Finance Review: August 2023

I’m nesting!

Spendings Report: $3, 541

It’s furnishing month! I moved into the new apartment before the summer and got about half of the much-needed things in such as a deep clean and basic bedding. This month I completed the rest of the big fixes like cleaning the AC units, fixing the leaking shower door, and sending off all the bedding to be laundered. There are two more large apartment expenses that’ll come up somewhere in the next month or two; a new couch and a couple of rugs. Other small things like printing out pictures nicely for a photo wall will be small-medium expenses that I no longer think so much about.

For most of my purchases, I decided to go second-hand to save some money and I’ve been quite pleased with the results. There’s a little reading nook area I’m going to chuck all the leftover pillows and cushions on to create a blanket nest. My hope is that once I solidify my footing at this new school I’ll have my evenings back again and I can do some drawing or reading by the window with the city lights. Or binge all the shows I missed or take a walk in the evenings now that it’s cooler again. So many possibilities!

One new expense, roughly $90/month is having a cleaner come around once a week for 2hrs each time. I got a 2-bedroom place and decided to spend money to buy my time back. It’s been going so well.

The first half of this month I was still on vacation so spending was higher, which I have 0 ragrets about. 0, not even one letter. Some additional pre-purchases made the spending look higher as well such as loading about $1200 onto two membership cards. One for the dry cleaners and one for the nail/lash/facial salon. These two are shared with other people but I put them under my name because I’ll probably be using it the most. I was considering a meal delivery service but it wasn’t worth it because breakfasts are easy, lunches I eat at school for $6, and dinners I don’t mind cooking (it’s usually a sandwich or dumpling or leftovers from meals with friends).

I re-evaluated some subscriptions and either cancelled them or chose a cheaper option so that shaved $20 off monthly. My transport costs are also almost nothing now because I live within walking distance to everything I’d need.

Overall, very very pleased with my life.

Net Worth Update: Positive and linear

Doing well! This month’s growth is mostly due to the market kind of sort of recovering a little bit. I saved half of what I’d like to because of moving and furnishing a new apartment.

I’m pleased to be back in familiar territory and continuing a stable trajectory. I’m going to reach another financial milestone in about half a year and I’m slowly able to change the apartment into one that I love. One dream I’ve had since starting to work is to be able to host dinner parties at my place and have friends over often, this is the place to make it happen! I’ve already hosted one party and got most of what I need