In my opinion both the NFL and Hallmark knew what they were doing putting completely random events in the middle of February. Despite being a mere 28 days, it's a pretty blah month which is basically a marketers dream. However, here in Raleigh, we're having incredible weather, and I'm hoping that February will herald a return to more outdoor activities for me.
In January, Rob finished the kitchen, and then we watched virtually every Marvel Comic Book show on Netflix, and we're now tired of TV and ready for some other activities. If anyone has good indoor activities for couples, we're open to suggestions (we're much more of an outdoors couple, but it turns out that leaving your kid in bed while you go play sports is frowned upon).
And now, without further ado, our January Spending and Net Worth Report. Okay, a little more ado (Here are some kitchen pictures and a gratuitous family fun picture).
January Spending $2246.13
Our grocery spending was unusually low due to the fact that I was out of town for over a week, and we made a Hurculean effort to eat down pantry and freezer items (especially those that had been in the pantry a while). We avoided developing scurvy by eating frozen fruits and vegetables during our "pantry challenge." Okay, we also bought a ton of fruits and some fresh vegetables during the month too.
The rest of spending being so low is simply a matter of luck. No car repairs (but we will need to buy new tires and struts this year), and no major annual expenses hit our pocketbooks either.
It's nice to have these low spending months every once in a while.
January Net Worth $470K
Despite market instability, we have maxed out one Roth IRA and Kenny's ESA for the year, and would be more than halfway to maxing a second Roth, but I haven't gotten around to nagging text messages yet. All in all, we are on track for accomplishing our Balls To Walls Savings Goals for 2016 which is pretty exciting for us.
For the purpose of our net worth reports, we keep both of our properties at book value. It's honestly too difficult for me to try to value our properties since both were purchased for at least 25% less than Zillow Values, and we don't have enough sales in either neighborhood to try and set a price without expert input.
Flashbacks!
January 2014: I have no earthly idea what our net worth was, but apparently we had $23K in cash. We still had our Minneapolis Condo which was causing us to bleed about $300 per month. Kenny was just beginning to eat solids on his own. We sort of skipped the rice cereal phase and went straight to meats. He was a little Paleo infant, only wanting to eat fruits, vegetables and meat; pulled pork was his favorite. This post recollects thoughts and feelings from that time.
January 2013: Rob was accepted into a few education programs including NCSU, and began traveling around to see which one might be the best fit.
January 2012: I wasn't yet married to Rob, but I was busily preparing for our upcoming wedding (just one month later). I happen to remember everything breaking at work. Like everything. So I was stressed from work and wedding planning.
January 2011: Rob and I officially began dating this month. We spent most of our dates playing broomball with friends and eating pancakes or going to a bar afterwards. This might have been the snowiest January that I can remember. My roommates and I would spend hours every week shoveling ourselves out of the house. My car sat on the side of the road the majority of the winter except when our scary (but ultimately very nice) neighbor Andrew or his son Andrew Jr. would come snowblow my car out.
January 2010: This was the start of my last ever semester in college. I had officially decided against law school and against going into full time ministry, and I was job hunting like crazy (albeit without much success). My Facebook feed seems to indicate a strong case of senioritis, as I have pictures from nearly every day of January-May of this year, but the only January trip that stands out in my memory was a trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina (basically where I live now).