First 2020 Goal Achieved, Next Goal – Lose Weight

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In my December 2019 post about my goals for 2020 I stated that the only goal I was setting at that time was to save $10,000 in the first four months of 2020. A goal that I felt would be difficult, but achievable. I’m happy to say that I was able to achieve that goal.

I surpassed my goal of saving $10,000 and managed to save $12,384 in the first four months of 2020. The savings broke down as follows. I added $4397 of cash to my savings accounts. I added $778 to my doc review job 401k. I added $1217 to my tax job 401k. I added $4000 to my traditional IRA and $1992 to my Roth IRA.

The goal wasn’t as easy to achieve as it may look like from the results. I benefited greatly from two months out of the four months I was saving being months with five paydays. That isn’t usually the case. The $1200 stimulus check also provided a surprise boost to my savings. Without those two unexpected boosts I would have barely been able to save the $10,000. If I hadn’t set a goal of saving $10k in the first four months of the year I doubt I would have saved as much money as I did. This goal was successful in getting me to save more money.

In my previous goals post I stated that sometime in 2020 I’d set goals for losing weight and increasing my blog income. Now is the time that I’m setting my 2020 weight loss goal. The blog income goal will have to wait a little while longer since I think it is best for me to focus on one goal at a time.

Losing weight is a common goal of mine. It occurred to me the other day that I’ve been dealing with my weight for almost 25 years. In 1997 I lost 30 pounds in three months while living in Guatemala. Whenever, I’m living outside of the U.S., I find it easy to lose weight without even trying. The combination of walking more and not having access to all of the junk food and fast food I have in the U.S. leads to weight loss. After returning to the U.S. from Guatemala, I managed to keep the weight off for over six months. Then I started working as a blackjack dealer on the graveyard shift (3am to 11am) and quickly regained all the weight I lost plus some.

I’ve repeated that pattern a few times over the years. I will lose 20-30 pounds and then quickly regain the weight. Usually, when I’m losing weight it is due to special circumstances such as living in another country or hiking on the Appalachian Trail. Once I go back to my normal life I stop losing weight and start gaining weight. I’ve got to stop that cycle and learn how to lose weight and maintain my weight while living my normal life. I’m not sure how to do that yet.

To start on my weight loss goal I’ve made several bets with DietBet. Money has proven to be a motivator for me in the past. I made a Kickstarter bet which requires me to lose 4% of my bodyweight 9 (just under 9 pounds) in 30 days and a Transformer bet that requires me to lose 10% of my bodyweight (a little over 22 pounds) in 6 months.

My current plan for accomplishing these weight loss goals is simply to eat less and exercise more. I’ll refine that plan as I go. I want this change to be a permanent change so I don’t intend to use any weight loss methods that I don’t think I’ll be able to stick to in the long run. If you have any suggestions on what I should do to lose weight and keep it off, I’d be happy to hear them.

April Income – $4029.15

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Here is a breakdown of my income for April.

Interest$13.28
Amazon FBA($0.33)
Stimulus$1200
Cashback$6.03
Online $102.97
Dividends$15.01
Job$2658.77
Amazon Merch$4.42
Mystery Shop$7.00
Class Action$22
Total$4029.15

My income for April was down a bit compared to the previous month, but still quite solid. Considering my expenses were only $616 for the month, my income to expense ratio was great.

My Amazon FBA side hustle again made negative income for the month. Amazon isn’t allowing non -essential items to be sent in right now, and the few items I do have in stock aren’t selling. Once things open up again I’ll send in my remaining items.

Dividend income was down a bit. I sold some of my dividend stocks in my taxable account so that I could max out my Roth IRA account for 2019. That also allowed me to harvest some capital losses. Due to the sale my dividend income will go down more until I can buy some more stocks again. 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 $102.97 in online income from hitting the payout threshold for Adsense. That might be my only online income for the year. The domain name for Investorzblog.com is up for renewal this month. I’m considering letting it expire. If anyone is interested in purchasing the domain let me know.

Job income was down quite a bit since my tax job ended on April 16th. Although the tax filing deadline was extended my company didn’t extend the end date of my seasonal position. I was also out of work for a couple of weeks at my full-time job due to the general economic slowdown. I’m back at work now and my current project should last almost all this month. Hopefully, there will be another project after that.

The stimulus check added $1200 to my income. I got paid $7 for one mystery shop, $4.42 from Amazon Merch and I received $22 from a random class action settlement. None of those sources of income should repeat this month.

Income for this month will likely be down a little since I will only have one job. Income should still greatly exceed expenses so I can’t complain.

How was your month?

April Expenses – $616.09

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for April.

Household$3.00
Rent$450
Entertainment$0
Transportation$38.25
Food$77.33
Travel$8.80
Phone$27.72
Health$10.99
Total$616.09

My April expenses were extremely low. This might be the lowest expense month I’ve had in the over 10 years I’ve tracked my expenses here on the blog. I was easily able to keep my total expenses under my $1000 a month target. Working at home and sheltering in place made it easy to not spend money.

I didn’t have any entertainment expense at all this month. My usual form of entertainment is going to the movies and that wasn’t possible in April leading to zero spending on entertainment. They might open movie theaters back up this month. I’m not sure if I will go if they do open. If not, there is a good chance I’ll have no entertainment expense again this month.

Transportation expense was for $37.25 of gas and $1 for a car wash. This month will probably be about the same. It might be even lower since I’m doing so little driving now.

My travel expense for the month was $8.80. This was the annual fee on my IHG credit card minus a refund of taxes and fees from a canceled plane ticket. Paying the annual fee on my IHG card entitles me to a free hotel night. I have a year to use the free night so I’ll surely be able to find a good use of it in that time.

My food expense was ridiculously low. I had a good stock of groceries to start the month. That combined with not being able to go out to eat saved me a lot of money. This expense will probably be a little bit higher this month. The current situation has allowed me to finally get my food spending under control.

My phone bill was a tiny bit lower than normal. Working from home allowed me to use wifi all the time rather than my phone’s data lowering my phone bill a little bit. My phone bill will usually be in the $28-$35 range and I expect it be in that range this month.

My health expense was $10.99 for two refills of my blood pressure medicine. I had a doctor visit during the month. I think it qualified as my free annual checkup. If I get a bill for that this month, then this expense will be higher. If not, this expense will probably be $0 this month.

Household expense was $3 for laundry.

This month I expect my expenses will go up slightly, but I should easily keep my expenses under $1000. How was your month?

COVID-19 Cost Cutting

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While my expenses were already low, COVID-19 and sheltering at home have led to my monthly expenses being even lower. There are just a few days left in this month and I’m on track to have my lowest monthly expense total in years. Here are some of the ways that COVID-19 has cut my costs.

My transportation expense is way down for the month. Since I’m no longer commuting and there aren’t to many places to go I’m hardly driving my car at all. The price of gas has also gone way down. The combination of less driving and cheaper gas will lead to my monthly transportation costs being cut almost in half.

I’m also saving a lot on entertainment. The movie theaters are closed so I’m no longer being charged the monthly bill for my Regal Movie Pass and I’m not purchasing any overpriced concessions. My entertainment mostly consists of YouTube, Netflix, and frequent walks in the park. My monthly entertainment expense is basically zero now.

Food is yet another area where I’m saving money. Since it is no longer an option to dine-in at restaurants my restaurant spending is way down. I’m making fewer trips to the grocery store and stocking up on cheap staples when I am at the store, which has lead to spending less on junk food. That combined with some of my favorite grocery items being out of stock has kept my grocery spending pretty low. When I do get a craving for fast food and visit a drive-thru, there are some great deals allowing me to get a meal for just $1 or $2 or even free. My food expense for this month will be one of the lowest totals in years.

I’m saving on travel since I can’t do any traveling. I canceled a couple of flights this month and got a refund of the taxes paid. I wish I were spending more on travel since I want to travel, but I will have to wait. I’m grateful that not being able to travel is the worst inconvenience I’ve incurred due to COVID-19. Many people are suffering and enduring great hardships so I can’t really complain about having to delay my travel plans for a while.

I’m also moving in with my Mom for a while. My original plan was just to stay there for a couple of weeks before I started traveling. That plan is obviously out the window. I already ended the lease on my apartment so I’ll be staying with my Mom until I can travel again. I’ll be paying some expenses there as a rent payment. That will help my Mom out and save me money compared to what I’d pay for rent in the city.

All of these things combined have lead to a large reduction in my monthly expenses. I’m not sure how long this will last, but I think my monthly expenses will be lower than normal for quite a well. How has the pandemic affected your finances?

March Income – $5872.19

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Here is a breakdown of my income for March.

Interest$8.85
Amazon FBA($0.32)
Federal Tax Refund$3219
Bank Bonus$100
Online ($8.76)
Dividends$22.52
Jobs$2530.90
Total$5872.19

My March income was higher than normal due to receiving my federal tax refund.

My Amazon FBA side hustle once again made negative income for the month. I didn’t make any sales and had to pay a small storage fee. Now isn’t a good time to be selling non-essential items.

Dividend income was up a little bit. Some of my stocks will probably cut or suspend their dividend over the next few months, but that hasn’t happened yet. 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 had negative online income for the month. I paid to renew a domain name. I will be getting an Adsense payout this month so I’ll have my first profitable month of the year.

Job income was down a bit since I was off a couple of weeks from my full-time job as they transitioned everyone from working at the office to being remote workers.

March was a pretty good month financially. I had almost $6000 in income and less than $1000 in expenses. This month income will be down quite a bit since my tax job is still ending April 17th even though the tax filing season has been extended. I’m not sure if my full-time job will last all month either.

How was your month?