Category: Lifestyle

Welcome back to another update from Root of Good. We are slowly easing into spring. Or so we thought, until we got a brief snow blizzard over the weekend. It was above freezing the whole time, but it’s still neat to see snow in March in North Carolina. 

We spent the entire month of February at home without travel of any kind. In the last twelve months, September was the only other month where we were at home the whole month. It’s nice to have the time to relax and regroup after a busy year of post-pandemic “revenge travel”. 

February was a mixed month for our finances. Our net worth dropped by $68,000 to end February at $2,710,000. Our income totaled $1,756, while our spending was just a tiny bit lower at $1,675 for the entire month of February. 

Last month flew by! First off, my apologies for a very late monthly update. We just got back from a little adventure in Europe and on the high seas. We spent a week traipsing around the Lisbon and coastal areas of Portugal.  Then we sailed west on a 9 day transatlantic cruise back to the US of A. Another busy month for us!

With the kids out of school, we’ll be able to enjoy a slow couple of weeks before 2023 kicks into high gear in January. I’m very grateful for the slower pace of life around the holidays. It is the time to hang out with family and friends, enjoy some good food, and maybe see a little snow if we are lucky! 

Financially, November was a great month for us. Our net worth shot up by $161,000 to end the month at $2,718,000. Our income was modest at $2,673. However income was still slightly higher than our even more modest spending of $2,586 during November.

Welcome back to another glimpse into my early retired lifestyle. In September, I enjoyed the slower pace of life at home in Raleigh after a busy summer traveling across Eastern Europe. We worked on some more travel planning for winter of 2022 and summer of 2023 (more on that below). And we spent a bunch of time relaxing and enjoying “doing nothing”. 

Our oldest two kids are half way through their fall semester of community college, and the youngest kid is doing well in his last year of elementary school. Each morning starts with our walk to school, and then us adults enjoy a peaceful, quiet day at home during the week until all the kids get home from school. 

Financially, September was a rough month for our net worth but a great month for our cash flow. Our net worth plummeted by a shocking $200,000 to end the month at $2,439,000. However, our income of $15,621 was substantially higher than our spending of $2,527 during September. 

Time for a look back at what we were up to last month! We started the month of August in the city of Eger in the east of Hungary. Once our weeklong stay in Eger wrapped up, we headed west to Budapest where our 2 month European vacation would end after a nine day stay in the capital city.

We flew back to the USA through London and missed our connecting flight from London to Raleigh (whoops!) so we got a free one day whirlwind vacation in London. All expenses paid by the airline (except our transit tickets into the city center!). 

After finally making it home to North Carolina, two of our kids started community college classes almost immediately. And now the youngest kid is back in school too. So we are back into the slower-paced “steady state” life here at home in Raleigh. 

Financially, August was a mixed bag. Our net worth plummeted by $79,000 to end the month at $2,639,000. However, our income of $1,698 was higher than our spending of $1,398 during August.

We made it back home! We’ve been back in the USA for a few days and now that the dust has settled, I’m here to recap the last month of our early retirement adventures.

During July, we spent a week in Croatia. The we departed Croatia where we spent almost two weeks in the Julian Alps in Slovenia. After our alpine adventures, we returned to Croatia for a weeklong stay at a farm in the hills outside the town of Samobor. Toward the end of the month, we left Croatia and headed east where we spent a week in the town of Eger, Hungary. 

While in Slovenia, we revisited some favorite places that we visited on our last trip to Slovenia five years ago (covered in two previous blog posts on Ljubljana, Slovenia and the Julian Alps).

Financially, we had an excellent month. Our net worth shot up by $125,000 to end the month at $2,718,000. Our income of $2,743 in July was slightly less than our expenses of $2,947 for the month. 

Another busy month comes to a close! We spent Spring Break on a cruise. Upon returning to Raleigh, the older kids prepared to take their Advanced Placement exams. And now, we are getting ready to go on another cruise! 

After we get back from our next cruise, we’ll have about a month before we leave home for our two month summer trip through Europe. I need a vacation from vacations (ha ha)!

While we were at home in April, we were able to enjoy the nice mild spring weather. We had some friends over a few times and had a big family get-together for Easter. 

Financially, April was a mixed month with heavy stock market declines but very low spending. Our net worth declined by $139,000 to end the month at $2,667,000. Income during the month totaled $3,666 while expenses were a mere $1,321 during April.