July has been a month of what feels like record breaking heat here in the DFW area. I was going out a lot more to get cardio in, that has recently shifted more to indoor spaces including staying at home and the gym.
Let’s go in order of most recent. Late July I got my driveway redone. I’m starting to see 2 long cracks develop in two separate spots. I was going to just say oh that’s how things are but changed my mind when my bf was asking about it. So I e-mailed the owner of the company, he called me back within an hour. We had a candid conversation. Summary of it is he is going to have someone come out next week to do some light repair on the surface. The driveway does have rebar underneath it so there won’t be major cracks but with the heat and the nature of concrete cracks are unavoidable. It’s not always my default but more recently I’ve tried to be be more respectable in my communications to companies.
My car had two service visits in July. The last was a fully synthetic oil change and transmission fluid replacement. Total cost $275.28. A week before that I got a low battery voltage warning from Lojack, the next morning the car wouldn’t start. I tried a trickle charger but it was only 1 amp and wasn’t about to start a dead battery. Roadside gave me a jump. Acura covered it under warranty free of charge. I now have a new 100 month warranty battery that would’ve otherwise been around $330. Also learning a bit of my lesson to do trickle charging every few months to help keep the battery at full voltage. The chemistry on these AGM batteries is not very forgiving. .
After several years on T-Mobile with their Magenta Plan I upgraded to a different plan with them called Appreciate More. With taxes it ended up being $82/mo vs the $70/mo I was paying. The website made it sound like only a $5/mo increase. The service didn’t have any problems but I started to think do I really need to be paying nearly $1,000/yr on a phone plan? I decided to switch to the Verizon Simplicity Plan. It has most of what I need and saves me $50/mo or $600/yr. Verdict is still out on how good the service is. In one part of town it was on LTE, 2 bars. I found Wi-Fi though from a nearby business, in another it was on 5G UW and incredibly snappy. The savings alone covers about 40% of my gasoline charges each month.
June 2020 I bought a Cannondale CAAD13 105 bike. I got the first major service of the bike’s life in July. $436. The bike rides better than new in my opinion. Yes it sounds like a lot of money and it still is don’t get me wrong. But… The bike I want is $3,999 plus tax and I’d probably get $800 if I’m lucky for what I have. This is the 100% frugal optionl.
I bought a new pair of walking shoes, Saucony Ride 19. $107.55 on Amazon. The On Clouds I have slide around too much on my feet for intense cardio workouts. I think some of the edema reduction in my feet is part of it. They’re also starting to show a little tread wear on the soles.
I bought some clearance clothes from J Crew Factory I think I got 4 shirts and a pair of shorts for $125. I’m still shopping and buying, out with the old and in with the new. Feel a little more pressure how with social media and not wanting to be seen wearing the same shirt every week.
Since it’s getting late and almost my bedtime let’s go over some of the numbers. Net worth is pretty much flat at -.1%. There have been so many things happening daily with the news I tend to detach myself from it. If the war actually ends I expect a market rebound. Mortgage interest rates are averaging more now than when I bought my house a year ago. Property values are slightly lower which is not good for my equity. Compared to last year which was right before closing on my home my net worth is up +$102k / 23%. I’m still hopeful I can hit $600k NW in the next 5 months.
| 8/1/2026 | 7/2/2026 | Difference | % Change | 7/30/2025 | YoY Diff | % Change | |
| 401K | $460,892 | $459,822 | $1,070 | 0.2% | $360,084 | $100,808 | 28.0% |
| Roth IRA | $62,745 | $66,958 | -$4,214 | -6.3% | $49,304 | $13,441 | 27.3% |
| Brokerage Accts | $15,108 | $9,396 | $5,712 | 60.8% | $1,805 | $13,303 | 737.0% |
| Cash | $9,097 | $9,764 | -$668 | -6.8% | $35,018 | $(25,921) | -74.0% |
| HSA | $6,042 | $6,111 | -$68 | -1.1% | $4,901 | $1,141 | 23.3% |
| Total | $553,884 | $552,052 | $1,832 | 0.3% | $451,112 | $102,772 | 22.8% |
| Credit Cards | $460 | $901 | -$440 | -48.9% | $0 | $460 | #DIV/0! |
| Auto Loan | $0 | $0 | $0 | #DIV/0! | $0 | $- | #DIV/0! |
| Subtotal | $553,423 | $551,151 | $2,272 | 0.4% | $451,112 | $102,311 | 22.7% |
| Mortgage | $332,601 | $333,255 | -$654 | -0.2% | |||
| Zillow Estimate | $340,900 | $344,600 | -$3,700 | -1.1% | |||
| Equity Estimate | $8,299 | $11,345 | -$3,046 | -26.8% | |||
| Net Total | $561,722 | $562,496 | -$773 | -0.1% |
Debt Free Alpha 