Drumroll please… As of Oct 17, 2019 I currently have a whopping net worth of ZERO dollars! And if you thought I’d be depressed over it, well you’re wrong. I’m damn proud of my $0 net worth! I guess a backstory is needed here. Why am I happy with my $0 net worth? Because for the first time since I became an adult, I have positive net worth. I started undergrad at 18 by borrowing the first of many student…
I went on my first international trip this year to Japan and it was nothing short of amazing. I figured when the memory starts to fade away, I want to have something to remember it by so I decided to do a (very late) recap of my Japan 10 Day Itinerary for first time visitors. I did a ton of research before I went so I wanted to share my itinerary not only for me to remember but also for…
Anyone who has ever tried or is currently doing the C25K (Couch to 5K) program will understand the title of this post and why Week 5 Day 3 deserves its own dedicated post. The C25K program (link is the free app I use on my iPhone) is well known for getting people to run their first 5K from scratch in 8 weeks and I thought in the midst of my summertime sadness, I’d give fitness a try to increase my…
About a month ago, I wrote about how I was feeling apathetic and sad… basically I was depressed. There, I said the d word. One of my resolutions to combat this bout of apathy was to start exercising, in particular running more. I made a goal of running 5k nonstop and even downloaded a couch to 5k app. At first I was cynical. Coming from a girl who exercised once a month… and only when dragged to the gym by…
“I got that summertime, summertime sadness…” is completely stuck in my head and unfortunately it describes my life right now. I feel trapped. And apathetic. And sad. How’s that for a way to begin the summer? But I’m hoping that it gets better. Maybe it’s because it’s been a cloudy and rainy spring these past few months. But summer’s here now and I’ve always been a summer girl. Okay, but let’s backtrack and get to the issue at hand. I…
I just had an epiphany. Here’s how it began: After I finished rounding up my May budget and spending, I proceeded to update my Debt Progress page and realized that I only made a measly 1% change in my debt progress from the previous month. Upon taking a closer look, I realized I’ve only lowered my student loans by $7,500 since the start of 2019! I already had to change my goal from fully paying off all my student loans…
From the futuristic bright lights of Tokyo’s Shinjuku, to the picturesque temples and Japanese gardens of traditional Kyoto, Japan has everything and more to offer. Hard as it is to believe, Japan was actually never on my bucket list of places to visit. Truthfully, I only went because it was on so many of my friends’ bucket list. When they decided that Spring of 2019 was the time to go, I must admit, that while no longer a teenager, the…
I cannot believe how fast 2018 flew by. As I look back on my 2018, I figured why not document the highlights. It’ll be great to look back on this years later to read a quick recap of my personal, financial, and work life in 2018. Before I begin, I like to start by looking back at the goals I made at the beginning of 2018. I started 2018 with $129,149 in student loan debt and in January wrote a list…
It’s almost the end of summer and you know what that means? It’s the perfect time for a road trip. While most people associate summer time with cross-country drive, you may find that end of summer to early fall is actually the best time to go for a great cross-country road trip on a budget across the U.S. My parents started taking me on annual road trips when I was in middle school. Every year we would take a week-long…
Six-figure salary. It’s a dream for a lot of people. It certainly was a dream of mine when I set upon my career path. I grew up in a middle-class family and enjoyed a great childhood. But when my parents separated, the dose of reality hit as I witnessed first-hand how hard my mom had to work to put food on the table so that my brother and I would never be lacking. At 10 years old, I realized just…