Goodbye 2022, hello 2023! This post will be a short one as I plan to do an in-depth 2022 Year In Review.

December was fairly low-key. I didn’t have any big family gatherings this year so it was a pretty relaxing month. I was biting my nails to see how the market would end this year and if I would hit any net worth goals. I’ll keep the suspense going until my next post!

December Budget

Fixed Spending

I went over-budget on my Streaming Services category because I didn’t realize Hulu increased their subscription price! It was my fault though as I know I saw (and proceeded to ignore) the email reminding me of this price increase a month or so ago. 

I quickly rectified the situation by moving myself down into the lowest tier once again. The charge already happened this month, but I should be getting a prorated $5 back next month.

Variable Spending

Utilities – The mother of all presents. My water bill finally came! I mentioned previously that for the past half a year, my entire neighborhood hadn’t received any water bills as we were a new construction community. Well, it finally came and we were charged from the day of our closing.

Apparently they had to do some kind of “estimate” and we are likely to get some money back based on this overestimation when our HOA takes over. 

Gas – Under budget. I had a pretty chill December, mostly relaxing at home so minimal driving.

Entertainment/dining out – I paid for parking to a Christmas festival. It’s little things like this that make me realize how far I’ve come along. A few years ago, I wouldn’t even dare think of buying pre-paid parking for convenience. I’d rather drive around 30 mins looking for parking to save the money. Now I’ve come to a place in my life where I value my time more.

Groceries –  I ate more meals at home this month hence the higher grocery bill.

Shopping – No personal shopping for myself this month!

Travel – I paid the deposit on a cruise that I’m planning for Spring of 2023 🙂

Miscellaneous

Gift – self-explanatory being that it’s December. Minimal gifting as no big family gatherings this year and we have a mostly no-gifting tradition between my immediate family.

Auto Insurance & License Renewal: I forget every year that my auto insurance premium is due in December. On top of that, I also had to renew my driver’s license.

Investments

I did one more tax-loss harvesting before the end of the year and invested the last bit of extra money I had in my checking account to close out the year.

I’ve been running the numbers on my investment accounts and have got a lot of insights to share on my year-end review.

Student Debt

Student debt paid this month: $880.77

Student debt remaining: $26,659.96

Here are all my previous student debt statements.

No updates on loan forgiveness yet so I’m still leaving my federal loans alone. 

I will officially end 2022 with $26,659.96 in student loan debt. My federal loan forgiveness application was accepted and I qualified, but I’m not holding out any hope at this time. If it happens, great. If it doesn’t, I never expected it anyways.

Goals for Next Month

Leaving this alone as I plan to include my goals for next year instead for my next post!