Preparing for a Cash Avalanche in 2020

I've started to think about my 2020 finances.  2019 seemed like a tight year, so I looked back to see where all the money went.  Besides maxing out my Roth IRA contribution, I've contributed nothing towards savings.  In fact, I've borrowed from my brokerage account to pay for improvements to the Airbnb.

So, what happened?

By year end I will have spent over $50,000 on the Airbnb.  This year I replaced all the windows with hurricane impact windows, installed new siding, and replaced the HVAC system.  The siding replacement included replacing a lot of rotten wood around the house.  Overall, the house is in really good shape now.  While there are a few other projects that I need to do, they won't cost nearly as much as what I did this year.  I'm fairly confident I'll spend under $10,000 in 2020 on the Airbnb.  That's a $40,000 difference year over year.

Rental property expenses were the second highest expense this year.  At the beginning of the year I remodeled the kitchen in one of the townhouses.  Then I decided to sell all the townhouses.  Because I sold those 5 properties, rental expenses will be lower (income will obviously be lower, too).  I'll end up spending close to $30,000 this year.  Next year the total will be much lower.

The third highest expense was for our primary residence.  I'm not ready to announce anything yet, but I am thinking hard about moving closer to our Airbnb and reducing our monthly housing costs.

Finally, all the other spending categories can fairly easily be reduced:

• We are going to prepare meals at home more often - that's going to be tough to stick to, but it's my top commitment on a day-to-day basis.  This should lower our food cost.   
• I had a lot of dental work this year which shouldn't repeat in 2020.  
• I will probably buy a new car soon, which will cut down on repair costs.  
• Last, I plan to be smarter when planning vacations.  I will continue signing up for new credit cards to earn bonus rewards.  Right now I am working on earning 70,000 Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards through a new credit card I just opened.  We will still travel next year, but hopefully the flights and hotels will be as close to free as we can get.

Taking all these actions into consideration, cash flow in 2020 should be substantial.  I'm planning to use the cash to build up my brokerage account (basically "repay" the withdrawals I've made this year), pay down the mortgage on one of my rental properties, and build cash reserves for the next recession.