No Buy 2020: June Review

I don't want to talk about it.

Okay, fine. I'll talk about it. But I went off the rails a bit this month. Big time. I spent 112% of my average spending from 2019.

And you know what? I blame my vacation. But you're supposed to enjoy yourself on vacation so I guess I just need to suck it up and deal with it. Here's some of what happened:

$325 on hotels. The drive to visit my sister was 17 hours each way and I wasn't about to do that alone in one stretch. So I had two hotels for that. Plus, we stayed in a hotel near the Rocky Mountain National Park with a balcony and a great view of the mountains.
$300 on gas, an oil change before I left, and a car wash. Sh*t, that was a lot more than I anticipated it would be.
$280 on restaurants and dining. Meals on the road, lots of fun places to eat in Colorado, and a few times I ate out this month with friends before I left. Adds up quick, doesn't it?

I also bought some souvenirs, because no travel for me is complete without a clothing item and a coffee mug. Sorry, not sorry. And we cancelled all our flights, which means I didn't get refunded that money. Instead, it's in my airline account waiting to be used by this time next year. Definitely wishing it had been a true refund...

I'm doing this No Buy with a friend, and we're both, well, really sick of it. I felt like I was doing fine with this whole thing and then I woke up recently and was like, this is a load of crap. I want to buy things without feeling guilty or having to rationalize it. I want new summer clothes and seeing my sister's new apartment makes me want some new decorations for my home.

Maybe I just need to remind myself why I'm doing this. Because I want to be a financially responsible student. Because I don't want to take out more loans than I already need to. Because I will be jobless for at least a year and there will be bills to pay and I don't want to sell my house. That's big, heavy stuff. And that requires big, heavy sacrifices.

And sure, the vacation busted the budget this month. But I felt safe by driving instead of flying. We did a lot of socially distant activities like hiking. I loved seeing my sister and her dog and new place. It was good for my soul to breathe in that fresh mountain air. So yeah, it was worth it.

Comments

Distance Year 1: My daily routine

Over the summer, I wrote about my daily routine . Remember, at that time I was living in a tiny studio apartment and doing school full-time on campus. As expected, the transition to life as a part-time student, part-time dietitian has been challenging. I'll say this upfront. I knew PA school, even in a part-time program, was going to be difficult. But this has, well, exceeded those expectations. When people tell you that you'll be studying basically all the time, they weren't kidding. But I'll let my daily routine help you see that! Work Day Schedule I work three days a week (generally W-F), and I have quickly realized that I can't slack off on these days. If I do, I definitely get behind! 5:15 - Alarm goes off. My small dog Milo somehow takes up the whole bed but I try to sneak out of bed without disturbing him too much. He's lazy so he'll sleep most of the morning. 5:30-6:30 - Watch a lecture while sipping on my coffee and eating a simple...

My favorite books about medicine

I am a medicine junkie. Medical shows (House, Grey's Anatomy), documentaries (Diagnosis), and books … I love it all! Even though summer is coming to an end (and we're about to kiss our free time good-bye!), I wanted to share a list of my favorite books about medicine. Side note: Even though we don't have a lot of free time, I have found that reading a little bit for fun before bed helps me wind down to go to sleep. Way better than staring at my phone like I used to do! Anyway, these books are in no particular order (because ranking them was just too dang hard!). Also, I'm pretty sure that all of these books are $15 or less, so it won't break the bank for us poor college kids to read a few. Every Patient Tells a Story This book was actually recommended to me by PA students when I was interviewing at the school I am currently attending! Apparently it was strongly encouraged to read by one of the professors, and it sounded amazing. Written by Dr. Lisa Sand...

Resiliency: PA School During a Pandemic

I saw this article on Facebook and it really hit home for me: "Your 'Surge Capacity' is Depleted -- It's Why You Feel Awful." I strongly encourage you to read the whole article yourself, but a few things stuck out to me that I feel compelled to share. First, what's surge capacity? It's your adaptive abilities for dealing with acute stress. The problem with a pandemic is that it isn't really acute in the same way that a massive tornado or other disaster might be. We're in this for the long haul, and if you're like me, those adaptive abilities have worn thin. For me, this has looked like feelings of helplessness and exhaustion. I've spent a lot more time on my couch watching bad reality TV than I'd like to admit. But with school starting in up in less than a week, that really isn't going to fly. So how does a student (in an intensive graduate program) keep moving forward? "Both-And" Thinking One of my favorite lessons fro...

OJ the PA

Search This Blog