July Safe Withdrawal Rate – 35.22%

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My SWR rate for July was 37.58% compared to 34.39% in June. That is a step in the wrong direction, but it isn’t too surprising since I didn’t add to my savings during the month and the value of my stock investments declined. My goal is to get the SWR down to 4% so the lower my SWR is the better. That goal is probably many years from being met. The 4% SWR translates into having 25x your annual expenses in savings or 300 months of expenses in savings. Once I reach that point I will consider myself financially independent.

I have 31.92 months of living expenses saved down from 34.89 in June. This amount went down due to my stocks declining in value and my average monthly expense increasing due to my high expenses in July. I calculate my months of living expenses saved by dividing the average of my trailing twelve months of expenses by my total money saved. When I don’t add any money to my savings the only changes to my SWR and months of living expenses saved are from my investment performance and the average of my trailing twelve month’s of expenses going up or down.

Save on Airfare with the Southwest Hidden City Trick

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The hidden city trick to save on airfare has been around a long time and it works especially well on Southwest Airlines.  The idea behind the hidden city trick is that sometimes it is cheaper to book a flight from City A to City C with a stopover in City B then it is to book a direct flight from City A to City B. For example, in June I traveled from Kansas City to Las Vegas.  It was cheaper for me to book a flight from Kansas City to Salt Lake City that changed planes in Las Vegas and just stay in Las Vegas then it was to book a flight (including the same flight that went on to SLC) direct from Kansas City to Las Vegas.  I saved a couple thousand points by booking the flight this way.  When the flight landed in Vegas I just told the gate agent at the new gate that I wasn’t going to get on the flight.  The agent was fine with that, the airline employees do like to know when you are not going to get on a flight since they have to do a passenger count.   Some airlines don’t like hidden city ticketing and have rules against it.  If you violate their rules there is a chance they could suspend your frequent flyer account or impose other penalties. Southwest used to explicitly allow hidden city ticketing.  Although they no longer explicitly allow hidden city ticketing they don’t have a rule against it and don’t seem to mind it being used.

If you do use the hidden city trick you need to make sure you carry on your luggage since otherwise your luggage will end up in City C while you are in City B.  Also, it is best to book two one-way fares rather than a round-trip when using the hidden city trick since some airlines will cancel your return flight if you don’t complete the outgoing flight.  You should always book one-way flights on Southwest anyway since their round-trip fares are just a combination of two one-way fares. By booking two one-way flights you have more flexibility if you need to rebook your flight.  For example, if you see that the return fare has gone down you could cancel and rebook just the return fare to save money. If you had a round-trip fare you would have to cancel and rebook both the outgoing and return fare which doesn’t always work since the outgoing fare may have gone up in price.  By booking two one-ways if either of the legs of the trip go down in price you can save money by canceling and rebooking.  This doesn’t work on most airlines, but it does on Southwest which is why the hidden city trick works especially well on Southwest.  There are lots of other tricks to saving money on airfare.  What are some of your tips and tricks for saving on airfare?

July Income $2816.74

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Here is a breakdown of my income for July.

Online Income

 $463.00
Interest

$4.63

Dividends

$1.14

Cash Back

$12.59
Mystery Shop

$35.50

Amazon FBA

 $50
Medical Study $600
Jobs $1649.88

Total

$2816.74

My income was pretty good in July.  I did work the entire month so I expected it to be a good month.  I did have a couple of smaller paychecks to start the month due to being on vacation the last week of June and having the 4th of July off.  I made $600 from the medical study as well which helped a bit.

My cashback income stayed about the same.  If you haven’t joined Mr. Rebates yet you can get a $5 bonus for signing up through my referral link and I’ll make a little money for referring you as well.
Mr. Rebates

I didn’t keep very good records of my product purchases for Amazon FBA in July, but I believe my profit was about $50 since I sold some items that I got for basically free. So far Amazon FBA has been more of a way to generate Southwest miles than a money-maker, but if I can make a little money while accumulating miles I think it is a fair deal.

My current job has now ended so the job income will be quite a bit less this month. I only have one study visit this months so that will be less as well. My other sources of income will probably remain about the same which will result in less income for August. Since I will still receive two paychecks from my job it will not be too bad though.

 

July Expenses – $2041.92

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for July.

Household $418.03
Entertainment

$67.84

Transportation

 $1036.90

Food

$155.59

Travel

$85.64
Student Loan

$106.00
Phone

$26.81
Health

$145.31

Total

 $2041.92

 

My July expenses were much higher than I like. The budget buster in July was an $875 car repair.  I hit a curb and busted one of the springs in my car and had to replace the entire front suspension. That should teach me to be more careful and to slow down when parking.  My food bill was a little high since I ate fast food way too often. I plan to cut back on that expense this month. My health expense was larger than normal since I had a couple of dental visits, but considering I did have two dental visits it is actually pretty low. I’ll probably have at least one more dental visit this month.  Everything else was about normal and will probably be about the same this month. If I can manage to avoid any large car repairs this month I should be able to get my expenses back down to the $1000 level.

Giving Stuff to Charity

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If I’m going to live in a van I need to get rid of some stuff.  Even though I live in a studio apartment and don’t buy very much I still have too much stuff.  I need to go through it all and see what I need to keep and what can be sold or given away.  I don’t think there is much worth selling but I’ll probably give away a lot of stuff on Craigslist of Freecycle.  It is kind of amazing that even though I try to only buy stuff when it is really necessary I’ve still managed to accumulate a lot of stuff.  Not near as much stuff as most people who fill their garages with all their extra stuff but still a lot.  It makes me wonder how much money is spent each year on stuff that is barely or never used and then just goes into storage.

The late George Carlin had a lot to say about stuff.

There is also a good chance that I will give some of my stuff to charity. After all, if I don’t need these items, maybe I can give them to someone less fortunate who can use them. Old clothing and furniture can come in particularly handy for those in need, as they might not have the resources to purchase these items for themselves.

Another thing that I am considering doing is making a sponsored boat donation. Through this program, you can donate your boat for a good cause. I currently have one in storage and I’m looking to receive some sizable tax credits for my troubles. The boat will be sold at auction with the proceeds going to a children’s charity. I am trying to downsize as much as possible to save money, and quite frankly, paying to store this boat is eating up some valuable resources every month.

In the end, this boat donation program really is the best of both worlds, since I don’t want to have my old boat in storage any longer and would love the opportunity to help those who are less fortunate. The tax benefit is like the icing on the cake, as we all could use some deductions when the taxman comes calling.