simplefelicity

[simplefelicity]

What’s the point of grinding to the bone your whole life for money if you aren’t even gonna be there to spend it…

[simplefelicity]

Sudan: *A genocide since April 2023*

Everyone: *Ignores*

Sudan: *Heavy flooding from the rainy season*

Everyone: *Ignores*

Sudan: *Artifacts and artwork gets looted from the National Museum and gets sold on e-Bay*

Everyone: *Ignores*

Sudan: *The RSF executes all of the men in the village of Al-Seraha and 100+ women have committed suicide so they are not subjected to sexual violence.*

Everyone: *Pays attention but then forgets a few days later*

I honestly don't know what to do anymore. What can I do so you can spare a glance at Sudan? It is like you see what is happening but you would look away and forget about it. Please stop doing that. Instead, show your support. Help my dear friend, Randa (@rnd8). She needs to evacuate her 2 brothers who has been left behind while her father and 3 sisters have reunited with her in Rwanda. She also needs our help to pay the debt from a failed visa application, living expenses, and rent.

So let's help her raise 27K in 3 days! €26,058 has been raised. There is €924 left to go. You can match me! I've given €10, but you're more than welcome to give any amount! You can even participate in a book raffle hosted by @/magnus-rhymes-with-swagness if you show your proof of donation!

You can follow her on X (@/_rnd8) and IG (@/_rnd8) to receive the latest information about her and her family.

[simplefelicity]

Basic Financial Rules To Live By 💰✨

Create a plan that shows how much money you get and how much you spend. This helps you see where your money goes.

Set aside a part of your money as savings. Try to save at least 10-20% of what you earn.

Be careful with borrowing money, especially if you have to pay back a lot of extra money (interest).

Save some money for unexpected things like medical bills or losing your job. Aim to have enough to cover your living costs for a few months.

Put your saved money into different things that can make it grow, like stocks or real estate. Be patient, as it takes time.

Don't spend more money than you make. Stick to buying what you really need, not just what you want.

Decide what you want to do with your money, both in the short term (like a vacation) and long term (like retirement).

Set up automatic transfers to your savings and bills so you don't forget to save or pay your bills on time.

Make saving money a top priority before spending on other things.

Regularly look at your money situation, adjust your plan as needed, and see how your investments are doing.

Pay your bills on time and use credit wisely (like credit cards) to keep a good credit score, which can help you get better deals on loans.

Save money for when you're older and don't work anymore. Use retirement accounts to help with this.

Think before you buy things. Don't buy something just because you want it; think if it's necessary.

Keep learning about how money works and how to make smart money choices.

Only use your emergency fund for real unexpected problems, not for things you just want to buy.

[simplefelicity]

october 2024 bookkeeping - the first half

(we are skipping sept part 2 because i tried an offline method and i'm not about to do it all again now)

in these first two weeks of the month, i've spent 253.1€. better than the 300€ in the last post! but still a little over my budgeted 200€.

i would have for sure stayed under budget, if only for the fact that I was suddenly invited to an "elegant event" and had to buy some clothes to look the part. when i arrived there were people in sweatshirts but that's fine. I will reuse the shirt (37,71€) but i htve the shoes (36,54€), never want to wear them again. ill try to sell them online to recoup some of the losses.

other than this and a disastrous dinner (we paid at the digital kiosk but there was no record of the transaction according to the staff, so we had to argue with them in a foreign language), no notes.

i did 2 activities i had been looking forward to and i even found a bubble tea shop i like. i started to get baked goods to have for breakfast at a baker. it might get a little expensive, but it gives me a lot of joy to see the expenditure on the list so whatever. i'll keep an eye on it.

i do wish there was a way to get less expensive groceries, but oh well. i could go to eat on campus for more meals, since it's so inexpensive there. but it would be a waste of time instead, to take the bus there and back...

next 2 weeks

i'm planning a couple of trips and activities so i will for sure not be able to stick to the 200€ budget. but i've been wanting to do all this stuff for so long! so it's fine.

it would be great if i could spend just 20€ on the bakery goods, but that seems like an impossible task. it will also by my birthday!

my present to myself will be a fancy (but not that expensive) dinner with my friends. i'll buy.

so yeah, definitely over budget.

[simplefelicity]

Marigolds

[simplefelicity]

september 2024 bookkeeping - the first half

i've moved abroad! i'll be here for a few months and my finances are in absolute shambles so i've decided to make this a bi-weekly occasion. or maybe even weekly, we'll see.

what i spent

in total i've spent: 292.34€. for two weeks not that bad, about 150€ a week is an ok budget i think now that i live alone and am trying to organize my life. i would still like to bring it down to 100€ so let's see where i can improve.

food: 61.38€ (eating out) + 45.62€

here eating out is relatively cheap (it comes to about 5€ per meal) and groceries are expensive, as you can see.

i ate out 11 times in two weeks (+ 3 cafes). mostly because we were out and about visiting places and had to eat there but there were a couple of times that i could have avoided, like going to cafes/bubble tea. it happened 3 times, so for maybe a total of 10€ but i've discovered that i don't even like bubble tea here so i should just not go there anymore.

i've spent a lot on groceries in one go but it should last me a long enough time (lots of prepackaged meals).

object purchases: 171.53€

all of this stuff was unavoidable (even if it doesn't feel like it seeing it totaled up). there were 2 souvenirs, which i could have avoided but like... i'm here. i will get a couple of souvenirs i also refrained from buying a third one, so i'm at least proud of that.

in any case, these are all one time purchases and i won't need to worry about getting these objects for a long time.

i could have gotten some of this stuff tax free but i had forgotten my passport. so next time i should remember to bring my passport.

actually, one thing i do regret is that i tried to take my id photo at a photoboot because it was less expensive, but they rejected it and i'll have to go to a professional studio next week anyway. yikes.

experiences: 45.92€

i paid for a traditional craft class, a ticket to a monument and a one day tour that will happen in october. so far, no regrets.

what i earned

my last salary for a while. it was a bit higher than expected so i'm happy about that :)

what i decluttered

not much to declutter in a new house. but i have been taking a lot of pictures so i'm at 9.835, +255. i need to take the time to sort through them and delete delete delete.

next week plans:

i have booked the professional photo id, which will come to about 20€ (ugh). i'm also going to a baseball game but i'm still not sure how much that will cost. and we have planned a one day trip for tomorrow. and i'm going out in one hour and will probably have lunch and dinner out (but it should be street food so less expensive so maybe 8€?).

i will also need to charge my transportation card, which is going to be a monthly expense (42€ but i will get a discount later on).

what i want to do is 1. not get any bubble tea but rather get some water if i'm feeling too warm. 2, pick the least expensive option at the cafeteria i need to go to when i'm on campus. 3, not go out just for the sake of going out even if we are visiting places i've already been to. i should stay at home and eat my groceries.

hopefully i'll be able to stay in the 100€ per week budget!

oh wait, i wanted to start working out again so probably not :( but i love my sport so it will be worth it!

[simplefelicity]

august 2024 bookkeeping

what an expensive month but a happy month so??? yeah, it was worth it.

what i spent (1.204€)

yikes. and i'm also not counting italki lessons since i'm paying for them with a (rapidly depleting) other fund. but there are reasons for this high number!!!

first of all, i paid the downpayment for my room!! yes, i'm moving abroad next month. that was 450€. then, i paid for the hotel room during a trip with a friend, so that was another 417€ (she had already repaid me in advance months ago when we booked everything).

so i actually spent... 337€ in various stuff. which is not bad at all considering i had 2 trips!

i went out with friends 4 times, which was fun.

for the first trip i only had to pay for the train tickets.

for the second trip, i was out for 3 nights. i think my spending ended up equally divided between transportation (49€), food (47€) and tickets to visit stuff (69€). the only thing i could have cut on was food but 50€ for 3 nights/8 meals seems pretty good to me (6,25€ per meal!). i only got 2 postcards as souvenirs too, for 1.70€ total.

my only regret is that we didn't look up a cheper transportation card because 12€ a day is a bit steep).

i also paid 2 one-time things. a membership to an activity club where i will be moving (50€) and my certified email address annual renewal (12€). i don't use this address at all so i deactivate the automatic renewal. i also donated 14€ to an organization that helps people get an education.

all in all, i'm satisfied.

what i earned

my monthly wages. my friend also paid me back for some miscellaneous expenses during the trip. i almost sold a book but then realized i had already sold it months ago haha.

what i decluttered

some very old clothes. i took a bunch of pictures during my trip and haven't yet decluttered them (i have started tho) so i'm at 9.580, 242 more than last month TT

what i wished for

a bunch of clothes since i'll be moving soon

september 2024 intentions

i'm moving abroad!!! so i'll be spending a bunch of money setting up the house. i will also need to pay my first month of rent + the deposit and get a new sim card.

i want to take this month to see what a realistic budget would look like, since i've never lived there and they use a different currency. so my budget will be around 600€! i'll try to survive for a month like that and see what happens.

[simplefelicity]

Very informative thread -source

[simplefelicity]

bookkeeping july 2024.

so this month was a bit of a fail. a big fail, actually.

what i spent (406€ rip)

i ended up going on 2 trips, not 1 like i had planned. the opportunity to go at a concert i had been desperate to go to kind of fell in my lap the day before the concert so i bought some train tickets last minute (+ the actual concert ticket) and went. i had a blast but it of course left a gaping hole in my budget.

until a couple of years ago i would have just ignored it but now i thought about it and decided to use all the money i had put aside for "treats" this summer.

for the second trip (the planned one), i'm not counting the hotel price (180€) since i had already budgeted for it. same with around 100€ spent in italki lessons and language books: i took that money out of a special language learning fund.

in general, for the planned trip i spent around 150€ (excluding hotel and plane tickets), which is slightly over the budget i set last month but i already knew it would be difficult to stick to it.

is there anything i regret buying? well, food was v expensive on both trips so i might have planned that part a bit better. also, i bought a book at full price. if i had planned things a bit better maybe i could have found a second-hand bookstore and got it from there.

i had bubble tea 3 times this month, for around 15€ total. it does feel a bit pricey but it's something i really enjoy so i won't be too hard on myself.

so yes, i spent a lot this month but it over all made me happy and i had planned for it more or less so whatever, i'm not going to feel guilty about it.

what i earned

my monthly wages :D i almost sold something on vinted but the guy ghosted me.

what i decluttered

i threw away an old notebook and came down to 9.338 photos! considering i took a lot during my trips this is a great result.

what i wished for

a sleeping mask, which i bought and am v happy with!

a pair of ear plugs to wear at concerts (decided to buy them after i buy tickets to another actual concert)

august 2024 intentions

i have another trip and a half coming up. i plan to spend around 100€ for transportation on the "half trip" and 100€ on activities and food for the full-on trip. hopefully, this time i can manage to stick to this budget.

i will go out to eat with my friends once (tomorrow).

and i will also pay the deposit on the place i will live at for the next few months.

cause i'm moving at the end of august! so i will probably need to buy a lot of things to set up my house.

man i can't wait for payday (tomorrow) to arrive.

[simplefelicity]

It *is* a problem that charismatic species are often focused on for conservation at the expense of less charismatic but important species, but threatened species that are the subject of a lot of public outreach and education are also typically strategically selected.

I suspect that monarch butterflies are an example of this. Milkweed is a highly valuable plant for pollinators and a host plant for like. 400+ insect species. Getting people to plant it to save monarchs is funny because you're essentially finessing people into saving a ton of other insects that they wouldn't ordinarily care about

[simplefelicity]

The other thread on this was started by chuds so I'm gonna reboot it myself: it's really sad that people don't understand the Midwest is where food gets grown and we're supposed to grow a lot more of it.

Suggesting people just move to the cities is astonishingly clueless and would only make the situation worse. Some Americans have truly no idea what it's like out there, tiny communities separated by hour long drives if you even have transport, millions of people really are just abandoned and left behind by what we consider progress and have no way out.

[simplefelicity]

june bookkeeping 2024.

what i spent (73,10€)

50.10€ - i ate out with friends 4 times. mostly snacks except for this one dinner

6.40€ i had to buy a present

10€ bought a poster

6,50€ cinema

booked my first italki lesson

about the crazy eating out number. in one instance, i could have brought a sandwich from home like my friend did but i was too lazy. at least i brought my water bottle. another time we went to a wine bar kind of place for dinner: small portions, normal dinner prices. and lastly, i spent 30€ on a sushi all-you-can-eat dinner, which is insane. but it was unavoidable as it was an end-of-the-year thing with my dance group. hopefully we won't go to the same place next year.

but at least i did not get bubble tea yesterday!

what i earned

i did not sell anything on vinted. i suppose i should delete and reupload all my listings but i'm too lazy to do it.

i did get an unexpected bonus, that i've decided to invest directly in language learning (see italki lesson). which is why i will not be counting as "spending" the money spent on language learning in the next few months.

what i decluttered

re: being too lazy to vinted, i finally found the courage to throw away some of the clothes i have been trying to sell for the past 2 years. slowly, i'll try to get rid of all of them.

i also went down to 9.350 photos (-67!) despite having taken a bunch of new ones during the month.

what i wished for

did not keep track of that at all this month. probably bubble tea.

july 2024 intentions

i'll be going on a trip so i expect to spend quite a lot while there. i'd like to keep it around 100€ max.

to counterbalance, i should try not to spend money at all while not on the trip. i might have to go to 2 social outings but no more than that and absolutely no object purchases!

(purchases for language learning excluded)

[simplefelicity]

may 2024 bookkeeping.

a really good month.

what i spent:

2€ on 30 stitch marker pack

3€ ice cream w friend

0,60€ vending machine snack

70€ flights for a future trip

5€ small pouch (v happy about that one)

4€ ice cream w friends

2€ subscription to a secondhand book selling website

very happy with this month. the ice cream was delicious. there are only 2 material purchases (stitch markers and small pouch) but i had thought about both of them for a long time. the stitch markers are functional and i smile whenever i see the small pouch in my bag.

i also got some new office clothes this month (but i didn't pay for them hence they are not on the list) and i'm v satisfied of my acquisitions!!!

i'm also excited for my trip. we booked the hotel but they haven't taken the money out of my account yet. the only regrettable purchase is the vending machine snack but whatever, it was less than 1€. i should find a snack to always keep in my bag for emergencies tho.

what i earned: i sold 1 secondhand book on ebay

what i decluttered: i'm at 9.417 photos, -51 since last month (January: 12k); some old socks

what i wished for: self-care stuff (too many to list), a small table fan, photo album, travel hair dryer

.

june 2024 intentions

a friend will visit in 2 weeks so i will probably go out to eat with them. but i need to keep the spending to a minimum until some big life things happen. so june will be a no buy month!

[simplefelicity]

april 2024 bookkeeping.

skipped a month. whoops.

this was quite an expensive month (by my standards).

I had bubble tea and lunch out with friends. i went to a birthday party and thus had to buy a birthday present.

i also bought some new face sunscreen (on Vinted, still new) and booked flights for a trip this summer (and the hotel, but i haven't paid for that yet).

the only expense i regret is an emergency lunch i had to buy at work, because i had forgotten to bring it from home. still, my work cafeteria is so inexpensive that it's not even that big of a faux pas.

i now realize that i haven't sold a book in 2 months! now, that could be a problem. anyway.

what i decluttered: i'm at 9.468 photos

may 2024 intentions.

i will book another flight in a couple of days. i also plan to buy summer clothes and perhaps new sunglasses (the ones i have are so damned uncomfortable).

i will also keep an eye out for a good sleeping mask on vinted. my old one broke and it's time i got a replacement.

[simplefelicity]

february 2024 bookkeeping.

this month i spent more than i expected but i really don't mind.

what i spent (43,5€)

5€ for cotton yarn

3.5€ for a kpop photocard

5€ for a cafe with a friend

12€ for a restaurant with friends

13.5€ for a graduation present

5€ for a uni book

it was a v fun month. i met my friends more and had some delicious bubble tea (not featured here as my friend was offering).

the only expense i regret is the cotton yarn, because it was the wrong weight and now i need to buy a new crochet hook. which is fine. if that's my only bad purchase, i'm doing great.

another thing i don't regret but could have avoided is the new kpop photocard. i started scrolling down Vinted out of boredom and saw it by chance. still, i waited a couple of days before actually buying it and i managed to get a discount, so it was NOT an impulse buy.

i did try a head massager but decided it wasn't worth the money and promptly forgot about it, which is great!

what i earned: i managed to sell 2 books second-hand!

what i decluttered: i'm at 9,667 digital photos!

what i wished for: photo album, silk pillowcase.

.

march 2024 intentions

march 2024 will hopefully bring more bubble tea w friends and more books sold. i'm also expecting 2 other graduation gifts and buying a photo album at a local art shop (or online if they don't have it there either).

[simplefelicity]

january 2024 bookkeeping.

i've decided that this is not a no/low buy anymore. i just want to keep track of what i'm spending and why, to make sure i won't fall in useless spending sprees.

what i spent

two graduation gifts. i was hoping to share the price with someone else for the second one since it was 27€ but it didn't happen. i'm still glad i went ahead as the recipient is a very good friend.

hair rollers. have wanted to try them for years. glad i finally took the plunge

a hot chocolate and a bubble tea on two different social occasions. i enjoyed both beverages and my friends' company

train tickets for march trip

what i earned: i sold 1 book

what i wished for: yarn for a cardigan; a five-year-journal; scrapbooking supplies; a skincare product; head massager; chiaogoo knitting needles.

what i decluttered: something like 2k digital photos. no physical objects.

.

february 2024 intentions

if i randomly visit the shop where they sell the head massager, i will buy it. same with the skincare product. but i don't visit those shops that often so i'm not positive that money will be spent in february.

i have plans with a friend to go to an indian restaurant together and i'm really looking forward to it.

i will probably need to buy train tickets for another friend's graduation but we'll see.

i will probably be able to declutter some old finished notebooks :D

[simplefelicity]

I don’t engage with posts that wear me out so I’m making my own post to say that if you’re middle class and you go to a thrift store to get clothes to cut up for your crafts and sewing or support your purse collecting habit that’s fine.

You’re not a gentrifier. You’re not taking resources away from less fortunate people who need them more because thrift stores are businesses, not services, so the more you patronize them the more they expand. I used to work at a thrift store and my boss told me we threw away about half of our donations from the street because they were too damaged or dirty and we threw away another half of the merchandise on the floor that didn’t sell. And that was before Marie Kondo got popular.

So yeah those sheets would look better on somebody’s bed than as a tablecloth you made but they look better as your craft project than getting thrown away. You don’t know. And you’re paying the store to stay open and put another set of sheets out tomorrow. So feel free to shop at thrift stores especially if you donate to them.