This net worth update is over a month late. Things have been a little rough for me healthwise. Living with chronic illness is challenging by itself. In addition, I’ve had the added stress of fighting for treatments, dealing with difficult doctors, and putting far more work into my medical care than a patient should have to. Delays in treatment have resulted in worsening of my health, and missed windows of opportunity. It’s been an exhausting and stressful year in that regard.
Anywho, for September my net worth increased by almost $5,000. Since the month is long gone, I’m don’t remember how I managed to squirrel away $400 into my checking account or $500 in my emergency fund. I’m not complaining though. I did take out $300 from savings to pay for my shopping spree (more on that later). Other than that, the other account increases can be explained by my usual contributions to my retirement accounts coupled with market gains.
| Liquid Assets | Start | End | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash & Checking | $3,100 | $3,500 | +$400 |
| Emerg. Fund | $7,900 | $8,400 | +$500 |
| Savings | $3,400 | $3,100 | ($300) |
| Brokerage | $3,400 | $3,500 | +$100 |
| HSA | $2,600 | $2,800 | +$200 |
| Illiquid Assets | Start | End | Change |
| Home Eq | $32,400 | $32,900 | +$500 |
| 401K | $63,000 | $65,800 | +$2,800 |
| Roth IRA | $30,900 | $31,500 | +$600 |
| Debt | Start | End | Change |
| Loans | ($3,300) | ($3,200) | +$100 |
| Net | $143,400 | $148,300 | $4,900 |
| % Change | 3.4% |
Spending
One thing I am just now realizing is that I don’t do a very good job of keeping track of my sinking contributions in my spending section. It’s obviously too late this year, but I’ll be on it starting next.
So about that shopping spree…after a no-spend August, I decided to do just the opposite in September. I went on a shopping spree. My hopes was that this would help me cut back on time spent “window shopping”. I felt that the constant online-store browsing may have contributed to additional spending, albeit somewhat delayed. I bought everything on my wishlist (mostly kitchen stuff). You’ll see my October post soon, but it did seem to help a lot:
| Category | Budget | Actual | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| (1)Bills & Utilities | $125 | $100 | $25 under |
| (2)Food | $300 | $402 | $102 over |
| (3)Medical | $- | $202 | $- |
| (4)Misc | $500 | $969 | $405 over |
| (5)Sinking Funds | $- | ($300) | $- |
| Total (1+2+4+5) | $925 | $1,171 | $246 over |
| Total + Medical (3) | $1,373 | $448 over |
I went $246 over budget, ignoring my medical expenses. I was $448 over budget with medical expenses included. I don’t skimp on medical care, which is why I look at both totals.
Bills & Utilities
My electricity usage and internet bill are fairly fixed, so there were no surprises there.
Food
I went over, which is something I rarely do when it comes to food. But I subscribed to a new meal-kit service every week which was especially worth it since I didn’t feel up to cooking.
Medical
Just the usual doctor appointments, copays, and travel expenses.
Misc
My shopping spree put me well over budget in this category. Thank goodness for sinking funds!
Sinking
I took $150 out of my home goods fund and $150 out of my gift fund to pay for going over in the miscellaneous category. I cash flowed the remaining overage, if I remember correctly.
Coming Soon…
October saw some sizable medical bills which I was able to cash flow. But it was tight month for that reason. Stay tuned!
A Tale of Finances 