Life Update
Well, August was wack. I ran myself ragged trying to get things sorted before I left for the US. Some major things happened:
PhD & WORK
- Just as I recovered from the Uni asking me to reformat my ENTIRE THESIS, and as I was leaving for the US, they said they needed a response within three days to my examiner's reports being in, so that they could schedule my defense. They wanted to do it while I was away, but I'm so burnt out I didn't even have the heart to reply for a whole day. By that time, something had happened with my family (see the Travel section), so that became a very convenient excuse to push them off until I'm back from my very well-earned vacation.
- I was supposed to get my revisions to my paper done before I left but that didn't happen. I just keep procrastinating on anything relating to the PhD. When I finally sat down to do the work, it was actually...easier than I thought it'd be, but DANG did it require superhuman strength of will to get me to start that work. I left for the US without it being done but now I know when I get back that it'll be easier than I thought. Hopefully that will help with the motivation.
- It's now been five months post-PhD. I was pushing myself to get things done but getting daily migraines and started fainting
out of nowhere. I eased back on the work last month, made sure things were as sorted as they could be before I left, and haven't opened my work email since the first few days of vacation.
-
I'm about a month behind on my post-PhD follow up work now - but maybe more now that I'm taking 6 weeks off? But Oh THE FUCK WELL. That is just how things go sometimes.
- Job-wise, it looks like I have to start my own freelance consultancy next year. To triply ensure I don't do this when I don't have to, I'm going to ask the department head about the possibility of getting a permanent work contract that is contingent on annual funding during my annual review later in the year. Apparently these are common place but my Uni seems to have no knowledge of them (?).
HEALTH & LIVING
- I got really sick after being around gross ill people the plane ride over to and around the US. I wore an N95 mask but even that wasn't enough! I was more lax than I have been previously since I did take off my N95 mask to eat and drink water ONCE on my 12 hour plane ride from NZ to LAX...
The illness ruined my family reunion trip. I am still battling a horrible cough, even after its over and I have returned to my parents' home. Guess I am back to not taking off my mask even to eat or drink AT ALL for 12 hours on the longest haul plane trip of my itinerary...
SO MANY people are traveling while sick!! It's so freaking gross - a simple surgical mask would help contain the germs so much, but nooooo, that is apparently TOO MUCH TO ASK (insert eye roll here). - I still have to buy a mobile # to port over to Google Voice. I need to get on this! That still doesn't solve the group call
issue (I need to be able to call landlines and cell phones in the US in a
group call for my weekly family calls), but it will give me more options.
- In August, I stopped going to all of my work out classes. I really have no excuse except I was trying to get everything done before I left. It literally took ALL of my motivation to even start the paper revision work, so I had none left to deliver my butt to my usual work out classes.
- The fam reunion was in a really beautiful place, and it was WONDERFUL to see everyone. But it felt a bit weird for a few reasons that I can think of:
- Just as I left NZ and had arrived in the US (was staying in a hotel for a night to recover), my dad had a suspected stroke. He was staying in a retirement home while my mom prepped to travel to the fam reunion and they did things like not feed him or give him his meds for a whole day. After 48 hours he called my mom and they pulled him from the facility. On the way home, he felt so bad my mom took him to the ER. I rushed home instead of heading to the reunion location.
He ended up recovering OK so we could go to the last few days of the week-long reunion, but it was a whirlwind.
I ended up feeling very ill the night we arrived - bad headache and terrible throat ache. That turned into a full blown cold (took some RSV/COVID/Flu tests and they were all negative, so.... ?). I could only sleep for the next 2 days. On the final day, I managed to get out of the house but it was a mistake. I then flew home with my mom and sister. Now I have a hacking cough that won't go away.
I couldn't do any of the fun stuff we had planned: hikes, dinners, etc. I could barely even get out of bed!
- I dunno if it is the administration, that I got sick, or what, but on the occasions I could hang out, I felt really out of place and very ...left behind(?) compared to my younger cousins, who are all thriving in their personal lives and careers. They all have husbands, kids, main careers, exciting hobbies, etc. and lots of inside jokes together. I just don't have much to talk about in comparison, and felt very very old and out of it.
- Once back from the fam reunion, my sis was admitted to the hospital. Not the best start to a trip I've ever had. I really feel like 90% of my trips home now are spent in a hospital of some sort. Sigh.
- Nothing really - I only really left the house to work and do travel prep stuff (e.g. a haircut, medical appointments I had been putting off), and see friends one last time before I jetted off.
- Food and Exercise: I think I did OK in August cutting back on fast food and soda, but - as mentioned earlier - did NOT make it to ANY of my work out classes. Yikes. While in the US, all of those rules go away - I will enjoy my Dr Pepper and Pizza Hut personal pans and southern biscuits and cheeseburgers, thank you!
- Medical: In July, I set myself an additional challenge for August: get more of my medical
appointments checked off before I leave for the US. This was a great success! I went to my first mammogram (clear, thank God!), had an eye appointment and got a new reading glasses scrip, and sent off the bowel screening kit for colon cancer to the lab. Everything is looking good and is clear, hurrah!
Once I'm back from my US trip, I'd like to see a dermatologist and a physio, and get a full blood panel and discuss HRT/perimenopause with my doc, as well as look into ADHD coaches and therapists.
August 2025 Budget
I am still enjoying a full time salary for the first time in 13 years!
Income: $6,202.29
Salary: $5,667.04
Lending Crowd repayments: $211.96
Zagga repayments: $0
Garage rent: $260
Overage from July: $63.29
Spending: $2,317.59 (37.4%)
Spending categories (budgeted amount in parentheses):
Rent: $1,350 - it was a 5 rent check month.
Groceries: $191.10 ($500) - Well under budget. I'm honestly not sure why it was so low, but it's probably because I wasn't very hungry (I had daily migraines), had lots of leftovers that I carefully planned meals around, and ate out a little bit.
Electricity & Internet: $138.69 ($150) - July 2025 bill
Charity: $0 ($50)
Cell phone: $17 ($20) The usual top up.
Medical: $30 ($100) - Renewed my thyroid and eczema ointment prescription. I had already bought my bowel cancer testing kit, the mammogram was free, as was my eye appointment because I'm still technically a student.
Eating out: $180.29 ($250). I ate out with a dear friend at Taco Loco in an impromptu dinner - that dinner stretched to another lunch. I didn't like the food much but enjoyed time with my friend. I got two small pizzas from Pizza Hut, ate at McD's 1x, and bought a subway sandwich for the plane. Another friend also bought me thai dinner once, which I stretched to lunch the next day.
Misc: $410.51 ($959)
alcohol, entertainment, fees, gifts, travel: $0 (Money to spend during my trip comes out of a different pot than my monthly budget.)
self care: $357.56. I went all out here this month: $82 for a 40 min massage, $113 for a 1 hour massage, $51 for a brow wax and tint + lash tint, $57 for a pedicure, and $57 for a haircut.
goods and wants: $34.98. I bought a matching lounge set to wear on the plane to look a bit more chic than I usually do. I bought face masks for hydration for after my plane ride, a RAT test (which came in handy!), gum for my plane ride, and two 9 V batteries for the failing smoke alarm in my house which started beeping like 2 days before I had to leave (!).
transportation: $17.97. I rented many e-scooters to get to my medical appointments and the grocery store and to work. Getting out of the house on
time is very, very difficult with my ADHD, and this is a small price to pay to make managing my disability easier.
Savings and Funds Activity Update
- The final $10K of my CDs have now matured. I'm now stuck earning a measly ~2-3% p.a. on my savings (aside from the bits in the peer to peer lending schemes at Squirrel and Zagga). BOOOOOO.
-
I've started moving money to Squirrel's on-call account as
it offers a better interest rate than what I have now with my basic Rabobank
savings account. Now that the national NZ bank insurance has kicked in and covers $100K per bank, I need to transfer at least $15K more to my Squirrel on call account so that all of my liquid savings is covered across both banks.
-
I have $27,744.22 in an on-call account earning 2.75% p.a. in Squirrel, with $4068.28 invested in various peer-to-peer loans at $100 each at 6 to
6.5% p.a. About $2.6K of the money in the on-call account is waiting to be
invested in personal loans at 7% p.a. when they become
available (the wait times for these is about a year!).
- I've met all of my short- and medium-term savings goals, and then some. I literally have nothing else I want or need to save up for that I can think of. The extra $3.9K I saved this month has no home, and that feels both weird and strangely annoying. What is wrong with me? Why can't I think of more stuff and travel and things that I want?
I am also now at risk of not spending any of it for its intended purpose. I don't want my net worth to go down / stop going up as fast just because I took a trip!
I still need to review how much of my savings I want to keep liquid and how much I want to invest in peer-to-peer loans. The $60K I saved up for a house down payment in particular needs to be moved to something more high yielding and I can afford a bit of risk with those funds. I guess I'll just let this $$ accumulate until I buy a house or need it for travel/moving after my job ends next year?
I will have to see an NZ-US tax accountant and a financial advisor if I go freelance anyway. I suppose I can sort all of this out with them when the time comes?
Another thought is that maybe I'm so hesitant to spend my savings on their intended purposes because my future is so uncertain right now.
-
I made no Zagga investments this month (again). The investments are a minimum of $1K and I just feel...uncomfortable investing that much in things like individual home loans when I know that the market is pretty bad right now. People are underwater on their mortgages and things aren't selling that well. The cost of living is so high and job opportunities so low that people just aren't buying.
Net Worth Tracking
NZ Savings (cash and CDs): $149,123.38 NZD
Peer to peer lending: $6,595.18 (Zagga, Squirrel, open principal at Lending Crowd)
- LendingCrowd: $1,626.90 NZD - principal still owed, repaid with interest in weekly installments
- Zagga: $1K NZD
- Squirrel: $4,068.28 NZD
Kiwisaver: $118,252.31 NZD
US investments: $62,919.32 USD
Total Net Worth (August 2025): $366,161.97 NZD
This is an increase of $7,958.31 NZD since last month, and an increase of $33,040.09 since the beginning of the year.
