A lot has happened in the last month.

1. Got back my dog’s ashes who lived with me from early 2013-October 2023. I cried a lot but I do have some closure. I gave her food to friends, along with some supplies I had. Expensive medications I ended up throwing out. I put the crate out by the trash container.
2. My carpet cleaner kicked the bucket. 10 years worth of regular usage. It started having a burning smell. Probably a belt that needs to be replaced or a motor that needed repair. At that age though I don’t think it was worth fixing and a new one starts around $70. I put it on the curb around noon and it was gone by the time I came back a few hours later.
3. I bought a new dining room set from Nebraska Furniture Mart. The one I am currently using has one of the four legs broken, and was originally built around 2005. It also used to belong to my ex. And I think it’s time for a change. With tax included the total netted out to be $649.49. The delivery date will be next month well still on the cheap side it’s more than I originally planned on spending for the month.
   
4. I received the expected trade-in value on my M2 max MacBook Pro, 16 inch which was approximately $2227. 100% of that went toward my new system the M3 Max MacBook Pro that had an additional 16 GB of ram, 4 CPU cores, and much improved graphics. $4004.17 for the computer less the $2250 put me out of pocket for ~$1800. I had the option of paying 308.25 per month for 12 months at a 0% APR but instead decided to pay it off as quickly as possible. So happy to say less than a 1 month later that computer has been paid in full.
5. After a bit of back-and-forth with the dealership that sold me my prior vehicle and the company that I bought the warranty through, I received my check for $947.39 which went directly toward a principal car payment. I was tempted to do lots of other things with the money, but thought it would be most responsible for it to get my balance down since I’m paying 5.99% interest (~$107/mo to start, but now $93/mo). I should be earning that much interest not paying it out 😛
6. In addition to the above mentioned car payment, I paid a total of $2001 in payments during November which I like to think is impressive considering the first of 72 payments was not due until December 5, 2023. New car has been pretty smooth sailing aside from the initial hiccups. I added wireless CarPlay to it since I got spoiled with it. It works 90% of the time, the other 10 it’ll stream music but CP won’t initialize. I put new wiper blade inserts in for about $20 shipped which is way cheaper than a whole new set of wipers. My back doesn’t hurt anymore. It handles like a dream. My old car still hasn’t sold and they’ve had to drop the price a few times down to $32,999 right now. I suspect they’ll have to go even lower or fix the steering rack problem before someone will want to buy it.
7. A few friends and I went out to celebrate one of their birthdays at a bar and pool establishing. They were drinking shots, basically had a few too many. I decided to be the designated driver since I only had one alcoholic seltzer and they all Ubered there. However, one ended up puking on her shirt, the other other had to stop twice to open up the door so she wouldn’t puke in my car, interior or on me directly. Luckily only very tiny amount got in the car and the shirt saved my car from the wrath of the other one. The next day both felt extremely guilty and sent me $150 each / $300 combined through Zelle. Not what I was expecting and I saw both of them the following day, but was appreciative nonetheless.
8. I found out that I was not getting a raise this year since I was just promoted which is fine. I also received some high-level information information about the bonus plan/targets for our new fiscal. I’m honestly not sure if I’m going to be eligible for it, but if that does happen the max payout I’d eligible for is 15% of my salary which is a lot. We’ll see.
9. Spent around $112 for Thanksgiving for just myself. It included two meals from Central market along with a four seasons, pie, and an assortment of side items. I consider this money well spent, and it kept me in the spirit of the holidays, even though I did not meet with friends or see any family in person.
10. One of my friends from Long Island passed away last month at the age of 60. I believe it was cancer related. He smoked fairly often, I would try to encourage him to quit, but I don’t think he was able to shake the habit. He was a genuinely good person and looked out for people regularly. Not to mention being funny as hell. Another person gone way too young.
11. I recently signed up for a promotional streaming bundle between Disney+ and Hulu for roughly $3.27 per month. Under the old plan I had which also included ESPN it was just over $20 per month. I will be subjected to advertising but still think it’s worth it in the long run. Sharing it with my parents so they get to enjoy it too.
12. Clothes – I bought lots of them, a few hundred dollars worth from various stores online. JCrew Factory, Perfectjean.nyc, Amazon.com, Equinox Shop, Bloomingdales, Bonobos. In some ways it’s not the most financially wise but in others I think fuck it you are wearing old clothes and need to get rid of the old clothes from 2-6 years ago. Some of those either don’t fit or are tied to memories I don’t want to be reminded of everytime I go out. Maybe $500 in total vs $500 for one item.
13. I helped a friend setup his Christmas tree earlier. My fake one is upright and well in the corner of my living room. Bought some extra garland and still need a tree skirt for it since the dog peed on the last one I had…
    
14. I’m not required to go into the office, I got snazzy, went in for the first time this year and was really impressed at the entire layout and views. A lot of thought went into making it an uplifting / aesthetically pleasing place to work which is very much on-brand.
    
15. FaceTimed with my parents on Thanksgiving, they were happy to see me. We chatted for a little over an hour. I can see them getting older and I think it’ll be time to start making more frequent visits soon.
16. Lots of great dates with my bf. Really thankful he is part of my world. He makes me laugh and generally feel a lot more upbeat about things. I try to keep things fun when we do see each other. He’s also 10 years younger than me so I’m trying to get the best version of my 40 year old self to keep up lol.

	12/2/2023	11/4/2023	Difference	% Change
401K	$215,535	$200,424	$15,111	+7.5%
Roth IRA	$31,319	$29,157	$2,161	+7.4%
M1 Account	$1,712	$1,564	$148	+9.5%
Cash	$2,522	$4,330	-$1,808	-41.7%
HSA	$2,494	$2,414	$80	+3.3%
Total	$253,582	$237,889	$15,693	+6.6%
Credit Cards	$1,407	$151	$1,256	+830.1%
Auto Loan	$18,697	$20,803	-$2,106	-10.1%
Net Total	$233,478	$216,934	$16,544	+7.6%

Quarter million in assets at 40 not including items I own. Considering where I started from I’m pretty content with that. Could I be doing more? Sure but you should enjoy some of the money now for the future is not guaranteed. Life is funny sometimes. I really don’t have much to complain about anymore other than my weight and wanting to move into a larger / nicer place. That will happen in due time. I’ve heard if you have a good job, keep fighting like crazy to prove your value so you keep it. 3 people I know/ know of locally are still looking for employment. The six figure jobs like the one I have now aren’t as easy to come by.

Also thinking about some vacation time I have coming up in a few weeks. Travel stresses me out but I should go *somewhere*. Just don’t want to spend a ton. Bf offered to let me use his discount so maybe that’s a path I could take. I mean if we both don’t travel somewhere together. I also have a flight credit I need to use and the flight would effectively be close to free. Just realistically who wants to travel to New York in the wintertime. Then I’d need to rent a car since I can’t borrow my parents. I mean I could stay in NYC and ask them to come to me but that’s also expensive. Gotta lock it down, the clock keeps ticking.