Simple and short update for a beautiful month in Beijing.
Spendings Report: $4, 668
Ouch ;(
For the mathematically inclined, $4668 isn’t 54% of my salary, implying I make close to $9,000/month. My flight reimbursements ($2,300) came in from work so I’ve counted that as part of my savings, yay!
Most expensive purchases this month:
- $1174: Plane tickets to London to visit people over winter
- $383: insurance deductible due to recent changes
- $272: cute bag(s)
- $191: wedding gift
- $168: birth control…the private clinic here is way too expensive
This is my first month back at work and what a wonderful month! I’m no longer a new teacher at this school so I know where things are and can navigate the different systems. With work being settled, I felt that my personal life had undergone a slew of changes. I made it to my first wedding in China, have a family member undergo serious health issues, tried new sports, took more art classes and am now in a relationship.
Insurance changed this year so I have to pay the first $383 out of pocket which all went into consultation fees. Most aggravatingly, I found out after I paid $168 for the private clinic birth control that I could have bought it for HALF that price from the Chinese pharmacy! Over the counter! This is wild because I need to get it prescribed in Canada so it didn’t even occur to me to check the pharmacy right by my apartment.
I’m very grateful that I am in a position to be able to deal with all these changes. It seems like I say this every couple of months or so but I feel more and more deeply thankful the older I get about how stable my life is. This stability allows me to live and not just survive. I hope I’m doing my best to make the most use of the opportunities that are open to me and am being a good friend, teacher, and person.
Net Worth Update: pleasant surprise!
The markets are having a good month! I sent more money home so I’ll follow the same boring plan and put that into my brokerage accounts. I’m going to try to invest $50,000 this (school) year, more if possible to make up for skipping regular deposits last year.
Still solidly in the middle boring accumulation phase, boring but content. I’m very much enjoying this part of my life right now and perfectly happy with slow and steady 🙂
Thanks for reading through this somewhat sedate update, keep hydrated out there and enjoy the fall season!