December was weird. It both went by in a flash and felt like it was super long. I am fully into thesis-writing mode now, and my first full draft is due to my supervisors in about a week. I'm like 35% done, so the next week is gonna be pretty crazy. I'll turn in what I have, but it won't be pretty. If it's too bad, I wonder if my supervisors will ask me to extend my PhD yet again...? I really really hope not. I just need to get through the next two months without anything happening!! (knock on wood)
I didn't have time to go Christmas gift shopping so looked through my gift stash (bought throughout the year for people or when I see deals). I don't feel great about it but it's the best I could do this year. My family in the US got stuff from Amazon.
To meet the minimum spend on my JetBlue cc ($1K), I found out that buying gift cards in person at the grocery store do not get registered as gift cards. Therefore, they are a useful way to meet minimum spends. I met the min spend on Dec. 13, and 50K points are going to be deposited into my account soon!
I spent Christmas Eve with a fellow Christmas orphan. We walked around the city, taking in the Christmas decorations, lights, and vibe, including the ONE street where they actually put up lights in Auckland. Then we went to a Christmas Eve service where a great brass band was playing Christmas carols that we could sing along to. We stayed for mass and the singers were amazing.
The next day, we went to a friend's friend's party, where we had a Secret Santa, a big lunch, lots of drinks that I made but didn't drink much of (key lime pie: 1 shot vanilla vodka, juice from 1/2 lime, shaken with ice. add sprite and if you want, some cream of coconut), and did this lovely tradition where we wrote down the nice things that we noticed about our friends and the people we just met. How cute! They had a dog and a cat so I got to spend Christmas with my favorite species of animal (the dog, but the cat was nice and fluffy). We then played cards against humanity. All in all, a lovely Christmas.
I was so worn out from Christmas and thesis writing that I begged off of plans for NYE. I was in bed watching the fireworks on livestreams come midnight.
Looking to the future
My mom and sis are planning on coming to NZ to visit me in March. I really hope I'm done with my thesis by then, otherwise, their trip will be ruined.
Last month, I paid for a gym membership, which starts on 5 January. I hope to start going to workout classes whenever I have the time in between thesis writing.
I should find out in January/February if the funding my supervisor and I applied for will start in March.
December 2024 Budget
I only had my 0.5 FTE salary as earned income. With all of the extra Christmas spending and reduced income, I really cut it close. I still ended up saving a tiny amount though!
Income: $3,611.58
Salary: $3,054.08
Lending Crowd repayments: $198.30
Garage rent: $325
Overage from Nov: $34.20
Spending: $3,510.63 (97.2%)
Spending categories:
Rent: $1325 - my portion of rent is $265 per week. It was a 5 rent check month.
Groceries: $544.70 ($500). Bought some extra stuff for Christmas gifts and parties.
Power + Internet: $120.18 ($150) - my share of of the bills
Eating out: $259 ($150). Obviously over budget. I'm thesis-writing, no time for cooking! I got 3x burritos from Zambrero, an extra large pizza from Pizza Hut, a few slices and mozzarella sticks fro Sal's, takeaway thai, and got food from McDonalds 2x. It'll slow down once I have more time.
Charity: $15 ($60). The unhoused situation in Auckland is really bad. I bought some dude some McDonalds one night when he came up to me to ask for food when I was ordering at the kiosk. Normally I say no but I felt compelled this particular day. I really wish I could do more.
Cell phone: $0 ($35)
Medical: $445.46 ($100). $387 for a dentist cleaning and check up. I had to write a complaint letter to the company because this new dentist was so awful. Maybe they'll send me a partial refund? They just said they'd look into it, but that was before the holidays. $28.46 for scabies lotion because my flatmate gave me scabies. $30 for a scrip renewal for my thyroid and ADHD medication.
Misc: $751.29 ($485) - 'tis the season! I fully blame Christmas for this.
alcohol: $50 - vanilla vodka
entertainment, self care, travel: $0
fees: $5. set up a new direct deposit to autopay my new Westpac cc bills.
gifts: $40. mostly lottery tickets for Christmas gifts.
goods
and wants: $374.10 - gym membership for 2025, goodies from the American store, a bikini cover up, light loose summery pants, stuff for next Christmas that was on sale, face cream (olay regenerist retinol24 night cream)
transportation: $282.19 - 9x short e-scooter rides, 2 days of Cityhop car hire, 1x evenings of Mevo car hire
Dec 2024 Savings: $100.95 (2.8%).
Savings and Funds Activity Update
- My fourth 1 year $5K CD has now matured, earning me $260.58 (minus taxes).
I started a new $5K CD for 6 mo as that has the highest interest rate
right now (5.1% p.a.). I'll just keep chasing the (kinda) high rates until I can
finish my PhD and figure out how to invest instead of keeping tons of
money in savings accounts.
- The $100.95 I saved from my income this month went to my $10K Medical Fund (see sidebar). Along with
interest earned in my savings accounts and term deposit that matured
this month, that fund is now at 100% complete! Any savings in future months will go
towards a $1K New Smartphone Fund, a $2K New Laptop Fund, and a $5K Tax
Advisor Hire Fund.
- Now that Lending Crowd is a bust, I have also decided to start
investing a small % of my $$ in Zagga, another peer-to-peer lending platform for
real estate. The returns are ~9+% p.a. for a year or less. I now have one
twoloansout: $50 @ 9.85% (they say $1K is the minimum investment, but I tested making my first loan out at $50 and it went through OK????).Something went wrong with this loan (something about paperwork) and they refunded my money.- $1K @ 9%. This is my guinea pig. Until I understand how it all works, I won't be investing any more $$.
Net Worth Tracking
NZ Savings: $128,087.85 NZD
Peer to peer lending:
- LendingCrowd: $3,231.72 NZD - principal still owed, paid in weekly installments
- Zagga: $1K NZD
Kiwisaver: $107,924.28 NZD
US investments: $57,123.38 USD
Total Net Worth (Dec 2024): $333,121.88 NZD (a decrease of $2,752.97 NZD). This was purely due to the market, not due to me spending my savings.
