Timeblock
| Time (PDT) |
Plan |
Reality |
| 0000 |
SLEEP |
|
| 0030 |
SLEEP |
|
| 0100 |
SLEEP |
|
| 0130 |
SLEEP |
|
| 0200 |
SLEEP |
|
| 0230 |
SLEEP |
|
| 0300 |
SLEEP |
|
| 0330 |
SLEEP |
|
| 0400 |
SLEEP |
|
| 0430 |
SLEEP |
|
| 0500 |
Morning routine |
|
| 0530 |
Coffee and rumination |
|
| 0600 |
|
Pomodoro: Planning |
| 0630 |
Pomodoro: Organization |
|
| 0700 |
Pomodoro: Thinking |
|
| 0730 |
Wake up wife |
|
| 0800 |
Getting ready |
|
| 0830 |
Walk to work |
|
| 0900 |
Stretching |
|
| 0930 |
Start of work routine |
Stretching |
| 1000 |
Pomodoro: Query-time sampling fix |
Start of work routine |
| 1030 |
Pomodoro: Query-time sampling fix |
Slack |
| 1100 |
Pomodoro: Query-time sampling fix |
Flu shot |
| 1130 |
Pomodoro: Query-time sampling fix |
Pomodoro: Devbox shenanigans |
| 1200 |
Buffer |
Candidate lunch |
| 1230 |
Buffer |
Candidate lunch |
| 1300 |
Lunch with friend |
|
| 1330 |
Lunch with friend |
|
| 1400 |
Buffer |
Walk to office |
| 1430 |
NAP |
Ping pong |
| 1500 |
Pomodoro: Weekly Review |
Ping pong |
| 1530 |
Pomodoro: Weekly Review |
Friday hang out |
| 1600 |
Walk home |
Non-pomodoro work |
| 1630 |
Buffer |
Pagerduty |
| 1700 |
Cooking |
Walk home |
| 1730 |
Cooking |
Hanging out |
| 1800 |
Buffer |
Cooking |
| 1830 |
Pomodoro: Cohort Linking |
TV: Overwatch |
| 1900 |
Pomodoro: Cohort Linking |
Eating |
| 1930 |
Hanging out |
Bug exploration |
| 2000 |
Hanging out |
Shower |
| 2030 |
Winding down |
|
| 2100 |
SLEEP |
|
| 2130 |
SLEEP |
|
| 2200 |
SLEEP |
|
| 2230 |
SLEEP |
|
| 2300 |
SLEEP |
|
| 2330 |
SLEEP |
Thinking
As I've mentioned before... I think, I've developed a budgeting habit now. It
clicked about a month ago, and then I read a book
You Need a Budget,
which is the book by the person who made the
You Need a Budget
app that I'm using.
I believe yesterday I realized that I was falling behind. Or at least further
behind than I thought. Though some of this was due to auto-investing into
betterment, which I have now stopped doing.
I want to do some thinking here to verify that I should have plenty of buffer.
Without further ado.
| Money Flow (average per month) |
Balance |
| Paycheck: ($8129) |
$8129 |
| Wellness benefit: ($100) |
$8229 |
| Rent: $2400 |
$5829 |
| Invisalign: $644 |
$5185 |
| Groceries: $500 |
$4685 |
| Coffee: $250 |
$4435 |
| Student Loan Payments: $200 |
$4235 |
| One-offs: $200 |
$4035 |
| Consumables: $40 |
$3995 |
| Electricity: $50 |
$3945 |
| Internet: $65 |
$3880 |
| Phone: $40 |
$3840 |
| Clothing: $300 |
$3540 |
| Home maintenance: $140 |
$3400 |
| Equipment: $30 |
$3370 |
| Dining out: $200 |
$3170 |
| My Tools: $20 |
$3150 |
| Wife's Tools: $200 |
$2950 |
| Medical: $1000 |
$1950 |
| Fitness: $100 |
$1850 |
| Just for Fun: $200 |
$1650 |
| Transportation: $110 |
$1540 |
| Tucson property: $200 |
$1340 |
| Quakecon: $300 |
$1040 |
| Thanksgiving: $150 |
$890 |
| Tucson visit: $40 |
$850 |
| Christmas: $150 |
$700 |
| Therapy: $100 |
$600 |
| Moving: $100 |
$500 |
All right, this is average monthly flow, fairly accurately, based on definitely
monthly expenses and average monthly expenses according to YNAB. I've rounded
up in most-cases. Medical expenses, for instance, should start shrinking per
month, I think. Though maybe I should keep budgeting $1000 a month for it.
Medical expenses happen, and in a sense they're an investment, anyways.
Figuring out medical issues now means they cause less friction in the future,
and the wife and I can make compound interest on what is gained the sooner
medical things are dealt with, however little we can deal with them to begin
with.
"One-offs" are things I buy once. It seems I buy a thing "only once" about $200
worth a month. A couple months ago it was a portable AC. This month, blinds for
windows. This is a "know your true expenses" sort of thing. Might as well keep
putting $200 in there per month.
Groceries might actually slowly be shrinking per month. We'll see. At the rate
we're going this month, it should be $400.
Coffee is an agreed-to high-number as it gives the wife an anxious-free bit of
time outside the house.
Technically, I've saved up enough to pay off student loans. And I have that
money in an index fund. It on-average out-performs the student loan interest,
so it's a net gain. I pay the minimum per month. I'm paid ahead in case I need
to stop for a little bit for whatever reason. I look at this setup as a way to
reloan myself money at 3.5% interest, and that I'm actually saving $200 per
month, in a sense. I think it works out. Though, once I pay off the student
loans, I plan on maintaining the payment, but putting it right into an index
fund. Avoid that income inflation, yo.
I have the same plan when I pay off the Invisalign.
Rent is actually pretty steep, but it was something we were willing to pay for.
I have been thinking, though, at this cost, could it be worth it to buy a piece
of property? There are several things to consider when answering this question:
- interest lost moving capital from index fund to down payment
- average cost of upkeep in house
- principle being paid down per month
- interest being paid per month
- fixed house payments (insurance, taxes, etc.)
So, based on what some initial research shows, I could own a similar house to
what I own and have an average monthly cost maybe as little as $2000 with a
$100,000 down payment. That down-payment amounts to about $584 lost interest
per month ($7000 a year assuming 7% yield). Principal would be, ballpark, one
sixth of the mortgage payment overall (for the first year, at least), and the
mortgage payment would be something like $1700 (the other $300 towards taxes
and insurance). So $280 "saved" in principal payments (in that I own that much
more of the house). That's savings that won't gain substantial interest though
(on average, houses grow at the rate of inflation).
But that's $680 ($280 "saved" in principal and $400 saved by decreasing monthly
costs) over $584 "lost" in interest from money that would be in an index fund.
Really, I guess this boils down to:
- What's the minimum house we'd be happy to live in?
- Is that house cheaper to own or to rent based on the above criteria?
I believe the wife and I can explore this question tomorrow during our budget
date. As well as how malleable the above spending is.
I need to go to work now.
