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 30’s not being completely broke like I was in my 20’s. If I’m 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…
For the first time in 5 years, I missed reviewing and posting my monthly budget and spending. 😥 However, in the spirit of being kinder to myself, I’ll 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 I’m back,…
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 here’s 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…
After two years of pandemic, 2022 marked the year of a new start. It marked a turn as I restarted international travel. It also marked the turn of a decade for me as I entered my 30s. But it was so much more than that. It was a start to a new mentality, one that I aspired to have ever since learning about FIRE as reflected in some of these highlights of 2022. A Stressful Start The first quarter of…
November was one of the best months I’ve had in a while. I went on my last trip of the year and it was so relaxing. I definitely went into it with the mindset that I wanted to have a really relaxing tropical vacation after the year I’ve had so while I did some planning, it was a pretty laid back trip. Mid-November, my team also finished up a huge project for work and since then, if I’m being completely…
I’m super late for my October updates, because I’ve been busy since the start of this month. First, right after coming back from my Europe trip, I went straight back to work. It was a lot of catching up at work especially as my PTO was back to back with my manager’s PTO. So not only was I catching up, I also had extra work as her back up. On top of that, my friend really wanted to go on…
I’m overdue for my October 2022 updates but before I get to my financial updates on a different post, I figured I’d recap my trip to Europe! I’ve wanted to go to Europe for as long as I can remember. For one reason or another, it just never happened till now. 2020 was the closest I got to a definite plan but everything went sideways with COVID. So for two agonizing years, I’ve been waiting to go. I was initially…
Ah, I can’t believe it’s already mid-June. I don’t think I’ve ever been this late in doing my monthly updates. May was just a non-stop busy month, starting with closing on my home, buying appliances, and starting with the move-in process. Then I went on my pre-planned week-long vacation at the end of May which was a much needed break. The day I came back to work, I was met with the news I’d been wanting, which is a transition…
Wow what a month September was. I can’t say I’m looking forward to reviewing my spending for September which is why I’m late in posting this update. I went on two vacations merely 3 weeks apart which made the month go by so fast. Although it felt a bit rushed, it was far from a bad month. I will however predict that it’s likely to be a spendy month when I assess my spending in my budget section. I just…
I went on my first international trip this year to Japan and it was nothing short of amazing. I figured when the memory starts to fade away, I want to have something to remember it by so I decided to do a (very late) recap of my Japan 10 Day Itinerary for first time visitors. I did a ton of research before I went so I wanted to share my itinerary not only for me to remember but also for…