Welcome back to another monthly update from Root of Good! We are back home in Raleigh after spending most of the month on a cruise through the Panama Canal. As a result this monthly update is almost a month late. Better late than never, I suppose. 

After being very busy traveling throughout 2025, we are finally home for a long period of time. So far, we have nothing planned for more than two months. The plan is to stick around Raleigh during Thanksgiving and Christmas to celebrate with our extended families. I’m also hoping to work on a few deferred maintenance projects around the house. Never fear, I also have a list of fun “deferred hobbies” that I have neglected for much of the past year.

Our older two kids are busy with their full time jobs while our son is almost half way through his last year of middle school. Since we are home for two months straight, we’ll have a lot more time to spend with the kids as well. 

On to our financial progress. October was another great month for our finances. Our net worth increased by $23,000 to end the month at $3,850,000. Our October income of $3,943 was way more than enough to cover our spending of $2,003 for the month.

Let’s jump into the details from last month.

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Welcome back to another monthly update from Root of Good! After a two week cruise exploring the Baltic Capitals in Europe, we’ll have almost a whole month in Raleigh before our next big trip. 

During September, we spent the first couple of weeks prepping for our cruise. It took a lot of time to research the eight different cities we visited around the Baltic sea. We visited Oslo in Norway, Aarhus and Copenhagen in Denmark, Stockholm in Sweden, Kiel and Rostock in Germany, Tallinn in Estonia, and Helsinki in Finland. 

As always, the visit to each port was way too short but what a fascinating trip it was! We visited five new-to-us countries. Each day, we were able to maximize our limited time to explore as much as possible. The fact that our floating hotel followed us from country to country made the rapid-fire journey much smoother. 

On to our financial progress. September was another great month for our finances. Our net worth increased by $67,000 to end the month at $3,827,000. Our September income of $12,046 was way more than enough to cover our spending of $2,694 for the month.

Let’s jump into the details from last month.

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Welcome back to another monthly update from Root of Good! We’ve been back at home in Raleigh for a couple of weeks after spending most of August on two different cruises. We’ve had plenty of time to rest and recuperate before our next big adventure that commences in a few more days. Soon we cross the pond for another two week cruise around Europe. 

A bit of family news – after graduating college, our middle child accepted a full time job offer last month. She is scheduled to start next week. Another worker to keep the economy booming and another taxpayer to keep the government revenues flowing! 

On to our financial progress. August was an incredible month for our finances. Our net worth increased by $122,000 to end the month at $3,760,000. Our August income of $1,862 was almost enough to cover our spending of $2,452 for the month.

Let’s jump into the details from last month.

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Welcome back to another monthly update from Root of Good! I’m back home in Raleigh for a few days between trips so I’ll give an update on what we’re up to. 

We just returned from Europe where we spent two and a half weeks in late July and early August cruising around the British Isles, Ireland, Isle of Man, and northern Europe. We also had a full day in London before our cruise to explore the city. 

The itinerary for our July/August cruise had some overlap with our June British Isles cruise however we still made it to many new ports of call this time around. The weather was also much nicer in July and August. 

In the next couple of days we hit the road (skies? waves?) again for a week-long Caribbean cruise with two of our kids. Our middle child just graduated college and doesn’t have a job yet, so we’re squeezing in a short family vacation with her before she gets busy with work. When we return to Raleigh, it’s back to school for our son who will begin his last year of middle school. 

On to our financial progress. July was a great month for our finances in every regard. Our net worth increased by $41,000 to end the month at $3,638,000. Our July income of $7,163 was way more than enough to cover our spending of $1,992 for the month.

Let’s jump into the details from last month.

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Welcome back to another monthly update from Root of Good! The new year is in full swing and off to a good start so far. We just got home from an 11 night cruise to Mexico out of San Francisco. And in two weeks we will set sail again for two weeks in the warm Caribbean waters. 

While I’m at home for a few weeks at a time, it’s always a scramble to take care of chores around the house, take care of some car maintenance, and keep an eye on my financials. It’s not all productivity – we’re also busy spending time with our kids and visiting with family and friends. 

So far we’ve managed to dodge the worst of winter by escaping to warmer climates. And now that it’s mid-February, winter is slowly withering away and it’s getting nicer and warmer outdoors here in North Carolina. By the time we get home from our next cruise, spring might be in full swing! 

On to our financial progress. January was a great month for our finances. Our net worth climbed by $89,000 to end the month at $3,322,000. Our January income of $4,117 was just a bit lower than our spending of $5,091 for the month.  

Let’s jump into the details from last month.

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