Normally I’d start this monthly personal update with a line about my net worth increase over the last 31 days, and you’d all stare in awe saying, “Wow, that Nick fella sure is smart with his monies.” And then I’d make a passing reference to my yacht made out of gold and our mansion in Martha’s Vineyard, and a jolly good time would be had by all.

But for the next couple of months I’ll be suspending my public net worth updates. The reason for this is simple: my net worth will be taking some strange but temporary twists and turns due to our upcoming house purchase. For example, we’ve written a couple of large earnest deposit checks in the last week that really aren’t “expenses” but they would show as a significant hit to my net worth. Rather than try to omit certain transactions, I figure it’ll just be easier to pick up with the net worth updates after all the house business is settled.

Other than house dealings, this has been a pretty uneventful month for us financially. While the summer weather has caused a small jump in our utility bills, our grocery spending has dropped as we attempt to clean out the cupboards in anticipation of our move. Tomorrow night’s dinner: spaghetti with Frosted Flakes and turkey gravy. Mmmm, yummy.