Long time no see (or write? š¤Ŗ)! The first quarter of 2024 has been eventful to say the least, but I really canāt complain too much. Iāve had an amazing start to 2024. To wrap up the first quarter of 2024, I will do a mini recap that will be a bit different than my usual budget/debt review format. Travel To start with, I went on a Northern Lights chasing trip to Alaska which unfortunately ended in a failure. We…
Goodbye 2023, hello 2024! As I started writing this post, I struggled to find a defining theme for this year. It truly felt like a big extension of my 2022. I continued with travel revenge and overall just enjoyed my 30ās not being completely broke like I was in my 20ās. If Iām being kind to myself, I would mark this year a success with the accomplishment of fully paying off my student loans. More realistically though, I really have…
This will be a very short and sweet post as I will be doing a deeper end-of-year review. At first, I wasnāt very excited to do November and Decemberās review since it was marked by overspending on travel, gifts, and Black Friday shopping. But as the title of this post has given away, the big news is that I finally paid off my student loans! November & December Budget Fixed Spending Unfortunately, both Hulu and Netflix went up in price…
For the first time in 5 years, I missed reviewing and posting my monthly budget and spending. š„ However, in the spirit of being kinder to myself, Iāll give myself some grace. I was gone for almost 2 weeks on my international trip and I was quite busy the weeks before finishing up preparations for the trip. The whole truth though is that I was getting burned out. I even debated whether I should continue this blog. But Iām back,…
With the COVID 0% student loan interest rate coming to an end, I had to make a choice. I pondered whether my 3.4% interest rate which I considered low would be worth keeping so I could invest the money instead. As August was coming to an end, with a remaining balance of $4,317.17 on my federal loans, I realized I’d rather take the guaranteed return. So down to the very last day before my loan would start re-accruing interest, I…
July was a pretty busy month for me. I had a couple of back to back weekends with a wedding and a baby shower that I had to help with. Work has been crazy busy so that has also been mentally draining. As for my free time, I spent a great deal of it planning for my family trip this fall. This is the first time Iāll be going with my extended family and I wanted to tread lightly as…
As I was getting ready to write my June post, I was stumped to realized that there wasn’t anything truly memorable about June. As I started doing last month, I’ve been tidying up the house a bit with more home decorations. I’ve also picked up some homebody activities like Paint by Numbers which is perfect for a non-artistic person like me. One highlight this month was I went on my first business trip to visit the main office. Flight and…
I went on a week-long Mediterranean cruise this month! It was my first time ever cruising and my first time ever in the Mediterranean so a very eventful trip indeed! So hereās my honest (what else would it be lol) review of this trip. Things I Like I loved all the shows and entertainment offered on the cruise! I saw a broadway musical, aqua show, magic show, and ice skating show to name a few. All within the span of…
A couple years ago, I worked in a contract position (yes, the one I was laid off from) where my trainer was someone who normally works from home, but was coming into the office to do the training sessions. While WFH is a dream for an introvert like me, I was shocked at a remark she made about sometimes going āfor daysā without leaving her home. While Iāve never been a super social person, I couldnāt fathom the idea of…
The time has come! After my most recent paycheck I finally hit $300k net worth. š„³ Thereās no telling if this number will stay as the market continues its roller coaster ride, but Iāll take it! The default view on Empower (previous Personal Capital) where I track my net worth is a 90-day lookback. I rarely switch from this view, but yesterday I decided to go as far back in time as possible. And boy was it fun to see!…