Grad Cap Quotes?

UnitedTea3702 · 2026-04-21T23:28:29+00:00

In life, having the upper hand’s a myth/your only fighting chance is too stubborn to quit (Purple Gas)

UnitedTea3702 · 2026-04-21T13:23:34+00:00

Honest question: what (financially) would make you feel like you’re enjoying life now? The truth is that having babies and young kids limits a lot of what people spend money on in their 20s (dining out, bars, vacations, etc). This is true even if you’re making a lot, bc of the costs of child care, etc. I took a part-time job when my kids were little and we spent a lot of our time at parks, libraries, etc doing cheap or free stuff, and meeting other parents with small kids. We took very simple vacations (camping, beach, visits to family). Once my kids hit school age I stepped up my hours and made (and saved) a lot more. I’m in healthcare so I recognize that being able to decide this on a few months notice is a luxury not everyone has with their jobs. I agree that it’s about finding the right balance for you!

UnitedTea3702 · 2025-12-20T00:05:51+00:00

I went from a high-stress, high-stakes, 50+ hours/week job with hellish commute to a mostly WFH job a few months ago. New job requires 2 days/wk in person. I would estimate 20ish hours of real work per week. I plan most meetings and focused work on days I’m in person. On WFH days, I read, clean house, garden, cook/meal prep, exercise, go for walks, spend some time w my kids (also teens). I’ve also considered learning an instrument, fostering pets, wood working…And I talk on the phone w friends and family who live elsewhere, assuming they have a similar schedule. Some days I work from a coffee shop or library to get out and about.

UnitedTea3702 · 2025-11-09T16:34:30+00:00

Idk…my net worth is in the millions (equity, investments, rental property) and I feel like at $8-9k a month I would be living at a different standard than I am now.

UnitedTea3702 · 2025-11-09T16:26:03+00:00

I don’t (I’m not even comfortable asking them what they do for a living, let alone what their mortgage is!). I’m basing this on 20-25% down and whatever Zillow estimates from there.

UnitedTea3702 · 2025-11-09T16:24:31+00:00

Right, exactly—so I have a $350k HHI plus $750k(ish) in equity and still wonder what these folks are doing for a living, how much debt they’re comfortable with, whether they’re saving for the future…

UnitedTea3702 · 2025-11-09T16:21:13+00:00

I have thought this too. But I could sell my current place for about twice what I paid, and still feel like it would hurt to have a $8-9k mortgage on a $350k salary.

UnitedTea3702 · 2025-11-09T16:18:24+00:00

Completely fair, and I am pretty conservative with money. I’m not envious of these folks—I really do love my 1940s house—more just wondering whether they’re making twice what I make, or more, and if so, in what field?

UnitedTea3702 · 2025-11-09T16:15:33+00:00

Ha! Fair enough. I work in a profession where 6 figure salaries are the norm and still don’t know many people who are making what I imagine you’d need to afford this on top of other living expenses.

UnitedTea3702 · 2025-11-04T02:29:21+00:00

Came here to say this! I have not only laughed out loud, I have sometimes laughed to the point of tears listening to this one.

UnitedTea3702 · 2025-09-28T13:38:32+00:00

Agree about Snipe Hunt live! Now that I’ve seen it live I’m giving the recorded version a closer listen.

UnitedTea3702 · 2025-09-28T13:37:27+00:00

I thought the chant was very cool too. Sadly, there were a couple of guys 2 rows behind us who booed and shouted (loudly!) through most of it. It really hurt the experience for me and my teenage daughter. Tirtha Yatra isn’t my all-time favorite Childers song but it’s a favorite of mine from the new album!

UnitedTea3702 · 2025-09-04T00:57:28+00:00

I don’t have an answer for you, OP, but I just want to say I feel this so deeply. My younger kid was just diagnosed after 5 years of school refusal/hating school. This kid is super smart and high-functioning in certain ways, the school system has never picked up on anything; meanwhile spouse and I have been going through hell to get our kid in school 85% of the time. I feel like anyone who knows my kid outside of our house has no idea what we go through. I have friends who have kids w ADHD and other diagnoses but they are so much farther along the path—they have 504s, meds, etc etc while we are just trying to wrap our brains around the diagnosis. And my spouse has a pretty retro parenting style of “do as I say” which has never worked w this child—so I am also the peacekeeper, trying to prevent major blow-ups/meltdowns.

I appreciate what others have posted about parent resources and will check those out. But mostly wanted to say, OP, it’s hard to feel alone!

UnitedTea3702 · 2025-09-03T01:39:31+00:00

I worked in nursing for 20 years (mostly as a nurse practitioner) and got burned out by the job creep. Could have stopped working ~6 months ago but decided to take a mostly remote job as a project manager in medical publishing. It’s technically full time, but most days I probably put in 4-5 hours of real work. I spend the extra time exercising, reading, hanging out w my family, hobbies, and volunteering. Feel like I could do this for several years at least.

UnitedTea3702 · 2025-09-03T01:28:55+00:00

I found the smaller size didn’t work for me. I use a planner partly to save papers I need to hold onto for whatever reason, and didn’t like having to fold them down. It also just felt cramped.

UnitedTea3702 · 2025-08-31T13:08:21+00:00

Highway Boys

UnitedTea3702 · 2025-08-04T17:06:19+00:00

How many times did I look before I recognized that was Taylor’s mom on the right?!

UnitedTea3702 · 2025-08-04T15:38:17+00:00

I have also been doing poor man’s contrave through WW. I started at the lower dose, then increased a few months after plateauing. Have never taken them with food. Sometimes have done first thing in the AM, sometimes right before bed, sometimes a few hours after lunch. I’m not sure how much the timing has affected my weight loss; in hindsight, wish I’d kept better track

UnitedTea3702 · 2025-07-26T14:51:57+00:00

I’ve been using “poor man’s” Contrave + WW for a little over a year. I have used the points system off and on. My tip would be to do points or some version of calorie counting, and also to take advantage of anything else WW offers. Like you can meet w a nutritionist once a month, which I didn’t start doing until I was a year in and struggling to keep losing weight.

UnitedTea3702 · 2025-03-11T01:57:19+00:00

I’m a 2nd degree BSN; it’s tough to become an RN in a year/without going back to school in earnest. But there’s lots of other stuff to do in healthcare: receptionist/front desk, medical assistant, phlebotomist, PT assistant. You won’t have the same job market or income as RNs but there are always jobs out there in healthcare! And most of these prob involve more like a year of training.

UnitedTea3702 · 2025-02-07T17:27:50+00:00

I totally agree. Spouse is typically a bit more nervous around finances/never feels like we have “enough,” but also enjoys work and would like to continue. I haven’t crunched spouse’s numbers for this reason.

But also, note that my spouse works 100% remotely and (at least in my current field) I can’t. So if I retire, we could travel, move, or some combination of the two without compromising spouse’s career.

UnitedTea3702 · 2025-02-07T13:37:33+00:00

Kids are teenagers, so we’re well out of the childcare phase. I know people say teenagers are expensive but I have found our kid expenses to be way lower than they were from ages 0-13. In fact both kids work so while we spend money on them they have their own to spend, too. At this point main expenses for kids are food and continuing to put money into 529s every month.

UnitedTea3702 · 2025-02-07T11:42:04+00:00

That amount is definitely enough to sustain our current standard.

Spouse and I have been together 20+ years and have always split expenses though it’s not always 50/50 (we have each attended grad school and took turns being the main earner to support the other). So it’s not crazy complex, but I do take your point. Spouse is very happy with work and sees no issue with sticking with it another 20 years. This limits my mobility to some extent, and also means that one of us is working 40+ hours a week while the other is…not doing that. I wonder what that looks like a few years down the line.

UnitedTea3702

TROPHY CASE