2021 Recap

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Looking back to my January 2021 post I didn’t make any goals for 2021 at that time. I did list three things I’d like to do. They were to hike the Camino de Santiago in Spain, complete my section hike of the AT, and spend three months in Thailand. 

In September 2021 I went to Spain and hiked about 300 kilometers of the Camino de Santiago. I skipped around some since I didn’t have time to complete the entire hike. I hiked the last approximately 164 kilometers from Ponferrada to Santiago de Compostela as a continuous journey which qualified me to receive an official Compostela certifying the journey I’d completed on the Camino. I count this plan as done, although I might go back someday and hike more of the Camino.

I did hike more on the Appalachian Trail, but didn’t come close to finishing the trail. I did finally complete Massachusetts which wasn’t too hard since I only had about 4 miles to hike to finish the state. I also completed about half of Vermont. I’d like to go back and at least finish the Vermont portion of the AT sometime this year.

Lastly, I want to spend three months in Thailand. Due to the immigration rules, I did not fulfill that plan. I did make it to Thailand at the beginning of September and will be here until January 28th. I will come back to Thailand at least one more time this year. As of this writing, the one night quarantine Test and Go program I entered under isn’t available. I’m hoping it will return. If not, I will enter under one of the quarantine of Sandbox programs. I didn’t want the expense and inconvenience of entering under one of those programs last year, but now I don’t want to be apart from my Thai girlfriend for too long so I’ll do one of those programs if it is my only option.

I did make one goal in 2021. I made a goal to lose 29 pounds and motivated myself to meet that goal by making a wager with Healthy Wage. I did manage to lose the 29 pounds and I’m working on losing more. I’ll set some goals related to my weight and health in a future post.

For now the only plans I have for 2022 are to do a section hike of the AT sometime during the year and to return to Thailand at least once. Overall, I’m happy with what I did in 2021 and hope to improve in 2022. In a future post I will set some financial and physical goals for 2022.

December Income – $217.50

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Here is a breakdown of my income for December.

Interest$2.94
Amazon FBA$0
Job$479.95
Cashback$65.64
Dividends$63.09
Ebay/Other Selling($473.12)
Mystery Shop$9
Broker Bonuses$70
Total$217.50

December was a poor income month. This wasn’t unexpected since I spent the month in Thailand.

I made $9 from a mystery shop.

My Amazon FBA side hustle made $0. I didn’t have any income or expenses during the month.

Dividend income came in at $63.09. I believe this was my first month with over $60 in dividends. If you sign up using my Robinhood referral link we will both get one share of free stock. Thanks to anyone who signs up using my link. Every little bit helps.

I lost $473.12 selling stuff on eBay and elsewhere. I had some returns, paid some fees, and unloaded some dud items before the end of the year.

I received $65.64 in cash back income. If you sign up for Rakuten using my referral link you can start earning cash back too and I’ll get a small bonus for referring you. These little bits of referral income help me keep the blog going.

I received $2.94 in interest.

I received $479.95 from my last doc review job paycheck.

I’m now in Thailand and will be staying here until January 28th. That will keep me from earning much money, but I should at least be able to avoid the losses this month. How was your month?

December Expenses – $1479.03

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for December.

Household$72.17
Mortgage$355
Apartment$162.58
Gifts/Charity$200.61
Entertainment$110.97
Transportation$44.15
Food$268.6
Phone$27.79
Health$80.77
Travel$156.39
Total$1479.03

My December Expenses were a bit higher than normal which was expected since I’m now in Thailand and paying many daily expenses for my girlfriend.

Entertainment expense was for a New York Times digital subscription, one month of Hulu at 99 cents, one month of Thailand Netflix, a couple’s Thai massage, admission for 2 to the Chiang Mai zoo, and admission to a couple of other local attractions.

The mortgage payment was my regular mortgage payment.

Transportation was for public transportation in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. If it were just me this would be much lower since I’m content to just visit places within walking distance while my girlfriend likes to visit places that are a bit farther away. This expense is still very cheap so I’m not complaining.

My food expense was way more than normal. This was due to eating out nearly every meal and also paying for my girlfriend for nearly every meal. I might get this total down a little this month.

My phone bill was $27.79. That is about the normal amount when I’m not traveling.

The household expense was for a haircut, a mattress topper, and various other things that were needed either for the apartment or for my girlfriend. This should be a bit lower this month since we have most of the stuff we need for the room now.

I also spent $200.61 on gifts and charity. I usually lump this in with the household expense. Since it was a lot larger than normal I listed it separately this month. This expense was for a phone for my girlfriend and a couple of charitable contributions.

Health expense was for monthly gym dues and various medicines and supplements.

Travel expense was down quite a bit since most of the travel expenses for this trip had already been paid. I paid $5.60 in taxes for an award trip from Chicago to an airport near my home for my return to the USA later this month. I paid $21.70 for a flight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok to catch my return flight home. I paid $34.09 for a hotel my first night in Chiang Mai and for a night in Bangkok for my return trip. Lastly, I paid $95 for the annual fee for my Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

This month’s expenses will probably be about the same amount. If we decide to take a trip to the beach the expense will likely be a bit higher. I’m happy with this level of expenses since I feel like I’m getting a lot of value from my expenditures.

How was your month?

I Won My Healthy Wage Weight Loss Bet

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Back in June I made a bet with HealthyWage that I could lose 29 pounds in 6 months. I’m happy to report that I made my weight loss goal and won the bet. I apologize for the lack of updates along the way. I went from 218 pounds at the start to 189 pounds for my final weigh-in.

It wasn’t easy to lose the weight. The weight initially came off fairly easy. I had a hike on the Appalachian Trail which provided me with plenty of exercise and kept my eating under control. I also had another hike on the Camino de Santiago in Spain. That hike didn’t help as much since the hiking was much easier and there were multiple places to purchase food each day. After stalling out for a while, I decided to try the Keto diet. I did lose weight on Keto, but it didn’t happen as fast as I was hoping.

I traveled to Thailand at the beginning of December and gave up on the Keto diet at that time. I went with a low calorie diet and strenuous exercise every day. That allowed me to lose the remaining weight I needed to lose. The 2 weeks of little food and a lot of exercise kind of sucked, but I wasn’t going to lose $1200 without a fight. Luckily, my efforts did pay off and I won the bet.

Since I won the bet I have backslid a bit since the exercise and diet routine I was following wasn’t sustainable for me in the long run. I also indulged in fast food and junk food that I hadn’t been allowing myself to eat. After those few days of indulgence, I have now started working on losing weight again. I go the gym and workout every day. Since I’m not working here in Thailand I have plenty of time and no excuse not to go to the gym. I’m also getting a lot of exercise just walking to wherever I need to go since I don’t have a car here. I have cut way back on the junk food and fast food and am trying to eat more Thai food and fresh food. I think exercising most days and keeping my diet reasonably under control will be sustainable for me and allow me to lose more weight. I have a goal of weighing 185 pounds or less by the time I leave Thailand next month. If that goal proves too easy I will set a new goal of 180 pounds. My ideal weight would be 170 pounds. I am going to work towards that weight through 5 pound goals. I’ll try to do a better job of keeping you informed on my future weight loss progress.

If you would like to sign up for your own weight loss bet you can do so by clicking on the following affiliate link. Make a HealthyWager Today!

November Income – $3592.30

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Here is a breakdown of my income for November.

Interest$3.08
Amazon FBA$0.67
Job$1374.23
Cashback$114.51
Dividends$36.59
Ebay/Other Selling$1547.08
Class Action$146.14
Bank Bonuses$370
Total$3592.30

November was a solid month for income.

I made $146.14 from the GM ignition switch class action settlement. This was unexpected. Apparently, I had two qualify vehicles for this settlement.

My Amazon FBA side hustle made a profit of $0.67. I only sold one item for a tiny profit during the month. I’ve mostly abandoned Amazon for eBay and other selling platforms.

Dividend income came in at $36.59. I’m adding a little every month to my stocks and slowly increasing the dividend total. If you sign up using my Robinhood referral link we will both get one share of free stock. Thanks to anyone who signs up using my link. Every little bit helps.

I made $1547.08 selling stuff on eBay and elsewhere. I was once again pretty lucky at flipping some hard to find items.

I received $114.51 in cash back income. If you sign up for Rakuten using my referral link you can start earning cash back too and I’ll get a small bonus for referring you. These little bits of referral income help me keep the blog going.

I received $3.08 in interest.

I received $1374.23 for working a doc review job during the month. There was only one week that they had a full 40 hours of work for me, but I earned a little during a couple of other weeks.

I’m now in Thailand and will be staying here for December and January. That will keep me from earning much in those months. How was your month?