Last month, I predicted that September’s net worth chart had nowhere to go but down. How did that pan out?

Change: -$523 or -1.83 %

Down she goes! It’s not really surprising, although I wasn’t quite prepared for the extent to which it went down. Here are the factors that played into this (temporary!) downfall:

Income: My previous job ended at the very end of August, and I went into job hunting mode. Which was also vacation mode — I decided to do my job hunt during the day while visiting family in Upstate New York. My previous job was understaffed and I was not able to take much time off, so it was my first extended visit up there since I moved down to Virginia a year ago. While I did manage to get the job I really wanted (huzzah!), I didn’t start that one until the 22nd, and so, no paycheck yet.

I did go and conduct a training seminar for my previous job, which brought in something to cushion this month, but not enough to offset the fact that…

My car is expensive: And not in a cool way, but more of a “1996 Oldsmobile granny-car needs repairs” way. First, September is the month my insurance comes due. No biggie, because I put aside money for it monthly in my “Occasionals” savings account and then pay it every six months. But that does eat a chunk out of my net worth every six months, regardless. Of course, my car wasn’t happy with just that: aside from also needing its yearly inspection, it decided it deserved new tires and new turn signal bulbs. And an air freshener. (Oh, and now? Water is leaking into the backseat when it rains.) Apparently, my car is a gold digger.

All the usual expenses still apply: Okay, technically, I could have applied for a forbearance on my student loans while I was looking for a job. But it probably would have taken me about as much time to fill out that paperwork as it did to find a new job. In general, the world doesn’t stop turning just because you don’t have a job any more — and that means everyone still wants money from you. I know I was very lucky that my “unemployment” was extremely short-lived…

But also, a big part of why I was able to handle not having a job is that I prepared for it. I knew it was coming and stocked up my emergency fund for months ahead of time. Again, I know that I’m lucky that I didn’t have to dip into it. But it was there, just in case. So this temporary slide down on the net worth graph? It really doesn’t bother me one bit.

Next month? WIll be up.

If you have any questions about my net worth or how it is calculated, feel free to ask them in the comments. Also, if you’d like to see how I stack up against other personal finance bloggers, be sure to check out The Wealthy Blogger List. (Spoiler alert: the name of my site is highly accurate.)