2023 WEEK 39: Intentional Lifestyle Inflation

In September I did something wild (lol): I stopped tracking my expenses. I had been feeling that my fixation with not spending more than $XX/month was holding me back from living like a normal person. 

Curiously, it made more sense to budget when I was working full-time than now. I guess it's because the more money I put aside to invest each month, the sooner I could piss off from corporate life. But now that I have stopped being a wage slave, I've had to change my mindset. 

Rather than micromanaging my day-to-day spending, the way to go is to just monitor the big-picture numbers, the "financials" if you will. In my case, since I have no debt and no bank will issue a credit card to me, all there is to monitor is my bank account balance. Which is still good.

So this month I allowed myself to spend on whatever I wanted. I drew most of my "frivolous" purchases below. 

Actually they are not at all "frivolous". Observing what I decided to spend on, I found a few categories of things that are important to me:

• Daily needs: ear plugs for sleeping and walking in high-noise areas, reading lamp, fountain pen
• Style & grooming: nice and comfy T-shirts, hairbrush and comb, nail stickers (tried but didn't like)
• Hobbies: books, swimming gear
• Travel: flights to Chiang Mai of course, plus an extra mattress for housesitters
• Pet related: pine cat litter (to try out), plus pet fences & litterboxes for rabbit boarding season
• Good food: includes "high CP" groceries like salmon, strawberries, pistachios, dark chocolate, and eating well at the hawker centre rather than going for cheap items. Also, nice meals out with family

At the start of the month I felt a bit worried - I had visions of financial catastrophes. But these are completely irrational since I have been hoarding surplus upon surplus. I still haven't touched the "capital" I had saved up before I quit full-time work, even adding to it while I was freelancing. At some point I will need to spend it up - it might as well be now.

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As for the week... it's been eventful. 

1. Eeyore was sick and hardly ate for 3 days. At first we thought it'd clear up. On Day 2 I decided to syringe-feed him Critical Care, for the first time. Other than catching him from under the bed (where he was hiding) it wasn't too bad. After a few feedings he seemed to regain his appetite somewhat. So relieved. Rabbits are such fragile creatures...

2. Did a job interview for customer service at my favourite ever yoga studio. I had considered switching from working at the bookstore, but in the end decided against it on account of the digestion-unfriendly hours (4-8pm, meaning I'd have to eat dinner late) and having to deal with people the whole time (I still prefer the physical labour of bookstore work). 

3. Went around Singapore collecting bulky things from Carousellers: a fold-up mattress and pet playpen fences.

4. Started playing games on Apple Arcade. Results TBA...

5. Got the first bunnies of the year-end season: Jill and Momo! I've been starting to prep for year-end boarding season by stocking up on supplies and figuring out how to partition our rooms.

OK, bye!