The Month Of Family: January 2024 Recap

Welcome to another monthly recap of what I’ve been up to during my 4th year of early retirement 🙂 . I’m currently writing this while sitting in the sun in our Costa Rica Airbnb staring at the lush green mountains that surround San José. But for the sake of accuracy, let’s turn back the clock to see what I was up to during most of January, which overall involved freezing my ass off in the northeast US 🙂 . Let’s get into it!

I Did My Taxes

I keep telling myself that I’ll just “input the numbers” for my taxes, but not actually finish the process or file them. And I’ve proven myself a liar every time 🙂 . I once again used TaxAct to file my taxes for free because of a deal they have with the IRS. If you are between age 20-58 (or active military) and have an AGI less than $79K, they’ll let you eFile your federal taxes for free.

So I ‘accidentally’ completed my taxes…on the 23rd of January. Once I filed, I got a message from TaxAct saying not to expect anything because the IRS doesn’t start accepting returns until the 29th. Oops 🙂 . I guess this is what happens when I do my taxes as soon as all of my forms are available out of curiosity.

My curiosity was high because I wanted to make sure that I didn’t fuck up my first time selling investments to fund my retirement. But luckily, I didn’t 🙂 . In 2023, my investment moves looked like this:

• I withdrew $20,000 from my taxable brokerage account
• I received $9,816.30 in dividends (half of which went to my checking account)
• I did a Roth IRA conversion of $8,514.59 so that money will be tax free forever

And I paid $0 in taxes on all of that investment income. The tax code really does favor investors 🙂 .

However, I do owe about $500 in taxes, but that’s on the money I accidentally made last year. A fair price to pay 🙂 . And obviously I set up my tax filing to not take that money from my account until right before the April 15th deadline because I’m petty like that 🙂 .

I Tried Nail Stickers

The other thing that took up my time in January was my new obsession with nail stickers. I’ve been looking for a more nomad-friendly way to have painted nails and tried the Gleam Queen Nail Strips from Dashing Diva and became OBSESSED 🙂 .

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I then went on to buy 8 more packs and possibly be set for the rest of 2024. My nails have never looked so good or been so easy to maintain.

I Started Using Prolific

After hearing about Prolific from Dragons On FIRE, I started taking surveys on Prolific…and I accidentally made $290 this month. Yeah, I’m shocked too. I’ll probably write a whole post about it with the amount I earn at the end of the year, but in summary, I signed up after reading about it on the Dragons blog and was accepted a few months later.

Then I proceeded to forget about it 🙂 . However, I started trying it out at the beginning of this year and was quickly enthralled. Whenever I did a survey in the past out of curiosity, they would be repetitive, boring and pay literal cents for my time. In contrast, Prolific pays way more than I’ve ever seen. For example, the first survey I did paid $4 and took only a few minutes.

When my Partner starts his day doing word puzzles on a NYT subscription that he pays for, I start stretching my brain with Prolific surveys. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how much they make me think about why I think the way I do and the issues that exist in the world.

They’re all academic surveys so they’re usually very well thought out and interesting. They’re also based on your topics of interest and expertise so mine are often about finance and how people react to investment situations, which I find fascinating. In essence, like everything I choose to do in retirement, I would do this for free, but was curious to see how their payment system would stack up and am surprised by the results.

Sadly, Prolific doesn’t work when you’re outside your home country, which I obviously am now and will be for half of 2024, but when I return home, I’m excited to keep stretching my brain with these surveys.

I Played Video Games

My goal to play more video games is in full effect! I started re-playing Zelda: Breath Of The Wild which of course just made me want to re-play Tears of the Kingdom. It’s a vicious cycle 🙂 . I also continued playing my beloved Sims 4 and even wrote about my favorite games that I played last year:

• The Best Video Games I Played In 2023

I Hung Out With People

This month involved some of my usual virtual meetups, such as the weekly Spanish call with my Mom and Weekly Movie Nights where friends and I watched the below. If you’re curious about my ratings of movies, I have a Letterboxd account here.

1. Chevalier
2. The Creator
3. The Killer
4. Meg 2: The Trench
5. Self Reliance
6. The Square

I did have some other in-person friend hangouts planned this month, but I ended up cancelling them out of caution since COVID was going around. It’s all good now though. I’m also just happy I live in the internet age when I can see people even when we’re not in person 🙂 .

I Read 26 Books

This month I read:

1. How To Be Perfect by Michael Schur
2. Illegal Contact by Riley Hart & Neve Wilder
3. The Endgame by Riley Hart
4. The End Zone by Riley Hart
5. Captive Of A Horde King by Zoey Draven
6. Changed by Robin Moray
7. Whit by Cora Rose
8. Sem by Cora Rose
9. Emery by Cora Rose
10. Luke by Cora Rose
11. Colin by Cora Rose
12. Diablo by Cora Rose
13. Ben by Cora Rose
14. Reaching Reed by Cora Rose
15. Becoming Bennet by Cora Rose
16. Discovering Damon by Cora Rose
17. Sainted by Jesse H. Reign
18. The First And The Last by Jesse H. Reign
19. The Step Bro Situation by Jesse H. Reign
20. Triple Trouble by Jesse H. Reign
21. The Daddy Arrangement by Jesse H. Reign
22. Rent: Paid In Full by Jesse H. Reign
23. Unrequited by Jesse H. Reign
24. System Collapse by Martha Wells
25. The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
26. The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

So yes, despite playing a lot of video games, I still somehow read a lot of books. Oops 🙂 . I really tried not to! But there were so many interesting titles and recommendations that I couldn’t help myself.

I stayed up until the wee morning hours a few times because I couldn’t put a book down and I can’t fault that kind of happiness…or irresponsibility 😉 . I once again set the default Goodreads goal of reading 52 books this year, but I’m already half way through that sooo maybe that goal needs to be revised. If you’re curious about what I’m currently reading and my ratings of books, I have a Goodreads account you can check out here.

The other interesting thing that happened this month was that I signed up to be an ARC Reader for the first time! For those of you who might not know, ARC readers are people who receive a book early in exchange for an honest review.

I noticed that one of the authors I enjoy and follow on Instagram mentioned that she was looking for ARC readers, so I signed up despite not being a Bookstagramer or at all affiliated with the book review space. And I was accepted! I suspect smaller authors might accept most people, but I’ll still take the win 🙂 .

I was super excited to get a free, early copy of a book from an author I enjoy reading, but it was nerve-wracking to have to write a review in return. Before I read it, I was scared this would be the first book I didn’t enjoy by that author and I’d have to drag it through the mud, but that wasn’t the case! #IAmAWorrier .

After this successful attempt, I think I’ll do more ARC reading going forward for authors I love if I happen to see sign ups on social media like I did for this and am accepted. It’s really cool to be part of the publishing process in this way and help indie authors have a wider reach. 

I Wrote 5 Posts

In case you missed it, this month I published the below posts:

1. How I Lived On $23,290 As A Global Nomad In 2023
2. The Month Of Warmth: December 2023 Recap
3. The Best Video Games I Played In 2023
4. Lessons Learned After 9 Years Of Blog Writing
5. How I Read 250 Books For $8 In 2023

Other than writing, I started thinking about what I want to write about in 2024. I’m still behind on posting everything I wanted to about my trip Down Under, so that’s on the docket along with some other random things I’ve enjoyed and discovered lately. Will I ever get back to writing about straight-up finance? Maaaaaybe 😉 .

Physical

Sleep

My sleep this month was really good! Which I’m surprised by since I was in a house with a bunch of other people and obviously sabotaged myself a bit by staying up late repeatedly to read a whole book in one sitting 🙂 . However, outside of my own sabotage, I was able to fall asleep easily, stay asleep and wake up rested. Fantastic.

Food

My new keto plan continues to be in full effect! I went off keto for 6 days in January (or 19% of the month) and otherwise had a great time eating keto dishes and trying some keto baking with my MIL. This new approach of taking days off keto for specific occasions is really working for me and I’m excited to try it out while traveling as well.

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Exercise

Running this month went as well as it could. It was very cold, snowy and icy and I almost hit my 3x a week running goal, but did miss a few days because I was afraid of slipping. I’d rather miss a run than hurt myself and miss a lot of them 🙂 .

It was challenging to go out all bundled up and wear my gaiter, but when I was able to go out, this month’s winter running was the best on record. Maybe I’m getting the hang of it.

In other news, I tried MapMyRun again. I’ve been using Strava for a long time, but when I was in New Zealand, Strava seemed to struggle with accurately tracking my pace, so I wanted to have a backup in case that happened in another country I visit in 2024.

I also learned that some of my family is on MapMyRun and thought it could be interesting to get notifications when they run to help motivate me. And it has! So I’m enjoying the social support aspect, but once again didn’t like the actual app and available stats as much as what’s available on Strava. Woe is me, right 😉 ?

In addition to the stat inadequacies, the app kept glitching out for me while I was running. I wouldn’t touch anything and it would pause the run and randomly restart it. Very strange. So I’m going to stick with Strava and keep MapMyRun as a backup and for the social aspect.

In addition to running, I also started doing squats and apparently it’s been a while because I could barely walk for 48 hours after 🙂 . Oops! I need to break my legs back in before I start heavy lifting again.

Mental

Learning

So it’s time for my favorite segment: Fun Facts Nobody Asked For! Here’s what I learned and explored this month:

Random

This month I learned what Cashews look like when they grow…and it’s freaking me out! I also learned that raw, untreated cashews are poisonous and that the cashew plant is similar to poison ivy.

Astronomy

The last few years I’ve bundled up and gone outside in the middle of the night to watch winter meteor showers, such as the Quadrantids that happen in January. This year I thought it was just too damn cold 🙂 . I’ll continue my meteor shower obsession when I’m in a warmer location. However, I was able to watch some lovely sunsets this month.

Fauna

The only animals I saw this month were White-Tailed Deer. It was such a treat to see a flash of movement and watch a family of deer trek through newly fallen snow. Magical 🙂 .

Birds

Birdwatching during the winter in the northeast US continues to be my favorite since there are no leaves to hide behind 🙂 . It’s way easier to see the bird-tivity outside so I spotted a lot of the usual suspects:

Red-Bellied Woodpecker, European Starling, Blue Jay, American Crow, Pileated Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal, Dark-Eyed Junco, Tufted Titmouse, Black-Capped Chickadee, White-Throated Sparrow, American Goldfinch and Downy Woodpecker

Creativity

My creativity this month was good! I finally had time to slow down a bit after all the travel I did in the last quarter of 2023 and got back to writing and brainstorming. It’s been lovely and I’m going to continue to be intentional about my down time so the creative juices keep flowing.

Emotional

This was a great month emotionally. Despite experiencing a dark and snowy winter for the first time in a year, I was in high spirits. It must be all that time around my loved ones and holiday cheer 🙂 .

The only downside was how early the sun set and how much snow we got, so I wasn’t able to run as often as I wished. But all in all, this was a lovely month and it made me look forward to the sunshine that the next few months will bring.

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Money

Ah money. My net worth continues to feel like monopoly money:

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And on the spending front, I’ve already booked all of our accommodations for 2024 (#Oops 🙂 ) and we’re almost 40% under my increased, inflation adjusted rent budget. So it’s time to make it rain 🙂 .

Conclusion

And that’s what I got up to in January! It was a lovely month filled with a lot of great times with people I love. As a result, I suspect February will involve a lot of me chilling to recharge my introvert batteries. Hopefully I’ll use that time to increase my time video gaming and get back to my rigorous nap schedule 😉 . Until next time!

If you’re interested in the other weekly and monthly retirement updates I’ve written, they’re all here:

Weekly (2020)

1. Early Retirement Week 1: The Freak Out
2. Early Retirement Week 2: The Vacation
3. Early Retirement Week 3: The Whiplash
4. Early Retirement Week 4: The Heartbeat
5. Early Retirement Week 5: The Election
6. Early Retirement Week 6: The Trophy
7. Early Retirement Week 7: The Train
8. Early Retirement Week 8: The Challenge
9. Early Retirement Week 9: The Question
10. Early Retirement Week 10: The Game
11. Early Retirement Week 11: The Recharge
12. Early Retirement Week 12: The Holiday

Monthly (2021)

1. The Month Of Rest: Early Retirement Month 4 (January 2021)
2. The Month Of Birds: Early Retirement Month 5 (February 2021)
3. The Month of Change: Early Retirement Month 6 (March 2021)
4. The Month of Atlanta: Early Retirement Month 7 (April 2021)
5. The Month of Portland, Maine: Early Retirement Month 8 (May 2021)
6. The Month Of New Hampshire: Early Retirement Month 9 (June 2021)
7. The Month Of The Northeast: Early Retirement Month 10 (July 2021)
8. The Month Of New York State: Early Retirement Month 11 (August 2021)
9. The Month Of City Hopping: Early Retirement Month 12 (September 2021)
10. The Month Of The Southwest USA: October 2021
11. The Month Of Santa Fe: November 2021
12. The Month Of Family: December 2021

Monthly (2022)

1. The Month Of Freezing My Balls Off: January 2022
2. The Month Of Thailand: February 2022
3. The Month Of Spring(?): March 2022
4. The Month Of México: April 2022
5. The Month of Mérida: May 2022
6. The Month of Seattle: June 2022
7. The Month of Washington State: July 2022
8. The Month Of New Hampshire: August 2022
9. The Month Of Maine: September 2022
10. The Month Of Acadia: October 2022
11. The Month Of Argentina: November 2022
12. The Month Of Holiday Cheer: December 2022

Monthly (2023)

1. The Month Of Snow: January 2023
2. The Month Of New Hampshire: February 2023
3. The Month Of Sea: March 2023
4. The Month Of California: April 2023
5. The Month Of Seattle: May 2023
6. The Month Of Chicago: June 2023
7. The Month Of Montréal: July 2023
8. The Month Of Troy, NY: August 2023
9. The Month Of Australia: September 2023
10. The Month Of New Zealand: October 2023
11. The Month Of Puerto Vallarta: November 2023
12. The Month Of Warmth: December 2023

What’s a fun fact you learned this month?