California E&S Insurance

I am 36 years old, make $72,000, live in San Diego, CA and work as a graphic designer. My apologies this is so late, things got WILD last week when I was supposed to post between work, school, and vehicle issues. Also I'm really verbose so I have to split this up because I wrote more than 40k characters :) **Section One: Assets and Debt** Retirement Balance (and how you got there): $0. Yep, my financial life has been an absolute mess. Savings account balance: $100 when I started this diary, up to $300 now. Checking account balance: $3200 Credit card debt (and how you accumulated it): Just over $11k. From doing dumb stuff and being an idiot with money, mostly. I took out a personal loan to get out of credit card debt, and the amount I took out still left $5k over. I transferred that to a 0% APR card, but didn't pay it down before that period ended, and ended up adding to it when I was unemployed in 2019 and EDD didn't pay me for nearly 6 months. Student loan debt (for what degree): $22k for a certificate program in Museum Studies at Tufts University. The tuition was not that high for the program, but the federal loans gave me the full amount possible, so I wanted to use that to live on instead of working while in the program. Wasn't worth it, let me tell ya! I haven't made a payment on this in a LONG time. **Section Two: Income** **Income Progression:** I've been working in my field for almost 15 years, my starting salary was somewhere in the 30s. I did a lot of contract work and freelanced, so my income was all over the place. I worked full-time at an animal health company for $42,500 (grossly underpaid), left there and got another job at $65k that was a hybrid marketing/design job and also freelanced that year and made about $19k (total $84k that year). When I moved to San Diego, I took a nearly $30k paycut; the job I got here paid $55k for the first three months, then bumped up to $58k. Two or three years later, my CMO fought tooth and nail to get me $60,600, which is what I was making when I was laid off. I contracted/freelanced again, but that year ended up only making about $57k. 2020 my salary tanked to around $25-30k, and now I'm at $72k. Currently trying to change careers into user experience (UX) design from graphic design. **Main Job Monthly Take Home:** $4,092. This is just taxes as I'm a temp employee and not yet eligible for health insurance. During my diary I did join the 401k plan though. **Side Gig Monthly Take Home:** $0 **Any Other Monthly Income Here:** $0 **Section Three: Expenses** Rent: $800 for my portion. My partner pays $1200 for the rest of the rent. Renters insurance: $125/yr Savings contribution: $400/month Debt payments: $219/month credit card (minimum); $378/month personal loan (minimum) Donations: this is very ad hoc, thus far this year aside from volunteering hours I haven't donated anyhting monetarily. Last year I did about $150 to BLM, PP, Mothers Against Police Brutality, etc. Electric: Partner pays Wifi: Partner pays (he's a gamer so he wanted the best) Cellphone: $80/month on a family plan with my partner but he hasn't had me pay for at least 6 months because of unemployment Subscriptions: $9.99/month Apple Music Gym membership: $0 Pet expenses: this varies greatly. My dog is a 27 lbs chiweenie/terrier mix who is as healthy as a horse and I buy most of her stuff in bulk to last for 3-6 months. Her food costs \~$75 for a 26 lbs bag but lasts me 6-7 months. Every two years I have to buy EpiPen Jr for her as she is deathly allergic to bees. Heartworm preventative and flea/tick are around $100 every 3 months, if that. Her annual wellness visit is $50. Car payment / insurance: car is paid off; insurance is $61.29/month Motorcycle payment / insurance: $387.99 payment; insurance is $74.09/month **Day 1** 5–5:15 am: awake. Have to pee. Want to go back to sleep. 6: can’t get back to sleep. Scroll TikTok. Check email and see old insurance co did a payback for “Shelter in Place” (+$7.81). 7: paycheck hit ($1,023.19) so immediately transfer $100 to savings and $100 to my other checking account that’s less active but has a personal loan payment come out of it. Also get up to shower. 8: work day begins. The dog has been fed breakfast, we’ve gone on a walk, and my work PC laptop has connected to the server. I work on my personal iMac though because it’s 27” and fast. The laptop is neither of those things. Text some memes back and forth with my partner. 8:10: almost as soon as my workday starts, my iMac decides it’s the perfect time to install updates that apparently didn’t get installed overnight like I wanted, so I make a cup of coffee. A classmate gave me a referral to the Atlas Coffee Club so I got my first bag for $4 (shipping was expensive though), normally it’s $14. I’m a BIG coffee drinker and only just getting started learning about what I like thanks to buying an AeroPress a few months ago. I used to drink crappy coffee without a second thought but now? Apparently I AM a coffee snob. I’d much prefer to have a subscription locally, but my favorite beans from a local roaster have been retired (a light/medium roast from Guatemala that was heaven in a cup), so trying ACC out. This month, the beans are from Ecuador and I got them whole so I have to grind them. The dog flips out for a second before she no longer cares about the noise. 8:25: okay when I opened the bag I was NOT a fan…same when I was grinding the beans. Upon first taste though? I dig it. I did my usual of 1 teaspoon (measured) raw sugar and some half & half and I am pleasantly surprised. My computer has also finally finished updating so I sit down and start working on a fact sheet. I put on a podcast (The Financial Feminist) though it only has 4 episodes so I’ll put music on afterwards. 11: I come up for air after back to back meetings and call back the adjuster from my insurance company. Over the weekend my motorcycle was hit/backed into while I was getting dinner, and the woman took off. An off-duty cop took a photo of her and her license plate and gave me all the info when I came back and she was gone (I had to give a statement to the police the following day while getting my hair done; literally had foils in my hair and the cape flapping in the breeze showing them the damage). I also call my motorcycle mechanic to get the bike on their schedule for next week; my insurance company is handling going after her insurance company so I’ll have to pay my deductible ($500), but will get it back when everything is wrapped up. 2 pm: I’ve been wrapped up in research and chasing down PMs for assets that I need to do some design work today. It’s been SO quiet on email though and makes me a little nervous that something is about to drop. I contemplate running an errand for feta cheese to make baked feta pasta tonight; if I go to Trader Joe’s, I can pick up a bouquet of flowers, but they usually don’t have sheep’s milk feta. Sprouts has sheep’s milk feta but no peonies. TJ’s is a little further than Sprouts too but not by much, and I need to get gas anyway… 3:30: it must have been meant to be, because at the gas station ($14.30 for just under 3.5 gallons of 91 octane, ouch) I decided to go to Trader Joe’s. Not only did they have stunning peonies—I bought two bouquets—BUT THEY HAD SHEEP’S MILK FETA! Made me so damn happy! I also grabbed a bottle of wine from one of my favorite NorCal vineyards that’s just outside of Sacramento and a steak to top the pasta with. Before I left, I pulled out some ribeyes and the sell thru date was May 21. I texted a photo of one to my mom because I needed an adult, but ended up tossing them. They were starting to oxidize and the smell was a little off so sadly, I threw that money away. She agreed it was the better choice, and said “when in doubt, throw it out.” I got the smallest ribeye I could find and spent $47.11. I managed to get in and out of there without doing more damage because of my growling stomach, thanks to having the smallest saddlebags on my motorcycle, and when I get home I eat a burrata ball and drink some water. All I’ve had so far today is a cup of coffee and watermelon kombucha! 4:40: I end about 10 mins late after managing to finally getting ahold of a PM and getting assets for a project from her. I’m still missing a few but there’s always tomorrow. I update my temp agency timesheet for the day and see that I have 17 TikTok notifications…hopefully it’s just my friends liking videos I’ve sent them. I am that friend who will unapologetically dump massive amounts of videos on her friends. The greatest thing about working with billable time is I feel like I cannot waste a single minute of time scrolling through social media and going down a rabbit hole. There’s also an IG message on my photography account; my encounter with false killer whales a few months ago has posted to a whale storytelling account, yay! 7: the dog is fed and walked, the oven and my cast iron pan preheated, and I’m ready to start on dinner. Because I’ve basically eaten nothing all day, I decide to make a smaller (but super thick) sirloin different than what I bought today that I had in my fridge to eat before the pasta is ready. I salt and pepper it then throw it in the cast iron with a pat of unsalted butter and fresh rosemary and thyme. As the first side is searing, I assemble the tomatoes and one block of feta and toss it in the oven. Halfway through searing the steak, I put linguine in my pressure cooker—I know it sounds sacrilegious to make pasta this way but before my Italian grandma passed away in January, she thought it was the greatest idea ever. My stove is electric so it takes forever for water to boil, and I’ve always had issues with the water overflowing and making a mess, only to turn the burner down and have it basically stop boiling. The one downside is if you like the save some pasta water, there’s barely any to use. 9:30: after eating and cleaning up, putting away leftovers, and finishing my glass of wine, I take my dog out to pee and am surprised at how bright it is. Then I remember it’s a special full moon, and turn around behind me looking east. The moon is big, low in the sky, and my heart skips a beat. The dog does her business and as she runs back up the stairs, I contemplate photographing the moon. We go inside, and after briefly pacing between all my camera equipment in my dining room, living room, and hall closet, I grab my tripod, 100–400mm telephoto lens, and camera body. I quickly Google the best settings to double check if my memory is right, and set up in my living room. It’s a bit of a hassle getting my tripod out the door, but my second floor porch is in a perfect spot compared to the moon right now so I deal. I shoot for about 15 minutes, which includes having to wait a bit for the moon to clear some eucalyptus trees on top of the ridge behind my apartment. I make sure to play with them as well, they make for some really cool abstractions. Once back inside, I use my phone to take some photos of what I shot on the back of the camera and post to my personal and photography IG accounts. I leave my setup in the living room out of the way and tell the dog it’s time for bed. Quick face wash and teeth brushing, and I’m in bed by 10, the dog snuggled in her nest of blankets in my closet. She started sleeping in there after I started thrashing from anxiety attacks during the night when I was laid off in June 2019, but on occasion will indulge me with some snuggles so I don’t mind. Plus, it’s nice to be able to stretch out without accidentally kneeing her in the butt! I put on some sleep music from Headspace (highly recommend) to help me fall asleep. **Total: $969.59** **Day 2** 12:55 am: excuse me body? Rude. 1:30: I am not playing with you right now! 6:30: that’s better, thank you. I’m still not getting up though. 7:30: fine fine fine. I check my personal email, scroll through TikTok, and finally extract myself from my bed to do a quick morning routine. Working from home is the best and I am absolutely one of those people who would find a remote only job if I have to go back into the office full time. 8:45: the dog has been fed, watered, and walked; I’ve filled my 64oz water bottle up and refilled the Pure pitcher, made a cup of coffee, pulled dinner out of the freezer (a thresher shark steak!), and the first 45 minutes of my work day done. My 9:30 meeting got pushed back an hour, so I download some eblast template files and start to fiddle with them. I schedule a credit card payment for 2 weeks from now too. 9:30: a good friend of mine is having a fashion crisis all the way in Kentucky and I offer to look and see if my local Targets have the shirt dress she’s looking for and I’ll mail it to her if so. There is ONE in stock nearby, so I buy it for drive up. There’s a chance it won’t be in stock, but I use my Target RedCard debit card that’s connected to one of my checking accounts to save 5%. Now we just wait and see if I get it! (-$57.46) 10: Target sends me an email that my order is ready! My girl’s getting her shirt dress! I plan to ship it today to her after I pick it up around lunchtime. 11:30: my 15 minute meeting turns into an hourlong beast but ends up being productive. My entire afternoon is now devoted to this project, which is designing timelines for a PPT and redesigning the slides themselves for a huuuuuge public utility meeting…and it was just plopped on us late last night. I volunteered to help out though; I’m a temp designer at this agency so trying to make a good impression to be hired full time in August or so (maybe with a raise and promoted title? Speaking it into the universe!). I reheat the last of last night’s baked feta pasta and also throw some leftover chicken on top that I made earlier in the week. My partner texts me and tells me his ship will be pulling in at the end of June and I do a little happy dance; we’ve been separated since the end of January thanks to the Navy and I have missed him so much. It’s nice to finally have a solidified date! 3:30 pm: heads down for four hours and I finally send off round 1 for feedback. I get up and stretch, pet the dog a bit, and walk around my apartment for a little bit. I haven’t gotten to pick up my friend’s dress from Target yet and it’s looking like I’ll have to do it later on this evening. After work, I have a user interview session to conduct for one of my volunteer gigs. I’m trying to leave graphic design behind and move into user experience (UX) design and research, and this is helping me get some real world experience under my belt. I’ll be conducting the interview with the project lead and we’re interviewing a retired container ship captain! The project we’re working on is an application to measure underwater ship noise in the Salish Sea using an existing hydrophone network that identifies whale and dolphin vocalizations, as loud maritime shipping vessels are one of the three major reasons Southern Resident Killer Whales are critically endangered. 6: we have just a fantastic interview with the retired captain despite some initial technical hiccups. So much insight was gained from his experience and he was so kind and generous with his time and knowledge. I’ve had this sort of idea in my head while working on this project that we’d get a lot of resistance and gruffness from people in his position, but speaking with him shattered that assumption. There’s always the chance we’ll get a person having a bad day, of course, but we aren’t forcing anyone to talk to us. During the interview I fed my dog, and we head out on a walk afterwards. 8:30: I realize after sitting on the couch scrolling through TikTok for a couple hours I’m finally hungry for dinner. The thresher shark steak has thawed out so I begin heating my cast iron pan. I’ll cook the steak in butter with minced garlic…and that’s it really! It’s a delicious, sustainable choice to eat here on the West Coast and I’m glad I got to try it after hearing how delicious it is. It’s a thick piece so I slice it in half lengthwise so it cooks faster. While I wait, I pull my sourdough starter out of the fridge to let it warm up so I can feed it. I’d like to bake some bread this weekend and it usually takes two feedings to full reawaken the starter. 9:45: dinner is finished, I’ve cleaned up (I think this holiday weekend I’ll need to do a deep clean of my kitchen though), finally finished off my water bottle, fed the starter, took the dog out to pee, washed my face, brushed my teeth, and hop into bed. I’d like to get up early tomorrow and hit 40 hours for the week; Tuesday I only had 6.75 billable hours so I don’t need much to push me over. I neglected some other projects today for a fire that is carrying over to tomorrow, fingers crossed I can get it all done. I put on some sleep music on Headspace and hope I sleep through the night. **Total: -$57.46** **Day 3** 3:30 am: not the early I had in mind, body. I get up to go pee and try to fall back asleep. 7: I think I fell back asleep? I’m not entirely sure. But the dog and I get up and I log into my work system. As I’m getting her breakfast ready, I notice my starter didn’t rise at all overnight. Uh oh, that’s not a good sign. Usually by now it’s tripled in size…sigh. Maybe I won’t be baking bread this weekend after all, hopefully it just needs more time. 8:30: a friend Slacks me that she wants to go on a whale watch this holiday weekend! I am so excited; I’ve been whale watching for over 30 years and my photography passion project focuses on whales and dolphins. We buy our tickets through Groupon and get an extra 20% off with a promo code on the website. Our whale watch is 9 am this coming Monday! (-$23.20) 11:30: I have back to back to back meetings but get some good news that the fire hot project I dropped everything for yesterday is getting pushed back. PHEW! Now I can focus on other projects that have looming deadlines. I get a notification from DSW and check out some sandals; I’m really on the fence about them so I text the listing to a friend and ask her opinion. She says no, so I close out of the app and return to work. My partner texts me that we have a package on our complex’s mail hub, and I still need to go pick up my friend’s shirt dress from Target and ship it. I thought Fridays were supposed to be easy days?! 3:30 pm: yeah, this Friday is not an easy day at all. I’ve been designing a fact sheet since my last meeting ended, and it’s causing me to have a career crisis/let imposter syndrome run rampant. I have a quick call with my manager and share my screen with him to get his advice and opinion, and decide to push back on the PM to cut copy in a major way. At least I’ve got something to show her before the long weekend. I crack open a pint of Ben and Jerry’s from my freezer and eat half while I export a PDF and type up an explanation email, then switch gears to another project. My friends are discussing a 6 pm happy hour at a brewery over Slack and I decide to go, though I’ll be late probably. I need to shower still! 4:45: my manager says he’s signing off for the weekend so I ask him to wait while I submit my timesheet so it isn’t late. I have to fill out two timecards; one is to get paid through the temp agency I’m working through and the other is for billable hours. They both have to match up exactly. The temp time card wants to charge for overtime hours today because I did over 9 hours to make it to 40 after billing only 6.75 on Tuesday, but that means they’ll get charged extra so I have to change everything to 8. Ugh this is so frustrating! I submit it and let my manager know, but don’t get a notification he signed it. Cue anxiety over probably nothing but damn, don’t leave me hanging like this!! 6: my manager signed off on my timecard and I can breathe a sigh of relief. I give the dog her dinner in a puzzle toy and hop in the shower to get ready for happy hour with my friends. I’m waiting for a package that needs to be signed for, and while I’m in there I can hear my dog barking. Cue more anxiety! Thankfully it was nothing, once I’m out of the shower I double check and make sure there’s no package or note. I get dressed and am about to put my shoes on when the dog loses her mind—sure enough, it’s my package! On Tuesday I bought 6 bottles of wine through Prologue Wine Company; if you haven’t heard of them, love wine, and love deals, you need to know! Each day they send out an email with a deal on a particular bottle of wine. They also have collections on their website you can shop from, everything from Women Winemakers (which they also support causes to help more women get into winemaking) to wines that match the season to über-vintage bottles of Burgundy and ports, etc. They donate A LOT of money to local causes (they are in Oakland and donated a ton for the fires in Napa and Sonoma last year) as well as other initiatives such as minority mental health. I found them last year when they paired up with Ashtin Berry (The Collectress on IG) and I was sold. This is my second or third purchase and the largest, and I’m excited to try everything. Just in time for the long holiday weekend! Sort of makes me not want to go out… 6:30: I crate my dog and give her a peanut butter-filled Kong and head out the door. I start up the bike and remember that I still need to take photos for the insurance adjuster, so while the bike warms up I take care of that. A lot of the things I’m worried about won’t show up in photos (e.g., the saddlebag that was smushed under the woman’s bumper likes to fly open on the freeway if I don’t keep it locked), but I put it all in the claim and let the adjuster know when I talked to him on the phone earlier in the week. 7: I get to the brewery, mask up, and go find my friends. We are all fully vaccinated, and it’s so nice to see people in person instead of over Google Meet like we were doing. This is the second week in a row a group has gotten together. Most of them got there at 6 so I’m a little late, but there’s never any rush. I sit down and chitchat with them before putting my mask back on and heading inside to order a beer. This particular brewery also does cheesemaking, so when I see cheese curds for sale for $12 I pounce. I expected them to be fried or otherwise prepared at that price; the bartender tells me they are in their gift shop though. Oh well! I order an 8oz sour and the cheese curds ($17.78 which includes tip), go back outside to our table and drop the beer and curd package at the table. There’s a Mexican food truck tonight so I stand in line and order a carne asada burrito and freshly made churros ($19.19 which includes tip). Their taco prices are pretty high ($4.50/taco, more for seafood) and the burrito solves the hunger issue. Pretty average for the area. The churros are fantastic though, nothing better than freshly made. I wish they had chocolate sauce! 10: we all decide to head home around 9pm, and finally leave around 9:15. I’m a little over halfway home when the freeway I’m about to get on comes into view from the elevated on-ramp and all I see are red lights: brake lights of gridlock and emergency vehicles (some blue in there too). I let out a “FUCK” in my helmet and contemplate if I’ll be able to get through up to the front. Lanesplitting is expressly legal in California HOWEVER, as a general safety rule I don’t do it at night. I don’t even like to filter up to the front of stoplights at night. Luckily, the on-ramp has access to an exit off the backed up freeway, and it’s one of the few “back ways” you can go in San Diego (I lived and died by back ways in Massachusetts, but it’s almost impossible here to take back ways because of all the canyons; you’ll have streets just abruptly end or curve around back to the starting point because there’s a canyon). It adds about 15 minutes to my ride home but I’m oddly not cold and there’s not a lot of traffic, so it’s fine. I get home and let the dog out to pee. 10:30: after my starter did absolutely nothing in 12 hours, I put it in the oven with the light on. My hunch was that my kitchen was a little too cool after its long nap in the fridge, and it seems that was right; it basically doubled over the course of the day in there. Another sigh of relief! I go through the whole feeding process and debate putting it back in the oven, but feeling how warm the oven got, I leave it on the counter. Fingers crossed for you, Mandoughlorian! The dog and I head to bed after I wash my face and brush my teeth, I turn on Headspace and knock out. **Total: -$60.17** **Day 4** 6 am: what time is it? Where am I? Am I hungover from one beer? These are the questions that go through my mind as I wake up. I realize I do have a little headache and that was from not finishing my water bottle or drinking water before bed; I have to pee so I take care of business and go into the kitchen to grab my water bottle. Miracle of miracles, my starter is doing stuff! Yay! I grab my water bottle and head back to bed. I check the fisherman’s market IG account to see what they have available this morning; nothing I want or need. The market opens at 8 but people start lining up at 6:30! There’s no spot prawns, no blackcod, no golden king crab, so back to sleep I go. 10: do I actually fall back asleep? No. Do I scroll through social media and send my partner and friends a thousand TikToks each? Yes. I DO take breaks though and try to get more Zzzs but I guess I’m just too used to the early mornings now that I’m employed again. Regardless, it feels nice to get up so late. The dog finally stirs from her nest and joins me in bed. I take some cute photos of her and send them to my partner, who immediately hearts them in iMessage. The dog and I get up, and she is PUMPED for breakfast! The starter has risen even more since 6am, but I decide I’ll give it one more feeding before I bake with it. Before I can feed the dog, though, my trash is stinky from the packaging I had the shark steak in, so I do a little fridge clean out and put it on my front porch to take to the dumpster on our walk; I put the box the wine came in outside too to put in recycling. I feed the dog and water some plants, and give her some time to digest. 11: back from our walk and my kitchen is still stinky so I light a potent candle and make a cup of coffee. I need to get moving; I’m pretty sure my car needs a new battery and I have to jump it (it sat at my mechanic’s for almost 4 months while the engine was being rebuilt from the ground up, and it’s the original battery from when I bought the car in October 2012), but then I remember it’s a holiday weekend and my mechanic is closed, POOP. He’s normally open until 2pm on Saturdays, so I planned on jumping the car, getting a battery at O’Reilly’s or AutoZone down the street, and taking it to him to install (ya girl doesn’t have a mechanical bone in her damn body). With my motorcycle going into the shop this coming Wednesday, I need to get this taken care of. I also STILL need to grab my friend’s shirt dress and ship it, and the post office closes at 2. Oh my god I am just a fucking messsssssss. 12 pm: why the fuck are batteries so expensive?! Holy shit! Thankfully both O’Reillys and AutoZone near me have batteries in stock for my car, but I’m pretty positive they can’t help me put it in. I have no tools either, so I put out an ask on Facebook and Slack to see if someone can help me if I get the battery home. For now, though, I have to pick up the shirt dress and mail it to my friend. 2:45: I’m currently sitting at AutoZone waiting for them to install my new battery (-$167.77). Apparently the battery IS bad, but is showing good voltage and charge; they can’t test the alternator with a bad battery though. I’m sort of seething over this, because why did my mechanic not check before handing the keys back over to me? Especially since the car sat for nearly four months there. Regardless…hopefully it’s just the battery. And I’m thankful I have the money in the bank to be able to get this solved here, and if I need a new alternator. Prior to successfully jumping my car, I picked up my friend’s shirt dress (I love when the employees tell me they’ve never had someone pick up on a motorcycle and I’m their first) and got it mailed off (-$15.50). I text her the tracking number and wait for her to reimburse me. 3: IT WAS JUST THE BATTERY! The car started right up and the alternator tested fine. Huge weight off my shoulders and I even did a little happy dance. 3:30: I have been dying for some boba tea for weeks now, and didn’t want to get it on the bike—rather, I couldn’t get it on the bike as I don’t have a cup holder and they were not allowing people to sit outside due to COVID restrictions. I drive over to the boba spot on the other side of my town and order a large “matchata,” which is a matcha tea and horchata mix off their “secret” menu (in quotes because they advertise the secret drinks everywhere, so not super secret) at 50% sweetness, light ice, and extra boba (-$7 which includes tip). It’s delicious and the boba are warm, yum! 4:30: I get home and release the dog from her crate. She is VERY happy I’m home and immediately gets the zoomies. With me being home all the time now, first because of a remote job, then unemployment, and another remote job, the mild separation anxiety she had prior to all this has snowballed. Eventually I’ll be going back to the office a couple days a week, so I’ve been trying to leave her home more often. She has to be crated though, otherwise I come home to destroyed plants, eaten toys and clothes, and just chaos in general. I once left to photograph a woodpecker up the street from my apartment, I was gone for maybe 10 minutes, and she had dragged a plant off a table and destroyed so many leaves from running around in a panic. Even if I take out the trash, I put her in her crate. I wish I didn’t have to do it but it’s safer for her. I get an email from Fidelity that I am eligible for the temp agency’s 401k plan and decide to enroll. I have $0 saved up for retirement so what the heck. They match the first 10% of every dollar, up to 10% of my income, which makes no sense to me but whatever. I enroll in a plan that is a 10% contribution. I may also do a Roth IRA but I need to see how my paychecks will be effected and how it will effect my bill paying, saving, etc. When the contributions kick in (1–2 pay cycles), I’ll have about $105 less in my paycheck. 7: the dog and I laid down on the couch around 5, and I wake up as she jumps down around 6:45. Normally she wants dinner at 5, but a late start this morning pushes her internal clock back. I change her water and feed her dinner in the puzzle toy. As she’s finishing up, my partner calls! While I was dealing with the battery situation, he was sleeping in his rack on the ship with no cell service. He updates me on the latest ship/crew drama and says he got in trouble with more senior members of the command for asking too many questions. Now he has a “counseling” session on Monday. It’s going to be a long three plus years on this ship! I fill him in on the battery situation as well as the retirement/401k stuff. I’m worried it’s too much, and the paycheck deductions will only get more once I qualify for health insurance. We’ve been discussing getting married when he gets back both for practical reasons—he will get almost $3k for having me as a dependent for his housing allowance, which is not taxed and will greatly help if he buys a house when he is back in San Diego, and I will get free healthcare—and for romantic reasons too. I am neutral about marriage to be honest. I really only see the benefit for the practical reasons above, and tax credits, and lower insurance premiums in certain cases. My parents were both married and divorced twice, and got divorced from each other when I was in high school; it was NASTY and I don’t want to deal with that at all. But I also can see my partner and I taking on the world together, and we are a terrific match: he is the calm, cool, collected one that can easily bring my stress and anxiety levels down, and I give him energy to be social and try new things. His mom also loves me (the feeling is mutual) and she’s sort of adopted me already since I have no family out here. We shall see I guess. 8:30: the dog and I are back from our walk and my kitchen smells like death. I can’t stand the smell anymore and thought I’d taken care of it this morning when I took the trash out. Apparently not! I relight the candle and empty the dishwasher, then load it. 9:30: out of nowhere the high school across the street from my complex puts on a massive fireworks show. I thought a bomb was going off! They were doing some sort of concert/event and I guess this is the finale. Or almost the finale, as the music continues to play after the show. Not the smartest move during a drought, but it’s definitely a professional show and not some randos setting off mortars for fun, so at least there’s less of a chance of a fire starting. I go outside on my balcony to watch, and it seems most of my neighbors are doing the same. The dog joins me; she has zero fear and honestly seems to be watching them go off. She does the same thing when we get a rare thunderstorm, no fear of the light or sound. My first dog would be under a bed or in a closet hiding if we didn’t give her a sedative beforehand! 10: I run the dishwasher and disposal after cleaning out the sink, and the smell of death has greatly dissipated. I’m pretty sure there was some yuck stuck in the disposal as I haven’t used it in a few days. I don’t often stick food down there, but I think some sourdough discard may have been co-mingling with some scraps of crap, who knows. I’m not tired and need to feed my starter to bake with tomorrow, so decide to crack open one of the wine bottles and pour a glass. It is a most excellent choice and I immediately text a fellow wine loving friend that she needs to buy this. 12am: my wine-loving friend and I end up Facetiming for almost two hours after exchanging a couple messages over Instagram and iMessage. We have known each other for almost 20 years—we met in an equestrian community on LiveJournal—but have never actually met in person. So wild. Our conversation ranges from me talking through whether I actually want to start taking riding lessons again or if I just have FOMO, if my money will be better spent on a specialized weightlifting gym with coaching instead of riding (the math says yes but my heart says “ehhhhhh”), therapy, my sudden scarcity mindset with my new salary and wanting to hoard my money in case I become unemployed again, saving and paying down debt, taxes and deductions that bring my take-home pay down, when I’m going to visit her in Texas, etc. She thinks i should start riding again, and part of me agrees, but the other part was so badly burned by the horse industry back when I did ride that I don’t know if I should get back into it. I am left with more questions than answers still. It kinda sucks! After we hang up, I let the dog out to pee, drink some water, and do a quick nighttime routine and we’re off to bed. **Total: -$190.27** (continued in comments)

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