I can’t believe the first month of the year is officially over. As for the title of this post, it is very literal. I really did get a brand new vision this month. After years of thinking about it, I finally got LASIK surgery!

LASIK Experience

I opted for Contoura Vision LASIK which is a newer technology that I was a candidate for. I’ve been having a harder time using contacts especially with allergies and dryness making my eyes itchy. WIth my -7.00 and -6.00 prescription though, it had always been either contacts or glasses for me for the past 20 years. 

My optometrist had been recommending LASIK for a couple of years now because she knows I’ve been interested since I graduated high school. She recommended I wait until I finish school, but since then I’ve just been a bit afraid of fixing something that wasn’t quite “broken”.

It’s my eyesight after all and I was afraid to mess with it. But a lot of factors finally convinced me. One was knowing that LASIK has now been around for decades and continues to have a high satisfaction rate (fun fact: officially no record of blindness has ever occurred as a direct result of the LASIK procedure itself). The second was of course the recommendation of my optometrist who I fully trust and have seen since high school and the testimonies of my friends who have gotten LASIK and loved it.

I’m glad to say I went with my optometrist’s recommended surgeon who she says is on the conservative side and would not recommend the surgery if it was risky.

So far, the result has been amazing! I was 20/20 at my one-day post-op. And even after my surgery, I didn’t feel the pain or discomfort that they said I may feel because I was fortunately able to sleep most of the day. I took the Valium they sent me home with. Then after waking up after only 2 or so hours, I tried to sleep again until dinnertime. Then to not take any risk, I took Melatonin to sleep through the rest of the night. 

I honestly have never taken this many medications in one day but I wanted to ensure I could heal properly by sleeping.

Prior to the procedure that day they also gave me Xanax to relax which quite frankly didn’t make me feel any more relaxed. I have to say this was the first time I had ever taken any benzodiazepines (Xanax and Valium) and I was quite disappointed with their performance.

After some of the crazy experiences I had to deal with at retail pharmacy with patients trying to get early fills or feigning lost medication to get these drugs, I had higher expectations. 😅

Tax Return

This month I tried to get a head start by starting my tax returns online (which I haven’t submitted yet).

I tax-loss harvested a $2,340 “loss” which got me back a tax return saving of $780. Darn, I could’ve gotten at least $100 more had I waited for a better timing to be able to harvest a full $3,000 instead of being too anxious. Lesson learned. Now I know how profitable tax-loss harvesting can be.

I was also able to deduct the max mortgage interest rate of $10k. I paid just a bit over $10k in mortgage interest this year which meant I was able to take full advantage of that. Instead of going with standard deduction, I’ll be itemizing.

For the first time in a couple years, I’ll actually get some tax return back and it’s not a small amount! I’ll be getting over $3k back which is such a vast difference from having to pay almost $2k in taxes for the last few years.

I am actually debating between filing with TurboTax or going with a CPA as it’s my first time as a homeowner. I’d like to be able to find someone who not only would be able to prepare this year’s tax return but also give recommendations for future years. The downside of course is the extra cost (I’m estimating ~$300-$500) for itemized tax return with a CPA vs ~$100 with TurboTax.

January Budget

Fixed Spending

Streaming Services – I got $4 back from the overpayment I made last month due to Hulu’s increase in price, otherwise no changes to fixed spending.

Variable Spending

Utilities – On budget for my gas and electricity bill this month.

Gas – On budget. Drove out of town for New Years which is where the majority of the gas bill came from. 

Entertainment/dining out – I cashed in ~$1000 from my Venmo account that’s been lingering so I decided to zero out my entertainment and dining out balance for this month to even it out. It’s a lazy method rather than having to itemize everything but really that’s where my Venmo balance comes from – shared restaurant/entertainment expenses that people paid me back on.

Groceries –  Minimal groceries spending. My mom really took on the majority of grocery costs this month. I know it’s her unofficial way of helping out for living rent free with me, similar to what I did when I was living with her.

Shopping – Under budget. Just picked up some personal care items.

Travel – Final payment for the cruise that I’m going to in the Spring of 2023 was due. Since I did the booking I paid for everything first. I trust the friend I’m going with and know that she’ll pay her share when the time comes so I’m not too concerned about charging her portion of the trip now especially as I know more excursion bookings will still need to be made.

Miscellaneous

LASIK – As soon as I decided to get LASIK, I knew it was the perfect time to apply for a new Capital One Venture card which comes with an opening bonus worth $750 after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months. 

The card came with a $95 annual fee which I don’t mind as it also reimburses the cost of a Global Entry Application (worth $100) so I say that evens it out.

January was honestly a very productive month as I was able to snag an appointment spot (usually it takes ~6 months to get a Global Entry appointment) and have already received my Global Entry card just one month after my initial application. 

I don’t plan on keeping this credit card long term though. I already have one annual fee card – my Chase Sapphire Preferred card and do not plan on adding this on. Depending on when the bonus hits, I hope to be able to use the points right away to book the flight to my cruise in the spring of this year. 

Then I’d like to either close it or downgrade it. The downgrade option may be hard as I already have a Venture One card (the no annual fee version of the Venture card) so I don’t know what other downgrade options I may have. 

Investments/Savings

I’m focused on putting most of my pre-taxed salary to maxing out my 401k so minimal take home pay at this moment to invest in Roth IRA or brokerage account.

I was shocked to see that my main checking account only had $1000 at the end of this month which wouldn’t cover next month’s expenses meaning I was spending way more than I was making.

I ended up pulling from my savings which is not ideal. It does worry me that this year will be the first year (of many years) I’ll be stuck with mortgage payments for the full year as opposed to last year when I only spent half the year.

Based on my previous year’s spending, I’m projecting that more than half of this year’s spending will be on mortgage/HOA payments.

I am still aiming to at least invest $32,850 by maxing out 401k, HSA, and Roth IRA contributions this year. But outside of that, I am not as confident that I’ll be able to invest as much to my brokerage account as I did last year.

Student Debt

Student debt paid this month: $880.77

Student debt remaining: $25,820.16

Here are all my previous student debt statements.

No updates on loan forgiveness yet so I’m still leaving my federal loans alone. So I’m just continuing to make the minimum payment to my private loan.

Goals for Next Month

I really want to do some re-calculation on my FI number. The last time I made my FI goal was years ago and it was based on a very minimal $25k/year spending and not owning a home.

A lot has changed since. $25k wouldn’t even cover my current housing expenses.

Ideally during retirement, I’d be able to take advantage of geo-arbitrage. I’d be renting out my house for more than what I currently pay in mortgage + HOA and use the extra rental income to cover the cost of my housing in wherever LCOL place I’d be staying.

In this ideal situation, I do think it’s very possible to keep my $25k/year spending and my FI number of $625,000.

On the opposite end of that spectrum, if I keep my current housing cost, I’m looking closer to $60k/year spending which means I’ll need $1.5 mil to FIRE.

As you can see there is a huge difference between saving $625,000 and $1.5 mil and this has really given me a lot to think about…