During my run yesterday I listened to the latest episode of Best of Both Worlds
They talked about what they splurge and what they skim and I thought about what’s for me.
Things I splurge:
- travel: I feel zero guilty spending 10k over a month trip to Europe last year. It brought us the best memory of exploring new world with the girls and grandma. This will be life time memory for all of us.
- books: I like to buy physical books and more recently started to enjoy audiobooks too. Now that Sofia is an avid reader, I buy her books every few weeks.
- food: food is nourishment. Vegetables and fruits are expensive here in Manila but they are our main food item.
- hobbies: running for me which is overall a cheap activity except for those race fees, golf for hubby.
- kids activities: piano, mandarin and spanish classes, STEM camp, etc. As long as they want to try new things, I’m all for it.
Things I skim:
- clothing: I don’t buy clothes often only when I need it. And if I buy, I’d rather invest in a classic good quality piece that will last for long. I think many things that I am wearing now I had it between 5-15 years. Hubby is the same. For the girls, I buy when they outgrow their current wardrobe and basic (Pjs, underwear, shoes).
- electronics: same principle, buy when they need replacement, not the newest edition.
- car: we used to have a luxury car in the US, but when we moved to Manila, we bought a basic Honda CRV because it’s mainly for transportation and the driver uses it more than us.
- household items: I buy store brands for household supplies (toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc.)
- eat out: we don’t eat out much because I like to cook and truly enjoy homemade food vs restaurants (too salty, oily, too much of everything). we go out for the experience rather than food.
August 1 = photo day for the girls
can’t wait to make a yearly photo mosaic with their monthly pics.
For lunch I made egg cheese sandwich for them
and rice cake with veggies and vegan sausage for hubby and me
Sofia and I enjoyed a walk under the rain before dinner. We really enjoyed the walk and the chat. I should do this more often: solo walk with each of the girls
Gratitude: I enjoyed 2 hrs reading with Sofia in her “library” (Lizzy room with all of her books). I specially like the silence when both of us were engaged with our books, but from time to time, we’d check each other, and when our eyes crossed, we smiled to each other.
Our New Journey 
I love hearing about what other people spend or splurge on. It is very interesting! Everyone is so different.
That’s so sweet that you got to go on a solo walk with Sofia and also the reading time. That’s awesome. I would like to do that more often- sit and read “with” the boys, but read our own books. They still like it when I read a novel out loud to them (though they both are perfectly capable of reading on their own!), but it would be relaxing to curl up by them and read my own book sometime. Going to have to plan that!
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