Or alternatively – FIND YOUR BASELINE

COVID is once again putting a strain on the world with something happening nearly everywhere like curfew, border lockdowns, restaurant restrictions, and even messing with store hours! Besides the secondary effects, more cases means a much higher chance of infection for everyone around to include you and me. My wife, for example, just recovered from COVID herself this past weekend and during the time she was sick, we ultimately had to spend upwards of three weeks in isolation from the world where we were not allowed to leave the house. Thankfully we had an awesome support system that was able to deliver us food, medicine, and anything else we needed, but boy was it a tough time for me who was fortunate enough NOT to catch it by the end.

Believe me, as much fun as it may sound like to do nothing for 3 weeks, there are only so many things to do within the four walls you call home if you’re not prepared for it. I worked on more unpacking/organizing, played some video games, worked on a few hobbies, and even went down the rabbit hole to watch just about every b-rated movie that was relevant to my interests, and still had a week to go…

Of course, the point of this blog is primarily finances, so I’ll switch over to that subject before wrapping up with more life musings.

As someone who missed the first COVID wave due to a deployment, it was staggering to see that even in the home environment how little spending was actually needed to survive.
$0 in gas
$0 in travel
$0 in souvenirs
$0 in restaurants
$0 in car payments since all of our cars are paid off – or alternatively, $0 in car repairs.
All we had was a slight uptick of our utilities since we were at home 24/7, a slight uptick in groceries, the rent for the house, and of course the insurance costs for our cars (which are not really required to survive, but of course we need to keep them for work) as our only expenses.

Because we had more time, I was able to experiment more with meals, bringing some new staples to our house recipes we’ll be using in the future so we don’t get too bored from eating at home, further reducing our “I don’t feel like cooking because I’m bored of the stuff we make, let’s go get dinner somewhere instead” whims.

Due to the above, nearly my entire paycheck this month went in my pocket and into various investments.

Now, I definitely do not mean that everyone should live a nomadic/hermit lifestyle where all you do is scrape by to survive, but this was simply a great reference point to actually gauge the hedonistic treadmill just about all of us are on to some degree. While I often hypothesize a basic budget on what I need from past data, I usually add arbitrary spending and thoughts like “hmm, yeah I guess I spend $XX/mo on booze, and I will probably need to spend $YY on these hobbies” but this “exercise” was much more definitive and showed the actual baseline of my spending habits.

This baseline is just that – a baseline. What you TRULY NEED vs the various WANTS we have in life.

Coincidentally, after being at home for 3 weeks straight with a dog, the constant cleaning and sweeping led us to WANT a Roomba. Now, since time is again precious due to having work hour requirements, we will be purchasing one within the next couple of weeks.

Furthermore, I also was able to pin point things that make me happy, as I had plenty of time to self-reflect and see how staying at home really is. There are a lot of things that I SUSPECTED I needed, but now there is a definite list of things that I KNOW I need for fulfilment.

I know that video games and the few indoor hobbies I have now is not enough, but I know they are things I enjoy. The first day off quarantine, I went on an impromptu photo shoot of my friend’s new car and finished it off with a spirited drive through the mountains and enjoyed every second. I look at the alps now and see that we finally got some snow this morning, which means I’ll be able to go out and do some runs on my board any day now. I know that our dog was absolutely a god send during this time for both me and my wife to get some companionship (as we were unable to hang out together due to trying [and succeeding] to not get me sick) so I will always want at least one in my life as long as I can give them a good life. I know that I want to start getting my miniature models I picked up last year painted and was able to dig them out, so I’m sure I will find time to start doing that soon as well. I know that I am interested in wood working and have always enjoyed doing it when I get the chance to, so I am making a budget to build a shop once I get back to the states and/or find a permanent place to live. I know that traveling and experiencing food brings my wife and I great joy and is something we missed during those three weeks, so we will definitely keep allotting money to that budget. I also know that I still very much enjoy beer and scotch, so that budget remains unchanged as well!

I also know that some of these hobbies are not the cheapest, and I am not the kind of guy that wants the minimums. I always aim for the price point that will get me the best return. This means that my current camera setup costs more than some peoples cars, but this gives me much better pictures than my old setup which also allows me more creative freedom while editing, and much better results out of the box. While I know I do not need a Ferrari since I do not have the skills or the roads allowed to me to push it to the limit, I will not be satisfied with a base Corolla. I already know that I will not want to use a Harbor Freight table saw and would rather spend more on something like a Stop Saw because I value my limbs over saving a few bucks. I know that while I do not need to stay at the Waldorf while traveling, I am NOT content with sharing a bathroom at some bed and breakfast/hostel type of place.

Most importantly, I KNOW that I did not regret for a second NOT being at work. While at times I was bored enough to go into work to break up the monotony of being on house arrest, I never actually cared about what projects my team was working on, or what I might be missing.

I also now know my actual baseline, and, that if push came to shove, what I have now and what I have to have to survive is something that I will easily be able to afford. Further investing in myself and my hobbies will make it much easier to prevent “burnout” from being stuck inside the house if it comes up again in the future and a full range of those hobbies (outside the house included) will definitely leave me fulfilled fulltime.

Next month I will break down my overall finances for the year, how I did vs what I hoped for, and what my plans for next year are.