Day 37-Governor Newsom imposes new restrictions
Tax time…and an assessment of my annual spending…
12/22/20. Tuesday
6:30 – No.
8:00- 9:00 - I listen to True Crime Garage. Still stiff from the speed walking workout, so I take two Advil.
9:00 – 10:00 – Shower. Covid-19 uniform. Light make-up.
-B. leaves for Starbucks.
10:00-10:30 – B. returns and we have coffee outside on his patio.
10:30-11:05 – I leave for my therapy appointment but underestimated the amount of time it would take to get from B’s house to her office. I know I’m going to be exactly 5 minutes late, so I text my therapist and let her know.
11:05-11:30 – Therapy session. I’m still masking; she doesn’t and sits 10 feet away. I’m fine with this.
11:30-12:30 – I go to the ATM and pull out cash, then get gas.
12:30 – 1:30 - Home and I store my lunch bag but don’t bother unpacking anything else. I eat the chicken chili from my lunch bag and read a Money Diary.
1:30-2:30 – I email my former students and the 14 students who enrolled in my Winter session core class at College No. 2 [allegedly starts 1/4/21]and ask them to let their friends/relatives/neighbors/co-workers/anybody with a pulse, etc. know that my class is still open. I tell them enrollment is closing in two days to create urgency.
2:30-9:30 – I compile all of my financial data for 2020, by month. This year, I was on track and updating everything UNTIL June, when everything seemed to go off the rails concerning my time management. Although I logged my receipts from July to December pretty regularly, items ordered from Walmart.com and, occasionally, Amazon [which I hate and am boycotting as best I can] were NOT logged, which means I have not had the chance to tabulate data and ‘models’ delineating my spending habits as they pertain to categories I’ve created such as utilities, food, entertainment, toiletries, beauty, what L. is costing me [Spoiler alert: a fortune], etc. I’ve been doing this every year for the past decade.
-In other words, every purchase is “bagged and tagged” [by that I mean logged] and the year’s totals for all of my categories are transferred into a master spreadsheet so I can compare the averages of those categories on a annual basis. This also helps me set my budget, both for the coming year [2021] and every month within that year. The monthly budget can vary wildly depending on the seasons. As a teacher, I don’t get paid during the summer, so those months are especially lean. January is L.’s birthday, so you know what that means. In February, all of my ‘insurances’ are due: car, earthquake, homeowners… Oh wait, they’re ALL lean. How I have been ‘making it’ all this time? But, somehow, I have. I haven’t missed a mortgage payment in 12 years.
9:30-12:30 – I have chips and salsa that L. bought at TJs and the tabulation continues, except now, I’m separating out receipts and preparing a list of purchases that will hopefully be used for itemization when I meet with my tax man in two weeks. Itemization is unlikely in light of the new 2018/2019 tax code requirements, but I’m still going to try.
I’m also curious to see what my spending habits reveal for 2020. I created a special category called “Covid” for the stockpiling L. and I did a few times this year, but I think I might change the category’s name to “Panic spending” as we didn’t know what to expect, especially in March, and spent way too much money buying crappy frozen food in preparation for the apocalypse that never came. “Take-out” will never die, y’all…and Starbucks will be the last building standing in the event the US is ever nuked. People gotta have their coffee.
1:00-2:30 – I go upstairs to work on blog posts, then accidentally fall asleep.
3:15 – up and back downstairs to lock up only to find that L. did the dishes, turned off the Xmas lights, and shut everything down. Thanks L!! I take the dog out and finally bring my overnight bag and pillow upstairs. Talk about poor time management.
3:30-4:00 – Nighttime routine. Bed.