The $76K Project: Reboot

Something big happened earlier in October and I wanted to share it here, especially for those who've stuck around since the summer of 2017 when we started this journey : That right there is our student loan balance. Let's take a closer look: And please note that it is now ZEROOOOOOOOOOOOO. (Okay, actually -$1.02, and Mohela says they will be sending us a refund check for that amount. Whatever will we DO with our newfound fortune) That's right. The student loan that has clung to us like an ultra-persistent leech for the past 20 years is gone. What's more, we are finally, FINALLY [[[Drum rolllllllllllll]]] DEBT FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Here's a graph of our debt payoff in the context of big life events such as medical emergencies, job changes (including my Big Quit back in April 2019 ), and a global pandemic. The x-axis represents month/year (with June and December shown). The y-axis represents total debt in thousands of dollars: Five years, people! FIVE! That's a

I've been at my current company for more than 1.5 years. It's a record for me. In the past, I've lasted a year on average before calling it quits for one reason or another (documented extensively in my posts tagged as "work"). My current job isn't exactly a passion of mine. I took it because it was the only thing I could get at the end of 2020, when the job market was still in pretty rough shape thanks to the pandemic. It's dull. Most of the time I feel like Helly in the show  Severance  as she slouches at her computer and drops numbers into bins for eight hours a day for reasons unbeknownst to anyone but the powers that be.  I made it through my first year at my company as an underpaid customer service rep mostly because I had a supportive boss and collaborative teammates. Last December, after a frustrating negotiation in which it was made clear to me that I am a mere cog in the giant company wheel, I was promoted to a new (but still tedious) role with a

So sorry for the radio silence: it's partly due to legitimate busy-ness (non-stop deadlines at work, training and travel for a running trip, doctor's visits, ever-present domestic chores, a bout of covid that hung on for a couple of weeks) and partly due to me apparently preferring a good nap and Netflix binge over writing on my blog when I have some down time.  When last I posted, I was trying to recover from our June disaster-cation. I am happy to report that the rest of the summer has been much better from an enjoyment standpoint, but it has also been rather expensive. The money comes in! The money immediately goes out!  I feel like I'm living in that opening scene of the Pixar movie Up where the main characters keep trying to save for a dream trip only to have it foiled again and again by surprise expenses. Here's a list of what we've been spending on: 1. New tires ($880) - We bought our car used in 2021. It came with a decent set of winter tires, but the tread

The mountain vacation I'd been planning and looking forward to for months and months was a total bust. The hotel -- which has received rave reviews in the past -- turned out to be a dump with paper-thin walls, a broken mirror, holes in the ceiling, and dead bugs in random places. The forest was closed due to fire restrictions, so we couldn't hike; even if it had been open, it rained the entire time.  We came home three days early. The hotel refunded $250 of the $1400 we paid when we reserved our suite. I'm still coming to terms with the fact that we threw >$1K down the drain. I went to see my doctor, whom I have known for more than five years, about irregular bleeding that was freaking me out. She spoke with me for 30 seconds and then dumped me on her trainee, a dude who looked to be approximately 25 years old. He asked me some questions about my period and then ordered some blood tests; this would have been okay (albeit better as a telehealth visit) except that neither

Everything's expensive right now: Food. Gas. Rent.  The stock market's looking slumpy. We're apparently on the verge of a recession/possibly already in a recession. Given these circumstances, we probably won't be able to max out our retirement accounts or fully pay off the student loan this year. They seemed like reasonable goals a few months ago; now, not so much. To help prepare for possible economic turbulence, we've been making some adjustments to our finances: 1. I reduced my retirement contributions by about half. I'll still get the employee match and I'm still putting in a decent chunk of my salary (20%), but we need more liquidity at the moment.  2. We're bolstering our savings account. We still have an emergency fund, but we hacked out a pretty big piece of it to bring the student loan balance down to ~$10K. I'd like to have a little more cash on hand in case of layoffs at my company (since my industry will definitely feel the effects of an

Lately I've been feeling pretty unhappy at work: bored, unfulfilled, disengaged, and disconnected. Like the stereotypical cog in the giant wheel of capitalism.  Those of you who've been around for a while are probably rolling your eyes like, AGAIN?!? Again with the job issues?! Don't get me wrong: I'm not going anywhere; I'm certainly not quitting. But I wouldn't say that I'm satisfied. This situation has led me to think about the challenges I faced and the choices I made that helped land me in this role. After all, content management was never a career I aspired to. I just somehow... ended up here. Ten years ago, I was certain I was destined to be a scientist, which was a solid assumption given that I was enrolled in a Ph.D. engineering program at a reputable school. I was making acceptable progress toward my degree, presenting at conferences, and winning research grants. My goal for most of my time in grad school was to become a tenure track professor at a