Money Diary #124

Morning: Up around 7:30 and migrate to the sofa. A colleague has emailed so I respond back to her. SO is working from home today (yay!). I realize I slept for over 10 hours yesterday, and he tells me he was up playing video games until really late, haha. Schedule some time with my boss on Friday. Brush my teeth, and head to my 8:30 call. My boss can't make it, so it's just me and another colleague & we chat about an upcoming certification exam that he is taking. After that call, jump on my all-day class about mental health at 9 am. Around 11, I get up and walk around to say hi to SO in the other room, lol. He warms up his new strawberry cereal and I take several bites. It's not bad, but my favorite is still the banana cereal. 

Afternoon: We get a 30-minute lunch break and I warm up leftover curry. I eat half while watching I Dream of Jeannie, and SO eats the rest. Pour a glass of Sprite Zero and head back to the class that will run until 4. Read a couple of Money Diaries, download a Starbucks coupon from the Alberstons app, and take a test after the class ends. Get my certificate (yay!). Watch Kardashians and then go shower. I am starving after showering, so I eat a s'mores granola bar and a couple of pieces of chocolate.

Evening: Get dressed to head out. We grab the Burger King family meal (3 Whoppers, 3 cheeseburgers, and 3 fries) ($14.03) for dinner and then stop by his Mom's place where he picks up some packages he had ordered and drops off some Burger King for her dinner. Once we're back home, I eat fries and a Whopper for dinner and fall asleep in the front living room with the Kardashians on. Migrate to the bed and fall asleep at 11. 

Eating out = $14.03

Total = $14.03

Money Diary #123

Morning: Up around 7 and migrate to the sofa. He heads to work & kisses me goodbye. Set up a meeting for early July. I brush my teeth and get ready for my 9 am call. We have to choose which small group session we'll be attending, and I pick one on personal development. That call goes for a couple of hours, and then I call my dad. I see that my noon meeting gets canceled, so I don't have any other meetings today. 

Afternoon: Warm up leftover curry & I see that a colleague has messaged me on our office chat. Respond back to her, turn on the original Kardashians, and drink a glass of Sprite Zero. He texts that he's bringing another mini bundt cake for me, haha. Keep an eye out on my inbox and some projects come in around 4. Work on them and reach out to a colleague.  

Evening: He comes home around 5:30, and I devour the mini red velvet bundt cake, haha.  Watch more Kardashians, and around 9, start feeling tired. Not super hungry, so I head to bed and promptly fall asleep. 

Money Diary #122

Morning: Up at 7:30 and see an email from my boss. Migrate to the sofa, log on, and respond. A couple more projects come in, so I start working on those. I only have one meeting today, so I settle into the couch. Drink the last bit of leftover coffee. 

Afternoon: Keep an eye out on my inbox and I see that my afternoon meeting is rescheduled for later in the week. Watch TV and respond to a couple of emails. Welp, the time of the month is here. Go shower around 4.

Evening: He comes home around 6:30 and brings back a mini red velvet bundt cake, yum. It disappears really quickly, haha. Dinner is leftover curry, brush my teeth & do the activated charcoal mouthwash, and bed around midnight.

Money Diary #121

Morning: Up around 6 and promptly fall asleep again. Get up around 10, migrate to the sofa, and watch TV. Brush my teeth and go shower. 

Afternoon: Get dressed & head out to get lunch with a family friend of his that is visiting from abroad and their kids. Lunch is at a pho place where he gets a spicy pho and I get chicken fried rice. The fried rice hits the spot & I also finish up the last of his pho. While I'm not a fan of the meat & noodles in the pho, I love the broth so I slurp that right up, haha. Head back home and fall asleep on the couch. 

Evening: Dinner is leftover curry, watch Grand Budapest Hotel, and brush my teeth & do the activated charcoal mouthwash. Bed around midnight. 

Money Diary #120

Morning: Hear him check his phone and proclaim that his car meetup actually starts at 8, instead of 9, lol. Jump out of bed, wash my face & brush my teeth, and get dressed. Download a coupon for free sausages from Albertsons. Head out around 7:15, and when we get there, I get the feeling this won't be super organized. It's very hot outside, and we meet up with a friend of his that is also at the event. The guys hang out, and after 30 minutes, I decide to head to the nearby hotel. Head to the bathroom, and shortly after settling on the couch, he calls me & asks I want to go with them to the nearby Starbucks. I meet up with them and walk over to Starbucks. His friend gets us a pineapple coconut drink, which is pretty tasty. Afterwards, his friend leaves & we head to Barnes & Noble. I look at the personal finance books and then we head to Costco. He goes to the bathroom and as he is walking out, one of the sample ladies says hello & he tells her that we'll see her out there, haha. 

Afternoon: After Costco, we go to the PGA Store & Marshalls (where he gets a pair of Kenneth Cole shorts) and then to Albertsons where we each grab a package of free sausages. Then to my favorite burger place for lunch where he gets a double hamburger meal that comes with a free limited time bacon burger ($10.60). I have a ton of one dollar bills, so I pay with those. I have $2 remaining that I give to SO since I know he'll want to buy a lottery ticket at some point, haha. We eat lunch, and the bacon burger is super tasty, yum. We plan on heading home, but once we're in the car, decide to head to IKEA instead. IKEA is having its mid-summer event, and there's a wheel of fortune game in the front of the store. We stand in line, I spin the wheel, and win candles or a hat. I tell SO that I want the hat, so we get that. As soon as we're done spinning, I guess the game is over even though a line had formed behind us. We walk around the store, and I'm super proud of the hat, lol. Once we're at the end of the store, we decide to head back to the cafeteria where he grabs us a couple of fountain drinks. We sit for a while and enjoy soda (pear & diet cola for me). Head home after that and pass out on the couch. 

Evening: Dinner is Japanese chicken curry (yum), brush my teeth & do the activated charcoal mouthwash, and bed around midnight.

Eating out = $10.60

Lottery tickets = $2

Total = $12.60

Money Diary #119

Morning: Up around 8, migrate to the sofa, and check email. Brush my teeth and watch TV. Jump on an 11 am call that ends within 30 minutes. 

Afternoon: Eat a slice of pizza for lunch and take a nap. Check email and back to another nap. Watch TV afterwards.

Evening: More pizza for dinner, brush my teeth & do the activated charcoal mouthwash, and bed around midnight. 

Money Diary #118

Morning: Up at 6:30, migrate to the sofa, and check email. Brush my teeth and jump on my 9 am call. That goes for a couple of hours. Feeling much better today than yesterday. 

Afternoon: Jump on my noon call that ends within an hour. Prep for the meeting with my boss and head to that at 1:30. Send a couple of follow-up emails and keep an eye out on my inbox. 

Evening: Head to Costco and grab a pepperoni pizza for dinner ($10.77). He gets some treats for his mom's dog, and then we head back home. Eat a couple of slices of pizza for dinner, brush my teeth & do the activated charcoal mouthwash, and bed around 11:30.

Eating out = $10.77

Total = $10.77

Money Diary #117

Morning: Up around 7, migrate to the sofa, and check email. A couple of job openings are posted, and I call my dad to see what he thinks. I also reach out to my boss and schedule time with her later in afternoon to connect. Brush my teeth. 

Afternoon: Speak to my boss about the job openings and she can sense I'm not super excited about them. I'll hold off on applying and see what happens next. Keep an eye out on email and jump on my 2 pm call to go over the project that I'll be taking over. 

Evening: Watch TV, dinner is spaghetti, and brush my teeth & do activated charcoal mouthwash. Bed around midnight. 

Money Diary #116

Morning: Up around 6:30, migrate to the sofa, and check email. Jump on my 8 am call that goes for a couple of hours. Once that is over, I'm done with meetings for the day. Feel better than yesterday but still not at 100%. Send some emails to coordinate a few meetings. 

Afternoon: My boss messages me and asks if I'd be alright taking over a project. I agree and the person currently overseeing the project sets up a meeting for tomorrow. Drink tea, watch TV, and keep an eye out on email. 

Evening: Dinner is spaghetti, brush teeth & do the activated charcoal mouthwash, and bed around 11.

Money Diary #115

Morning: Up around 7, check emails on phone, and promptly fall back asleep until 9. Brush my teeth, take meds, migrate to the sofa. Jump on my 9:30 call which ends in 45 minutes. My head feels warm, so I take more meds and watch the 1st Harry Potter. He makes me hot tea, and it feels really nice on my throat. 

Afternoon: Switch over to I Love Lucy and watch that for an hour. Head to my 1 pm meeting that ends in 15 minutes, and I send a follow-up email. A project comes in that I quickly look at and make a note to review it in more detail tomorrow before my meeting with my manager. I'm done with meetings for the day, so I keep an eye out on my inbox, and read for a while. Here is what I learn:

• On managing people: "If/when you manage people, it’s about them. Get them to where they want to be."

• On being the tailwind: "Be the tailwind, not the headwind. 'How can I help' are 4 of the most valuable words they can hear."

• The right person to be promoted: "When a promotion is announced and people stand up and applaud, then that is the right person to be promoted."

Evening: Dinner is leftover spaghetti, brush teeth & do the activated charcoal mouthwash, and bed around 11.

Money Diary #114

Morning: Up around 7, migrate to the sofa, and promptly fall asleep again. He is still asleep. Wake up around 10 and sleep again. 

Afternoon: Around noon, wake up & warm up spaghetti for lunch. Brush my teeth, use the activated charcoal mouthwash, and get dressed to run errands. SO texts a list of things to get (fried onions, echinacea, face wash, and almond milk) and also texts his Albertsons card number to me. Head to Walmart first, grab the 4 things, and get out of there in 5 minutes ($17.25). Albertsons next to grab our grande drinks from their in-store Starbucks since we each have a coupon. As I'm waiting for the barista to finish the prior customer's drink, the prior customer looks at me and wishes me good luck, lol. I am puzzled since the barista at this store is the most customer-friendly person I've met. I realize soon though that this is a new barista and not the one I was expecting. This new one is, um, not great -- she clearly doesn't want to be here and messes up the orders. I either end up paying for one drink twice or she undercharges me. In any event, after 20 minutes, I pay with a pre-paid Starbucks card & walk out with a chocolate cold brew for him & a mocha frap for me. Back home, I unload groceries and watch Selling Sunset. Fall asleep with US Open on TV. 

Evening: Shower and feel a bit better. Read for a while, and here is what I learn:

• The ability to focus on mental health: "6.30am: I’ve set my alarm today for the first time in a couple of months. I feel very privileged to be able to have such an easygoing schedule to focus on mental health at the moment. I appreciate that not everyone has this opportunity."

• Why I love reading Money Diaries: "I love to know what people spend their money on and what motivates them to spend and what they prioritize with the money they have."

• Be polite but have a plan to disarm everyone you meet: "Despite his low-key manner and folksy expressions like 'holy moly,' he is perfectly capable of icing anyone, if he decides it’s in the best interest of the company. He does not think of employees as family, but as a sports team that has to win trophies."

• "Strive for boredom": "That’s the only way original thought will have space in your mind to rise to the top."

Not feeling well at all, so take some cough syrup. He makes garlic green bean casserole for dinner (yum). Too tired to brush my teeth, so I do the activated charcoal mouthwash and head to bed around 11. 

Groceries = $17.25

Total = $17.25

Money Diary #113

Morning: Wake up around 7 and see he is not in bed. He has moved to one of the guest bedrooms, he tells me, since he has been coughing all night. I migrate to the sofa, text my friend that we'll probably not be able to meet up tomorrow, and fall asleep until 10. He wakes up as well and takes a COVID test. Welp, it's positive. He plays on the computer and goes back to bed. I warm up spaghetti for lunch. Read how "money is like blood, you need to keep it circulating. Money spent on family & friends makes me happy" & it immediately reminds me of SO and his generosity with everyone.

Afternoon: Fall asleep with a full belly and the US Open on TV. Wake up around 3 when I hear the garage open. Apparently, the battery he ordered just got delivered & he had been calling me, but I didn't hear b/c I was out, lol. Eat a pineapple choco roll and wash it down with some water. Brush my teeth & do the activated charcoal mouthwash. Watch Rick Steves in Lisbon and read for a while. Here is what I learn:

• Loving where you live: "The weather is so lovely that we meander to a café near to us which is situated inside a stately home. I absolutely love the town I live in and no matter how many times a day I get out, I always look around and truly appreciate the old buildings and cobbles."

• On being a morning person: "7.30am: Up early again. It's a good thing I'm such a morning person and I love having more of the day."

• Everyone deserves to enjoy life: "Does she need to reel in her spending habits? Probably. But low income individuals also deserve to enjoy their lives, just as much as someone making $100,000+ does."

• Focus on what you can control: "The pandemic is not her fault. Her spending choices are."

• You shouldn't need to be perfect & always disciplined to survive: "It is not OP's fault that service work is unstable, unpredictable, and low paying. It is not OP's fault that her industry was hit extremely hard by the GLOBAL PANDEMIC. It's not OP's fault that most students need to take out high amounts of student loans to attend college. OP didn't make perfect financial choices, but you should not NEED to be perfect and always disciplined to survive."

• "People really underestimate the risk of their primary residence": "With rates rising, fewer people can buy your house, or want to buy your house. So prices might come down. And you’ll be selling in a crowded market if people start to lose their jobs and thereby are forced to sell their own homes."

• "Which is more important to you?": "Avoiding the risk you see or avoiding the potential regret?"

• Work vs life: "I log off my computer and turn to the people I did choose and do love and everything with people and purpose is right there in front of me. Work shouldn’t be the source for these things. A decent workplace with good pay is all I need. Looking for more at work keeps me in a state of constant depression and unhappiness. Not everyone was born a hero. Most of us live quite average lives, and that’s ok."

• "Working is just like a simulation game I play": "Clocking in, doing my little tasks, meeting with people, using office jargon like 'circling back' over and over, and then signing off back to my real life. Don't get me wrong, I find a lot of purpose in what I do and I feel that I've found a niche where I contribute positive things to the world, but my mind is still in constant turmoil with the late-stage capitalist world forcing me to give my labor to eat, have healthcare, and survive."

Evening: Watch Selling Sunset and migrate to the sofa in the front living room. He warms up rice, Mom's spinach & her lamb curry for dinner. Brush my teeth and do the activated charcoal mouthwash. Watch the 1st Lord of the Rings and bed around 2.

Money Diary #112

Morning: 

• Up around 7:15 and migrate to the sofa. I sleep for 30 minutes and then hear emails on my phone. We are off today. These emails relate to a wellness certification class I signed up for through work. The class itself is later in the month, but there is apparently quite a bit of pre-work before the class, so I sign in and start that pre-work. SO tells me he is not feeling well and that he might spend the day in one of the guest bedrooms. He takes his temperature, and throughout the morning, checks to see how he is feeling. He can smell bananas (yay!) and takes some meds for his headache. 

• For the pre-work, I jot down some notes including reminding myself that when speaking to a new person, it's important to (i) speak to them from the cultural spaces they occupy instead of the cultural spaces that I occupy; (ii) observe indicators of how a person is feeling (that is, what is the person not saying); and (iii) observe what the "baseline" is for this person so later on, I can pay attention to what behaviors are outside of what I would typically expect for that person. I also learn about self-care and how participating in activities that involve the senses (smell, taste, touch, sight, and hearing) can help improve emotional health. 

• Finish the pre-work in a couple of hours, forward a couple of emails to clear out my inbox, and then sign off. Read a WSJ article on frugality where someone observes "inflation doesn't matter as much if you don't spend money." SO makes almond milk coffee for me (yum), and then I watch more Iron Chef. 

Afternoon: Brush my teeth and SO warms up spaghetti for lunch (it literally gets tastier every day, lol). Migrate to the front living room and veg on the couch. Hear my phone buzz, see a few work projects come in, and log on to complete them. Work for 30 minutes and then sign off. Watch the 2nd Hobbit, and read for a while. Here is what I learn:

• On mitigating sequence-of-returns risks: "Buy into a bad market rather than withdraw from it."

• Not an emergency: "If your health or a loved one's health is not compromised, then whatever it is, it is not an emergency."

• On retirement: "We mostly do the same things in retirement as we did before, but we do them more frequently and at a slower pace."

• More retirement ideas: "Using a hammock to sleep in the forest was the key to backpacking in retirement."

• On EQ in Corporate America: "The right therapist listens to you and then gives you the tools to identify & recognize patterns and change your reactions to them."

• On being prepared: "Even a fish can be killed in a flood." 

• On a recession: "The darker the news on the horizon, the bigger your discounts will be for any new stocks you accumulate." 

• On perspective: "I remember my brother and I getting into trouble because we ate a box of cereal in three days that was supposed to last us all week."

• "The real issue with lifestyle inflation is when it truly is like inflating a balloon -- outward in all directions at once": "But well-considered spending to maximize life satisfaction is more like creating a bonsai -- trimming areas that you don't want and encouraging others to grow."

• A reminder to myself: "Middlebury daughter: 'Dad, my roommate has a family house on Martha's Vineyard, and she invited me to spend the summer with her family there. Her father is a partner at Skadden, so he is only there on some weekends, but her mother is there full time. Can I go?"

• The gift that keeps on giving: 

• "I went to an Ivy undergrad and Ivy business school. Still helps my career even though I graduated decades ago. The problem with this stuff is that you can't see the benefits while you are too close to the situation. You can see the costs of attending an Ivy, but the benefits are prospective and intangible/hard to quantify until later in life."

• "I have a couple of Ivy degrees; my brother has 3 degrees from a state school. He once said to me with respect to our degrees: 'When people meet you, they assume you're smart, just based on the schools. I have to prove I'm smart.' Not saying that is right or wrong, but it is, I think, a real thing. Graduating from an elite school makes things a bit easier."

• Truth: "The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be."

• "My daily routine is determined by my cat": "She makes me at 4:30 AM followed promptly by breakfast. She eats the same food for each meal. I vary my diet to try to stay within expiration dates. We eat three meals punctually with snacks between and at bedtime. We nap when needed, play, watch nature, bask in the sun, and empty the mind through meditation, which she excels at. I read a lot, which entices her to sit on my lap."

Evening: Go shower around 6 and use the psoriasis shampoo. SO comments that this was a super chill day, and I agree. Eat spaghetti for dinner, brush teeth & do the activated charcoal mouthwash, and bed around midnight.

Money Diary #111

Morning: Up around 6 and migrate to the sofa. He wakes up at 7:30, showers & gets dressed, and kisses me goodbye before going to work. I fall back asleep until 9 or so until I hear my phone buzz. Check email and log on. We're having a company-wide webcast today on D&I efforts, so I head to that around 10. Listen in for a couple of hours.

Afternoon: Brush my teeth & change my shirt to get ready for my 12:30 video call. That ends in 45 minutes, and I head back to the D&I webcast. Warm up rice & salmon curry, listen in to one more session, and then go shower. SO texts that he's bringing Crumbl cookies home (YAY!). 

Evening: SO comes home, I immediately eat 3/4 of the cookies (lol), and spend the rest of the night vegging on the couch. He makes spaghetti for dinner which I devour in 10 minutes. Watch Iron Chef and bed around 11 since he is not feeling well.

Money Diary #110

Morning: Up at 5:45 to the sound of my phone, see emails come in, and turn on my laptop. Mom texts to see if I have any coupons for Albertsons -- I check that I don't and text her back. Work until 11, brush my teeth, and eat the leftover mac & cheese with fried chicken for lunch. Do the activated charcoal mouthwash and respond to emails that come in. SO head out to tow one of the cars to the dealership.

Afternoon: Jump on my noon call that runs until 1:30. Review a project and then go shower around 2:30. He texts that he is coming back from the dealership so I get dressed to go out to his dentist appointment. Eat a matcha roll, drink water, and once he is back, we head out. Get to his dentist exactly at 4 for his appointment. I hang out in the waiting room, and once he is done, we head to Costco to exchange pants for him to get a different size. 

Evening: Order 2 hot dogs & a chicken bake for dinner ($6.48) & then walk around the store. He gets the pants in a different size, a shirt for $7, and finds Melona bars (!) on sale. Then he gets gas and I call my former coworker/friend. We make plans to meet up this weekend. SO & I were planning on going to Nordstrom Rack but end up deciding to go back home. I get a Gmail reminder that JL Collins is speaking at a Zoom invite tonight, so I sign in just in time for that and listen for the next hour. It's cool to hear him in person. Fall asleep on the couch for 30 minutes, and when I wake up, I see he is doing the dishes. I wake up, warm up some rice & salmon curry, and eat that for dinner part 2. Watch the new Iron Chef series on Netflix and excitedly email my friend to tell her about the new show. Brush my teeth, do the activated charcoal mouthwash, and bed around midnight.

Eating out = $6.48

Total = $6.48

Money Diary #109

Morning: Wake up at 6, brush my teeth, and drink a cup of tea. Make scrambled eggs & have a piece of toast and another cup of tea for breakfast. Do a mask on my face and wax my eyebrows. Go shower, shave my legs, and use soap on my hair. 

Afternoon: Eat lunch of spicy salmon curry and rice. Mom packs food for me to take back to SO (more spicy salmon curry, rice, veggies, and goat stew). Do the coconut oil pull, and as I'm doing it, my boss's boss calls. I immediately spit out coconut oil in the trash and answer the phone. We're chatting about the expat position and I have a few questions which she kindly walks me through. Once that is done, I jump on a call with our interns that ends in 30 minutes. I offer to be a resume/interview prep resource for them as I know they are heading into job interviews for next summer in a couple of months. My boss texts and asks if she can move up our afternoon meeting to 2 -- I immediately say yes as I want to tell her what her boss told me, lol. Head to that meeting, and her first question is exactly that, haha. She tells me how she and her husband were chatting about the possibility of my doing an expat position at dinner last night. I ask her some questions, get her feedback on my resume, and then I'm done with meetings for the day. I air fry spring rolls and everyone has that with a cup of tea for an afternoon snack. I get dressed to head back to SO's place, and once I'm there, I return a friend's call. She is in meetings & says she'll call me back. I also text SO that I'm here, and he says he'll be bringing me some food from his work, haha.

Evening: SO comes home with a big ol' plate of fried chicken, mac & cheese, and meatballs. I immediately dive in, lol, and in between bites, tell him about my boss's exciting news & his thoughts on my applying to the expat position. He is very impressed with my boss's new role and encourages me to apply to the expat position. Watch Titanic for a while, then The Mentalist, and brush my teeth & do the activated charcoal mouthwash. Fall asleep around 11.

Money Diary #108

Morning: Get up around 6, brush my teeth, and drink a cup of tea. Go shower, eat toast & have another cup of tea for breakfast, and sign into a webcast around 8. Head to a 9 am meeting after that that ends at 10. Jump on a call with my boss and another colleague which goes half an hour and then I speak with my boss one-on-one on a few questions. 

Afternoon: Jump on a 12:30 call that ends at 1, and eat lunch of rice & goat stew. Jot down some notes for my meeting with my boss tomorrow. Read for a while on how "lifestyle creep is real. Lots of high-earners living paycheck to paycheck on $1 million. When you literally spend every day hating your job, you need to spend a load of cash to keep yourself from rage-quitting. I bet this is the case. They spend money to distract; to get a high in between job-related lows. Over time, more money is needed to as the novelty of distraction wears off and tolerance increases. It's a vicious cycle." Have tea for an afternoon snack and watch TV.

Evening: Eat dinner of rice, fish stew, and goat stew. Brush my teeth and bed around 9:30.

Money Diary #107

Morning: Mom wakes me up around 6:30 since they want to go to the local floral nursery today before it gets too hot. Brush my teeth & drink a cup of tea. Eat toast & drink another cup of tea, get dressed, and head out. Get gas in my car since I'll be heading back to SO later this week, and then head to Albertsons to get free cauliflower pizza (one on my card & another on theirs), two pints of Blue Bell ice cream (vanilla), and bananas for SO, lol. Dad weighs the bananas to ensure they are almost 4 pounds since that is the max poundage that falls under the $0.29/lb deal, haha. Come home, put everything in the fridge/freezer since it's so hot out, and head to the nursery. We see our neighbors there as well, and walk around for a while. It's pretty nice but nothing catches my parents' eye this time around. Come home, immediately go shower, and then watch the Sunday morning cartoons (Flintstones & Jetsons). An I Love Lucy marathon starts, and I fall asleep for an hour. Use the air fryer to warm up cheese pizza and Mom adds veggies to that. Drink Fanta, do a coconut oil pull, and veg on the couch.  

Afternoon: Drink tea & split a slice of pizza with Mom for a snack. Manager emails with a job opportunity in another department, so I take a quick look and jot down notes to speak with her about it later this week. She also emails and wants to know if she's needed on a call tomorrow, so I tell her she can skip it & I'll follow up with her afterwards. Read a Money Diary that talks about how "premium brand businesses always seem to thrive. Luxury sells. Branding is everything. The biggest global brands are so successful because they’re recognizable. Simple, clean brands with coherence and continuity." 

Evening: Watch Munsters; eat dinner of rice, a cold summer dish that Mom makes on days it gets super hot, and fish stew; and do a coconut oil pull. Brush my teeth, and my mom tells me it's better to focus my efforts on staying here (over taking the expat position, lol). I read about how "there are certain actions -- such as saving, exercising, and spending time with loved ones -- that practically no one is going to regret." Bed around 10.

Money Diary #106

Morning: Hear Mom wanting to wake me up at 6 and apparently I fall back asleep. Dad comes at 7 to wake me up since we want to run errands before it gets really hot in the afternoon. Brush my teeth and make scrambled eggs for Dad & myself. Eat that with toast and drink a cup of tea. Shower, get dressed, and head to Sprouts. I spot a clearance keto chocolate cheesecake and get that. Next stop is Costco, where they go shopping in the store & I head to the food court to grab a cheese pizza. Costco opened earlier than their official 9:30 time, and the food court lady says they're not quite ready yet for cash-paying customers. No worries, I tell her, as I hang out and people watch. A pre-teen orders at the kiosk, and the lady tells her that the ice cream machine isn't working because whoever worked last night didn't properly fill it up. The lady wants to give a refund to the pre-teen, who asks if she can wait until her mom comes. The lady reassures her it's simply returning the pre-teen's mom's money, and that's all. After 15 minutes, the food court officially opens. The lady thanks me for my patience and takes my cheese pizza order. By this point, parents have walked around the store, grabbed with they needed, and are about to pay. Mom tells me they didn't find the Melona ice cream bars that are on sale, so after they pay, Dad & I do another walk around the freezer section. I don't see it either, so we head back to the food court area to hang out & wait. The pizza is ready in a few minutes, I ask for paper plates & red pepper flakes, and then we head back home. Once we get back, I pass out for a while on the sofa. 

Afternoon: Lunch is a couple of pizza slices & Fanta and then fall asleep again for an hour. Eat one of the keto cheesecakes and then work on my resume. Prep for a meeting with my boss's boss and also prep for a meeting with my boss. I'm also connecting with our interns next week again, so I jot down some notes for that call as well. Drink a tea-coffee homemade drink and watch the Belmont Stakes with Dad. 

Evening: Watch the Yankees game and then switch over to I Dream of Jeannie. Dinner is rice & air-fried salmon. Brush my teeth, do a coconut oil pull, and start looking at apartments in the international location. Bed around 11.

Money Diary #105

Morning: Up around 7, brush my teeth, and drink a cup of tea. Parents head out to get groceries, and I jump on my 8 am call. Parents get back a bit before 9, and once the first part of the call ends, we all have croissants & tea for breakfast. Jump on the second part of the call at 10. Head to an 11 am meeting with my boss who wants to immediately know how my call with the hiring manager went yesterday, lol. I tell her it's the perfect expat job for me in the perfect location but I don't know how I'll be able to handle it from a personal standpoint since SO and parents will be here. She encourages me to talk to her boss, so I email her after my call with my manager saying I'll work with her admin to get on her calendar. Boss's boss immediately emails me back and says I can schedule something directly with her. 

Afternoon: Lunch is rice & fish stew, and then Dad & I head to the appraiser's office to drop off the completed form. The lady from last week is there, remembers us, and takes the form. Head back home, and my dad asks me whether I really want this expat job. I tell him I'd like to go through the process since it would be a huge promotion for me, and let's see what happens. Boss's boss will call me on Monday afternoon to chat. Drink tea and eat some crackers as an afternoon snack.

Evening: Watch TV; dinner is rice & fish stew; and do a coconut oil pull. Bed at 9:30.

Money Diary #104

Morning: Up at 6, brush my teeth, and drink a cup of tea. Go shower & eat a croissant for breakfast with another cup of tea. A colleague emails to check whether I'll be at the 9 am meeting since she is trying to squeeze in a doctor's appointment. I tell her I'll be there and she's grateful I can cover. Head to the call which runs until 10:15. Prep for a quick call with my manager to run a few questions by her before I speak to the hiring manager. Head to the call with my manager, connect with her, and then stare at the wall for a while.

Afternoon: Head to my 1 pm call with the hiring manager. Learn more about the expat job (which would be 3 years long, oof) but in a city which I'm super interested in and the job itself would be a dream job. Lunch is the last of the leftover Thai fried rice. My mind wanders for the rest of the afternoon, and I work for a few hours. Take a tea break in the afternoon.  

Evening: Keep working until dinner at 8, which is rice & goat stew. Brush my teeth & do a coconut oil pull; work for 30 more minutes; and then pass out at 10.

Money Diary #103

Morning: Up around 6:30, brush my teeth, and drink a cup of tea. Get an urgent email from a colleague, review it & send to my boss for her review, and then she connects with another colleague. Once I have everyone's feedback, I reply and jump on a 8 am call. That ends within 30 minutes and I eat a croissant (& drink another cup of tea) for breakfast. Review a project before I head to a call to meet our interns at 10. They ask very thoughtful questions, and I did a similar internship during school which furthered my interest in where I ultimately ended up. They are interested in a specific area of work that I do, so I make note of their request and quickly message my boss to see if she's alright with me putting together a quick intro session to what I do. She is, and I schedule another meeting with the interns next week. 

Afternoon: Lunch is rice & fish stew, and then jump on a 1:30 call with a colleague. In the middle of that, I get an urgent meeting invite for 2, so I head to that meeting once the first one wraps up. In the second meeting, I'm asked for my feedback, and I joke I should've brought the interns to this call. Everyone laughs, and I'm done with meetings for the day. Review a project for a few hours and then drink a cup of tea. 

Evening: Review an interview I found online with the hiring manager from a few years ago, and jot down some thoughts/questions in order to prep for my call with him tomorrow. Dinner is rice & fish stew, do a coconut oil pull, and brush my teeth. Exhausted, I fall asleep around 9:15.

Money Diary #102

Morning: Up around 6, brush my teeth, and drink a cup of tea. Running errands today with parents, so I go shower & make scrambled eggs for everyone for breakfast. Drink another cup of tea and eat some toast. Head out around 8:15 to our local Chinatown. Around 8:45, boss texts me on our office messenger, and I tell her I'm in the car but happy to chat. She calls me with life-changing news for her. She has gotten a major promotion and will be moving this summer to lead a division in another office. I'm so happy for her but selfishly very sad for me. We make plans to chat later. Once in Chinatown, head to the grocery store for veggies, goat meat, and fish. Then head to the Japanese store next door to grab faux crocs for my dad, lol. The next stop is the bakery where I eat milk toast (yum) and parents get garlic bread. It's around this time that I realize starting next month, I'll have a different boss & don't know what the future looks like for my job. I start getting kind of anxious. We finish eating at the bakery and then hang out outside the Thai restaurant since it's a bit before their 11 am opening. Head inside a couple of minutes before 11 and order panang curry (mild) & 2 veggie fried rices (one medium & another medium-hot). Last stop is the local ethnic store where parents grab veggies and other things.

Afternoon: Back home around 1, eat panang curry & fried rice for lunch, and do a coconut oil pull. Head to a 3 pm meeting which runs until 4:30. Drink tea for a snack. Set up a meeting with a colleague tomorrow, and review a project that comes in during the late afternoon.

Evening: Watch TV, dinner is the leftover Thai food, and brush my teeth. Do a coconut oil pull, feel exhausted from the news this morning, and bed around 9:30.

Money Diary #101

Morning: Wake up around 7, brush my teeth, and drink a cup of tea. Eat a croissant for breakfast, check emails, and prep for my 10:30 meeting. Jump on that call, connect with a colleague, and she requests a follow-up email to another colleague. I send that email and then review projects that have come in throughout the morning. A meeting later this afternoon gets canceled and moved to tomorrow. 

Afternoon: Lunch is rice, veggies, and fish stew. Do a coconut oil pull, prep for my upcoming meeting with my manager, and head to that call. Our office is having an off-site at the nearby baseball stadium, and she says if I go, she'll go. I'm the biggest baseball fan, and these seats come with unlimited free food (lol), so I tell her I'd love to go except for the fact that the day of the offsite is my meeting-heavy day. She tells me it's okay to miss the meetings that day, but I'll feel bad for missing for a baseball game & ultimately decide to pass on it, haha. Head to another call with her and another colleague and then I'm done with calls for the day. Drink a cup of tea for a snack and review projects. I follow up with the hiring manager regarding a position in an international office & set up time with him to chat later this week.

Evening: Watch TV; dinner is rice, veggies, and fish stew; and brush my teeth. Do a coconut oil pull and bed around 10. 

Money Diary #100

Morning: Dad wakes me up around 6:45 since Mom wants to drink tea. Brush my teeth, drink tea, and eat a couple of coconut crackers. Turn on my laptop to get started on work projects. Another cup of tea and some croissants for breakfast. Work for a couple of hours and then go shower. Watch the French Open with Dad. 

Afternoon: Lunch is fried rice & air-fried shrimp. Do a coconut oil pull. Finish work, send a couple of follow-up emails, and see if I can move up my weekly meeting with my manager for tomorrow. I'm trying to clear the calendar on Tuesday so I can run some errands. My manager reschedules our meeting for tomorrow. Pour bbq chips into a container. Have some chips & Coconut Thins with tea for a snack. Mom offers a banana to me (ewwwww!) and she laughs. Read for a while, and here is what I learn:

• Don't take selfies in front of the scoreboard: "Having won the game means not having to take selfies in front of the scoreboard."

• "Lifestyle creep is real": "I'm a high earner sub-30-year-old, but live on about $2,000 per month. Lifestyle creep is real, but it's slow, especially if the people you hang out with aren't living large. I can see from older people in my industry though that once you have a major purchase like a high mortgage on a nice house or a few kids, you likely spend your full earnings."

• Look for user-unfriendly moments: "They still personally fill out “friction logs” of any user-unfriendly moments they encounter using the product."

• A good trait to have: "Change your opinions when the facts change."

• From a Money Diary: "OP is just content in her solitude and the way her life is. She has her SO and her job to cater to her interests. Not everyone exercises a ton and likes to cook."

• "It's really a game of how long is a piece of string": "The biggest test is whether your monthly passive income exceeds your monthly expenses for a sustained period of time. Then you have to also consider whether kids will increase your spending going forward. Can you take a sabbatical from your role and see how you go? I took 6 months off last year between jobs. I loved it and my net worth actually increased given the property market, but cash flow ended up becoming an issue."

• Look for the story behind the numbers: "His current NW is $3.4 million, however $500,000 of that is due to appreciation of his current house, purchased for $1.3 million with proceeds from the sale of their $2.4 million house, balance of the proceeds taken in cash. Their NW four years ago was $2.5 million (and apparently a significant portion of that net worth was from an inheritance). So ignoring the home appreciation, their NW has only increased $400,000 in four years. So while OP says they make $800k-$850k annually with expenses of only $80k per year, they have actually only added an average of $100k annually to their NW."

• On privilege: "The inherent privilege in being able to choose to shop at Goodwill versus being forced to out of necessity. Or feeling ashamed that all you can afford is the $1 section."

• A few kind words: "I try my best to live a positive lifestyle and know that sometimes a few kind words can mean a lot to someone."

Evening: Watch Munsters & Game 2 of the NBA finals with Dad, dinner is fried rice & green beans, and do a coconut oil pull. Brush my teeth and bed around 10:30.

Money Diary #99

Morning: Dad wakes me up around 6:45 since he wants to get Mom some meds. Get up, brush my teeth, and drink a cup of tea & eat a couple of crackers. Get dressed and head out to the nearby CVS. They don't have it, so we visit another CVS and a Target. Dad wants to check another CVS, so we head there and decide to get it from Target on the way back. Head to Sprouts to grab 4 mangoes, bananas, and some meds for Mom. Visit Target on the way back and get more meds for her. As we're heading out, I can smell the nearby Chick-Fil-A (even while wearing a mask!) and I joke with Dad on how CfA always knows how to reach its customers. When we get back home, everyone drinks a cup of tea, and I go shower. Watch some French Open with Dad, and read for a while. Here is what I learn:

• "Wealth comes in different forms": "I don’t have dollar signs in my eyes but an hourglass with sand slipping through."

• A good career skill to have: "Listen and try to find any potential disconnect between 2 or more very smart people who just need multiple perspectives to fully grasp/align on things."

• How to maintain independence: "The only way to maintain independence is if your appetite for stuff – including status – can be satiated."

• What they don't teach in med school: "A doctor once told me the biggest thing they don’t teach in medical school is the difference between medicine and being a doctor – medicine is a biological science, while being a doctor is often a social skill of managing expectations, understanding the insurance system, communicating effectively, and so on."

• Like hanging out with an old friend: "I loved the Anne of Green Gables series. I re-read them every few years. It's like hanging out with an old friend."

• Good advice: "Don't change jobs just because you are unhappy with something else in your life."

• More career advice: "Tell people what they want to hear and you can be wrong indefinitely without penalty. Being nice to people is the easiest career competitive advantage."

• "Things change": "You have to prepare for something worse than you what you hope for."

• A good reminder: "What others do for leisure is your bartender friend's livelihood."

• "Position yourself to be successful": "My advice is to not focus on money, keep your head down, work hard, go way above and beyond, and align yourself with the people who can be decision makers in your career. CHRO, CEO, GC and who you think is up next for those jobs. Do whatever you can for them. Always be available. Be pleasant. Don’t be the type of person who always says no. Focus on “how.” Play the long game. Believe in yourself but position yourself to be successful. It’s more important than how smart you are or how good a lawyer you are."

• Savoring infrequent feelings, storing them, & how to remind myself of them: "I feel like a boss after killing everything today! I savor this infrequent feeling and channel it toward the next big steps for my research. This is the best time to think about risky ideas, store them in my head, and revisit them for validity when I'm perhaps feeling less confident." 

• The end goal: "You have such a simple and fulfilling approach to life that I really admire and I absolutely love the dynamic of your relationships from romantic to work."

• Truth: "I dial into a call with the lawyers on a deal we're currently working on, which drags on for awhile. I like the team on this deal, though — especially the female associate. It's true what they say — liking the people you work with literally makes all the difference."

Afternoon: Lunch is rice, potatoes, and hard boiled eggs. Do a coconut oil pull and watch golf. Fall asleep for a couple of hours until I hear my dad trying to wake me up, lol. SO texts that he's in the fancy city's Costco and if I want anything. I tell him to check if they carry Tatcha over there, but unfortunately, they don't. Veg for the afternoon, drink tea with Coconut Thins & potato chips for a snack, and watch TV while reading multiple Money Diaries. My favorite kind of afternoon :-)

Evening: Mom reminds me I need to wake up early tomorrow, so I decide to veg on the couch & start the work projects tomorrow. Watch baseball while continuing to read Money Diaries, dinner is rice with egg stew & lamb stew, and do a coconut oil pull. Brush my teeth, and bed around 10:30.

Money Diary #98

Morning: Up around 6:30 and check email. A few projects have come in, so I brush my teeth and work on those for an hour. Eat a croissant & drink a cup of tea for breakfast. Walk around for a bit. Go shower & use the psoriasis shampoo. Jump on my 10 am call. It goes until 11:30, and I'm done with meetings for the day. 

Afternoon: Keep an eye out on my inbox, wait for Dad to shower, and then have rice & lamb stew for lunch. Mom isn't feeling well, so she sleeps while we have lunch. Do a coconut oil pull. A work project comes in around 1, and I decide to do it next week. Read for a bit, and here is what I learn:

• On mental peace: "The cost of living is rising for all of us at the moment, and I've had to make some sacrifices mentally -- maybe I won't ever save enough for a house? Maybe I'll have to rent forever? Maybe I won't be able to afford kids, or live somewhere with a yard big enough for a dog? Verbalizing these possibilities is scary because it has meant the life I pictured for myself has changed, but it's brought some peace as well."

• Signal vs noise: "In most situations, a handful of variables drive the majority of outcomes. If you've covered the few things that matter, you're all set. A lot of what gets added in after that is unnecessary filler that either wastes your time or is designed to confuse or impress you."

• Reasonable or bullshit: "In the same sense, if I say, “The stock market is forecast to return 16% over the next 12 months,” it sounds reasonable. But if I said, “I think people will be in a 10% better mood next June,” it sounds like bullshit. And it is. But those two lines are practically saying the same thing."

• Perspective: "There were definitely times when we would eat a bowl of beans as dinner or had the lights off for a few nights, but I never questioned it. Being the youngest, I truly had no concept of money for a long time. I just knew not to ask for anything that I did not need. If I wanted something, I would bargain with my parents to let me go without something else for a while so I could have it. I remember wanting something to listen to music on and my mom got me a portable cassette player for a few bucks at a garage sale because they were almost obsolete at that point. I treasured that thing for years and would listen to every cassette of old random music my mom had."

• A good life goal: "Create all the happiness you are able to create; remove all the misery you are able to remove. Every day will allow you, will invite you to add something to the pleasure of others, or to diminish something of their pains."

• On gratefulness: "I am very grateful to my parents as they allowed me to save and spend more money on wants rather than needs."

Make tea for Dad and myself, and drink it with a couple of Coconut Thins from Costco. 

Evening: Around 5:30, a colleague messages me, so I reply back to her. A project just came in that I'll review over the weekend. Veg for a while, dinner is rice & lamb stew, and do a coconut oil pull. Brush my teeth and bed around 11.

Money Diary #95

Morning: Up around 7 and migrate to the sofa. Keep an eye out on my inbox, brush my teeth, and reach out to a senior colleague with a question since my manager is out this week. Around 11, the senior colleague messages back and I briefly talk to her. Head to another call after that. 

Afternoon: Jump on another call at noon that goes until 2. Drink leftover coffee with almond milk, and head to my last meeting of the day at 3. That runs a bit past 4, and I'm done for the day. SO comes home around 5:30 & asks if I want to do IKEA for dinner since today is the last day of 15% off at the restaurant. I say yes obviously.  

Evening: Head to the gym first where SO works out & I play on the phone. Once he is done, we head to IKEA where we both get the chicken tender plate (double fries for me & fries/mashed potatoes for him since he's craving gravy). We also each get a drink. After eating, he finds a to-go box for one leftover chicken tender & fries. We walk around the store, and he gets a painting in the discounted section. Head to a TJMaxx-type store afterwards. Nothing there, so we walk to the Ross that's next door. No dice there either, so we head home. As we're walking out of the store, we see someone playing their electric violin, and it sounds really nice and peaceful. Back home, watch TV, and bed around midnight. 

Money Diary #96

Morning: Wake up around 7:30, brush my teeth, and migrate to the sofa. SO is WFH today (yay!). Keep an eye out on my inbox. Around 11:30, SO asks if I want to eat lunch, so I eat the leftover chicken tender & some fries, and he warms up the last of the pepperoni pizza. In the middle of eating, a couple of emails come in, so I send a few follow-ups and set up a call to discuss the topic. 

Afternoon: Head to a noon meeting that ends in 30 minutes. Then jump on back-to-back calls that start at 1 and run until 3. Take a break for a bit and then go shower. 

Evening: Realize that the Fantastic Beast movies are on HBO Max, so I start watching the first one. After 15 minutes, I'm super bored, so I switch over to Friends, lol. We had a BOGO movie coupon that expired yesterday, and I'm glad we didn't use it to go see the latest Fantastic Beasts movie. He goes to the gym, and I keep watching Friends. Once he is back, he makes ramen with eggs (yum!) and we eat that for dinner. He puts on laundry, and I fall asleep on the couch. Head to bed around 11:30.

Money Diary #97

Morning: Wake up around 8, brush my teeth, and take laundry out of the dryer & dump it in one of the guest bedrooms. Log on to review a project. He kisses me goodbye and heads to work. I pack up my laptop, call my dad, and head back to parents' place. Once I'm back there, take a shower. Eat a croissant and drink a cup of tea for breakfast. Keep an eye out on my inbox.

Afternoon: Jump on a noon call that ends at 1. Jot down some notes for the meeting with my manager next week, and complete a project that came in. Lunch is rice, spinach from the garden, and fish stew. Get dressed to head to the appraiser's office with Dad. We go there, and the lady is very helpful & gives us a form to complete. We'll fill it out at home and bring it back to her. Stop by Chick-Fil-A for 12 nuggets & 2 large waffle fries. Once we're back home, fall asleep for a bit. Wake up, read for a while, and here is what I learn:

• A good reminder: "It's only work if you would rather be doing something else. Find a way to carve a career out of what you already want to do."

• Buying vs renting: "Buying gives you a short term risk of losing 100k's of equity. Renting gives you a long term risk of losing 100k's in additional housing payments."

• Paycheck to paycheck: "Above a certain threshold, living paycheck to paycheck is about managing expenses. Below that, it’s about not having enough money, period."

Split nuggets with Dad for a snack, and everyone has fries & a cup of tea. Send a message to a colleague to see if a project will be coming in this evening or tomorrow morning for review. She replies that it'll likely be tomorrow morning. 

Evening: Veg on the couch and watch TV. Dinner is rice and fish stew. Split a dessert with Mom and share watermelon with Dad. Brush my teeth and bed around 10.