I’ve gone absolutely crazy with work this month. 2022 welcomed me with a very rare opportunity to work overtime in January with overtime pay. 

As a salaried employee, overtime pay is very rare. So I took this opportunity and ran with it.

With no limit to the amount of overtime I was allowed to do, I worked 70+ hours per week for the entire month of January. I’ve only taken two days off this entire month! The things I do for money…

For my own sanity I hope the overtime opportunity goes away in February for the sake of my mental and physical health.

I’d like to think that I’m doing all this overtime because I know this opportunity is rare in my world of salary pay. But I’d rather not think about what I would do if the opportunity presented itself over a longer period of time?

I keep telling myself that I don’t want to regret not taking advantage of this opportunity that’s only going to last this month.  

Update: overtime opportunity staying through February. I’ll likely cap myself at 65 hours/week.

As I was finishing up my yearly spreadsheet for 2021, I was disappointed in realizing that since I’m no longer working my per-diem old job in 2022, I would be making less money this year. Well, disappointed no more! With the crazy extra hours I put in this month (and will put in next month), I am on my way to at least match my 2021 earnings.

January Budget

Fixed Spending

My parents and I agreed that I would postpone any monthly payments to them while I am in the midst of the home-buying process. I will instead continue to save up and resume payments once the home-buying process is complete.

Other than that, my cell phone bill and Netflix make up the rest of my fixed spending.

Variable Spending

Gas – $0! As if I needed any more reminder that I did nothing but stay at home and work this whole month.

Entertainment/dining out – Two restaurant outings make up this $112 spending. Inflation and living in a HCOL city really takes a toll on spending.

Groceries – on budget.

Shopping – Bought a new Garmin watch that was luckily on sale just as my current watch was on its last life! I used an Amazon gift card which offset part of the cost. I’ve been holding off on this purchase for a while so I’m super excited to start using it. I’ll consider it my reward for working so hard this month.

Miscellaneous

Hotel – I’m planning a trip with my mom in February. This is only one of the two hotels we’ll be staying at so expect more travel expenses in February.

Savings

I maxed out my Roth IRA this month! I didn’t realize how traumatized I was by last year’s late contribution to my investment accounts. With the downturn in the market this month, I figured it was as good a time as ever to max out my Roth IRA contribution. Plus, with the extra money I was making this month, it worked out well so that I didn’t have to feel the “loss” of money going to my Roth IRA account. 

I’ve also made the change to contribute 50% of my salary to my 401k effective next month in hope of maxing out my 401k mid-year.

Student Debt

Student debt paid this month: $880.77

Student debt remaining: $35,797.04

Business as usual on the student debt side. Just continuing with my minimum payments to my private loan. I’m also continuing to take advantage of the COVID-19 forbearance.

Currently, the forbearance is set to end in May, but we’ll see closer to the date whether another extension will pop up. My goal is still to pay this off prior to the end of forbearance to finally get rid of my Nelnet loan once and for all!

I house every month’s debt progress from the very beginning here if you want to check out the progress so far. 

Home Updates

I knew it was best not to get my hopes up anymore on my closing date. The current expectation for my closing date is now May, so I’m going to expect Summer 2022 knowing there is always a delay.

This is why I am hoping to aggressively contribute to my 401k in the first half of the year so that I’ll have the extra take-home pay for home expenses when I do finally get to move in.

Until then, I’m just crossing my fingers that the interest rate won’t hike up too much.

Goals for Next Month

So in my no-life nights when I’m winding down from work and laying in bed ready for the next day’s battle, I’ve gotten into the world of dividend income! And boy I feel like I’ve been missing out! In his Early Retirement Blueprint, this point that Jason made regarding the safe withdrawal rate really struck out to me:

“If I have 100 shares of a wonderful business, why would I want to slowly sell off shares? Why would I want only 95 shares next year? 90 shares the following year? All the way to the point where I potentially have zero shares?

I prefer a different approach: dividend growth investing.”

–Dividends & Income

Not saying I’m ready to completely throw away my approach to FIRE, but I do think I should educate myself more on dividend investing. So my plan for February is to dive into that world a bit more.