Money Diary #68

Morning: Up around 6:30, go take a shower, and brush my teeth. Check the mail, get grocery circulars & some coupon books. Cut out the coupons for Eggland's Best Eggs (for mom) and Burger King (for SO). Do work for a while until my 9 am Zoom call. That ends a bit before 10, and I finish up some work. Decide to skip breakfast, and walk around a bit. Mom calls, and I speak with her and her friend. 

Afternoon: Watch I Love Lucy, eat air-fried chicken tenders & bacon for lunch, and drink a glass of cold-pressed orange juice. Do a coconut oil pull, and log into the 12:30 webcast. Jump on a quick call after that with a colleague in preparation for our 2 pm meeting. In that meeting, some news is announced about another colleague who will be transitioning into a new role. Once that call ends, I'm done with meetings for the day, so I prep for a call with my boss tomorrow.  

Evening: SO texts that he has a free movie ticket, and asks what I'd like to watch, awww. Decide on the Dumbledore movie since I love Harry Potter, and it's the longest movie I can find (at 2 hours and 23 minutes) so we get the max enjoyment out of the free ticket, haha. Read for a while, and here is what I learn:

• Why people live above their means: "When you start with natural weaknesses like social & status cues, along with herd mentality, and then nurture them with lots of persuasive marketing, you end up with people who buy just a bit more than they can afford, year after year."

• Two questions to think about: "What things really make me happy in life, and which things bring me stress or unhappiness? What is the most effective and least costly way to cut out some of that stress and bring more of the happiness into my typical week?"

• A good mindset to have: "I need to work for what I get -- and conserve it."

• "Spending money can be good": "If it truly creates happiness, you're using it right."

Dinner is regular fried rice with air-fried shrimp & salmon. Brush my teeth, watch Green Acres & Rick Steves (something about this show is so calming), and bed around 11.