I got clobbered with unusually high expenses in January, which hasn't made for a great start to the New Year:

* $405 for heating oil (unavoidable, of course, but combined with the other expenses shown here, it adds up)
* Out of pocket medical: $745. My new eyeglasses were $400, no bargain there, and the rest was 7 copays and med costs for my scratched cornea. Which by the way is still not better. I may have to go back to the doctor.
* Electrical work was $200, which is not in itself painful, but combined with everything else...
* Umm, groceries were way more than I care to spend in a month: $362. I blame this on 2 BJs trips. After stocking up on cat litter, walnuts and frozen fruit, I will drop membership, which expires in February. I already have about a 6 mth supply of the cat litter, and I'd like to have a full year's supply. It's such a bargain.

So total expenses for the month were $3455; total income was $3200, so I'm in the hole $256 for the 1st month of January. Not exactly confidence-building as I prepare to approach my boss Monday about reducing my work hours.

I also keep thinking of all the home improvements I want to do. Sigh. I'll still be able to do them, but maybe not all at once. I've allowed for $5,000 this year for home improvements.

So this is where the "WOWZA" comes in. I just did my February investment report a few days early and my fairly conservative portfolio mix is up over $26,000 compared to the previous month.

This means, my friends, my net worth excluding the house is $993,984. I am very, very close to being a you-know-what. Barring a correction, I expect that will happen by March 1.

This is something I have literally been saving for, for decades. I am at the doorstep of FI, or financial independence. Which to me means not being tied to a 9 to 5 job.

When I look at my records that show my net worth (sans house) in January, 2009, it was just $315,226. In 9 years, my net worth tripled. It was a combination of making large contributions (made possible since I paid off the mortgage), my mother's inheritance and the bull stock market.

This boggles my mind. Especially considering my current portfolio mix is only 45% stocks, with 45% bonds and 10% cash. I won't go lower than that. And of that 45% stock, only 35% of it is US stock; the other 10% is international stock.

For the 2nd time, I clogged my vacuum cleaner with the very fine diatamaceous earth powder I sprinkled on carpets when Luther had fleas. I shook out all my rugs except one large rug in my bedroom, and the family room wall to wall carpeting. I don't know how I will vacuum these rugs in the future without ruining my vacuum! Would a shop vac do any better?

I dropped off the vacuum at the repair place this morning.