September 2020 Update

Big month, big spend, new car! Still no puppy.

Welcome to the last 3 months of the longest year on record. It's pretty wild that this time last year I was recovering from a big overseas trip. This year no one in their right mind would be going to the States. A big trip for this year was a 4hour road trip to a regional town - which technically fell in October.

September update is much the same as Augusts - I've been prepping for the puppy to come home and failing to organise my finances. Mr. FIRE and I still need to organise a shared bank account of some time, and we still need to do our tax returns. I was feeling guilty about not having completed my tax returns, but while I was pulling together the paperwork I couldn't find one of my end of year statements. Turns out they didn't send it until the last week of September! Wild.

On this side of this, the big important change is that I bought a car. For the first time in six years, I own a car. I'd been putting off buying it and just hoping that a friend would sell a good car, and it finally happened. A friend of a friend sold me a 10year old car with only 50,000kms on the clock for a measly $7k. Based on my digging a car in that condition could easily have gone for double, so I'm quite happy with the outcome.

While this is obviously a big hit to my savings goals, and will impact the path to FIRE, it really does show what a savings focussed lifestyle can do. I didn't have to stop and think 'wow, where am I going to find this money?'. It was already sitting in my loan offset account waiting for a big purchase. If I didn't have that money available, I would have had to skip out on this undervalued car and probably bought something cheaper - that would have cost more to run long term.

Now that I have a car I expect to go spend on things I've been avoiding, like new glasses. My current ones have lasted close to a decade and while the prescription hasn't changed, the lenses themselves are definitely not in good condition.

 

Goals For 2020

Goal #1: 50% Savings

I have a confession to make: I'm a FIRE blogger and my savings rate sucks.

At the end of The Year of Investing in 2018, my savings rate was sitting comfortably at 55%. At the start of 2020, it was a weenie 35%.

Getting my 3-year average savings rate to 50% is going to be next to impossible, but I'm going to track it for interest. The actual goal is for this 12month period to sit comfortably above 50%.

September Rate:-78%   

2020 Average: 28%

Three-Year Average: 34% 

 

I'm going to roll this goal over to next year 😟 obviously things haven't gone the way we planned.

Goal #2 Reduce Average Spending by 10%

Having two investments has gotten expensive, and my spending has been creep-creep-creeping. From an average $3,500 spending back in 2018, now I'm sitting at $4,800 at the start of 2020.

The goal is to reduce my average spend by 10% from January.

September Spend: $12,015.57
2020 Average Spend: $5,207.52

Goal Spend: $4,378.30 (or less)

Remember when I complained spending $8k in January was ruining everything, well, I went and bought a car.

Spending

Here's what I spent in September, which includes the save-to-spend amounts and a new category for the car.  

Category	Spent	Budgeted	12 Month Average
Home	$1,511.91	$875	$954.17 (up $10.87)
Over Budget. So this house sucks in winter. The solar panels obviously generate no power, and the heater uses a fair bit of juice. Electricity bill was not nice.
Investment Property 1	$1,100	$1,145.83	$1,145.83 (down $24.82)
Under Budget. Paid the mortgage and tucket $500 away for the future.
Home turned IP2	$750	$1,000	$1,057.81 (up $9.53)
Under Budget. Mortgage and $189 for future repairs and maintenance.
Personal Bills	$127.26	$127.33	$127.26 (no change)
Under Budget. It is what it is
Groceries	$259.75	$190	$192.78 (down $10.34)
Over Budget. Making up for last months lower spend, I shopped a lot :(
Pets	$300	$150	$153.41 (up $17.66)
Over Budget. Still saving for puppy. Everytime I get impatient on waiting I buy more toys for her. One on hand this is terrible budgeting. On the other hand, every toy I buy is a furniture protection device - so this is great budgeting!
Roller Derby	$280.70	$175	$166.67 (up $8.31)
Over Budget. ooft, ouch. So we held a game, so I needed to buy facepaint (needed) and were going to play a regional bout for funsies, so I paid for accomodations for that. Plus the usual dues.
Travelling	$100	$122.50	$25.00 (up $8.33)
Under Budget. Still not going anywhere (except derby, which is counted above). Just putting aside money for future travels and puppy.
Comfort Food	$50	$40	$40.40 (up $4.16)
Over Budget. We went camping, which I guess could have been called travel? Anyway this spend covers the bakeries we visited on the way, and the snacks we ate.
Car	$7,251	$200	$604.25
Yikes! Paid for the car, then paid the stamp duty - which is basically paying for paying for a car. Rude. Next month I'll need to sort insurance.
Donations	$0		$92.50
None
Other	$284.95	$187.00	$298.53 (up $19.37)
Over Budget. The expensive part here was a couple of sports massages... I've been feeling old and creaky. It's definitely not a regular indulgence, and given how painful a deep tissue massage is it's barely an indulgence.
Total	$12,015.57	$4116.67	$4,923.58 (up $712.30)
Total ex. Donations	$12,015.57		$4,831.08 (up $712.30)
Over Budget by a lot. Even without the car, this was going to be an expensive month. It would have been $4,700+ which is not great. Utilities bills hit, derby got expensive, and I threw money at every other category as well. I'm going to have to find a 'new normal' being a car and dog owner.

August 2020 Update

 The days are getting longer and it's pretty wonderful. We even got to go camping at the end of the month

August is another month of the days getting longer. We tipped over to double digits for daylight hours and it's making me so keen for FIRE. Sitting inside looking at this nice weather is frustrating.

In August I made a bit of a change to my finance planning - each month I'm now going to round up my 'spending' on my investment properties ($1,100 for the original, and $750 for the new one). This roundup is going into my offset account for the mortgage so that I'm ready to cover the costs of big maintenance items. I really should have started this earlier - as shown by the shock of having to spend $5,000 repairing the air conditioner at the start of this year. I knew it was coming, but I didn't put money aside for it.

I'm also still looking for a car for our new puppy-parent life. We've booked puppy in for two sets of puppy preschool, and I've already reached out to obedience and agility clubs. While this might be an expensive way to have a dog - we could just have a couch potato with no need for classes - it's not what I want from a dog. I want a pal I can do sports with - just not the energiser bunny that we had a trial with earlier this year! Couch potato in the house, adventure pal in the streets. That said, I'm pleasantly surprised by the costs. Puppy preschool isn't the cheapest ($20 a class on average) but the agility and obedience clubs are both less than $100 for an annual membership. 

Lastly, Mr. FIRE and I are looking at combining finances - just a bit. We've made it six years living together with completely separate bank accounts, but due to our COVID lifestyle changes, and now getting a puppy we've completely changed spending habits. It used to be that we both did groceries while we were out and about - now Mr. FIRE does most of the spending, and I make a point to do a big shop once a month to share the spending. On the flip side, I buy all the puppy supplies, because... online shopping 😅 We're planning to get a shared spending account to even things up a bit.

 

Goals For 2020

Goal #1: 50% Savings

I have a confession to make: I'm a FIRE blogger and my savings rate sucks.

At the end of The Year of Investing in 2018, my savings rate was sitting comfortably at 55%. At the start of 2020, it was a weenie 35%.

Getting my 3-year average savings rate to 50% is going to be next to impossible, but I'm going to track it for interest. The actual goal is for this 12month period to sit comfortably above 50%.

August Rate:  59% 

2020 Average: 41%  

Three-Year Average: 37%  

 

I think this is about where to average will stay for the rest of the year. With the purchase of puppy and a car coming up we're not going to magically drag the savings rate up. I'm going to repeat this goal next year just so I can keep tracking it and see what impact puppy and car truly have.

Goal #2 Reduce Average Spending by 10%

Having two investments has gotten expensive, and my spending has been creep-creep-creeping. From an average $3,500 spending back in 2018, now I'm sitting at $4,800 at the start of 2020.

The goal is to reduce my average spend by 10% from January.

August Spend: $4,112.21
2020 Average Spend: $4,356.52

Goal Spend: $4,378.30 (or less)

And we made it! I've got a couple of big spend months coming up with buying a car and a puppy, which I think will tip us over the top, unfortunately. I'm not super concerned about this, it's been a strange year. Purchasing a car and a puppy are things we've planned into our lives for a long time.

Spending

Here's what I spent in August, which includes the save-to-spend amounts.  

Category	Spent	Budgeted	12 Month Average
Home	$700	$875	$943.30 (no change)
Under Budget. Just the rent, easy days.
Investment Property 1	$1,100	$1,145.83	$1,170.65 (up $31.73)
Under Budget. Paid the water bill, and tucked $87.92 away for future repairs and maintenance. Something I should have started doing a long time ago.
Home turned IP2	$750	$1,000	$1,048.28 (up $8.30)
Under Budget. Mortgage and $188.06 for future repairs and maintenance.
Personal Bills	$127.26	$127.33	$127.26 (no change)
Under Budget.
Groceries	$103.45	$190	$203.12 (down $10.34)
Under Budget. So, I didn't really shop this month. My mum bought us a kilo of coffee beans, which means I didn't need to go to the central markets for beans, so I didn't leave so house, so Mr. FIRE did all the shopping.
Pets	$300	$150	$135.75 (up $24.48)
Over Budget. A bit of saving for the puppy, a large bit of buying an exercise pen so that we can contain her when we can't supervise and hopefully cut down on potty accidents and teething destruction.
Roller Derby	$137.50	$175	$158.36 (down $3.14)
Under Budget. Still not travelling, still paying dues and saving for new gear. We are doing a rural tour in early October though, pandemic pending of course.
Travelling	$100	$122.50	$16.67 (down $6.25)
Under Budget. Again, not going anywhere. Just putting aside money for future travels and puppy.
Comfort Food	$0	$40	$36.24 (down $35.71)
Under Budget. We went back into stronger restrictions for half of August, so we couldn't really have people over. I'm not sure why we didn't go out, just never occurred to us.
Donations	$0		$92.50
None
Other	$794	$187.00	$279.16 (up $48.07)
Over Budget. We bought a couch! We've been complaining for a couple of years now that we could barely fit both humans and the cat on the couch. My friend was selling their couch and ottoman set, and now both humans can stretch out and still leave space for the cat. It'll be crowded again when pup comes home though - good thing cat has claimed the ottoman as her own!
Total	$4,112.21	$3,987.67	$4,211.28 (up $57.14)
Total ex. Donations	$4,112.21		$4,118.78 (up $57.14)
Over Budget. with only 2 out of 10 categories over! The couch was a big blowout spend that I'd been planning for, but forgot to actually save for 😛 outside of that both investment properties recorded higher than actual spends because I've started putting money aside for maintenance. Arguably I should have done this a long time ago but... live and learn.

July 2020 Update

 Happy August everyone. The weather is picking up, and so is life.

July was a fun month - roller derby went back, worked picked up and the weather was great. We've had a few rainy at the start of August, but overall the sunshine and warmth have made a big difference.

In July we spent a lot of time meeting Collies, researching Collies and really making sure they were going to suit us. It took a lot of looking to find a dog that will get into dog-sports with me, but also couch potato on the days when we need to flop. While a Collie is a herding breed that will need plenty of exercise and entertainment, they've also been bred for pet homes for a long while and don't have that crazy high-drive of Border Collies and the like. 

We're confident we've made the right choice, but I do still get hit with regular panics about bringing a puppy into our house. We've always said we don't want children, so raising a baby animal is a big commitment. That said, we've always wanted a dog and everything is lining up right - not just the ability to work-from-home with the pandemic, but Mr. FIRE has gotten a promotion and my team has really embraced flexible working long term.

What does this have to do with a FIRE blog? Puppy is going to be expensive. Not only are we collecting our puppy from a breeder and paying the related prices, but after much discussion, we've agreed that it's time to become a two-car household. Once we have a puppy in the house, it'll be a safety requirement to always have a car available, and I've been turning down a lot of hiking opportunities because of a lack of transport. 

The financial impacts will be quite large in the first year and should taper off over time. We'll be spending a lot in the start on puppy classes, teething toys and exercise pens and baby gates. While we could do it cheaper, we want to do it right. I'm doing as much second-hand shopping as possible, but I'm not skimping. My big goal is to have a puppy I enjoy with minimal accidents (bathroom and chewing!)

While this is a pricey exercise, I'm excited about it. I plan to get into dog sports once our puppy is old enough, and my post-FIRE plans have always been full of dogs. I'm really excited to take this step towards our post-FIRE plans - and get a realistic idea of what the expenses will be. 

Goals For 2020

Goal #1: 50% Savings

I have a confession to make: I'm a FIRE blogger and my savings rate sucks.

At the end of The Year of Investing in 2018, my savings rate was sitting comfortably at 55%. At the start of 2020, it was a weenie 35%.

Getting my 3-year average savings rate to 50% is going to be next to impossible, but I'm going to track it for interest. The actual goal is for this 12month period to sit comfortably above 50%.

July Rate:  47%

2020 Average: 39% 

Three-Year Average: 37% 

 

This is pretty obviously and sadly not happening. Looking below at the spending reduction, I don't know if 50% was ever a realistic idea. Still, aim high :) We'll try again next year. The important part is upwards trending.

Goal #2 Reduce Average Spending by 10%

Having two investments has gotten expensive, and my spending has been creep-creep-creeping. From an average $3,500 spending back in 2018, now I'm sitting at $4,800 at the start of 2020.

The goal is to reduce my average spend by 10% from January - excluding donations. My goals to do better with my money shouldn't limit my hopes for changing the world

July Spend: $3,699.79 
2020 Average Spend: $4,391.42

Goal Spend: $4,378.30 (or less)

So close! Just a few dollars left to go.

Spending

Here's what I spent in July, which includes the save-to-spend amounts.  

Category	Spent	Budgeted	12 Month Average
Home	$1,050	$875	$943.30 (up 99cents)
Over Budget. We've been living here for almost 18months now. The last five of that I've been home all the time due to the pandemic, and I'm grateful we're here instead of the old house. July was a three-rent month, but otherwise, nothing was spent.
Investment Property 1	$1,032.71	$1,145.83	$1,138.92 (down $47.21)
Under Budget. Thankfully nothing went wrong this month - but I did have to pay the council rates. Otherwise a nice quiet month.
Home turned IP2	$547.08	$1,000	$1,039.98 (down $10.18)
Under Budget. Just the mortgage. Sometimes we have quiet months.
Personal Bills	$127.26	$127.33	$127.26 (no change)
Under Budget.
Groceries	$219.24	$190	$213.46 (up $6.38)
Over Budget. Not much to say here. Supermarkets are more expensive than the fruit and veg market I've lost easy access to.
Pets	$300	$100	$111.26 (up $25.83)
Over Budget. Most of this is setting money aside to pay for our puppy. Due to come home at the end of October 😀
Roller Derby	$120	$175	$161.50 (down $89.99)
Under Budget. The 12month average dropped dramatically because I was able to wipe July last year where I was spending for a trip to Utah. Unsurprisingly, there has been no travel this year. Just paying for training from July, and putting aside money for new gear.
Travelling	$100	$122.50	$22.92 (down $148.54)
Under Budget. Again, 12month average dropped dramatically because last year was the international trip, and this year is COVID. Half of this 'spend' is putting aside money for our next travel, whenever that is. The other half is puppy savings 😉
Comfort Food	$53.50	$40	$71.95 (up $0.29)
Over Budget. We threw a Christmas in July party and had friends over where we split Thai food. Then three days later restrictions in our area increased and we weren't allowed to do that anymore 😅
Donations	$0		$92.50
None
Other	$150	$187.00	$231.09 (down $3.57)
Under Budget. Most of this is savings - I've been wearing the same glasses for a decade. I also bought juggling balls though - a $4 impulse purchase I have zero regrets about.
Total	$3,699.79	$3,987.67	$4,154.14 (down $247.99)
Total ex. Donations	$3,699.79		$4,061.64 (down $247.99)
Under Budget. with 6 out of 10 categories under! I guess my most interesting purchase was puppy prep. I've been buying plenty of chew toys - my big goals for puppyhood are sleeping through the night, housetraining, and minimising any damage done by a teething whirlwind of a puppy.

June 2020 Update

Happy Financial New Year (how many times can I make that joke? As many as I like!)

Pandemic life is starting to get to me. As an introvert, I was quite comfortable with the shutdown and working from home. I made a big point of always putting 'adult' clothes on for work every day, and changing to comfy house pants at the end of the day. In June I added an end of day walkies - just taking myself for a lap of the neighbourhood and a podcast. However, the same-samey environment is starting to get to me. Weekends don't feel relaxing because it's the same space I've been working in for the last five days.

It's an interesting look into what FIRE life could be if I wasn't consciously filling the time. It's also a bad comparison because when I reach FIRE I have a lot of things I want to do that I can't do now because A. I'm still working 40hours a week, and B. there's a heckin' pandemic on and the world is shut down. Sports have started to go back, and pubs have started opening but every outing is a potential danger.

Plus it's hard to start anything not knowing if the pandemic will spike back up (forcing things to close) or conditions will improve, and I'll have to head back into the office.

I am actually really looking forward to office life again. I don't want to be there five days a week (and commuting an hour each way) but I'm hoping to go back two days a week. All those big meetings will be much better in person, plus actually seeing people in person.

Goals For 2020

Goal #1: 50% Savings

I have a confession to make: I'm a FIRE blogger and my savings rate sucks.

At the end of The Year of Investing in 2018, my savings rate was sitting comfortably at 55%. At the start of 2020, it was a weenie 35%.

Getting my 3-year average savings rate to 50% is going to be next to impossible, but I'm going to track it for interest. The actual goal is for this 12month period to sit comfortably above 50%.

June Rate: 15% 

2020 Average: 37% 

Three-Year Average: 36% 

 

Goal #2 Reduce Average Spending by 10%

Having two investments has gotten expensive, and my spending has been creep-creep-creeping. From an average $3,500 spending back in 2018, now I'm sitting at $4,800 at the start of 2020.

The goal is to reduce my average spend by 10% from January - excluding donations. My goals to do better with my money shouldn't limit my hopes for changing the world

June Spend: $5,280.82 
2020 Average Spend: $4,506.69

Goal Spend: $4,378.30 (or less)

Another not great month, which I'm starting to accept as normal. In June I had to pay to rewire one of my rental properties because it tried to burn down. Okay, not quite. The circuit breakers kept tripping, and when the electrician came out they found part of the wiring starting to melt. Thankfully they were able to put an emergency fix in, re-wire and bring everything up to safety standards for just over a thousand. I didn't see much of my rent this month, but IMO I got off lightly.

This meant paying for the re-wiring, and not seeing any rent from that property (the rent went towards the bill, but wasn't enough alone). Outside of that I also paid the big Body Corporate bill for that property. Almost half of the months expenses came from that house alone.

It is interesting (read, frustrating) trying to control my spending/saving when it's so far out of my control. It makes me wonder if it's time to revisit how I record expenses and split out 'investment expenses' from 'life expenses'.

Spending

Here's what I spent in June, which includes the save-to-spend amounts.  

Category	Spent	Budgeted	12 Month Average
Home	$1,176.63	$875	$924.31 (up $32.44)
Over Budget. Rent and the quarterly utility bills. Even though I've been WFH for three months, our gas and electricity bills are pretty normal.
Original Investment Property	$2,003.46	$1,145.83	$1,186.13 (up $101.58)
Over Budget. Mortgage, plus body corporate fees, plus my house tried to burn down (see above).
Home turned Investment Property	$608.15	$1,000	$1,050.16 (down $38.99)
Under Budget! Just the mortgage and I got all the rents this month. Yeehaw.
Personal Bills	$127.26	$127.33	$127.26 (no change)
Under Budget! So this is basically it until either my health insurance premiums change, or I get a new phone.
Groceries	$134.29	$190	$207.08 (down $4.23)
Under Budget! Nothing fancy happened to make this a cheap month - I just had a lot of leftovers from May, and did a big shop on the first of July. It was just the timing of the shopping more than anything.
Pets	$102.66	$100	$85.43 (up $0.56)
Over Budget. It was an expensive month where everyone wanted to be fed. I bought my first big bag of cat food since November and restocked the chicken snacks. I also caved in and bought another food puzzle for my cat - after making three from cardboard earlier in the month.
Roller Derby	$120	$175	$251.49 (down $6.33)
Under Budget! Derby is back! I actually spent more this month to replace my toe-stops and my wheels, but thankfully that cost came out of the month I've been putting aside for the last three months.
Travelling	$0	$122.50	$171.46 (down $16.67)
Under Budget! Nothing... no surprises.
Comfort Food	$55	$40	$71.66 (down $0.42)
Over Budget. This is a spend I'm really annoyed about. Mr. FIRE and I went out on a date night to an 'American Style' burger joint. The burgers were expensive and average. There were no chilli cheese fries. And it took over an hour to make. Super let down.
Donations	$0		$92.50
Nothing here. It was a quiet June.
Other	$150	$187.00	$234.66 (down $3.43)
Under Budget! It was a mish-mash of spending - I bought three puzzles (and did one and a half of them), two console games on super sale, and one game on Steam for my partner and I to play together. I also bought some seedlings for the garden, and put a lot of money aside for random bits and pieces in the future. Including new glasses... I've been wearing these for at least eight years.
Total	$4,477.45	$3,987.67	$4,402.13 (up $65.35)
Total ex. Donations	$4,477.45		$4,309.63 (up $65.35)
Over Budget. with 4 out of 10 categories over! June was a quiet month, but when the big bills come in it doesn't matter what your day-to-day lifestyle expenses are.

May 2020 Update

 May was a roller-coaster of a month. I got a dog, I gave back my dog, I had a huge burnout, and I pulled it all back together.

My biggest financial and emotional news of May is that we got a dog. She was an Australian Cattle Dog and she was amazing. She came to us with all her house manners, great leash manners, a very polite fetch and a love of food that made her really easy to train. She also wanted to be on the go All The Time. We worked constantly on teaching her when to lay down and settle, and when it was okay to hassle mum and dad for playtime. 

At the end of our two-week trial, I was going to bed early every night, zonked out in the middle of the day and completely run down. If she had 'issues' we had to work through then we probably would have kept her, but there was nothing to fix about her, we just didn't have the energy to keep up. Taking her back was pretty gut-wrenching, and as much as I regret it I also couldn't keep going the way I was.

Outside of the dog whirlwind, May was more of the same pandemic lockdown. Things should be changing in June with sports being approved to start again (pending figuring out the hygiene rules) and work has started trialling return to the office systems. With that being most of my team has agreed we don't want to be back in the office five days a week, and are starting to negotiate partial working-from-home arrangements. 

I've gotten used to my at-home routines and I'm finding the best part is knowing which meetings are 'hands-on' and which are just catch-ups. Every morning I have a catch-up that doubles as my 'check the chickens and water the garden' time in the sun. Without my commute, I'm saving over an hour a day and I actually get to see the sunshine. Plus I can take a fifteen-minute work break if my brain is overloaded and do quick house chores. That being said I miss seeing my team, and I definitely miss working right next to the markets - my diet has had a lot fewer veggies.

All of this change contributed to a pretty stressful May. It's hard to be sure if our dog-adoption failure was really because she was going to be too much, or because our lives are looking to be so shaken up she was one more thing I wasn't ready for. Knowing that everything is changing, and we're going into winter (a traditionally hard time for me) we've put a hold on our dog search and we donated a lot of the supplies we bought. At the earliest, we're planning to try again with a doggo towards the end of August when the sun comes back.

Goals For 2020

Goal #1: 50% Savings

I have a confession to make: I'm a FIRE blogger and my savings rate sucks.

At the end of The Year of Investing in 2018, my savings rate was sitting comfortably at 55%. At the start of 2020, it was a weenie 35%.

Getting my 3-year average savings rate to 50% is going to be next to impossible, but I'm going to track it for interest. The actual goal is for this 12month period to sit comfortably above 50%.

May Rate: 47%

2020 Average: 42%

Three-Year Average: 37%

 

Goal #2 Reduce Average Spending by 10%

Having two investments has gotten expensive, and my spending has been creep-creep-creeping. From an average $3,500 spending back in 2018, now I'm sitting at $4,800 at the start of 2020.

The goal is to reduce my average spend by 10% from January - excluding donations. My goals to do better with my money shouldn't limit my hopes for changing the world

April Spend: $4,102.25
2020 Average Spend: $4,656.38

Goal Spend: $4,378.30 (or less)

May's spending numbers were pretty average. I spent a lot more in the pets column than I ever have before, but most other categories were down. 

Spending

Here's what I spent in May, which includes the save-to-spend amounts.  

Category	Spent	Budgeted	12 Month Average
Home	$800	$875	$891.87 (up $8.33)
Under Budget! Just the rent and a quick trip to Bunnings for another set of garden beds.
Original Investment Property	$1,027.55	$1,145.83	$1,084.55 (down $63.89)
Under Budget! Mortgage plus council rates.
Home turned Investment Property	$549.20	$1,000	$1,089.14 (down $137.02)
Under Budget! Just the mortgage. It's nice having the mortgage super cheap because a month without rent wasn't fun at all.
Personal Bills	$127.26	$127.33	$127.26 (no change)
Under Budget! So this is basically it until either my health insurance premiums change, or I get a new phone.
Groceries	$255.53	$190	$211.31 (up $4.76)
Over Budget. I haven't been able to get to the fruit and veg markets for cheap produce so my shopping bill is up, and I've been eating worse. Not a huge fan.
Pets	$342.02	$100	$84.87 (up $24.33)
Over Budget. We got a dog! And then we returned her to the rescue. It was a big intense heartbreaking two weeks where she seemed perfect on paper but exhausting and stressful in real life. We're really questioning now if we're in the right place in life for a dog :(
Roller Derby	$120	$175	$257.82 (down $7.46)
Under Budget... Just like the last couple of months, I spent nothing, but I put aside money for new skates. Training starts again in two weeks!
Travelling	$0	$122.50	$188.13 (down $16.67)
Under Budget! Nothing... no surprises.
Comfort Food	$0	$40	$71.24 (down $2.11)
Under Budget! Another one of those months where I could probably put some of the grocery bill in here, but I forgot to.
Donations	$10		$92.50
One of my friends played a livestream gig. I guess this could be a misc. spending, but I'm calling it a donation because... reasons.
Other	$151.49	$187.00	$238.09 (down $3.31)
Under Budget! Most of this was my three-yearly birth control update. It's far cheaper than those children I don't want. I also put aside $50 for future spending.
Total	$3,383.05	$3,987.67	$4,336.78 (down $192.20)
Total ex. Donations	$3,373.05		$4,244.28 (down $193.03)
Under Budget, with 8 out of 10 categories under! May was really stressful with our dog. She was wonderful but I also had a proper panic attack, took a sick day off work and went to bed early 3 days. I think there was more to it, but she was definitely the catalyst.

April 2020 Update

 Happy Pandemic month. It's been very bland

April was such a bland month I really struggled to write this extended intro. I've been putting it off all month and now I haven't got anything to say. At the end of April, I couldn't remember April, and now three weeks later I really can't remember it. 

Goals For 2020

Goal #1: 50% Savings

I have a confession to make: I'm a FIRE blogger and my savings rate sucks.

At the end of The Year of Investing in 2018, my savings rate was sitting comfortably at 55%. At the start of 2020, it was a weenie 35%. 

Getting my 3-year average savings rate to 50% is going to be next to impossible, but I'm going to track it for interest. The actual goal is for this 12month period to sit comfortably above 50%.

April Rate: 49%

2020 Average: 41%

Three-Year Average: 37%

The good news about April is I counted Marches rents in my income. The bad news is that I gave my tenants four weeks free to get through till their CentreLink payments came in and so I won't be seeing any income in May.  

Goal #2 Reduce Average Spending by 10%

Having two investments has gotten expensive, and my spending has been creep-creep-creeping. From an average $3,500 spending back in 2018, now I'm sitting at $4,800 at the start of 2020.

The goal is to reduce my average spend by 10% from January - excluding donations. My goals to do better with my money shouldn't limit my hopes for changing the world

April Spend: $3,566.95
2020 Average Spend: $4,794.91

Goal Spend: $4,378.30 (or less)

I managed to spend both not much and a lot. COVID life is weird.  

Spending

Here's what I spent in April, which includes the save-to-spend amounts.  

Category	Spent	Budgeted	12 Month Average
Home	$838.68	$875	$883.54 (up $1.79)
Over Budget. Just the mortgage and a quick trip to Bunnings for... something, I didn' write it down.
Original Investment Property	$1,004.75	$1,190.83	$1,148.44 (down $52.67)
Under Budget! Mortgage plus water bill.
Home turned Investment Property	$859.38	$1,042.33	$1,226.16 (down $259.36)
Under Budget! Mortgage and insurance, but interest rates are on the floor, so the mortgage is wild cheap.
Personal Bills	$127.26	$127.33	$127.26 (no change)
Under Budget! So this is basically it until either my health insurance premiums change, or I get a new phone.
Groceries	$234.19	$190	$206.55 (down 23cents)
Over Budget. I scored a 48 box double-length rolls from Who Gives a Crap! It's a good price per roll, but it does mean I spent $54 in one go.
Pets	$205.69	$50	$60.54 (up $6.54)
Over Budget. Did a get a dog? No. Did I get all the things I need for a dog? Mostly.
Roller Derby	$120	$175	$265.28 (down $4.58)
Under Budget... Just like last month, I spent nothing, but I put aside money for new skates. We cancelled training till COVID blows over and it looks like we might be back in June.
Travelling	$0	$122.50	$204.80 (down $9.16)
Under Budget! Nothing... we had a lighter lockdown than the rest of the world, but I've only left my house for jogging, food and a couple of puppy-play dates.
Comfort Food	$125	$40	$73.35 (up $7.08)
Over Budget. I bought a mix box of 15 wines. All prepped for Winter now
Donations	$0		$91.67
I ended up extending my tenants two weeks rent-free to four weeks. Other than that, nothing exciting.
Other	$52	$187.00	$241.40 (down $4.54)
Under Budget! So I was wondering what I spent and the answer is actually nothing. I just put aside some money for a new pair of glasses and some house updates.
Total	$3,566.95	$4,000	$4,528.98 (down $223.61)
Total ex. Donations	$3,566.95		$4,437.31 (down $406.94)
Under Budget, with 6 out of 10 categories under! There really is nothing much to say about April. Nothing happened. Which I guess is a good thing during a pandemic.

March 2020 Update

I'm FIRE'd! Aprils Fools... I'm not FIRE'd or fired, just working from home forever.

It's mid-April and the end of my third week working from home due to the pandemic, and here's my three big takeaways:

• Humans are not 'houseplants with complicated emotions'. We need more than sunlight and water, we need exercise. Lots of it.
• WFH is far easier than working in the office, but even I miss people, and I'm a huge introvert.
• I need a dog.

The biggest impact so far has been the complete overhaul of my exercise routine impacting my ability to sleep. Financially, almost nothing has changed. If anything I've been spending a bit more because I keep looking at my house and I finally have the time to do the things I wanted to do since we moved in and it's right there in my face.

We haven't changed our eating habits, but I haven't been able to access the cheap fruit n veg markets, so my spending has been impacted. Also, because I'm sure everyone wants to know, we haven't been in toilet paper crisis mode yet. This week will tell though...

Goals For 2020

Goal #1: 50% Savings

I have a confession to make: I'm a FIRE blogger and my savings rate sucks.

At the end of The Year of Investing in 2018, my savings rate was sitting comfortably at 55%. At the start of 2020, it was a weenie 35%. 

Getting my 3-year average savings rate to 50% is going to be next to impossible, but I'm going to track it for interest. The actual goal is for this 12month period to sit comfortably above 50%.

March Rate: 25%

2020 Average: 38%

Three-Year Average: 36%

Marches rent actually got paid in April, so my income was lower than it could have been. That being said, I gave my tenants two weeks free rent (they're both hospitality workers) so I won't be seeing a huge income next time either, which will affect my savings percentage.

Goal #2 Reduce Average Spending by 10%

Having two investments has gotten expensive, and my spending has been creep-creep-creeping. From an average $3,500 spending back in 2018, now I'm sitting at $4,800 at the start of 2020.

The goal is to reduce my average spend by 10% from January - excluding donations. My goals to do better with my money shouldn't limit my hopes for changing the world

12 Month Average Spend: $4,752.59

2020 Average Spend: $5,204.23

Goal Spend: $4,378.30 (or less)

Success! My actual spend for March was $3,952.86. I didn't get a cash refund for my flights and at this stage, I'm wondering if the flight voucher will even be honoured - last time I checked Virgin was almost underwater. Considering I'm still employed and all my tenants are paying rent I'm not too badly put out, but it is $400 that I'll miss having. 

Spending

Here's what I spent in February, which includes the save-to-spend amounts.  

Category	Spent	Budgeted	12 Month Average
Home	$1,089.72	$875	$881.75 (up $30.76)
Over Budget. Dang power bill ruining my budgets. It was less than expected for a summer of air-conditioning use, but more than hoped.
OG Investment Property	$1,630.01	$1,190.83	$1,201.11 (down $7.96)
Over Budget. Ah, the expensive body corporate payment... my favourite.
Home turned Investment Property	$573.19	$1,042.33	$1,485.52 (down $33.60)
Under Budget! Just the mortgage. Happy times.
Personal Bills	$127.26	$127.33	$127.26 (up 5cents)
Under Budget! The old phone has had some blips but it's hanging in there. My health insurer was 'kind' enough to delay the annual premium rise by six months so... yay? Considering most electives are shut down at the moment it would have been really rude to charge me more.
Groceries	$281.23	$190	$206.78 (up $6.44)
Over Budget. I tried really hard to ignore the madness, but it seeped in. I didn't buy that much extra, but I did pick up a dehydrator that I've had my eye on for a while. It works really well because now I can buy a whole pumpkin, shred it and dehydrate the spare. It means I've kicked off the garden as well! We have enough freezer meals for another week, but I really miss fresh vegetables.
Pets	$53.45	$50	$54.12 (up 4cents)
Over Budget. My chickens had mites. Thousands of the little bastards that were also coming in through my bedroom window. Insect powder was absolutely worth spending money on. April is going to be a whole new month, at the time of writing we don't have a dog, but I've started collecting supplies.
Roller Derby	$120	$175	$269.86 (down $7.36)
Under Budget... So technically I spent nothing, but I put aside money for new skates. We cancelled trainings till COVID blows over and god, damn, I am bored.
Travelling	$0	$122.50	$213.96 (down $9.17)
Under Budget! Nothing... we're not even allowed to leave the State so... yeah
Comfort Food	$0	$40	$66.27 (down $2.97)
Under Budget! Probably could have shifted some of the grocery spending to this category? Oh well
Donations	$0		$91.67
I did give my tenants two weeks free rent in April, but otherwise, it's penny-pinching time as the world spirals out of control.
Other	$78	$187.00	$245.94 (up $3.16)
Under Budget! Some very boring purchases include new towels, some air-tight jars for the pantry, soap, and veggie garden supplies. A little bit pandemic-panic, but mostly just getting around to doing the gardening we've always wanted. I also got a refund for a gig that was cancelled.
Total	$3,952.86	$4,000	$4,752.59 (down $24.61)
Total ex. Donations	$3,952.86		$4,844.25 (down $158.71)
Under Budget, with 6 out of 10 categories under! Apart from regular bills and a little food shopping, nothing much happened. My shares bounced back a bit, but (like everyone) I'm not feeling the best at the moment. I'm used to be able to take action to fix things, this watch and wait business is no fun.

February 2020 Update

Halfway through March, it's past time to report on how February goes.

I know it's a long way into March to be doing a February report. I have to admit that COVID-19 has thrown my financial confidence for a spin. I won't talk about it much more than I need to, but I will say that all the gains I made in 2019 have been wiped off the board. It's a tumultuous time. With that said, I made goals for 2020 around saving and spending! Regardless of the world climate, I should have a reasonably large measure of control over this.

Outside of global pressures, March so far has been really stressful (hence this post being really late). I've been overwhelmed with pantry moths wiping out my food supplies, mites on my chickens (gross) and a fruit fly outbreak in my suburb. It's been a crazy bug month.

February was... a long time ago. I know in this introduction I'm supposed to talk about what happened in February, but I can't even recall what I did. Moving swiftly onwards!

Goals For 2020

Goal #1 : 50% Savings

I have a confession to make: I'm a FIRE blogger and my savings rate sucks.

At the end of The Year of Investing in 2018 my savings rate was siting comfortably at 55%. At the start of 2020 it was a weenie 35%. 

Getting my 3-year average savings rate to 50% is going to be next to impossible, but I'm going to track it for interest. The actual goal is for this 12month period to sit comfortable above 50%.

February Rate: 65%

2020 Average: 44%

Three-Year Average: 37%

February was a quiet month, and even with only 29 days I still managed to sneak in 3 paydays. It definitely helped push the rate in the right direction.

Goal #2 Reduce Average Spending by 10%

Having two investments has gotten expensive, and my spending has been creep-creep-creeping. From an average $3,500 spending back in 2018, now I'm sitting at $4,800 at the start of 2020.

The goal is to reduce my average spend by 10% from January - excluding donations. My goals to do better with my money shouldn't limit my hopes for changing the world

12 Month Average Spend: $4,299.96

2020 Average Spend: $5,829.91

Goal Spend: $4,378.30 (or less)

Success! My actual spend for February was $3,630.37, including booking flights to the Gold Coast. Roller Derby is not a cheap hobby to start with, and I get to travel interstate (and sometimes internationally!) to compete with my team. I don't consider myself to lead a super restricted life, but I do recognise that all this roller derby travel is a wild expense. Technically no one needs to travel for a sport, but it's g'damn amazing and I'm going to do it for as long as I can. I wrote that last sentence a couple of weeks ago... since then my tournament has been cancelled. I'm not sure if I will get a cash refund, and I have no idea when I'll be able to travel again. 

Spending

Here's what I spent in February, which includes the save-to-spend amounts.  

Category	Spent	Budgeted	12 Month Average
Home	$1,050	$875	$850.99 (up $54.16)
Over Budget. Had to pay rent three times :( But after a year of living here, I've decided I'm comfortable dropping the budgeted amount from $940 down to $875 a month.
OG Investment Property	$664.20	$1,190.83	$1,209.07 (down $38.50)
Under Budget! Just the mortgage, and it's a really small mortgage!
Home turned Investment Property	$914.15	$1,042.33	$1,519.12  (down $89.81)
Under Budget! House insurance and the mortgage. A much appreciated low spend month.
Personal Bills	$127.26	$127.33	$127.21 (up 6cents)
Under Budget! Still using my old phone. Wild!
Groceries	$125.74	$190	$200.34 (up $3.87)
Under Budget! Still eating lots of greens. I've been on a fruit binge and I'm eating heaps.
Pets	-$3	$50	$54.08 (down 80cents)
Under Budget! I had to buy a mousetrap. Having my old and news hens separated means I don't have enough secure feeders and now I have mice :( But I also sold two dozen eggs, so negative spend month
Roller Derby	$615.77	$175	$277.25 (up $21.24)
Over Budget Ah yes... the year begins. Flights to the Gold Coast are not cheap.
Travelling	$0	$122.50	$223.13 (down $9.17)
Under Budget! Nothing again! I honestly just forgot to start squirrelling holiday money away.
Comfort Food	$18	$40	$69.24 (down $9.07)
Under Budget! I went on a date. It was okay, but there wasn't a second date. We went to a free lecture on fossils and drank beer!
Donations	$0		$91.67
While it's been a stressful month across the globe, I didn't find anything that tugged my heart enough to open the purse.
Other	$195.75	$187.00	$242.78 (down $5.91)
Over Budget! I went out to a Fringe gig. It was an okay show, but not recommendable. I also restocked the ol' underwear drawer. Thrilling!
Total	$3,630.37	$4,000	$4,777.20 (down $161.20)
Total ex. Donations	$3,630.37		$4,685.54 (down $161.20)
Under Budget, with 7 out of 10 categories under! It was a good month all told, even though it ended with an intense stock market crash. These things happen and given I'm five years away from my FIRE goal, it's not a huge concern.

January 2020 Update

New year, new goals!

If you didn't notice, I snuck through January without setting any goals for the year. 2020 is in full swing and I'm starting to feel like I've recovered from the holidays and I'm ready to take on the year. The upside to not having any goals set for January means I can use the numbers as a baseline to improve from. And there is a lot of room for improvement... The downside to not setting any goals is that the month slipped by without anything exciting to report on.

Goals For 2020

Goal #1 : 50% Savings

I have a confession to make: I'm a FIRE blogger and my savings rate sucks.

At the end of The Year of Investing in 2018 my savings rate was siting comfortably at 55%. Looking at the big picture since the start of 2018 to now, it's sunk to a weenie 35%. I've made excuses over that time of having house renovations, and a big overseas trip, but honestly I could make excuses for the rest of forever. At some point I need to suck it up and do better.

I crunched the numbers and getting my 3 year average savings rate to 50% is going to be next to impossible - I'd need to save more than 75% each month till the end of this year. I'm going to track the 3-year rate, but the actual goal is for this 12month period to sit comfortable above 50%.

January Rate: 24%

2020 Average: 24%

Three-Year Average: 35%

Goal #2 Reduce Average Spending by 10%

Having two investments has gotten expensive, and my spending has been creep-creep-creeping. From an average $3,500 spending back in 2018, now I'm sitting at $4,800

For starters, some honest facts - owning investment properties costs money. You can't buy a house, pay the mortgage, get adequate insurance and stay on top of the maintenance without spending any money. However I shouldn't need to spend an average of $5,000 a month.I've written out a budget for $4,000. I'm not confident that $4,000 is a correct number - even after almost a year in this house I still don't feel like I've settled into a groove. And my old place keeps needing repairs - they're all valid repairs of things that I know need doing in a 30 year old house, but they're also ones I kinda wish the tenants would just suck it up and deal with.

With all that in mind, the goal is to reduce my average spend by 10% from January - excluding donations. My goals to do better with my money shouldn't limit my hopes for changing the world

12 month Average Spend: $4,864.78

2020 Average Spend: $8,029.45

Goal Spend: $4,378.30 (or less)

Spending

Here's what I spent in January, which includes the save-to-spend amounts.  

Category	Spent	Budgeted	12 Month Average
Home	$700	$938.17	$796.83 (up $58.34)
Under Budget. Just rents :)
OG Investment Property	$1,508.83	$1,190.83	$1,247.57 (down $9.51)
Over Budget Bills are no fun, water and council rates.
Home turned Investment Property	$5,314.71	$1,042.33	$1,608.93 (up $321.93)
Over Budget! Really hoped the A/C would make it through a summer before I had to replace it, but no. It was a pricey one, but definitely necessary.
Personal Bills	$127.26	$127.33	$127.15 (up 5cents)
Under Budget! I'm not sure how long I can stay amazed at my phone. Three and a half years and it's sill beating manufactured obselecence.
Groceries	$158.10	$190	$196.47 (up $3.76)
Under Budget! Time to recover from Christmas. We're eating a lot of fruit and veg.
Pets	$124.30	$50	$54.48 (up $8.43)
Over Budget! After all the coop building it was finally time to buy new chickens. I got three sussex / wyandotte mixes and they are gosh darn pretty birds! I could have gotten slightly cheaper chickens by buying a standard petshop breed, but in my experience the heritage breeds are healthier and last longer.
Roller Derby	$120	$175	$256.01 (up $3.67)
Under Budget! I say under budget but it's a lie. I siphoned a few dollars from the new skates fund to pay for camp...
Travelling	$0	$122.50	$232.30 (down $9.15)
Under Budget! Nothing again! I was going to start saving for the next trip but it was an expensive month.
Comfort Food	$58.25	$40	$78.31(up $4.11)
Over Budget! This year I want to spend more time with friends. I did really well in January going out for Friday night beers - but obviously that's not free. It wasn't $58 on beers - there was some snacks in there too!
Donations	$60		$91.67
In January I got angry about right-wing biased media and threw some money at the Guardian.
Other	$228	$187.00	$248.69 (down $16.84)
Over Budget! Board games and house plants! 2020 is the year of more time with friends, but also of making home a nicer place to be.
Total	$8,399.45	$4,063.17	$4,938.40 (up $369.71)
Total ex. Donations	$8,339.45		$4,846.74 (up $364.66)
Over Budget, with 5 out of 10 categories under, there was still no way to stay under budget with the huge blowout in paying for the air-condiioner.

December 2019 Wrap Up - End of the Decade!

End of a Decade!

The end of 2019 has been and gone and it was a pretty quiet wrap up. Mr. FIRE and I went out to the beach, watched some fireworks, and agreed that firework tech really hasn't changed in 20years so maybe it's time to move on to something new.

2020 is set to be an interesting year because while we haven't reached FI yet, Mr/ FIRE and I are starting to feel really comfortably rich and questioning why we live the way we do. Building better relationships and working through our mid-life identity crises is taking a higher priority to building our bank accounts.

With that being said, we're both on track to FIRE before I'm thirty-five, so we're comfortable to take a wider look at our lives and question what our aims are.

December, End of Year, Goals Summary

Investing Goal: $110,000 in Vanguard

The goal was to have $110,000 in my Vanguard account by the end of the year. I started with $78,424, which means I want to gain just over $31,500. I hoped at the start that $5,500 would come from growth and dividends, and the remaining $25,000 would be from investments.

In November we ticked over $110k a couple of times, and in December we were... flat. There was less than $100 growth even after deposits, but we did hit our goal.

Full year

Opening Balance: $78,424.57

Deposit: $13,775
Dividends: $5,973.54
Market Gains: $11,872.14

December

Opening Balance: $109,912.21

Deposit: $1,600
Dividends: $0
Market Gains: -$1,466.95

Current Balance: $110,045.26

And we're done!! Let's break it down a bit:
Goal: $110k Done
Goal to deposit $25k - umm... no
Goal to have $5.5k of gains - smashed.

So it's great that I hit my goal, but I was supposed to deposit $25k over the year and I only deposited $13,775. If I'd put in the rest as intended, I'd have over $121k. Things to think about... but also not to kick ourselves over. It was a good year both in saving, and in spending :) 

Spending Goal: Under Control!

The goal is simply to have my spending under control and for December I did quite well - the numbers are inflated because Tax Returns are expensive ($580 for me and Mr. FIRE) and given the state of Australia and my disdain for our government, I donated my $1,040 'tax relief' to Conservation and Homeless charities. Basically places where the government should have spent that money, rather than trying to buy the middle-class vote.

Here's what I spent in December, which includes the save-to-spend amounts.  

Category	Spent	Budgeted	12 Month Average
Home	$1,114.19	$938.17	$738.49 (up $91.59)
Over Budget. Bills bills bills - for the end of the year Mr FIRE and I tallied up what we've spent and balanced the books - I had to throw $90 over to him, not bad. We also paid gas and electricity - I'm pretty pleased that this was only $200 for electricity and $130 for gas.
OG Investment Property	$645.93	$1,190.83	$1,257.08 (down $10.13)
Under Budget Just the mortgage again. I've already received two bills to pay in January though.
Home turned Investment Property	$692.88	$1,042.33	$1,287.00 (down $29.50)
Under Budget! Just the mortgage. In January I should be replacing the air-conditioner, which I may need to pay out of my actual account, not just from the rent. Either way, I believe I'll lower the budget next year.
Personal Bills	$127.26	$127.33	$127.10 (up 6cents)
Under Budget! I still haven't got a new phone, and I don't know when I will. It's great.
Groceries	$213.87	$190	$192.71 (down $1.81)
Over Budget! It was Christmaaaaas. We got fat for Christmas!
Pets	$100	$50	$46.05 (down $9.21)
Over Budget! We spent a lot on shade cloth, a misting kit and more supplies for building out the chicken coop. It's almost done now, and honestly, I don't want to think about what I spent on it. It's good quality and I like it, but most importantly I enjoyed the process of building it.
Roller Derby	$120	$175	$252.40 (up $7.08)
Under Budget! This is entirely saving money for new skates! Which is problematic because the season starts in a couple of weeks, and I haven't bought new skates and no one wants to break in new skates during the season. Dilemmas...
Travelling	$0	$122.50	$241.45 (down $9.18)
Under Budget! Nothing again! Next year I'll start saving for my next trip.
Comfort Food	$27.50	$40	$74.20 (down 16cents)
Under Budget! Christmas lunch with my work pals.
Donations	$1,040		$86.67
This is a new, none budgeted category. As I mentioned above, I would rather my taxes are paying for a better country, not being given to me as a vote grabbing manoeuvre. The only appropriate thing for me to do was to donate the money to issues I want actioned.
Other	$879.35	$187.00	$265.53 (up $53.07)
Over Budget! So the majority of this is just paying for tax returns. My partner tends to spend a bit more in our relationship, so I always pay for our tax returns. He has an ABN and I have two investment properties. Our tax returns are not cheap.
Total	$4,860.98	$4,063.17	$4,568.69
Total ex. Donations	$3,820.98		$4,482.02 (up $95.45)
Under budget, with 6 out of 10 categories under.

Bonus Goal, if we can: $10,000 worth of an Asian Markets ethical and sustainability-focused ETF

I sunk $10k into the Betashares FAIR ETF in November, so this goal is met!

I have another $5k ready to go, but I'm holding out to see how much the air-conditioner in my second rental is going to cost before I lock this money up in investments.