Physician In Numbers – Page 52 – A female primary care physician opines on money, travel, fitness, and other topics to be determined

My Winter Of Discontent

Lately, I have just about had it.

I don’t particularly like winter. I mean, it’s OK for a month or so. I like some fresh snow, Christmas carols, lights, happy memories. By the end of January, though, I’m ready for earlier sunrises and later sunsets and warmer weather.

This winter is even more annoying. The pandemic is rounding its 11th month. I’m tired of not seeing friends and family. Even though I love my house, I don’t want to be here anymore.

I’m watching my weight and shouldn’t eat treats; and I’m trying to clear out my messy house, so shopping for pleasure isn’t helpful either.

Grump, grump, grump.

Today Mr. PiN came up with a great way to keep me happy and engaged while we wait for the Earth to continue turning towards Spring.

Paying For Schools

This weekend I had a lot more free time, and enjoyed long conversations with my sister and brother, both of whom have school-aged children. We talked about other things, but the cost of school popped up with both.

Fitness Log #118 And Friday Firsts

I have been keeping track of my exercise every Friday for over a year, and plan to continue doing so.

I started the Friday Firsts sections as a way of keeping track of some of my “firsts” as I dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic. Things seem to be settling down, but I will keep it for now–more as a way to be aware and thankful of what is happening in my life.

100 Blog Posts, Take Three

I slowed down my writing in 2020–I can’t imagine what could have distracted me–but, still, here we are. Since March 2020, I have published another 100 blog posts.

Previously, I had used the century mark as a point to go through all prior 100 posts. I thought I might do something different, and go through the top 3 posts (as decided by me) in different categories.

Mr. PiN’s Low Spend Challenge: How Did He Do?

As you might recall, in early November, Mr. PiN decided to set himself a spending challenge. He was going to limit his spending for an entire month to $300.

I was hoping that not only would we save plenty of dough, but he would stay out of the stores (he was going shopping multiple times a week, at a time when COVID cases were rising in our region).

I had planned to report on his efforts in December, but then work and life got in the way.

The various outcomes of the challenge are reported below.

Fitness Log #117 And Friday Firsts

I have been keeping track of my exercise every Friday for over a year, and plan to continue doing so.

Future Me, January 2021

I started this series of posts at the end of October 2018. I had just cut back my hours from full time to 90%, and wanted to use my new free time wisely. Some of that time was to relax, but I also wanted to improve my fitness, make my home a more pleasant place to stay, and work on becoming a more well-rounded human being.

My last update was in September 2020, with a number of wins, and several misses.

So how have I done with my new goals? Read on for the latest update, covering the last 4 months of 2020.

Dealing With A Tough Week

I was planning on writing something else altogether for today. However, I spent the entire weekend trying to catch up on work, and I just didn’t have the energy to edit my planned post. Maybe for next week.

As it was, last week I had a difficult return to work. After taking time off for the holiday, I returned to a bursting in-box, all the while dealing with a full schedule and teaching two different courses over video. While one course was brand new, which was stressful, the other was almost as time-consuming, as I had always taught it in-person.

I must confess, coming back to all this, I started thinking about retirement more seriously. The argument that financial independence leads to happier doctors at work seemed highly suspect to me by Tuesday.

Fitness Log #116 And Friday Firsts

I have been keeping track of my exercise every Friday for over a year, and plan to continue doing so.

Happy New Year. Now What?

As I have mentioned before, every New Year I update my (our) net worth, decide how to allocate savings over the year, and also review the spending for the year.

This all gets done only around January 1, give or take a few days, which means that getting the final numbers is big deal here in the PiN household. It is how I track the progress we are making in growing our nest egg, and how I keep track of our yearly spending–which dictates how large a nest egg we will need to retire.

When I ran the numbers for 2020, I found some mixed results. I am still chewing over the numbers and what to do going forward. I hope by writing this out, I may help not only myself, but also others who are trying to figure out how to improve their financial situation.