Week of Money: Where I negotiate down to 20 working hours but double my rate

DAY ONE

6:20 a.m. — I get up, get ready for work and hustle off…Wearing my favourite (only) jumpsuit today. I wore a cardigan over this.

9:29 a.m. — I saw this and didn’t know that stars didn’t get paid if they perform at the Superbowl, just because of the sheer publicity that follows.

10:37 a.m. — I get confirmation that the client agreed to 20 hours of work a week, but double the rate. Basically I am working less, making the same amount of money. To be fair, I was stuck in 20+ hours of USELESS MEETINGS and I just told them I didn’t see the point of status calls. ENDLESS STATUS CALLS. I just opted out of the whole thing and told them I’m out, otherwise. As they need me, they accepted. I will also be working remotely 99% of the time, if not 100%.

12:30 p.m. — Lunch.

4:20 p.m. — I go and grab Little Bun from daycare.

4:56 p.m. — I feed Little Bun some of my vegetarian meal from before – he loves rice a LOT, and he loved all the vegetables I cut in there as well. He gobbled it all up. Little Bun APPROVED!

6:17 p.m. — I flip through this style book – Women in this Town, and get inspired by a few of these images, like this one. I think her tortoiseshell sunglasses (I own a similar pair) with her Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers totally make the look (I do not own a pair yet). I do have a pair of gold Lanvin sneakers (secondhand) so I could wear those instead, no socks, with the sunglasses, etc. I could recreate the entire look.

8:28 p.m. — Time for bed. I help floss Little Bun’s teeth (he is SO GOOD now about it, once it became ‘habit’), and then he brushes for “5 minutes”. Really more like 1 with all of his NONSENSE.

9:13 p.m. — This is when we actually sleep. Takes 45 minutes to wind down. I have to do a whole Flashlight story with him, with a made up story about an animal of his choosing. Tonight it was Foxy the …… well, FOX… and about how he was a naughty fox who made a lot of noise outside and scared all the food away. LOL … He then learned to wear smelly socks on his paws (they had to be smelly) and walk softly and carefully on the snow to not make noise. It is a whole production, with shadows on the wall and everything. I am a dedicated shadow puppeteer…

Spent: $0

DAY TWO

??:?? — I wake up earlier than usual – my new thing this year is to try and go to yoga 3X a week. I can only do one weekend morning and two weekday early mornings.

6:00 a.m. — I get up, quickly get dressed, wash my face, slap on sunscreen and dress in yoga wear. I left Little Bun sleeping (I did give him a kiss before I left the bedroom)…

6:40 a.m. — FLAT OUT WAILING. He woke up and didn’t feel me beside him in bed, and just lost it. I quickly drop everything and rush to him. I snuggle him and tell him I was just in the bathroom. I didn’t leave him (but I was gonna… if he didn’t wake up by 7..), and I snuggle and kiss him. I soothe his injured, panicked feelings and then grab him milk.

7:09 a.m. — BYE BYE. Out the door to yoga. I go through class and my back is still twinge-y from last week, and I push myself anyway, sweating like a hog.

8:30 a.m. — Back from yoga, working. Little Bun greets me, I kiss him, we snuggle for a bit in the hallway, and then WORK. I have calls.

11:28 a.m. — I head out and buy some fish soup for the week. There is enough for 4 meals in one box. This stuff is incredible, so flavourful. I wish I had the foresight to also pick up some bread because I wanted to sop it all up.

11:30 a.m. — I also buy some ice cream mochi on a whim. Basically it is ice cream inside a rice ‘cake’… $39.07

11:36 a.m. — Oh and this is what I wore.

12:19 a.m. — Lunch at home while I work.

12:48 p.m. — I even lay out the mochi, with FULL INTENTION of eating it …

1:20 p.m. — But got caught up at work so it all melted. *sob* Ate it anyway.

2:30 p.m. — I go to my massage appointment for my back (I love these flexible working hours) – it has been twisted and she told me I really hit a deep muscle.. and she tries her best to work it out. $80

3:37 p.m. — After my massage, I go for a little walk around while on a call and end up going so far, I see this and snap a picture. It is the St. Joseph Oratory. I end up having to trek back to my car, but enjoyed the walk at least. Back at the car, I log in and work. This is why I love having a good car – it is comfortable to sit there and work for hours, I don’t even need a cafe.

5:36 p.m. — I log off for the day in my car and drive to go grab Little Bun.

6:02 p.m. — At home, he is annoyed he didn’t write his “Busy Worker Plan” before leaving for daycare so he insists on doing it RIGHT NOW, and we complete all the tasks.

6:45 p.m. — I feed him soup as he obsessively plays ThinkRolls by AvoKiddo. He FLEW through the Easy levels and with the Hard ones, with my help, made it.

7:40 p.m. — We write a Busy Worker Plan for tomorrow.

8:08 p.m. — We start winding down for bed. He tells me: Mommy, I need to brush my teeth first. My partner is sick, so I take over flossing his teeth for him, and then having him brush for FIVE MINUTES (really, it is more like a minute at best because he keeps playing with stuff in the bathroom and getting distracted).

8:40 p.m. — Finally, bedtime. I had to tell him two flashlight stories and explain how the light bends when it hits irregular surfaces. He loves learning about this stuff.

Spent: $119.07

DAY THREE

??:?? — Squealing.

??:?? — STAY PUT AND STAY COVERED DAMN IT.

7:30 a.m. — Exhausted. He didn’t sleep well which means I didn’t sleep well.

8:38 a.m. — I drop him at daycare. HAPPILY.

9:08 a.m. — I head out to run errands. I recently renegotiated my contract to work only 20 hours, so I have a LOT MORE FREE TIME. And so, with this free time, I manage to come up with this outfit featuring an incredible necklace I got secondhand by J. Crew, and my thrifted orange Nanette Lepore sweater, along with my vintage men’s Hermès watch that I want to sell… but don’t, really.

12:08 p.m. — Home, I eat my lunch. Vegetarian tenders, couscous, lots of veggies. Next time I buy these tenders, I gotta eat them all because once they get soft / cold / mushy, they are not as yummy as when they are freshly done and crisp.

4:49 p.m. — I finish working in the car.

4:50 p.m. — Little Bun is home and SO HAPPY. He told me he made a heart valentine at daycare, that the new kid didn’t cry as much today and he doesn’t have to go back until Monday. LOL … The new kid by the way, is this 4-year old or so who just joined last week. We were there on his first day as he was leaving his Mommy, and this child was WAILING like a banshee. He basically screamed his head off and needed THREE daycare workers to pry him off his mother. He was a complete mess. When they peeled him off her, she just BOLTED for the door, and the panic and fear in his eyes was so real and stark. I remember Little Bun being like that. Now, he is fine. I have to only tell him in military time when I have to pick him up, but he goes pretty quietly without a fuss these days.

5:25 p.m. — We go through the Busy Worker plan, put away his lunch bag things, the dishes, vacuum a little and he helps me clean the bathroom by wiping everything down. HE IS SUCH A GOOD CHILD. OMG. <3 ….

6:47 p.m. — I then have him put away laundry – clothes and dish towels, and then we chill out in the bedroom playing Treasure Hunt (I hide blocks and he “hunts” them with a flashlight and a spatula to get them out from under the cave).

8:02 p.m. — I start to wind down for bed (I really am tired), and he tells me we have to brush our teeth, so I help him.

10:02 p.m. — Actual bedtime. Seriously.

Spent: $0

DAY FOUR

??:?? — UGH. STAY UNDER THE COVERS.

??:?? — He squeals and snuggles up to me trying to steal my warmth. I wrap two blankets with my Mommy Heat around him and he falls asleep without a peep.

6:20 a.m. — I get up early again, get dressed in yoga gear and leave for my early class. I am doing the class before work, so this is a rush. I have to go one way, then another way. I usually end up at the office by 9:00 or so, depending on if I get a drink at Starbucks or not.

9:20 a.m. — Yeah I got that drink. LOL.. $4.97

9:40 a.m. —This is the outfit I wear after yoga class. My hair is greasy and gross so I tie it off to the side in a low 80’s ponytail. I also wear my vintage necklace I found in a thrift store with its two weird dangly bits — not sure why I like it but I do.

10:52 a.m. — I really feel gross and sticky. With yoga being amped up, I have to start showering more often than before because of the sweat factor. This sounds gross but it isn’t, I literally washed my hair yesterday morning but today’s class was INTENSE… Or maybe I no longer go to work after yoga. LOL! That means I’d never go into the office at this rate.

11:34 a.m. — There is literally no one here. They’re all at another location off-site, freaking out, and I should have gone home after yoga.

12:28 p.m. — I heat up that fish soup again, cursing that I forgot bread AGAIN to go with it, it would have been perfect.

2:39 p.m. — I leave early because all my work is done, but end up working in the car on an emergency call and a spreadsheet after a quick errand run.

5:11 p.m. — Every week, Little Bun makes a pizza with Daddy and a HUGE one for Mommy. I ate this entire pizza, I was so hungry.

6:45 p.m. — I clean up, do dishes, laundry, try to read a book (no luck) and end up feeling so .. scattered. My brain is disorganized right now. I feel like I have a billion things to do and yet nothing to do at all. I need to just chill the F out but it is hard. When I am idle, I feel like I am being lazy and that doesn’t sit well with me because I am ALWAYS on the go.

8:17 p.m. — Time for getting ready for bed.

9:25 p.m. — Bedtime. After 2 Flashlight stories with animals, tucking in the stuffed animals into their nursery, a potty run. Another random run for water…. it never ends.

Spent: $4.97

DAY FIVE

7:34 a.m. — He wakes up excited, and tells me (looking at his calendar) that it is one of his stuffed animal’s birthdays today! THE BABIEST ONE! (littlest) one…! So we spend the morning (after I have my tea, and him, his milk, banana and pasta)… preparing a birthday party for his stuffed animal with a cute sign, a birthday “cake” made out of blocks, and a little tea set of a table and chairs.

8:30 a.m. — I log in and work just a bit more to finish off my work from this week.

10:29 a.m. — DONE! The weekend is here!

11:08 a.m. — It is snowing SO HARD. I wanted to go out and run errands and basically get a portobello burger for lunch but with the snow, 12+ hours and 25 centimetres or 0.8 feet of snow dumped everywhere, stopped me from wanting to go out. In a span of 2 minutes, Little Bun starts coaxing me to stay at home with him and not go out because he wants Mommy Time .. which I struggle against because I like Mommy Time too. ALONE MOMMY TIME.

Little Bun: Mommy. I think you may not want to go out today, because you’ll be in the snow.

Little Bun: Mommy. You can’t go out today I think, because what if you hit someone?!!!!

Little Bun: Mommy, you can’t go out in the snow today. There’s too much snow. You’ll get stuck!

Finally, I tell him as we are cuddling on a chair: I will stay at home. He doesn’t hear me, and when I say: Did you hear me?

He responds angrily against my chest: NO! I DON’T WANT TO HEAR YOU. (he thinks it is another lecture).. and I say: All right then! I am going out then if you didn’t hear me.

He gasps in panic… and I tell him gently: Mommy said she wasn’t going to go out today. Before telling Mommy “no” without listening, you should say that you didn’t hear me and just to repeat myself, please.

12:28 p.m. — I make noodles for lunch instead. He goes down for his nap, satisfied as a cat that the snow has effectively blocked me from leaving him and I cannot go ANYWHERE because of the snowstorm.

4:19 p.m. — I make noodles for dinner too, after he wakes up from his nap.

6:56 p.m. — I really like this plaid jacket. It is apparently from Isabel Marant, so $$$ .. but I just like the look of it, in red. If I can find it used, PERFECT. Or something similar.

6:56 p.m. — I do all the dishes, then try to read a book (LOL …) and go to sleep after we go through our little nighttime routine.

Spent: $0 – but I wanted to spend something :-/

DAY SIX

6:33 a.m. — TIRED. TIRED TIRED TIRED.

7:59 a.m. — We play birthday again, with his second stuffed animal having a BIG DAY. I make another table, a huge chair he can sit on and not slide off from (I had to build a little stopper at the end), and then I make a big “strawberry” birthday cake for him to share with the other little stuffed animal who had his birthday yesterday, and we deliver his present – a new BIGGER robot.

8:12 a.m. — I get inspired, and bang out a post on dividend investing. I rather like it, but it took my WHOLE MORNING with graphs, writing, etc. Ugh. These posts can get long, it was over 2000 words…

11:24 a.m. — I head out for the afternoon. I am not planning on buying anything or shopping (trying VERY HARD NOT TO)..

1:22 p.m. — The snow last night was crazy, just look at this:

1:54 p.m. — I grab a Starbucks chai latte and sit down to bang out posts for the blog, schedule for Instagram, etc. I of course, don’t screw on the mason jar cap properly and SPILL IT ALL DOWN MY SHIRT. Grr… at least it is navy. Won’t stain I hope. I’ll have to soak/wash it when I get home immediately. For now, I just dab up the spill. $4.97

2:46 p.m. — I am finally (almost) done with my Week of Money update (yes, it takes me a good 4 hours a week to type out this one post), and I feel myself release the tension and relax a tiny bit. I am totally a workaholic. Ironically, I am working … on it. To show you how crazy I am, this is my posting schedule of SCHEDULED posts, not including the 100+ I have in drafts:

All the Thursdays are Week of Money blank spots, Saturdays are link posts (all in draft, none scheduled until a week or two before)…

I also have to do link posts on Saturdays, which also take time, and schedule 3X a day on Instagram because I am pure insanity.

3:28 p.m. — Also, staring at some of these students “studying” in Starbucks. THEY ARE NOT STUDYING. OMG… how can you study in a cafe? You can’t. You study in a quiet library. You aren’t dressed up to the nines, “studying” here in this busy cafe, girl. Don’t play me. I know what studying means, and this ain’t it. Actually, if I were super rich and lived close, I’d totally study at Crew Collective cafe. It is an incredible space in an old bank in Old Montreal. This is the public cafe area that has bank teller booths behind the serving spot, normally filled with a ton of pastries.

The prices are high:

• $30/hour weekdays
• $15/hour weekends

… but the conference rooms are GORGEOUS. Soundproofed (of course, it was an old bank), right near delicious hot drinks and pastries, and so incredibly quiet and chic. If I lived near by, I would absolutely do this and be happy to pay for a working space on the days when my apartment is too loud or noisy. I only wish they weren’t see-through glass. I’d prefer privacy… but anyway.

4:11 p.m. — I finally log off, take a break to walk around and browse some books, and then head home.

5:40 p.m. — We have a “feast” at home. Little Bun loves dinner feasts. Everything is a feast to him, even just dressed salad and bread, as long as we make it a feast!

7:18 p.m. — I clean up, do all the dishes, go and put a heating bag on my back (this magic bag has been a great purchase) and stretch out my back muscles.

Spent: $4.97

DAY SEVEN

??:?? — SO. TIRED.

7:45 a.m. — I get this message on Instagram and I am so touched!!!

8:08 a.m. — I leave early and head off to yoga. I plan on working some more after yoga (again, I can’t stop), and love a great class in a REAL studio. It is one thing to be cheap, but it is worth it to pay for REAL yoga classes at $13.50/class to really get a good stretch and improve, plus have a FULL hour of exercising… this means I am now doing 3 hours a week, far better than the 45 minutes of yore.

8:08 a.m. — As I lock the door and get to the elevator after giving him a hug and a kiss, I hear the door wrench open with a crunch and Little Bun just SCREAMING. I run back to him in complete shock – What happened?!!?… He is red-faced and sobbing: You didn’t tell me what time you’ll come back!! *sob sob sob*…

Omg. He didn’t ask. I feel terrible but it isn’t my fault. I snuggle him tight and tell him 11:30 or earlier. He sniffle sobs down, still bright red and tears streaming down his face. I snuggle hug and kiss him again, and he whispers: You didn’t tell me what time. …..  Well now I know to say something. Poor baby.

9:47 a.m. — Oh these were my normal clothes after yoga… because I don’t really wear yoga wear as leisure wear.

..and my super cosy shearling jacket because it is cold AF. It is -15 degrees celsius or 5 degrees Fahrenheit. O_o

9:54 a.m. — This is why you ALWAYS BRING YOUR OWN TISSUES.

10:49 a.m. — I sit in my car and work a little on blog posts and Instagram, and then I drive home super slowly (the roads are all covered in little snow mountains, and 2 lanes are now down to 1, so people are taking turns on the road to get home in either direction)…

11:03 a.m. — Home, with lunch. I came home early because of Little Bun this morning but he seems fine. We have an omelette with rice (?), avocado and bread. A strange mix today, but I’ll take it.

11:52 a.m. — Little Bun greets me at the door, I had to buy him Think Rolls Space because he already completed all the other 3 of them and he has been OBSESSED with clearing all the 200 levels O_o

12:29 p.m. — I pass out on the bed trying to play with him and end up half-dozing, the only kind of nap I am allowed to take and not ruin my night sleep.

1:05 p.m. — He goes down for his nap and I have some lemongrass tea and honey.

1:00 p.m. — My brain is all fuzzy. I end up watching just random videos – Rachel Zoe Project, and some comedians.

3:16 p.m. — Up from his nap, he is screaming. Turns out he got tangled in the blankets and was frustrated he couldn’t get out. I give him milk and snuggle his little sleepy-face, fresh from a nap.

3:50 p.m. — How GREAT are these boots? I didn’t think I’d like the Rag & Bone Newbury style because it covers your ankle and sort of cuts you off visually, but if you show a lot of leg… it looks pretty good. Or maybe I can just find a dark brown pair in the shorter cut I like, and wear those (more versatile), with a skirt. Or just wear the light tan Brooklyn Club Monaco ones I already own. Haha…

6:12 p.m. — I do all the dishes after I feed him vegetable stew.

6:45 p.m. — We play Treasure Hunt, Busy Worker Plan, vacuum (he “helps” me by clearing the carpets and then he guides the vacuum to clean up the dirty spots), and laundry.

8:17 p.m. — I finish all the dishes, and then settle in to read the entire saga of Lone Wolf and Cub. I was a huge manga and anime fan back the in day but have since dropped off from that world, but I retain a few titles I really love to re-read over and over again, and LW&C is one of them.

9:38 p.m. — I help floss his teeth, he “brushes” for 5 minutes (..sigh..).. and then I tell him a Flashlight story about a wolf and a bunny who share a vegetarian meal together in the raspberry bushes, and then we fall asleep. Or at least we try to. Little Bun gets up 4 times and tries to keep the nightlight in the bathroom on so that he can see things because he doesn’t actually want to sleep.

Spent: $0

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