Week of Money: Where I consider starting a non-profit…

DAY ONE

??:?? — I wake up tired. Little Bun was crying all last night. When I ask him softly what he was dreaming about, he pauses and says: I was dreaming a big dream. It was so big. I can’t remember, Mommy.

7:34 a.m. — We slept late last night so he didn’t sleep in, plus he woke me up all the time.

7:59 a.m. — I make some tea as my partner gets up to start on massive cooking today – he makes tons of food on one day, and then has to disinfect the kitchen.

8:08 a.m. — We double up on breakfast for Little Bun and then go into the bedroom to quarantine until food is done cooking. My partner is scared the virus could be on anything so he won’t let Little Bun out, as he might touch things before he disinfects them.

9:45 a.m. — Here’s your laugh for the morning:

1:08 p.m. — We eat like ravenous little pigs. My partner made delicious homemade French fries (the fancy French way), and Little Bun runs out and just shovels it into his face like the world is ending. He LOVES French Fries so much. He could live off them if we let him, but we don’t, and he gets them once a week.

2:04 p.m. — I get a dress for my birthday from my friend, and I LOVE IT!

You can wear it as a dress:

Or wear it as a maxi skirt:

2:56 p.m. — I get a recommendation to watch Schitt’s Creek (Canadian show), and I start on it. I think I remember watching the first Season but I re-watch it again to get back up to speed.

4:11 p.m. — Little Bun gets up and has his yoghurt.

4:16 p.m. — I feel a little listless honestly. And dizzy. Little Bun says: “MOMMY! Let’s draw a beautiful summer picture for Daddy. First, we need a picture that has all the colours we are going to use in the picture. okay?”

4:20 p.m. — “Mommy. The Black crayon is sad because it cannot be part of a rainbow. But that’s okay. It’s best friend is Brown.” … Children. Out of the mouth of babes!

4:47 p.m. — “Mommy, what does ORABLE mean?”…. I look at him strangely, and he says: “I heard it on Mouse! ” (if you give a mouse a cookie), and then I realize he means “HORRIBLE” because Mouse pronounced it as “orable”.

4:59 p.m. — This is so cute! A mini Chanel kit of their greatest hits. I really like the one in the bottom right corner because of the Mademoiselle Lock. I am very likely going to buy my next bag with this lock.

5:11 p.m. — YAY!

5:17 p.m. — I am feeling very tired. I am short tempered. Cranky.

5:25 p.m. — Little Bun “draws” for me on my iPad with the Apple Pencil:

6:31 p.m. — I do half the dishes and then take a break. I just feel so sad. I can’t even.. I don’t know what this is. I feel like I am mentally in a prison.

7:19 p.m. — We read books and then get ready to go to sleep.

9:03 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $0

DAY TWO

??:?? — I wake up early. Little Bun didn’t squeal but he didn’t want to sleep any more, and I am tired.

6:00 a.m. — This is new. It’s also because we slept at 9 not 10. I expected this. I make a cup of tea quietly, and Little Bun gets to “work” repairing devices and electronics on the iPad and “making money” fixing them via an app.

6:26 a.m. — I watch more of Schitt’s Creek and it is starting to be a better show by Season 2.

8:08 a.m. — My brain is still foggy. I end up setting up a USD$ account at a Canadian bank online (my existing bank), and making notes.

9:00 a.m. —  I do a podcast with Love & Dividends about reaching $1M after being in debt, and talking about style near the end.

10:05 a.m. — I eat breakfast and do all the dishes and clean it.

10:22 a.m. — I eat a second breakfast, still hungry.

10:41 a.m. — I wish I could muster up some energy for something.

12:08 p.m. — How beautiful is this embroidered flower skirt!?

I love those looks but I also like these ones that are super bright and colourful…

… or neutrals that look cosy

3:28 p.m. — Little Bun is up and I snuggle him after his yoghurt.

5:56 p.m. — I make myself some dinner. Definitely hungry.

6:12 p.m. — I am loving the character Alexis Rose and her style on the TV show, and her fashion looks incredible. I love these clothes.

6:35 p.m. — I make him sit to ‘hatch’ a sock egg because I need 10 minutes of peace.

Then someone messages me:

7:13 p.m. — And I definitely want to do this DIY project some day. I would need a lot of embellishments to glue onto some shoes. I also need to find shoes to do this to.

8:45 p.m. — I do all the dishes, wipe them, and then we go straight to bed. I feel like I accomplished nothing today.

Spent: $0

DAY THREE

??:?? — I wake up early, then I make a cup of tea for myself.

6:30 a.m. — Little Bun goes through his apps and “demands” for special games. He is into games lately, and even learned a bit of Solitaire with a lot of help.

7:19 a.m. — I read an article on how women would stay in the workforce if there was flexibility in their day to do things like pick up their child from school or drop them at ballerina classes. My reaction was: O_o ….

Flexibility is not a woman’s-only issue:

I love and hate these articles because it just pushes it all back onto the woman to “FIGURE IT THE FK OUT” on how to handle home life, childcare and her full-time job and to basically fight with employers or take a 20% pay cut so they can have this flexibility built into their jobs.

Where is the guy in this discussion? Last time I checked, it normally takes two people to make a baby. Men could benefit from flexibility in their jobs, AND if they thought about things like childcare and home life. Why is it pink washed as a woman’s issue when it is just an individual working issue?

8:08 a.m. — I go to install the tax software on the computer to do my taxes (no point in doing them early if my partner will procrastinate to the last minute), and I end up getting sucked into entering all of the slips. O_o

12:08 p.m. — Finished. I entered all the slips, forgot that the UCCB (universal child care benefit) is free and not taxable now, and spent 1/2 an hour Googling that. DONE. MY PART IS DONE. Now waiting for my partner.

1:15 p.m. — Little Bun goes through his new Baby Animals sticker book and exclaims over how cute each baby animal is. Then he goes down for his “nap” which is really just quiet time now.

2:40 p.m. — I have lunch, after a consulting call. There was a woman who just seemed frustrated by the whole situation she was in, and before she decided to consult me for help, she was on track to be out of debt by 2033. After a call with me, we shortened it to 2023, or shaved 10 years off. She wanted to be debt-free within 5 years, and I made it happen. It can even happen sooner but we will see how far they can take it, because I still advocate for a balance.

5:15 p.m. — After his nap and yoghurt, Little Bun goes through his books again. Little Bun also likes to label things. So he made me help him label his pencil so he would know it is a pencil.

5:20 p.m. — Also, he told me that the pencil had to break up a Crayon Battle fight and said: NO! STOP FIGHTING! and tried to break up a battle with all the crayons in the box, and ended up getting in trouble with the crayons as shown below:

6:37 p.m. — I make a quick dinner (I am getting sick of pasta..), and then play with Little Bun after feeding him.

8:16 p.m. — Bedtime routine starts. Read a book with Daddy, brush teeth, and he plays on the floor with blocks trying to knock over “buildings”…

Spent: $0

DAY FOUR

??:?? — I wake up before Little Bun. I try to force myself back to sleep.

6:51 a.m. — I make a cup of tea, and savour it. It’s really the highlight of my morning.

8:36 a.m. — My partner logs in to do his taxes. With dread. LOL He hates taxes. I think it’s just necessary and fast to do if you just go through it quickly and get it done. It doesn’t take too long if you’re organized.

10:10 a.m. — We finish our taxes. I don’t even know why he drags this out. Also, he made a ton of mistakes and I had to fix them, we almost paid more than we should have because he entered the amounts DOUBLED on our return… *sigh* ….

10:40 a.m. — My partner starts to make pizza with Little Bun, creating them. Little Bun runs back and forth squealing to me: We need to just eat the inside of the pizza! So we have enough for crispies tomorrow (which are the crusts of the pizza). Also Mommy, we can’t eat the pizza right away, it might be too hot and burn our mouths. So let’s wait for it to cool down, okay? It’ll be okay. We just have to wait and be patient. ….. THIS LITTLE hungry hippo is telling ME to wait and be patient for food? This is a first. 🙂

1:02 p.m. — Little Bun goes down for a nap. I go through all my notes and update my investments.

2:26 p.m. — I finish off episodes (binging) on Schitt’s Creek

3:40 p.m. — Little Bun: Mommy the ladybug bird is a ladybug because it is red with a black body! (I have no idea what this bird is).

4:06 p.m. — These looks are making me nostalgic for my lost fashion time.

And these ones make me wish for summer…

4:23 p.m. — Little Bun “vrooms” on the carpet with a hotdog bun and tells me: “Mommy this is no longer a hotdog bun. It is a car VROOM!”

6:50 p.m. — *Little Bun colouring furiously* …. Mommy, do you want to play a game right now? … I respond back: Not right now baby… and he says: ME NEITHER! I am too busy colouring in my engineering science project. I am too busy right now for games. I am working. .. This child. Always making me laugh.

7:12 p.m. — Little Bun: “Let’s play bingo” .. so I create a Bingo board for Little Bun and then I call out random numbers and he circles different numbers I call out.

8:40 p.m. — He loses his temper and doesn’t want to read books so he gets his iPad and computer privileges revoked for tomorrow.

Spent: $0

DAY FIVE

??:?? — I wake up early with Little Bun, but also late. He had a nosebleed at night so.. that was fun.

7:30 a.m. — I make a cup of tea, and he STARTS IN ON ME, telling me the iPad is too old (it is) and that he cannot really use it (that’s true), but he keeps repeating it all morning and it is driving me insane, so I snap at him to stop.

7:55 a.m. — The morning just turns into a complete meltdown for all of us. He did not sleep well, he’s grumpy, he’s lost all iPad and computer privileges because he was naughty the night before.. and this is going to be a HELL OF A DAY.

8:22 a.m. — Everyone is sort of calm. I’m still popping a vein in my head, so I go and have him out of sight and out of mind.

9:20 a.m. — Loving these gorgeous bathroom shots with gorgeous wallpaper popping out the bathroom:

11:15 a.m. — Time for lunch. Mashed potatoes and beets.

2:45 p.m. — Little Bun tells me he is bored, so I make him vacuum with me. Then I do dishes and he wipes them down.

3:17 p.m. — This is such a beautiful dark lapis blue plate.. I almost want it just to have my rings displayed on it.

3:26 p.m. — I am watching the rest of Schitt’s Creek – they’re really into their medium at Season 3, I was about to give up after Season 1 and 2. This is getting to be MUCH more interesting and better.

4:45 p.m. — I get another consulting request. OMG! SO EXCITED 🙂 I actually like helping people…. so this is wonderful. My last consulting call, was having her out of complete debt in 13 years, but we worked out a plan to get it under TWO YEARS. TWO. FREAKIN’ YEARS!!!!!!!

5:36 p.m. — Time for dinner. I make a big bowl of delicious noodles with nutritional yeast with some salt, cayenne pepper … it’s surprisingly delicious. No sesame oil, seaweed or soy sauce. It takes on a kind of cheesy flavour.

6:27 p.m. — Little Bun is taking some sock balls and batting them around like some baseball player. He is going to hit something. We tell him 3 times to stop. HE KEEPS BLOODY DOING IT. Then we confiscate them, and he bursts into a screaming fit. CHRIST. THIS DAY IS #%(*%(@%U@(. It starts last night, now the morning, now THIS? FML.

9:5 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $0

DAY SIX

??:?? — I wake up early with Little Bun. He slept well, but I didn’t, I just didn’t feel like I slept enough.

6:15 a.m. — I make a cup of tea, and then Little Bun plays games beside me quietly doing his workbook.

7:00 a.m. — He does some of his workbook activity book alone.

8:08 a.m. — My partner is up, and is prepping to make crêpes today.

9:22 a.m. — I book another consulting call, and go through a few posts, and organize my social media. I really like the look of this minimalist desk that hides away in a room, but I personally need a MASSIVE desk with lots of monitors and space for my billions of papers.

I like the use of this corner with the chair and items.

This is so calm like a store.

I love the idea of a lounge/day bed that is relaxing.

10:42 a.m. — My partner starts on crêpes as Little Bun “beep beeps” as a robot that needs to be fed.

1:05 p.m. — Little Bun goes down for a nap. I feel like I need one too but would this mess up my sleep?

2:28 p.m. — I make a meal of noodles to eat with nutritional yeast, a bit of salt and a lot of cayenne pepper – this is my new favourite meal right now.

3:20 p.m. — I am loving this look from Old J. Crew. That blazer is amazing, and the entire look is really my style.

3:40 p.m. — I make a meal with noodles and some nutritional yeast. It’s pretty delicious and I finish the whole bowl.

4:16 p.m. — Little Bun refuses to do math. He’s grumpy. I’m grumpy. It’s humid and I do not feel happy at all right now. I’m burning up. I switch tees, into a looser tank.

4:22 p.m. — I keep watching more episodes of Schitt’s Creek and I have to tell you, season 3 onwards is AMAZING. I cannot stop watching.

5:15 p.m. — This is likely the cutest taxicab ever:

6:44 p.m. — We play, I read, I think more about my tax strategy for retirement because now I’m obsessed with estate planning.

6:50 p.m. — My partner trims his hair, and then we trim Little Bun’s hair off (we do this about 2-3 times a year), then my partner sweeps up, and takes him into the bathroom to bathe him and lather him in lotion afterwards, while I quickly vacuum.

7:50 p.m. — I finally wrangle him into bed after reading and googling “Canadian estate planning”. Maybe I should set up a trust for Little Bun.

Spent: $0

DAY SEVEN

??:?? — I wake up from Little Bun smashing his head on my belly.

6:00 a.m. — He plays a game called Two Dots that matches dots together for logic, and then I make a tea, and think even more about estate planning, googling and reading. I think I need to redo my numbers again.

7:25 a.m. — I do all the dishes once my partner is up, and wipe to put them away. He has to hand wash a bunch of things today and I see a huge bucket soaking on the counter – it is easier to do it if there are no dishes around.

9:08 a.m. — I try to make a FaceTime “date” with a friend to chat (I haven’t seen her in over two years), and I was going to go to Toronto this summer and meet up but that got screwed. It is surprisingly hard. I wake up early but she’s only free on weekends after 11 a.m. and I really am in no mood to talk in evenings or on weekends.

11:45 a.m. — Time for lunch!

12:10 p.m. — Then I watch some more of Queer Eye because I love seeing people get motivated to do better.

1:31 p.m. — I love the style idea of brooches all over the sweater:

I also love this entire outfit:

2:12 p.m. — I hear sobbing in the bedroom. Little Bun doesn’t like to nap so he just plays and plays, and it irritates my partner (not me – I am loosey-goosey on naps), but he DEFINITELY needs one today, he has not been sleeping well and needs his rest. I go in there, upset, and beg him to sleep because he needs at least a little catnap.

2:30 p.m. — I can’t even relax now. I am on edge. My partner tells me just to leave him alone and he will nap, and I burst out: I CAN’T. I SUFFER FROM THIS SCREAMING AND STRESS TOO.

3:05 p.m. — Finally, silence. He must be sleeping now.

3:56 p.m. — I have been thinking about starting a non-profit in about 10 years or so, after Little Bun is out of school or into college and on his own. I’d like to go and give classes or short sessions to teach young people about money. I haven’t thought about the format.

I don’t really find any excitement in teaching elementary-level children to be honest; I want to teach maybe impressionable pre-teens just before their first job, and kids near to the end of secondary school just before college, and maybe after college, to help a third time to get people started.

See, I wish I had this help when I was younger. It would have been so much better to have someone tell me at age 13, all the cool things money can do for you if you understand it early. And these 3 stages are important. If I can catch someone at ONE of these stages, I hope it would change their lives.

Of course, this is all just in my head, not even on paper yet. Maybe I should start on the topics I could teach. Right now, I am focused on estate planning and tax efficiency.

4:10 p.m. — Little Bun is up, and he plays with his father while I do the dishes and make dinner for myself. I cannot handle him right now, he has been giving trouble all morning.

4:47 p.m. — I finally get to eat my dinner, and I do it in front of the computer so I can watch Top Chef (guilty pleasure), and as I do that, Little Bun runs out to “tell me things”… I just wanted peace and quiet, but started my dinner too late to relax and enjoy it before the playtime was over.

5:22 p.m. — Unsurprisingly, that nap really helped because he’s fine now. He’s not even grumpy at all, he plays by himself alone, and is PERFECTLY CHEERFUL. I knew he needed that nap, but getting him down to take it, was a real battle that wore me out.

5:31 p.m. — I am overcome suddenly, with the feeling of despair and sadness. It has been happening on and off all week. Just the uncertainty of it all, and trying to just take it one day at a time is very difficult. I can’t even reply back to my friend to book a time to chat. I don’t feel up to it.

6:50 p.m. — I check an ad network and realize I lost THREE days of revenue because of some change another ad network did (they deleted my ID and as a result my site was no longer found), and ironically, I had the best viewings in those 3 days. FML. This added stress doesn’t help. I’ve worked so hard, and for it to disappear even for 3 days (my 3 best days) just because of a stupid mistake on their part, really frustrates me.

7:47 p.m. — I finish The Huntress (excellent book but don’t read it if Holocaust themes trigger you), and start on Minor Feelings, which spirals me back into feelings of sadness. I have to stop reading the book, I am not in the right mindset for this right now. I cannot take any more stories of racism, bullying and pain. I am already not feeling great about the way things are going and how people are treating each other. It is however, a great book for people of and not of colour to read.

9:12 p.m. — Time for bed. I drift off, but as Little Bun napped too much, he is playing with blocks in the bedroom and refusing to sleep. I just want to sleep.

??:?? p.m. — I hear him get up and his father takes him to the bathroom. Finally, he sleeps.

Spent: $0

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Want more? Read all of my previous Week of Money Diaries.