Showing posts with label Looking Back. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Looking Back. Show all posts

1.08.2024

Looking Back: 2023 Money Pie

Who is ready for a slice of money pie? As you may know, I always do a debrief with myself at the end of each year to see where all my money has gone! I also do a quarterly net worth statement just to get a read on where things are, but I will not be posting that here! :) 

In 2023, I am happy to say that I decreased my overall spending from 2022 by about 12% and came in below my yearly (8 year) average by about 9%. The main drivers of this decrease were the travel and home categories, which I will talk more about below. 


Here are the categories in the order of largest percentage to smallest. 

Home: 63.2%. Interestingly, last year my home category was 63.7% of my overall spending and in 2021 it was 64.1%, so I guess no matter how you slice it, the home category continues to be almost two thirds of my spending! This category includes mortgage, utilities, taxes and insurance, as well as other misc. items, such as home improvement, maintenance and furnishings. 80% of this number is mortgage and property tax.  You may remember that I mentioned last year about how I was paying a little extra into my mortgage? This year, given the good rates on cash, I stopped doing that and put the money into high yield savings instead. Due to this, I decreased the actual dollar spending amount in this category by about 13% from last year. 

Transportation: 12.2%. This normally includes Lyft/Uber, public transportation, car insurance, maintenance, registration, gas, tolls & parking, but this year I added bike maintenance and parking fees to the category as well. Despite commuting by bike from July to December, I still had public transportation costs, but the main culprit in this category was body work after my car got broken into. I also got four new tires for the Red Rocket and did a full body tune up on Bertha. 

Travel: 6.6%. This category includes airfare, car rental, lodging and any groceries, dining out or transportation incurred while traveling. Although I did not travel internationally and much of my travel consisted of tent camping and eating my own meals, some of the other costs incurred during travel were quite expensive this year. I went to Alaska, and the rental car alone was about $1,500!! It was an SUV though and we actually slept in it several times, so saved on hotels, thank goodness. However, even with this, I spent about 50% less on this category than in 2022. 

Misc.: 4.4%. This category includes gifts, haircuts, legal fees, fees for credit cards, tax prep software and education expenses. I had to pay for my yearly CFA dues, legal fees to set up a trust and annual credit card fees, but other than that, the bulk of this category was for gifts! (PS no haircuts in 2023 😊)

Groceries: 3.7%. This category went down by 38% from last year, mostly due to the fact that part of my purging process was to stop buying new stuff until I had used up older stuff! I would say that I did a pretty good job and have had fun being creative with cupboard items, but I still bought the regulars like butter, eggs, fresh veggies and cheese. My other saving grace for this category was less trips to Costco and/or only allowing myself to buy what I went in there for! I do have a tendency to grab yummy looking things oh a whim, but this year I put a stop to that! Funny though, out of my six visits to Costco, I bought tortilla chips on five of them. Some habits you just can't break. 

Dining Out: 3.5%. This category includes eating out, coffee and booze. This one is a little misleading this year, as I decided that in an effort to spend time with people and have experiences rather than buying more things, I would enjoy meals with them! Given this, I bought meals for friends several times. I could technically call this "gifts," but for now I am going to leave it as dining out. However, it does inflate this category a bit, and I had a 200% increase over last year. 

Entertainment: 3.1%. This category includes music, theater, sporting events, cycling and running & camping expenses. In 2023, I went to two shows (Les Mis and Book of Mormon), a couple of sporting events, but my biggest categories for this are still running (32%), hiking (20%) and cycling (19%). My biggest purchases were race fees (three races), a new GPS watch and a new rain jacket. 

Health: 2.6%. This category includes health insurance, out of pocket costs, massages, medicines and vitamins etc. This year most of my visits were covered as preventative, so the bulk of this cost is the insurance itself. 

Shopping: 0.8%. This category includes toiletries, clothing, misc. home items & appliances, electronics and books. Basically this year I bought three things in this category: a new camera, a 3-pack of underwear that I hated and feminine products. Trying to purge more has really made me think about things more before buying. Also some of the camping etc. items I did buy are included under the entertainment category. 

I do also put some money aside for investments and saving each year, but since this money is not yet "spent" I do not count it in this analysis. I also do not include income taxes, but if I did, they would probably be my highest category! However, since I don't have much control over them, I am going to leave them out for now. 

Do you do a yearly review of your finances? Do you have a budget? What is your biggest spending category? 

1.04.2024

Looking Back: Purging Progress Report Q4

Well folks, the year has ended and it's once again time to be accountable for what my plans were at the beginning of the year. As you know, I try to purge a little each month every year so that I don't get a glut of things that I have to eventually go through all at once. My three areas I wanted to work on for the last three months of they year were reading nook, health and plants. 

Reading Nook: This is a room with several bookshelves and a nice chair to sit and read in, plus it has windows on two sides, so it has a lot of light. For this reason it is also my plant room. I wanted to read some books on my shelves and get rid of them, as well as get rid of the books I have kept with the intention of reading again but not reread. 

Reading Nook -- Before

Reading Nook -- After (don't mind the disassembled shelving)

I found I was keeping books just to have them, but decided that if I moved again, I do not want to move boxes and boxes of books just to display them. I have only bought a handful of books over the last 10 years and am really utilizing the library exclusively these days and I don't really reread very many books (with the exception of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, of course). I also do not really love holding up a heavy paper book as much any more! 

How am I doing? I am going to say that I kicked ass in this category. I basically got rid of all books except for a few travel or education books, and a few books from my childhood, and a half a dozen that I have not read yet but still may read. I literally went from three bookshelves to one, and plan to get rid of that one in the next month also. 

What is next? As stated, I will read the handful I have left, get rid of the last shelf and I will have a whole room to play with! Expected completion date: end of January. 

Health: I try to get all of my health related things done by November, but if I haven't, this is when I check in with myself and get them scheduled by the end of the year. This works schedule-wise, but it also important for insurance, which often pays a certain amount of dollars or for one preventative visit per calendar year. 

How am I doing? Check, check, check! I did save the best for last and had my mammogram literally the last week before Christmas, but otherwise I was pretty much good to go. Side note: I had a riveting conversation about the dangers of bicycling in San Francisco with the mammo tech while standing in the room half naked. Good times. 

What is next? I need a crown and was putting it off for two reasons. (1) I hate the dentist and I don't want to do it! (2) the insurance I had did not cover it at my dental office, so I switched from a PPO to an HMO and now that it is a new year with new coverage, I can schedule it. I also get dollars from my company towards my HSA if I do certain activities (sleep, water, wellness check etc.) so I will get that done ASAP because compounding rules! Expected completion date: end of February.

Plants: I love plants and I often make clippings and replant them and so I have a plethora of plants. I didn't really have a plan for these, but knew that I need to start doing something about them. 

Too many plants! And this is just a fraction of them. 

How am I doing? This year I gave away a few clippings to different people, but I still have too many.

What is next? Next up is to either sell some on FB marketplace or give them away for free. Expected completion date: end of January.

In addition to the above items, this year, I have also kept a bag in my closet for donation items and if I put on a shirt and it is too short, it goes right in the bag. I have taken at least one run to Salvation Army per month this year. I also keep a "to shred" bag, where I can easily throw paper items that need to be shredded and then I can take them to work and shred them little by little. I am also still working on selling some of the more valuable (or sought after) items online. 

One (of many) load(s) of donations!

I would say that all in all, I think my year of purging went well and hopefully that means that 2024 will be a breeze, as each year there should be less and less things to go through. I really do want to pare it down even more though, as it really is amazing how much stuff we accumulate over the years. My other goal is not try not to "stock up" on things, which is very hard for me, as I like to plan ahead, and to buy things when they are a good deal! There is always room to improve, I guess. 

Did you get all of your health check ups done by the end of the year? Do you keep/reread physical books? Did you have any purging goals for 2023 and if so, how did they go? 

10.02.2023

Looking Back: Purging Progress Report Q3

And just like that, the third quarter of the year has come to a close! As you know, earlier this year I talked about doing some purging and it's already time for the accountability check in again! My three areas I wanted to work on for the months of July, August and September were bedroom/shoes, kitchen/dishes and living room/hall/spare room. 

Bedroom/Shoes: As you know from my story about my unsuccessful side hustle, I have tried to sell some of my more expensive shoes online and have had only okay luck. However, I sent a batch of them to ThredUp and had some success! For four pairs of shoes, I made $80.00! Yay. 

How am I doing? Since I am trying to sell some, many of them are still in my house, so there is a large pile of shoes that I will get rid of one way or the other. I am going to call this a win. I am not in any danger of going back through them and them making their way back into my closet, believe me. I am now down to a couple of pairs of running shoes, a couple of sandals, a couple of boots and a couple of fancy dress shoes. I will probably cull it even more, but you know how it is; when you find a nice pair of knee length black boots that fits you well, you sometimes just have to keep them! 

What is next? I am going to still try to sell some more online; if those don't sell by the end of the year, they will either go to ThredUp or to Salvation Army. My goal is to have them all out of my house by the end of this year

Kitchen/Dishes: Two things I had too many of...vessels to drink from and baking dishes! 

How am I doing? I went through my glasses, mugs and water bottles and pared it down to only about four of each. I think I was keeping some just in case I had a party or a bunch of people over or something, but if and when that does end up happening, people can drink wine from a coffee cup; I do not need to have a full set of 12 wine glasses just taking up space. The baking dishes were a similar story; will I ever need to make 48 muffins at once? Will that even fit in my oven at the same time? The answer to both of those questions is likely no, so I got rid of my old muffin tins and baking sheets, several casserole dishes and a few bread pans. I also culled my plates, bowls and serving dishes. How many things do we keep for "just in case" but we never use? For me, it was a lot. 

I feel like Old Mother Hubbard.

Don't worry; I have two more coffee cups but they are in use.

What is next? I would also like to simplify my cleaning products (these live under the kitchen sink). I bought a gallon of Simple Green when I first moved in almost 9 years ago and it is still probably half full. I bought bleach at Costco (sucker!!) and it is a three pack and I have a LOT of dish soap (and vinegar and hand soap and Windex and Bronners etc.) I would really like to pare these down to just a few items under the sink if possible. 

Living Room/Hall/Spare Room: I don't have a lot in the living room or hall, but my goal was to clear out any shelves or drawers in these rooms. For my spare room, that is where I keep my linens, so I wanted to also clear out that dresser. 

How am I doing? I feel pretty good about this. In the living room, I have a catch all by the door which his supposed to only be for my purse and whatever leaves each day with me, but it tends to gather items. I cleared this out, as well as my coffee table drawer and the shelves near my living room fireplace. In the hall, I went through the linen closet, which also houses extra cleaning supplies and toiletries, hair stuff, jewelry and travel items. I gave a bunch of the jewelry to my friend's daughter and it is so cute because she actually wears the earrings a lot! I took inventory of my cleaning products and toiletries (shampoo, lotion etc.) and my goal is to NOT buy any more until they are completely used up. For the spare room, I got rid of all but one extra set of sheets and blankets.

Don't judge - Bertha lives in my living room.

What is next? I am currently still in the middle of cleaning out the spare room closet, which is a jumble of my work clothes, bags, stuff to go to the thrift store/sell online/send to ThredUp/give away, old electronics (these will also go to the thrift store), did I say bags (so many bags! bags full of bags!), my vacuum, etc. As I mentioned above, I would like to have all of my thrift/sell items out of there by the end of the year, so this will be much improved by then! 

My last three months will be the reading nook, health check ups and plants...and then the year will be over (again)! I would say that three quarters of the way in, I am feeling very good about what I have done so far and after doing it this way for years, I also really think that a monthly purge is so much less daunting than a once a year one! 

Do you have a go-to all in one cleaning product? How often do you do a home purge? What kitchen item do you have multiples of but you rarely use more than one or two? 

9.29.2023

Looking Back: Books

Now that the third quarter is drawing to a close, I thought I would do a quick review on some of my favorite books for the quarter! In the third quarter I read a lot since I did a lot of hiking and bikepacking and driving. However, because of this, most of them were audiobooks. I also DNFed a lot of books, maybe because they were (mostly) audiobooks, and I don't always get hooked at the beginning and I tend to then lose focus and so I end up just giving it up. 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. As most of you know, we reread this book as part of Engie's book club, and it was great to not only read it again, but do to so with a group of people who had so many different views. I had a great time getting into the details and discussions of this book and it was just as good this time as it was when I first read it when I was a child. (5/5)

Good For a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World by Lauren Fleishman. To be honest, I did not know much about Lauren except that she was behind Picky Bars, but I really enjoyed this inside peek into the world of elite running. Lauren not only talks about the difficulty of being a woman in a mostly male sport (or at least one where the males are more prized), but she also gets into some of the eating disorders that the young runners had and it was very eye opening. I also read The Longest Race by Kara Goucher recently and was appalled at some of the things that were done to some of the elite running women.  (5/5)

I Feel Bad About My Neck, And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman by Nora Ephron. This book was recommended by Nicole and Elisabeth (<---new blog link here!) and it did not disappoint! Thanks ladies! Ephron talks a little about her past in a very funny way, but a lot of what drew me to this book is that it is a very real glimpse into the things we (women) experience as we get older. She talks about menopause and how she feels about her purse, how she depends on coconut oil, and the conversations with her sister about combatting hair thinning. I know that some of these things are on deck for me and I appreciate being able to giggle about them rather than dread them! (4.5/5)

The Likeness by Tana French. I am trying to read and give away books on my bookshelf (as always) and this was one of them. Some of them are pretty crap (random thrift store buys or Little Free Library finds or free on the street finds - I can't resist) but this one was good. French writes detective novels and this is #2 of the Dublin Murder Squad series. I thought I had read another book by her and liked it, but I don't see proof of that on Goodreads, so it appears that I did not read #1 of the series, but this did not make me like the book any less! (4/5)

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makaii. I went into this book highly doubtful, as I DNFed her other book The Great Believers. However, I really enjoyed this one. I would call it a cold case type of book, which I do think is right up my alley, so maybe that is why this one drew me in when the other didn't. Basically it is about a grown woman who goes back to her alma matter to teach a course and ends up getting tangled up in trying to solve a murder case that happened when she was at school there. It is similar to the show Serial, where they convicted one person but are now going back to review the details to see if perhaps the person they blamed is innocent. (4/5)

The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett. My favorite Patchett books are her essays: This is The Story of a Happy Marriage and These Precious Days. Similar to Ephron, she talks frankly but humorously about her life and how she got to where she is now. However, her fiction is sometimes not bad too! I do find her a bit hit and miss; I liked State of Wonder and The Dutch House but did not love the Magicians Assistant or Run. The Patron Saint of Liars is about a woman who goes to a home for unwed mothers with the plans to give up her baby, but after living there for a while starts to think of things differently. (4/5)

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth. Oh man, this one will make you cringe! It is about a woman who I would say is on the spectrum, Fern and her sister Rose, who is not. Fern's sister has been taking care of her for years due to having a difficult mother growing up. Fern is happy doing her daily routine, working out, working at the library etc. When Rose is having trouble getting pregnant, Fern decides to help her by getting pregnant for her. Things do not go as planned and we learn that a relationship between sisters is not always what it seems on the surface. (4.5/5)

Stealing by Margaret Verble. This book was highly praised by Lisa, and it was a good one! It is about a Cherokee girl growing up in the 50s (?) in the Louisiana bayou. Things were difficult for Native Americans then (even more so than now) and she was taken away from her family and sent to live in a Christian boarding school, where things were not better than they would have been had she stayed with her family. It is disturbing and it will make you mad. One thing I did not like about this book was the abrupt ending. I wanted a resolution or a solution, and I did not get it. For that, I am docking .5 stars. (4.5/5)

The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin. This one is all about sex, drugs and rock and roll. Okay, maybe more like drugs, jail and redemption. I am not going to lie; I had no idea who this woman is, but she was the ghostwriter for Desmond Tutu's book and The Sun Always Shines, which I enjoyed. The first chapter had me railing against her, as she dragged her three year old from place to place in an effort to score drugs. I wanted to slap her! Then she gets arrested, and chronicles life in jail, which I do find fascinating. When she finally gets out, it is a struggle to manage life, try to find a job, not break parole, find housing, and stay clean. She finally does all of this, becomes a successful writer and even gets to meet Oprah and the Dali Lama in the end! So yes, it is a feelgood "rags to riches" kind of story, but I enjoyed hearing the ins and outs and some of the struggles that people face in a world that I am not part of. (recommended by Beckett - thanks!) (5/5)

DNFed books -- China Rich Girl by Kevin Kwan (paper), The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy (audio), The Boys From Biloxi by John Grisham (audio), The Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates (paper). 

What were your favorite books of the third quarter? What books have you DNFed lately? 

8.10.2023

Then Versus Now

Now that summer is officially underway, I thought this would be a great time to talk about what summer means to us all. I have written before about what summer was like when I was a kid, so I thought that today I would talk about the then vs. now. 

Then: We used to have a campfire every weekend. We would roast marshmallows and hot dogs and just stand there, flipping from front to back to keep both sides of us warm after a cold river swim. Now: I might whip out the backpacking stove on a trip to make coffee or rehydrate my dinner, but I am not really a big campfire person. I guess part of it is that it smells and I am going to be wearing the same clothes for several days and they are already going to be smelly enough, so I don't really want to walk around smelling like a forest fire on top of it all. The other part is that sometimes there are a ton of mosquitoes and I would rather just chill in the tent and read. In other words, I am a party pooper. 

Then: We used to sleep outside in the backyard in the summertime. All of my cousins would be there and we would be lined up, sleeping bag to sleeping bag, under the stars. Now: While I have never slept in my current backyard, I definitely still sleep outside on a regular basis! A modern summer usually involves at least two weekends and and at least two weeks of camping and backpacking each year! I don't cowboy camp (sleep with no tent) as much as I did then, but I do like to sleep in the tent without the rainfly on it and gaze at the stars through the mesh! Another big change is that I use a sleeping pad now, whereas we used to sleep right on the ground. 

Then: I would spend a couple of weeks each summer with my aunt and uncle, who live in the Bay Area. I could eat what I liked, watch MTV all day, hang out with my baby cousins, and go watch the Giants with my uncle. Now: I live in the Bay Area; I usually go to at least one Giants game per year, and I eat what I like, although I guess now I should be providing my aunt and uncle with their favorite foods instead! Also, my baby cousins all now have babies themselves! 

Then: We used to spend endless hours at the river, swimming, chasing white rocks, having contests of who can stay under the water the longest, or swim across the river the fastest, or throw a rock the furthest. We could entertain ourselves for hours. We used to do endless loops of floating down the rapids in a tube and then walking a half mile back up the river and floating down again. Now: I still jump in a body of water any time I get the chance, but I don't spend the same amount of time in the water. Last year we did have a cousins weekend and we all went to the old swimming hole and swam and jumped off the rocks and it was almost like old times, except we are all more careful not to hurt ourselves these days (sigh, getting older is hard sometimes). On the flip side, we had better snacks! 

Hanging at the beach with Broski

Then: I had to work every summer because my parents owned their own business and summer was the busy time. Many weekends had events and this is where I could really make and save some money, which I would then use to buy my own school clothes later in the summer. Now: I still have to work every summer but now I try to take a week off for each of the summer months and go somewhere and get outside! Unfortunately, I also still have to buy my own school clothes. 

What were summers like when you were younger? What things do you still do now that you did back then (or how have things changed if they have)?

7.10.2023

Looking Back: Purging Progress Report Q2

And that is the second quarter of the year, over already! As you know, earlier this year I talked about doing some purging and since we are now another quarter into this year, it's time for another accountability check! My three areas I wanted to work on for the second three months of they year were pantry, garage/camping items and bedroom/clothing. 

Pantry: The goal here is to go through things, check expirations, eat things that are getting closer (or are over, I am not against that) and then reorganize everything and get a good handle on what I have left before starting to restock slightly. 

How am I doing? I am a woman on a mission. First I took stock of how many of each thing I had. Don't laugh at me, but I found a lot of good deals during the pandemic and when I found a deal, I bought a lot. Didn't everyone? No? Okay. At the beginning of January 2022, I somehow ended up with 14 cans of coconut milk, 12 cans of garbanzo beans and 10 cans of artichoke hearts among other things. I revisited this list in April of this year and although I had done a very good job of eating my way to a cleaner home (I only had 2, 5 and 0 left respectively), I am still working on it (I now have 1, 2 and 0!) 

What is next? I still have some weird items like tomato paste (I guess I don't make as much sauce as I used to), pureed pumpkin and canned sardines left which I will probably try to make into a meal (not together mind you!) while also focusing on using more of my dried items (quinoa, dried beans, rice, lentils etc.) and bakery items (pumpkin bread anyone?) before taking stock again and then maybe buying a few things to fill in the gaps. 



Garage/Camping: The idea here was to prep for summer by organizing all camping stuff, make sure it's all in top shape, update it, fix it, patch it, go through my food supply etc. 

How am I doing? Meh. I went through the food as part of the pantry clean out, and have all of the stuff organized by car camping vs backpacking items, but I still need to get down and dirty and throw some stuff away or give it away. However, I am ready for a summer of camping, even if I did not do a good job of purging. 

What is next? Get down and dirty and sell, give away or throw some stuff away. 

Bedroom/Clothing: The idea here was to once again go through drawers and closets and pare things down. Kae and Lisa will get a kick out of this line, which I wrote in January: But really, how many hoodies does one woman need? (the answer is...seven...or eight...or maybe nine? See what I mean!?) 

How am I doing? Great! I have desecrated my closet and it is about half as full as it was six months ago. I only own two pairs of jeans and two pairs of (non-running) shorts. However, I have a pile the size of the Empire State building of "stuff to sell" and another of "stuff to donate" so we are not quite there yet. HOWEVER! I did put some stuff on eBay and have had some luck, and I also have a drop dead date where if it is not sold by that date, it will go to either threadUP (nicer brands) or Salvation Army (everything else). So we are making progress! 

What is next? In about a month, the neighborhood is doing a donation pick up, and I already took a few boxes over to my neighbor for that. For the rest, I will continue to try to sell a few things and then in October (beginning of Q4) if they are still not sold I will send a bag to threadUP and take the rest to Salvation Army. You heard it here first. 

One thing I did not put on my list, but I would consider it "bedroom" for now, since my spare bedroom is also my office, is electronics. I have two old laptops, a printer and various old cell phones (along with the usual cords and other random electronic things) that I need to get rid of, so for Q3, I am also adding an e-waste drop off to my list. The place I found will try to refurbish the item and if they cannot, they will properly recycle it. Before I take things to them, I do need to clear out any files or personal information though so this is one of those two step processes that can take longer than expected sometimes! I am also planning a bulky pickup later this year, which will only be for trash, but is a good way to get rid of some of those odds and ends once they have been picked through. 

How are you doing on your goals so far this year? What is your strategy for getting rid of stuff? How many hoodies DOES one woman need? 

6.26.2023

Blast From The Past

You know you are getting older when you start reminiscing about the "good old days" or how kids have it so much better than we did or how you can't believe how much candy bars or pay phones cost these days (they are no longer a nickel, grandpa!) Oh wait, we don't really use pay phones anymore? Exactly. However, despite the fact that this will prove my age, I am going to do just that! Here are a few things that bring back fond memories of times past. 

The princess telephone with the long cord that you used to drag into your room so that you could sit and chat with your girlfriends for hours even though you had seen them all day at school. I don't know what we talked about, but we talked forever! My parents used to have to drag me off the phone and I remember getting call waiting, which was like really out of this world at the time. Also, remember getting star 69 and thinking how sophisticated that was, although I was not (and am not still) a big fan of calling back an unknown number to ask them if they had just called me. 

Vienna sausages: maybe this is just something that my family ate, but we ate these a lot. My brother's specialty was Vienna sausages with scrambled eggs with too much garlic. We called them "Dracula's Death." Remember how the little sausages were all stuck together and they slide out in a clump with their attached meaty Jell-O juice like a baby from the womb? It is kind of gross but I would probably still eat them if I was out camping. They are kind of a right place, right time kind of food. We also ate many other canned meats such as corned beef hash, spam and deviled ham. 

Color block clothing: I know this is back in style, but I think it was the style of clothes that I wore when my Mom picked my outfit, not the one I wore when I could pick out my own garb (no offense Mom!) She also dressed me in skirts, which didn't really take, and when I finally bought my own clothes I was a tomboy all the way. I still prefer pants over skirts but have come around a little towards wearing stripes from time to time recently.

Nice sweater! I am about 10 years old.

Passing notes in class. It is so sad that everyone just texts now because it was so fun to pass notes in class! Sometimes we would have three or four people on the note and we would pass it around in circles. Mostly we wrote about the following topics: why one person was mad at the other, which boys we liked, what the boys were doing, why we thought they were doing that, who liked who, who was going out with who, what we were going to do after school, what we were going to do that weekend or who had just broken up with who. Very riveting stuff, but very important at the time, and I guess actually not much different than what some of us still talk about now. 

Nylons: this is not from my childhood, but for my first job (and for several years) I had to wear nylons every day. I finally (just a few weeks ago) threw out my bag of used (but perfectly good) nylons and donated several unopened packages (that cost me about $10 a pop but probably have a value of about $0.01 now!) of nylons. I don't know why I was keeping them, as I have not worn nylons in at least about 20 years! The hoarder tendency of keeping things because they are "still perfectly fine" or "I may use them someday" runs strong in this family (but that deserves it's own post!)

Mixed Tapes: I know that now you can share a Spotify playlist, but it just doesn't have the same charm as the songs that you taped from the radio which had the announcer talking over them and the station identifier in the middle of the songs, along with any background noises from the house. I still have one that I got from a friend and I am pretty sure it starts off with the Rick Astley song Never Going to Give You Up and also has a Firehouse song on it. Good times. Gotta love the 80s. 

I am off to find my old cassette player!

Requesting a Song on the Radio: not only did we listen to the radio a lot, but did you ever DEDICATE a song to someone? I did and then we sat in front of the radio forever waiting for it to air. I think the only time I did it, it was the song So Happy Together by the Turtles and it had nothing to do with me liking or being with the person, I just liked the song and thought it was so cool to hear my and my friend's name out loud where anyone could hear it (seems pretty tame now with all of the social media though)! 

Did you do any of these things? What things from your childhood do your friends or your kids think are ridiculous or funny? 

6.05.2023

Looking Back

As I mentioned last week, Memorial Day weekend normally kicks off "summer" in these parts. It means we can start swimming a little, even if the water is frigid and it marks the beginning of camping and hiking season. This year we had a very high snowpack and some parts of the Sierra have over 10 feet of snow still, but this did not stop me from getting outside anyway. Here are some of the highlights. 

Memorial Day weekend, I went to Yosemite for a few days of backpacking. Basically depending on what way the hill was facing and whether or not there was tree cover, there was snow from about 6,000 feet in some places or as high as 8,000 in others. Additionally there were a lot of downed trees due to either the recent fires and or the snowpack causing them to fall. The cherry on top was the creeks and rivers, which are all swelled up three or four or more times their normal size. This meant altering my route several times, but did not detract from the beauty of the region. 

Panoramic Trail view of Half Dome

Top of Nevada Falls

Sunrise on Half Dome

Merced River

Snowy Trail

Four Mile trail - view of Half Dome

Four Mile Trail - view of Yosemite Falls

Four Mile Trail - view of El Capitan

Last weekend was my Dad's birthday and I met up with my family to do some regular camping, hiking and a couple of rounds of Spades. We met near Mt. Shasta, in an area called Castle Crags. I have driven by this a bunch of times and have even hiked near it, but I did not know that you can hike right into the middle of it and it is really beautiful! It was quite hot though, probably over 90 degrees and we wanted to go swimming, but the Sacramento (and all of the rivers) river is still flowing a bit too fast for our liking. 

Mom and Dad looking at the Crags

Crag Dome and Mt. Shasta

Dad nearly at the top of the Crag Dome trail

View from the top (with Mt. Shasta)

What did you do this weekend? Is it hot where you are? Have you gone swimming yet this season? 

4.03.2023

Looking Back: Purging Progress Report Q1

I am a big fan of accountability. People who say that they are going to do something and then don't do it really get my goat. This can be a meetup, a big project, or even something as simple as (and this is a real example) picking up pastries for a client meeting. In this case the person attending the meeting said he was going to bring the client pastries. I spoke to the client before the meeting and talked up these pastries and then the person going to the meeting did not take the time to stop and get them after saying that he was going to, so now I look like I am not accountable. 

Listen, I don't live under a rock; I realize that stuff happens and sometimes we get waylaid, we get stuck in traffic or our priorities change. I am a realist; I get this. However, being a realist, I also try not to overpromise and underdeliver. In fact, I will often say no if I am unsure if I will be able to commit, which may make me a glass half full person in the eyes of some, but I guess I would rather disappoint people in the front end than at the last minute.

All of that blather is a lead in to my main point which is that earlier this year I talked about doing some purging and since we are now one quarter into this year, I am going to be accountable by doing a quick progress check and update. My three areas I wanted to work on for the first three months of they year were paperwork and files, go bag and kitchen/fridge/freezer. 

Paperwork and Files: The goal here was to throw away and/or reorganize old hard copy files and to update and organize my yearly electronic spreadsheets (address list, money pie list, account list etc.) Note that this gets less hard copy and more electronic as each year goes by, but I do still have hard copies of some of my home, car and medical related paperwork as well as some tax and financial items. 

How am I doing? Good! I did all of this and even went through some of my memento boxes where I keep old holiday cards and stuff and threw a lot of those away. I had a good time reliving some memories and in some cases only shuffled things around and then ended up keeping them anyway, but I do think that each year when I go through this kind of stuff I pare it down more and more. I used to keep all thank you notes and I finally threw them away after reading them one last time and taking a quick photo of any that were really sweet. I am really trying to adhere more to the "touch once" principal where instead of moving an item somewhere just to move it somewhere else, cut out the middle man and just put it where it is going to be for good (which is often the trash can!)

I love this card! (I did throw it away though)

What is next? I still have a lot of memento boxes (these are my Achilles heel), some of which are in the garage, and I need to go through them and either put them in an album or throw them away. They are not doing me any good in a box and speaking of the touch once principal, it is probably time for the final touch for some of these items. Also an extension to this category is electronic files, which I need to tidy up. For some reason before I had the cloud for photos, I saved them in several places (!) and I need to cull the duplicates. Unfortunately they do not have the same file name and so it is not as simple as just sorting and culling. I also have an ongoing task of unsubscribing and culling emails, which is something I do a few times each month. 

Go Bag: The goal here is to make sure all of the items, documents and information in my go bag are current and updated.

How am I doing? Good! This go bag is twofold - one is emergency supplies like food, candles, flashlight, etc. and the other is important docs like my passport, birth certificate, deed to my house etc. I also keep a list of all of my accounts in this folder so that if I have to leave in a hurry I will have everything in one place (this also doubles as my death list, which I will talk about in a later post). Most of this stuff is also electronic, but I do like to keep a hard copy as a backup. I updated all of the food that was close to expiration and made sure all of my batteries were in good shape and updated my folder, so I am all good here. I also started up my generator and charged my Caterpillar supercharger thingy so that they are ready if I need them. I hope that I never need to use any of this stuff, but I think it is good to be prepared just in case. (P.S. I could write an entire post about the Cat charger - it is awesome.)

What is next? The generator and Cat charger need to be started and charged once per quarter, but the other stuff is pretty much good to go unless there are any major changes. 

Kitchen/Fridge/Freezer: This involves throwing away expired items, and eating things in the freezer rather than buying more. One of my traits (faults? habits?) is that I do like to have a few extra cans of olives (or beans or tomatoes or...) laying around just in case I feel using them (I am not a fan of going to the store after I have run out; I would rather go before I need the item) so I have amassed a pretty good backup of certain items. I also like to purchase things when they are on sale rather than when I need them when I would have to pay a premium, but it is a delicate balance between being a smart shopper and being a hoarder. I am working on being more of the former than the latter! 

No more room! (Also, clearly I need to use more butter)

How am I doing? Good! In the first three months of the year, I spent approximately $575 on groceries and used up a lot of cans of olives! I cleaned out the fridge and freezer and took stock of what I have so that I can better plan my meals and grocery shopping trips. I also finally used those frozen peaches from my tree and made peach cobbler and lots of baked peach oatmeal! However, I did do one Costco run for meat (which was about a third of my grocery spending for the quarter) and caved a couple of times and bought items like tortilla chips just because they were on sale.

What is next? I will continue to do light grocery shopping and will try to use up pantry and freezer items for the next three months. I still have a lot of beans. One of my tasks for this quarter is also to go through my camping food and gear and prepare for summer trips, so I will take stock of the food I have (in a box in the garage) for that too and can probably consolidate some things. 

What is your take on accountability? How much do you spend on groceries each month? How are you doing on your goals so far this year? 

3.23.2023

3/23/23: The Trifecta Of Terrible

Today is a palindrome! I am a fan of these kinds of fun things with numbers and words. I know I have mentioned this before, but if you are not already playing Octowordle, I suggest you do it now. It does not have to be a wormhole; you can just play one game per day while concurrently keeping Alzheimer's at bay (hopefully). 

But that is not was I was going to talk about. Everyone has a pandemic story, and for many people the "three year anniversary" of their story just passed. I do not disagree that the 13th or the 16th of March were monumental days for most of us, myself included, but for me another day I will never forget was March 23rd. For those of you who don't know, I work in the finance industry. As you may remember, this was a difficult time in the stock markets. 

Here's a quick recap. The stock markets were doing well and were basically going up and up and up.  Then the decline started at the end of February, when the stories of COVID cases around the world started to increase and hit the news more and more. In the next four weeks, as news stories kept surfacing and cases kept rising, the stock market was halted four times. This happens when the index drops more than 7%, usually from it's previous day's close, and it causes the entire market to pause all trading for 15 minutes. I have only seen this happen a couple of times and it generally signifies something very bad; this can also happen with single name stocks, but that is not quite as worrying as the entire market shutting down. 

On March 9th, Italy went into lockdown, the markets took a dive and were subsequently halted, oil prices plunged, and Dr. Fauchi told cruisegoers that maybe they should rethink their vacations. On the afternoon of March 11th, I flew to New York City for work meetings and my friend's wedding, which was scheduled for Pi day (March 14th). My flight was nearly empty. By the time I left for the airport, the S&P 500 had dropped over 9%, WHO had declared COVID-19 a pandemic and Trump had suspended flights from Europe. 

Flight San Francisco to New York on March 11th

The next day in the office in Manhattan was not a pretty one; the markets were halted again and everyone was scrambling to figure out where this was going to go. I will not lie though, that evening I went for a work dinner, with hugs and no masks and shared appetizers. We just did not know what was coming. 

That evening, my friend texted to say that she was worried for me because they were shutting down restaurants in Brooklyn and that she and her fiancée were thinking of canceling their wedding. I was still skeptical and thought maybe she was overthinking things (she IS a worrier!), but I asked her to keep me posted. The next day, Friday the 13th, Trump declared the pandemic a national emergency (and the markets actually went up) and my firm stated that only essential business travel will be allowed. My worried friend told me they were canceling their wedding and I should get on the first flight out of there. 

I did what she said and left the next day (luckily my getting home WAS essential to my company!) I was in the office on Monday early as I usually am, when we got the word that people should all stay home and that the office would be closed, effective immediately. Since I was already there, I said I would stay and they let me. I am glad they did. I was not too worried about my health as I was alone in my own solo office so I did not feel unsafe, but also this day turned out to be even worse than the others; all three main indices dropped over 12% and were halted again that day and it would have been really hard to do my job not only from home but on a new system that was not even available to us before this day and so we had not practiced using! 

The week of March 16th was not awesome, and was full of stress and anxiety and yet another market halt, but the bottom of the markets came on....you guessed it, March 23rd! Of course we did not know it was the bottom; it was just another bad day in a string of bad days. But I will never forget this day; I will never forget this entire experience, but especially this day. In my time working in finance, or maybe in all of my career, this was the worst period I have ever experienced, both financially and emotionally. It was unpleasant and emotionally draining. Added to a world that was in the midst of a pandemic and going through this all while in lockdown, it was a trifecta of terrible. 

Screenshot taken on March 18th 2020

Photo sent to my parents at the end of the week of March 16th - yes, that's a pint glass.

I know that many people have kids and had to deal with that, or had to work and couldn't afford to stay home, AND had kids. I know that many people have loved ones who died. There are so many stories about coping and hardship and loss, and my story about people losing their money is not the worst of it. This entire period and beyond were horrible, as my grandma would say, and I am definitely not minimizing anybody else's horrible. This is just one story of many. 

What is your pandemic story? What part of the COVID-19 experience will you definitely never forget? What day or event sticks in your mind the most? 

Disclaimer: The information above is solely an opinion based my own personal experience. You do you. I am not a tax and/or financial advisor; nothing in this post should be taken as investment advice. I have no fiduciary responsibility to anyone reading this post. Please consult a financial advisor for investment advice.  Sources include ReutersThe Week and CNBCFor my other posts regarding money, go here

1.09.2023

Looking Back: 2022 Money Pie

Well jeez, it is that time of year again! Who wants a slice of money pie? As you know, I always do a debrief with myself at the end of each year (and a check in each quarter although I do not bore you with those details) to see where all my money has gone! You can find past years here.

In 2022, overall I spent about $1,000 more than my average per year. I will detail all of the categories below, but the main culprit this year aside from the obvious elephant (Home) was a combination of Dining Out, Entertainment and Travel. I do keep these separate, but I also like to see what they look like combined, as I consider these three categories discretionary versus necessary. I will discuss more about them in a few. 


Here are the categories in the order of largest percentage to smallest. 

Home: 63.7%. Not surprisingly, this category continues to lead the pack and this year's 63.7% was pretty much the same as last year's 64.1%. This category includes mortgage, utilities, taxes and insurance, as well as other misc. items, such as appliances, stuff from the hardware store, home improvement and furnishings. The bulk (73%) of this category consists of mortgage payments, partly because it is large, but I also contribute a little bit extra to my principal each month. 

I did do a few things around the house like fixing my furnace ($150) but nothing big (like last year's > $1,000 tree trimming). I think with this category, no matter what you do to cut costs, there is always something. This year, due to rising costs, my PG&E (electric and gas) bill was basically double last year's bill much of the time. 

Travel: 11.7%. This category includes airfare, car rental, lodging and any groceries, dining out or transportation incurred while traveling. Although most of my travel consisted of tent camping and eating my own meals, some of the other costs incurred during travel were quite expensive this year. I spent about $500 more on my international flight than I did in 2019 so it makes sense that airfare was about 36% of the travel expense (next highest was lodging at 25%)! 

Transportation: 7.2%. This includes Lyft/Uber, public transportation, car insurance, maintenance, registration, gas, tolls & parking. Although gas prices were through the roof this year, I actually spent about the same as I usually do in this category. I definitely spent less on public transportation because I had some credit left over from 2020 on my transit card, and I did not have to do any major car maintenance. 

Groceries: 5.3%. I guess we all have to eat and I definitely did not skimp in this category (however, my dining out category was basically nonexistent). My weakness is Costco; I cannot get out of there without spending at least $100 (and sometimes a lot more). However, their egg prices are still the best ones in town right now (about $12.00 for five dozen). But I never just buy eggs! 

Entertainment: 3.8%. This category usually includes music, theater, and running & camping expenses. This time I added cycling to the mix and I bought both a stationary bike and a mountain bike, so the bulk of the number is split between running (39%) and cycling (38%). Most of my running number is race fees (three races) and shoes (five pairs - when they are on sale, I stock up). 

Health: 3.5%. This category includes health insurance, out of pocket costs, massages, medicines and vitamins etc. I don't really pay many or any out of pocket fees that don't get reimbursed, but the premium each month is not super low. However, if I had to pay for my own insurance rather than group insurance, it would be about two to three times higher, so I am happy! 

Misc.: 2.4%. This category includes gifts, haircuts, fees for credit cards, tax prep software and education expenses. I only got one cheap haircut and did not pay for any education this year, so most of this was gifts! 

Shopping: 1.3%. This category includes toiletries, clothing, misc. home items & appliances, pet stuff, electronics and books. The majority of this went to the cat (flea treatment and litter ain't cheap!) and the next biggest expense was the bidet

Dining Out: 1.0%. This category includes eating out, coffee and booze. As you can see, it was my smallest category, which makes sense as I do not really eat out  much. The bulk of it was really two dinners where I treated, but otherwise, this category was tiny. 

However, don't be completely fooled, as I do categorize any dining out that is done on a vacation as "travel."  This is why I like to look at the combined categories of Dining Out, Travel and Entertainment to kind of gauge where I am with my fun spending items. If you look at them all together, they would constitute 16% of my overall spending. 

I also have two categories that I do not put on here since they are not actual money spent, but I do put some money aside for investments each year and some aside for savings. I think that it is very important to do both, even if the amount is minimal, and especially if you can do it before taxes. You can find more info in this post about how I feel about setting money aside. 

Do you do a yearly review of your finances? Do you have a budget? What is your biggest spending category? 

11.02.2022

Looking Back: Books

Well yes, hi. I do only write about books and nothing else these days. I have all of these grand plans to write about hiking trips and gear lists and life, but somehow this fell along the wayside a bit. It could partially be due to the fact that I have been experimenting with other forms of media a bit more, but I will talk more about that later. 

It could also be that I got a new job and have been a different kind of busy, but I will also talk about that at a different time; for now, lets talk books! 

In all of the books I read in the third quarter, here were my five favorites! 

Happy-Go-Lucky by David SedarisYou either love him or you hate him, and I love him. Which is funny because he is a bit snarky for my normal taste. But he picks up trash on the side of the road, and he sees funny in normal things. This is another book full of interesting stories about him and his family and it was a great one for a long hike, which is when I listened to it. I am actually going to see him in a few weeks and I am really looking forward to it. 

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus: This was such a fun story of a woman chemist in the 1960s who leaves her job and goes to work as a cooking show TV host. Of course she wants to teach people the science behind the recipes, but her male boss does not concur. It is a bit silly, but was a fun and quick and entertaining read. 

Hell or High Water: Surviving Tibet's Tsangpo River by Peter Heller: I really enjoyed Heller's book The River which was about a fictional rafting trip in Northern Canada gone awry, so I thought this would be more of the same. However it is actually a true story about an elite kayaking team's attempt to conquer a never-before-conquered section of the Tsangpo River in Tibet. They have many an challenge, including fights with porters, death defying rapids and impenetrable passes and it makes for an intriguing story. 

Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach: A book about a teenage girl who loses her sister in a horrible car accident, and then struggles with the grief of it. To make things worse, the only person she feels a connection to is the sister's boyfriend who was driving the car when it crashed. It is a story of emotional struggle but still manages to not get too maudlin while still sparking interest. 

These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett: I really love Patchett's writing style and especially her personal essays. She makes you feel like you are sitting right next to her in her living room listening to her stories. My favorite story was one during COVID where she befriends the assistant of Tom Hanks and invites her to stay at her house during the pandemic, striking up an interesting friendship. 

And that was five. 

What was your favorite read over the last few months? Do you prefer fiction or nonfiction? 

7.01.2022

Looking Back: Books

Another day, another dollar; another quarter, another book list. Hopefully as you are reading this, you are about to go and sip a margarita, or lounge in the pool, or are getting ready for a summer trip. 

This quarter I read a lot more than last quarter, because I spent a lot of time listening to audiobooks. I listen to them while doing my grocery shopping, working in the yard, driving, hiking, working around the house and running. Of all of the books that I have read so far this year, approximately 80% of them have been audiobooks. I have also asked one of my good friend's daughters, who is 12, to recommend books to me. So far, she has recommended Ground Zero (I loved it; it is also by the author of The Refuge) and the Tales of Despereaux (very fun). If you have a 12 year old, they may like these books too!  

I do have a couple of book related goals this year and so far, I am not doing very well! I wanted to read and get rid of 12 books (one per month) from my bookshelf. I have been doing a lot of purging lately, but for some reason, those books seem like grey hairs; even though I am not buying more, they keep seemingly multiplying! I have read one book so far from my own shelf. I also wanted to read a book in Spanish. I did this in 2020 (Harry Potter y La Piedra Filosofal -- #1) and I really enjoyed it, and I learned some weird words like wand and owl to boot. In 2020 I set 10 minutes aside each day to do that and some days I couldn't put it down. I am about one chapter into my Spanish book so far for this year (Auggie y Yo). Total fail. 

I am going to keep this quarter's list to my top six books. 

Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe: this book details the rise of the Sackler family, who are the makers of oxycontin, and are one of the richest families in the world. It's a tale of big pharma and the opioid crisis and I couldn't put it down. 

The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn: I haven't met a Kate Quinn book I haven't liked. This time she tells a story of WWII from a Russian woman's point of view. The main character is a librarian and a mother who ends up having to go out and fight and she becomes one of the most feared snipers of her time, with a nickname of Lady Death. I like how Quinn takes a true story and makes it into something entertaining and enlightening. 

Blindness by Jose Saramago: I wanted to not like this book but it brought up a lot of emotions and that is the sign of a good writer! I gave it 4.5 rounded up to 5 for the fact that it made me contemplate my existence over and over. It was disgusting, disturbing and scary. It paralleled some of the feelings I had during the pandemic lockdown. It made me feel hateful about humanity but also made me feel fond of people and grateful for human connection. It was a cross between The Lord of the Flies and the Walking Dead and the Great Influenza. Although it grossed me out, I couldn't stop reading. 

Think Again by Adam Grant: this book explores the idea of changing, or rethinking things that you have been doing one way for a long time. Of course, like many, I sometimes get set in my ways or struggle with change and he brings up a lot of good points regarding why a new point of view or way of going about something can be an asset rather than a burden. 

The Guncle by Stephen Rowley: this is a fun and light book about a heavy situation. When Patrick's sister dies, he takes the kids for the summer. He is a single man, not used to caring for young children, but he learns a lot about life and love over the course of a few months. 

State of Terror by Louise Penny and Hillary Clinton: who doesn't love a book about international terror and possible world domination? When a terror group threatens the world, the US secretary of state has to try to save the day. There are a lot of parallels with a certain administration and it brings some amusement to an otherwise serious situation. 

Some others I liked were: One, Two, Three (corruption, greed and love), Notes on an Execution (murder), This is How They Tell Me The World Ends (cybersecurity), Dopesick (opioid epidemic) & The Paris Apartment (murder). 

What are you reading right now? What has your favorite book been so far the year? 

4.01.2022

Looking Back: Books

After spending a lot of time reading in my backyard in 2020, the last year and change has felt like I have not really read very much. Of course, on a relative value scale that is not really fair; it's almost like comparing the price of the stock market now to March 23, 2020 and saying that the price has gone up a lot. I am still reading a lot just not as much as 2020! 

For the first quarter of 2022, I abandoned four books already (Cloud Cuckoo Land, Furiously Happy, The Man Who Ate Too Much and The House on Vesper Strands). All of them were audiobooks, so maybe it was a concentration or situation issue, but I gave all of them up before I even got half way. However, for every high there is a low etc. and there have been quite a few good ones as well! Here are some of my favorites from the last three months. 

Pony by R.J. Palacio: This is a YA novel by the author of Wonder. She creates characters that you can't help but love and sprinkles in a little adventure and some of the trials of growing up (in Wonder she tackles being disfigured and in Pony we meet the main character's invisible friend). I want to read more of her books! 

Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting by Lisa Genova: If you have not read any of her books, you need to do it now. Genova has a PhD in neurology and writes about neurological diseases. I really enjoyed her book Still Alice, which is about early onset Alzheimer's. Her subjects are heartbreaking but fascinating at the same time. In Remember, she talks about how the brain stores memories and she reassures us the when we forget where we put our keys it may not be a slide into old age; we likely are just not paying attention! I have not read a book of hers yet that I do not like. 

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner: This was a very touching book about a woman in her twenties who loses her mother to cancer. She speaks of her mother's strength and how seeing this wane affected her. Upon finding about her mother's diagnosis, she begins to get in touch with her heritage and figure out more about her own identity overall. 

The Man Who Died Twice (Thursday Murder Club, #2) by Richard Osman: The four octogenarians from the Thursday Murder Club are at it again, they are off to solve a murder while simultaneously being helpful and thwarting the authorities. You never know what they might do. However, in the end, they get the job done but not without a lot of adventures along the way. 

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller: This book begins with a married woman with three kids cheating on her husband with a long time friend. The remainder of the book speaks to her struggle of what to do with her mixed feelings. It flashes back and forth and gives us some insight into her long time relationship with her friend, some of the trials they went through together and how this led to the subsequent relationship with her husband. 

Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan: I listened to this as an audio book and I enjoyed hearing the jokes in the author's own voice. It was a good mix of him making fun of himself for loving food, and some interesting observations about food. For example, he questions why a shiny orange piece of plasticy food became "American cheese." This book made me laugh out loud while running, like when he talks about being so full he couldn't button his pants, so he decided to have some cheese as a snack and when he realized he didn't really like it, he decided to finish it. I have been there! 

A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins: By the author of A Girl on The Train, this is yet another murder mystery by Hawkins. However, she does well developing her characters and this book was no exception. We meet the murdered man's strange ex-lover who has a criminal background, his uptight aunt with a bone to pick and the kooky boat neighbor, and we are kept guessing as to whether it was one of them who offed him or not. 

Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell: A young woman disappears in a small neighborhood and fingers start pointing at who done it. Was it the creepy 30 year old "kid" who lives with his aunt and visits strange internet forums? Was it the young woman's therapist, who is not quite as perfect as we once believed? You tell me! I mean, who doesn't love a thriller? 

The Last Widow (Will Trent, #9) by Karin Slaughter: Speaking of thrillers, here is another one! I have enjoyed the entertainment that this author has brought me over the years. The particular one is about a CDC employee who goes missing and a month later a bomb goes off near a hospital. Are the two things linked? And why? We will soon find out! This is a detective series where Will Trent and his partner Sara, a medical examiner, team up to save the day. Or will they? 

Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive by Stephanie Land: College plans go out the window fast when the author finds herself unexpectedly pregnant. She tries to make it work with the father but eventually moves out and attempts to make a life for herself and her young daughter by cleaning houses. She tells her story from the point of the maid, whom for some people is invisible, while others are friendly toward her and even go out of their way to be kind. 

The Bohemians by Jasmin Darznik: This book talks about the famous photographer Dorothea Lange and her move to the city of San Francisco back in the early 1900s. She starts off as a naïve girl and gets hardened through the people she meets, and the things she experiences, most notably the depression. 

Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams: The main character, Ruth, has not seen her twin sister in years, since her twin disappeared behind the iron curtain to Russia with her husband and children. Then out of the blue, she gets a postcard from her sister asking her to come and visit. She teams up with a counterintelligence agent and goes to Russia to get her sister out of trouble and finds adventures she never expected. 

The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard: When Eve was 12 her parents and sister were murdered. Now she is older and she decides to write a book about it. The killer reads the book and thinks maybe he should finish what he started. It's a little strange as it's a story in a story, but in the end I was very satisfied with the way it wrapped up. 

Out of the thirteen books above, four are non-fiction, and yes, I am counting the Gaffigan book! Eleven were audio books, as I am not feeling as motivated to read when I am home in the evenings as I have been in the past. 

What has been your favorite book so far this year?