35 Fun Mobile Games You Can Play Without WiFi [August 2020]
35 Fun Mobile Games You Can Play Without WiFi [August 2020]
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games to play without data or wifi
games to play without data or wifi - win
not only does this game have ads without mobile data or wifi on, they put it so for my phone you need to drag the bottom to get to the home button, so it takes you to the play store / website.
Call of Duty: Mobile - February 5th Community Update & Public Test Build
https://preview.redd.it/pd0xmv18trf61.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=7797a4cfe50c33a06ab65ed46ccd00c204fffe8a Greetings Call of Duty: Mobile Community! We are back today with your usual type of community update filled with info about recently released or upcoming events and modes, but this time we are also happy to share that the next public test build is here! We’ll have that in first section following the events schedule, but it is being released far earlier than normal, especially for one that is filled with content from the next major in-game update. However, for Season 1: New Order the biggest release this week is the featured event, Fight For Humanity. https://reddit.com/link/ldpeki/video/tei7fdebwrf61/player This new event, released yesterday, asks you to pick a side and join the fight alongside your fellow players while you earn points in an attempt to control territories. There are many unique rewards to snag this time, both as a team and solo, and we’ll have more details about that event below in its own section of the update. In this update we also have responses for recent feedback and bug reports alongside various event, store, mode, and playlist updates that recently released or are coming soon. First off though, we want to say thank you to the many players who have reported a variety of bugs and created discussions to give feedback about new features, modes, balance changes, or other aspects unique to this season. Members of our development teams who create these events, make balance changes, add new pieces of content, game modes, and more, also read your responses and feedback. Thank you all for your dedication, passion, and commitment to making this game better through so many different ways. With that said, let’s jump into this update! https://preview.redd.it/nhr33madwrf61.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=d92f9a5116c867106b75da4711ad83cde764de4a Here is a quick look at all of the new events starting today and others launch soon:
02/03 – 02/09 ~ 10v10 Collection (MP)
02/03 ~ Two New Seasonal Challenges
Deadly Mist (Gas Grenade) and Premier Operator
02/05 – 02/11 ~ 3v3 GunFight (MP)
Check out the Gunfight Trio event
02/05 – 02/11 ~ BR Sniper Only
02/05 – 02/19 ~ Fight For Humanity event
02/05 – 02/18 ~ System Overload Draw
The brand-new Ether – Network is here!
02/08 – 02/14 ~ Grind Baby, Grind! (MP)
02/10 – 02/16 ~ Russian Nuketown 24/7 (MP)
Coming Soon – Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year store content
*All Dates UTC We covered a number of these topics in the last community update, but we’ll go over some again if it is launching today or if we have some new information to share. First though, just a reminder that for Battle Royale we have limited modes launching every week in February and the newest mode, Blitz, will be back later in February. https://preview.redd.it/9v3crd9vwrf61.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=3d2f76132c10f62ea1ccf812db1329dc2724f4c8 February 5th - Public Test Build We are back quite early in the season with a public test build ready to go for our next update, which does not release until March. This test build will be larger than the last couple in relation to the player limit and new playable content, much of which may release in one of the next two seasons. We are thrilled this time to announce that we have added iOS to the mix! You'll need Test Flight to access it, but otherwise it should be a relatively straight forward install. Here are all of the usual details, but please note that we have two different APKs to download this time.
Begins today on February 5th (PT)
Test end date not specified
Available for Android and iOS devices
Download Size: 2 gigabytes, Wifi connection is highly recommended
Player Registration Limit: 40,000 (30K Android, 10K iOS)
Content suited for ages 16+
All information and player data collected during this test will be deleted
This time around we have two different versions, 32 bit and 64 bit. For anyone unfamiliar, 64 bit is more suited for higher-end/newer devices while 32 bit is generally more suited for lower-end/older devices. We recommend that you only download the 64 bit version if you have no issues running the current version of CODM on the more demanding (high/highest) graphical settings. With all of that said, the 64 bit version is the ideal version we would like players to test during this specific public test build. If you can, please download and use that version of the build. Please find all of those download links below along with the player registrations limit per version.
(Priority) Android - Downloadable via 64 Bit APK here: (Registration Full)
20,000 Player Limit
Android - Downloadable via 32 Bit APK here: (Registration Full)
10,000 Player Limit
For iOS players, you’ll just need to have Apple’s Testflight application installed on your phone and this link below should take you to the correct page to download the test build.
iOS Testflight Link:(Registration Full)
10,000 Player Limit
We do have a general cap (as listed above) on how many players can enter into both the iOS and Android versions of this test. You unfortunately won’t be able to see if that limit has been met until you try to register an account at the login screen. We’ll update the page here once registration is closed, but this is just a heads up for anyone who manages to download after we’ve hit that limit. In this build you’ll be able to find a variety of new content, but some of the main ones you might notice are: Shoothouse (MP Map), Shipment 2019 (MP Map), updated Night Modes, Sword & Stones mode, the Truck in BR, new perks, and the new Bull Charge Operator Skill. Of course, there are plenty of smaller changes or new additions hidden in there too, but this is just a glimpse at what you’ll be able to try out. Some general tips for downloading this rather large file:
Do your best to make sure you on a secure uninterrupted connection so that the whole package is downloaded without any issues
Try to turn off or stop your device from going into any kind of rest mode
If you are running into issues download the file, try using a different browser
Make sure you have 5-6 gigabytes of data free on your device
This file and build is independent of the main build, you do not need to remove or do anything with your main CODM application. It will install as another application that is executed separately. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to help us test out this new content and please make sure to report any feedback or bug through the in-game options, like the in-game survey that may not be available right off the bat but will show up once the beta has been out for a while. Fight for Humanity Sides have been drawn, the field of battle has been laid bare, and the Fight for Humanity has begun! Your first choice is simple, Atlas Corporation or Cordis Die, where will your loyalties lie? Pick one of the two sides, open up the map, see what territory is currently being fought over, and what tasks you can complete to help your side win that battle. https://preview.redd.it/zab957iyxrf61.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=d12d6a7edf27d89ac7cf5ffac1bbd2f15d67602c Each side will have its own set of Faction rewards available and they are broken down into milestones, winning prizes, and leaderboard rewards. Each faction has its own version of the Cordite to grab (seen above) and the Russian Merc operator. Additionally, the faction that wins it all will snag the ATV – Override and the those who reach the top of the leaderboards can snag the Legendary Calling Card — Rupture. Through all of those different methods there are many rewards to grab by participating in this global battle of territory control! Lastly, you can boost your points by using various weapon sets that are indicated in the top right of this event page in-game. If you’d like to get the upper hand with some tips and tricks then head on over to our Fight For Humanity blog post. Good luck out there and may the best faction win! Seasonal Challenges Two seasonal challenges are already out in the wild as of last week and now this week two are more coming your way! The first challenge, Premier Operator, is more of your usual type of seasonal challenge with a variety of rewards and tasks, while Deadly Mist is a unique one due to the fact that you can earn a new piece of a tactical equipment the Gas Grenade by completing it. Find the details below! Premier Operator This six-part seasonal challenge is all about using different operators in Battle Royale and Multiplayer modes. The tasks all vary, ranging from just playing BR matches to getting kills with the S36 while using Outrider. You can earn nearly 20K Battle Pass XP for completing these tasks plus the following rewards:
(Uncommon) Mechanic – Warp
(Uncommon) S36 – Warp
(Rare) Charm – E-Chatter
(Rare) Special Ops 5 – Trance
Deadly Mist This five-part seasonal challenge went live a few days ago and it is your rare chance to grab a brand-new piece of equipment. The gas grenade is a tactical grenade that slows down your enemies with debilitating smoke that also provides cover. Complete a variety of tasks related to equipment, scorestreaks, and perks, and you’ll be able to snag this new tactical grenade along with the following items:
(Uncommon) Smoke Grenade – Warp
(Rare) Calling Card – Dystopia on TV
(Common) Gas Grenade
https://preview.redd.it/q44od4330sf61.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=afcc9e6aac686ea0447b4f8763ed595860013219 3v3 Gunfight Mode This tactical showdown played on perfectly symmetrical small maps has returned, but this time around each team is bringing an extra teammate with them for this competitive challenge. This team-based mode released yesterday on 2/5 (UTC) and for anyone unfamiliar with it we have a new video just to show off the basic rules and objectives. Take a look! https://reddit.com/link/ldpeki/video/uqcb2ql60sf61/player While you are playing 3v3 Gunfight make sure to check out the Gunfight Trio featured event in order to earn some rewards while you are challenging yourself to intense tactical gameplay. There are eight tasks to this event and they are all straight-forward, like get kills or play matches, and by completing these you can earn the following rewards:
(Uncommon) Frag Grenade – The Numbers
(Uncommon) Knife – Warp
(Rare) Kilo Bolt-Action – Cosmic Wave
(Epic) Cyber Clown Frame
System Overload Draw While we rarely highlight any draws, crates, or bundles through these community updates, it is hard not to bring up the System Overload Draw. This draw brings with it the second blueprint for the newest assault rifle, the FR .556 - Superhighway, and of course the highly sought-after new operator, Ether - Network. Here is a glimpse at those two main new pieces of content: https://reddit.com/link/ldpeki/video/txshs60b0sf61/player Another unique aspect of this draw, related to the Fight for Humanity event, is the Breach Set. If you acquire the three breach camos for Outlaw, the EMP, and the Karambit then you’ll receive a weapon set bonus for that featured event. That specific weapon set increases the points earned from battles between factions by 50%. You can find all of the information in-game on this new draw or in the featured event. Get a jump on it while everything is still active. Feedback Since the Season 1 launch we’ve primarily been focused more on reporting bugs, but there are still a few feedback-related topics we’ve seen come up and have been trying to respond to on a one-to-one basis whenever we are able to. Let’s jump in!
Voice Overs – We’ve brought up this topic numerous times in previous updates or on social media channels, but we keep seeing interest in upcoming voice overs, updating current (or missing) voices, and of course brand-new operators. We are of course working on all of those, just like we released many updated voice overs alongside some new ones in Season 1, but we are also working on ways to provide more visibility about all of that in future updates.
China Version Content – As you may see in the public test build (if you manage to snag a spot before it is full) we have some content coming in future updates that is also in the Chinese version of CODM, like Trucks in BR. Most likely, we won’t always keep content the same in each version of the game, but the teams managing the game are always working together to coordinate, discuss, and decide what content should release in each version.
Cheater Reports – For whatever reason, most of the time we release an update we see an increase in cheater reports. These have traditionally tapered off one or two weeks into the season, but we have seen no abnormal increases in cheaters. We will always keep an eye out for reports in community areas, so please keep sharing, but also please keep reporting in-game as well and we’ll keep monitoring and acting to make sure your experience isn’t compromised.
Master of All Event – A special shout-out to those who have been giving feedback back about the unique rewards on this event (6000 credits and BP XP as the final reward). The team was looking to see if this type of reward felt valuable to players and so far all we’ve seen is positive feedback about it, which may pave the way for similar reward setups in the future.
Next Update – While we cannot confirm any dates for our next season or update, it is always a moving target for a variety of reasons, we can confirm that the next update will be in March.
Bug Reports We’ve been going through many smaller bug reports lately thanks to threads, PMs, and posts sharing details, videos, or screenshots explaining the issue. We don’t have any huge issues to bring up this week, at least nothing new or seemingly troublesome, but we are working with our teams to investigate many of those smaller issues and please do keep sharing. It is always appreciated!
Battle Royale Bugs – We’ve seen a variety of BR related bugs come in over the past two weeks and they vary greatly in relation to the types, the severity of them, and how widespread they seem to be experienced. While we can’t list it all here, we just wanted to give a general shout-out and thank you to several community members who have spent a significant amount of time making videos, screenshots, and posts to highlight these issues clearly.
Black Screen Issues – We are happy to say that we have seen fewer reports of these types of issues after the Season 1 release after we implemented some general stability improvements for all players in that update. We’ll have more on that front coming in the next major update (next month) and we’ll be monitoring both in-game and external channels for reports.
Blitz Mode Performance – We have seen various discussions about performance issues in Blitz mode due to the changes made to put more players and items in a smaller area. This seems to be a similar issue to why some devices struggle with Warfare mode. We recommend experimenting with different graphical settings before jumping into these modes to see if that helps performance, but we’ll also see if there is anything we can do to help improve performance in these types of modes.
Support Options Lastly, thank you to everyone who have been reporting various issues since Season 1 released and please do keep using our support channels on top of community areas to repot issues. In the off-chance you haven’t seen this information in every single one of our community updates 😉, here are our main support channels:
https://preview.redd.it/5e5mlmwm0sf61.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=8041bf5e80de983c00bcb5cf20bbbe42664d8bb5 One of our greatest pleasures each week is looking through various community areas to see the latest and greatest in CODM memes, but also to see the latest and greatest art designs created by some extremely talented community members! This week, we are thrilled to be able to highlight Sarcstoon, who you may know as Sagar in certain community areas. Urban Tracker by Sarcstoon Sarcstoon is a character artist and their online portfolios are filled to the brim with impressively detailed pieces of art that range from CODM operators to commission pieces for real life couples. One thing is clear through all of their pieces, their style is unique and in particular for faces and expressions. Park Safehouse by Sarcstoon Whether it is Helen Park or Urban Tracker, they’ve blown us away with their vibrant, welcoming, and charming pieces of work that make us proud that CODM is lucky enough to be a receipent of their designs. If you’d like to see more of Sarcastoon then you have plenty of options to see their work:
Thank you all once again for being the type of community that supports artists and designers by providing positive feedback, supportive words, or even just upvotes or positive reactions. There are so many talented folks in the community and we are always eager to look for more each week. With all of that said, we’ve come to the end of yet another community update! We plan to return next week with more and with some info on our upcoming Valentine’s Day events & activities. You know us, we love to use holidays as an excuse to design new content, create giveaways, or just create engaging events with the general community. We’ll see you all next week and for those of you in the public test build make sure to jump on that before we hit that player limit! Thank you all and stay safe out there. -The Call of Duty: Mobile Team
Let's figure out this PS5 Rest Mode bug! I have some initial data. Help me test different theories please.
*Updated Feb 3 2021* (I also update the list with new potential problems/tests as I find them) Edit: Feb 3rd 2021: Sony released firmware Version 20.02-02.50.00 today. I've only done one test so far, but it seems to have solved the "Green Screen of Death" for me SO FAR... I'll update when I have more. My PS5 has the rest mode problem/bug. [Edit] I've solved it partially for me. See test 7 and beyond below If you don't know what the rest mode bug is, basically, you put your PS5 into rest mode, and then at some point, your orange light will go out, and you won't be able to power on with your controller. You have to press the power button on the console, it beeps, but doesn't actually turn on, and then you can use your controller or the power button again to turn the system on. It will complain that you unplugged the PS5 (even though you didn't) and it will often want to do a repair to the storage. - Is this happening to you? Or do you have some other version of this? I'd love to hear the variations... (if there are any). I'd also love to hear if you have the exact same problem. Edit: It now seems to me that there are a few different causes to the rest mode bug. One solution will not fix it for everyone, but if you can identify which type of rest mode bug you have, we may be able to come up with a solution for the most common types. I'm going to start listing them with specific names and descriptions here. I have the first two listed below. [Edit:] Types of rest mode bug:
USB-A rest mode bug: Seems to be solved by either not using any of your USB ports, or using the USB-C port specifically. This bug tends to manifest overnight or during an extended period of time while the system is in rest mode (similar to what is described at the beginning of this post) - This alone will not solve the green screen of death. You may have both, like me.
Green Screen of death (Suspending games): This is also a rest mode bug, but it usually manifests when you're suspending a game or when you're waking a suspended game. It can usually be avoided by fully closing your game and WAITING for a minute or two before putting your PS5 into rest mode. This is just a crazy hunch of mine that I cannot prove and I don't have any evidence of it so far, but I feel like this green screen is associated with HDR, resolution settings, or both. I have not been able to test this yet.
WiFi / Network rest mode bug: Seems to be associated with WiFi... possibly even WiFi6 Specifically, or network instability, or automatic DHCP settings perhaps. I don't have this problem, but I also have a straight ethernet connection to my router with no switches or hubs between the two, so maybe ethernet is less likely to have this problem, or I'm just lucky not to have this issue.
Several other fringe cases exist, but I'm not seeing a pattern or common thread to them yet. I'll update with more bullets here as we learn more.
Okay, so now that I've described the problem I'm talking about, I've been trying to figure out why it happens. Or at least how to avoid it while still using rest mode. Rest mode is handy for keeping your games up to date and allowing remote play to wake your system, so even if you aren't using it to suspend games, it can be helpful. There are a lot of theories out there about why it happens:
Its tied to HDMI-CEC where your TV is sending a signal to turn off your PS5 while its in rest mode, and that's causing the bug. - Tested, for me, didn't make a difference
It's tied to having external storage plugged in - This has multiple things to test:
In your settings, do you have it set to "Always" power your USB Ports? Or "3 hours" or "Off". The theory here is that the power to the external drive shuts off and causes the problem. This doesn't seem to make a difference for me.
Which USB port are you using? - There are two high speed USB-A ports in the back, a high speed USB-C port in the front, and a slower speed USB-A Port in the front. Which port are you using? Does using a different port make any difference? I've seen at one person claim the USB-C port fixed their problem. TESTED THE FRONT USB-C AND IT SEEMS TO BE WORKING SO FAR (SEE TEST 5 BELOW)
Some people claim formatting your external drive with your computer or using the PS5 to format it for media, and then formatting it back to the game storage set up fixed the issue. I haven't tested this yet
Some people claim its the TYPE of drive that causes the problem. HDD vs SDD... Many people claim the Samsung T7 SSD works great without rest mode problems. I bought one to test this. for me, it did not solve the issue until I moved it to the USB-C port.
Some people have a theory that corrupted games or games transferred from the PS4 can cause this. On both my HDD and SSD I deleted everything and downloaded all the games fresh to test. It did not solve the issue.
Theory: If playing a game installed on external, shut it down, wait a while, and THEN put it into rest mode. (doing it too fast causes the crash) - I've actually seen this, and I think it does make a difference for the Green Screen of Death.
Theory: if the drive draws too much power in rest mode it crashes the PS5... to test you'd need to try a drive that has separate power (not using the USB port to power it)
Leave the external storage disconnected (don't plug it in) - DOING THIS KEEPS THE REST MODE BUG FROM HAPPENING FOR ME SO FAR (but doesn't help with Green screen of death for me)
Theory: its caused by a corrupted PS5 firmware:
Tests:
Rebuild databases using safe mode - didn't solve for me
Download official firmware from Sony's website and install firmware from a USB Stick - didn't solve for me
Factory reset PS5 - didn't solve for me
Theory: It's caused by game updates.
Some people have noted that their system will crash if it tries to update a game while in rest mode or even multitasking while playing a game. Might be worth testing with automatic updates disabled to see if it helps.
Theory: A few people mentioned that network problems may be to blame
Potential tests:
Wired VS Ethernet
Eliminate hubs/switches and plug in directly for wired connections
Unplug ethernet and disable wifi or shut off router at night to see what happens
Assign ip address and other network settings manually instead of automatically
I'm in the process of doing extensive tests to figure this problem out since my system has it. Its slow going due to needing to test things overnight each time... Test 1: Sometimes crashes immediately
Game running
External HDD Connected via back USB-A (2Tb Seagate)
Features available in standby: ALL ON (Always on USB ports, Internet available, etc)
HDMI CEC Disabled
Test 2: Typically fails sometime overnight
Game closed
External HDD Connected via back USB-A (2Tb Seagate)
Features available in standby: ALL ON (Always on USB ports, Internet available, etc)
HDMI CEC Disabled
Test 3: Typically fails sometime overnight
Game closed
External SSD Connected via back USB-A (2Tb Samsung T7)
Features available in standby: ALL ON (Always on USB ports, Internet available, etc)
HDMI CEC Disabled
Test 4: No Rest Mode Failures so far
Game closed
External SSD NOT CONNECTED (ejected safely and cord disconnected)
Features available in standby: ALL ON (Always on USB ports, Internet available, etc)
HDMI CEC Disabled
Test 5 (Jan 15-16, 2021): No Rest Mode Failures so far!
Game closed
External SSD CONNECTED via FRONT USB-C (2Tb Samsung T7)
Features available in standby: ALL ON (Always on USB ports, Internet available, etc)
HDMI CEC Disabled
So, it's only one night of data, but Test 5 shows the most promise so far. It's the first scenario that works with the drive attached so far. I'm going to test having the usb ports turn off next. I can see that the drive has power due to its light and I would prefer to have it off when the system is resting, but I don't know how that works with game updates, so maybe its not a good idea. I'm going to test it anyway.
Test 6 (Jan 18, 2021): No Rest Mode Failures so far!
Game closed
External SSD CONNECTED via FRONT USB-C (2Tb Samsung T7)
Features available in rest mode:
USB power: Always off
Internet: Always connected
Wakeable: Yes
Time till rest mode: Don't automatically put into rest mode
HDMI CEC Disabled
Seems to be working. I've gone two overnight periods without a crash and usually it would crash by now. I also tried suspending a game with everything else the same and it did a green TV crash where it fails during the pulse phase and the TV Screen turns solid green for a few seconds. So I still can't suspend games, but as far as I can tell, rest mode is working well otherwise with this scenario. It seems that switching from the back USB-A ports to the front USB-C port can make a real difference in the success rate for some reason. It doesn't make a ton of sense, but thats just what the data is showing so far (in my case).
Test 7 (Jan 19-20, 2021): No Rest Mode Failures so far!
Game closed
External SSD CONNECTED via FRONT USB-C (2Tb Samsung T7)
Features available in rest mode:
USB power: Always off
Internet: Always connected
Wakeable: Yes
Time till rest mode: Don't automatically put into rest mode
HDMI CEC (Device link): ENABLED
HDMI HDCP: ENABLED
Basically this is the same as Test 6 but with the HDMI stuff re-enabled. So far, this seems to support the USB-A to USB-C scenario as the solution for my particular instance.
Test 8 (Jan 22, 2021): No Rest Mode Failures so far!
Game closed
External SSD CONNECTED via FRONT USB-C (2Tb Samsung T7)
Features available in rest mode:
USB power: Always off
Internet: Always connected
Wakeable: Yes
Time till rest mode: Don't automatically put into rest mode
HDMI CEC (Device link): ENABLED
HDMI HDCP: ENABLED
ACTIVELY DOWNLOADING SEVERAL UPDATES for both internal and external storage when put into rest mode - Worked fine
Its looking more and more like my particular situation has been almost entirely corrected by moving the SSD to the front USB-C. So far, every test has indicated that this fixed the problem with one exception: I still cannot suspend games. If I attempt to suspend a game, I'll get the green screen of death where the TV turns green during the phase where the system is pulsing its light (working through to rest mode). Iv'e seen the screen flash green like that briefly when various devices are activating HDR, and I suspect it may actually have something to do with it. If I get ambitious, I might try deactivating HDR from a system level and see if it makes suspending games work. I feel like there is more risk of game save corruption with this green screen bug, so I'll have to think about what I'm doing before I jump in on that one.
Update Jan 31, 2021: I'm still on the test 8 setup. Its working great as long as I don't suspend a game, or put it into rest mode too quickly after closing a game. If I suspend a game or put it into rest mode quickly, I get the Green Screen Of Death.
Update Feb 3, 2021: Sony Released Firmware version 20.02-02.50.00 today. During my lunch break, I booted up miles morales and suspended the game successfully. It went into rest mode without the Green Screen of Death, and appears to be in rest mode without problem. I'm going to let it sit suspended until tonight and I'll try bringing it out of suspension to see how it does. I'd really love to know if any of you are seeing improvements with the rest mode bug with the new firmware.
Original post continued below: ---------------------------- Obviously, I'd like to be able to keep my external drive connected, so I'll probably keep doing some tests involving external drives being connected. I'm going to try to test a few more things I'll probably try testing the USB-C connection in the front next. Have any of you had the rest mode problem and solved it? Was it using one of the theories above? Or was it something else? Are there any other solutions you've heard of working? Let me know and I'll add them to the list. Also, if any of you have tried any of these things, please share what did or didn't work for you so I can compile the results together. Thanks for your time.
I am 25 years old, made $87,000 last year and expect to make $104,000 this year, live in Minneapolis, and work as a Data Analyst / Data Scientist.
Note: I’m not a citizen, but I’ve been living in the US long enough to be considered a resident alien for tax purposes. On my visa, I cannot work any job that’s not directly related to my major in grad school (IT/computer science), but I can invest in the stock market.
Section One: Assets and Debt
Net Worth: from -$13,603.63 (Jan 2020) to $9,605.97 (Jan 2021) Retirement Balance: $16,000 in my 401(K). I only started working 2 years ago and my company messed up my registration so they basically didn’t put any money into it my first year there (I found out in horror and they gave me around $1,000 to say sorry…). I contribute 9% and my company matches 3%. Savings account balance: $2,500 I have $2,500 set aside as my “emergency fund”, and I’m building back my vacation & study abroad budgets after having to tap into them for a move. My job is very stable and I won't be let go any time soon (unless I quit myself) so I’m not setting aside a big emergency fund for now. Checking account balance: $3,111.01 Investment account: $1,500 in some stocks. I initially dumped half of my 2019 bonus and some monthly contributions (totaling around $4,000) to this account to test strategies. This was my “study fund” and I didn’t care if I’d lose it all. I grew the account to around $10,000 and withdrew almost everything (that went to all the fees I had to pay to break my lease, my brother’s lease, deposit, moving expenses, and new furniture) and left $1,500 worth of stocks in there right now. Credit card debt: $2,243.76 on my BestBuy card and PayPal Credit. I had the money to pay for the items in full but they offered X months interest-free and I wanted to throw money into my debts instead. I always pay off all balances well before the deadline. I also pay all my credit cards in full and have never paid any interest. Student loan debt: $11,046.09 left on my $20,000 loans at 8% for my BA in Biology and Statistics. Day 1 of arriving in the US, they sat us down, handed each of us a pen, and said hey kids here are the terms of your 8% loans, sign the documents now! I just turned 17, didn't even know I had to pay this money back, and remembered thinking "Is 8% a lot?" That's how clueless I was. As a non-citizen, I will never have them canceled, so my plan was to tackle this as soon as possible and I started paying more aggressively until they made it 0% interest since Q4 last year. Car loan: $4,900 left on my $10,000 loan at 8.9%. I didn’t have a long credit history when I bought the car (September 2019) since I only got my first credit card after graduation, so the rate was terrible. I’m planning to pay this all off after my bonus comes in March.
Section Two: Income
Income Progression: 2012 - 2016: I had multiple student on-campus jobs all throughout my undergrad, making from $7.25 to $10/hour. After graduation, I couldn't find any job directly related to my majors within 3 months (I had only been searching for Bio lab work), ran out of money, and had to go back home. Honestly, I didn't want to keep doing science either and was very lost back then. 2017: My first full-time job was being a tutor for a private college prep institution when I went back to my home country to “figure out what I wanted to do with my life.” They paid pretty well for the standards of living there ($1,000/mo). I worked that job while self-studying how to code and data science courses on the side and preparing my grad school applications. 2019: I got a job at my current company a semester before I graduated from my MS in Data Science program. This was my first “big girl job.” I started out at $64,000 and couldn’t work for 2 months due to complications in my visa processes so that ate up all my savings that year. By the end of the year, they bumped my salary up to $76,000 and we also had an annual 3% raise, so in total $78,280 + 5% bonus. 2020: One of my teammates left and one thing led to another, I got a title change from Data Analyst to Data Scientist towards the end of the year. I asked for a raise and they bumped it to $96,000 + 5% bonus. 2021: After our annual 3% raise my salary is now $98,880 (+ at least 5% bonus). I think I’m slightly underpaid, but this job is very low-stress and flexible (especially after we WFH). Main Job Monthly Take Home: $5,082.58 Taken from my last paychecks (before the annual raise) Gross salary: $8,000 Tax: $2,081.68 401(k) deduction: $720 Health insurance: $115.74
Section Three: Expenses
Rent & renter’s insurance: $935 for my share for a 2bed/3bath condo. My parents pay a flat $700/mo for my brother’s share. He recently moved here since his school went virtual until at least the end of this semester and our family wanted us to be nearby to take care of each other. Savings contribution: $900 Investment contribution: $420, but will increase once my car loan is paid off. Debt payments:
$1,000 on car loan until paid off.
$200.13 minimum on student loans for now at 0% interest, will increase to $1,100 when car loan is paid off.
$300 for Best Buy & PayPal Credit promotional deals
Car insurance: $127.01 ($762.05 paid in full every 6 months) Car registration: $25 ($300 annual) Donations: $20 monthly (ASPCA), plus several hundreds throughout the year (last year I donated to BLM orgs and local animal shelters) Gas: $0. I drive an electric car. Charging probably drives up my electric bill by a bit, but still cheaper than gas. Also, this means no car maintenance at all until my car battery dies, which probably won’t happen in the next 5 years. Utilities (electric, natural gas): ~$150 Wifi: $40 Cellphone: $10.61 ($108.66 for 6 months and I got a $45 credit from my bank) Groceries: $500 (for 2 people) Subscriptions: $20 (HP Ink, shared Netflix account, YNAB, Disney+) Pet expenses: ~$20 for wet cat food Personal care/hobby: I collect perfumes. Between makeup, skincare, clothes (which I had planned to stop buying this year) and perfume bottles and samples (the majority of my "personal care" expenses...), I averaged $400/mo last year. Without the makeup, skincare and clothes, I budget $150/mo this year for my fragrance hobby. Household supplies:$30 Education: $30 (language/technical textbooks, Udemy/Coursera) Gifts: $30 Credit card fee:$21 ($250 annual)
Section Four: Background
Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it? Education is one of the top priorities in our household and this has been instilled in my mind since I was a kid. Perhaps because my grandparents were both professors and my parents both attended grad school, it was expected of us to have at least a bachelor's degree. With that said, my family tried to support our higher education financially as best they could and I'm very thankful for it. During undergrad, I had need-based financial aid and on-campus jobs, and my parents helped with the rest of my tuition. I still had to take (required by the school) a $20,000 loan. My grandmother helped pay for my 2-year master's program. Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances? During high school, I had a measly weekly allowance and my dad had me write out all the transactions in a notebook. I thought it was very silly back then but now thinking back, it was probably some good practice. Other than that, they didn't talk about money at all, and I was absolutely clueless and wasn't interested in personal finance until a couple of years ago. I don't remember how but I think I woke up one day and decided to read every book about personal finance I could find and now I do talk with my dad about finances. What was your first job and why did you get it? My first job was washing dishes as a student worker! We all had to do it our freshman year before we were allowed to find other jobs. I managed to find 3 other jobs (stage crew, sports event worker, and math tutor) and stayed with all of them for 3 years. Did you worry about money growing up? Even though our parents never let on to us about their finances, they made sure that we'd grow up comfortable financially, so I didn't worry because I didn't know anything. Do you worry about money now? Yes. As I grew up, I came to learn more about my parents' financial situation and realized that they've sacrificed a lot for us. I had the majority of my college tuition supported by the school, but my brother doesn't, and tuition in the US isn't cheap, especially when you convert it to our local currency. I also never know for how long I can stay in the US and keep making the same kind of money I'm making now so I'm trying my best to pay down the student loans ASAP. At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net? I became fully financially responsible for myself when I started working at my current company. Before that my student worker jobs paid for my personal expenses in college but my parents still chipped in for tuition. I guess my family back home is my safety net but personally, I wouldn't ask them for help even if bad things happen to me in the future. Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain. Nope.
Diary
Day 1 (Thursday) - $3.35
Alexa wakes me up and turns the light on. I change into my work clothes and head downstairs to my “office.” My boss starts our daily standup call, talking about what we did yesterday and what we plan for the day.
I have my annual review meeting. Everything goes well and my bosses are very pleased with what I’ve done, especially after I transitioned into my new title as a Data Scientist, which honestly brought me more fulfillment in my job as well. We talk about our annual bonus and raise, which I already expected. It’s not a lot of money but hey any money is money and I’m not saying no.
Some people bought my photocards so I gather all the orders and purchase a shipping label since 1 order is with tracked shipping. (Don’t ask me how this works but I’m a K-pop fan and we collect expensive cardboards. Depending on the popularity of the member of the group, profit margins can go up to 400%.) I head to the post office and drop off all the packages ($3.35)
I’ve been waiting for the mailman all day and he finally comes! I’ve been working from home for almost a year now and my back pain is starting to kill me so I decided to “invest” in a $400 chair with lumbar and neck support. My cat happily takes the other chair and starts claiming her territory on it.
Day 2 (Friday) - $206.24
I wake up on cue at Alexa’s daily briefing. Half an hour passes while I ponder on a perfume sample set I saw in someone’s fragrance collection on Reddit.
I eventually give in and purchase the Zoologist sample set ($120.24). It’s within my budget this month, I’ve been eyeing this one for some time now and I can resell it for 80% value once I’m done testing them, so it’s not a huge loss anyway.
Late lunch today. I make a quick lunch with sausages and keto toasts and quickly finish it while watching some YouTube videos on personal finance and updates on $GME (no I did not buy any shares).
When in doubt, throw every leftover food in your fridge in a pan and make fried rice. Side dish is sweet and sour tomato and egg “cloud soup.” Then we have our weekly family video call with my parents back in my home country.
I go down the YouTube rabbit hole again and buy 2 more perfume sample sets ($86.00). All the purchases today (~50 samples) would probably take me months to try out so I promise myself no more until next quarter as I click the pay button.
Day 3 (Saturday) - $71.27
I wake up at 8:45 am and laze around for half an hour, scrolling down Twitter and answering my friend’s questions on how to enter the stock market. Today is my cheat day (I have one every 2-3 weeks), so I contemplate if I should order delivery for lunch. I check YNAB and decide that it’s too expensive, so I go downstairs to make myself a hearty breakfast with a latte, half a croissant, grilled chicken breasts, and snack on some shrimp crackers and tangerines.
I purchase a shipping label ($3.22) and head out to the post office. For some reason I want to smell like a lemon cake today, so I spritz on Xerjoff Lira, put on sunscreen, and head out. This perfume always makes me feel so warm and delicious.
I spend the whole afternoon catching up with my Chinese and Korean lessons for the week.
Suddenly craving some instant noodles, so I immediately get up and head to a local Asian grocery store to shop for instant and pho noodles (I’m planning to make pho for Lunar New Year) and some snacks for my brother ($38.71). We drop by a bubble tea shop nearby and get bubble tea and 2 dessert cakes ($19.71). I usually don’t drink sugary drinks, but since it’s my cheat day, I put in an order and pay for the both of us.
Some more PC orders came in and they’re all with tracked shipping. The post office is closed tomorrow but I’ll just pay now for the shipping labels so that I won’t forget ($9.63).
Day 4 (Sunday) - $0.00
I literally do nothing today until 4 pm.
I make dinner, then finish my Chinese lesson and review the flashcards I made yesterday. That’s enough activity for the day.
One of my friends calls to show me her album haul of the day and I'm tempted, but (fortunately?) there's no kpop store in my city so I make myself forget about buying any more albums.
Day 5 (Monday) - $40.10
I wake up with a headache, not feeling too well, so I request a day off and message my boss. I can’t go back to sleep, so I just lie there in bed for a couple of hours. I suddenly remember that WandaVision is on air, and there are a couple of movies on there I haven’t watched yet, so I subscribe to Disney+ ($7.52) and start binge-watching.
We ran out of soft drinks for my brother, so I have to drive to Costco again after lunch ($32.58). I also need to drop off all the orders that came in over the weekend.
I go to my old apartment for my move-out inspection (I haven't been living there since December but still had to honor the 2-month notice and pay for all the rent). There are a couple of spots that might cost me some deductions in my deposit. Sigh. At least I get to tell them to remove the charges on my lease for February, and they assure me that they will.
I finish binge-watching some movies on Disney+. I see Colourpop is advertising some Valentine’s Day palettes on my feed. I do not need those, I do not need those, I do not need those. I should’ve just unfollowed makeup brands on social media. Some more late-night scrolling, and then I finally go to sleep.
Day 6 (Tuesday) - $8.02
I wake up groggily, still feeling a bit sick. We have a late standup today, so I take my time making my coffee and start working, as my cat also settles in on my lap and starts napping. My head is still aching and I'm not sure if it's the cold or just keto flu so I load up on electrolytes, fish oil, and acetaminophen just in case.
Somebody lowballed me on one of my postings. Ugh I hate it when they do this, but this one is not selling too well, so I meet them halfway. I purchase another shipping label ($3.03).
Today is our bi-monthly deployment date, which means all the engineers (and anyone who has committed changes in our codebase) meet up and sit around until all the merges are deployed into production. I had some changes last week so I just sit there and do my own work until it's my turn. My boss told me this morning he had some test API from one of our new clients so I go to check out some of the data there. Oh how I love me some messy, messy data that nobody knows what to do with.
The repair guy who came to fix our washing machine doesn't leave until 5:15 pm so I drop by the post office late, but just in time as they're collecting the mail! Then I drop by a nearby (rather upscale) grocery store as I'm running out of heavy cream, but everything is so expensive. I compare price per oz and pick up the coffee creamer instead ($4.99).
I heat up the cauliflower rice and leftover curry and eat dinner as I watch Coco (I can't believe I've never actually watched it!) Then I review my Chinese flashcards for a bit, do half an hour of Just Dance until I sweat, play with my cat, and call it a day.
Day 7 (Wednesday) - $3.49
I stayed up quite late yesterday playing a mobile game and finally wake up after snoozing the alarm for the 84th time. My boss starts our standup at our usual time; there's nothing urgent or pressing today so I just take my time. I take a quick nap in the afternoon and go back to work.
I use the last drops of avocado oil to fry up some bulgogi for dinner. Need to go back to Costco for more avocado oil tomorrow, I guess.
After dinner, a friend asks me about perfume samples that she wants to try. I go online to search for them but no dice since they belong to a new collection that only got launched in Europe. I take this time to try out some similar smelling samples in my collection as well.
I review my Chinese flashcards and do some workbook exercises. After an hour, my brain is fried on Chinese but I don't want to go to bed yet, so I pick up a book on my bookcase that I was reading a while ago (A Random Walk Down Wall Street) and read one more chapter.
An order came in so I purchase another shipping label ($3.49), update my budgeting app for a bit, and then head to bed.
Summary
Category
Amount
Note
Food & Drink
$95.99
Groceries
Fun / Entertainment
$7.52
Disney+ subscription
Home & Health
$0.00
Clothes & Beauty
$206.24
Perfume samples
Other*
$22.72
Shipping labels
Total
$309.75
shipping labels not included
*I don’t count the shipping labels as expenses because they’re already factored into the profits I made from my sales, but I included them anyway because they're still charges on my accounts. Any profit goes back to funding my album purchases so... I guess it's a vicious cycle. Overall, a pretty normal week for me in terms of food. I don’t eat out often (I allow myself only one meal and one dessert every month) and have used up my 1 dessert allowance this week so I probably won't have any more this month. I might’ve gone overboard with the perfume purchases this week, but tbh perfumes bring me joy. My mood is lifted and I'm transported to old and new places every time I put on a perfume that I enjoy, so for me, it’s worth it. I try to be frugal whenever I can, but I'll never skimp on education and hobbies that make me happy. Writing this week-long diary, I realize I need to get back to working out, though. I'll probably have to stop procrastinating and pull out my RingFit gears still inside the moving boxes. Playing Just Dance also makes me miss dancing so bad as I used to be active in several dance crews since college (but stopped after I started working full time). I'll try to stick to Just Dance for now to get my cardio until Covid is over and I can get back to in-person dance classes.
I am 23 years old, making $6,993/year in Manila as a Social Media Analyst.
NOTE:All currency has been converted to USD (1 PHP = 0.021 USD) Intro: I hope this gives people an idea of what life is like on the other side of the world, in the Philippines. I’ve also included Ref29’s questions at the beginning to give you more insight into my background. Please know that writing this turned out to be much harder than I had originally anticipated since it forced me to confront several things about me, particularly about my mental health and my privilege. I’m aware that I’m incredibly privileged and have lived a very comfortable, sheltered life, when compared to most Filipinos, especially amid this global pandemic when practically half the country is starving. I’m really nervous to share this with all of you, but please be easy on me as this was not easy for me to do. Ref29 questions: Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it? Yes, education is held in high regard here in the Philippines, to the point that landing a well-paying job without a bachelor’s is extremely hard, if not downright possible. Parents are also expected to pay for the entirety of college, although, of course, this isn’t true for all. Coming from an upper-middle-class family, I was even more pressured to land a spot in one of the Big 4 universities, which is sort of like the equivalent of the Ivy League here. In the Philippines, college admission involves taking an entrance exam at each college that you’re applying to, so my senior year of high school was spent in after-class prep centers to prepare for this. Fortunately, I was able to major in a pre-law course in a Big 4 university, which my parents fully paid for. Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances? My parents had the mindset of “work hard, play hard,” which meant that they worked seven days a week, but compensated for it with week-long family vacations abroad between twice to thrice a year. As I mentioned, this was a very privileged upbringing. They weren’t extremely thrifty, but they definitely instilled in us values like delayed gratification and spending money only if you worked hard for it. They also insisted that my brother and I save at least 20% of our allowances, so upon reaching first grade, we were taken to the bank to open a junior savings account. Unfortunately, our business has taken a huge hit, due to policies that the current government has, so we’ve had to significantly tighten our belts. We don’t worry about putting food on the table or of being unable to afford basic necessities; however, we’ve had to do away with things like weekend shopping trips, impulse purchases, eating out every week, and international vacations for the past two or three years now. Did you worry about money growing up? It’s extremely privileged of me to say this, but no. I didn’t. I come from generational wealth on my mom’s side while my paternal grandfather owns several properties. I was always secure in the fact that if we were ever struggling financially, one of my grandparents would end up bailing us out. Do you worry about money now? Yes, I’m currently saving up to go to law school abroad. This will mean repeating my bachelor’s, but this program will open up so many opportunities for me. However, it also means having to save up at least $20,000 to make it work, and I’m still pretty far from my goal. At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net? I’m not yet financially responsible for myself. My 22-year-old brother, E, and I are still living with our parents, and they’ve refused our offer to pitch in with the bills. They both believe that as long as they’re still working, then it’s their duty to provide for their children. However, this also means that their kids are their retirement plans, which is a very common mentality in the Philippines. Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain. No, I haven’t. SECTION ONE: ASSETS AND DEBT Retirement Balance: All my money right now is being poured to fund my future studies, so I don’t have a retirement balance yet. I don’t know if this is wise or not, and this has been a great cause for my anxiety these past few months. Savings Account Balance: I have approximately $16,000 spread out across three different bank accounts right now. Miscellaneous Debt: I bought AirPods from my friend last year, and she asked me to pay her back in installments, so she wouldn’t be tempted to spend all the money in one go. I have approximately $56 left on this, which I’ll be paying next month. SECTION TWO: INCOME Income Progression: This is my first job ever. As I previously mentioned, school is extremely important here in the Philippines. In my case, throughout my elementary and high school years, I was in school from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., and this was supplemented by after-class tutoring sessions and weekend advanced classes. College was basically the same since I decided to take up two minor degrees, in addition to my major, which meant that I took 8-10 classes every semester. So, I didn’t have time at all for a part-time job, which was okay, given the fact that my parents funded my education 100%. 2019-2020: I graduated from university in June 2019 and my parents asked me to start working in the family business. This didn’t turn out so good, though, since they refused to pay me a salary and would guilt-trip me whenever I’d take money from the day’s sales to pay for my expenses. When talks of a lockdown began in February 2020, I began looking for a job that would allow me to work remote since I had an inkling that our business would be shut down. Fortunately, my friend recommended me for an open position in the company that she was working at, and that’s where I’ve been since then. In addition to my full-time job as a Social Media Analyst, I also started doing freelance work early last year. Main Job Monthly Take Home: This varies. I’m considered a freelancer in my job, despite the fact that I’ve been with them since early 2020. I think they mostly do this to avoid paying me benefits, which is morally questionable but sort-of legal in the Philippines. So, I get paid a daily rate and am on a no-work-no-pay basis. If I don’t take any leaves for the month, then my take-home pay will be $582.79. Side Gig Monthly Take Home: Again, this varies. In 2020, I believe I averaged approximately $1,200 per month. I don’t know if I’ll be able to hit these same numbers this year, though. SECTION THREE: EXPENSES All expenses below are monthly unless otherwise specified. Phone Bill: This varies, depending on my data usage. Our WiFi doesn’t reach the second floor, so I’m forced to use my data if I’m working or staying in my bedroom. Our phone bills during lockdown were also suspended and have been amortized over six months since then, so I’m still paying this off. Currently, my phone bill can be anywhere from $52 to $83. Subscriptions: Spotify Premium ($3) – but this is added to my phone bill, thanks to my service provider. I also pay for Babbel ($13) because language learning is my hobby, and I’m currently learning Brazilian Portuguese. Pet Expenses: I average about $10 for my dog’s food and treats. A trip to the vet for a regular check-up is $8. My local government unit provides certain pet vaccines for free, so we get our shots from them. Other: My brother, E, and I have privately agreed to answer for the expenses that our 10-year-old brother, L, incurs. So, we pay for his food, school supplies, etc. I budget $15 for him, but I’m not upset if I have to go over this amount. Right now, though, I’m paying for most of L’s expenses since E’s business isn’t doing too hot, due to the post-holiday slump. DISCLAIMER: Face masks are mandatory, if you’re outside. People also aren’t allowed to go into establishments if they don’t have a face mask + face shield on. Both of these were worn at all times outside my home. DAY ONE - SUNDAY, JANUARY 10 10:00 a.m. – My cousin and her husband are heading to the shopping mall to run a few errands. I go with them to have my eyes checked as my last prescription was from 2019. The doctor tells me that astigmatism in my right eye has been corrected (thank god) but that my left eye has gotten worse (noooo). I buy contact lenses and have them put in new lenses in my specs. $93 1:30 p.m. – My cousin is a few weeks pregnant and is craving mushroom soup from a particular chain restaurant, so we head over there. I get a burger and offer to pay for my share, but she and her husband refuse. 5:00 p.m. – My parents are very religious and require us to attend Sunday Mass every week as a family. Our church has the recommended COVID-19 measures in place (2-3 people to a pew, contact tracing, etc.), but I’m still annoyed that the Catholic Church here is trying to claim that mass is an essential service that should be allowed to continue, even when it clearly isn’t. 6:00 p.m. – Before heading home, we drop off take-out dinner for my Grandma. She lives alone, so we try to visit her at least once a week. We talk through the gate, though, to keep her safe. 11:00 p.m. – As a social media analyst, my shift is from 12 a.m. to 9 a.m. because I have to take note of all the online traction from the day before. This has worked rather well for me, mainly because I have insomnia. Daily Total: $93 DAY TWO - MONDAY, JANUARY 11 5:30 a.m. – On Mondays, I have to analyze all social media traction from the weekend, and this has definitely cemented my deep hatred for this day of the week. Fortunately, it wasn’t too terrible this time. I chill for a bit by catching an episode of Friend Zone, a TV series from Thailand that’s sort of like Gossip Girl, except they’re middle-class and have actual jobs. 7:00 a.m. – I wake up L for his classes and begin working on my freelance job. Breakfast is leftovers from Sunday night dinner, so I have Truffle Mac and Cheese, and Garlic Parmesan Chicken Wings. My parents and E usually leave very early in the morning for their respective businesses, so it’s usually just me and L. 10:00 a.m. – I send off my social media reports and watch an episode of Fairy Tail. 1:00 p.m. – My brain is out of creative juices, so I take a nap. Before doing so, I place an order to replenish my toner ($5) and AHA serum ($5). I’m also running low on my fish oil capsules, so I order that too ($6.87). My total comes out to $19.25, due to shipping. $19.25 3:00 p.m. – L wakes up from my nap and I work some more before heading out to walk my dog. It’s cold outside – 28ºC or 82.4ºF. This is how winters in Manila look like! 6:45 p.m. – Dinner is white rice, Steamed Tilapia, and Ginataang Sigarilyas. According to Google, this translates to “Winged Beans in Coconut Milk.” I don’t know if this translation is 100% legit but it’s probably one of my favorite vegetable dishes ever. Daily Total: $19.25 DAY THREE - TUESDAY, JANUARY 12 2:30 a.m. – One of my accounts is in crisis mode, so their reports are much more finicky than usual. When I feel that my brain is about to explode from reading social media posts, I work on my freelance deliverables. 7:00 a.m. – Again, I wake up L. Tuesdays are hard for him because he has back-to-back classes, and it isn’t long before I notice that he seems a bit overwhelmed. This year has been tough for him because we moved him to a new school and this, plus online learning, meant that he’s had to adjust like crazy. It’s too much for a 10-year-old, I think. I buy him his favorite Iced Cacao milk tea (I think it’s called boba in the States) to cheer him up and order an Iced Matcha for myself ($7.89). We drink our milk teas while having a very healthy breakfast of hotdogs and rice. $7.89 11:00 a.m. – The rest of the morning goes by quickly. I send off my reports, work on my deliverables, pitch to new clients, answer e-mails, and so on. Unfortunately, two of my clients have declined to work with me again since I was a bit late with a few of my deliverables, due to the holiday season. I try to take it as a sign from the universe that I need to slow down, but I’m still pretty sad about it. 5:30 p.m. – I wake up from a nap and notice that my phone bill is due, so I pay ($53.49). I Dinner tonight is Fried Milkfish, Rice cooked with Crab Fat, and Sayote sa Sotanghon, which is basically chayote mixed with vermicelli. $53.49 Daily Total: $61.38 DAY FOUR - WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13 2:00 a.m. – Thank God, my account has ended its crisis mode, so work is a bit more chill. Again, social media traction and freelance work. When I was 15, I thought I’d be spending my early twenties in a high-paying corporate job, wearing cute clothes and going to parties afterward. Instead, I’m spending it in teddy bear pajamas. I blame Gossip Girl and Korean dramas for my unrealistic expectations. 7:00 a.m. – After waking up L and sending off my reports, I spend the rest of the day working on my freelance jobs. 11:30 a.m. – Our live-in helper, J, prepares fried chicken for lunch and I eat it with L. He still has some time left before his next class, so I play a few rounds of Among Us with him. I honestly don’t enjoy the game as much as I make it seem I do, but it’s his absolute favorite and I like having these small bonding moments with my little brother. 1:45 p.m. – My brain can’t take it anymore, and I pass out from exhaustion. 3:30 p.m. – L wakes me up from my nap and I try my best to get a few more things done. Thankfully, my next deadline involves a podcast script on a certain historical event. These are pretty easy to write, although researching them can be a pain in the ass sometimes. 4:00 p.m. – I take a break from work by checking out apartment listings because it’s fun, even though I have no plans to move out. I honestly want to, mainly because my relationship with my parents isn’t that great, and living back home has highlighted that even more. E has it worse, though, and his relationship with our dad has deteriorated so much that they got into a few physical fights during lockdown. While I can afford to move out, E can’t and of course, L is underage, so I can’t take him with me. Right now, I’m bearing the brunt of my parents’ stress and frustration, and if I leave, then it’s likely that they’ll start taking it out on my brothers. So, I don’t because I’m their eldest sister and a huge part of me feels like it’s my duty to protect them. But if worse comes to worst, then I’m ready to shoulder E and his expenses. He only started his business last year, so it isn’t super profitable yet. The post-holiday slump hasn’t been kind to him either. 5:30 p.m. – Dinner is Tinolang Manok, which is a dish that consists of chicken and papaya slices cooked in ginger-flavored broth. For me, it’s a must-eat during “wintertime.” While eating, my parents ask me what my plans are for my upcoming birthday. They’re trying to pressure me to treat the entire family to dinner, but I decline because a) I’m trying to save money, and b) COVID-19. 8:45 p.m. – I take a shower and catch a few episodes of a Chinese drama called “A Love So Beautiful.” Then, it’s back to work. Daily Total: $0 DAY FIVE – THURSDAY, JANUARY 14 3:45 a.m. – I finish my main job early, so I go and work on some deliverables, but I keep getting distracted by “A Love So Beautiful” that I barely get anything done. Before I know it, it’s nearly time to wake my brother up, and I haven’t accomplished anything at all. 5:00 a.m. – My mom brought home fried chicken from McDonalds last night for L’s breakfast, but I’m so hungry that I steal it. I order the same thing ($5.50) and schedule a 6:30 a.m. delivery to hide my crime. $5.50 7:00 a.m. – I wake up L, shower, and settle in to watch the final episode in the series. I’ve accepted the fact that I won’t get anything done until I find out what happens to Chen Xiaoxi and Jiang Chen. 12:00 p.m. – I must be more torn up about losing two clients than I initially thought I was because I end up crying while working on a deliverable. I lock myself in my room and plan to have a good 10-minute crying session, but this quickly into a full-on breakdown. I never really recognized the impact that my home situation and lack of proper sleep have left on me, but it looks like the emotional toll is too much. I’m also feeling really anxious about one of my long-time clients, who I feel is a bit disappointed with my work lately, and this sends me spiraling even more. I end up crying for a good hour or so. It would have gone on longer, had it not been for L, who knocks on my door and cuddles me for a bit. He can tell that I’m upset, thanks to my swollen eyes, so he offers to treat me to milk tea using his Christmas money. It’s sweet, but I decline. 4:00 p.m. – After working and a quick nap, I put on a Korean eye mask to hide how swollen they are. My dad gets annoyed whenever we cry since he perceives it to be a sign of weakness. I know that he’s completely wrong about this, but I’m too exhausted to argue with him tonight. 5:00 p.m. – Dinner is white rice and Pork Bistek. I don’t know if that has a proper English translation, but it’s basically pork chops and onions cooked in soy sauce and calamansi juice. I’m still feeling pretty lethargic from my breakdown earlier, so I take a cold shower to feel refreshed. 10:00 p.m. – I guess breaking down uses up a lot of energy because I’m starving, even though dinner was only a few hours ago. L is also hungry, so we ask J to buy us Puto Bumbong, which is a steamed purple rice cake topped with margarine, coconut flakes, and brown sugar. This particular stall also puts cheese and condensed milk on theirs. I personally find it too sweet, but L is in love, as only 10-year-old boys who can eat a whole jar of Nutella can be. J uses the leftover money from today’s dinner to pay. 11:30 p.m. – Work is pretty chill today, so I watch an anime called “The Promised Neverland” in-between monitoring social media traction. Daily Total: $5.50 DAY SIX – FRIDAY, JANUARY 15 12:00 a.m. – Happy 23rd birthday to me! I initially wanted to go to treat myself to a spa to celebrate my birthday, but I canceled my booking because of COVID-19. Hopefully, the Philippine government will finally get its shit together by March, which is when I had my appointment rebooked. I’m doubtful, but hopeful. 7:00 a.m. – I log off for the week and settle in to finally enjoy some no-work bliss. Kidding! I wake up L, take a shower, and work on my freelancing deliverables. Since it’s my birthday, J allows me to decide what breakfast will be and I pick chicken nuggets because I know that it’s something that L will enjoy too. 11:00 a.m. – My lack of sleep this week has caught up to me, and I pass out from exhaustion. Thankfully, I don’t have any deadlines today. 4:30 p.m. – L wakes me up, and we dress for Mass. My parents require us to attend Mass together as a family whenever it’s someone’s birthday. L isn’t allowed inside the church because of my area’s COVID-19 restrictions, so he and E sit outside. I’m jealous because the air is so stuffy inside the church that breathing through a mask and a face shield is a struggle. 6:00 p.m. – We come home and a few of my other family members are there for a...surprise birthday dinner. I’m trying not to feel annoyed at the fact that my parents went against my wishes because I know they mean well, but still. I had planned a quiet night with anime and a face mask to celebrate my birthday, but of course, this won’t be feasible any longer. I’m trying not to let my irritation show because everyone made an effort to be here, but still. Oh well, at least they kept the number of guests below 10, in line with restrictions. 6:30 p.m. – My mom ordered food from a caterer, and we settle in for a dinner of Baked Salmon in Cheese with Green Beans, Braised Chicken with Rosemary and Potatoes, and Ox Tongue with Mushrooms. They’re all pretty good, but I can’t help but dream of the face mask that I had prepared in anticipation of tonight. 11:00 p.m. – I nurse a glass of white wine, and it isn’t long before my aunt and I have managed to polish off the entire bottle. I can’t help but feel a bit sad because only two of my friends greeted me today. I know that I shouldn’t put a lot of stock into birthday greetings because they’re just words, and I know that all my friends are busy with work, and I also know that they’re going through their own mental battles right now because of COVID-19, but still. It sucks. 11:30 p.m. – A friend from Germany asks me if he calculated the timezone correctly, and he wishes me a happy birthday. As a gift, he sends me a video of snow falling out his window. I don’t know if I’m crying because I’m wine-drunk, or if I’m crying out of envy because SNOW or because I’m a teeny bit sad. Maybe it’s all of the above, idk. Daily Total: $0 DAY SEVEN - SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 2:00 a.m. – Party’s over and all my relatives have gone home. I set an alarm for 4 a.m. because I have an early-morning deadline to meet. 9:00 a.m. – I must be drunker and more tired than I thought because I completely slept through my alarm. I apologize to my client and ask for an extension. I’m hoping that he’s kind to me because it was my birthday the day before; fortunately, he grants the extension. 12:30 p.m. – E is craving Chinese food, so I hop onto Grab (Southeast Asian version of Uber) and place an order from Panda Express. They were only brought to the Philippines in 2019, and lines have been pretty long, so it was only this year that I was able to taste their non-Chinese Chinese food. I pay for our food as a late birthday treat for my brothers and also because I know that E has been denying himself a lot of things lately to have more cash to inject into his business. With delivery, the total comes out to $13. He offers to wash the dishes afterward, which I’m really thankful for. $13 3:00 p.m. – The rest of the day passes by quickly. It’s J’s day off today, so L and I do household chores. While doing them, I catch up with some of my favorite podcasts, including Military Murder and The Asian Madness Podcast. Highly recommend the two of them. And, let me know if you have any recommendations! 4:00 p.m. – I’m trying to work out whether I should buy the new Macbook Air M1 or not. I’ve been using my 2014 Macbook Air 11 since high school, but while this has been great for school, it’s a huge challenge now that I’m spending more than eight hours a day on it. The screen is too small, so my back and shoulders hurt the entire time I’m on it, and the resolution is also too low. A few people from this sub have recommended that I get an external monitor, but I don’t have a home office or a desk. I work on our dining room table because my vanity’s too small. Since we don’t have Apple Store here in the Philippines, I have to make do with a re-seller. Right now, the lowest that a Macbook Air M1 goes for is $1,102. This is something that I can definitely afford, especially since a junk shop has offered to give me $249 in exchange for my old one. But I’m having trouble being okay with buying a new laptop when my current one is working just fine. I know I deserve it after all my hard work and I know that it’ll make working much easier, but still. 6:00 p.m. – For dinner, my parents bring home take-out from a local restaurant. We eat Breaded Tofu, Butter Buffalo Chicken Wings, and Mixed Vegetables. I do the dishes afterward, which takes a long time, because dishwashers aren’t common in the Philippines, and it’s hard to manually scrub oily food. 8:00 p.m. – I work and watch anime in-between. Daily Total: $13 WEEKLY TOTAL: $192.13 REFLECTION This week’s spending was unusually high, mainly because of my phone bill and rare expenses, like eyeglasses and contact lenses. I also had way too much food delivered this week, but I felt like treating my brothers since it was my birthday, so I don’t mind that all. My usual weekly spending, however, is somewhere around $10. But aside from spending, I think that writing this money diary really forced me to confront my privilege and mental health issues, as well as my workaholic tendencies. It’s tough to admit to yourself that you aren’t happy at all, but maybe it’s time to finally face it. I feel like I also have a problem with making big splurges that will ultimately benefit me, so moving forward, I’d like to remember that while treating my brothers is totally okay, I should be kinder to myself too. There’s still a lot of issues that I need to unpack and work through, but hopefully, being 23 will give me the strength to do so. I hope you enjoyed this money diary from the other side of the world :-) And sorry for any typos. I’d edit, but it’s 2 a.m. right now, and I’m exhausted.
5800x - adjusting PPT/TDC/EDC Limits on PBO got me minimal drop in R20 multicore scores and major drop in temperatures (90C to 71C), GUIDE INSIDE
A couple days ago I made this post here at AMD discussing my experience cooling the 5800x. Since then, my temps creeped back up to 90C, and then stayed there in every benchmark that I ran. Reseating the cooler still helped, as I didn't immediately shoot up to 90C anymore - but even after upgrading to Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut and putting a very healthy amount of thermal paste, it still maxed out at 90C near the end of a Cinebench R20 MC test. After redoing my thermal paste 4 more times, I saw almost no improvement in max temperature, only variation was the amount of time it took to get to 90C. Kryonaut is better in my experience, and takes longer to get to 90C, but I eventually hit 90C. I went on reddit and OC forums and did some more reading, and I found a user who tested two 5800x chips on two motherboards. I can't find the post anymore, but they reported that two different 5800x chips on one motherboard reached a max temp of 90C in Cinebench R20 multicore, and the same two chips on the other motherboard hit max temps around mid 70s in Cinebench R20 multicore. This got me curious, are some of our 5800x's being fed way too much power by the motherboard? Now, I'm not too sure how this all works but that tells me it might be some sort of calibration or BIOS issue.... anyways, to the testing. First, my rig specs:
AMD Ryzen 5800x
Noctua NH-D15 CHROMAX.BLACK
MSI MPG B550 GAMING EDGE WIFI
2x16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 CL16
WD Black 2TB HDD
Samsung 860 EVO 1TB 2.5" SSD
WD SN750 M.2-2280 NVME SSD w/ Heatsink
EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 ULTRA GAMING
Fractal Design Meshify C
Corsair RMx 850W 80+ Gold
Cooler Master ELV8 GPU Bracket
4x Noctua NF-A14
1x Noctua NF-F12
Note that I may not know entirely what I am talking about with this stuff because it is my first time on Ryzen. I just came from a 4770K so this is new to me. That being said, I wanted to share my experience to see if others can get some benefit. All fans set on max for the entire test. PBO is ON, and these are my curve optimizer settings. This was set based on some testing using HWinfo64 to identify my best cores. I just arbitrarily set some numbers and it seemed to get me ~50-100MHz extra in all core boost. Otherwise it doesn't seem to affect my temps or anything much, I still hit 90C with PBO on or off anyway. I read this post from GN: https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3491-explaining-precision-boost-overdrive-benchmarks-auto-oc The part that was most important in this article for my tests was this: Package Power Tracking (“PPT”): The PPT threshold is the allowed socket power consumption permitted across the voltage rails supplying the socket. Applications with high thread counts, and/or “heavy” threads, can encounter PPT limits that can be alleviated with a raised PPT limit.
Default for Socket AM4 is at least 142W on motherboards rated for 105W TDP processors.
Default for Socket AM4 is at least 88W on motherboards rated for 65W TDP processors.
Thermal Design Current (“TDC”): The maximum current (amps) that can be delivered by a specific motherboard’s voltage regulator configuration in thermally-constrained scenarios.
Default for socket AM4 is at least 95A on motherboards rated for 105W TDP processors.
Default for socket AM4 is at least 60A on motherboards rated for 65W TDP processors.
Electrical Design Current (“EDC”): The maximum current (amps) that can be delivered by a specific motherboard’s voltage regulator configuration in a peak (“spike”) condition for a short period of time.
Default for socket AM4 is 140A on motherboards rated for 105W TDP processors.
Default for socket AM4 is 90A on motherboards rated for 65W TDP processors.
I compared to the AMD default limits which puts the PPT = 500, TDC = 200 and EDC = 220 (from Ryzen Master). It seems interesting that these are set so high, and I thought maybe different motherboards were handling the power delivery different. Now, I'm not an expert at how this stuff works, so I'm not even sure if I'm using the correct terms or the right technical language, but what I found was limiting PPT, TDC, and EDC to certain values on my motherboard gave me a huge temperature benefit with almost no loss in performance. This leads me to believe that some BIOS may be sending way too much power to the 5800x, letting it hit 90C and then throttling based on the temperature. Testing steps:
First I ran some baseline tests with default motherboard limits set in the BIOS, and started decreasing each down from there. First few results were as expected with the Tmax hitting 90C near the end of a Cinebench R20 MC test. R20 is run with no background apps. I only have R20 and HWinfo64 on for monitoring
Based on the GN article, I then set reasonable limits below the maximum values for 105W processors (PPT = 125, TDC = 90, EDC = 125). Setting the PPT saw instant improvements in temps down to 81.3C.
I started to decrease PPT in increments of 5 to see how low I could get the temperature without dropping my R20 MC scores too far. When I felt like the score dropped too low, I would bring the PPT back to a value that had a good balance in performance lost and maximum temperature. Eventually settling on 120. Then I moved onto TDC while holding EDC and PPT constant.
I repeated it again, dropping TDC by 5 and observing temps and scores after. I ended up settling on 85 for now.
Finally, I did this on EDC. I found that my 5800x seems to be highly sensitive to EDC in terms of performance, dropping EDC to 90 dropped my Cinebench R20 scores to almost 5500 with Tmax at 78.8C. I decided that I was going to keep this at 110 because it seemed to have biggest negative impact on scores and the temp gains were not worth it.
Lastly, I went back to TDC and dropped that as low as I could, I found that dropping it to 75 gave me a 3 degree drop in temperature, and the performance dropped within a margin of error. After running ~23 tests, I headed to bed and settled on PPT = 120, TDC = 75, EDC = 110 was giving me a score of 5976 (pretty good for those temperatures!)
Next morning, ambient temps dropped to 21 (setup is in the basement) and PC had some time to chill out, I ran the test twice and saw huge improvements. Tmax = 71.0C and R20 multicore score is 6070, single core is 625. Those are pretty good scores for that temperature! Second trial was similar, CBMC = 6056 and Tmax = 72.0C. See testing results and proof below.
I then reverted my PPT/TDC/EDC limits back to motherboard, ran tests, and boom, Tmax = 90 again, multicore score 6038
Note, another quick way to determine how much your EDC/TDC your CPU is taking during full load is to look at the CPU TDC and EDC measurements in HWinfo64 while you run R20 multicore test. This can help you save time in determining what the limit is. I didn't know this until after and just slowly decreased each parameter by 5 and testing in between. I probably could have saved some time looking at these limits instead and starting there. See my testing results here, (read the notes to understand how I made increments and settled on the numbers that I did):https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11rPc7P0omu3FyDYM8YL8V-HuSIhVywwt2tkCeWWyLq4/edit?usp=sharing Result:https://imgur.com/gallery/zGtAgNr Motherboard settings:https://imgur.com/gallery/rpafxCU I did some digging online to see what other users were experiencing on their CPUs, someone made a drive link compiling data for the 5800x based on their setup. I made a copy on my drive of an old version because the working version got deleted by the original creator. Comparing my performance now with some of the samples here shows that I have decent scores and very good temps now. If someone could explain the technicals behind what is going on here, that would be great! TLDR: Play with your PPT, TDC, and EDC numbers. I saw temps drop from 90C to 71C. I'm not sure the technicalities behind this but it leads me to believe that some motherboards might be feeding your CPU way more power than it needs to hit clocks causing thermal issues. Edit: Here are my R23 scores with PPT = 120, TDC = 75 and EDC = 110
I am 42 years old making $72,000 living in Northern California and work as a Consultant
Section One: Assets and Debt I am 42 years old making $72,000 as a Consultant. I live a debt free lifestyle, work part time, and am CFBC. I track with the median household income in my area, but it’s just me an my dog in a one income household. I grew up in a family that valued education but had no money to contribute to it, so I worked my way through college. I graduated with some student loan debt. I don’t have a family financial safety net and have not/will not inherit anything, but also do not need to financially support my family. I took a purposeful step back in my career after growing into a management position and realizing that it was not what I wanted to do. Now I make the bulk of my income doing the work I love. Pre-Covid I traveled quite a bit for fun, both internationally and in a camper van. I have tried working while traveling and neither was rewarding, my job permits me to separate the two and I do not work when I travel. I have struggled with that during Covid, because what is the point of working less if you can’t do anything fun with your free time? My Covid pod is a married couple, another single women, and a new boyfriend that I started dating this summer. He is kind, creative, a good listener, and brings me coffee in bed. The boyfriend, from here on dubbed the King of Coffee (KoC) has his own place, but for a while was spending weeks at a time at mine. We recently both decided to refocus and be more effective, so he is spending ½ his nights at his own place. We do not combine expenses. Retirement: 243K - I have 237 K between two employer sponsored 401K’s and another 6K in a Roth IRA. I’m trying to catch up and would like to make the max contribution this year but an struggling with motivation. Equity: 0 -I’m renting. I lost about 80K in equity in a home during an unfortunate break up a few years ago and am happily renting. It sucked to walk about from 15 years of equity, and have to start from scratch on a down payment fund, but sometimes your freedom is worth it. I was able to cash flow legal fees to emerge debt free. Savings account balance: 900 Checking account balance: 13,000, I keep my emergency fund in my checking account. I like my money like I like my wine, liquid. Credit card debt (and how you accumulated it): 0, I use my cards and pay them off very month. Student loan debt (for what degree): 0, paid off 21K in loans about 10 years ago for a Bachelors Degree Section Two: Income Main Job Monthly Take Home: 3,264 (variable) I've been working in my field for 18 years, my starting salary with a Bachelor’s degree was $23,000 (a pay decrease from my college jobs). I was up to 109K for a few years in my 30’s. But I woke up fat and miserable, so took a step back. I now work part time as an employee for a couple of different companies with a ton of autonomy and the ability to take on the work I love to do. I average the same per hour, but work a lot less hours. California state law prevents most companies from hiring me as a 1099 employee, which is fabulous, because it makes my life really simple. I fill out a timecard with my hours and they deposit money in my bank account. It’s like magic! I primarily work for one company, and they pay for my health insurance premiums, which is a huge benefit vs when I was spreading my time more evenly among multiple jobs and purchasing health insurance out of pocket. I also net between 4-7K a year on a side gig that is 1099 contract wor. Main Job Monthly Take Home: $2,964, per month My primary job is somewhat seasonal. My take home varies a lot as I am not guaranteed hours, and sometimes choose not to take on projects with work that I don’t love. This is netted wages from my primary job over the yea12. Month to month it can be more or less. Side Gig Monthly Take Home:$300 per month (averaged). 1099 contractor work. My gross is about 12K a year for this, but there is a ton of overhead and taxes ($3,600 per year in broker fees, $3,400 business fees, office space, mileage for this job, and other business expenses). I allow this side business to pay for my phone, office space, etc. Section Three: Expenses Rent: $1,050, I’m silly lucky to have rented a dated 1 bed/ 1 bath flat in a great area before prices skyrocketed. My landlord that has not kept up with market rate. After being a home owner, I love not having to mow the lawn, worry about the gutters, or fix anything. Market for this unit would be around $1,850. Current California rent controls ensure my rent will not raise more than 6% this year. Renters / home insurance: $12 Savings contribution: 0, nothing budgeted, my income is variable so my account ebbs and flows. I sweep any extra money over 15K from my checking into my savings, and start to panic if my balance gets below 12K. I have been a scattered spender and lacked focus for the last year. Debt payments: $0 Donations.$50 a month, Average between the local food bank, individual fundraisers for homeless outreach, go fund me, and local non-profits. Electric: $55 (average) Natural Gas: $50 (average) Cellphone: $30* (this is my portion of an unlimited data, talk, text on a family plan with a friend, I write this off against my 1099 income) Gym membership: $89, this is a small family owned gym that I love. I kept my membership active during the Covid shutdown which was objectively a waste of money, and just started going back to their classes (done outdoors in compliance with local regulations) Pet expenses: $140, this is the average for food, flea and heartworm meds, and one scheduled vet visit a year, and one unscheduled. In the past it has been less, but the last couple of years vet costs have gone up for my aging pup, and will likely continue to rise. Car payment: $0, I saved to buy a new (used) car in cash for 15K early last year. It is a great car, and should last me 5-8 years without looking like a beater. Car insurance:$130, this is for a camper van, a car, and a motorcycle. I pre-pay for the 6-month policy. Gasoline: $200 (I get some of this back but will get to that). Groceries: $300, I’m not great about sticking to this Wine Club: $30, I cancelled a wine club because we can’t go wine tasting due to COVID, and then immediately signed up for another one, so there is that. Coffee: $30, yes, this is just for coffee at home. I purchase beans from a local farmer owned co-op because it’s important to me. Eating Out: $120, this is really variable, I used to spend more, and our COVID lockdown just loosened a bit so I have been meeting with my pod for outdoor dining/happy hour more often. Toiletries and home goods: $30 Clothes: $75 Other Business expenses: $312. If I’m counting that gig income I should probably count the expenses. Professional licensing fees for my primary job: $38 ($450 once a year), Professional registrations for side job: $75* ($900 once a year, write off against 1099 income). Office space rental: $199* (this one kills me but I’m locked into a year-long contract on this, it includes copies/printing/wifi/coffee etc and is a great workspace, but has been unusable most of the year due to COVID, write off against 1099 income) So that’s what I "plan" to spend money on, lets see how I do. Wednesday: Daily Total $81.11 The KoC stayed over, so that means I get coffee in bed (see above budgeted expensive coffee). I had to run off to work, so he also walked the dog. We started to date about 6 months ago and he is a gem and really starting to grow on me. Grabbed gas at Costco on my way to work $50.90. My car takes premium, it’s $3.22 a gallon, and I get about 20 miles to the gallon. About ½ of the miles I drive on this tank will be reimbursed at 56 cents a mile by my primary employer, so I will get reimbursed about $89 on this tank. The mileage rate is also suppose to account for wear and tear, which is much harder to calculate. My tires are almost brand new, but when I had to replace one it was $260! This car is much more expensive to drive them my previous vehicles. At lunch I ran to a sporting goods store to look for snow pants to go to the snow this weekend. Dang they are expensive, maybe I can do without, or find some at a thrift store? I popped into the grocery store for food for lunch and walked out with a giant bag of pumpkin seeds, 3 avocados, a couple jars of Paleo BBQ Sauce, some pecans, beef jerky, and a couple protein bars ($30.21). I get home and the dog has successfully extracted all of the trash from both the bathroom and kitchen trash can. I proceed to vacuum up shreds of paper and am reminded that the nozzle on my vacuum is broken (functional, but you have to hold it together). Thursday: Daily Total$57.19 The weather is awful and I decide not to go into work, and instead worked on technical reports from home. I hate reports and only ended up billing about 3 hours. But I don’t have to worry about snow pants anymore because at the end of the day I get offered another 8 hours of the work I love so do, so now I get to work the weekend. I found a broken vacuum on FB marketplace for $30 and go pick it up. Apparently, all purple Dysons are not the same model. The parts are not interchangeable. I need to pay better attention. Now I have two broken vacuums. Doh!! A friend called to see if I wanted to grab dinner. We choose a spot with a cozy patio. The City has temporary suspended metered parking fees due to COVID. I bring a blanket. I got an entrée and a glass of wine, my total with tip and tax is $27.19. Friday: Daily Total $174.58. Coffee delivered to my bed again! Went back to the gym from the second time this year. It just reopened under revised COVID restrictions this week. Classes are outside and masks are required, but it still feels strange. I justify it because I just haven’t been doing the weight training I should on my own, and the cold weather has really stalled my outdoor cardio workouts. Packed a lunch and just worked through lunch. Had to apply to renew one of my professional permits ($136.90) Stopped at the grocery store on my way home onions, cucumbers, a shitload of broccoli, two heads of cauliflower (one organic and one not, why are these the same price? Is there a size difference? Better get them both and figure it out later), two lbs of grass fed ground beef that are on-sale and a rack of ribs ($37.68) Had roasted broccoli and tea for dinner, and worked on a report for a non-profit board I’m on. Went on an audio book checkout/download spree using my public library app and started listening to the “Happiness Project.” Saturday: Daily Total $10.37 Off to work because of the earlier lack of productivity. Had to stop by CVS and purchase some supplies for the office $10.37 (my employer will reimburse me for this). Packed some leftover chili con carne and a jar of snackies (see aforementioned groceries, pumpkin seeds, pecans, and beef jerky). Zoomed into a 7-hour annual meeting for the non-profit board while working. Done by 4 pm. I’m sore from the workout yesterday. Everything hurts. I get home and am started to soak in a lavender epsom salt bath while listening to my audiobook when I get a call from a friend. She had a rough day and is wondering if I have time for dinner. I abandon my lovely bath and rally. We split a bottle of wine, I have a cookie but decline to share her pizza since I’m “trying” to eat better. My friend insists on paying. I let her, but I feel bad. I am hyper sensitive to carrying my own weight since I am choose to make less and be relatively stress free while they work long hours. I don’t want to let that get in the way of my friendships. I never say I don’t have the money to do something fun. Sunday: Daily Total $60.50 I run back into work to finish some things, but am supposed to be done early for a lunch date with the KoC. I call on my way home to make sure he will be ready to go by because I’m starving and we are planning on walking. He is sort of ready to go, and we walk the dog about a mile to my favorite café, which also just opened for outside dining. It is a beautiful day, my food takes forever. I get a giant noodle salad and drink water, it’s $14.35, but the KoC pays. This is the second meal he has purchased for me in 6 months, the first being our first date. He is always up for a long walk around the neighborhood, which I love. He is not well employed, and we don’t eat out much. He eats a lot of my groceries, and when he is with me at the grocery store will sometimes Venmo me $20. I have found myself purchasing more things he likes recently. On our walk back, I get a text that some friends are at a local brewery. We redirect our walk. The KoC takes one look at the crowd (outside and at separate tables, but it’s still more people than we have seen in months) and asks if I mind if he just heads back to my place. No worries. The puppers and I flag down my friend, we decide we are also not comfortable with the crowd and head to a nearby Café. I repeat the bottle of wine ($18) and cookie ($3.75) from the day before, my portion of the bill is $15.50 with tax and tip. She insists on sending the rest of the bottle of wine home with me. For dinner the KoC and I have a game night date in a friend’s yard. She has a lovely yard with twinkly lights and provides heated blankets and heat pads for each of us. We distance and wear masks when not eating/drinking. We finish the rest of the bottle of wine I brought from the Café, a bottle of port from my wine club (accounted for in wine club budget, $25), and order sushi for delivery (I Venmo her for my portion, $20). No games are actually played, but it’s nice to catch up. Monday: Daily Total0. I sleep through the 6 am gym class. Chat with a friend about nailing down reservations and hiking permits for some national parks this summer and apply for the lottery. I have a few client calls in the morning. I have poor work hygiene and work from by bed most of the morning. The dog doesn’t get out of bed until noon, At least I beat her. Had breakfast for lunch, farm fresh eggs from a friend and a few slices of bacon. Got myself together enough for a zoom meeting in the afternoon, and ducked off-line early to hit the 5pm class at the gym. I roast a boat load of broccoli for dinner and have more nuts/seeds/ sugar free chocolate as snacks. KoC stops by late after he is done with work and eats the rest of the broccoli. He stays over. I’m getting coffee in bed tomorrow. Tuesday: Daily Total 0. Just as I suspected, coffee in bed. We wake up early and spend some time chatting in bed since I’ve been a little unavailable the last few days. He goes for a run, showers, and brings me tea while I work on a report before taking off to start his day. We are both trying to be more effective with our time and part of that is hard deadlines ending our time together. I bill 8 hours, make myself lunch, and never leave the house. For dinner I ate the equivalent to a whole head of roasted cauliflower and slow roasted the ribs from the earlier shopping trip. If you are wondering, there is no flavor difference between the organic and non-organic, the non-organic head is a bit larger. I rice the cauliflower stems in the blender and toss the cauliflower rice in fridge to sauté with some ground beef for another meal later. I knit while listening to my audiobook. I have a lifetime supply of yarn so it’s a no spend hobby. Wednesday: Daily Total 0. I signed up for the 7am class since I slept through 6 am on Monday. Everything hurts from Monday’s workout. The KoC hand ground my coffee, set out the pour over, and filled the kettle before he left last night, so I just need to hit the power on the kettle and pour over. Weekly Total: $383.75 Food + Drink: $155.58 Fun / Entertainment:0 Home + Health:$30 Clothes + Beauty: 0 Transport: $50.90 Other: Work expenses, $147.27 Reflections: I’m trying to spend less on crap. I have way to many clothes, but always seem to be able to justify small clothes and food spending. I did a good job on these things this week. The reopening of restaurants, combined with the nice weekend weather led to more eating out then I’ve done in months. Pre-Covid, a large portion of my spending was social eating, happy hours, drinks with friends, dinners out, and I have used that for justification for buying more food for home in recent month. My income and expenses are messy and difficult to categorize. Some work expenses I pay out of pocket, and some transportation expenses are recovered as a reimbursable. My savings account says I’m treading water, and not making progress towards additional saving for a house. That’s not horrible given the current Covid situation, but it’s also not great, since there is less social spending opportunities so I should be making progress. My life is easy and stress free with time to do the things I love when I had the motivation. I worry if I am making/saving enough to maintain it in the long run? I struggle with the worry that I am not working hard enough or saving enough to secure my retirement. I'm saving 18K a year towards retirement (401K and Roth). Housing costs continue to skyrocket and I am also fearful that I am not keeping up income/asset wise with the COL in my area or my peers. Oh, and I miss traveling. Edit: formatting
I am a 32 year old RN making $57,450, living in rural MN and I get a colonoscopy this week
One day early. Buckle up, it's a long one! Trigger warning: digestive & anxiety issues, medical procedures Section One: Assets and Debt Retirement Balance: PERA account $7,389.65 Equity: roughly $45,000 (house and vehicles) Savings account balance: $523 'Secret' cash stash: about $800 between us which we pretend doesn't exist. Checking account balance: $2,318 Credit card debt: $6404.47 🤯 Student loan debt: $30,593.72 for my associate's in nursing and one semester of my BSN which I have no plans to finish. Current clinic bill: $814. I have about $620 left in my flex account from last year that I need to use so I'll probably pay this off this month. Section Two: Income Income progression: It's been pretty straightforward for me. I worked at McDonald's in high school (minimum wage) and came back after one semester of college. I was eventually promoted to shift manager in 2007 (I think $9.50/hr). I got my CNA license in 2008 and started working at a nursing home ($10.65/hr). Gradually increased over the years. When I got my LPN license in 2016, I bumped up to around $16.50/hr. Another bump for my RN license at the end of 2017. I started at $26.50 and now make $28.75 base. I work 12 hour nights so I get $.50 differential from 6p-10p and $1 for 10p-6a. This is considered a joke of a differential btw. We get time and a half on holidays. I do truly love my work but I'm so burnt out. I've been in long term care for so long that I'm not sure how to even do anything else at this point. Main Job Monthly Take Home: ~$2700, more if I work a holiday or pick up a shift Taxes: ~$700 Health insurance: $303 (family plan with high deductible) Retirement contributions: 6.5% of my pay HSA: $192.30 Flex: $46.16 Clinic bill payment: $100 Life/STD insurance: $54.42 Christmas account: $50 Side Gig Monthly Take Home: generally $0. I do sell some craft items on the side but I don't hustle. Child support: supposed to be $531 but I get what I get most of the time. I am married but we do not have a joint account. B's gross is $41,600/year. He recently started a new job and got a $4.50/hr pay increase. He's also a volunteer firefighter and gets paid once a year from that, although last year's check was only $750. He carries dental and vision insurance for us and has a flex set up, about $170/month. Section Three: Expenses Rent / Mortgage / HOA fees: $0. 2 bed 1 bath home we share with my daughter (Z, she's 8) full time and B's stepson (E, he's 14) part time. We own outright. Property tax: $497 this year, B pays. Car registration: $206 this year for my car, goes down a bit every year. Home & car (3) insurance: $237, B pays. We just combined everything a few days ago so we might split this. ETA after getting the first bill, I will pay *$265/6 months* for my car and half of the SUV, about $175/6 months.* Savings contribution: lol, whatever comes from my round up rule Debt payments: CC bills $400, B's pellet grill $35 (was a Christmas present). B has no debt. Electric: fluctuates with the climate, last month was $245!!! We are trying to figure out ways to reduce this. B pays. Gas: $50 now on the yearly plan, B pays. Watesewegarbage: ~$60, B pays. Wifi: $59, I pay. Cellphone: $290, I pay for 5 lines. Babysitter: $180 Student loans: in deferment, not making payments Meds: around $50, paid with flex money. Monthly subscriptions: Hulu, HBO, Pandora, Design Bundles, razors, Netflix, Apple storage, NYT, Cricut Access, Disney+, Amazon subscribe and save items, my entire life, $250. I pay. Amazon Prime: $124/year, I pay. Pet expenses: averages around $100 between food, haircuts, shots and insurance for my youngest pup, I pay. Car payment: $405.27 for my car. We paid cash for our used SUV in December, and B's truck is old and has been paid off for years. Groceries: around $400, B tends to grab things here and there and I get the big hauls. School lunch: free this year! Thanks USDA! Extracurriculars: Z opted out of any extracurriculars this year due to COVID. Regular therapy: nope 1/16 Saturday 3:30 AM: I'm awake but I refuse to get out of bed. Cruise Indeed and Facebook for jobs. I recently put in my 30 day notice so I need to find something ASAP. I've put in probably 6 online applications already. Print out two applications, three copies of my resume, and create two cover letters. Why do I have to fill out all my info on an application when they can find it on a resume? Get a year of a resume and cover letter making site for $24.99 because I'm terrible at both. Buy some new Brumates that I don't need $67.93 and see that my yearly Prime payment has been pulled. Watch YouTube and fall back to sleep around 5. 8:20 AM: B crawls into bed after work and snowblowing basically the entire yard. Cuddle for a while so he can leech my body heat before I go upstairs. I need to wash my hair. Fall into an internet hole of Facebook and NYT while lounging with the dogs. Noon: B comes upstairs. I didn't wash my hair. We need some groceries so decide to drive the hour to the nearest town with a Walmart AND a Menards - it's the 15% off bag sale right now. Throw in some dry shampoo, brush my teeth and get dressed. Change the water jug in our machine (our tap water is sketch), let the dogs out and head out. 1:18 PM: Gas is up to $2.34/gallon. Cringe thinking about filling up the SUV. My car is a hybrid but doesn't like Minnesota winters. B and I debate bringing our cat to the vet during the drive. She has FIV and has been losing weight, but we decide against it as there's not much we can do at this point anyways. She's still happy so 🤷♀️ 2:34: Check out of Menards. $99.15 on a new door lock with keypad, sanding blocks and paper, disposable condiment cups, and Armor All wipes after 15% off and B's $15 return credit that he forgot to use. B gets LED bulbs, grill brushes, motor oil, a door latch for our porch, something for his brother's toilet and a propane tank exchange. Only saw one guy without a mask, so I'd call that a win. 3:05: $15.98 after coupons at Joann's on more tumbler supplies (e-6000 spray, 5 taklon brushes) and one roll of clearance ribbon. Realize I have my Christmas money in my purse and forgot to use it. B goes to Harbor Freight for more tools he doesn't need and a sporting goods store for a gift card for his best friend's birthday. 3:32: We decide to go to Perkin's, hoping they won't be too busy in the off hour. The hostess is wearing her mask under her nose and I'm so annoyed. I have some weird stomach issue going on, so I just get two eggs and toast. B tells me he should be able to get the first COVID shot this week, and I tell him I still haven't changed my mind (we both already had COVID during an outbreak at our workplace). I've been 'not preventing' pregnancy for almost two years. At this point, I'm too anxious to get the vaccine, and there is just not enough data available on pregnant/TTC women to change my mind. My time limit is my birthday, so if I'm not pregnant by then I'll be getting the vaccine in August. $28.87 +$5 tip. 4:47: Check out of Walmart with wet cat food, pop, milk, butter, Mac and cheese, cereal, snacks for the kiddo, chips, ketchup, tator tots, Gatorade, Hawaiian Punch and deli meat. $88.65. Every time I ask B if we need something, he says we have it at home. Also, no grapes? Usually a Walmart trip sends me into an anxiety attack but the store is pretty empty today. 5:09: My favorite stop of the day: the liquor store. The store at home is so crazy expensive so this is a treat. I get Truly Iced Tea and two different kinds of hard coffee to try for $41.91. B picks up three cases of beer. 5:18: B stops for gas ($37 🥴) and we head for home. Buy some vape juice online, $86.59. Yeah yeah, I know. My gut hurts, I'm super bloated and I just want to nap. We talk about our options regarding my medical procedure that is coming up and decide to try and get it done while we're still on my work insurance. I had a positive FIT test so now I have to have a colonoscopy. I'll end up maxing out the deductible but I'll get it half off if we can pay the bill within 30 days. I'll get my PTO paid out at the end of my 30 day notice, so we should be able to swing it. Not really sure we have a great option at this point as B doesn't want me to take on another payment. He is so anti debt, and I have $6500 in CC debt. We are opposites in so many ways. 6:20: Get home and unload the SUV. The dogs are going WILD. I feel like garbage and immediately get into pajamas. Give the cat a can of wet food and she eats a few bites. I still can't find a type she really enjoys. I also hook up the drinking water fountain I bought for her a few days ago. B installs the new door lock and I'm thrilled to have a keypad again. The old one stopped working a few months ago. Pay an invoice for a bulk order of keychain tassels from a wholesale group, $19. Basically do nothing for the rest of the night. 9:45: I'm falling asleep in my recliner. I decide to do my nighttime routine (rinse face, No7 HydraLuminous Gel Cream, Algenist Complete Renewal Eye Balm) and go to bed in hopes of feeling better tomorrow. I skip brushing my teeth because I'm nursing a ginger ale. Watch some YouTube and fall asleep around 10:30. Daily total: $478.07 1/17 Sunday 2:09 AM: I wake up for the second time tonight with nightmares. I rarely have them so I'm annoyed. B isn't in bed to cuddle with either. I go upstairs to use the bathroom and find him in his recliner. Realize I forgot to take my meds last night (antidepressant, probiotic, omeprazole, hair skin & nail vitamin, Lysine supplements, allergy pill) so grab those along with two Goli gummies and a lorazepam to help me calm down. My gut still hurts, and I'm so over this. Browse the internet and watch YouTube again to fall asleep. 3:55: Wake up to stomach cramps and know my colon is going to empty itself out. Park myself in the bathroom for half an hour and try not to pass out. I'm not sure if it's just IBS or something worse going on, but I'm glad I'm getting it checked out. 7:17: Still awake. I am stressed by the potential of not having a job for a few weeks, my health, and the current state of everything else in the world. Decide to compound this by opening my NYT app. I am so hopeful Joe can start turning things around. 12:17 PM: I must have finally fallen asleep because B comes down to ask if I want to go to South Dakota today. We check out local case rates by county and decide we are probably safe. We are about the only ones who wear our masks in public over there. I must admit that going through this pandemic feels much different out here in the boonies than it does in the city. We had a large surge in cases for about 4 weeks in November-December, and now we are back down to about 2-3 new cases a day. Our local businesses work hard to keep us safe, in part because they don't want to be known as the place so-and-so got COVID. Ah, small town gossip. We do our part try to support them as we really can't afford to lose any businesses in our area. I shoot a text to Z's dad to confirm I'm picking her up in the morning. 1:28: I finally get out of bed and wash my hair, which is my least favorite chore. I brush it out before my shower, use some Head and Shoulders 2 in 1 to combat my winter dry scalp, finish it off with SheaMoisture Purple Rice Water conditioner. I decide to heat style it today, so I use two heat protection sprays. To brush, wash, condition, brush again, dry and curl my hair takes 1.5 hours. Now I remember why I never do this. 3:30: We hide in the corner of the bar for the meat raffle. I really love coming here because the money they raise goes to local charities. We also have drinks and supper. I get a BLT chicken wrap, and we win 3 free drink tickets. We head out around 6. $50 + $10 tip, this comes out of my Christmas money. B goes to the drivethru on our way home and gets me a frozen hot chocolate. Yuuuum. 8:45: For some reason I can't keep all the school calendar changes straight. Z was supposed to be off tomorrow, but I just realized she does have school. I message Z's teacher to let her know Z won't be there, since she has her yearly physical tomorrow after being rescheduled 3 times. Do a quick nighttime routine, take my meds and head downstairs for YouTube and sleep. Hoping for a decent night of it! Daily total: $60 1/18 Monday 3:05 AM: I'm awake, but for no particular reason this time. Working the night shift really messes with your sleeping schedule. I must have been snoring because B has gone upstairs to sleep in E's room. I clean the litter box and decide to fire up my laptop and Cricut machine to get some projects done I've been procrastinating. I finish a water bottle for B, a stash jar for a friend, create a couple Valentine's mock ups for my business page and seal some glitter signs. I grab a couple SVGs on Etsy $1.38. My mom sees my Snapchat and we message over the woes of insomnia. 6:20: I have come to the realization that buying craft items and actually using them are two separate hobbies. I lay in bed with the cat and doze. 8:40: Leave the house to go pick up Z. Her dad lives about 25 minutes away. On the way home we stop at Casey's for random snacks, $7.64. The clinic calls and we schedule my colonoscopy for Thursday. I have to get some blood drawn later this morning when I bring Z to her appointment. I also have to have a CT with contrast so I'll figure out when I can get that done as well. I take a quick body shower when we get home. 10:55: Bring Z to her well child check-up. I think they asked us about 100 questions, and some of them were super weird for an 8 year old. She finally gets her flu shot and only spills a few tears. No major issues so that's a win! She does miss a few sounds on her hearing test, but we decide to just watch it for now. I get my blood drawn when we're done with her appointment and talk to the radiologist about my CT. He says my prior authorization hasn't gone through yet and he'll call me when we can get it scheduled. We're both hopeful it can get done tomorrow. Then I talk to the surgical nurse to get my pre-op instructions. Finally leave the clinic around 12:45. Pick up my surgical prep from the drugstore, $52.06 (!!!) from my flex account. Z requests cheese pizza for lunch so I oblige. 1:17 PM: I get a call about a job and set up an interview for Wednesday afternoon. 4:10: I bring Z down to the local salon for a haircut. I can't go in (COVID restrictions) but Z loves the feel of a fresh cut so I don't worry. Her hair dresser is her classmate's mom and my old neighbor. $18 + $7 tip. 6:30: B has a fireman's meeting tonight, so Z and I have mac and cheese per our tradition. B hates it so we usually only eat it when he's gone. I make Z have an apple on the side so we can make at least one good food choice today. The Bachelor is on tonight! I usually hit the Reddit stream but I got a late start tonight so I skip it. 9:05: Make sure Z brushes her teeth and hug her goodnight. 10:20: My oldest (and crankiest) dog just cannot be pleased tonight. She keeps wanting to go outside, but it's cold and snowy and she doesn't like either of those things. Sigh. Do my usual nighttime routine, take my meds and go to bed. Fall asleep around 11. Daily total: $33.99 1/19 Tuesday 6:45 AM: Success! Finally got some sleep. Good thing I woke up though, because I forgot to set an alarm. I wake up a very cranky Z at 7 and make sure she gets ready for school. We are very fortunate that our school district is small, and Z has been going to school in person, full time, all school year. She never complains about wearing her mask either. I drop her off at 8, then B and I bring our SUV to the mechanic. I think B is dropping me off at home but instead we go out for breakfast downtown. I have a pancake, scrambled egg and side of fruit. I hear the regulars (old guys who come in every morning for coffee) talking about signing up for their COVID shots. This is a good sign! B pays, $16.04 + $3.96 tip. 9:01: I get an email that a hospital position I applied for has already been filled. Dang. It's still snowing, so I plan for a lazy day. B goes outside to snowblow. 9:55: The radiologist calls and tells me we can get my CT completed. We decide to do it right away this morning. I run up to the clinic to grab my contrast drink and set a timer so I drink the right amounts during the right time frames. It tastes like flat, flavored water. My stomach doesn't seem to appreciate it much. Hopefully this doesn't become a problem when I'm in the CT machine. 11:00: Get my CT done. I get an IV in my arm and the radiologist pushes Lord knows what into my veins, but it makes me feel like I wet my pants 🤣 He lets me check out the images when we're done. It only takes about 15 minutes and then I head back home. I sit around with B for a while, then I go downstairs to make a few crafty things and fill an order. I put a couple more things on my business page as well. During this time B brings his truck out to the mechanic and brings home the SUV. They put in a 'Minnesota approved' battery, the repair cost was $220. I offer B half but he declines, saying "let's see what the truck costs first." 2:45 PM: I get so distracted crafting that I almost forget to go pick Z up from school. She gets in the car and tells me she had the best day ever! I ask what happened, and she says she didn't get strawberries at lunch. Oh... she was being sarcastic. She picks up her room and puts away her laundry when we get home. We don't do much this afternoon. 7:00: B makes supper tonight, nothing fancy. A chicken patty for me and corn dogs for him and Z. I'm staying away from roughage to make my life easier tomorrow. Z gets ready for bed and I tuck her in at 8:45. Shortly after, B leaves for work. I go downstairs to work on a Valentine's day order. Daily total: $0 1/20 Wednesday 12:45 AM: I have spent far too long organizing files on my computer. I call it a night. I look up my CT report and it doesn't show anything urgent or explain why there's blood in my stool. Sigh. Normal routine and bedtime. 7:05: I'm up. IT'S INAUGURATION DAY! B is already in bed. He tells me he has the chills, is nauseated, and his arm is killing him. I tell him his COVID shot is working and bring him some ibuprofen. I wake up Z and she gets ready for school. While I'm waiting, I take a body shower, let the dogs out and feed them. Drop Z off at school at 8, deliver a Valentine's Day order (+$20!) and go home to watch the inauguration while eating mini wheats. 10:45: I watch Kamala get sworn in and I get tears in my eyes. Such a historic moment. 11:45: I make myself scrambled eggs and drink a Dr. Pepper. After this, it's only clear liquids until tomorrow afternoon. B helps me give my oldest dog a haircut. You'd think we were killing her the way she cries. She's been getting haircuts every 2-3 months her whole life and still can't sit still. 2:00 PM: I have a virtual interview. The job sounds so interesting but it involves a lot of travel, and I'm not sure that would work with my family. I pick up Z from school when I'm done. She tells me "happy Joe Biden day!" when she gets into the car. We talk about the possible new job and she's not into the idea of me being gone. 5:00: B leaves to go work on his brother's house. He's been there on and off all week. He also got the night off for his floating holiday. I take my meds early so they have time to get into my system. I mix up the colonoscopy prep: two packets of powder into one liter of water. I make dinner for Z while I'm in the kitchen. 6:45: COLONOSCOPY PREP IS NASTY. Like, the taste of the drink is so disgusting and it's making me nauseated. I know it's important to keep it down, but it's also important to drink it within the one hour timeframe. Uuggghhhhh. It ends up being one hour and 45 minutes. B comes home around 8:30 and gets Z into bed. 9:00: The best way to describe how I feel is early labor. The cramps come and go and are so intense I have to take deep breaths. It's so exhausting I end up falling asleep. Daily total: $0 1/21 Thursday 12:30 AM: IT'S TIME. 6:00: I slept between bathroom trips, but now it's time to mix up my second liter of prep. Yes, I have to do this to myself all over again. This time, I have to make sure to drink it all within the one hour timeframe. 7:30: Everybody is awake and chaos ensues. Did I mention we only have one bathroom? Z is trying to get ready for school, B wants to shower and I'm, well, you know. I get my entire liter of prep down in 65 minutes. B is still not feeling well from his COVID shot. 8:45: I manage a body shower although I had to get out once for the toilet. I am basically a zombie at this point. B drops me off at the hospital at 9:10. When I get there, they are running behind so I have to wait half an hour before I get into my room. 10:05: My nurse blows my vein and I have a panic attack. We are starting this day off great. A second nurse comes in and gets my IV in right away, thank God. Things move pretty quickly from here. By 10:30, I'm in the OR getting the good drugs. By 11:20, I'm awake enough to remember what's going on and drinking water so they'll pull my IV. The surgeon comes in and tells me they didn't see anything abnormal, but they did take some biopsies so hopefully I get some answers. By 12:05, I'm walking out the door. 12:15 PM: I am absolutely starving. B takes me out for lunch. I have a tuna sandwich and a 7Up. Our total is something around $17. I throw him $5 for the tip. 1:00: We're home. We spend the afternoon watching movies and laying around. My stomach is still pretty upset from all the torture. B picks up Z from school since I'm not supposed to drive yet. When she gets home, she regales me with the tale of getting hit in the face with a hulu hoop in gym. She actually has a fat lip! 5:00: I get a jar of my favorite eye cream on a BST board, $20. 6:00: B heads out to work and I make supper. We have tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches tonight. Comfort food for the win. 9:00: Z has a quarter in her tonight. We play a couple games on her iPad before I stick her in the shower and then in bed. I promptly fall asleep in the living room. Daily total: $25 1/22 Friday 3:30 AM: Move downstairs to our bedroom. 8:00: After work, B picked up E and they come home. The dogs are frantic. I eat a bowl of cereal and hang out with Z, since she doesn't have school today. We make funny drawings of each other and she reads me some knock knock jokes. I also get two more interviews set up for next week. I head back to bed around noon. I have to go back to work tonight. I have a block schedule: 7 off, 3 on, 1 off, 3 on, 4 off, 3 on. Our pay periods are adjusted for the night shift, so if I work the weekend that's my 36 hours for the week. 4:30 PM: I'm up. I take a shower and wash my hair. B makes pizza for the kids, another traditional meal timing in our house. He leaves for work at 5:30. I am dreading work. I have been exhausted after every shift no matter if it was busy or not. I'm not sure if it's my actual job, or just the night shift catching up to me. Either way, I'm looking forward to a new position. Also, getting ready for work is a chore these days. I use Fog Block on my glasses, then put side shields on. I hook my two masks up to my ear savers. Then I find two bottles of hand sanitizer and two pens to put in my pockets because I always lose one somewhere along the way. I pack my bag (water bottle, energy drink, iPad, shoes, snacks and supper) and start my car. I say bye to the kids and head out at 5:45. 6:00: Work is already a shit show and I just clocked in 5 minutes ago. I'm so annoyed and I just don't want to be here. But you better believe I'm going to suck it up and be happy for my residents. They are usually pretty happy to see me after my long stretch off. 11:45: I buckle up for what's going to be a very long shift. Daily total: $0 Weekly total: $597.09 Food + Drink: $177.07 Fun / Entertainment: $60 Home + Health: $203.44 Clothes + Beauty: $45 Transport: $0 Other: $111.58 Reflection: This was a normal week considering its events. Obviously I don't usually buy a new door lock, and I typically only stock up on vape juice every 6 months or so. I'm heavily into my depression spending, but with everything going on in the world I've cut myself some slack. I'm only going to live once! *ETA our cat passed away this evening, 1/25. We are very sad but are happy we got to give her a good life for the last 3 years.
With 2020 coming to a close and as we near 100k subscribers, we thought it'd be a perfect time to reflect on the past year and highlight some data! Monthly subscribers and page views
Month
Page views
Subscriber Gain
Total Subscribers
January
5,066,009
2,873
57,189
February
3,736,317
1,219
58,408
March
3,817,163
1,320
59,728
April
4,744,995
4,395
64,123
May
4,432,803
2,838
66,961
June
4,212,461
2,160
69,121
July
3,623,297
1,628
70,749
August
3,289,385
1,628
72,377
September
4,070,785
1,499
73,876
October
5,344,463
1,934
75,810
November
6,391,697
7,716
83,526
December
11,218,715
14,436
97,962
As you can see, the subreddit has grown steadily throughout 2020. We enjoyed a tremendous spike in growth over the last three months, due in no small part to the success of Cyberpunk 2020 on Stadia. This community is renowned for its exemplary niceness, so let’s continue into 2021 and beyond with open arms for our new friends. Activity from the Stadia team on the subreddit Going into 2020 people were quick to express some discomfort in the way official news was being shared on the sub. However, the Stadia team really ramped up their communication and community interactions. Things continue to improve on a rolling basis. In 2020 the Stadia team showcased:
and much more that can't be officially documented!
Changes to the subreddit in 2020 Our top goal all along has been to anticipate and meet the needs of the community. Of course, we can’t anticipate everything, but we have strived to make changes and be flexible as the community grows and evolves. Take a look at this “change log” from 2020:
In total we have 33 verified developers that are recognized on the subreddit
In October we introduced controller flairs for people to rep their favorite controllers
We introduced a weekly setups thread. To condense all the awesome setup pictures people have
We really perfected our wiki this past year and have a very in depth look into everything Stadia
Some special shoutouts
We’d like to start out this section with a huge thanks to our original two Top Contributors, u/baltinerdist and u/one2escape. While the TC flair has been discontinued, these two were hugely instrumental in setting the tone of helpfulness and initiative that this subreddit is now well-known for.
And with that we’ve seen a couple more passionate community members emerge this year, some being:
Needless to say, this subreddit has such a wide variety of content it would be near impossible to highlight them all. The fact of the matter is, the community is what makes Stadia what it is and we can’t wait to see what kind of content you’ll produce in 2021. Thank you all for your passion and excitement! Plans for 2021 Going into 2021, we’re nearly double the size we were when we started 2020, and what better a time than to expand the mod team a little! Stay tuned for a dedicated announcement where we’ll give the specifics on how to apply to be a part of the subreddit team. In addition to that we’re definitely looking toward ways we can improve the subreddit and make it a better place for old and new Stadians alike. Suggestions, tweaks, improvements; we want to hear them all! We can’t implement every single request but we can give it a go if we feel it’s the right move to make. Some side notes though before offering suggestions that we’ve addressed previously:
If you have seen something another subreddit has done that you liked, those examples are great and help us visualize suggestions made.
Stickies are reserved *typically* for official Stadia updates, important announcements about relevant ongoing situations (promotions, outages, etc) and subreddit announcements such as this one! Normally if something gains a lot of traction, it’s already high up on the front page and highly visible.
In terms of content being circulated through the sub, the biggest impact you can make on content being highlighted is to utilize the upvote/downvote mechanic. Thankfully Reddit offers content to a broad spectrum of interests and the upvotes will highlight what the community wishes to see. If you see something breaking the rules, please report it! We constantly monitor /hot and /new but we have real life priorities as well that often lets content slip through.
In terms of self promotion, we’ve been removing anything that even remotely proclaims “I’m streaming!” or “Here’s some gameplay”. We want to promote discussions, if your video is a comparison between 2 things, a deep dive into a specific topic, or literally anything else, please feel free to share it on the sub. We want to create thriving discussions not free advertising.
On that note the mod team would like to wish you all a very happy, healthy, and productive 2021. We can’t wait to see what becomes of Stadia alongside all of you.
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