pain.jpg Yes that is in fact a negative sign in front of the savings portion.
My gods, I spent so much money this month that I had a negative savings rate of 30%! NEGATIVE!
Spendings Report: $10,315
Top three most costly things in order:
- Braces ($5,400)
- Chinese taxes ($3,000)
- Grad dinner ($400)
I’ve been dealing with dental issues for a while now, and finally just biting the bullet and committing to orthodontics again to hopefully solve it once and for all. For those curious, I was naturally born without my right canine tooth, and as a result, my teeth are misaligned on the right side causing chewing and grinding issues. There’s some other stuff with the angle of my jaw and how high my back molars are that led to other costly issues previously so the braces will also hopefully solve any future recurrences of the problem. It’ll take about 1.5 years and $10,000 (over 3 payments) in total…yeah. I talked to a few specialists and in the end, this was the most immediately expensive option but with the best long-term outcome.
Paying the Chinese taxes is painful but a good sign I guess that I made more than what my salary originally stated. Apparently, something messed up last year so I paid two years’ worth in one go this year, about $3,000 together.
Finally, I’ve officially graduated! I received my diploma and shall now insist that people address me as Magistariate Amelia hahaha! Looking back on it, it seems wild I managed to do that for 3 years. A couple of friends graduated at the same time so we treated ourselves to a 3-star Michelin dinner at a vegetarian restaurant in Beijing. It was a place I learned about in my first year working here and I’ve been waiting for the day I have a special reason to commemorate at the restaurant. If you’re in Beijing and want an amazing experience I highly recommend going to The King’s Joy. The live harpist is the cherry on top~
It’s really funny how item #3 on the list is not even 10% of the first item on this list. The rest of my spending is fairly average. I’ve been doing a good job of taking the subway and saving on transport feels (about $400) and cooking most of my own meals at home, two things I’m proud of. Lastly, I’m feeling very happy with my progress in my Mandarin lessons and feel they’re very worthwhile, now if only I commit to them with the same energy as I did my degree I can get better even faster. Perhaps one day in the future I’ll be able to write a blog post fully in Chinese 🙂
Net Worth Update: lying flat
OTL
I don’t hope July will look any better because I’ll be purchasing flight tickets to Canada and spending time with the fam. It’s my first time going back since Covid 3 years ago so I’m throwing all thoughts of a budget out the window, if it’s an experience I can have with them and money will make it better then I’m slapping some money down. My dad sent me some photos of him and my mom on a trail and it struck me as I stood in my classroom how much older they’ve gotten, the grey hairs, the smile lines, yet still the people I love. I cried in my classroom looking at those photos.
They’re not old for parents so I’m glad they’re still fit enough for us to go places together, I want to spend as much time making memories with them as I can while we’re all able to have this time together.