: $22.23

• HEB: $36.47

• HEB: $11.18

• HEB: $5.55

Bills: $1,866.92

Ok, now we’re settling into what I see as our long term bills. Well long term until I have my truck payment pushing it up and then hopefully some Air BnB income to offset the mortgage and bring it back down.

The full set of bills were:

• Mortgage - $1,473.29

• Internet - $10

• Spotify - $10

• Utilities: $81.63

Travel & Entertainment: $330.43

Most of the travel and entertainment was free this month. Hanging out with some work friends doing things like top golf and going out, being with friends and family, and jumping in on concerts when a ticket from a friend pops up last minute.

I’ll go over the expenses incurred this month at the bottom, but first let’s step through the more memorable moments.

Thanksgiving in Rural Texas

Almost every year, Leslie’s family convenes in a very (VERY) rural part of Texas where her aunts own some deer hunting land. It’s normally 20+ people across two properties.

With my dad visiting we ended up in a little AirBnb 30 minutes away instead of our normal camper in the yard arrangement.

There’s a ton of eating, football watching, and just catching up. This year, we also did some cacti foraging including this “horse crippler” cactus in the pic below.

It’s always a welcome escape to get away from the city and work and sort of reset towards the end of the year.

Garrison Bros Bourbon Distillery

I’ve progressively gotten more passionate about collecting and comparing bourbon this year and it just so happens we have a great distillery within a reasonable drive of the house.

I snagged some distillery tour tickets for my dad and I which made for a nice day away from work.

I’ve been to a ton of different brewery and distillery tours and I highly recommend this one. Honestly one of the better ones I’ve been to and they also make fantastic bourbon.

This is their dip room where they dip the necks of the bottles into the wax with different colors for different variants.

The tour guide was top notch so head out to Hye, Texas and indulge.

Live Music & Good Causes

While most of the month was spent related to Thanksgiving type events, there were some other fun events sprinkled in.

One of my friends in Austin always hits me up when he finds himself holding an extra concert ticket. I’m not always a regular listener to the band but I always try to say yes because live music is almost always enjoyable regardless of genre.

The concert this month was CHVRCHES and they put on an incredible show.

The next show I caught was much less of a production but still a memorable night. I’ve mentioned before that we have seven locations within walking distance to catch live music.

Most of them are larger somewhat new venues but there is one absolute hole in the wall. It’s called Sam’s Town Point. If you’re ever in Austin and looking for some old school Austin vibes, this is your spot.

The last event had music but it wasn’t the main attraction. This was a big event called Fork Cancer. It featured tons of high-end local restaurants providing unlimited samples.

There were also unlimited samples of local liquors and beer. Tickets were $60 and it all went towards the American Cancer Society.

I found out about this event thanks to Leslie finding a free workout class hosted at a local retailer who was helping sponsor the event. It’s just a great reminder to get out to community events because it can domino into meeting new people and more events.

The full list of expenses for travel and entertainment were:

• Austin Parking: $10.00

• Cancer Benefit: $65.00

• Mavericks Concert: $56.38

• Luke Combs Concert: $93.26

• Garrison Bros Tour: $21.20

• Philadelphia Flight: $84.58

Miscellaneous: $2,187.37

With the new house comes lots of room and reason to do projects.

The first one up was building some shelves for the bottom of my closet just to make it a bit more efficient.

Don’t judge me for the height being higher on the middle bottom shelves. It was actually on purpose to make room for my cowboy boots.

Staying on the storage front, I wanted to build in some hefty built in storage to this part of the garage that isn’t as useful because it’s behind the gap for the garage tracks.

These shelves are rock solid, custom sized to my needs and cheaper than going to just but some rack from home depot, plus they’re larger.

Ok, so maybe I went a little storage crazy this month. I found someone giving away this wall cabinet for free. I took it and routed some power strips inside to give me a little battery charging station/power tool storage area.

Outside of only storage, I also hung up some string lights that a friend gave me once they realized they weren’t going to work for their space.

Some other random things brought on expenses such as covers for our outdoor furniture, adjustable dumbells for our at-home gym, upgrading some power tools, and a sweet new fire pit that we can use on our deck.

It was obviously an overloaded month of random expenses but these things ebb and flow. I’m confident that this is just natural for when you are first moving into a house and once we have things setup how we want, things will calm down.

Here’s the complete list of random purchases this month:

• Home Depot: $43.53

• Lowes: $51.85

• Leslie: $140

• Ceramic Coating: $816.75

• Madison Pictures: $23.10

• Home Depot: $38.70

• Home Depot: $31.02

• Lowes: $45.68

• Power Tools: $308

• Solo Stove: $200

• Smart Plug: $17.31

• Seat Covers: $55.17

• Neighbor Gift: $15.23

• Shane Gift: $100

• Dumbells: $146.13

• Speaker: $58.44

• Target: $28.10

• Blankets: $20.81

Gas:  $49.76

We were fairly local except for the drive out for Thanksgiving.

Big Picture: Net Worth Increased $34,018 to $1,079,909

Another month, another solid jump. I won’t lie, I was really hoping for another good month to give me a little breathing room across that double comma milestone.

I know it’s part of it but I didn’t want to get there and then regress behind it the first month so I was thankful to see a nice return from the market.

Even with the big-spending month, I have to give myself credit that I still saved $9,820 and the market was kind enough to through in $24,198 for a solid increase of $34,018.

Sometimes I get a bit behind with these updates but look forward to getting the next one out for you all soon!

Let’s quickly hit the notable moments from October:

1. Became a Millionaire!

2. Austin City Limits

   • Miley Cyrus, Doja Cat, George Straight, Tyler the Creator, Rufus Du Sol, Megan Thee Stallion, Greta Van Fleet, Billie Eilish, MGK, and much much more

3. Camp FI

4. X-Ambassadors Concert

5. Six Flags (Oh the funnel cake)

6. Ford event (New Bronco, Maverick and electric F-150)

7. Free food/drink/music events around Austin

****As always, every category depicts what I spent, what I made, and how my net worth changed. Just me, not our household****

What better way to end our last few nights in our little downtown condo than Austin City Limits!

ACL is a huge concert festival, but I’ll cover all that in the travel section.

This month was packed with great events that didn’t even require me to hop on a plane.

Camp FI (yes, an adult summer camp for money nerds), concerts, insane Ford demonstration site, and my dear friend Six Flags.

Oh yea, one more thing. This month came with the huge accomplishment of becoming a millionaire. Something I truly never even dreamed of while walking the halls of Biggersville High School in north Mississippi.

It’s been a wild and blessed journey.

As always, read on for the details.

After-Tax Income: $23,288.07

This month’s income came with a major part of my yearly variable compensation and our annual well-being allowance.

Numbers like this will never stop being insane to me.

On to the expenses

Expenses: $3,341.79

The biggest driver was my $1,500 annual sponsorship for Norma. For those who don’t know, I sponsor Norma through this fantastic organization (Ciudad De Angeles).

They are a children’s orphanage in Cozumel, Mexico. If you’ve been looking for a good cause, stop what you’re doing right now and check them out.

I’ve been sponsoring Norma for about 7 years and couldn’t be more proud. She’s about to become one of the first kids to graduate college from the program and the first to do so outside of Cozumel. She’s getting her degree in nutrition in Merida, Mexico. Her dream has always been to work in the medical field.

Let’s break down the expenses in detail.

Going Out: $108.22

We had a few good meals out at some local spots but why not highlight an over-the-top amusement park heart attack instead.

As part of my annual pass to six flags, we got a meal plan. It includes one dinner and one snack. All snacks are not created equal.

The “snack” we chose was the funnel cake with snickers, chocolate syrup and ice cream.

Yea, it was ridiculous, but tasty.

Apparently, I did a terrible job at taking photos of the other places.

One treat I did want to highlight though is Snap Kitchen via the Too Good to Go app. This app lines you up with restaurants that have food about to expire. This allows you to get really discounted food and save some food waste.

Most of these meals are delicious, high protein, and low calorie. Different regions seem to have different apps but take a look and see if you have one in your area.

The total break-down for eating out this month was:

• Dope Chinese: $22.06

• Bombay: $21.50

• Armadillo Den: $24.00

• Jacoby’s: $15.00

• Uncle Nicky’s: $5.24

• Too Good To Go: $5.99

• Uber Eats Mexican: $1.80

• ACL Food: $4.07

• Praxis: $2.50

• Subway: $3.14

• McDonald’s: $2.93

Groceries: $107.96

Cooking up some similar dishes but in a much more comfortable setup.

No longer am I using the tiny corner of our 375 sq ft condo to make pizza. I’m fully enjoying this awesome kitchen with it’s open layout and giant island.

The prep for the pizza was much more enjoyable thanks to the inside of the new house, but the cooking portion was also greatly improved.

Instead of storing my pizza oven in my car thanks to my nosey neighbors who love to narc on you for no reason…still some anger there.

I now have my dedicated pizza oven cabinet being fully utilized.

Overall, we spent a bit more on groceries this month but it always has some ups and downs.

Full grocery cost breakdown:

• HEB: $4.19

• HEB: $30.84

• HEB: $17.82

• HEB: $17.94

• HEB: $37.18

Bills: $1,915.91

The final month pre-mortgage is unfortunately here. The big jump in “bills” this month was thanks to the sponsorship of Norma from the children’s orphanage I mentioned earlier.

Even though the mortgage hasn’t started, the utilities have.

The full set of bills were:

• Mexico Orphanage Sponsorship: $1,500

• Rent - $275.00

• Internet - $10

• Spotify - $10

• Car Insurance - $49

• Netflix: $4.87

• Utilities: $66.72

Travel & Entertainment: $195.64

Concerts and concert festivals can be a ton of fun, but normally there’s a little added complexity and stress when you’re trying to figure out the logistics.

Luckily for us, we have a world-class festival in our own back yard.

Austin City Limits 2021

Plenty of people complained about the line-up this year but we had a killer time with very few moments where there wasn’t someone we wanted to see.

The full line-up below didn’t end up surviving thanks to some artists cancelling and others being replaced.

There were plenty of artists who I wasn’t exactly pumped about who ended up completely changing my mind.

I think that’s a beauty of live music. There are certain artists who you may never listen to in your car but put on this incredible experience.

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I would certainly put Miley Cyrus in that category. I have no idea how she does shows multiple nights in a row.

One of my favorite performances though was Greta Van Fleet. If you are a fan of Led Zeppelin, check these guys out.

The live music wouldn’t end there. I also caught an X-Ambassadors show at a small venue I had been wanting to check out.

It was honestly one of the better performances I’ve ever seen. Highly recommend.

Camp FI

If you’ve never heard of Camp FI, you’re missing out. Imagine three days with strangers talking about money.

Ok, that probably didn’t get anyone too excited. But when you get there and you make these real world connections with people who share a passion with you, it’s pretty remarkable.

There will be people you can learn a ton from and people who you can help start out on their journey. Many lives have changed thanks to CampFI.

We were also lucky enough to have a camper from the local area who took us to some cool park areas such as this little swimming spot.

There’s no way to make a money camp not sound a little crazy, but I’m extremely confident that if you gave Camp FI a chance, you’ll never regret it.

Big City Freebies

We took one weekend day and hopped between three different freebie venues. The one pictured below is a Ducati dealership who had free pizza and beer to celebrate a MotoGP race being held in Austin.

Another cool freebie I got the chance to check out was this Ford demonstration site downtown. They had a ridiculous obstacle course that I got to go through in a new bronco.

They also had the newest pickup truck on the market, the Ford Maverick. This thing is going to be a game changer. A four door pickup that gets 42 miles per gallon and starts at $20k.

The Maverick was the truck I was obsessing over for months until I test drove the F-150. Who knows, I could step back down to the Maverick in the future.

The best part about the day though was getting a personal QR code worth $750 off the purchase of a new vehicle. That certainly made the stop worth it.

The full list of expenses for travel and entertainment were:

• FinCon 2022 Ticket: $195.64

Miscellaneous: $969.50

Most of this category was purchasing my new tools, random stuff for the house, and some wood to add onto my walk-in closet.

But that random stuff is starting to allow the house to come together.

Drilling into a tile wall of a house you just bought was nerve racking but dang it was worth it. Look at that TV!

I’m also no longer relegated to the phone booth for taking work calls anymore. I’m starting to get my desk setup perfected.

This desk is a motorized standing desk and fits in nicely with the dark wood beams in the ceiling.

My new desk isn’t my only workplace though. I took a day and walked to some of the new neighborhood spots.

Me and Cody knocked out an intro for the Podcast while I was working at one of the spots down the street.

I mentioned last month but we have seven…SEVEN spots that I can walk to and see quality live music. Loving this area.

Here’s the complete list of random purchases this month:

• Home Depot: $13.14

• Home Depot: $2.69

• Mail Keys: $12.50

• AWS: $1.18

• Uhaul: $73.66

• Dollar Tree: $1.09

• Bug Chemicals: $21.38

• Sams: $23.09

• Buffalo Exchange: $8.66

• Glass Tupperware: $15.69

• Fabletics: $57.00

• Home Depot: $5.40

• Power Tools: $192.86

• Sprayer: $6.49

• Fatigue Mats: $21.10

• Portable SSD: $83.98

• Dryer Fitting: $6.49

• Bar Cart: $77.94

• Home Depot: $52.91

• Powerstrip: $4.66

• Bolts: $2.70

• Blinds: $103.44

• Speaker: $19.36

• Tree Trimming: $150.00

Gas:  $44.57

Fairly standard month, no big road-trips or anything.

Big Picture: Net Worth Increased $77,135 to $1,045,890

WOW WOW WOW

We did it fam. I’m a Mississippi Millionaire.

For those that have been following me for years, I hope you understand there’s not one ounce of boasting here. I’m just pumped and proud of what I’ve accomplished.

When you grew up where I did, you never imagine things like this.

Even when I started this blog journey, I had ~$38k and everyone thought I was insane to think I could retire by 42. Fast forward six years and I’m looking to retire almost a decade earlier than originally planned.

For those that love the numbers, I saved $19,946 and the market was kind enough to through in $57,177 for a whopping increase of $77,135.

No matter where you are on your journey, enjoy all the wins. The next $100, $1k, $10k, it doesn’t matter.

Celebrate it and enjoy the journey.

Let’s quickly hit the notable moments from September:

1. Closed on the House!

2. FinCon 2021 in Austin

3. Attended Four Concerts

4. Paddleboard day to Rosebud Island

****As always, every category depicts what I spent, what I made, and how my net worth changed. Just me, not our household****

Welp… We did it!

We closed on the house. It was such a crazy, unexpected whirlwind and I can’t believe it happened so fast.

We have so many friends that struggled really bad with finding a house and especially closing on a house. Austin has been riddled with all-cash offers that are hundreds of thousands of dollars over asking and even waiving the inspection.

So needless to say, we feel very blessed.

Look at those happy kids

And we can walk to seven spots that have live music which is huge for me.

Speaking of live music, we had to sell some Tyler Childers tickets for a show at Red Rocks which would have been an all-time great concert. So that was a heart breaker, but we knew that trying to travel to Colorado as we’re closing on the house was just doing too much.

But this month did have plenty of live music and other fun bits such as paddle-boarding and FinCon 2021!

FinCon is a huge conference where I get to hang with tons of my fellow financial nerds but I’ll break that down more below.

As always, read on for the details.

After-Tax Income: $19,090.79

This month’s income came with some variable compensation but the big jump was thanks to some of my restricted stock vesting which made for a nice month.

On to the expenses

Expenses: $3,424.57

Expenses were a bit inflated this month mostly due to the furniture we bought for the house.

I guess with the mortgage I better get used to big expense months for a bit.

Let’s break down the expenses in detail.

Going Out: $113.28

The most memorable meal for sure was our all-you-can-eat sushi.

Why?

First off, it was delicious. But the biggest part was because we promised ourselves that if we closed on a house that we’d celebrate with a nice all-you-can-eat sushi meal.

But we certainly ate way too much and hurt ourselves.

The tastiest meal from a pure flavor perspective though was the shrimp and grits. Oh Lawd they were good.

The next meal was totally unplanned. We were supposed to be checking out this place’s Happy Hour food special that we’d never been to.

The only problem was that their kitchen apparently wasn’t operational even though they still advertised food. Huh?

But we took the opportunity to sit down and have a meal a Guero’s. We did the classic move to order one thing and split it.

We do this often because you can always order more if you’re still hungry, and we rarely are.

I think everyone knows though, my favorite meal is a free one. Especially a fancy free meal. FinCon always brings opportunities to meet new people while enjoying some delicious free food.

This was the dessert pic following a feast at Fogo De Chao.

The total break-down for eating out this month was:

• Hotel Vegas: $10.67

• Volstead: $10.00

• Central Machine Works: $16.67

• Jacoby’s: $12.50

• Peche: $15.00

• Shakespears: $5.50

• Gueros: $5.44

• Sushi Bang Bang: $37.50

Groceries: $74.67

This month saw the grocery budget get back down closer to normal and we traveled out of town very little this month.

I did get the hookup for a few days as far as eating thanks to FinCon but I also made some pizzas for some of my finance friends.

This pizza was a special creation just for A Purple Life. It had olive oil and garlic base, bacon, breakfast sausage, and ricotta.

Full grocery cost breakdown:

• HEB: $5.34

• Walmart: $11.01

• HEB: $12.99

• HEB: $20.50

• HEB: $7.74

• HEB: $17.11

Bills: $349

Oh cheap rent, how you will be missed. I’ve covered why this is in previous posts but basically, we put in a bunch of sweat equity to renovate the place that is family-owned, and in return, we cover all costs (insurance, HOA, utilities).

I think the mortgage will start in November…. Buckle up budget, things are about to get wild.

The full set of bills were:

• Rent - $275.00

• Internet - $10

• Spotify - $10

• Car Insurance - $49

• Netflix: $4.87

Travel & Entertainment: $527.67

Sorry if I sound like a broken record but I must always say, just in case it’s your first time reading, that this category is going to describe what I did that month and what I spent on like things this month.

The biggest expense driver was certainly buying my annual Ski Pass. That probably won’t be any use to me until 2022. The biggest event though was FinCon 2021.

FinCon 2021 in Austin

FinCon is this big conference full of people who love talking about personal finance. They love it so much that almost all of them have a blog, book, podcast, or something online.

It was strange to have it in Austin this year with us living there. I won’t lie, it made it a b less of a “trip” when you’re just popping in and out and returning to the house instead of hanging in a hotel lobby until 2 a.m.

Covid world has also greatly impacted all live events so there weren’t as many sponsored happy hours or vendors as normal. Even with that, I will attend one every chance I get.

It’s the one time a year that I get to see all these money friends who have turned into just normal close friends. Like James here who is checking out that sweet pizza I made him.

There were a lot of free drinks and miles ridden on scooters, but more importantly, new friends made who love personal finance and are trying to spread that knowledge with the world.

FinCon wasn’t the only show in town though.

Concert Spree

Another month, another string of live music events.

The first one up was super fun and a guy that I believe will be a big star very soon.

Breeland takes a mix of hip hop and country to make some upbeat good feels. You know if I get that F-150 I’ll be blaring his song featuring Sam Hunt, “Don’t Touch My Truck”.

The next show was my first experience at the Parker Jazz club. A co-worker who knows I love live music always keeps me in mind when he has extra tickets come up last minute.

The band was an interesting mix of Jazz and 60s country. The guy on the trumpet was still in college but was one of the best I’ve ever seen.

That same co-worker hooked me up with tickets to Lucy Dacus who I’d honestly never heard of but put on a killer show.

The final show we went to was a pretty recent repeat. We had such a good time at the Continental club that we went back for the same performer as last time. It’s great to see some of the old school Austin spots still kicking.

Island Hopping in Austin

Leslie and I both had a Friday off and we took the opportunity to get out to a spot we had always wanted to paddle to.

There’s a cool little island, Rosebud Island, at the end of Lady Bird lake near the dam.

The full list of expenses for travel and entertainment were:

• X Ambassador’s Concert: $35.75

• Bourbon Fest Tickets: $9.97

• Massage: $30

• Epic Ski Pass: $451.95

Miscellaneous: $2,323.73

This category was really pushed to a high number thanks to all of our furniture purchases. But we have a great start to furnishing the house.

I had no idea how expensive decent furniture was, so we knew real quick that we’d be looking for second hand.

Luckily we found this great living room set that looked perfect for us, entertaining, and an Air BnB. We got the whole set for only $600. We also bought our bed, tv, big clock, two other chairs and more from the same seller.

The second hand shopping didn’t stop there.

I was able to find a really nice whirlpool set for only $400. The original buyer bought the dryer not realizing it was a gas dryer. Their loss was our gain.

The last highlight was not only second hand, but it was also FREE. We got four awesome full length mirror sections for the low low cost of $0.

They were intended to be sliding doors but we’ll take the hardware off and use them as just mirrors.

The plan is to frame one for the bedroom and guest room. Then the other two will be hung on the wall for the at-home gym we’re building in the garage.

Here’s the complete list of random purchases this month:

• Sandwich Bags: $1.79

• Standing Desk: $183.50

• Bitters: $16.00

• Trailer rental: $19.23

• Bourbon Collection: $143.95

• Ninja Grill: $151.54

• Smart Garage Opener: $24.22

• Ebike Charger: $18.50

• New House Furniture: $1,530

• Lawn Mower: $62.50

• Leaf Blower: $10.00

• Weedeater: $12.50

• Leather Chair: $100.00

• Chaise Lounge: $50

Gas:  $36.04

Pretty light amount of driving this month. Working from home always helps this number and no big road trips this month.

Big Picture: Net Worth Decreased $5,927 to $968,754

Dang, closing in on the million-dollar mark and then got hit with the first bad month in quite a while. In all the market dropped nearly 4% and impacted me for a portfolio drop of $21,593.

Luckily though, I saved $15,666 for a which lessened the total net-worth decrease to only $5,927.

You’ll have months like this but you gotta keep a big picture mindset. Zoom out on those charts and they’re always a lot less scary.

Let’s quickly hit the notable moments from August:

1. Bought a house?

2. 12 days in Los Angeles

3. Six Flags on a weekday!

4. Bday Party w/ Live Music

5. Fishing on Lady Bird Lake

6. Movie night at Brewery

7. River Float Trip

8. Local Dive / Live Music Spot

****As always, every category depicts what I spent, what I made, and how my net worth changed. Just me, not our household****

I remember writing as recently as July that I assumed we’d be living in our little apartment until at least the end of 2022.

Isn’t it funny how we make all these plans and then end up somewhere we could have never imagined?

When we got in this series of house sitting and needless to say, we loved having the space. If you don’t already know, me and Leslie both work from home in a 375 sq/ft apartment.

Leslie works 2ft from the bed and I take calls from inside a 30inch x 30inch 1960s phonebooth. We loved our location and mostly enjoyed living there but we could see our mental health improving by having that space.

The problem? Austin,TX had one of the largest increases in real estate prices in the country. It was a terrible time to buy a house or so I’m told. So why would I actually consider buying a house in such a bad market?

Reason 1: I had comfortably passed the Financial Independence mark and am still working which means that I can continue to save 75% of my income even with a decent size mortgage. Plus, my nest egg and reoccurring income outside of my W-2 could already support my lifestyle plus a mortgage even if I wasn’t working.

Reason 2: While real estate prices have gone up at a staggering rate, interest rates were historically low. I knew I could get a 2.6% interest rate with $0 down thanks to a Veterans Administration loan. Younger people may not realize how historically low these rates are. Take for instance a $500k house that was valued at $165k in 1985.

That means that housing is now 3x more expensive right? Not really.

In 1985 you may have paid 16% mortgage rates which means your mortgage payment (what really matters) would be $2,218. Today, that house which now has a 3x base price, would carry a mortgage payment of $2,000.

Wait…the house is cheaper now? Before you take into account property taxes, it is.

Obviously, those mortgage rates are extreme examples but what I do know is that I had an opportunity to get a historically low rate. At this point in my journey, it’s more important to lock in knowns and protect myself from unknowns.

Reason 3: It should make us a lot happier and can always be sold. As long as we’re working from home we want some space, when we’re not, who knows. Maybe we’ll sell then.

Reason 4: We believe in the future of Austin and want to try our hands at Air BnB’ing. These are the main reasons we decided to buy vs just rent a bigger place.

Now I’ll just leave you with a tease of a picture that got us excited and save the more thorough breakdown of our search for a little deeper in the breakdown.

Could this be home?

For a major portion of the month, we weren’t even in Texas much less Austin so there’s more to cover than just pondering about a house purchase.

As always, read on for the details.

After-Tax Income: $13,483.58

This month’s income came with over $1k of 401k match plus some variable compensation which made for a nice month.

On to the expenses

Expenses: $1,554.33

So twelve days in California, a trip to six flags, an Air BnB stay for a river tubing trip, and lots of local events, and I only spent $1,554.33. Let’s see how.

Let’s break down the expenses in detail.

Going Out: $152.12

I did a pretty terrible job of taking photos of our dining out while in California but I did get a photo of my most memorable meal.

This took place in a tiny unassuming strip mall but was one of the most delicious meals I’ve ever had. This Pakistani Cuisine jewel is called ZamZam market.

Stop what you’re doing, buy a ticket to LA, drive to Hawthorne and thank me later.

Night+Market was also a really solid meal, also had some good drinks with friends and of course some HEB (Texas grocery store) sushi.

The total break-down for eating out this month was:

• Hotel Vegas: $8.00

• Whistlers: $11.00

• McDonald’s: $5.94

• Mi Pandaria: $9.73

• Ice Cream Sandwich Cookie: $2.75

• ZamZam Market: $16.19

• Terranea: $18.75

• Night+Market: $30.00

• Hotel Vegas: $3.08

• St Elmo: $7.50

• HEB Sushi: $13.78

• Polvos: $10.40

• Central Machine Works: $15.00

Groceries: $93.32

Another month of slightly higher grocery expenses thanks to being in Los Angeles and we also generally eat a little differently when traveling and you have no pantry to back you up.

Full grocery cost breakdown:

• HEB:: $4.33

• Randalls: $18.12

• HEB: $30.40

• Ralphs: $10.80

• LA AFB Commisary: $29.67

Bills: $349

Yep, our rent is still crazy cheap. I’ve covered why this is in previous posts but basically, we put in a bunch of sweat equity to renovate the place that is family-owned, and in return, we cover all costs (insurance, HOA, utilities).

This is month ten in the little apartment and we’ll probably be here until the end of 2022.

The full set of bills were:

• Rent - $275.00

• Internet - $10

• Spotify - $10

• Car Insurance - $49

• Netflix: $4.87

Travel & Entertainment: $103.50

Sorry if I sound like a broken record but I must always say, just in case it’s your first time reading, that this category is going to describe what I did that month and what I spent on like things this month.

I think it’s fair to say that you often pay for an event prior to the event actually happening. That means that I’m not saying I did all this for $103, but that is what I spent this month.

And even though it’s not really traveling, I’m going to give a little more info about the house search in this category as well.

Making Life-Changing Decisions on a Whim

For a few months, I had been studying this new truck coming out by Ford called the Maverick.

It’s a small truck that comes in a Hybrid variant that gets 42mpg. Thinking about buying a new vehicle was a bit of a shock for Leslie as I’m usually so….financially conservative we’ll say.

So when I then said, you know maybe I want an F-150 (more expensive) instead, she was even more shocked.

Then when I said, why don’t we buy a house… I think she was worried I might have cancer.

I already gave the reasons as to why I decided to buy a house up earlier such as my financial position, happiness, interest rates, etc earlier but now let’s talk about the hunt.

In Austin, people strike out at purchasing a home for months and months. So we knew that this might be nothing more than a thought experiment.

We spent a lot, like A LOT, of time on Zillow in the afternoons while house sitting Mr. Hugo in Los Angeles. We weren’t seeing much that excited us. Plenty of stuff that was fine, but nothing unique or that felt like us.

We finally come across one that is really neat and decide we’ll get a walkthrough remotely and try to put an offer in, the realtor agrees and then changes their mind. We were crushed.

For days we searched and searched and just never saw anything exciting, so I started to accept the fact that maybe it just wasn’t going to happen.

We return to Austin and have dinner with a family friend who is a realtor on a Wednesday. Then on a Friday, we head to Six Flags and decide to check out neighborhoods that night. Leslie finds a house with a beautiful-looking kitchen (but we had been trained to distrust the photos based on prior experience) and we put it on the list to drive by.

After driving by a few houses that were fine (again, not inspired), we drive by this one in South Austin. We walk up to the front door and sure enough, the key is in the door. We assume the realtor is doing a showing and open the door.

It’s beautiful, it’s the exact layout we’d been hoping for, and…no one is there. So after a quick look, we talk about it and decide, we gotta make a run at it.

After a deeper look, it also had the only part of a garage I had found that could fit a 4-door F-150. Nice bonus.

Oh and that shower…

Whooo I could see myself cooking up some mean meals and hosting some great parties in that kitchen.

So after the house opened up for offers on a Friday, we submitted our best and final offer on Monday….and THEY ACCEPTED THE OFFER

Now you’ll see some expenses in the miscellaneous category that deal with getting this bad boy inspected. Getting an offer accepted is certainly a major milestone, but it isn’t the finish line.

Stay tuned for that

12 Beautiful Days in LA

We had a great little trip in early July and decided to come back for another 12 days to help out our friend Mike with house-sitting little Hugo.

It further pushed us to look for more space as we fell in love with being able to work in two separate rooms.

It was also just nice to kind of slow down. Being out of town meant that we weren’t being invited to a lot of things and could just enjoy hanging out, hiking, and working out without a lot of distractions.

Who wouldn’t travel across the country for this little nugget? Well, I would for either of the two beauts pictured here.

It was great weather, but isn’t it always in Los Angeles? I can see why people love it there but I will say the Taxes mean that I’ll have to leave it to trips and not a full on move.

Left the Ocean for more Water

It seems every month comes with live music and some activity on the water.

The first was for my buddy George’s bday where we went and floated a river between Austin and San Antonio. The water was chilly but it felt great out in the sun.

It was a slow float but we had about 10 people tied together and had some fun more sporty spots towards the end.

Then I got to try out my buddi’s new fishing rig. This little two-person jewel can be loaded by one person and the little trolling motor takes you wherever you need to go.

Unfortunately, we didn’t catch anything. I’ll be honest, I’m used to ponds that I grew up with and just hadn’t figured out the fish here just yet.

Living Life like the Kid I am

I freakin’ love roller coasters. I would legit go to six flags multiple times a week if I lived closer and have had a blast with this annual pass I got.

The annual pass comes with unlimited admission, free parking, and even food.

You get one “snack” and one dinner each day. That snack, can be a massive funnel cake or something simple like popcorn.

The dinner we normally go with is the double burger from Johny Rockets. I’m not going to pretend this looks like the greatest burger but it’s actually pretty solid.

What else did I love as a kid? F-150s.

While I was obsessed with the new Maverick for a bit, I made a mistake. I test drove a 2021 F-150 and fell in love.

This is the exact truck I plan on getting. It’s a 2021 F-150 with STX package, 360 camera, safety package, and some towing tech.

I have rationalized this purchase because the used car market went nuts. Also, the pandemic has caused supply issues with new vehicles and you’re seeing mark-ups upwards of $5k because inventory was so low.

That coupled with finding a dealer who can get me the truck for 3% below invoice and the fact that the truck can get 26mpg has me convinced that it’s not the worst decision I’ll ever make.

Lastly, what kid doesn’t ever dream of being a rockstar. I know I have nowhere near enough talent to make music but I consume as much live music as possible.

The first stop was at the recently reopened Continental for a great house band.

The next bands we saw were a few local bands that were playing for my buddies birthday party.

The full list of expenses for travel and entertainment were:

• George’s Bday AirBnB: $60

• Tube Rental: $18

• Breland Concert: $25.50

  • If Old Town Road got stuck in your head, check this guy out

Miscellaneous: $841.47

Welp…. We’re trying to fall into the house owner trap of poverty as fast as possible.

We haven’t even gotten the offer accepted yet and we’re already shedding money thanks to these inspections.

Here’s the complete list of random purchases this month:

• Home Depot: $5.44

• Sams Membership: $22.50

• Marshalls: $32.45

• Navy Federal Union: $12.37

• Realtor Class: $232

• Fabletics: $65.21

• Sunscreen: $4.50

• Going Away Gift: $10

• Plumbing Inspection: $187

• House Inspection: $225

• Termite Inspection: $45

Gas:  $14.74

We were barely home so not a ton of driving.

Big Picture: Net Worth Increase $43,885 to $974,682

Another solid jump this month. This time the market gave another solid push of $31,956.

On top of that, I saved $11,929 for a total net-worth increase of $43,885.

So wild to see two years’ worth of expenses being covered in one month of net-worth increase.

Let’s quickly hit the notable moments from July:

1. Surprise Birthday Party For Leslie

2. Whiskey Myers show at historic John T. FLoores

3. Lake day on the boat in Austin

4. AEW show in Dallas

5. AEW show in Austin

6. Texas Beach Trip + Catamaran

7. Lots of dog sitting french bulldogs

****As always, every category depicts what I spent, what I made, and how my net worth changed. Just me, not our household****

I think we spent single-digit nights in our actual apartment. So much time was spent either house-sitting for Leslie’s brother or out in California house sitting for my friend Mike.

We did have some memorable events in Austin however. Leslie’s surprise Bday included close to 20 friends, we had a great day out on a friend’s boat on the lake, caught some live music, and I even went to a live All Elite Wrestling event (Hey…don’t judge me).

Looking Good Cali!

The great thing about these types of getaways is that we’re helping out our friends and family by house sitting, but we’re also benefiting by getting out of our tiny 375 sq. ft apartment without paying for a hotel or Air BnB.

That’s why with our win-win strategy and of course our dirt cheap rent situation, I was able to keep my spending right at $1k.

As always, read on for the details.

After-Tax Income: $12,257.20

This month’s income was fairly standard outside of some 401k matching.

On to the expenses

Expenses: $1,001

When you tell people you threw a birthday party, spent a day on the lake, spend a week in California, went to three live events, etc, etc. Oh and live in Austin. They’re not expecting your total expenses to be $1k.

This is just another example of taking what life gets you and making the most of it. We have no pets or kids and have a job that is location-independent. So we used those attributes to create these win-win scenarios with our friends and family to save them money, make them feel safe about their pups, and give us a much-needed relaxing getaway.

Let’s break down the expenses in detail.

Going Out: $213.45

This month most of our dining out took place in California, and specifically, Santa Monica.

Our initial destination, more in the Hawthorne area, had us stop at a little burrito shop for a to-go order to enjoy on the beach.

As part of our trip to California, we not only house sat for a few days with Mike, but we also spent a couple of nights with our good friends Cam and Asher in Santa Monica who we had met in Austin.

There we ate at a fantastic Mexican restaurant (Palmilla) where the butter and tortillas are worth the whole trip.

We also did a bottomless Mimosa brunch at The Anchor and had a really solid burger at Stout Burger.

The total break-down for eating out this month was:

• Bernies: $7.50

• Taco Bell: $5.41

• Little Woodrows: $16.75

• Total Wine: $56.28

• AEW Concession Stand: $20

• Palmilla: $29.25

• The Anchor: $38.50

• Stout Burger: $11.50

• The Waterfront: $6.40

• Subway: $12.83

• Beach Burrito: $9.03

Groceries: $100.16

House sitting for Leslie’s brother came with more perks than just having more space and a great pup, we also were able to eat a lot of groceries that would have otherwise went to waste while he was on vacation.

So even though I spent more than usual on groceries this month, that helped a ton.

Most of our grocery shopping happened while we were at our first stop in California with Mike where we treated ourselves to slightly fancier meals and were subject to the higher L.A. grocery prices.

Full grocery cost breakdown:

• HEB:: $8.10

• Pavillions: $14.96

• Pavillions: $14.38

• Pavillions: $58.18

• HEB: $4.54

Bills: $349

Yep, our rent is still crazy cheap. I’ve covered why this is in previous posts but basically, we put in a bunch of sweat equity to renovate the place that is family-owned, and in return, we cover all costs (insurance, HOA, utilities).

This is month ten in the little apartment and we’ll probably be here until the end of 2022.

The full set of bills were:

• Rent - $275.00

• Internet - $10

• Spotify - $10

• Car Insurance - $49

• Netflix: $4.87

Travel & Entertainment: $8.37*

So yes we spent a week in California, did tons of local trips and even started a second trip to California all within July and only spent $8.37.

How do you ask?

The biggest thing to remember is I list my expenses as they happen and my activities as they happen. Those things don’t always line up though. The concert tickets may have been purchased in May even though we went in July.

The other piece was that I got a new Delta Gold credit card which got us free checked bags to California and enough points for a free round trip flight.

Old School New Country

If you’ve read basically any of my monthly recaps, you’ve probably caught on that I’m addicted to live music. Now that we’re in Austin, I also want to hit some old iconic venues, and this show gave us both

John T. Floores is an old Honky Tonk in the little town of Helotes, TX.

The line-up that night featured two bands that really get after it. Bringing a lot of southern rock vibes.

The opener was Shane Smith and the Saints.

The next band, Whiskey Myers, really brought it. I’m talking four guitars going at any given time and a mad man on the cowbell/bongo.

All in all, it was another great night that ended with me having no voice.

4th of July Cali Style

Next up was our first trip to L.A. of the month to celebrate the 4th of July and spend a little time seeing friends.

Me and Leslie decided not to drink since our friend we were staying with had recently given up drinking.

I’m fairly certain we were the only three not drinking because this place turned into MTV Spring Break real quick. I’m talking people being taken out on stretchers. I was so thankful to simply be a spectator and not in the rough shape those folks ended up in.

We also got to meet our newest godchild for the first time.

World, meet Hugo.

Hugo was the brightest pup I’ve ever met and certainly brightened up our trip.

We did our best to take this time to kind of reset. We avoided drinking, got in a good workout routine, and soaked in that glorious California sunshine daily.

We also got down to Santa Monica to visit another set of friends who lived a block from the beach and just down from the pier. So here’s my obligatory touristy photo.

We loved our time so much out there that we decided to accept an offer to come back later that month for about two weeks worth of house sitting with Mr. Hugo.

Double Dose of Rasslin’

One thing that this pandemic and working remote has taught me, is that we have to find ways to keep in contact with others even when we’re not physically seeing them on the regular.

Me and my best friend have found two things this year that keep conversations active. Bourbon and Body Slams.

Yep, wrestling. And not the more commonly known WWE either. We’re talking about the people’s wrestling organization, All Elite Wrestling (AEW).

During the intermission between the two acts, Mississippi State sealed the deal and I was in heaven.

July brought AEW back on the road for the first time since the pandemic shut down it’s traveling show. Not only was it back, but it was having back-to-back shows in Texas.

The first show was in Austin with a follow-up in Dallas.

And you’re eyes aren’t deceiving you. That’s Sting! The man is still making memorable matches even at 60 years old.

Impersonating with Pearl Girl

Right after leaving one french bulldog, we turned to another.

This time we were house-sitting for Leslie’s brother in a nicer area of Austin. I said impersonating in the header because everything felt so different.

We were in this large nice home in a subdivision. A big change from our tiny little apartment downtown. It certainly got us thinking about more space.

Two people working full-time at a home that’s 375 sq/ft is pretty hard and tough mentally.

Maybe that’s what lifted our spirits, or maybe it was just how freaking much we loved pearl ha.

Getting our Water Fix

This is a bit of a catch-all as it’s not describing one trip, but there is a central theme.

First up was a fun day out on our buddy’s boat. Even got a little fishing in. Fishing was fun but let’s just say that if we had to eat only what we caught, we’d starve.

Next up was celebrating another friend’s birthday down on the coast of Texas. Lots of beach time and even got my first Catamaran ride.

And finally, we headed out for our next journey to California. I’ll cover that in the August edition as most of that trip took place in August.

I did though get a nice stop at the nice Delta lounge while waiting to head out for L.A.

The full list of expenses for travel and entertainment were:

• Tyler Childers: $41.97

• Camping: $15.83

• Movies: $39.42

• Rec Center: $63.95

• Utah Fuel: $98.37

• Lyft: $23

• Lyft: $6.85

• Big Bend Fuel: $45.93

• Uber: $4.84

Miscellaneous: $268.46

Clothes, B-day party supplies, and an oil change.

Here’s the complete list of random purchases this month:

• Tommy John: $92.67

• Fabletics: $81.26

• Oil Change: $18.50

• Les Bday: $76.03

Gas:  $61.43

Just a normal month of gas for the ole 2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid

Big Picture: Net Worth Increase $34,139 to $930,796

Another solid jump this month. This time the market gave another solid push of $22,558.

On top of that, I saved $11,256 for a total net-worth increase of $34,139.

Let’s quickly hit the notable moments from June:

1. Week in SLC/Jackson Hole/Grand Tetons/Yellowstone

2. HWY 30 Music Fest

3. American Aquarium Concert

4. Dallas Weekend Trip

5. Brother Gets Married

6. Small Pizza Event

7. Hot Springs National Park

8. Mississippi State’s First Natty!

****As always, every category depicts what I spent, what I made, and how my net worth changed. Just me, not our household****

Oh lawd… another crazy month in the books. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still very interested in early retirement, but it’s hard to imagine doing much more retired than I am working. Maybe it’d just give me more time to rest in between.

So many awesome moments this month. My Brother got married, I visited Yellowstone and Grand Tetons for the first time, We hit up an amazing music festival with my best friend, I saw so much good live music.

Last but not least Mississippi State won the College World Series!

The Dawgs are the Best in the World!

A month that good makes me care less about how much I spent but if you’re here, then you probably do care (or at least are curious?).

Keep in mind, these are expenses paid this month. Much of the travel had been paid previously and you’ll also see expenses for future events.

I cover the expenses and the life moments as they happen, and they’re often not at the same time.

As always, read on for the details.

After-Tax Income: $21,839

This month’s income, again, is not standard. On top of my regular income, I had some stock vesting, some 401k match, and a chunk of my variable compensation.

Always crazy to see a full year of expenses wiped away in one paycheck.

On to the expenses

Expenses: $1,084

This is about where I expect to settle in most months. I’m able to do a lot with just over a grand with my personal, admittedly unique, life situation.

I’d say I hit pretty close to averages across all categories.

One big-ticket item that was prepaid for September is Tyler Childers at Red Rocks that cost $122.50. That’s a bit steep but we were forced to buy via resale and I’ll always pay a premium for Red Rocks.

Let’s break down the expenses in detail.

Going Out: $163.56

Part of the month we’ll get into later is my trip to Mississippi. To get there, we often stop in Dallas for a night to see our friends. This time we decided to get out and grab some solid dinner and drinks. This is is a bone marrow rice dish that was delish.

Full transparency, it’s not in my cost column because I used a $20 restaurant credit I had on my Amex Hilton Aspire.

Another stop we made on the way to Mississippi was a really neat brewery among the Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas. They’re apparently the only brewery that uses natural hot spring water to create beer.

I have no idea if it actually matters but the beer was solid and the pretzel was top-notch.

We also hit up some solid spots while going through Jackson Whole. I especially recommend Gather if you ever find yourself out that way.

The total break-down for eating out this month was:

• Roadhouse Brewery: $24.35

• Tucanos: $14.75

• Gather: $28

• Pilot Pizza: $2.63

• Pool Drink: $12

• Elks Lodge: $13

• Dairy Queen: $7.16

• Dallas Speakeasy: $21.50

• Miller’s Gate Brewing: $15

• 7 Eleven: $4.18

• ACL Drinks: $21

Groceries: $49.80

We spent a lot of time on the road again so I’m not shocked at another month around this number. It actually would have been lower but the groceries we had to buy in Yellowstone were much more expensive than normal grocery stores.

Pizza

Yep, another month, another pizza feature. I ended up doing a bit of a pop-up pizza sale again. This time though I only did 10. I just wanted to sell a few to get more practice but still get to enjoy my night out at the Elks Lodge.

These are actually two extra pizzas that I made specifically for the family.

Full grocery cost breakdown:

• Colter Bay Village Grocery:: $11.34

• Cashews: $11.21

• HEB: $13.33

• Albertsons: $31.82

• Samsung Pay Credit: -$20

  • This grocery store accepted NFC payments and I had been waiting to use this credit before it expired, so I used it at Albertsons.

Bills: $349

Yep, our rent is still crazy cheap. I’ve covered why this is in previous posts but basically we put in a bunch of sweat equity to renovate the place that is family owned and in return, we cover all costs (insurance, HOA, utilities).

This is month nine in the little apartment and we’ll probably be here until the end of 2022.

The full set of bills were:

• Rent - $275.00

• Internet - $10

• Spotify - $10

• Car Insurance - $49

• Netflix: $4.87

Travel & Entertainment: $442.34

It’s important to keep in mind that I list the expenses that I incur in a given month. Even if I’m prepaying for something in the future. But I only really highlight the trips I’ve gone on this month.

Can you really highlight a trip if you haven’t gotten to take pictures yet?

Out West Part 1 - Nature Overload

Last month, I was blown away by how beautiful Big Bend National Park was. This month, we headed west for Salt Lake City, Grand Tetons, and Yellowstone.

When planning the trip, we quickly felt the pain of the rental car shortage in SLC. Luckily we’re incredibly flexible so when I saw that cargo vans where half the price of a tiny sedan I had an idea.

This van could be our golden ticket to flexibility. Campervans are often glamourized with millennials popping around national parks sleeping in the back. I’m obviously no stranger to this since I’ve personally built my own campervan in the past.

What I learned from that experience was that 90% of the benefit is just having something that’s enclosed with a place to comfortably sleep.

A couple of sleeping bags and camping pads meant that we got that 90% of benefit via this Hertz rental van and no conversion was needed.

We did three nights in the van overall. Downtown Jackson, WY on two separate parts of the trip and then one night in SLC with two backcountry camping sites in between.

After our fun night out in Jackson Hole, we headed first to the Grand Tetons. This national park may not seem as big or have as many variations as some national parks, but it is one of the most concentrated areas of beauty I’ve ever seen.

After driving and hiking through Grand Tetons, we headed north to Yellowstone.

We still had plenty of time for some quick scenic stops and some great photos of the bison.

Don’t worry, we didn’t get too close. I had my zoom lens for my DSLR to snag this shot.

After a few stops, we settled in for our first camping night on a beautiful lake that was just under a mile hike in from the van.

The next day we really got our hikes in for Yellowstone. Our favorite area was definitely the canyon views. Between huge waterfalls, sheer drops, and unique rock colors… It was the star of the show.

Then it was time to get back and settle in for our second night of camping. Things aren’t always sunshine and rainbows even though we were blessed with amazing weather the entire time.

On the way to this site, we were attacked by clouds of mosquitos. Being raised in Mississippi, I’m no stranger to these bloodsuckers but this was on a different level. Thankfully, they calmed down a little at the site with the fire.

We had so much fun the first night in Jackson, WY that we decided to head back there the next night instead of camping in the park for the third night. The piece that sealed the deal on that decision was when I discovered that Jackson had a recreation center with showers, pools, hot tubs, etc all for $7.50.

Then we headed back down to Salt Lake City. It wasn’t time to head back to Austin just yet though. Up next was a jaunt over to Idaho.

Out West Part II - Music Overload

My best friend and I actually planned the Idaho piece well before I planned any of the national park visits. We found the HWY 30 Music Fest in Twin Falls, Idaho which was stacked with Texas Country artists.

He snagged the rental car for the group and I got the hotel with some points I had. So we returned the van, hopped in with them, and hit up some breweries and sites onto the mysterious Twin Falls, Idaho.

I say mysterious because we did zero research on the town and I fully expected it to be a random farm town with biker bars. It actually turned out to be gorgeous as well.

After a much-needed night in the hotel, it was time for the first night of the music festival. Again, we had no idea what we were really getting into. Turned out it was just one stage with a pit that actually wasn’t too big.

What was large though was the super nice cop who was posted up next to us for most of the show. I swear this man was the Mountain in Game of Thrones.

It was an incredible weekend of live music. I’ll give a little sampling of the groups at the festival.

First up we have the always entertaining Mr. Koe Wetzel who puts on the closest thing to a rock show you’ll see at a Texas Country show.

• Spotify Link

I can’t wait for the day that Koe Wetzel realizes he’s been featured like five times in a personal finance blog.

Next up we have the Mississippi native and Mississippi State fan Hardy.

• Spotify Link

During the shows, we were keeping up with Mississippi State’s baseball team who were fighting for a place in the College World Series. It was a magical moment when sealed our ticket.

Last but certainly not least is Sam Riggs.

• Spotify Link

I’ll go to my grave screaming that he is one of the most underrated artists in the genre.

First ACL Live Experience

After returning to Austin from the wild week plus out week, the live music wasn’t stopping.

It would be time for me and Leslie to both experience our first ACL Live experience. This was also the night of the College World Series final game.

During the intermission between the two acts, Mississippi State sealed the deal and I was in heaven.

It all ended just in time for us to settle in for the main act, American Aquarium

• Spotify Link

They put on an incredible show and the lead singer even chatted with me after the show about our championship run. He was an NC State fan who was infamously sent home just one game away from the Championship due to Covid.

Give these guys a listen though if you’re a fan of good lyrics.

Marriage in Mississippi

Last but certainly not least was another trip back to good ole Mississippi.

The primary reason for coming back was my Brother’s wedding. It’s certainly nice being in driving distance to home and also to have a job that allows me to work from anywhere.

Having that flexibility allows me to rarely miss a big moment which wasn’t always true when I was getting moved around in the Air Force.

The wedding was the main event of the trip but there’s always more memories made when I get back home.

One highlight was a chance to get a Big Abe, fries, and sweat tea at my all-time favorite diner, Abe’s Grill.

This little hole in the wall is worth it if you ever find yourself cruising Hwy 72.

Another milestone was Leslie getting to meet the cutest tiny goat we’ve ever seen.

It was a new addition to my brother’s pet roster. World, meet Billy.

The full list of expenses for travel and entertainment were:

• Tyler Childers: $41.97

• Camping: $15.83

• Movies: $39.42

• Rec Center: $63.95

• Utah Fuel: $98.37

• Lyft: $23

• Lyft: $6.85

• Big Bend Fuel: $45.93

• Uber: $4.84

Miscellaneous: $140.85

No big fun projects this month. Mostly some gifts and one solid bourbon score.

I was able to purchase a bottle of Blanton’s at pretty much MSRP thanks to a family friend liquor store connection.

Here’s the complete list of random purchases this month:

• Gift for Dad: $24

• Blanton’s: $75

• Ipad Case: $5.85

• Co-worker Gift: $28.50

Gas:  $48.12

This is the gas we used for normal day-to-day driving. I separated out our gas for out west and put it into the travel category.

I always do this because it was part of that vacation and not a good representation of how much I spend on gas thanks to my personal car and normal driving.

Big Picture: Net Worth Increase $35,751 to $896,657

Another solid jump this month. This time the market gave another solid push of $14,996.

On top of that, I saved $20,754 for a total net-worth increase of $35,751.

Let’s quickly hit the notable moments from May:

1. Trip to Big Bend / Marfa

2. Hardy Concert

3. Copperchief Concert

4. Spartan 10k

5. Paddleboard Camping Trip

****As always, every category depicts what I spent, what I made, and how my net worth changed. Just me, not our household****

With Covid, international travel is still fairly limited. Even before that was true, I haven’t gotten to do a ton of trips outside the United States. I’ve done Australia, Iceland, Canada, Mexico, and some Carrabian islands but most of my trips are domestic.

Sometimes I get a little disappointed in myself for that but other times I realize just how amazing and diverse our own country is. I know I’ll get to globetrotting soon enough but until then, I’ll be filling these recaps with the beautiful USA

The Stars of BIg Bend

I was also lucky enough to finally complete our 10k Spartan race. This race was supposed to be in California last year…but Covid. So we had to complete this one in Texas instead.

Got concert season kicked off with a bang and got some further use out of our paddleboards.

As always, read on for the details.

After-Tax Income: $16,493

This month’s income, again, is not standard. On top of my regular income, I had some stock vesting, some 401k match, and a referral bonus.

Always crazy to see a full year of expenses wiped away in one paycheck.

On to the expenses

Expenses: $1,982

Uh oh, big spender alert!

This month came with higher than average costs in dining out, travel, and gas. This is a good reminder that I do not budget. I simply track my expenses. I don’t see this month as good or bad. It just is what it is.

This month I also prepaid for several events (flight to LA, two live AEW (wrestling) shows, a scenic flight tour, rental cars, tickets to ACL, birthday presents for Leslie, additions to my bourbon collection, and some good meals with friends.

Let’s break down the expenses in detail.

Going Out: $356

This section was heavily influenced by our time in Marfa. If you haven’t heard of Marfa, TX, it is this strangely bougie town in the middle of absolute nowhere Texas. It has gotten so much attention that even Beyonce came for a visit.

We also did a mini happy hour tour in East Austin and had some great Texas brisket and local beers with friends who were visiting.

I, unfortunately, did a terrible job with taking photos so we only have a pic of one of our favorite spots in Austin.

And if you are curious about the bourbon collection (as of May 2021), I got some 1792 Full Proof, Weller Special Reserve, Eagle Rare, a local bourbon from Still, and even found an old bottle of bookers (2017) that had ended up at a friends house.

The total break-down for eating out this month was:

• Fallafel Truck: $3.25

• Peche: $24

• Roosevelt Room: $22.69

• Bourbon Collection: $75.25

• Hotel St. George: $10.80

• La Pasado Milagro: $4.80

• Sentinal: $19.14

• Terlingua Ranch Lodge: $11.63

• Revolver: $10.77

• McDonald’s: $2.55

• Glow: $21.80

• Terry Blacks: $22.34

• St Elmo: $14

• Still: $58.50

• Swift: $12.00

• Kinda Tropical: $8.40

• Sawyer and Co: $3.00

• Buns n Roses: $6.00

• El Presidio: $22.10

Groceries: $50

This is yet again another month where the expenses seem crazy low and that’s somewhat due to the lack of time actually spent at home.

We spent several days in Big Bend, on the road at the coast of Texas, and camping for a paddleboarding trip.

But that didn’t stop us from a few memorable meals… cue the shrimp with ricotta stuffed shells and kale salad.

If you’ve been reading the last couple of updates, you probably also could guess the next featured dish.

Pizza

On our way out to Big Bend, we met up with our other friends in San Antonio who were traveling with us. We ended up cooking five pizzas I believe. Three dinner pizzas and two breakfast pizzas. What a beaut.

Full grocery cost breakdown:

• HEB: $33.11

• HEB: $17.59

Bills: $349

Yep, our rent is still crazy cheap. I’ve covered why this is in previous posts but basically we put in a bunch of sweat equity to renovate the place that is family owned and in return, we cover all costs (insurance, HOA, utilities).

This is month nine in the little apartment and we’ll probably be here until the end of 2022.

The full set of bills were:

• Rent - $275.00

• Internet - $10

• Spotify - $10

• Car Insurance - $49

• Netflix: $4.87

Travel & Entertainment: $898

It’s important to keep in mind that I list the expenses that I incur in a given month. Even if I’m prepaying for something in the future. But I only really highlight the trips I’ve gone on this month.

Can you really highlight a trip if you haven’t gotten to take pictures yet?

Big Bend - Who Knew Texas was this Beautiful

I was outright shocked by how awesome Big Bend was. Parts of it almost reminded me of the mountain range views of the west but with this very unique desert piece as well.

In the picture below, I’m actually touching Mexico. There’s something about walking from one side to the other that really puts into perspective that we’re neighbors, even if we aren’t always very neighborly to them.

I can’t wait to return to Santa Elena Canyon with our paddleboards someday or do a multi-day river raft trip.

When we first booked this trip, the plan was to camp inside the national park. These would be backcountry locations that required you to hike in all necessary supplies including water.

We were devastated with just a couple of days before we were set to leave, we received a notice that our reservations had been canceled. Ongoing issues from a wildfire had caused part of the park to be closed.

We pivoted nicely though and found some campsites on AirBnB not too far from the entrance.

It actually turned out to be a blessing because we had some really cool spots while also being able to bring in all the supplies we’d want without fear of it being too heavy since we could park right next to the site.

If you look closely, we even have our own port-a-potty nearby haha. This location did have an indoor bathroom and shower available. It also had Wi-Fi at the entrance and their very own miniature burrow named Sampson.

While in the park, we did some fantastic (and very difficult) hikes. One hike was 15 miles that included a lot of elevation change and a lot of heat. Luckily, some of our best views came with a little less sweating.

We booked an hour flight out of Terlingua that took us all across Big Bend and some other local state parks. Like our helicopter tour in Hawaii, I highly recommend flight tours.

After leaving Big Bend and roughing it for a few days, we headed to Marfa and checked into our hotel.

I did a terrible job at getting pictures but Marfa was great. I was afraid it would be too overly commercialized, and some locals still may feel that way, but we thought it was just busy enough but still small and unique.

I highly recommend making the LONG loop of Austin->Big Bend->Marfa->Austin

Destroying The Body

To answer the question of the great musical piece from Space Jam, we were indeed not ready for this.

In late 2019 and early 2020, we had trained and trained for what was to be a half-marathon length Spartan race in California. It was set for March of 2020 and was canceled the night before we boarded our flights to go race.

Fast forward to May of 2021 and we finally hit the date of the event we rescheduled to. The only problem was that we did not keep up that training. Luckily, we dropped down to only a 10k, but it was still brutal for someone who hadn’t been running regularly.

But we finished it and I don’t regret doing it one bit. I’ll never be someone looking to do these every month, but I do enjoy a good obstacle race about once per year.

Concert Season Begins

I probably sound like a broken record but I’m obsessed with live music (pun intended). The older I’ve gotten though, the more I appreciate a smaller venue.

Stadium shows normally come with bad audio and you find yourself watching a screen which I can do at home.

First on the docket was Hardy. He is from Mississippi and a big Mississippi State fan!

#HailState

He’s starting to make a bigger name for himself but he’s already written several big hits for other artists. I tend to gravitate towards musicians who are also writers instead of only performers.

The next concert up was at a tiny venue outside of San Antonio. The band is this local group that really gets after it. Their name, Copper Chief.

If you want rowdy, guitar-shredding, southern rock type music. These are your guys.

Make sure you click the artists’ names to take you over to Spotify.

The full list of expenses for travel and entertainment were:

• LA Flight: $41.97

• AEW Austin: $12.83

• AEW Dallas: $39.42

• Resident Evil game: $63.95

• Bird Scooter: $20

• Camp Reservation: $19

• Austin Parking: $10

• Airbnb: $12.01

• Airbnb: $25.53

• Marfa Hotel: $46.63

• ACL: $299 -> Big Concert Festival in Austin

• Big Bend Flight: $135

Miscellaneous: $293

My pizza prep station/storage cabinet is complete!

If you read last month’s article, you could see the progression I was making on it when it was almost complete. And I actually showed where I had it framed out in the March article.

So it took me a bit longer than I really wanted but very happy with the outcome. I had purchased this huge sheet of butcher block for $30 in Boston for a different project that never happened. So when I went back to Mississippi last month, I cut it down to size and brought it down to texas.

I replaced the old plywood top with this nice butcher block top. Then I used some Home Depot credits from my American Express platinum to get primer, paint, hinges, and other supplies to finish.

The handles were actually some extras we had leftover when we overhauled our apartment after moving in.

On top of that, there were several purchases getting ready for Leslie’s bday and some other random purchases.

Here’s the complete list of random purchases this month:

• Paint Brushes: $2.44

• Les Bday: $18.77

• Stadia Bundle: $10.81

• Les Surprise: $22

• Transcript: $10.25

• Shorts: $23.86

• Les Bday: $129.88

• Planting Pots: $23.54

• Les gift: $46.90

• Tasker App: $5

Gas:  $35

We definitely spent a ton of time in the car this month but it was with a friend and we haven’t received the charge yet from them so we’ll see that tallied next month.

Big Picture: Net Worth Increase $20,538 to $860,906

Another solid jump this month. This time the market was a little less out of control and only gained $6,027.

On top of that, I saved $14,511 for a total net-worth increase of $20,538.

Lets quickly hit the notable moments from April:

1. Took My Pizza Hobby Professional

2. Journeyed Back to Mississippi

3. Did a Paddle-board Group Trip

4. GOT A PROMOTION

5. Visited My Best Friend in Dallas

While I probably (financially speaking) should be the most excited about my first promotion in the outside world, I really think having a successful venture into the professional pizza business was the star of the show.

How about those names?

It was also great getting back home to see my family, getting two chances to see my lifelong best friend in Dallas, and finding a group of paddle-boarders to meet up with regularly.

Those all go to show that the money is secondary. It’s just a tool to make these types of moments more frequent. Those moments are really what matter.

Now it’s time to dig into how someone possibly has a 97% savings rate. To be fully transparent, it was actually 96.8%

As always, read on for the details.

After-Tax Income: $19,780

This month’s income, like last month’s, was certainly not standard. On top of my regular income I had my new promotion pay kick in for the second half, got an $1,800 tax return, received a solid commission check, got $1,208 in 401k matching, and of course the $330 in profits from my pizza venture.

I’ll never get used to numbers like this.

On to the expenses

Expenses: $626.35

This number is just nuts and you know I’ll be fully transparent as always. This is actually the third month in a row where I had a weird circumstance that dropped my expenses.

This month I received a $372 refund on a flight that was cancelled during the peak covid times. We also sold a kayak so I received my half ($150). The way I run my books, you can’t spend the same dollar twice.

I already counted the flight and the kayak as an expense in previous months. Now that that expense has turned into cash, I can use it to cancel out expenses in my current month. Then everything works out as it should.

Even with $522 worth of “credits”, I’m still very proud of this month and I also prepaid most of May’s activities while I was at it.

Let’s breakdown the expenses in detail.

Going Out: $152.91

We certainly go out to eat more in Austin than we ever did in Boston. This happens for a few reasons.

1. Happy Hours (They were illegal in Boston…Crazy I know)

2. Fantastic Weather

3. We live downtown

4. Food is better

5. Things are cheaper

With all that being said, we still only try to eat out when it’ll feel special. A place we love, a place we haven’t tried, or a place with friends.

We don’t just grab a sack full of food for dinner or get lunch delivered. We’re all about the experience that comes along with Dining out.

My dining out expenses have been averaging 3x what my grocery bills have been, but I don’t care. My savings rate is amazing and I’m having fun.

The total break-down for eating out this month was:

• Carolines: $10.33

• Parliament: $12.82

• Armory: $42.50

• Haymakers: $5.87

• Cidercade: $2.60

• Deep Eddy: $5.37

• Beerberg: $13.50

• Copper $14.50

• Lichas: $23.50

• Whislers: $21.00

• Gas Station: $0.92

Groceries: $56.78

My grocery expenses always freak people out, and that’s understandable. I don’t have any specific food requirements, I don’t buy many snacks or soft drinks, and this is just my half of the grocery bill.

I also was back home for a week and that generally means I don’t have to buy myself groceries during that time.

The star of the show this month though was my pizzas. At the start of the month I was getting better and making some delicious creations.

It might seem crazy that these were some of my first pizzas and that I decided to do two nights of selling to the public just a couple weeks later but I felt good about the taste and my speed.

The one above was at Leslie’s request. Red onion / Balsamic base, mozzarella, goat cheese, Brussels sprouts, bacon, and a little honey.

Below we have a mistake that turned into cheese bread alongside my pizza creation. It had a green pepper sauce base, cheddar cheese, roasted corn, seasoned chicken thigh, cilantro and ranch.

I almost miss how poorly shaped these pizzas were. It made them look more unique but also a little unpredictable. I have my stretching much more under control now.

Full grocery cost breakdown:

• HEB: $6.23

• HEB: $11.79

• HEB: $7.20

• HEB: $31.57

Bills: $484.43

Cheap rent and a few monthly memberships. This is the category that makes those sub $1k total expenses possible. Keep your housing low and cars paid off and you’ll give yourself a fighting chance.

The outlier this month was my annual Amazon subscription. I’ve considered cancelling so many times but just never have. I need to do a cost benefit analysis for next year.

The full set of bills were:

• Rent - $275.00

• Internet - $10

• Spotify - $10

• Car Insurance - $54

• Cidercade: $16.24

• Netflix: $4.87

• Amazon Prime annual: $119

Travel & Entertainment: -$277.98

If

JT’s Southern Slice Takes Off

When I decided to attempt my first night selling pizzas, it was supposed to just be one night. It was also supposed to be limited to 10-15.

Well fortunately/unfortunately the word got out and preorders started to fly in quicker than I expected. Then I decided I’d do a small test run Wednesday that turned out to not be that small after all.

In the end I did 20 pizzas on Wednesday night and 22 pizzas Thursday night. I was a one man show but everyone left happy with their pizza and the wait times.

Overall, after giving back 15% to the lodge and having some food waste. My profit margins were 57%. They’ve asked me to come back and said that if I did, I wouldn’t need to donate the 15% and I could charge $15. That drives my profit margins up over 70%.

Not bad for my first run!

Even though I made 42 pizzas, I actually only got to eat one slice. But Mississippi had plenty of calories waiting on me anyways.

The classic greasy spoon type diner called The Pit Stop is one of my favorites. Their fried tenderloin is always solid. This full meal that comes with chocolate gravy is only $7.

Yes, I said chocolate gravy. Theirs doesn’t hold a candle to my moms but still a nice treat. There were also visits to The Hillbilly Wing Shack and a seafood spot I’d never been to. Gotta love shrimp n’ grits.

The not so happy news while I was home came from the farm. One of dad’s cows injured its leg somehow and wouldn’t stand up.

When cows stay down like this, they lose circulation and often never get up. Fingers crossed for this one.

The final highlight I’ll list here is a good ol’ auction. Me and my mom have frequented a ton of auctions over the years.

This one had a different vibe. Instead of individual sellers coming in with non-stop randomness, there was just the auction host selling. The items were all new-ish products.

Amazon returns, food nearing expiration, or things with cosmetic damage.

Mississippi never disappoints!

Now time to talk about burning off all those fried calories.

Paddle Board Meet Up

Facebook causes a lot of problems and I often wonder why I even have it. Then things like this happen.

I found a group of paddle-boarders across central Texas who put together meet-ups frequently.

We drove out to Canyon Lake and got some experience on a larger body of water. The wind was a little rough but we had a good time and met some friends that’ll hopefully help us continue to find more great places to take our boards.

Now for the list of travel expenses I hit this month. You may notice that all the expenses are pre-paying future events. There was also a big negative expense aka refund for a flight to Portugal/Amsterdam.

The full list of expenses for travel and entertainment were:

• Hardy Concert: $41.97

• Copper Chief Concert: $12.83

• American Aquarium Concert: $39.42

• Flight Refund: -$372.20

Miscellaneous: $93.22

Last month I got to work on a workstation for the Ooni. This month I took a big step towards completion.

I had a very large piece of butcher block back home that I’d gotten second hand for $30 when I lived in Boston. I cut it down to size while I was home.

I’ve also added doors, sides, floor, handles, and magnet closing fasteners. The plan is to paint all but the butcherblock black which should make the natural top and gold handles pop.

There were no fun pictures but most of my expense actually came from maintenance to the Ford Fusion. I’ve had the car since 2014 and it was time for a couple new tires and shocks.

This category also has a large negative expense in the form of the kayak sale. That helped cancel out things nicely.

Here’s the complete list of random purchases this month:

• Shocks: $103.06

• Dirt Cheap: $1.27

• Marshalls: $4.28

• Tires: $125

• Home Depot: $9.61

• Sold Kayak: -$150.00

Gas:  $117.00

The big increase in gas this month came from the long haul back to Mississippi. I was riding solo so I also didn’t split any of that.

Big Picture: Net Worth Increase $51,921 to $840,367

If you would have told me back at the start of my journey in 2015 that I’d have $51k net-worth increases. I would have thought you were insane but that’s the beauty of compounding interest.

This month I saved $19,154.55 while the market gained me $32,767.22 for a total net-worth increase of $51,921

Lets quickly hit the notable moments from March:

1. Turned the big 3-1!

2. Skied 4 days in Vail

3. Visited Joshua Tree

4. Visited Las Vegas (Won $90!)

5. Distillery/Brewery/Vineyard tour day

6. Free Happy Hour (Oysters & Drinks)

7. Amex Lounge Visit

Back to Colorado for the second month in a row! We had to make up for the fact that our last trip got altered and that my 30th bday ski plans were canceled (thanks Covid).

But what an awesome way to celebrate my 31st trip around the sun!

There were more similarities between Feb & March than just another trip to Colorado. This month is a repeat offender for free happy hours and Amex lounge visits as well.

But it wasn’t all the same ole same ole. I also got to visit Joshua tree for the first time and went on my first vacation to Las Vegas.

I secretly get quite addicted to roulette but was able to leave the casino up $90 so all is well.

You might ask how in the world I did all this for $964.12? It’s not straightforward and all of it isn’t repeatable, but as always, read on for the details.

After-Tax Income: $20,242

This month’s income was anything but standard. On top of my regular income I had some Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) vest from my company as well as a commission check for Q4 of FY21.

Trust me, I’ve been on the very low income side of things in the past, I fully understand how lucky I am.

On to the expenses

Expenses: $964.12

Keeping the sub $1k streak alive! And it’s absolutely not intentional. I actually shouldn’t call this a budget as I don’t give my self boundaries, I just love the data.

I guess it’s kind of like a diet though right? Everyone has a diet, that doesn’t mean it’s healthy.

One thing that won’t show up in an expense category is our new favorite activity, paddle boarding…or lounging on the paddle boards. Since we own the boards, there’s no ongoing costs.

I received another award at work and I had some credit card hacking that helped get the expenses down. I’ve talked about it before but anytime I get Birthday, Christmas, Award type money, I use that to cancel out expenses.

I don’t think it’s factual to call it income and who writes down an expense if they receive a sweater for Christmas? No, you got a gift. No different than if you got $20 as a gift and bought a $20 sweater.

Let’s breakdown the rest of the expenses

Going Out: $296.79

Full transparency… I thought I had a gimmick that was going to help me avoid around $90 worth of these expenses. Turns out, I’d misunderstood the offer calendar associated with one of my credit cards.

I’m actually glad I messed up though because it allowed me to buy whatever I wanted at the hotel restaurant without thinking about it and I still only spend $90 for myself.

It was my birthday and we were in Vail so there was a lot of dining out. I put a handy slide show for some of the highlights. Surprise…There’s pizza.

A lot isn’t pictured, because there was so much good food.

Free Happy Hour, Yes Please

Another month, another fantastic free happy hour. This was a great find thanks to a local instagram account that keeps everyone up to speed on local deals. And this St. Paddy’s day celebration was a solid find.

They had certain cocktails for free for the first 100 people (me obviously). They had free beers from a local brewery. They had several other free drinks on top of all that. Then the star of the show, free oysters.

And finally, not all outings even have to be about getting anything. We went to check out this awesome spot in east Austin with a decent size group. I wasn’t hungry or interested in a drink, but I had a great time chatting and listening to the band.

Don’t feel pressured into eating/drinking when it’s just wasteful.

The total break-down for eating out this month was:

• Desert Door: $21.48

• St. Elmo: $17.32

• Treaty Oak: $5.41

• Winery: $28.15

• Peche: $21.26

• McDonalds: $3.78

• Blue Moose: $27.08

• Peche $24.50

• Hilton: $90

• Taco Joint: $14.34

• Grizzeldas: $20.85

• Secret Pizza: $22.62

Groceries: $73.53

Pretty typical showing of groceries here especially with so much time on the road.

I also got my fancy new Ooni pizza oven in and took it for a go.

At the time of this picture, I was still dialing in exactly how to stretch the dough and how to handle the oven. These were absolutely delicious and I’m addicted to this new hobby.

Full grocery cost breakdown:

• HEB: $19.04

• HEB: $10.41

• Walmart: $44.09

Bills: $369.74

Cheap rent and a few monthly memberships. This is the category that makes those sub $1k total expenses possible. Keep your housing low and your cars paid off and you’ll give yourself a fighting chance.

The full set of bills were:

• Rent - $275.00

• Internet - $10

• Spotify - $10

• Car Insurance - $54

• Cidercade: $16.24

• Netflix: $4.50

Travel & Entertainment: $153.49

If you remember last month, we had to cancel part of our Aspen trip and thus had to cancel our skiing. I also missed out on two epic planned ski trips last year thanks to Covid.

So we’re back at it again and this time a big success.

We also did a ton more (Joshua Tree, Vegas, etc). You’re probably wondering how in the world I didn’t spend more.

For the Vail trip, It’s a mixture of some things already being paid for (ski pass, flights), credit card hacking (-$200), tons of Hilton points (thank you house fire), and putting some of my award money towards the trip (-$257).

For Josua Tree & Vegas. I have to just be thankful for friends I have made. We’ve become very good friends with a couple who wanted to cover the costs if we’d head out on a much needed getaway with them.

I said it once already earlier in this write-up but I’ll never sugar coat things. What I do isn’t always repeatable, but a lot is and I’ll always be transparent.

Now on to the breakdown.

Bday Celebration in the Vail Back Bowls

I’m not sure there is anywhere that I am more happy than when I’m flying down a mountain. The back bowls at Vail provide an insane amount of opportunities to do just that.

As I’ve said, I was there to celebrate my 31st birthday. I don’t fear birthdays, I don’t feel older, and generally I feel like each year I have become a better version of myself than I was the previous year.

Somedays I look at people who got started earlier, have more money, are on a faster path, etc and let myself get down a bit. But I know logically that is ridiculous. I am in a great place and I’m well on my way.

Plus Leslie made me a delicious birthday cake covered in peanut butter related items so what else would I want anyways?

As far as this trip goes financially, the only expenses were rental car ($81), ski rental ($176.04), and food ($145, captured earlier). I could have flown with my skis but I really wanted to try out some new gear. I could have eaten in more but I wanted this trip to be low effort, high enjoyment.

The rental car believe it or not was actually a cost saving tool. I found this rental through Alamo from the Vail airport for $163 total. We flew directly into Vail because the price was barely more expensive and again, I wanted it to be low effort.

The lowest effort most would think would have been to get a shuttle. But I hate scheduling the things, waiting on the things, and in this case, over paying for the things.

They wanted close to $200 per person to get a round trip shuttle. I think I’ll just stick with the $81 per person rental car.

When we get off the plane, it was the best rental car experience ever. There was no line, there was no shuttle, and there was a free upgrade.

Guy asks me if I want new 4x4 Chevy Silverado and of course I said heck yea. I love cars. All types. And I sort of miss having a pickup. I also got to play around a bit in the snow with the 4 wheel drive. Gotta bring the redneck to the mountains.

Next up is my favorite past time. Free food.

Denver’s new Amex Centurion Lounge

I am like a kid at Christmas when I get to spend some time at a Centurion lounge. That is the sentence I wrote in last month’s blog and it is still oh so true.

I believe this is the Vegas lounge. With the reduced Covid hours, I was never able to snag time at the one in Phoenix. We had a solid meal, a couple drinks, and some snacks for the road.

Later that month we got our second visit to the Denver Centurion lounge on our pitstop en route to Vail. We snagged the last bit of breakfast before the lunch turnover. The food at Centurion lounges has never disappointed me.

Ok, ok, I know not everyone is as excited for free food as me so now onto a quick highlight of the other adventures.

Joshua Tree & Vegas Getaway

We had a super gracious couple make us a win win offer. They needed a getaway and wanted some friends to join and offered to cover the plane tickets, hotel/air bnb, and groceries.

They wanted Vegas and we suggested tacking on Joshua tree because we all love hiking and the outdoors.

It was an incredibly gracious offer and I tried to show my appreciation by cooking, driving, and even tried to schedule a private telescope viewing (Joshua tree is known for dark skys) but the weather did not cooperate.

The first leg of the trip was Joshua tree. I was pretty bummed about the weather coming in and not allowing us to see the milky way but was surprised at how cool the national park was.

The rocks were incredibly easy to climb. The stone they’re made out of just has a ton of natural grip to it. I always seem to find at least one photo op to scare people about my impending death.

Next up Vegas

Ok, so this is a cheesy photo where I’m not actually gambling and I’m inside the airport…Forgot to take legit pictures in the casino. We stayed in Caesars palace a couple nights and I got my fix of roulette and blackjack in.

I tried to explain to Leslie my mathematical dominance over roulette and she saw right through my logic and knew that I was only doing my schemes to make myself feel like I was in control.

If I lose the first bet, I copy it, then double till I hit. If I hit the first spin, that’s $5 in the bank.

5, 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160…. It can get out of hand if you get on a losing streak. Luckily, I did not.

I used the same practice in video blackjack. That wasn’t as lucrative due to the max bets but still made a little.

Finally, I did several sports bets that ended up going 3-1-1 on. My only problem with all my bets was they were so small. Even with all that winning, I only profited $90

You may be asking yourself, what in the world is this picture. Well it’s Leslie with a suitcase worth of food brought from Joshua Tree as she sits in the Las Vegas rental car terminal.

We don’t waste food, there was a ridiculous wait for Ubers, and we got hungry. We had some random people stop and ask us where they could get a burger like that ha.

Expenses on this trip $23 worth of food and some Ubers.

Now onto more respectable public consumption.

Distillery - Vineyard - Brewery Tour

I’ve only put up pictures from one location but we went on a heck of a tour one weekend from Driftwood,TX back up to Austin.

We hit a couple breweries, a vineyard, and two distilleries. I loved all the spots but the most unique was probably Desert Door.

They specialize in Sotol. Sotol is a distillate made from a type of shrub, Dasylirion wheeleri, more commonly called desert spoon. That's in contrast to Tequila and mezcal, crafted from agave.

It’s a very unique taste and this place has some amazing branding.

Other highlights were Treaty Oak distillery and St. Elmo brewing. If you’re around Austin, definitely give them a try.

Total cost: $72.36 but captured under the dining out category.

The full list of expenses for travel and entertainment were:

• Uber: $8.10

• Whiskey Meyers: $32

• Lyft: $8.44

• Ski Rental: $176.04

• Lyft: 16.15

• SLC Flight: $278.80

• Rental Car: $81.75

• Parking: $10

• Amex Flight Credit: -$200

• Award Credit: -$257.80

Miscellaneous: $20.47

Now that the Ooni is up and running. It needs a proper home. After searching for prebuilt options, I’ve decided to build my own.

Wood has gotten pretty expensive but this will allow me to make it the perfect size for me and the oven. I designed it to have a 44” height so that it was easy on my back and extra deep so it fit the legs of the oven.

Expenses here are mostly for wood and propane plus some other random charges.

Here’s the complete list of random purchases this month:

• Haircut: $9.00

• Records: $2.17

• Propane: $39.30

• Home Depot: $161.76

• Rest of my work award: -$191.76

Gas:  $50.11

Nothing too exciting I can say here.

Big Picture: Net Worth Increase $39,056 to $788,446

I got zero idea what is going on with this market, but as always, I’m going to ride the wave.

This month I saved $19,277.89 while the market gained me $19,778.58 for a total net-worth increase of $39,056.46

Lets quickly hit the notable moments from February:

1. Valentines Day in Aspen

2. Trapped in Denver - Texas Snowpocalypse

3. Homemade Pizza Begins

4. Car Show

5. New Amex Lounge

6. Slinging Playstations

7. Covid Finally Caught me

Another month another mountain. But the real headline is the fact that our new hometown of Austin got more fresh snow than we did in Aspen?!

This month also took me to one of my favorite destinations: A New Amex Lounge, introduced me to the art of homemade pizza, and reconnected with old friends thanks to Austin being completely frozen and the subsequent canceled flights.

Oh yea…also caught covid right at the end of Jan and had to quarantine through Feb 10. The best way I can describe my symptoms: Being covered in a weighted blanket and pumped full of melatonin.

The fatigue was real and then the no taste/smell thing sucked too. You already can’t go anywhere and then you take away the joy of food…that’s a no fun zone.

But was super blessed to have no complications and we were able to push back our Colorado trip and salvage most of it. The skiing in Vail was nixed but the Aspen house was well worth the trip.

Now time for the deets

After-Tax Income: $10,695

This month was mostly standard income with a little extra for 401k match and then ~$180 profit on flipping a PS5.

On to the expenses

Expenses: $937.21

We did it again Kept expenses under $1k without having to sacrifice. I did have one part of accounting that you may or may not agree with.

I received an award at work that I sold and used the money to cancel out $425 worth of one of my big purchases. I think this is fair. If you got money for Christmas and bought a video game, how is that any different than simply receiving the video game?

You wouldn’t say you spent $50 because you asked for a video game instead of asking for cash.

Let’s breakdown the rest of the expenses

Going Out: $109.15

So I obviously spent some money this month on going out but the things I’m highlight were actually both free.

First up is National Pizza Day. I have no idea why there’s a day for absolutely everything but if anyone deserves a day, it’s pizza.

National anything days generally come with promotions, and promotions often mean free food. So naturally we hit up two local pizza places from some free slices.

How about some free cocktails and music?

The second fun free outing was for some cocktail kits and music by Still. Still is a cool distillery in Austin that specializes in bourbon and gin.

With Covid, they’ve been sponsoring live music events at their property that can only be watched via live stream but they also give away some cocktail kits you can pick up and take home to make a drink for the show.

Sprinkle in some happy hours (I may be addicted to the Sriracha ranch tots at Hotel Vegas) and breweries in Denver and that’ll round out the month.

The total break-down for eating out this month was:

• Denver Drinks: $20.51

• McDonalds: $7.56

• Long Table: $10.20

• Sexy Pizza: $8.00

• Hotel Vegas: $8.50

• Gabriellas: $17.50

• Gaslamp: $3.63

• Groupon $18.75

• Gelato & Co: $6.83

• Long Table: $7.67

Groceries: $56.74

Pretty typical showing of groceries here especially with so much time on the road.

The star of the show was this breakfast pizza which had a white sauce base, cheddar, bacon, tots, arugula, fried egg and ranch.

Spoiler alert, my pizzas are gonna get way better looking when I nail down my dough (Shoutout to Farm Fired Pizza’s Brent) but this thing was still delicious.

Full grocery cost breakdown:

• HEB: $21.06

• Safeway: 10.68

• King Soopers: $25

Bills: $369.74

Cheap rent and a few monthly memberships. This is the category that makes those sub $1k total expenses possible. Keep your housing low and your cars paid off and you’ll give yourself a fighting chance.

The full set of bills were:

• Rent - $275.00

• Internet - $10

• Spotify - $10

• Car Insurance - $54

• Cidercade: $16.24

• Netflix: $4.50

Travel & Entertainment: $286.97

This month had travel get cut and travel get forced upon us. In the end, no complains.

The big trip was supposed to be a Breckenridge/Vail/Aspen trio. Thanks to Covid, we had to cut off the front of this trip to fulfill our quarantine. Bye bye Breck/Vail.

Thankfully we salvaged the Aspen piece and got to relax in an incredible Air BnB with a group of friends and enjoy views like this from the hot tub all day.

Looking Good Apsen.. Looking Good

While I certainly was missing the ski portion of the trip, the view here were incredible and the relaxation levels were through the roof.

But hey, there’s only so much lounging in the hot-tub you can do right? When life gives you fresh snow, you make a snowman.

The trip was supposed to end on a Monday but thanks to Texas being brought to it’s knees by a major winter storm, we had cancelled flights and an unexpected additional five days in Denver.

It all worked out as we were able to work during the day and catch up with old friends at night. It’s a blessing that our flights were cancelled because our home was without water, electricity, heat or internet for three days.

Now time for the adventure within the adventure

Denver’s new Amex Centurion Lounge

I am like a kid at Christmas when I get to spend some time at a Centurion lounge.

If you don’t know, these lounges are run by American Express. You can gain free entry for yourself and two guests if you carry the American Express Platinum. It’s a hefty annual fee but if you maximize it’s rewards and travel often, it’s worth it.

The thing that sets these lounges apart is the quality. You can get just about any liquor you can think of with great signature drinks. This one actually had two bar areas with one being a craft beer lounge.

Then there is the food. The taste and quality is light years ahead of a typical airport lounge. With Covid, it’s more of a lunch line setup vs a self serve buffet but they are pretty efficient.

Everything we had was great. The bruschetta was straight up addictive. Not pictured was the Nutella crepes…don’t skip those either.

These lounges also often come with other types of amenities. Some even offer free massages (obviously not during the pandemic but soon). This one had several different games to keep you occupied.

So no this isn’t the whiskey and diet lounge with cold sandwiches that are 95% bread, this is a whole different experience.

As far as costs go, we also bought some flights to Vail for March to make up for lost skiing and also purchased a two day pass for a music festival in Idaho.

The full list of expenses for travel and entertainment were:

• Lyft: $13.05

• Vail Flight: $44

• Denver Flight: $65.20

• Music Festival: $164.72

Miscellaneous: $97.17

When you live in 375 sq ft apartment, you have to maximize space both inside and out.

So I got us a rack for the balcony to vertically mount the bikes. We’re working our way through a plan to redo the layout of the balcony and this frees up a lot of space.

The most exciting line item is my purchase of an Ooni Koda 16. Unfortunately, these bad boys are backordered for a while so it doesn’t arrive until late March.

This thing gets up to 930 degrees and is extremely portable. I was able to get the cost down to $485 after tax. I took an award I got from work, sold it, and put that $425 towards the purchase making my out of pocket expense only $60.

Here’s the complete list of random purchases this month:

• Haircut: $28.68

• Home Depot: $26.17

• Ooni Koda 16 Pizza Oven: $485

• Work Award: -$425

Gas:  $17.44

We spent so much time in Colorado that driving was way down this month.

Big Picture: Net Worth Increase $34,633 to $749,389

We’re still moving at the speed of light thanks to the market. Who knows how long this can last but stay tuned to see were we land.

Remember, all you can control is your spending and earning, your net-worth is what it is.

This month I saved $9,757.80 while the market gained me $24,875 for a total net-worth increase of $34,633

I think it’s crucial to ABL (Always Be Learning). When we get a chance to learn about a new investment vehicle or method of investing, we give ourselves an opportunity to get better returns, get more efficient, and re-stoke that enthusiasm.

So what’s the exciting new topic today? Bonds.

Wait did he say bonds?

Bonds Can’t be Interesting…Can They?

They’re the boring things that old people get to keep their money safe right? Clutching your wallet and riding out those last couple decades is the image that often comes to mind, at least for me.

What even is a bond? Are they all like those savings bonds you may have gotten from a grandparent that meant you had to wait five years to actually celebrate your birthday?

Well why don’t we dig into this classic investment vehicle and see what it’s all about. We can debate if they should be a part of your portfolio, the percentage you should hold and when they matter… but I think it’s always good to understand them.

And spoiler alert…there’s a new interesting bond offering in town.

What is a bond?

I’m a big fan of the ELI5 concept found common with Reddit. ELI5 stands for Explain Like I’m Five. To me, the ELI5 for a bond is a way for you to loan some organization money with expectation of receiving some interest over a set period of time.

This could be the United States Government or it could just be a corporation.

How’s that different than a stock?

A stock is where you actually become a part owner of sorts. You own shares in a company and you get to keep it as long as you like. Those shares will change in price without any consistency.

A bond generally goes up at a fixed rate, which means it doesn’t change.

Say you buy a bond for $10 and it’s an eight year bond that pays 8%. Generally, these bonds pay out simple interest vs compounding interest.

Wait…There’s different types of interest?

You bet there are. Simple interest means you will be receiving the same amount of interest every year regardless of how long you hold the investment.

So that $10 bond you bought that’s paying 8% simple interest means that it’s paying 80 cents every year. So at the end of that eight years, that $10 bond is worth $16.40.

Here’s how that’d look:

• Year 1: $10.80

• Year 2: $11.60

• Year 3: $12.40

• Year 4: $13.20

• Year 5: $14.00

• Year 6: $14.80

• Year 7: $15.60

• Year 8: $16.40

So after eight years you received a total of 64% returns

Now back to comparing that to Stock

When we talk about returns for a stock, we generally refer to it in the compounding way. Basically, your interest earns interest. In the bond/simple example you got 80 cents every year. But with this stock/compounding example, it’s going to ramp up as long as the stock performs well.

For an apples to apples comparison, assume the stock goes up 8% every year.

Here’s how that’d look:

• Year 1: $10.80

• Year 2: $11.66

• Year 3: $12.60

• Year 4: $13.60

• Year 5: $14.70

• Year 6: $15.87

• Year 7: $17.13

• Year 8: $18.51

So after eight years you received a total of 85% returns

Also notice that in year eight you earned $1.38 in interest vs only $0.80 in year one. The longer you keep getting that compounding interest the more extreme the gap will become. In year 30, you’d be looking at $7.30 in interest in a single year.

So why would I ever want the bond?

After seeing how the stock seemed to blow away the bond, why would you ever want a bond? Well, one flaw with my example was that I assumed the stock would just grow at 8% steady every year.

If someone could guarantee me 8% at this point I’d probably just sign up for that eternally. In reality, the returns are going to really fluctuate.

You may just be starting out and have a small nest egg but see big percentage returns, only to be met with flat or negative returns once you’ve had a chance to actually put back a bunch of savings. While that may mean the stock market did its part and averaged out just fine, your returns don’t look so hot.

You had those awesome years “wasted” on a small amount of money.

Stocks have been on a mostly upward trajectory for the last ~8 years but someday, that will end.

Bonds can hedge against down stock years

What really makes something go up or down in value? Generally, buying and selling. No matter how great a company is, if everyone is selling those stocks, you’ll generally see that price go down. It’s supply and demand.

When everyone is selling stocks and then the stocks start to fall, people look to buy something. That “something” is often bonds. When everyone start running to bonds, there’s a lot more demand and thus those values go up.

So bonds give you a bit of a safety net when things on the stock side start to slide.

Where do you get exposure to bonds?

When talking to friends, I generally see folks get exposure to bonds in the form of lifecycle funds. A lifecycle fund is one which automatically changes its allocation based on how close you’re getting to a certain date.

So a 2060 fund right now would mostly be stocks but in 2055 it would have a sizable amount of bonds. This is because bonds are seen as safer and more stable. As you get closer to your retirement date (2060 in this example), many people believe that you transition to more of a wealth preservation mode vs a wealth building mode.

Are all bonds boring government bonds?

Ok, so the real reason I got interested in writing an article on bonds was the discovery of a new interesting FinTech company (SMBX). Full disclosure, I was sponsored to write this post on bonds but I wrote the article the way I wanted, so it’s an honest introduction.

SMBX gives you this avenue to purchase bonds in currently operating businesses. It also provides you with financial documents on the company so you can complete your due diligence on the company.

Companies have a certain window of time for people to invest in and new companies are periodically added. The interest rates you see are generally 7%-8% with a length of 5 yrs.

Keep in mind that there’s never a free lunch. You’re investing in businesses that can fail and could default on these bonds. Said simply, those 7%-8% returns aren’t guaranteed.

But, it does give you an avenue to make your journey into bond investing a lot more interesting. A speciality ice cream shop in San Fransisco might be a little more interesting research than an old school government bond.

I hope you enjoyed this write up on the historically un-sexy topic of bonds and maybe you’re introduced to a new company doing interesting things in the finance realm.

Comment below and let me know if there are any other companies doing interesting things in finance that you’d like to hear me review.

Lets quickly hit the big events from January:

1. Skiing in Utah

2. Beach Trip on Texas Coast

3. Chili Festival

4. Kolby Cooper Concert

5. Great Happy Hours

6. New Cell Phone

7. Booked an Aspen Trip

8. Booked Paddle-Board Camping Trip

I have been itching to get back on the slopes and January was the month!

A buddy I met in Austin invited me up to his hometown just outside of Salt Lake City to go skiing at Park City. My epic pass meant that the lift tickets were free and I had some frontier vouchers about to expire so it was a no brainer.

The snow was a little thin but it’s always a good time when you’re flying down a mountain. Also, since it’s Texas, we got to get back out on the paddle boards and spend some more time on the beach down near Rockport and Port Aransas.

Then plenty of good eats, a chili fest, a new phone all while keeping spending under $1k for the month!

Keep reading to see how it all played out

After-Tax Income: $24,671

This month saw a big influx in the income category. That’s driven by my largest deal of the year coming in as well as some 401k match. Some of that match is actually some money my company owed me last year and then some more for 2021.

On to the expenses

Expenses: $987.05

We did it fam! Kept expenses under $1k without having to sacrifice. There’s one sneaky way I saved some extra money on my Utah trip, but you’ll have to read the travel section for that.

Alrighty let’s break this down by category.

Going Out: $84.19

The star of this category had to be the Happy Hour at Hotel Vegas.

Half price all food and $2 tall boy lone stars… what’s not to love? They also had some insane spicy ranch tots. Where else can you get some quality chicken and waffles plus a tall boy for $7??

Support Your Local Brewery

Next up was an impromptu trip over to Zilker Brewery. I stopped by to test out one of their sours which did not disappoint. Leslie skipped drinks and instead went for the fried chicken sandwich from the food truck on site.

Secret Date Night

We’ve been trying to get in a better habit of planing date nights out where one person does the planning as a surprise for the other.

I found a spot called Jacoby’s that does happy hour all night on Thursdays. We didn’t do any drinks but all the appetizers were 50% off. We got some stuffed beef yeast rolls, cowboy caviar dip, pimento & cheese spread, and baguette with whipped bone marrow. Put that pinky up!

There was a bit more eating out this month including a spot down on the coast, some craft sours I picked up, and of course a hot breakfast from the always delicious Taco bell.

The total break-down for eating out this month was:

• Jacobys: $29

• Taco Bell: $4.21

• Poor Mans: $18.60

• Hotel Vegas: $14.83

• Zilker Brewing: $7.55

• Marin House: $10

Groceries: $84.55

Not even 100% how we racked up a grocery bill a little on the higher side for us but still not a bad showing. I try to throw in the reminder from time to time but the $84.55 is my half of the groceries, so that’s just for one person.

Full grocery cost breakdown:

• HEB: $5.42

• HEB: $16.08

• HEB: $23.38

• HEB: $34.80

• Target: $4.88

Bills: $360.56

Cheap rent and a few monthly memberships. This is the category that makes those sub $1k total expenses possible. Keep your housing low and your cars paid off and you’ll give yourself a fighting chance.

The full set of bills were:

• Rent - $275.00

• Internet - $10

• Spotify - $10

• Car Insurance - $49.32

• Cidercade: $16.24

Travel & Entertainment: $251.54

I’m not sure how long it’ll take me to get used to it being warm year round but I already love it. While friends are suffering through freezing temps and snowstorms in Boston, we’re paddle-boarding and sitting on the beach

Hawaii of Texas: Round 2

Looking good Rockport! I had a friend who was curious if we went to Hawaii when I sent them this picture.

While out there we also got the paddle-boards out again. These are quickly turning into our favorite hobbies and I’m looking forward to the summer when we can get out multiple times a week. We actually booked a 3-day paddle-boarding camping trip for the end of April for $19 each.

How long does it take to get abs on these things…Asking for a friend.

Shreddin’ in Park City

The big trip this month was a big contrast to being at the beach. This time around, I’d be exploring a winter wonderland. I mentioned in a previous recap that I had met some friends online in Austin. It’s tough when you’re in a new city and no office to go to.

Well we hit it off pretty well and they invited me up to a ski trip in Utah where their parents still live. That meant I didn’t need a hotel / rental car.

Then I utilized some frontier vouchers that were expiring which meant the trip only cost me $63.

There was an obvious reason though that the flights were as cheap as they were. The return flight included an overnight stay in the Denver Airport. This layover was about 10pm to 8am. To me that is not long enough to mess with trying to get to a hotel and instead I planned from the start to stay there.

When I say I planned, I really mean that. Even though I could only bring a backpack for the whole trip (Dang you Frontier), I still was able to pack my. sleeping pad, pillow, eye mask and a book.

With that setup, I slept like a baby and saved the hotel costs all without adding stress of getting to and from a Hotel.

We’ll be back in the mountains in February but this time Colorado. We each paid $100 for four nights in an awesome house in the mountains in Aspen.

Unlimited Chili + Free Drinks…And Goats?

The most unique thing this month though may have been the chili festival we went to. There were probably 15 different vendors giving out unlimited samples of chili. On top of that they had live music, free drinks, and even stations teaching you how to rope animals. Plus lots of baby goats.

The full list of expenses for travel and entertainment were:

• Ski Rental: $103.05

• Uber: $1.69

• Lyft: $5.30

• Aspen House: $100

• Parking: $3.50

• Chili Fest: $19

• Camping: $19

Miscellaneous: $177.30

This is the random catch all category. Probably the one most people don’t think about enough when they’re budgeting for retirment or when they try to tell you how much they spend each month.

The most impressive line item this month to me was the new cell phone bundle I was able to get for $108. That was a new Samsung Galaxy S21, fast charging portable battery, controller, smart security cam, and a leather case. This was part of a promotional pre-order offer if you traded in your old phone. So I traded up my Galaxy S20 and enjoyed the spoils.

Here’s the complete list of random purchases this month:

• Jump Battery: $28.68

• Pump Adapter: $4.73

• All Trails Membership: $15

• Stadia Pro: $10.65

• Dentist: $74

• Robot Vacuum Filters: $8.65

• Swifter sheets: $6.50

• Dollar Tree: $1.08

• Cell Phone: $108.00

• Chase Credit: -$80

Gas:  $28.92

A fairly typical month for us. We did have the one decent road trip down to the Texas coast.

Big Picture: Net Worth Increase $25,657 to $714,756

I didn’t think I’d be back celebrating a front number change but here we are. Rolling past the $600ks and on into the $700ks. Let’s hope the $800ks come just as fast!

Remember, all you can control is your spending and earning, your net-worth is what it is.

This month I saved $23,684 while the market gained me $1,973 for a total net-worth increase of $25,657

Lets quickly hit the big events from December:

1. Paddle Boarding in the Swamp

2. Another Trip to Mississippi

3. Dave Chapelle + Joe Rogan Comedy Show

4. Kolby Cooper Concert

5. Great Home Cooking

6. Round of Golf

7. Booked Utah Ski Trip

8. 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