Huge Investment Bonuses & Home Repair (Mar. 2026)

March turned out to be a huge income month for us! But, it wasn’t via traditional ways. In fact, we tallied over $11K worth of bonuses from banks! Make sure to read on to see how you might be able to take advantage of your investment dollars to juice your returns a little.

For our monthly donation, our theme is nature conservation. You can read more about the three charities we’re considering and vote for your favorite in the poll below!

We track our income, spending, and savings each month to stay on our FIRE path and share it with you. Keep reading to see our monthly updates, tips, and charity reviews.

Budget Update

In the Sankey diagram below, the income on the left matches our expenses on the right.

We’ll run through the income and expense sources for the month and remark on any interesting items.

Income Summary

Our income was buoyed by some huge investment bonuses and Chris’s business funding our IRAs.

Investments
Despite the $11K+ in investment earnings, we did not make a big set of stock purchases. Nope. Instead, we earned some absolutely massive bonuses from three different brokerage firms—TastyTrade, E*Trade, and TradeUp.

• TastyTrade was running an absurd deal—a 4% match for new brokerage customers up to $10K. That meant that transferring $250K in as a new customer would max the bonus. All for simply transferring existing investments to them. Chris already had an account (due to a previous bonus), but Jenni could earn the bonus as a new customer—and did! Right on time, the $10K bonus is now invested and will sit there for the one year requirement.
• E*Trade was running an existing customer bonus deal—something pretty uncommon. Chris was already a customer and so just moved funds from his Vanguard brokerage to his E*Trade brokerage after confirming he qualified for the bonus. Another easy $1K.
• TradeUp *is* running a bonus that mixes matching funds and free shares (Chris’s referral). So far, he’s earned 2 of 5 expected NVIDIA shares and 5 of 5 free bonus shares ($TU, Telus for him). Those are worth $473 or so. He expects to earn another $1K in matching funds in another month per the deal terms.

We earned $11,473 in investment proceeds.

Dividends
Our dividends are keeping us afloat lately! We anticipate significant dividend payments from our various stock holdings—most of them from Vanguard funds like VTSAX. Most of our distributions were automatically reinvested in our tax-advantaged accounts.

We earned $1,826 in total distributions.

Accountable Plan
If you’re interested in the details of how an accountable plan for businesses works, check out this original post.

Chris’s business reimbursed him for the use of our house, utilities, health insurance, and other expenses. This reimbursement covers expenses for the first quarter of 2026.

Chris received $1,473 in reimbursements. 

Local Sales
Lots of sales via our local Facebook Marketplace this month!

• $80: Chris sold 4x old hard disk drives since the storage prices are up!
• $165: Jenni’s Trek hybrid bike found a new home since it’ll be a while before it’s used again.
• $200: Chris also sold off his primary hybrid bike by Scott; from 2010 it’s served him well but we ran across a pair of much newer bikes (Trek, Giant) this month for free (!!) that only needed a little tune-up love.
• $175: Jenni upgraded (perhaps a sideways move really) from an iPad Air 3 to iPad 9; the Air 3 went for $175.
• $90: Chris sold off a pair of Amazon Smart Thermostats for a project he didn’t finish (which we paid about $13 for through our utility with a discount).
• $45: Jenni sold an old kitchen griddle incompatible with our induction range as well as a fuzzy blanket from Christmas we don’t anticipate using.

We earned $755 from local sales.

Consulting
While Chris does still do occasional paid work—primarily in support of a long running business partner—he doesn’t usually have such high monthly earnings. In this case, the payment is primarily intended to cover our rather high IRA contribution this month, which, in turn was intended to keep our 2025 taxable income below a certain ACA-related threshold.

Chris earned $6,385 in consulting income.

Expense Summary

From our $23,120 monthly budget, we saved and invested $19,410 dollars.

After subtracting our credits, savings, and donations—we spent about $3,662 on living expenses.

That’s 76% of our FIRE budget from 2022 ($4,787/month).

Let’s break down some of the more exciting details this month.

Food & Dining

Food costs continue to fluctuate with inflation, but our costs are pretty even. We spent the month at home, which tends to keep our costs a little lower than when traveling.

Groceries
Lately, we’ve been stocking quite a bit of food in our pantry and freezer. And, we started having some refrigerator problems (which figures—it’s the one kitchen appliance we did NOT replace!). So, we’ve been scarfing down frozen food and anything in the fridge that might be short lived. Combined with ongoing Instacart/Chase promo deals and we’ve wound up with a very low $347 monthly grocery expense.

Restaurants, Fast food, Alcohol & bars
Chris started checking out a near-expiring local food app called Too Good To Go which made for some good grocery savings, but, also for an opportunity to enjoy some items from a local bakery. Combined with a couple fast food deals, we spent about $20 on Fast Food. That left about $67 for Restaurants. Jenni ordered premade, frozen meals after some deep discounts that’ll cover some of our more hectic days close to birth (which should be in May!).

We spent $434 on food & dining this month. 

Taxes

You win some, you lose some.

Tax Refund

On the income side of the ledger, we earned back $491 in federal tax dollars as a refund for 2025. It’s our second year filing as married, joint. Overall, it’s been pretty beneficial to our tax situation as we can stretch our tax-advantaged accounts, brackets, and other benefits.

State Taxes

On the expense side, we owed Virginia an additional $746. A good bit more than our federal refund. This mostly comes down to owing state tax on investment income that wasn’t subject to federal tax due to our overall low taxable income.

Net, we spent $255 on taxes this month. 

Shopping

We picked up a few upgrades and replacements for worn items this month. But overall, after selling the old stuff, we might have come out ahead!

Electronics & Software

Our local Facebook Marketplace had an iPad 9 listed for just $50. We hustled over to meet the seller, find that it was in great shape, and happily paid. After resetting and cleaning it up, it’s in great shape and was a very small upgrade for Jenni. We sold her previous iPad, an Air 3, for $175 a week later. Awesome!

We also bought Jenni a new iPhone case since her existing one was too slippery, a case for her new iPad, and a watch case for Chris’s new Apple Watch series 10 he’s anticipating buying next month.

Clothing

Jenni picked up a few new-to-her maternity clothes to accommodate her ever-growing belly.

Chris bought a new pair of wide toe box running shoes by Whitin on Amazon. They’re one of those Amazon brands but seem to have pretty good reviews along with a deep sale (about $30) on shoes that compete with Altra. Overall, he’s pretty happy with them. He threw in some new running socks for less than $1/pair, too.

We spent $164 on shopping this month.

Childcare

Our childcare expenses continue to grow, but, not too dramatically.

Baby Supplies

Chris was assigned the task of researching bottles and bottle-related supplies. We both want to avoid plastic where reasonable and settled on glass bottles by Dr. Brown. Add in a few different gauge bottle nipples and Wirecutter’s best bottle brush, we’re ready for the initial days of feeding!

Jenni was on the hunt for a stroller this month, something compatible with our Graco car seat system. Facebook Marketplace came through again where we found a lovely Graco stroller for just $40. After selling off an adapter it came with, our out-of-pocket cost was just $10!

Lastly, we attended an infant CPR class for $35.

We spent $82 on childcare this month.

Expense Conclusion

While that covers the big stuff, we still had a few random things or small purchases to mention that might be of interest.

Home Improvement
We continue to prep for baby. Lots of little house projects—painting, caulking, and so on. We’ve also added thermometer to our freezer, fridge, and oven (partly because of an issue with our refrigerator which turned out to be a bad thermostat!). Our new induction range is now flanked by silicon strips to fill the gaps between the range and surrounding counters. Lots of little projects.

For more thermostat fun, Chris picked up a couple smart thermostats to use with our new HVAC system through our utility’s discount program. Unsatisfied with them, he sold them locally for a small profit.

Home Improvement costs were about $57.

Furnishings
With our new induction range, we were lucky to find that about 75% of our existing pots and pans worked just fine. But, our small saucepan and large boiling pot did not. We sold those off (as well as a few other underused kitchen items) on Facebook Marketplace this month. Then, we purchased Amazon Warehouse nearly-new Cuisinart branded saucepan and pot replacements. Great deals!

Furnishings came in at about $57.

City Gas
Despite our swap to induction, we continue to pay a city gas bill. That’s mostly just delayed billing. This will be our last month with a full bill for natural gas (it’s our only source of usage)! Next month should be a prorated bill, and, by May, nothing! …Well, that’s not quite right. We didn’t realize it, but a few bucks of this monthly bill is a wastewater fee based on the square footage of our building’s roof. So, we’ll always have a few bucks in costs. We’ll have to rename this expense category to City Water!

How Much We Work

We like to keep track of how much time we spend doing work that is paid.

Let’s add this month to the list…

Neither of us did much in the way of paid labor this month, clocking in at about 24 hours. Most of the earned wages went to Jenni’s 401(k).

Net Worth Update

Net worth is not our primary measurement, and can understand it can be discouraging if you’re working yourself out of debt. We also understand it’s difficult to be transparent with our readers without divulging this information, so we continue to do so.

Account breakdown

Even with the wild swings in the market lately, our investments continue to be pretty stable. From a high level, our assets and liabilities are shown in the data table below as of March 31, 2026.

• Miscellaneous assets include specific investments we’ve made in physical assets (think collectibles) and treasury bonds
• Amounts do not reflect the value of the businesses Chris owns or their assets, which should appear as income to us over future years
• Jenni’s Prius is omitted

The S&P 500 was down about 4.6% for the month.

We were down about 3.3%. That’s certainly an improvement over the market, but it stung a little.

Overall, our net worth decreased by around $105K this month.

Previous Donation Winner

This month’s grant will help young women pursue an education without discrimination or barriers. Thank you to the Malala Fund for helping females obtain the knowledge they deserve.

Our Reader’s Fund seeks to leverage the principles of FIRE to build a lifetime of giving.

Thank you for your participation in our polls over the last 5 years. We’ve given over $9,900 to deserving charities with your help in deciding which organizations to donate to.

Polls are now open for our next round of candidates: Nature Conservation.

Charity Round-Up

As we celebrate Earth month across the globe, we’d like to highlight a few organizations that work throughout the year to keep our planet and all the creatures in it safe.

Each organization has great charity ratings. We invite you to learn more about their great work and join us in donating to one of them by casting your vote.

Summaries below include the impact metrics and a link to their Candid profile, which details the nonprofit’s operations and transparency.

1)​​ The Earth Rangers USA Foundation

Why? Engaging kids in earth conservation to inspire lifelong commitment of the natural world.

Where? Canada and USA.

What? The Earth Rangers USA Foundation is a nonprofit organization that helps kids learn about the environment and what they can do to help. They’ve developed an educational app just for kids to learn about wildlife and the environment, play trivia games, and how to make an impact at home and in their communities. These activities or challenges can range from reducing electricity or water usage or organizing a trail clean up. They can listen to podcasts with Earth Ranger Emma and much more. They’ve developed resources for parents and educators on how to approach these topics and manage the associated anxiety that may come with learning about these topics. In certain towns, schools have the opportunity to host a free assembly.

[Candid] [About]

2) American Bird Conservancy

Why? Imagine looking up and not hearing or seeing birds in the sky. The outdoors would be a very different experience.

Where? The United States, Caribbean, and Latin America.

What? American Bird Conservancy is a nonprofit organization focused on protecting wild birds and preserving their habitats. They provide grants protecting endangered bird species. They work with 185 conservation groups to find solutions to the threats to birds, reverse bird population declines, and prevent extinctions. Their website is an excellent resource to learn more about the birds of the Americas and to hear their calls.

[Candid] [About]

3) Defenders of Wildlife

Why? They protect the land by blocking harm, fixing what is broken, and making the protections put in place stick. 

Where? The United States of America

What? Defenders of Wildlife, founded in 1947, is a national nonprofit organization working to protect all native wild animals and plants in their natural community. They have multiple ways to protect habitats including protecting lands from development, enforcing environmental laws, restoration of damaged ecosystems, and fighting invasive species and climate threats. They also work with landowners and local communities to find ways to reduce human-wildlife conflicts. Their impact has been proven to be long-lasting. 

[Candid] [About]

Nonprofit poll

After reviewing the list above, please take a moment to vote for which nonprofit you think will put funds to use in the best way.

(Have trouble using or seeing the poll above? Some reader tools or apps may not display it. View this page in a browser or use this link to our Reader Fund page, which has a copy of the poll!)

Thank you for taking the time to vote!

One of our primary goals with TicTocLife is building a stream of giving within the FIRE community, and that starts with knowledge.

What’s Next

April will keep us busy! With another baby shower on the calendar, we’ll celebrate with local friends and some family in central Virginia. This one will be even more fun—not only because of more friends—but also because Chris will attend! Baby is just around the corner now…

And with that in mind, it’ll come as no surprise that much of April will be spent prepping for baby. They’re due in early/mid May and we’ve still got a few items on our task list: nursery prep, picking names, and more baby-related classes.

All the while, we’ve mostly kept our minds off of our FIRE-related investments. That almost sounds counterintuitive—but—it’s kind of the point. That big financial cushion offers us safety and security to ride out the ups and downs of the market while focusing on other things in life that are more immediate and in many ways, more important. That’s financial freedom.

We’re starting to work on baby names—one for each gender. Hit us with your faves!
Let us know in the comments or on Threads and X (Twitter)!