I've received my money in to my bank account from 20Cogs and can confirm for certain that it is a great way to earn some easy free money.
My first withdrawal proof: Screenshot of bank account Screenshot of 20Cogs account earnings in November 2020
PROOF of £340 earnings: Screenshot of 20Cogs account earnings as of today Jan 30th 2021
This post is a walk though my experience of it, some helpful info and some proof screenshots.I want to share my referral link as using this site has been really positive for me and paid some bills this winter!
When you sign up using my link you get a £5 bonus: referral link. We both benefit from you using my link as I will receive the value of 5% of your earnings too. I hope you find this information worthwhile, and I am happy to answer questions and provide more screenshots in the comments.
**How it works:*\* Starting at Cog 1, you select from a choice of offers and complete a sign-up to unlock the cog. Once complete you move on to the next. Each completed cog earns you money.
You cash out when all the cogs are completed. You can speed through (like me) and earn less, or you can play the slow game and wait for better offers. Average is apparently around £200.
Examples of my offers:
Download the Yolt app - £5 reward
Amazon Prime free trial - £5 reward
LottoGo deposit £1.00 - £7 reward
Free 14 day Ancestry trial - £2 reward
Screenshot of cog examples
I had heard of and trusted basically every site I signed up to. Some of the offers you can spend money on, but you don't have to. I prefer not to. For instance, you can pay £1.99 for a Graze box and 20Cogs rewards you £4. You always have around 5 offers to choose from so there's always an option to not spend any money.
I spent £1 on the lotto offer as the reward from 20Cogs is £7. Then I won a fiver! Boom.
You can complete more than one offer on each cog, but I advise doing that at the end once each cog is confirmed and Cog 20 is unlocked ready for cash out. Once you have completed 20cogs and cashed out you can continue to earn and cash out repeatedly as long as earnings are over £5. GREAT news! Since collecting my £169.98 I have earned a further £174.34!
Screenshot of two complete tasks on one cog Screenshot of my 20Cogs account earnings
It's definitely worth it for a slow but steady earner. I checked mine quickly for new offers each day and chose to complete a new cog roughly on a weekly basis. It works well on both phone and desktop.
I started on 15th August 2020 and received my first payment on 25th November 2020.
Info:

• Some cogs take 30 days to confirm, but most are pretty quick. However, this doesn't affect the speed you can move on. Once you have clicked the cog link the next cog unlocks. In theory, you can unlock all 20 cogs in one day and complete all the sign-ups, then just wait for them to confirm.
• Be sure to read the Cog T's & C's. They are very clear, very helpful, and placed right next to the Cog info: screenshot. In the example 20Cogs state: "Your monthly payment [to Great Magazines] will continue if you do not cancel your subscriptions. Subscriptions can be cancelled in the My Account section.". I love this as they actively help you in the T's&C's to cancel sign-ups and ensure you are not charged ongoing fees.
• Customer service are really helpful. One of my links went to a site that didn't work, I messaged them with info and screenshots and they apologised and turned my cog green. (Avoid the MrFreeSlots sign-up).
• Make sure to use an account that you can verify if needed, just like gambling sites they may ask for ID (driving license / passport / utility bill). They did for me because I was cheeky and tried to set up two accounts which you are not allowed to do. But they had no quibbles accepting it and I received the money 3 days later.

Easy peasy. Nowt to lose. Feel free to ask me questions!
Imgur album link for all linked screenshots/proof: https://imgur.com/a/s1haZZS
Referral link Nonref link
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edit: formatting

I want to give an example of corruption that actually does exist on the Israel side but might have been fixed by Netanyahu. Netanyahu spent a lot of time in the United States: 1956-8, 63-7, 72-8 (with about a year in Israel), 82-8, There is a reason he feels so native that American politicians joking refer to him as the "The Republican Senator from Israel". He understands deeply the plusses and minus of the USA economic model. At the same time Israelis are security and social issues focused economics doesn't get you the top slot. So while he often is quite effective in shifting the Israeli economy to something more like the USA economy eliminating many of the structures the Labour Party created he doesn't rhetorically focus on this.
A good example of this is "Israel Bonds". Israel like any other economy with its own currency issues Shekel denominated bonds that trade on international markets with a market interest rate. From the 1950s to the 1980s that interest rate was quite high because Israel was a financial mess. The Yishuv had been able to do several bond issues with USA Jews help (briefly mentioned in the article on Henry Morgenthau). Ben Gurion had another idea for financing and in 1950 created an institution to sell what are effectively Certificate of Deposit to American Jews to get financing. The mechanism for this is literally a USA FINRA regulated brokerage called the Development Corporation for Israel (DCI). These bonds (again really more like CDs functionally) because they were dollar denominated created a large inflow of foreign currency without the need for Israel to sell dollar denominated debt at a what would have been then a high rate.
From the start this worked well, the initial issue was supposed to be $25m and Israel quickly sold $52m. Getting Israel below market rate financing and allowing American Jews to feel they were contributing to Israel. This idea worked well so a similar company was established in the UK. By 1957 35% of the State of Israel's development budget was being covered by these middle class Jewish investments. There were wartime surges in 1967, 1973 and 1991 (Gulf War).
By the 1980s Israel began cleaning up its finances and the market rate of interest over treasuries that Israel needed to pay dropped dramatically. Israel Bonds cut their rates but not as quickly as the market was cutting. The Israeli Bonds went from below market rates to above market rates. That is to say that from mid 1980s till 2019 the DCI became a corporation existing to convince American Jews and other interested parties to buy CDs (with admittedly somewhat worse than typical bank terms) backed in the full faith and credit of a sound central bank at well above market rates. Needless to say not a hard sales job and the Israel Bonds continued to do well not just with individuals but with institutional investors as well. While they are still primarily sold to Jewish affiliated institutions like synagogue endowment or Jewish college pension plans even some non-Jewish institutions are willing to take free money.
Selling dollars for ninety-five cents is not a difficult job and thus rather enjoyable. So today what the DCI does is pay Israeli politicians very generous fees to go on fundraising / speaking tours to sell these bonds. Again the ones sold on speaking tours are are substantially higher than what the Israeli Central Bank (בנק ישראל) could sell dollar denominated bonds with no sales effort or administrative expenses at all. Needless to say this setup is very popular with Israeli politicians who are effectively charging Israeli taxpayers extra on loans and then taking a sales fee. It would be far cheaper for Israeli taxpayers if these politicians they just stole twice (or quince or 20x) as much from the Israeli treasury. Killing this ridiculous subsidy from Israeli Jews to American Jews and American Jewish institutions is the sort of issue where all the financially sound politicians from Yossi Beilin to Benjamin Netanyahu are on the same side. OTOH the mainstream left (Labour) tends to like this program so for example Shimon Peres was a big advocate for keeping the program when he was President of Israel.
It appears that since March 2020, the Covid Crisis, the rates have changed. Looking at the Israel Bond website rates. The only CDs I see that look even mildly interesting are the eMitzah ($90 / mo) and the Mazel Tov ($2500 / mo) which both have limits too small to be interesting to the wealthy or institutions i,e. probably aimed at kids or retired middle class Jews.
I think Israeli Bonds is a really simple example of the politics of the corruption that exists in Israel where it is easy to see how Israelis lose out. I originally wanted to cover something more complex like Israeli dairy which is a larger sum, but explaining how and why Israelis are getting ripped off would have been a bit more complex. I think still think dairy worth talking about and might do a follow up. In general Israelis have a completely distorted view of the level of corruption among their politicians who by global and Western standards are very honest. While at the same Israelis often don't understanding how incredibly expensive their regulatory regime is. I think Israeli Bonds is an example of Netanyahu's subtle removal of corruption that happens all the time, not as aggressively as I like but killing one every month or two isn't bad. And that's regardless if he personally cheats on bottle deposits and takes expensive cigars as gifts.
Western Leftists accuse Netanyahu of corruption all the time. But as far as I can tell his rulership he's been removing very expensive structural sources of corruption. I think this accusation is very misplaced. And I hope the honest Netanyahu critics who make this charge evaluate how misplaced it is. Anyway lots of possible topics related to Israel's regulatory expenses and the fight against structural corruption. So I look forward to input.
As far as the tie to the Palestinians three things:

• The PA has a ton of these sorts of schemes in other areas and they are often even more destructive. A lot of the people fighting against Israeli regulation are fighting for corruption.
• Regulatory burdens like this on real estate are one of the primary reasons permitting is so difficult in Israel including Area-C t get permitted construction (which deserves its own follow up post)
• The Palestinian banking system in the West Bank, in Gaza and among Israeli-Arab criminals is genuinely distinct from the Israeli one partially because the Israeli banking system has historically been so dysfunctional. (The differences also deserves its own post which I do have in the queue).

I've received my money in to my bank account from 20Cogs and can confirm for certain that it is a great way to earn some easy free money.
My first withdrawal proof: Screenshot of bank account Screenshot of 20Cogs account earnings in November 2020
PROOF of £340 earnings: Screenshot of 20Cogs account earnings as of today Jan 30th 2021
This post is a walk though my experience of it, some helpful info and some proof screenshots.I want to share my referral link as using this site has been really positive for me and paid some bills this winter!
When you sign up using my link you get a £5 bonus: referral link. We both benefit from you using my link as I will receive the value of 5% of your earnings too. I hope you find this information worthwhile, and I am happy to answer questions and provide more screenshots in the comments.
**How it works:*\* Starting at Cog 1, you select from a choice of offers and complete a sign-up to unlock the cog. Once complete you move on to the next. Each completed cog earns you money.
You cash out when all the cogs are completed. You can speed through (like me) and earn less, or you can play the slow game and wait for better offers. Average is apparently around £200.
Examples of my offers:
Download the Yolt app - £5 reward
Amazon Prime free trial - £5 reward
LottoGo deposit £1.00 - £7 reward
Free 14 day Ancestry trial - £2 reward
Screenshot of cog examples
I had heard of and trusted basically every site I signed up to. Some of the offers you can spend money on, but you don't have to. I prefer not to. For instance, you can pay £1.99 for a Graze box and 20Cogs rewards you £4. You always have around 5 offers to choose from so there's always an option to not spend any money.
I spent £1 on the lotto offer as the reward from 20Cogs is £7. Then I won a fiver! Boom.
You can complete more than one offer on each cog, but I advise doing that at the end once each cog is confirmed and Cog 20 is unlocked ready for cash out. Once you have completed 20cogs and cashed out you can continue to earn and cash out repeatedly as long as earnings are over £5. GREAT news! Since collecting my £169.98 I have earned a further £174.34!
Screenshot of two complete tasks on one cog Screenshot of my 20Cogs account earnings
It's definitely worth it for a slow but steady earner. I checked mine quickly for new offers each day and chose to complete a new cog roughly on a weekly basis. It works well on both phone and desktop.
I started on 15th August 2020 and received my first payment on 25th November 2020.
Info:

• Some cogs take 30 days to confirm, but most are pretty quick. However, this doesn't affect the speed you can move on. Once you have clicked the cog link the next cog unlocks. In theory, you can unlock all 20 cogs in one day and complete all the sign-ups, then just wait for them to confirm.
• Be sure to read the Cog T's & C's. They are very clear, very helpful, and placed right next to the Cog info: screenshot. In the example 20Cogs state: "Your monthly payment [to Great Magazines] will continue if you do not cancel your subscriptions. Subscriptions can be cancelled in the My Account section.". I love this as they actively help you in the T's&C's to cancel sign-ups and ensure you are not charged ongoing fees.
• Customer service are really helpful. One of my links went to a site that didn't work, I messaged them with info and screenshots and they apologised and turned my cog green. (Avoid the MrFreeSlots sign-up).
• Make sure to use an account that you can verify if needed, just like gambling sites they may ask for ID (driving license / passport / utility bill). They did for me because I was cheeky and tried to set up two accounts which you are not allowed to do. But they had no quibbles accepting it and I received the money 3 days later.

Easy peasy. Nowt to lose. Feel free to ask me questions!
Imgur album link for all linked screenshots/proof: https://imgur.com/a/s1haZZS
Referral link Nonref link

As standard – apologies for the length! I’ve found it quite a cathartic experience, and I seem to have managed to merge elements of the reddit, US and UK R29 templates so please feel free to skip over any boring sections!
Background:
I’m British, working for a British Company in the US on a three-year posting (one year in). My salary is actually £33,000 but due to the increased cost of living here, I get an additional £10,000 allowance for living costs, and my rent/utilities are paid directly by my company. This puts my equivalent salary at $93,000.
I’m aware this is an incredibly fortunate position to be in, especially with COVID, however when I return to the UK, I will be paid my UK salary only, so this is a short-term benefit.
The company can split my pay between my UK and US accounts, and currently 95%ish of it is going to my UK account. This % split was only set up after lockdown as we are currently spending much less on travel/socialising here so are taking the opportunity to focus on building our UK savings. My husband, J, was fortunate enough to get local employment when he arrived in country. He earns an additional $46,000 net which we live on.
For ease/consistency, I have converted all costs at 1.3 as this is roughly the average conversion since I’ve lived here – I will write UK next to any cost/savings that are based in the UK.
Section One: Assets and Debt
J and I (now) combine all our finances, so except for my pension pot, and a small F* Off Fund (FoF - we have one each), everything else is split 50/50. This will likely change when we go back to the UK as we’ll have better access to our own bank accounts.
My personal Net Worth is $72,400
Retirement Balance
UK $104,000
I’ve contributed to work pension schemes since I started working full time age 18. This has been set at around 5% since I joined my current employer 7 years ago, and they contribute around 27%. I’m actually guaranteed £4,000 per year once I retire for as long as I live so have multiplied this by 20 on the assumption the retirement age actually stays at 68 and I make it to my late 80’s. This amount will increase over the years with inflation and as I contribute further to it. I can choose to retire earlier, plus take up to a 25% tax free lump sum on retirement, but that will affect the annual pay-out amount.
Equity
UK $52,000 equity, $157,300 left on the mortgage
J and I bought ($197,600) with just over a 10% ($20,000) deposit 3 years ago aged 24 and contributed half each. I managed to save this as I was living at home until we bought, and J got a help to buy loan through his previous workplace. He’s since cleared this.
Savings account balance
$29,700 made up of:
US $6,700 for fun money here (currently planned for another car – we’ll sell our existing one)
UK $6,500 in premium bonds as my FoF, $13,800 in our joint savings account to upsize when we get back to the UK, $2,600 in one of my side saving accounts as a potential future maternity pot. This is joint but kept in a separate account from the house savings.
Around $22,000 of this has been saved since the beginning of lockdown
Checking account balance
US $120 (+ $1,190 in checking, -$1,070 on AMEX). All our savings accounts are easy access, so we try to keep the balance as low as possible and tend to spend the full amount each month. [We end the week with this back up to $1,559]
UK $660
Credit card debt (and how you accumulated it)
0 – we use our AMEX for our everyday spending, so I’ve included it in our checking account as we usually pay it off each week and use it in place of our checking account. J had CC/loan debt in the UK from the house deposit and wedding which he cleared down before we moved out here.
Student loan debt (for what degree)
0 - neither of us went to University
Anything else that's applicable to you
We paid outright for a second-hand car that is worth around $6,000
Section Two: Income & Further Background
Income Progression:
I started at my current company 7 years ago working as a personal assistant and started on $24,000. I stayed in this role for 2.5 years before promoting into a finance role and onto $31,000. After a year I was temporarily promoted (with pay rise) within my team to a higher finance role and after a further 6 months was permanently promoted into the role and onto $35,750. There’s usually an annual pay rise of around 2%, which I’ve received between each promotion, but as this last promotion pay rise wasn’t as high as usual, my last few annual pay rises have been higher to bring me to my now salary of $43,290. I’ve spent the last three years at the same level, but have changed teams to gain more experience which will be needed for the next promotion which I’ll hopefully be able to get when I return to the UK – this will take me over the $50,000 mark.
Main Job Monthly Take Home:
UK – I get paid once a month, receiving $3,783 after tax, national insurance and pension contributions. This also includes the extra living allowance. $3,510 is paid into my UK account, $273 is paid into the US
US – J gets paid fortnightly, and earns a net salary of $3,546 per month (assuming 2 pay periods per month)
Any Other Monthly Income Here
UK - We receive around $598 per month from tenants in our house in the UK. The letting agents take all management and admin fees directly from the rent before we get paid. This amount can be less if any work needs doing on the property, but again the letting agent will pay directly and just transfer us a reduced amount. We also have to pay tax on any rent received and still need to pay last year’s bill, but we haven’t calculated it yet.
Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?:
Not from family. My parents don’t have degrees, and whilst they supported my siblings going, it was our own personal choice. If we didn’t go, we were expected to work full time.
My school did expect me to go. I was in the last school year before UK University tuition went up, so the only advise they could give was to go now as you won’t be able to afford it in the future. I had a place to study events management but turned it down a week before the deadline. Bar sometimes feeling like I missed out on the University life experience (aka. freshers week), I have zero regrets not going.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
My siblings and I were always encouraged to save including contributing to pensions when we started working, and prioritise this and bills over spending our money, but conversations didn’t go much further than that.
What was your first job and why did you get it?:
Weekly paper round from age 12 to 16 which gave me $10 a week to pay for my phone credit and to build savings. I started working part-time in a supermarket from age 16 earning around $250 a month, but this was mainly spent shopping and in the pub!
Did you worry about money growing up?:
No – my parents operated on a “what we do for one, we do for all”, so with a house of five kids, we certainly weren’t living the life of luxury, but we never went without, and it encouraged me to earn some of my own money from an early age.
Do you worry about money now?:
No, J and I are in a really good position and try to make sensible decisions so that we can still cope if our circumstances change.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?:
Fully when I bought the house and moved out age 24, although I obviously gained the support from J. I’ve always had to use my own money for wants and non-essentials (phone bill, own laptop, “fun” clothes). I was given a few years grace on rent as my parents helped my siblings at Uni, but this stopped when I turned 21. I’ve always bought my own cars/insurance and would contribute to the household, including buying some food and replacing furniture in my room.
Our parents continue to support us anyway they can, which included letting J and I move back in rent free last year whilst we were replacing our kitchen.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income?:
My dad saved around $1,200 from when I was a child which I received aged 18 – this went into savings and then towards my first car and laser eye surgery.
My brothers and I also received $1,950 each from a great aunt when she died, which was a complete surprise (the will was contested so this was several years later). Our much younger half-brother didn’t receive anything, so we split this equally with him. The money left went towards mine and J’s wedding and we also received around $5000 additional from various family members towards our wedding and honeymoon. This was also not expected, and we budgeted not to receive anything, but this was a bonus and it relieved some of the pressure on us to save.
Section Three: Expenses
UK – I auto-transfer $1,170 across various accounts to pay for our UK bills. J & I both kept some bills in our own names to try to maintain our individual UK credit scores as well as our joint one. J’s parents are also looking after our two cats whilst we’re in the US, so we transfer them some money. We’ve discovered our UK entertainment subscriptions work over here so we haven’t cancelled them and pay them from the UK accounts, which is a benefit as they’re usually cheaper.
$910 to our joint account to cover – Mortgage ($986 – includes $130 monthly overpayment), Landlord Insurance ($32), Pet Insurance ($45), our life insurance ($22 – it pains me that the cats cost twice as much as we do. Obviously, they don’t have the NHS covering their medical costs, but they also don’t have a mortgage to pay off….), J’s UK phone bill ($35) – he’s still tied into his contract. The rent income comes into this account so that covers any delta and builds a pot to pay the tax bill. It works out at around $388 per month saved for this. We also pay around ($150) annually to cover IT costs including Microsoft office, McAfee Security and Dropbox storage.
$143 to my bills account to cover – my UK phone bill ($23), a second UK phone bill that I need to cancel as they wouldn’t transfer my existing number to them ($6), Trade Union membership ($19), Netflix ($12), Annual magazine subscription ($19). Any money left over for is for UK online orders and so we have money available when we visit home.
$65 to J’s account to cover – Amazon Prime ($10), Spotify ($20), Audible ($15) and annual Xbox Live ($50)
$52 to J’s parents for the cats.
UK Savings – we have $2,340 to split across the savings. The split varies each month, but as I’ve hit my FoF goal the focus will be on getting J’s to the goal amount and then joint savings.
US – TV, WiFi and Hulu ($131), Phone Bills ($167), Car Insurance ($110), Naked Wines ($40), HelloFresh ($523), Annual Renters Insurance ($152). We currently get Disney+ free with our phones, but this will end soon, and I expect we’ll start paying for it as well.
US Savings – I usually transfer between $500-$1,000 into savings when J gets paid but will vary this based on how much we have left in the checking account from his last pay and what bills are due. We’ll also raid this as needed for big purchases or if we’re running low in on cash in the checking account.
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Day 1 – Saturday
0900 – I’ve been waking up on and off for a few hours, but the alarm has gone off, so I drag myself out of bed. J and I are booked into a second-hand book sale from between 11 and 12 so we need to actually get out of the house this morning. I tidy up a bit, have a shower and miss a call from my mum whilst I’m in there. I check J is up before calling her back and have a good catch up with her and my Nan.
1115 – We’re a little later than planned, but we make it to the sale. I picked the second slot so that there would still be a good selection of books available and am pleasantly surprised by the amount and overall COVID set up. We spend almost an hour browsing and come away with 15 books between us. $60.01
1210 – We left the apartment without eating breakfast, but there’s a restaurant open next to the sale that we haven’t tried before so we pop in and have a burger each. Discover there’s a cocktail bar underneath and make note to head back and try that soon. $41.92
1600 – J has spent the afternoon building Ikea furniture we bought last week and hiding in the bedroom watching YouTube videos whilst I clean, watch The Haunting of Hill House and drink copious amounts of tea. We bought our car in a bit of a rush when we arrived and to replace his Rightmove house obsession, J spends a lot of his time looking at cars available here. Last week he found an American muscle car that looks in good shape and isn’t extortionate, so in his argument to “buy American, eat American, drive American” whilst we’re here, he’s arranged a visit check it out and test drive it. We’re meant to be there at half past, but we had the wrong address and there’s been an accident so it’s actually an hour’s drive, and we don’t get there until 1715 - Oops. I do not want to like the car, but I’m honestly sold – I knew our current car wasn’t the best, and planned to cope with it for the three years, but this is such an improvement and feels like a fun car to drive on road trips. We arrange to come back next week to buy the car and head back home. Thankfully, the traffic has cleared so it only takes 40mins. We while away the journey by listening to an episode of My Dad Wrote a Porno.
1830 – We stop by Giant to pick up some essentials (loo roll, seltzer, beer, milk) and food for the rest of the weekend. $103.25. I cook pork chops, roast potatoes, asparagus and gravy for dinner, and we spend the evening chilling in front of Netflix with wine before heading to bed at midnight.
Daily total: $205.18
Day 2 – Sunday
0830 – I wake up and sneak out of bed without disturbing J, make myself a cup of tea and settle down to finish off The Haunting of Hill House. J hates scary shows/films, so I try to watch things before he’s up, but he still needs to be in the house otherwise my imagination will go wild. The show finishes and I hear no sign of movement, so I make another cup of tea and discover The Princess Diaries 2 is on freeform so obviously I watch this.
1100 – J gets up and makes us scrambled eggs and smoked salmon for brunch. There was meant to be a bread roll with this, but according to J it had gone off. Silently complain that I didn’t pick up some bagels whilst we were shopping last night. We stick The Office on in the background and binge far too much of it whilst I multitask and convert our savings/bills spreadsheet into $ for the intro to this.
1630 – I had grand plans to spend the day cleaning and assumed J’s mum would do her weekly skype call with us at 3, neither of which has happened, and I only realise this now. I suggest we message some friends to see if they fancy an afternoon pick-me-up, but they are hanging from last night, and I remember I’m doing interviews in the morning so probably not the smartest move. I have a shower, wash and sort my hair out to save time in the morning.
1800 – I get an email reminding me that I have items in my basket on an online order and that they’ve given me 15% off. Seems rude not complete it – J has a quick browse to see if there’s anything he likes but nothing takes his fancy. So it’s just non-wired bras for me and a very cute bee print quilt set. It’s a UK based store so I pay using my UK bank account. $123
1900 – J cooks dinner tonight, a HelloFresh recipe for firecracker meatballs with rice. We stick The Office on in the background, finish the rest of last nights wine and the entire series, getting to bed at half 11.
Daily total: $123
Day 3 – Monday
0630 – Alarm goes off. Ugh. It disturbs J, so I apologise for waking him, hit snooze and repeat 5 minutes later. Rather than getting straight up, I waste half an hour browsing Facebook before washing and getting ready. As an attempt to look semi presentable, I put actual work clothes on, straighten my hair and put on some mascara and powder.
0755 – I make it onto the laptop and do some prep before the interviews. Checking my emails, I spot that I’ve been paid my US pay today. The annual pay rise has come through and there’s a small backdate from last months pay, so I have an additional $127 this month. I clear a few more emails and make a cup of tea before starting the interviews.
1215 – Interviews are done, and as a panel we have discussed and come to a decision. We all need to type up our outcomes for HR, but I take a lunch break before my brain melts. J heats up leftover meatballs and rice from last night and we watch an episode of The Good Place whilst we eat. J’s heading into the office this afternoon so I tidy up, stick the dishwasher on and faff about on reddit before getting back to work at 1. Go straight back into a call with my Line Manager to touch base before he goes on leave – he lets me know he put me forward (and I have been approved) for a bonus for my efforts since joining last year, and the added COVID response. I’m touched and proceed to spend a while mentally spending it. I’m debating between a pair of Louboutin’s and a spin bike…. Slightly different ends of the spectrum I know. Keen to hear any inspiration! It should be around $1000 after tax so reasonably substantial.
1630 – J comes home and attempts to get in, but I appear to have locked him out. I get up, open the door and see that he comes baring this week’s HelloFresh box, which is a relief as I hadn’t seen any delivery emails (we had a few go missing in our apartment block when we started). I have a small break to see how his afternoon has been and reply to some messages with friends about possible Halloween costumes for a small gathering we’re going to. We jokingly consider a group The Office effort, which results in numerous gifs being shared. In a moment of inspiration, J passes me his shirt, tie and blazer to put on… turns out I’m a pretty convincing Sexy Toby. I get changed back into my own clothes and head back to work for a bit.
1930 – J finished work earlier so cooked again. Tonight’s is a HF spicy shrimp pasta. It’s a bit disappointing even with him adding extras from the cupboard. We eat and watch the Umbrella Academy before heading to bed at 11.
Daily total: $0
Day 4 – Tuesday
0730 – alarm goes off, get up, washed, dressed. No interviews today so back to COVID home working uniform of no make-up and trackies. Make a cup of tea and am at my desk for 0830 – in and out of meetings until 10 and spend the rest of the morning trying to catch up on my inbox. J’s headed into the office, so I take the opportunity to listen to the Hamilton soundtrack as I work. Get through the first track before admitting defeat that despite my amazing multitasking skills, I can’t actually sing along and type coherent emails. Settle for the LOTR soundtrack instead.
1215 – make it to lunch and reheat last night’s leftovers (we order HelloFresh for four people for the leftovers, as before we were just ordering in lunch every day). Realise I haven’t physically left the flat for longer than I care to admit, so take my lunch onto the balcony and eat it whilst reading through a money diary on reddit. Remember I have a meeting at 1, so sign back in ten mins before and read through the emails in a vague attempt to sound prepared.
J buys himself and his boss lunch in the office, but his boss will pay him back so $12.17
1900 – long afternoon, managed to start nothing on my actual to-do-list, so feel like I haven’t achieved anything. Yay. J got home half an hour ago (I didn’t lock him out today!) and switched the oven on as he walked past, so I take the opportunity to get up and cook once it’s done preheating. Pork tenderloin with coleslaw and mash tonight. It comes with a cherry jam sauce which I’m not the biggest fan of, so I make it into a fruity gravy. It takes longer to cook than I planned, and I can feel myself getting more and more annoyed with everything from a general mix of feeling stressed and hangry. J sticks toy story 4 on as we eat which doesn’t help my mood (as let’s face it, it’s the worst one). Our friends message asking if we’re watching the debates – J had planned to but had forgotten so quickly changes over to watch it. I have no words.
We make plans to watch the next debate in a group with alcohol, debate bingo and the next day booked off work to recover.
Head to bed at 1120 – still waste time on Facebook despite being shattered.
Daily total: $12.17
Day 5 – Wednesday
0830 – Alarm goes off. I didn’t get to sleep up until 12.30 and J disturbed me at 1.30 when he came to bed so extra sleep was needed. I check my phone, message my stepsister a happy birthday and stick on my dressing gown to make sure I’m online for my 9am meeting. Thankfully, no one has an update, so the meeting is cancelled, and I have time to shower and put clothes on before I properly start work.
1230 – Lunchtime. I have the remaining shrimp pasta and J makes a BBQ chicken sandwich with other leftovers in the fridge and we stick on another episode of The Good Place whilst we eat. We finish up, work for an hour and then drive into the office. J needs to stay in for a while, but I’m only in to sign a cheque so I take the opportunity to walk back home. It’s a glorious sunny day, but with a nice breeze so it’s an enjoyable walk until I’m almost back at the flat and have to walk up a hill and then 5 flights of stairs. It’s a fast reminder of just how unfit I am, and I have to have a quick lie down to recovecool down before getting back to work.
1730 – J and I have plans to meet up with our friends K and J(.2) tonight. In an act of attempting to keep some form of sanity, J and J.2 are heading out to a bar for a “Gentleman’s Club” and I’m heading round to K & J.2’s flat for wine and chick flicks. J gets home from work, kisses me hi and bye and heads straight back out. K’s getting her hair cut, so I continue working until half 6 before walking up to her apartment. I make a pit stop on route to pick up a bottle of white wine as she’s running low. The card machines are down so it’s cash only – I have a mild panic, but thankfully I find some notes in my purse - although I’m pretty sure I withdrew them pre-lockdown! $17
0200 – After a night of homemade mac’n’cheese, wine, films and putting the world to rights, I get ready to head home just as J.2 stumbles back into the flat. It’s lovely to see him, but the state he’s in makes me a bit concerned about what J is going to be like when I get home. Thankfully, when I make it back and he’s already curled up on his own side of the bed, passed out and lightly snoring away. I take off my makeup, do my teeth, get into bed and fall straight asleep.
*I’ve checked the banking app and J spent $50.50 on food and drink. The “club” made their way to our apartment around 9pm and worked their way through our booze which explains the low spend but high drunkenness.
Daily total: $67.50
Day 6 – Thursday
0700 – J’s alarm goes off. He rarely sets alarms and has an amazing ability to sleep though them, so I kick him awake to switch it off. He hits snooze rather than switching it off, so I wake up again 5mins later. Ugh. He actually manages to switch it off the second time.
0830 – My alarm goes off. I’m tired and thirsty, but other than that feeling pretty ok. J is not and I leave him snoozing in bed as I start work. It’s a slow morning (thankfully) and I periodically check on J to see if he’s feeling any better. General consensus is no. The leftovers in the house are not hangover friendly so we put in an order with Panera Bread. $32.25. J has a choose two, but I brought home some mac’n’cheese from last night so just order some crisps and a smoothie to go with it. It takes longer than expected to arrive, but it means a 1230 lunch in front of The Good Place. We finish and go back to work, J heads into the office again.
1400 – I’ve struggled to get back into the swing of things, and as there haven’t been too many emails coming in I take the opportunity to have a break and lie down on the bed (I work flexi hours and have a very high balance so this is done guilt-free). This lie down turns into an hour-long nap and I wake up feeling better, but still while away some time on reddit before deciding to make it back to work at 4.
1920 – J messaged to say he’s on his way back and I’ve already heated the oven, so I finish for the night and start making dinner. Tonight’s HF menu is a creamy lemon butter chicken with courgette and giant couscous. It’s reasonably simple to make, but one of our favourites. I multitask and clean down the kitchen as I go.
2000 – Dinner is eaten, J has made us a cup of tea and we’re settled back into The Good Place. Yesterday was payday into my UK account so I log into the internet banking and transfer to the savings accounts (the bill transfers are set up to auto-transfer on the 1st). $1,170 to J’s savings so he’s now at his FoF goal, $650 to the maternity pot, and $780 to the joint savings. The annual renter’s insurance has also come out of our US checking account today, but that’s counted in the expenses. We both head to bed at 11.
Daily total: $32.25
Day 7 – Friday
0730 – J’s alarm goes off, he’s heading back into the office this morning so it’s valid today and we both actually wake up for it. We both chill on our phones until my alarm goes off at 0830. Up, washed, dressed and on the laptop in time for my 9am meeting. I’m closing off last months accounts and updating forecasts so get stuck into multiple spreadsheets.
1440 – I’d gotten into a good rhythm with the updates, and without J here, I hadn’t realised the time, so I only stop now for lunch. It’s last nights leftovers so couscous and chicken, plus an apple left over from J’s Panera order yesterday. J didn’t take anything in so has stopped by Safeway $14.13 and the work café $9.48. I get the figures from the banking app and realise J has been paid – win. I have an hour break and head back online.
2020 – I’ve been in the swing of things today. It’s a long winded, but simple task so I’ve had Greys Anatomy on in the background as I work. I’d normally have left some of it until Monday, but I have a few urgent requests in today that need the updated figures so it made sense to get it all cleared – it’s also quite therapeutic so feels like a nice way to end the week . J and I have plans to see friends tomorrow, so I don’t feel too bad about not having plans for a Friday night and working for most of it instead. Still, we make the most of it being payday and order in some Steak Frites for dinner and I treat myself to a chocolate cake slice as well. $80.25. We spend the rest of the evening relaxing, finish watching The Good Place (a very emotional finale) and make it into bed for half 11.
Daily total: $103.86
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Total Expenditure: $543.96
Food & Drink: $257.70
Groceries: $103.25
Clothes/Home: $123.00
Other: $60.01
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Lastly, reflect on your diary!
This is a pretty average week for us during COVID. We usually go out drinking over every other weekend, but that extra spending would balance out with the home/other expenditure as I try to make sure we spread our spending out. The AMEX balance is a bit higher than the usual weekly amount as J and I both ordered a trunk club a few weeks and kept a few of the clothes but the system errored which delayed us processing our returns (and them billing us). As we’ll looking to buy the car soon, it also feels like a better decision to leave the balance on the card and keep more cash available – I’m not concerned as we’re only just into the new credit statement period and J’s will get an extra pay period this month which will clear it.
Pre-COVID, this is actually lower than our weekly spend, as we also had most of my salary coming into the US account as well and were spending most of it socialising, travelling and just enjoying living in a city. If we had to, we could cut our costs and save a lot more, but we’re here to enjoy ourselves and so long as we can eat and pay the mortgage, we’re happy. We’ve also already reached our total savings goal for our time out here, so anything extra is a bonus.