I’m super late for my October updates, because I’ve been busy since the start of this month. First, right after coming back from my Europe trip, I went straight back to work. 

It was a lot of catching up at work especially as my PTO was back to back with my manager’s PTO. So not only was I catching up, I also had extra work as her back up. 

On top of that, my friend really wanted to go on a Thanksgiving trip and I felt bad if I said no as she was the friend I was originally planning to go to Europe with and plans didn’t work out. I also still have quite a bit of PTO leftover for this year so I said yes. 

I wasn’t as excited for this trip as others as I had just come back from a pretty jam-packed one. It really feels like I’m just barely coming home from one trip and already planning another one.

I think I’ve also gained the reputation that when it comes to trips, I’m the one that will do the preparation since on our last trip together I took the lead.

To be honest, I don’t mind it since I do like to be prepared and know in general what we plan to do even on vacation. My pet peeve is having only a small amount of time at a place and spending hours just searching for what to do next.

So while I don’t mind if plans change, I like to have a good idea of what the possibilities of things we can do in the area are so we don’t waste precious vacation time.

The nice thing about being the one to create the itinerary is that I know they are things I will enjoy but I would have loved it if my friend had helped out a bit more this time.

I ended up taking charge of searching for flights and booking the hotels ASAP as I knew the prices would only go up the longer we waited. I also ended up booking the transportation to get to our hotel and booking one of the tours already as it makes me anxious to leave it all up to the last minute.

I was going to continue doing more research today but I think I’m just going to stop there. I have a tendency of FOMO when it comes to planning activities on vacation to ensure we don’t miss anything. 

And that of course comes from past traumas from my many road trips where I didn’t research an area enough and realized in hindsight that we passed by a place that would have made for a nice stop.

But it’s the end of the year and I’m feeling pretty burnt out. I am especially feeling more anxiety than ever before which comes in waves and something that I’ve always dealt with but I’m just having a higher level this time around.

For all those reasons, I figured I would leave my last day of vacation free to just relax rather than planning an excursion.

October Budget

Fixed Spending

No changes in the fixed category. Everything is stable now.

Variable Spending

Utilities – My quarterly trash bill was due this month hence the over budget.

Gas – I was pretty busy even before I went on the Europe trip. I had two weddings to attend and one was out of town hence the extra gas cost.

Entertainment/dining out – I barely cooked this month even before my trip and of course only dined out during my trip.

Groceries – Pretty low for the above reasons.

Shopping – Includes shopping during the trip. 

Travel – I’ve decided to make travel a part of my regular variable spending since realizing I’ve had a travel item on my budget for 8 of the last 11 months of this year. 

I broke down my travel spending on my trip recap already so I won’t go further into it.

Miscellaneous

Facial – I’ve never had a facial before and was always curious about one. I thought it was the perfect time to try it before my friend’s wedding. It was definitely pricey. Would I do it again? Probably not for a while. I definitely think for the work that was done, it was worth the money but I don’t think there’s a noticeable long term improvement to my skin.

Property Tax – Another welcome to home ownership in the form of twice a year property tax.

Other – miscellaneous items for my mom and the family dog.

Investments

After last month’s giant contribution, I did not add anything to my investment account in October.

Student Debt

Student debt paid this month: $880.77

Student debt remaining: $28,334.97

Here are all my previous student debt statements.

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

Goals for Next Month

Whenever I come back from travel, I just can’t help but dream about the day I can quit my job.

I still think my dream of $300k net worth by the end of the year is dashed although the market seems to be making a recovery. I’ve at least made my way back to $250k net worth so at the very least I’m hoping for that to stay.

Otherwise, I’m just hoping to make it through this holiday season. It doesn’t help that my coworker invited me to Friendsgiving with some of our coworkers. The holiday season certainly is no friend of my social anxiety but I said yes since I’ve yet to meet anyone from the company since I joined and just for the sake of building a good rapport, I don’t want to seem like a recluse (even though I totally feel and probably act like one already to them).