Job hunting update

As I mentioned last week, I've started applying for jobs. I'm trying to be a bit judicious in only applying for things that sound interesting to me and for which I'm qualified. (I am allowing myself to stretch some, since apparently it's much more common for women to only apply for jobs they definitely meet the criteria for, while men are more likely to apply for jobs they don't quite have the qualifications for.) 

So far I've had two phone interviews that have gone really well, and the salaries in the market are going to be such a boost to my debt payoff plan and future investing plans. I'm looking at a minimum 20% boost by moving from my current job.

One of the things I struggle with is imposter syndrome, which is wild because I absolutely have the experience that these job posters are looking for, and I'm very open about where I have drawbacks (but also that I love to learn new things).

I am a little bummed because the first job I applied to two weeks ago rejected me, but I was already ready for that to happen after I opened the cover letter last week and re-read it - good grief but it was terrible. It was a good start, but I definitely missed some critical language that would have better conveyed my enthusiasm and suitability for the job. I learned my lesson and have crafted better cover letters in the intervening time. 

It's interesting how different job hunting is this time around. A decade ago, when I was fresh out of undergrad with a liberal arts degree, I was not a top candidate for anything (and to be honest, I didn't know what I wanted to do). I enjoyed where I ended up, but it was not very well-paying in the grand scheme of things, which prompted my going to grad school. I took on debt in grad school, both student loans and credit cards (frivolous spending, sigh), but I'm so thrilled at the opportunities that my master's degree has presented me. I'm in a career that challenges me mentally and is decently necessary to the economy as a whole, so I have skills that are transferrable and in demand. That means that I can command more in salary and also find a job that suits me, rather than feeling pressured to take whatever was offered because it was the only thing on the table. I'm excited to see where this next step takes me!

Whoops

I haven't been keeping up with my spending journals. I could make excuses, but I don't have any particularly good ones. The project I was on at work wrapped up last Tuesday, and I just sort of fell into a funk. I think I suffer from depression (I was diagnosed as a teenager after my dad died, but I haven't seen any sort of mental health professional since then) and/or seasonal affective disorder, so I tend to spend a lot of time working on my mental health, but occasionally I slip and anything that's not an absolute must-do (basically, food and work) falls by the wayside. I just showered for the first time in four or five days, for instance.

I've also bought some stupid stuff in the last two weeks that I didn't really want to confess to. I bought a customized Yeti, coffee beans from a local roaster, a lot of pizza (I think it was like 5 places in a week), a slightly spendy dinner out with my sister-in-law when she came to town (socially distanced on a patio), and I blew my $1,400 stimulus on a trip to Universal Studios Orlando in early May. I decided not to feel too guilty about my trip, though, because: 

• I spent my last two checks paying down my debt
• I'm on track to pay down the Marriott Amex by April as planned
• I have not gone on vacation in a year and three months (as of now) and by the time my trip rolls around it'll have been almost a year and a half
• I got my first vaccine shot last week, so by the time my trip rolls around I should be fully immunized.

The package I got was about $840 for four nights at an on-site hotel and a three-park four-day ticket. I paid for my flight with points on Southwest, although I did splurge for the Early Bird check-in, so that was another $51.20. I earmarked about $200 of my stimulus to get a massage on my upcoming birthday, and the remaining $300-ish will be spent on the trip itself.

This morning I spent a few minutes during a work webcast catching up on my expense tracking in GoodBudget. Honestly, the damage wasn't as bad as I thought. I'm dying to put the next chunk of change on the Marriott Amex, but the billing cycle is due to close today, so I'm leaving it alone until tomorrow at the earliest. 

I've also started applying for jobs! I'm trying to apply to only things I think will be interesting and that I want to do.

All in all, I am making progress and mostly good decisions, even if I'm not reporting it. 

February net worth check-in

February was a good month for me! I paid down my Marriott Amex to below $1k, which means I'm on track to pay it off by April.

Here's my introduction post where I broke down my net worth in January.

Here's where my net worth stands now as of 2/28/2021:

• Checking: $3,354.45 (I have two checking accounts - more on that to come!)
• Short-term savings: $3,392.41 (This is several savings accounts: car repairs, car insurance [paid every six months], cat savings [I have two approaching-senior cats, and their vet bills are always a kick in the teeth], and vacation)
• E*Trade: $472.35 (this is literally just a few shares in one stock that I've had since I was probably 12 or so?)
• Retirement savings: $29,320.69 (Roth IRA) and $34,265.76 (401(k) - I'm also not fully vested yet, but since I don't intend to leave my current job before I fully vest, this is the full amount in my account)
• HSA: $1,178.04 cash, $7,866.85 invested = $9,044.89 (my HSA requires at least $1,000 in cash available to pay for expenses - anything over that, I just haven’t invested yet)
• Condo: ~$120,000 (Zillow estimates my place to be worth $168k, which is so unbelievably comical to me. I don't even know if it's worth $120k, but that seems like a more likely number than $168k.)

Total assets: $199,850.55

• Credit card debt: ($22,359.63) (due to be paid off by September 2022)
• Student loans: ($21,807.37) (mostly federal, and payments are suspended until September 30, 2021 - roughly $5.5k is private, so that's where I'm focusing my efforts) (private loan due to be paid off December 2022, and federal loans April 2023)
• Car loan: ($910.68) (under $1k! and due to be paid off August 2021)
• Affirm loan (I desperately needed a new mattress last year, as my 15+-year-old one was causing problems for my back, and Affirm was offering 0% and no fees for a 12 month loan of the purchase price): ($327.77) (due to be paid off in May 2021)
• Mortgage: ($36,229.59) (due to be paid off November 2038 - before grad school, I made 8 months of principal-only payments that were the same amount as the mandatory principal+interest payments [not including escrow for taxes and insurance] and it cut 2.5 years off the life of my loan, which still blows my dang mind)

Total liabilities: ($81,635.04) 

Net worth: $118,215.51

My prior month net worth was $112,293.71, which means I've had an almost $6k gain in about 5 weeks! About $3k was liability paydowns, and the rest was increases in cash and investments.