Check-up Measurements
Aug. 2nd, 2006 10:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebI got my lab results from my annual physical check-up for this year (via a phone call). Everything is "normal" and I am "perfect." I forgot to worry about this and so did not feel a sense of relief. I am very appreciative, though, that I am lucky enough for these kinds of results to be typical and expected.
I did ask for a few specifics. All my numbers are within my recent historical range, but none are near the top. For example, my cholesterol has gone down from 200 to 187. As if I hadn't been eating at McDonald's for the couple of weeks preceding the tests.
**
My weight yesterday was down from two weeks ago, as if not eating out is working. But the difference could easily be attributable to other factors I don't understand, i.e., random.
**
My net worth went up this month, but it's only because the value of my house increased more than enough to make up for the plummeting value of my stocks. I use the average of the value assessed by the property taxing authority and the value I get from zillow.com. Of course, the former changes only once (twice?) a year, but the latter rose 9% in one month. Odd. As a result, my house is again making up 50% of my calculated net worth. I want it to make up only 1/3 of my net worth, with retirement savings making up 1/3 and other savings making up the final 1/3. My retirement savings was just as high as the equity in my house as late as last month. No more!
About half of my retirement savings is from my IRA and half from my pension plan. My IRA savings only recently surpassed my pension savings, and after all the stock plummeting, my IRA savings are still higher, so that's good.
**
I wrote down every purchase I made this month because after my big raise last year I still don't feel richer. I did not make any purchase I regret, with the possible exception of eating fast food alone five times, but since the total amount comes to about $7.50, the regrets are not financial. (Twice I supplemented my lunch with an extra taco, so on those days I only halfway ate out.)
I guess there's just been a lot of irregular spending. This month it was for tickets to Milwaukee (which I refuse to regret until the end of the trip) and air conditioning repairs. These are both things I have saved up for already. I probably should not include these savings in my net worth because in a way that money is already spent. Certainly already accounted for.
**
We used an average of 87.5 gallons per day since we got our new toilet, versus 99.5 gallons the previous year, for a savings of 12 gallons per day. So the new toilet really made a difference!
The new toilet uses 1.6 gallons per flush. If the old toilet used 6 gallons per flush, that implies we flush the toilet about 3 times a day. Um, no. Research shows that from 1982 to 1993, toilets required only 3.5 gallons to flush (I assume in the US). That implies 6 flushes per day. Maybe. I highly suspect more.
Maybe the new low-flow shower head that we installed at the same time actually lets more water out because it isn't clogged with minerals like the shower head it replaced.
**
Any things you check up on with measurements?
I did ask for a few specifics. All my numbers are within my recent historical range, but none are near the top. For example, my cholesterol has gone down from 200 to 187. As if I hadn't been eating at McDonald's for the couple of weeks preceding the tests.
**
My weight yesterday was down from two weeks ago, as if not eating out is working. But the difference could easily be attributable to other factors I don't understand, i.e., random.
**
My net worth went up this month, but it's only because the value of my house increased more than enough to make up for the plummeting value of my stocks. I use the average of the value assessed by the property taxing authority and the value I get from zillow.com. Of course, the former changes only once (twice?) a year, but the latter rose 9% in one month. Odd. As a result, my house is again making up 50% of my calculated net worth. I want it to make up only 1/3 of my net worth, with retirement savings making up 1/3 and other savings making up the final 1/3. My retirement savings was just as high as the equity in my house as late as last month. No more!
About half of my retirement savings is from my IRA and half from my pension plan. My IRA savings only recently surpassed my pension savings, and after all the stock plummeting, my IRA savings are still higher, so that's good.
**
I wrote down every purchase I made this month because after my big raise last year I still don't feel richer. I did not make any purchase I regret, with the possible exception of eating fast food alone five times, but since the total amount comes to about $7.50, the regrets are not financial. (Twice I supplemented my lunch with an extra taco, so on those days I only halfway ate out.)
I guess there's just been a lot of irregular spending. This month it was for tickets to Milwaukee (which I refuse to regret until the end of the trip) and air conditioning repairs. These are both things I have saved up for already. I probably should not include these savings in my net worth because in a way that money is already spent. Certainly already accounted for.
**
We used an average of 87.5 gallons per day since we got our new toilet, versus 99.5 gallons the previous year, for a savings of 12 gallons per day. So the new toilet really made a difference!
The new toilet uses 1.6 gallons per flush. If the old toilet used 6 gallons per flush, that implies we flush the toilet about 3 times a day. Um, no. Research shows that from 1982 to 1993, toilets required only 3.5 gallons to flush (I assume in the US). That implies 6 flushes per day. Maybe. I highly suspect more.
Maybe the new low-flow shower head that we installed at the same time actually lets more water out because it isn't clogged with minerals like the shower head it replaced.
**
Any things you check up on with measurements?