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Trump under criminal investigation in Georgia

Welcome to… a series I don’t have a name for. Tracking Trump? Trump Watch? Do titles really matter?
Housekeeping:

Investigations

Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron again ruled against the Trump Organization, ordering the company to turn over more documents to New York Attorney General Letitia James. In December, Judge Engoron required the Trump Org to produce records it had tried to argue were shielded by attorney-client privilege. The judge went further this time, ordering that the company’s communications with a law firm also had to be given to AG James.
Some communications that had been marked as privileged, he wrote, were “addressing business tasks and decisions, not exchanges soliciting or rendering legal advice.” He also said that communications related to public relations were not of a legal nature and that privilege was waived in some circumstances where third parties were involved in the discussions.
James’ office is conducting a civil investigation into whether Trump inflated his assets in financial statements to obtain bank loans and understated them elsewhere to reduce his tax bill. While the probe is wide-ranging, the rulings from Engoron focus on Trump’s Seven Springs property in Westchester County, New York. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance is also looking into the property as part of his criminal investigation of the Trump Organization.
Now that he is no longer in office, the IRS is expected to advance its review of a $72.9 million tax refund Trump claimed and received in 2010. The tax agency has not given any indication of how it may rule and it’s possible the public may never learn of the outcome either way. If the IRS determines the refund was not issued appropriately, Trump could be required to pay it back with interest - a more than $100 million debt at a time when his biggest properties are “suffering severe revenue losses”.
  • Note that the commissioner of the IRS is still Charles Rettig, appointed by Trump in 2018. His term is slated to end in November 2022. Rettig has numerous conflicts of interests, including a 50% share of two units in a Trump building that has earned him $100,000-200,000 a year since 2006.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) told the Washington Post that he will continue to seek Trump’s tax returns. Ultimately, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen can unilaterally surrender Trump’s tax returns to the committee. There is a court case still open on the matter, but the judge is waiting on the Biden administration to take a position before moving forward. In other words, the Biden administration can decide to no longer fight the committee’s request.
  • Trump-appointed judge Trevor McFadden ordered the new administration to give the former president’s attorneys 72 hours’ notice if it decides to give Trump’s tax returns to Neal’s committee. The Treasury and DOJ have until March 3 to submit a status report to the court; lacking a Senate-confirmed Attorney General may lead to another month-long delay in proceedings.
Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, have opened a criminal investigation into Trump’s attempts to overturn the state’s election results. On Wednesday, numerous officials in state government - including Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger - received requests to preserve documents related to “an investigation into attempts to influence” the election.
Of particular note in Ms. Willis’s letter was the wider scope of the investigation. Potential violations of state law include “the solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local governmental bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the election’s administration,” the letter states.
While the probe reportedly focuses on Trump’s Jan. 2 call to Raffensperger pressuring him to “find” enough votes to reverse Biden’s win, unnamed officials told the New York Times that Trump’s calls to Governor Brian Kemp, AG Chris Carr, and state election officials, as well.

Money and properties

Before leaving office, former President Trump issued a directive allowing his four adult children and two of their spouses to receive Secret Service protection for six additional months, at no cost. Normally, only the president, wife, and their minor children are entitled to the security. In addition to Trump’s adult children, he ordered Secret Service protection for three former officials: Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin, chief of staff Mark Meadows, and national security advisor Robert O’Brien.
The perk for the Trump family is expected to cost taxpayers millions of dollars and further stress the elite federal security force, which in the past four years had to staff the largest number ever of full-time security details — up to 42 at one point...
An analysis by watchdog group CREW found that the Trump family took twelve times as many trips with Secret Service protection than the Obamas did: “On average, Obama’s family took 133.3 protected trips per year, while the Trump family has taken an average of 1,625 annually.” Many of the trips taken by Trump’s adult children were to benefit their private business, costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in the process.
In February 2017, Eric and Don Jr. flew to Dubai to open a Trump-branded golf club, which cost the Secret Service more than $200,000. The same month, Eric flew to the Dominican Republic to potentially relaunch a failed Trump-branded resort project, which cost $20,000. Eric Trump has visited Uruguay twice for Trump Organization business, costing taxpayers $97,830 in 2017, and $80,786 in 2019. And those are just the receipts we have obtained so far.
After losing the election, Trump managed to shift over $400,000 of donor funds into his private business. The majority - $331,000 - came from his campaign’s joint committee with the RNC. The remainder was donations directly to Trump’s reelection campaign. In total, the joint committee spent $4.3 million with the Trump Organization; his reelection campaign spent $2.8 million.
Two days after the election, on November 5, the joint-fundraising committee paid $11,000 to Trump’s hotel empire. A week later—after the Associated Press, Fox News and other major media outlets had already called the race for Joe Biden—the same committee put another $294,000 into Trump’s hotel business to rent space, order catering and pay for lodging.
Room rates at Trump’s D.C. hotel have more than doubled around March 4 due to a Qanon conspiracy. According to the baseless theory, Trump will be sworn in for a second presidential term on March 4, the day presidents took office prior to 1933. It gets crazier than that, but the main takeaway is that the Trump Organization wants to profit from the Qanon movement by changing the room rates from $476 a night to $1,331 a night on March 3 and 4.
Trump seems likely to reside at his private Mar-a-Lago club despite challenges issued by neighbors after an attorney for Palm Beach sided with the former president. In his 1993 agreement with the town, Trump agreed to change the property from a residence to a private club, barring him from making it a full-time residence. However, Palm Beach attorney John “Skip” Rudolph accepted Trump’s assertion that he’s an employee of Mar-a-Lago who just happens to also live there, which is not prohibited in the town’s zoning laws. Rudolph recommended the town council allow Trump to live at his club; no decision has yet been reached.
Marion, Trump’s attorney, has tried to counter suspicions that Trump is not actually a bona fide employee of the club by telling the council that the former president now walks around the grounds acting as if he’s “the mayor of Mar-a-Lago.” He also showed the council a list of Trump’s jobs at the club, including the sort of greeter job that senior citizens take at big-box stores: “welcomes/thanks those attending” events.
Scotland’s Parliament declined to open an investigation into how Trump obtained his golf courses in the country, saying it was a matter best left to law enforcement. Some Scottish lawmakers have been calling for the government to issue an “unexplained wealth order” to probe whether any financial crimes were committed in the course of purchasing or operating his business. In the 16 years since Trump first incorporated in Scotland, none of his companies have made a profit. In fact, they’ve run up losses of $75 million and owe around $216.5 million to U.S. companies and trusts in Trump’s name.
...[Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick] Harvie said the purchase of Menie and the Turnberry golf resort were part of Mr Trump's "huge cash spending spree in the midst of a global financial crisis".
Mr Harvie said that the House of Representatives had heard testimony which stated: "We saw patterns of buying and selling that we thought were suggestive of money laundering" - with particular concern expressed about Mr Trump's golf courses in Scotland and Ireland.
Illinois Judge Sophia Hall ruled that Trump’s Chicago hotel is liable for violating environmental laws by using Chicago River water without a permit. The state attorneys general office brought the case against Trump’s hotel in 2018, stating the property uses more than 19 million gallons of river water a day to cool its air-conditioning systems. Judge Hall has not yet set a penalty, but the AG is asking for the maximum $50,000 each for two violations, plus an extra $10,000 for every day of the 3 years the violations persisted.
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump’s final financial disclosure reports reveal that between January 1, 2020, and January 20, 2021, the couple earned between $23 million and $120.6 million in combined outside income. $1.4 million of the total originated from Ivanka’s involvement with Donald Trump’s D.C. hotel. Furthermore, despite agreeing to divest his $25-50 million stake in Cadre, Kushner never followed through.

Miscellaneous

Far-right platform Parler was in negotiations with the Trump Organization to give Trump, then the president, an ownership stake in exchange for his membership. According to Buzzfeed News, former Trump campaign manager brought the idea to Trump last year as a way to counter Twitter and Facebook. Parler reportedly offered the president a 40% stake if Trump began posting exclusively on their app.
Four sources told BuzzFeed News that Parscale and Trump campaign lawyer Alex Cannon met with Parler CEO John Matze and shareholders Dan Bongino and Jeffrey Wernick at Trump’s Florida club Mar-a-Lago in June 2020 to discuss the idea. But the White House counsel’s office soon put a stop to the talks, one person with knowledge of the discussions said, ruling that such a deal while Trump was president would violate ethics rules.
...Discussions were revived in the weeks following the election, according to two people involved, but the deal fell apart after the Capitol invasion. Following that event, Apple and Google removed Parler from their app stores, and Amazon kicked the company off its cloud hosting service, forcing the site offline.
Trump resigned from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) last week with an irate letter after the group voted to hold a union disciplinary hearing over his role in the insurrection. SAG accused Trump of inciting the attack on the Capitol and “sustaining a reckless campaign of misinformation aimed at discrediting and ultimately threatening the safety of journalists,” ultimately seeking his expulsion from the union.
Trump’s letter (pdf) to SAG President Gabrielle Carteris opens with: “I write to you today regarding the so-called Disciplinary Committee hearing aimed at revoking my union membership. Who cares!” He then says he is “very proud” of his work on movies “such as Home Alone 2, Zoolander and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps…” After declaring “[y]our organization has done little for its members, and nothing for me,” Trump resigns from the union.
submitted by rusticgorilla to Keep_Track [link] [comments]

I am 28. I live in Chicago. My salary is $60,000 as a Nonprofit Consultant. Come see how I spend my coin!

I actually cut out a lot yet this is still on the long side, so be warned. Sorry in advance.
SECTION ONE: ASSETS AND DEBT
Retirement Balance: ~$4,740. $4,450 in a Roth IRA I opened when I turned 26. I just recently started contributing more to it regularly. I was previously focused on building my emergency savings up. My last job didn’t offer retirement until the very end of my time there, and there was no employer match. I contributed the bare minimum to my 401k; it has about $300 in it. With my current job, retirement match is factored into the salary.
Equity: $0. Not a home owner.
Savings account balance: $15,765. $1,150 in a Chase savings account, $13,519 in a HYSA, $1,046 in my Qapital account. Technically I use Qapital to save for taxes, but I know I won’t owe anywhere close to $1,000 since my 2020 freelancing was infrequent. I doubt it’ll even be up to $250.
Checking account balance: $2,227 (payday was today!)
Credit card debt: $0. I use my credit card like a debit card so I can rack up cash back. I pay it off every day.
Student loan debt: $21,417. I graduated in 2015 with a BA in French and English. Original debt was ~$33,000. Before the pandemic my interest was 4.5%. Interest is now 0%.
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SECTION TWO: INCOME PROGRESSION2015-2016 - $15/hr as a remote intern for a major website. This was my first paid position out of college. I learned a lot about web content and writing for online audiences. This was part-time at 25 hours a week.
2016 - $2,700/month as a Content Writer. I created scripts and training materials for various companies to train their employees. Started this job in March and was unexpectedly laid off in December. Sucked at the time but turns out it was a blessing in disguise...The work was soulless and I didn’t like it.
2017 - ~$850/month stipend as an Americorps VISTA. At the start of the year I got a Development position at a nonprofit I volunteered at, hoping to gain grant writing experience. I absolutely would NOT have done this had I not been living at home. I also collected an additional $400 a month in unemployment until July since I was technically a federal volunteer, not an employee, therefore still eligible for benefits.
2017 - $37,000/year as a Development Coordinator, primarily writing grants. The person in this position left and I was asked to step in. I didn’t get my ed stipend since I ended my VISTA year 5 months early.
2018 - $38,250/year - COL raise.
2019 - $43,000/year then $45,000. I was promoted to manager.
2020 - $47,000/year - COL raise.
2020 - $60,000/year. I had been job hunting hard when COVID hit and I subsequently became discouraged. I was desperate to leave my job...the people I worked with were wonderful but I felt like my growth was stifled, the amount of staff turnover was draining, and our pay was below market rate. I ended up finding my new job through my network. I was very excited to not work in fundraising anymore. The events of 2020 confirmed that I didn’t want to make a career out of coaxing rich white folks to relinquish a tiny amount of their wealth to support youth of color. My now-boss and I talked extensively over Zoom before I received my offer letter in July. It’s been a great learning opportunity, even though starting a new job remotely is strange and sometimes lonely. Having a cat helps :)
Main Job Monthly Take Home**:** $3,846. This is after $50 is deducted for Vision, Dental, Medical.
Side Gig Monthly Take Home: $100-$400. I write product guides for a website sometimes. These days I only take on work if I’m anticipating new expenses that month. This income is in addition to my 60k salary, since what I make from my side hustle varies. Last year I made $2,200, the year before it was over $5,000.
Other: ~$250/year in cash back from my credit card
--
SECTION THREE: EXPENSES
Rent: $1,025 in a decently-sized studio that I share with my cat. Rent encompasses all utilities, including internet. This is dropping down to $975 starting April 1 - yay!
Renters Insurance: $5
Savings (monthly unless it says otherwise): ~$300 goes into a High Yield Savings Account. I automate $50 a week then throw in an extra $100 - $200, depending on the month.
I save $80 - $120 with the Qapital app. I got it before they started charging so my account is free.
Retirement contribution: $315- $415 into a Roth IRA. Maybe I should up payments so I can max it out, really torn between that or boosting student loan payments. I throw an extra hundred dollars in there some months.
Debt payments: All I have is federal student loan debt. Since starting my job in July I’ve been paying $500/month, throwing in extra when I have it. I’m going to increase this to $600/month starting in February. Would love to have it paid off by the time I’m 30, or during my 30th year. I’m not holding my breath for student loan forgiveness, but if it starts to seem like a real possibility then I’ll cut back on payments.
Donations: $300 to my mom and dad. I come from a working-class background and make more than both parents combined. My dad was unemployed for a while, and as I write this has become unemployed again. I worry a lot about my folks financially. In our culture it’s expected that we take care of our parents as they age, so there’s that component too.
Also $25 to a local nonprofit. $9 to a local theater company for which I’m a board member. Our board is very low-key and not a fundraising one.
Then usually ~$500 more throughout the year for various causes.
Electric: Included in rent.
Wifi/Cable/Landline: Included in rent.
Cellphone: $43
Subscriptions: ~$63. $18 for Patreon, $10.89 for Spotify Premium, $16.34 for HBOMax, $7.62 for Disney+, $9.71 for Netflix.
Pet expenses: I spend roughly $80 on food + probiotics and $20 on litter, which I buy in bulk. The monthly amount really fluctuates though. I’ve spent about $1,500 on my cat since I adopted her in October. Including getting basic stuff like a litter box, a cat tree, toys, food/water bowls, a carrier, etc. along with the adoption fee. I took her to the vet earlier last month and that was $450. She was vomiting frequently :(
Car payment / insurance: $0. Car free, baby.
Therapy: $100
Paid hobbies: $120 annually for my personal website.
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FINANCIAL BACKGROUND
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?
Yes. I’m a child of immigrants and we place a high premium on education. Skipping college was never an option. Luckily, I’ve always done well in school and would have gone to college regardless. I think about grad school sometimes but there has to be a good ROI. Maybe one day. I borrowed 33k in student loans for undergrad, which isn’t that bad considering that I went to a private school that cost $200,000 over 4 years. I paid for the rest with work study, along with merit-based and need-based scholarships.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
We didn’t discuss finances too often. I did get an allowance when I was younger and paid for the things I wanted (mostly books and CDs from my local Borders) by saving that money. My parents always had the mindset that credit cards can work as emergency funds...as an adult I strongly oppose that way of thinking. My parents accrued a lot of credit card debt and I never wanted that to be me. Which is why I only use my CC now as a debit card. I never put anything on there that I can’t pay off in full.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
I was in this program where teens get paid to participate in arts programs. I did theater for three years in HS, I think the stipend was ~$400 every two months. My first real job with wages was working retail the summer before college. I was making $8.25/hr. Both jobs were for spending money.
Did you worry about money growing up?
I didn’t worry necessarily, but I was aware that there were people with more than us. My mom was out of work for a few years due to some chronic pain and we had a Link card then. I had free/reduced lunch growing up and got fee waivers for all of my college apps. I was also aware of my privilege as an American citizen. My parents regularly sent money home to poorer family members. I learned early that it’s better to be working class here than it is over there.
Do you worry about money now?
Yes. I know I’m luckier than many. But I also have no generational wealth to inherit. Sometimes I feel really behind when I see people my age or younger with six figures in their retirement, $50,000 in stocks, or money passed down from family. I worry most about taking care of my parents in old age. I have an older brother so it’s a relief that we can at least share costs, when the time comes.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
I became 100% financially responsible when I moved out at age 25. Before then I was contributing $400/month towards rent. If I fell on really hard times I could probably move in with my folks, but otherwise I'm my own safety net.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
My mom cashed out an $800 savings bond for spending money when I studied abroad in college, but otherwise nope.
Day 1 - Wednesday
morning
Another dreary January day. It’s been consistently snowing for the past two days and very overcast to boot. I spend some time lazing in bed until my Mom unexpectedly calls to ask me if I can print out her worker’s comp form to see if she'll qualify for any. She contracted COVID from her job a few weeks ago and, thankfully, is recovering. I tell her I don’t have a printer and hang up, slightly annoyed, after telling her I’ll print it from the library later. This was the 4th day in a row of her calling me and conversations with her can be hard to cut short (I’m not an asshole, honest).
I get up and feed my cat, E., her breakfast with a probiotic, take my gummy vitamins, and get ready for the day (brush teeth, moisturize face and hair, put on black skinny jeans and a navy and white speckled sweater with hoop earrings). I throw some sliced bananas, kale, frozen blueberries, honey, almond milk, and ginger into the blender for a smoothie. Once that’s poured into a glass I take a seat at my corner desk to begin my work day.
Afternoon
My foul mood lingers but I work through it. There’s a big deadline coming up soon so my days have been pretty full. E. climbs into my lap while I work and I give her some head rubs. I adopted her 4 months ago. There was a learning curve for me, as someone who grew up with 0 pets, but E.’s made it very worthwhile. She only recently began to "loaf" in my lap and I love it, even during inopportune moments like Zoom meetings.
Lunchtime! Today it’s tomato basil soup I made over the weekend with open-faced grilled cheese on french bread. The bread is getting stale but it’s almost finished anyhow, and slathering it with cheese and butter works wonders. I put out the kitty’s lunch, too. E. eats some of it then jumps into my bed, curling up for a midday nap. Wish I could do the same. Sigh.
I buckle down and get back to work, now doing somewhat-tedious data entry. After about an hour and a half I decide to walk to the library to print my mom’s forms. I order a Toasted White Hot Chocolate with almond milk from Starbucks ($4.60) so I have something warm to drink on my walk. I’m not a coffee drinker because of my caffeine sensitivity. Sometimes even a mug of black tea will make me lightheaded if I drink it too fast!
Evening
Work day is over. I outline my to-do list for tomorrow and cross off the things I accomplished today. My Dad is downstairs to pick up the forms I printed for my mom. After dropping off the forms I change into comfy clothes and assign myself a freelance assignment. I’m applying for a weekend writing workshop next month that will cost $300. I may not get in, but in case I do, I want to be prepared! The fun thing about my freelancing is that I get to choose the topics I want to write about. I select an assignment on skincare products.
Time to make breakfast for dinner: smashed fingerling potatoes with sauteed bell pepper, red onion, and broccoli topped with a fried egg and half an avocado. Seasoned with Lawry's and drizzled with sriracha. I get cozy on my loveseat to eat dinner. I also send an email to a man I've been corresponding with daily, D, for the last month and a half. We met out of the blue on an online forum - not Reddit - and have been enjoying each other's online company :) I'm not rushing to label anything, especially since he lives a state away. We're just seeing where things go for now.
For the rest of the evening I read my book while E. sleeps curled up next to me and Wendy Williams plays on TV. Then I get into my nighttime routine: smoke from my one hitter, put on some music and hop in the shower, where I also wash my face. Out the shower, I lotion up with shea butter and rub a gentle toner on my face. I make a mental note to re-up on weed soon. It's taxed to hell (welcome to Cook County. They tax everything here) but at least it's stimulating the local economy. I floss and brush my teeth before getting under the covers.
TOTAL: $4.60
Day 2 - Thursday
Morning
My body naturally wakes me up around 7:30. I remain in bed, mostly browsing Reddit on my phone, before committing to getting out of bed. I feed E. her breakfast and daily probiotic, take gummy vitamins and clean the last of my dishes from the night before. The sun pours through my south-facing windows and my heart sings - yesss, let there be light! I brush my teeth, moisturize my hair with coconut oil and moisturize my face. I pick out a black ribbed turtleneck and black high-waist jeans to wear, but ultimately decide to rock my loungewear until I have to leave my apartment.
I make a smoothie with the other avocado half from last night, frozen mango chunks, the last of my frozen blueberries, ginger, almond milk, and honey. I highly recommend avocados in smoothies. The creamy texture is to die for! I log into my work email and have a couple fires to put out. While I work, I polish off the rest of my Vitner’s Crunchy Kurls. IYKYK. I also reply to my email from D. this morning. Yesterday we were both in bad moods but this morning we’re doing better, mood wise. We talk about how rough our Januaries were - with my mom recovering from COVID and his dad in the hospital since the beginning of the year - and how we deserve a nice treat for getting through the month. We agree that lifetime supplies of books (for me) and movies (for him) would be fitting.
afternoon
My morning was full speed ahead but things are slowing down so I pause to read a Money Diary on here. I so admire this diarist’s conviction in language learning/maintenance! My French is dans la poubelle because I haven’t kept up in a long time. For a while I’d do Duolingo, watch French-language movies and shows on Netflix, and book trips to Francophone cities so I could practice speaking (last trip was Montreal in December 2018). When COVID blows over I want to go to Martinique. I remind myself to check out some French-language films soon. I’m open to any recommendations, especially media that focuses on Francophones outside of France, or those from immigrant communities :)
I return to my data entry task. Giving away grants is fun. Tracking dollar amounts and grantee info with excel formulas, less so. I finish up the last of my soup and grilled cheese sandwich and give E. her lunch. I put on the student loan episode of Patriot Act as I eat. I’d truly be wowed if student loan forgiveness actually came to fruition. It’s either somewhat likely or not likely at all, depending on who you ask.
Post-lunch, I’m craving cupcakes bad. Did I mention I have an unrelenting sweet tooth? I look up cupcakes near me and mentally bribe myself with a cupcake order if I get my work done.
evening
My cupcake craving has subsided. I'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow. I normally eat dinner around 7 or 8pm but opt for an early dinner today: my leftover Mongolian Beef and peapod tips in garlic sauce, yum. I ordered Chinese takeout on Sunday. While my rice cooks, I bundle up for a trip to Walgreens. When I'm there I get a big thing of Dawn dish soap, some antibacterial wipes that are on sale, a bag of roasted cashews, a Reese's Fast Break bar, and a small bag of Pirate's Booty ($16.83).
By the time I get back my rice is nearly finished. My sink has some dirty dishes, so I wash those before reheating the Mongolian beef and peapod tips on my stove top. I'm one of those weirdos without a microwave… don't miss it at all though. I dig into my leftovers and reply to a message from D. which is quite imaginative. In the sexual sense ;) D. has a very sensual way with words and as a writer of course I'm into it. I go back for seconds, finishing the rest of my takeout leftovers. After dinner and some more reddit browsing I do my evening shower routine. At 10:30 pm my upstairs neighbor is annoyingly doing jumping jacks (that’s what it sounds like) or something that makes it very hard to focus. Ugh.
TOTAL: $16.83
DAY 3 - Friday
MorningI fell asleep unexpectedly and woke up around 2am. This kind of thing happens a lot. I guess my cat has adapted too, she’s always bugging me for food in the early morning hours. I feed my cat, brush my teeth, crawl back into bed and fall asleep an hour or so later.
I’m up again at 7:30, laying in bed before officially getting up. My mom calls me and I remember I promised to order her a Lyft to work. Her workplace has the COVID vaccine and she’s going to get the first dosage. She mentions that some symptoms are coming back - like shortness of breath, which she didn’t even have the first time - even though she’s been on the mend for the past week and just got the go-ahead from her doctor to work again. After I order my mom the Lyft ($31.46 incl. tip) I indulge in my nasty habit of googling medical stuff. I find an article about a woman who ended up in the hospital unexpectedly, 5 MONTHS after getting symptoms. Cue cortisol levels going up. I also have a work meeting this morning that I’m nervous about, having never led it alone before.
I get out of bed, feed my cat her breakfast + probiotic, take gummy vitamins, and get dressed with a black turtleneck, black jeans, and small hoop earrings. I try to breathe and remind myself that all will be fine. I have a habit of catastrophizing and generally thinking in worst-case scenarios, if that wasn’t already obvious. My meeting ends up going perfectly fine though, and my mom texts me later to say she took the train home (my Dad needed the car for work this morning). She is feeling fine for now. Since I skipped my morning smoothie I make one now with pear, kale, frozen strawberries, almond milk and honey. Eh, I’ve had better. But it’s drinkable.
afternoon
My morning flew! I’m running low on food so for lunch, I throw some crinkle cut fries in the oven. Grab an avocado, red onion, and a roma tomato from the fridge to make a quick guac. I also make a side of sriracha mayo.
Today is payday. It’s my rent paycheck so I’m not as excited tho. While my fries are in the oven I move some money to my Roth IRA. I watch one of my favorite Youtubers, King of Reads, while I eat my lunch. He has an interesting take on Gamestop Gate and basically says, abolish all this stock market shit. I do think there are a lot of evils in American capitalism, which was literally built off the backs of s colonized peoples. Like is this system even for us?
After lunch I get back to work. I also do something I seldom do: order groceries off Instacart. The anxiety of the day has drained me and I don’t feel like lugging a bunch of groceries home. Plus, the store I order from is cheaper than the one closest to me. I get some jasmine rice, a family pack of Nongshim ramen, green onions, carrots, zucchini, sirloin steak, ginger root, yellow onions, chili paste, bell peppers, white mushrooms, yellow squash, bok choy, kombucha, bamboo skewers, grape tomatoes, a bottle of Apothic Red and some hazelnut cookies. Add $10 for tip ($74.48). I do walk to the local grocery store anyway to 1) get some fresh air while it’s still daylight and 2) pick up smoothie ingredients. From there I get a big bag of frozen mixed berries, frozen mango chunks, an avocado, three bananas, almond milk, coconut sparkling water, and a sweet Belgian waffle ($18.15).
Evening
I knock out the last of my work tasks just in time for teletherapy at 5:10. I love my therapist. Been seeing her for going on three years and she’s changed my life. We talk and I feel lighter, remembering the progress I’ve made since I first walked into her office crying in 2018. After we hang up I get an email receipt for the cost, which is accounted for in monthly expenses. I put away my instacart delivery and message a bit more with D. Even though we’re just emailing, I truly enjoy his company. He makes me feel incredibly attractive and soft.
Glass of red wine in one hand, I play with E. for 15 minutes. Despite her age (over 10) she’s spry and will bug the hell out of me to indulge her. I spend the rest of the evening on the couch decompressing with my wine. I do my nightly shower routine but skip the weed because I know it'll make me fall asleep ASAP. Then I fry up the rest of my breakfast for dinner ingredients (minus avocado and egg) and eat them with sriracha.
TOTAL: $124.09
DAY 4 - Saturday
morning
Oops. Fell asleep and woke up at an odd hour. Again. Go brush my teeth and floss. My kitty is very awake and bugging me for attention so I smoke, play with her a bit, and go back to sleep.
Wake up a few hours later. I hear the unmistakable retching of my cat throwing up. Maybe she went too long without food...I mop up the small puddle with paper towels and spray my rug liberally with Nature's Miracle. When I feed E. her breakfast + probiotic she keeps it all down. I take gummy vitamins and get back into bed. From my phone, I go to my local dispensary's website to place an order for pick up, ultimately choosing a strain I've had before that's on sale. I log into my checking account to transfer money to my mom (accounted for in monthly expenses).
Actually get out of bed for real around 9:45am. Scoop E.’s litter box and prepare to get some freelance work done. I make a mango, pear and avocado smoothie with almond milk and honey and sit down to work. Girls plays in the background. I never watched this show when it was popular and was surprised by how funny it is (albeit problematic for a number of reasons).
Afternoon
Snack break! I brew some black tea and have it with the hazelnut cookies I got yesterday. 90 minutes later, once I’m two-thirds through my assignment, I make actual lunch: ramen noodles spruced up with minced garlic and ginger, scallion whites, bok choy, and mushrooms. All topped with scallion greens. Easy and d e l i c i o u s. There’s another snowstorm, urgh. I’m walking to pick up my weed and from my window, it doesn’t look too bad right now. Preorder a Honey Citrus Mint from Starbucks for the long walk ($3.27) and bundle up. It’s an hour round trip but I love walking and don’t really work out so...I take my exercise where I can get it. Stop by the ATM to withdraw cash for flower ($70). On my way back from picking up I indulge in a carrot cake slice from a popular bakery in the area. ($8.13 incl. tip). Okay, I’m set on sweets for awhile. For now :)
Evening
I finally wrap up my freelance assignment and share it with my editor. Shower time. Take a hit from my one hitter and do my nightly routine. Once finished, I change my mind on dinner. I’d originally planned to make a quick "bibimbap" (air quotes because it's very much a knock off) and even steamed rice ahead of time, but carrot cake is sounding good right now. Carrot cake it is! I have some more hazelnut cookies for a well-balanced meal. Give the kitty her dinner and fall asleep with the TV on.
TOTAL: $81.40
DAY 5 - Sunday
Morning
Woke up at an odd hour again. (around 4 am). E. is being a butt once again so I feed her an early breakfast with her probiotic. Brush my teeth, floss, and go back to sleep for a few hours. Get up and out of bed for real around 9:30 and clean up a bit, doing one load of laundry and vacuuming my rug and floors. I finally cook and eat the bibimbap meant for yesterday (minus the egg). I have a virtual date with a college friend I haven’t spoken to in a while, so we spend a few hours catching up! My friendship with her is ever-evolving. She was someone I put on a pedestal for a long time, until she disappointed me when I really needed her and hurt me deeply. I’ve worked to let go of that resentment and remind myself that 1) she is very much human, 2) she is not a better person than I am and 3) I can’t expect everyone to have the same heart that I have. Tough but necessary lessons to learn.
Afternoon
I really should deep clean E’s litter box today but ehhhh, not feeling it. I clean my bathtub, bathroom sink and mirror instead and wipe down some surfaces. I also sip some red wine blended with frozen strawberries (10/10, would recommend!) and start meal prepping for later. I’m making suya - West African meat skewers - so I thinly slice my sirloin steak while it’s semi-frozen and refrigerate the rest to fully defrost. I also chop up more garlic, ginger, bok choy, mushrooms, and scallions for ramen later. I know I’m going to get high very soon and won’t want to do too much, so I’m doing what future high-me will thank me for. Light an oudh incense stick, reply to a message from D., and submit my $250 invoice for freelance work. Put food out for E.
The snow is still pouring in from yesterday. Maybe we’ll get those 10 inches of snow after all. I smoke a bit and cook the same ramen as yesterday but add a fried egg and some sesame oil. I inhale the whole thing and drink all the broth, either it's really this amazing or I'm just stoned. For dessert, I brew black tea and have it with the rest of my hazelnut cookies.
evening
Shower routine time! As much as I hate cleaning the bathtub, that first shower afterwards is the best. Wash my hair with Aussie Moist conditioner (I keep my hair very short and cut it myself) and moisturize with copious coconut oil. Listen to one of my favorite podcasts while in the shower, Say Your Mind with Kelechi Okafor. I love listening to her and her brother’s banter, it feels like I'm among friends.
I've been eating throughout the day so I'm not too hungry come dinner time. I have some crinkle cut fries with sriracha mayo and crack open a kombucha. Rewatch more old episodes of Girls. Why is Adam Driver so attractive to me, even if his character on the show is awful (they're all awful, really)?
TOTAL: $0
Day 6 - Monday
morning
Odd sleep hours strike again! I should mention that I also brush my teeth while I’m in the shower, lest you think I brush once a day only :) Take gummy vitamins and give my nagging E. her early morning meal after playing with her a bit. Scroll on Reddit until I fall back asleep.
Get up and start the day for real at 8:40. Clean a few dirty dishes from last night and give E. breakfast, round #2 with her probiotic. Brush my teeth moisturize my hair, and choose an oatmeal, knee-length knit dress to wear with small hoop earrings. I make a smoothie with a navel orange, some frozen strawberries, frozen banana that I almost forgot about, and almond milk. It’s February now. Happy Black History/Present/Future Month. February is actually one of my least favorite months but after the January I’ve had, I’m ready to move on swiftly. E. is fascinated by all the snowblowing that our neighbors do outside the window. Chicago hasn’t been hit this hard with snow in 5 years - 9 inches!
This is a very slow morning, work wise. Snack on cashews. Work on some excel data and open a tab for Girl Scout Cookies. It’s that seasonnnn. Note that there’s a four box minimum to get cookies. I’ll save my cookie order for next week.
afternoon
The sunlight is giving me life today. I’m getting my Vitamin D through the window, though a walk to the beach sounds lovely. After doing a bit more work, it’s lunch time. I steam some jasmine rice and fry carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, bok choy, and scallion whites in soy sauce and chili paste for my knockoff bibimbap. With an egg this time. Then I decide to bundle up and walk to the beach for additional vitamin D. I only live five minutes away :) . The sand and shoreline are all covered in snow but peaceful nonetheless. I've actually never been to the beach in the dead of winter before. God, I love Lake Michigan. Never understood the hype around oceans, especially because you can't drink the water. Have my phone check in with my boss. Message a bit with D. and round up my tasks for the day.
evening
D. encouraged me to follow my impulses and order the greasy pizza I’m craving right now. But I have food in the fridge. Sigh. Cut up my veggies and season them for veggie kabobs to go with the suya, which has marinated in a spice rub. Put the veggies and meat on skewer sticks and put it all in the oven. It comes out…okay-ish. The meat is a bit overdone and not as flavorful as I'd hoped. Not terrible for a first try, I suppose. Eat two veggie kabobs and two suya sticks. Fall down the Reddit rabbithole for way too damn long. Also check on my mom and how she's doing. She said she's okay now, taking things one day at a time. Feed the kitty her dinner. Do my nighttime routine (including brushing my teeth) and snuggle in bed to watch more Girls. Snack on graham crackers since I have no other sweets or candy handy.
TOTAL: $0
Day 7 - Tuesday
morningMe and my fucked up sleep schedule. No judgment, plz. Wake up at an odd hour again, brush my teeth, feed the cat, smoke a bit, and go back asleep.
My mom calls me at 8 to tell me she might need me to call her a Lyft again - this is not a typical nor regular expense btw - because she has one of her work trainings and my Dad took the car for work. She asks if I still want to go to Nigeria this summer since she’s about to get tickets. IDK! I’m not comfortable traveling internationally...but my Nigerian passport also expires this year and it was a huge pain in the ass to get it in the first place. I enjoy visiting, though I always have a lot of personal shit to navigate while there. Being part of a diaspora is complicated.
Also wake up to a steamy message from D. Steamy enough for me to get myself off, truly the best way to start any morning. My period has started...fun. I was expecting it though. Feed E. her breakfast with a probiotic, take gummy vitamins, brush my teeth, moisturize hair, and get dressed in a grey turtleneck, black Adidas soccer pants, and gold hoop earrings. Blend frozen mango chunks, a small banana, greek yogurt and almond milk into a smoothie. I also brew a cup of lemon tea. Pop two ibuprofen and start my work day with a staff meeting.
afternoon
Light a candle and keep working! Ok, I actually break for a few YouTube videos, one from MelinaPendulum about the Sex And the City reboot. To sum it up: why do one?? What’s the point if Samantha isn’t even coming back? I put out E.’s lunch. I also steam some jasmine rice to eat with the suya and veggie kabobs from last night. Damn I wish I had some steak sauce. Oh well. Eat lunch and call a Lyft for my mom. ($25.99, incl. tip). Work with more Sex and the City in the background.
EveningThe work day has ended and I am desperately in need of snacks! I load $10 on my Starbucks app and then decide to not get anything. I planned to fuck up some hot chocolate but the way my cramps are fading and coming back, it’s best to stay away from a drink with 57 grams of sugar. Pick up some Lysol wipes, a bottle of club soda, Fig Newtons, Ritz Crackers to go with the block of cheese in my fridge, a Reese’s Fast Break bar, and some Haribo Happy Cola gummies. ($11.69)
Get home, pour a small glass of Apothic Red and play with E. for a little bit. Then go down another Reddit rabbithole before making my dinner - ramen, minus the egg. Still delicious! Message D. for a bit and do my shower routine. I did not read very much this week, maybe it’s a testament to me not liking my book that much? Hmmm....my neighbor starts his incredibly annoying exercise routine and I fall asleep waiting for it to stop.
TOTAL: $47.68
--
GRAND TOTAL = $274.60
Food + Drink = $133.37
Fun / Entertainment = $70
Home + Health = $13.78
Other = $57.45
All in all, this was an unsurprising week, especially since I’m already in the habit of tracking expenses daily. The two atypical things were the Lyft rides for my mom - an infrequent occurrence - and my weed purchase, which happens once monthly. I suppose I could have included that in my monthly expenses. Please don’t roast me for my sleep schedule! I know issa mess. Also, I feed my cat four times a day in case that’s unclear.
Edit: Any and every time I left my home I wore a mask and then washed my hands thoroughly upon return.
submitted by prettygrlswriteplays to MoneyDiariesACTIVE [link] [comments]

I am 26 years old, make $304k in the SF Bay Area, and work as a Software Engineer

Section One: Assets and Debt
Ever since I started working in 2016, I've received my company's full 401k match, which is this year is $9750 employer contribution to match $19,500 employee contribution. I've done the backdoor Roth since 2017 and the mega backdoor Roth since 2018. Every year I speak with a retirement advisor for free through my 401k, and we draw up a plan together to invest my money in passive index funds that I implement and rebalance myself to avoid advisor fees.
Account Balance Comments
401k 360k Pre-tax, employer match, megaback door Roth (after-tax convert into Roth 401k)
Roth IRA 36k backdoor Roth
HSA 23k Used for some reimbursement, do not plan to do that going forward
Stocks 182k Compensation in vested company stock
Down payment 250k Parked in HYSA, planning to buy house in 2021
Savings Account 5k Emergency fund
Checking Account 10k Planning to open taxable brokerage account, usually I keep <1k in here
Credit card debt 0k I pay this off multiple times a month
Student loan debt 0k Parents paid for my education
Total Net Worth $866K
Section Two: Income
I’ll describe my income in terms of how much I made pre-tax, not in terms of offer letters. Bonus numbers reflect yearly bonuses as well as unanticipated bonuses from launches and oncall, and equity reflects price at grant time. I’ve been at the same company since graduating from college.
Year Comments Salary Bonus Equity Total
2021 Equity is projected due to market fluctuations 168k 31k 105k 304k
2020 Changed teams within company 161k 35k 96k 292k
2019 Lots of oncall 144k 41k 69k 254k
2018 Got promoted 125k 16k 67k 208k
2017 Got promoted 101k 30k 0 131k
2016 Started working mid year 42k 8k 0 50k
Main Job Monthly Take Home:
I front load my 401k and HSA contributions with my bonus and paycheck, so I don’t get a paycheck for the first few months of the year. But when I do, my monthly take home pay is $8600/mo.
Section Three: Expenses
I have 2 housemates so rent and utilities are split 3 ways. All expenses are monthly except for ones marked with *, which denotes an annual expense. Some things I do to keep my expenses low include borrowing books from the library, growing some food myself, and getting things for free from online forums.
Expense Cost Comments
Rent $1156
Utilities $64 Includes water, gas, electric, trash
Cell phone $60 I pay for family’s plan
Fitness app $4 Usually paid with survey credits
Groceries $100 I only buy groceries that are < $1/lb, and I grow some food
Gas $30 I drive to see my parents, otherwise I usually walk to grocery stores
Renter’s insurance $0 Come at me, natural disaster
Dining out $0 I visit my parents once a week to break the food monotony
Streaming service $0 I use Peacock and YouTube
Dental insurance $8 Before tax
Vision insurance $4 Before tax
Medical insurance $0 Work covers
Short term disability insurance $0 Work covers
Long term disability insurance $0 Work covers
Life insurance $0 Work covers
Car Insurance* $444 Never got into an accident
Car Registration* $138
Credit Card fee* $450 Between the $150 retention credit, $300 grocery credit, and $60 DoorDash credit, I make money off the Chase Sapphire Reserve
Section Four: Background
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?
My parents are Asian immigrants who stressed the importance of education even though they themselves never finished high school. As a first-generation college student, I got my bachelors degree at an Ivy-League university my parents paid for b/c we didn’t qualify for financial aid.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
Growing up, my parents didn’t talk to me about money but it was understood we were frugal. They taught me how to balance a checkbook, helped me get my first credit card, and how to beeline to the back of the store for the clearance rack.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
My first job was being a math tutor in high school b/c I was very good at math. My teacher recommended I tutor my classmate, and I charged his parents $20 per hour session.
Did you worry about money growing up?
I didn’t worry about money even though we were lower-middle class for our area b/c we could afford things like my extracurricular fees. Both my parents had stable jobs throughout my childhood.
Do you worry about money now?
I worry if I am doing the “right” things with my money, which manifests itself when I’m investing or spending money. I also worry if the golden handcuffs of my job are preventing me from pursuing more fulfilling or lucrative opportunities.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
I became financially responsible for myself when I got my current job, but my parents helped me financially as I lived with them (paying subsidized rent) for the first 3 years of my working life. My safety net is my parents but I would greatly prefer not to move back home as we do not make good housemates.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
I have never received inherited income as my grandparents’ assets transferred to their kids (my parents, aunts, and uncles) upon their deaths. My parents paid for all my expenses in high school and college.
Section Five: The Diary
Day 1 - Total: $0
8:00AM - I wake up after 8 hours of rest and spend 10 mins enjoying my warm covers before getting out of bed. I grab my phone that’s been charging in the living room to prevent me from scrolling late at night and bring it back to my bed for a 5 minute guided meditation. I brush my teeth, eat a breakfast of French bread soaked in milk, then get dressed for the day. My bedroom has served as my office since work from home started in March 2020, so I settle into my chair to catch up on emails. I currently have 2 high-level system designs I’m working on, so I dive into writing and researching one of those, since I only have 2 meetings this morning!
12:30PM - 30 minutes before my next meeting, I microwave leftover soy sauce chicken fried rice and miso tofu for lunch. During the meeting and with my video on but audio off, I nibble on 2 honeycrisp apple slices, a banana, and a date. I speak up a good amount in the meeting and come out of it with action items. I review written feedback my manager gave me and am a little unhappy; he doesn’t think I’m ready for promotion, which is true, but part of the problem is he doesn’t know my work well enough. I spend the rest of the day distracting myself from my unhappiness by reviewing and commenting on other people’s documents.
5:30PM - With the work day over, I immediately change into workout gear to do the workout my fitness app prescribes. Today is Abs & Arms, but I’m not sore at all. After the workout, I get dressed to go for a walk, only to realize it’s raining outside! Instead, I heat up soy sauce chicken fried rice for dinner and top it off with an orange slice, half a baked yam, and strawberry yogurt. I shower and apply a basic lotion to my face; I unfortunately have retinization from using too much retinol on my face too fast, so it’s back to basics until my face recovers.
8:00PM - Rain has given way to a storm, so I spend my evening getting my steps inside my house. I check the grocery circulars and am very excited to find $.97/lb chicken breast, $.99/lb pork chops, and $.99/lb whole chicken in the papers; I’ve never seen pork chops for <$1/lb. I ask a friend who’s offering to drop off baked goods if she’d like fresh-picked fruit from my backyard, since her place doesn’t have a yard. I find a knitting pattern for a hand towel and start it on my needles. Watching a YouTube video about COVID and the economy makes me sad, so I chat with friends online until 1AM.
Day 2 - Total: $0
8:45AM - I wake up naturally because I don’t have any meetings -- that is, until I check my phone! Without changing, eating, or brushing my teeth, I hurriedly turn on my work computer after realizing I’m 15 minutes late to an important meeting with senior engineers on my broader team, making sure to mute the video so they don’t see my messy hair. Thankfully, I didn’t miss much out of the hour-long meeting, I was able to hold my own during the discussion, and in between talking I sneak off to the kitchen to bring my breakfast of bread and apple slices to my room. After the meeting, I chat with 1 person from the meeting to gripe about the project timeline before he needs to go to their next meeting. Finally alone, I brush my teeth, get changed, check my email, and submit 3 code changes.
11:30AM - After a very short meeting with a colleague, I’m done with meetings for the day! I heat up the last of my soy sauce chicken fried rice and finish the meal with 2 dates, peach yogurt and a baked yam. The rest of the day I’m on a roll! I’m buildcop for my team this week, which means if any of our automated tests are flaky (fail sporadically when they are supposed to consistently pass), I’m on the hook to fix them. I deal with 3 buildcop issues then spend the rest of the day working on my design for the project discussed during the morning meeting.
6:00PM - With the work day over, I turn off my computer and exercise with my fitness app. I take a quick shower since I have a 6:30PM video call with a friend. We’re taking a virtual self-paced course together and meet weekly for a 1 hour discussion. It’s a great excuse to get together to grip about work and talk about life. This week we talk about the course, but also about work, dating, and religion.
8:30PM - After an enjoyable discussion, it’s time to sign off and make food. I make a lot since my refrigerator is looking empty: rice, tomato and onion stir fry, roasted potatoes, and overnight oats (for breakfast tomorrow). I eat some of the first 3 for dinner with plenty left over. After dinner, I call a friend while pacing around the house as it is raining outside again. I spend the rest of the night knitting the hand towel and go to bed around 1AM again.
Day 3 - Total: $1.68
8:00AM - I wake up after 7 hours of sleep, and it’s feeling like a slow day. I meditate in bed, brush my teeth, put on some basic lotion, then have overnight oats, 2 dates, and 2 fresh pancakes for breakfast. I spend the rest of the morning clearing my email and resolving buildcop bugs. I journal too; the rain and lack of sleep is putting me in a sad funk. On the bright side, the rain means I don’t need to water my plants!
12:00PM - For lunch, I eat rice and tomato and onion stir fry, roasted potatoes with ketchup, and a pancake. After lunch I have 2 meetings, a 1:1 with my tech lead and a sync for a project I’m part of. In the 1:1, I give my tech lead a status update in my projects, then he gives me much-appreciated advice on how to lead a project confidently. In the sync, I provide clear and helpful updates on my part of the project, which is wrapping up. For the rest of the day I address comments on my design, then for the last hour of the work day I tune into a team social video call where we gossip about the Gamestop and Robinhood debacle.
5:00PM - With the workday over and sun still out, I take advantage of the small break from rain to walk to Grocery N. I’m so happy; this is the first time in 2 days I’ve left my house! Grocery N advertised the $.97/lb chicken breast, but they are sold out! I’m devastated, but the worker I ask says they might have more Saturday. I buy a bunch of bananas for $.58/lb and quickly walk back home, since the sky is full of grey clouds again. $1.68
6:00PM - I’m very fortunate that I left the store when I did, as the skies opened up and poured 5 minutes after I made it home. My housemate is cooking dinner, so to avoid kitchen traffic I work out in my room. After an hour workout, I take a shower then make spicy green beans and tofu for dinner. The tofu goes well with my rice and tomato and onion stir fry. I spend the evening knitting and watching Bachelor Nation YouTube clips, and finally sleep at 1AM.
Day 4 - Total: $17.25
8:00AM - I wake up after 7 hours of sleep, but it’s sunny all day so my mood is positive. I brush my teeth and eat a pancake, milk, and a date for breakfast while checking my email. I have no meetings, so I spend 2 hours closing obsolete buildcop issues and addressing comments on my design docs. After getting to a natural starting point, I take a 30 minute break to clean up my room, the kitchen, and make rice for lunch.
11:30AM - For lunch, I have tomato and onion stir fry and spicy green beans and tofu with rice. I end the meal with a Fuji apple. In the afternoon I have 1 meeting for each of the 2 projects I’m working on. The meeting I lead goes very well; we do updates, discuss controversial points of the design, and end with clear action items. The other meeting went overtime and involved a lot of unnecessary bikeshedding. I work more on my design docs and make sure to send them to reviewers before the day is over; they are still drafts, but better to get feedback early.
5:00PM - With the workday over, I finally check my phone and see that my parents invited me to venture to shop with them! I quickly decide to go since I have some things I need to give them anyways. I load up the car and drive 20 minutes to their place. We pile into a single car and drive to Store D, where I get beauty face masks, disposable heat packs, tapestry needles, petroleum jelly, a fly swatter, a bottle opener (for my parents), and a kitchen oil dispenser for $11.47. From there, we walk across the plaza to Grocery M to buy 2 5-packs of udon noodles for $5.78, 1 for me and 1 for my parents. $17.25
9:00PM - We finally get back to my parents’ places, and I’m famished. I stay for dinner, and we have leftovers since we want something quick: noodle soup, curry with rice, and food I brought over to give them (tomato and onion stir fry and spicy green beans and tofu). I drive home after dinner, stopping by Grocery S to see if they have the $.99/lb pork chops and $.99/lb whole chicken, but they are out. I get home, shower, and spend my evening writing a card to a friend who is feeling lonely from the pandemic lockdown. The card takes way longer than expected, and I sleep at 3AM.
Day 5 - Total: $26.55
10:00AM - It’s the weekend, yet I still wake up after only 7 hours of sleep. I meditate, brush my teeth, eat a small breakfast of pancakes and milk in bed, and knit while watching Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s Stone. Halfway through, I get a call from my parents to pick up food from their house. They’re part of a church that is a distribution site for the Farmers to Families Food Box Program, and they took 2 boxes home. I struggle a bit since I know the program is for those in need and most people would not consider me in need, but as a taxpayer and to help alleviate my parents’ refrigerator, I head out to go pick it up.
12:30PM - On the way there, I stop by Grocery S to see if they have the $.99/lb pork chops and $.99/lb whole chicken in stock. I luckily arrive in time to buy the last 2 packs of pork chops! I also get 2 whole chickens so the total comes out to $20.45. I give 1 pack of pork chops and 1 whole chicken to my parents, and they give me a Farmers to Families Food Box. We chat for a little about recipes and vaccines while I nibble on a corn on the cob for lunch. $20.45
3:00PM - On the drive home, I stop by Grocery N, which has the $.97/lb chicken breast in stock, so I buy a pack for $6.10. Back at home, I portion out the pork chops and chicken breast before storing them in the freezer. I unpack the Farmers to Families Food Box; in it are 1 gallon of low-fat milk, 1 tub of vanilla yogurt, 2 containers of sour cream, 1 pound of Monterey Jack cheese, a bag of potatoes, a bag of oranges, and a pack of 15 pre-cooked frozen drumsticks. I start making chicken and spaghetti squash soup and while it simmers for 1.5 hours, I do a TON. I put laundry in the wash, make waffle batter, toast the squash seeds, sprinkling bird feed on the lawn, pick fruit from my backyard for my friend who is coming to give me homemade baked goods, clean my room, clean the restroom, clean the kitchen, and take a shower. $6.10
5:00PM - Turns out my friend is not coming since the baked goods were a bust. While finishing Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s Stone, I eat a dinner of rice with chicken and spaghetti squash soup and have a date and half an orange for dessert. I make a ton of waffles and nibble on them as I watch Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets by signing up for Peacock’s free 7-day trial (they have every Harry Potter) that I have plan to cancel in 6 days. Once full, I knit while finishing the movie until I’m out of yarn. I brush my teeth and turn in at 1AM.
Day 6 - Total: $9.09
8:00AM - I wake up after 7 hours of sleep and am happy that it’s sunny today! I eat a breakfast of waffles, milk, and a date. I brush my teeth, get dressed, and walk to Store T while chatting on the phone with a friend. At Store T, I get many dried spices (basil leaves, chives, oregano, sage), kitchen gloves, white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, vegetable oil, and a can of smoked oysters for $9.09. I walk home and start another pot of soup to dilute yesterday’s soup: 3 cups of the broth from yesterday’s soup, 3 cups of water, half a cup of lentils, a potato, a chayote, half an onion, half a head of cabbage, and one bok choy. I put everything in but the last two ingredients to boil for an hour while I put the things I bought away and scan all my receipts from the week to get credits I’ll use to pay for my fitness app subscription. $9.09
12:30PM - I put the leafy vegetables into the soup and once it’s ready, I have it for lunch while watching Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban. This soup tastes so much better than the one I made yesterday! After watching Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban, I vacuum my room and take a shower. I start a new scarf knitting project and work on that while watching last night’s SNL episode and videos for the virtual self-paced course. Throughout this, I drink water and snack on waffles, apple slices, and orange slices.
6:30PM - It’s dinner time, so I heat up another bowl of soup from lunch, adding in rice for more heartiness. After dinner, I meditate, fill in my Jan budget tracker, reflect on the past month, and set some February goals. I call Chase to follow up on an unauthorized charge claim on my credit card statement and the new credit card they're supposed to send me, but the claim is still processing. I coordinate with people to pick up free yarn from them next weekend. I spent the rest of the evening knitting and chatting with a friend, finally brushing my teeth and going to bed at a reasonable hour of 11:30PM.
Day 7 - Total: $0
7:30AM - I wake up after 8 hours of rest and have time to meditate, exercise, make my bed, brush my teeth, water my plants, and eat a breakfast of 2 waffles, 1 date, 1 banana, overnight oats, and milk before my first meeting. I have a whopping 4 meetings this morning! For 2, I’m a spectator, and for the 2 others, I’m an active participant. I actually was supposed to have a 5th meeting, but it overlapped with another meeting so I asked the person leading the 5th meeting to give my update for me. In the meetings I’m spectating, I listen while checking my email, checking the news, drinking water, journaling, and knitting. I find knitting helps me focus the best.
12:00PM - Today I have a lunch meeting with my mentor during which I eat the last of the soup that I made yesterday and a banana. We talk about the culture, decision-making process, and knowledge-sharing channels of the organization we’re in, and it’s clear there is room for improvement. After lunch, I have 2 more meetings, 1 that is uneventful and 1 that is me teaching a more junior engineer what I know. After my meetings are over, I submit 2 code changes and watch a recording of a design review that I missed. I end the workday with reviewing a design doc, reviewing a deck, replying to an important email thread, and referring a friend to the company.
4:30PM - After the workday is over, I call my parents to catch up while harvesting tomatoes from my backyard. I pick, wash, and eat 2 cherry tomatoes off my plant; they tastes great! I check my mail and an organization has asked me to give a virtual talk on being a software engineer. I did the same talk for the same organization last year, so I agree to do it again this year. They also want speakers from other industries, so I send some messages to people in my network.
5:30PM - I work out hard with my housemate, stretch, then wash my hair. I make a stew of chicken, spaghetti squash, potatoes, chayote, rice, and bok choy. While it simmers, I call a friend and pace around the house to get steps. When the soup is ready, I serve myself 2 bowls while watching Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire. I stop halfway to brush my teeth and go to sleep at 1AM.
Category Cost
Food + Drink $43.10
Fun / Entertainment $0
Home + Health $11.47
Clothes + Beauty $0
Transport $0
Other $0
Total $54.57
Lastly, reflect on your diary! How do you feel about your spending? Was this a normal week for you? Has this inspired you to make changes or has it given you a “wow I’m doing pretty good” confidence boost? Is there anything you’re actively working on? No need to answer any or all these questions but just use this space to write any thoughts you have!
While visiting my parents twice in a week and watching 3.5 movies is not standard, the spending was standard. I save wherever I can, and I don’t spend much b/c buying things sometimes stresses me out. My relationship with money has improved, but I’m still trying to figure out the line between frugal and self-destructive. Looking back, the thing I really want to change is my investment asset allocation. My 401k, Roth IRA, and HSA are all appropriately diversified, but my stock is not diversified, I should make progress on buying a house, and I should open a taxable brokerage account.
submitted by Proper-Asparagus to MoneyDiariesACTIVE [link] [comments]

Ways to get your disabled account back! PLEASE READ IT!

Hello guys.
First of all, I'm sorry for my english - not a native speaker, still gonna try my best to explain everything.
Like many of you I had my account disabled for around 1 month and 2 weeks, why was it disabled? I have no idea - My account was hacked, once I restored my access to it then I found it being disabled for violation of guidelines - the guy who hacked it probably did some stuff to it.
Along with a few people we tried many things - brainstormed our options, so what worked and what didn't? I don't want you to waste your time trying weird things.
What didn't work:
1. Appealing - Instagram has many appealing forms.
https://www.facebook.com/help/instagram/contact/606967319425038 - No response
https://help.instagram.com/contact/1652567838289083 - Got a response asking for mugshot (selfie with a code) - and then got denied - several times.
https://help.instagram.com/contact/396169787183059 - Didn't work.
https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/1652567838289083 - Got a response asking for mugshot (selfie with a code) - that's it, no response afterwards.
https://help.instagram.com/contact/437908793443074 - My account wasn't disabled because of copyrights - that's why I couldnt even send the appeal form.
I sent many appeals - over 40 mugshots, didn't really work, maybe will work for you but doubt it - your choice.
https://blog.recap.services/one-method-to-recover-your-disabled-instagram-account-2020-guide/
Nicely explained a way of how to send mughots using gmail - simple usage of alians.
REMEMBER TO USE INCOGNITO MODE FOR IT!
​
2. Facebook Business account chat support:
This option is available only for people with business accounts - personally I haven't tried that, many of my friends told me that it doesn't really work - it used to work, but I think facebook reps. got so many requests that they stopped helping people. They can help you with facebook ads, but that's about it - at least for now. Try it out if you want - but personally I wouldn't waste my money on that.
3. LinkedIn:
Messaging and adding people that worked/work for Instagram/Facebook on their LinkedIN platform - didn't really work, basically everyone ignored my attempts - doubt this will work for you.
4. Messaging Whatsapp support:
https://www.whatsapp.com/contact/
You won't get any help from them - they will e-mail you back saying that they aren't helping with Instagram/Facebook related problems.
5. Messaging under their Instagram For Business on Instagram posts:
Fuck you AL for ignoring and deleting all of my messages - AL.
6. Private messages to Instagram workers on instagram.
They will ignore you, simple as that.
7. Hackers:
Please.. don't trust anyone saying "E-mail this guy, he's the best hacker, he will help u" - They will simply scam you.
  1. JustAnswer:
https://www.justanswer.com/
Paid 1 dollar to talk with "specialist" regarding disabled instagram account - they sent me links to appeal, so yea.
  1. Leaving a voice mail:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8Q7oxKxRns&t=s&ab_channel=VincentFoster
Haven't tried that personally - Found this youtuber - he tried it along with appealing - and got his account back afterwards - could work for you - No idea.
10. Reporting a problem in Instagram app from my second account.
Just a waste of time, they get millions a day of these - good luck.
​
So...
What worked for me?
I was inspired by u/-yoko- and his post:https://www.reddit.com/Instagram/comments/kb7ijk/disabled_instagram_progress/
I started commenting under https://www.facebook.com/facebookbusiness - under their newest posts - saying stuff like "OMG AMAZING, THANK YOU, I have a problem - could you help me?" - liked their posts etc - at first they ignored me. They get many of comments like that - but they actually reply to these.
Worth noting (Instagram for Business/Facebook for Business/Whatsapp For Business) are all connected - facebook reps have access to all 3 of these.
Eventually I was so active that I got a badge on Facebook For Business (dont have it anymore) - for being their TOP FAN - That's the time I decided to send a private message to them:
First I sent a private message to this page: https://www.facebook.com/instagramforbusiness/ - Explained my problem, they replied to me after a day - sent me an appeal form - After I said that it doesn't work - they said:
"We’re happy to escalate this issue to our dedicated support team. Please provide us with your email address, phone number and a link to your Facebook profile, this is so we can contact you with updates. Thank you! "
Sent them my contact information - no reply.
After 2 days i screenshoted this conversation with https://www.facebook.com/instagramforbusiness/ and sent it to https://www.facebook.com/facebookbusiness - they replied to me within 30 minutes:
"We’ve shared it with our support team and they will reach out to you with updates. Thank you for your patience while our team looks into your issue!"
After 5 minutes I got an e-mail with a case from their Internal Team that they will try to solve my issue within 2 hours - Took them like 30 minutes and my account was enabled again, I got quite lucky.
I actually kept saying many nice things to them - saying that I respect their hard work (covid etc), wished them merry christmas, happy new year, wished a nice day.
If they don't reply to you within a day then try to send them a message like "Hope you guys are having a great day! :) and stay safe!" - This will refresh their inbox - You have to be extremly nice to them, they will be more eager to help and reply to you.
​
3 other ways that MIGHT work for you:
  1. https://help.instagram.com/contact/186020218683230
I found this on their help center - tick the " How do I contact Facebook with questions?" - put your name/e-mail. And wait for their reply - do that many times - each request on a different e-mail.
You will get a generic e-mail explaining that you will get help in their help center - typical bullshit.
BUT..
On the bottom of that e-mail you will find something like:
" If you have questions related to the Data Use Policy ( https://www.facebook.com/policy.php ), please reply to this email. "
And now important part: REPLY TO THIS E-MAIL EXPLAINING YOUR SITUATION - add that if they can't enable your account then they should at least let you download data from your disabled account (you can't download it unless your account is enabled again).
This will get you into the e-mail loop - keep replying to them - they will eventually ask you for a proof that you are the owner of your phone number associated with your account (they will ask you for a bill phone bill or something - like a proof).
Hi,
Thanks for your request regarding your Instagram information. To proceed with your request, we need to confirm that you are the person who owns this phone number. To help us confirm this, please send us proof of your ownership. This proof could include:
- Phone bill- Receipt of payment from your phone service provider- Other confirmation of your phone number ownership
When you're ready to send us your document:
1. Scan or take a close-up photo of the document so that the information on it can be easily read.2. Save the photo or scan to your computer as a JPEG.3. Click the "Reply" button to reply to this email and add your photo or scan as an attachment.
Once you reply with your proof of ownership, we should be able to look into this further.
Thanks,Privacy OperationsInstagram
After you send it to them you will get this:
Hello!
Thank you for contacting us.
To proceed, we need to verify that you are the owner of the reported account. Thanks to this, we will be sure that we are helping the right person.
Please reply to this message with the previous email address or username associated with your account.
Also enter the type of device (e.g. iPhone, Android device or computer) used to create the account. If you created an account on a computer or tablet, please indicate the operating system (eg Windows, MacOS, Linux) used during registration.
After receiving this information, we will be able to process your request.
Thank you.
After that you should get a reply about your instagram account - maybe they will actually enable it - I have no idea what comes next - try it out.
They reply within a day or two - might take them a few hours only as well.
​
  1. https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/540977946302970
Select product: Instagram
Tick -- How can I get support for a privacy issue from the Date Protection Officer? -- Have you previously contacted the ODPO about the issue you're experiencing? - NO.
Fill it in:
Say that your account was wrongly disabled - and that if they can't enable your account then you want to download your data at least (you blackmail them this way).
You will get an - e-mail about it, wait for their response.
I'm not sure if it works, but you should try it.
Keep in mind that you should do it several times using different e-mails.
  1. Send them a real life letter into their office explaing your situation:
>> Facebook Ireland Ltd.>> 4 Grand Canal Square>> Grand Canal Harbour>> Dublin 2 Irlandia
​
Good luck guys - if you send an appeal then make sure to send it by using incognito mode.
If you have any questions then write them down here - I will reply to these - don't bombard me with private messages unless it's very private.
Thanks for reading.
Astral.
​
Edit:
Use VPN for europe for this https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/540977946302970 link to work properly if you live outside of europe.
​
submitted by Astral5221 to Instagram [link] [comments]

How to recognize e-transfer scams

I hope this post is allowed. I work for one of the Big 5. I have 3 years of experience in a specialized e-transfer team. I've spoken to thousands of victims and perpetrators of fraud and scams. I'm so sick and sad of seeing my customers become victim to various different scams. If I can help at least one person with this, I'd be so happy. Interac e-transfer is an amazing service when used right and there are ways to protect yourself.
I will tell you about scams I see, the red flags, how to protect yourself and I will score the resolution to the issue on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being "You're screwed" and 10 being "It's like nothing happened."
Types of Scams
I. Job Scams
Usually a victim will get reached out to on a job site (indeed, LinkedIn, or even through their e-mail). The scammers will pose as an employer offering a clean yearly salary with benefits for sitting on your butt and accepting e-transfers and then sending them out to someone else or withdrawing the funds at an atm to be deposited at a bitcoin machine.
The e-transfers they send you will be fraudulently sent from another victims account and you will now be flagged with your bank for accepting fraudulent money. You will be blocked with e-transfers.
Red Flags:
How to protect yourself:
General Resolution Score:
7/10. Assuming you have enough proof for me to show Interac that you were a victim, we should be okay in about an afternoon. If you don't, expect to be blocked from Interac for at LEAST 12 months.
II. Puppy Scams
You're thinking of getting a puppy and you think you've found a reputable seller on Kijiji. They have a website and certificates. They collect a deposit from you for the puppy. Later they ask you for payment for shipping the puppy to you. Then you can't call them, they aren't responding to their messages. You start to feel like there never was a puppy... and you're right. (You can also replace puppy for whatever service or product you're buying)
Red Flags:
How to protect yourself:
General Resolution Score:
2/10. We might get your money back... maybe... might.... again its difficult. And because you sent the money out of your account willingly, its not covered as fraud. So no money and no puppy. So shitty.
III. Shitty Friends lmao
Some of you people just have really bad friends, for real. If your friend asks you to accept an etransfer for them, tell them to go fuck themselves. If they can't accept etransfers, there's a really good reason for that usually. You don't know how many conversations I've had about these that start with "Well, they're in jail now but...". Fuck being nice. Do NOT accept etransfers for anyone else. Consider this the 21st century bad cheque scam.
Red Flags:
How to protect yourself:
General Resolution Score:
2/10. You'll be blocked with Interac for at least 12 months.
IV. Intercepted Transfers
By far the most common scam right now. You send an etransfer with a security question to your landlord, friend, or even your wife. You've done it hundreds of times before and there's never been an issue. You get the notification that its been deposited, but the intended recipient doesn't have it. Wait... what? Your bank says it was deposited to someone who neither you or the recipient know.
Before I get into the red flags, I want to explain what happened. Youre getting lazy with your security questions. And the person you were sending the etransfer to? Either their email is compromised or they have spyware or malware on their devices. The compromise in the devices leaves a nice opportunity for someone to take advantage of your landlords/friends/whomevers email and take their money. Its impossible to have this intercepted from the sending end. This is really unfortunate for the recipient and the sender, but I find the recipients are taking NO responsibility for their compromised emails.
Red Flags:
How to protect yourself:
General Resolution Score: 1.25/10
Again. Its hard to get your money back once its deposited. We will try our level best but the onus is kinda on the recipient here. They need urgent help for their devices and e-mail.
V. Bad Deposit Transfers
A fraudster could deposit a bad cheque and with the funds not put on hold, they can send an e-transfer. Once that cheque bounces, its now called a Bad Deposit Transfer. It gets flagged with the sender AND the recipient if you'd believe it! Interac can't be sure whether you two are in on it together. This is the equivalent of kiting cheques but with etransfers.
How to protect yourself:
General Resolution Score:
5/10. Depends on how quickly the sender can pay back the bad deposit. Once that is done, the bank will consider the whole bank relationship before reinstating with Interac.
VI. Kijiji/Product and Service Scams
Friends, I'm sure this is surprising but Kijiji does not want you using etransfers. You have no idea how much grief it causes them. Accepting an etransfer for a product or service on kijiji or otherwise can be a risky thing. Again, I bring up that Interac e-transfers should be used with people we know and trust.
You're selling an item online, you agree to meet up with someone, they agree to buy and they send you an etransfer. Amazing. A couple days later your bank card is blocked, and your bank is MAD. They said you scammed someone? What the heck? They took the item didn't they? They didn't tell you the product was broken or defective...
Red Flags: - I wish I could tell you what these would be. A lot of the customers I talk to are like they were totally fine and didn't talk to me after I sold it - People are weird and shitty
How to protect yourself:
General Resolution Score: 7/10 these are easy. Give me the proof and we're good.
In the case of people who send the money before getting the item, and go to pick it up with nothing, see puppy scam. Same thing.
My General Tips
And that's about what I've got right now. If anyone has any questions I'm here and happy to answer.
Thanks for reading! Keep safe!
(E: formatting, spelling added more scenarios etc)
(E: never thought I'd be the girl to do this BUT THANK YALL FOR THE AWARDS AND THE GOLD)
(E: I appreciate your guys' healthy skepticism towards the e-transfer service but I won't be responding to any messages or comments that criticize it too heavily. I didnt invent etransfers so it doesn't bug me but I can really only speak on this service because its what I know. I am wary of being identified by coworkers or my employer and you won't catch me slippin.
The least you can admit about e-transfers is that it fills a need that the banks otherwise weren't meeting and its convenient in that sense.)
submitted by beanieking to PersonalFinanceCanada [link] [comments]

Game Grumps 2020 Summary Part 2

This is part 2 of a two part post. If you have not read part one yet, here is the link:
https://www.reddit.com/rantgrumps/comments/kofpsa/game_grumps_2020_summary/
​
Arin makes a statement on Ben
After almost two months of people asking Arin to make a statement about Ben and him blocking people on Twitter who ask about it, as well as banning people or mumbling and skipping the question for people who ask about it on his streams, Arin finally made a statement, stating that the silence was because Ben lost a family member and that he wanted to give him time to grieve. Arin told Ben that his behavior was not appropriate as long as he works at Game Grumps, and he is still editing for them.
When someone asked about the video that gave a fan a seizure thanks to Ben's edits, Arin stated that he did not know about it, despite emails being sent, and a disclaimer added to the description a few days later. The video was taken down, and Arin has deleted the tweet saying that he did not know.
Ben previous had privately contacted someone on Twitter and after Arin's statement, issued another apology where he explained that his actions were wrong, that he understood that now, and that his twitter was originally the voice of his character in Buckwheat Groats (his band that appears to have ended in 2014) who is known for posting edgy humor. While this apology was enough for some, for others, it was not.
Ben has stated multiple times that the tweets he made were "old" and that people took things out of context months later. While several tweets are indeed months old, the Reddit post was created on May 17th and Ben's last tweet was on May 8th, a difference of nine days.
It appears that Ben did not think he did anything wrong until after Arin spoke with him. In his own words, "Eventually, Arin became aware of the complaints, had a discussion with me about it, and it was during this time I realized that even though my tweets were indeed “just jokes,” that did not in any way make them okay." In the timeline of events he provided, this was after he had deleted the first and second batches of tweets found and issued and deleted his first apology.
A few days after Game Grumps deleted a few videos that included jokes about sexualizing children including the fan favourite Sad Hoshi in Journey to Silius, and a therapist hypnotizing and having sex with a little girl in Disney Princess (Something that Arin knew about). However, people were quick to point out that Arin and Dan had made plenty of sexual jokes about children over the years including Misty (10) from Pokemon, and Medli and Zelda (both around 14) in the The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and many many more.
​
Sonic Shuffle Playthrough
Part 2 was uploaded early with the title and thumbnail as Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 instead
They were not playing with the Dreamcast controllers so they could not see their cards which had numbers on them indicating the spaces you could move
In Part 3 the game crashes so they watch someone else's playthrough and start the game all over
Arin's browser history shows a link to YouTube user smokemymarc, who had two playlists on his channel titled "Videos of my feet!" and "My teen giant videos!". (All videos went private in Sept 2018) In his About Page, the page Arin's history showed, it says he does $4 a minute camshows and links to a dominant bodybuilder blog where he describes himself as "I am the intimidating college wrestler and bodybuilder of your fantasies. Master to slaves, dominating weak f*ggots and s*ssies with ease. My fetishes are masteslave, giant, feet, findom and more. Whether draining your pockets or putting you in your f*g place, look no further for complete domination." (Censored for obvious reasons)
Finale ended early so they started story mode
​
The return of the return to Majora's Mask
Two episodes lost between episodes 79 and 80
​
Arin Appreciation Day Twitter, a holiday celebrated every three months on the 18th all about Arin Hanson, gets shut down due to violating Twitter rules
​
Cameo
Arin starts a Cameo. 80 per request and 4.99 to chat and then increased to 99 and 9.99 a few days later. Then increased once again to 125 and removing the chat.
Dan and Brian soon followed. Dan is 99 per request and no chat, but increased to 125, while Brain is 75 per request and 9.99 to chat, but eventually reduced to 50 per request
For comparison, Nolan North (Drake from Uncharted) cost is 70 per request
At the time of writing, Dan has 768 reviews, Arin has 402, and Brian has 46
​
Game Grumps Face Masks
Game Grumps releases their own personal face masks
Multiple people have reported that even though they are advertised as "One size fits most" they are on the small side, and that material does not hold up after a couple of washes (one person reported just one wash ruin the mask) as well as not being made from "Covid safe" material.
​
Hollow Knight Playthrough
A playthrough that was hyped up several times in the community tab (One, two, three)
Dropped after four episodes because it was "too slow for the channel"
​
The password for the Grump Out Channel was found
A large amount of Grump Clips (Game Grumps moments) were uploaded at once, complete with new Dan and Arin Mustache Grumps
The result was losing over 17K subs in less than a week
​
Suzy went to a garage to get her car fixed and noticed that a conversation had been recorded on her phone
The conversation was an argument between two people, so she called the garage to report it and went on Twitter announce what had happened
Turns out the conversation was the ending to the song "Daddy" by Korn, which is apparently one of Suzy's favourite songs, and when she learned this, she quickly deleted the tweets
​
Even more Dan accusations
Another person has come forward and privately shown proof to the mods as well as myself (the deal was that we would not be sharing what we saw and I intend to honor that agreement) and it was the best proof shown so far. The person was 17 when they started talking in 2013 and they met up when she was 21 in 2017. They continued to sext until 2018 which overlaps with Dan's current girlfriend who he publicly announced in Jan 2019. (And it is likely her he admitted dating in Oct 2017)
That same day, I was messaged by another person who privately provided proof as well in the form of pictures of them together and screenshots of Dan offering to pay for her plane ticket and picking her up from the airport, as well as another who claimed that not only do Arin, Brian, TWRP and Planet Booty all know about Dan's behaviour, but they have special rules for him to not being girls back to the tour bus or backstage anymore.
​
Among us Playthrough
Several guests including Jacksepticeye, Ross, and Markiplier
No one was allowed to stream the game and any uploads had to match the Grumps. When Markiplier didn't read the email all the way through and released his footage two weeks earlier, another message was sent reminding people not to do that.
Several videos do not have links to the guests in the description and while others had some in the title and the put the rest as "etc".
​
Danganronpa Playthrough
Arin uses the same voice for three different characters
A toy blocks some of Arin's screen so he can't see all the dialog and he refuses to move it
Arin was convinced that a character was trans and gets upset at the other characters for assuming the person's gender and misgendering them. When the character's backstory is revealed and this was not the case, Arin skipped over the dialog and claimed that the character was "not fully trans", but the character is not trans at all and instead just a crossdresser who wanted to avoid bullying, so the person who misgendered them was Arin himself. Afterward, some Lovelies went on Twitter and repeated Arin's claim that the character was trans and that the game was transphobic.
On Shuffle Master Arin stated that he loves Dagrapona but "it is a fucking horrible game" and "it's a fucking visual novel, it's not a game".
​
Ghoul Grumps
New intro, old audio, with wolf Dan and bat Arin
Grump heads on thumbnail were Ghoul Grumps heads for one episode before never being seen again
Some kills in Dead by Daylight were censored (9:54, 13:37, 44:09, 44:58) and Alien Isolation had deaths censored as well. Both were criticized by fans as other playthroughs of the game did not censor anything.
"Slithering tentacle excites the furry in Dan" is an actual title for an episode
Old Game Grump clips are censored in "We watch ourselves get SCARED playing horror games!!!" compilation
​
PS5
Arin asks Sony on Twitter for a PS5 so he could play Demon Souls on Game Grumps. He received no response.
Seeing this, a fan sent Arin a PS5 and Arin gave him a shout out which netted him about 60 subs
It is unknown whether or not Arin paid the fan for the console or simply took it, but people were quick to point out that this is not the first time Arin accepted rare or expensive gifts from fans (Philip's CDI) and it isn't the first time he asked fans to send him things. (Pokemon cards in 2019 and expensive games in 2018, one of which being the Flintstones NES game worth about $500.)
Total games played with the PS5 on Game Grumps - 0
​
Mario Party 4 Playthrough
First instance of removal of episode numbers and Grump heads from thumbnails
Dan is the BOY OF THE HOUR! uploaded out of order as the previous day's episode. Then reuploaded as the next day's episode with an ad in front, before finally being fixed and uploaded as the right episode later in the day.
Due to playing on an emulator, Dan had massive input lag which Arin was unsympathetic about
​
Mario 35 Playthrough
After years of having a band focused around sex, encouraging PolyGrumps (Another), selling hypersexualized merch like Grump body pillows and rule 63 titty mouse pads, and allowing fans to put him in House Party, a literal sex game, Dan asks not to be in anymore fan made sexual content like fanfictions and asks for all of that to be taken down.
The next day, Game Grumps restocked the body pillows and Dan's sold out within a couple of minutes
​
Phasmopobia playthrough
In Part 1, the game crashed right at the end before getting an answer to the ghost type
​
Someone tells the behind the scenes story of the impromptu Wendy's meet up Arin did a few years ago
(The staff were tired and angry because) "how big of a rush it was, how scared the shift manager was about the city or cops coming by to shut it down/ cause a scene because you know, 500 people swarming a Wendy's breaks A LOT of ordinance codes. The workers who handled that day were champs, but it should not be brushed off how much they were screwed over that day. There was apparently trash everywhere, multiple complaints, and not to mention the cooks had to just keep shuffling out burgers because they didn't know how many people to expect or how massive it was going to be. None of it was city approved and it was a huge rush of customers that came in out of nowhere and a lot of employees weren't even prepared for it."
​
Game Grumps donates $7500 to Matpat's fundraiser for St Jude Children's Hospital
​
Arin complains about not getting a Wendy's gamer box
The box was for "Never Stop Gaming" a Twitch stream event and says so right on the box. Arin does not stream on Twitch nor was not part of the event.
​
Jingle Grumps
Another year of no Nightmare Before Christmas Grumps
Jingle Grump heads appeared in the thumbnail for one episode, the rest had either no Grump heads, or Arin and Dan's real faces
First three videos are labeled, Jingle Grumps 1, 2, and 3 respectively, but then stop at 3 and was later removed from the title.
​
Healing Horse Charity Stream
Arin streams Kingdom Hearts 2 for his mother's charity, healing horse charity. (The stream cuts off at the 12 hour mark thanks to YouTube limitations. When Arin was told about this, he ignored it, but someone was able to record the rest.)
The stream was advertised to be the entire game all in one sitting, but Arin stopped after 17 hours and said he would continue in January. The stream is still labeled as "IN ONE SITTING!"
Over $86,000 was raised
After some people raised questions about the legitimacy of the charity, people went looking on several charity checker websites to ensure that everything was in fact legitimate. The results came back inconclusive as the charity reportedly makes less than $50,000 a year, so it does not get a rating on most sites. However, when people searched for reviews of the charity, no one was able to find any reviews on any website, despite Healing Horse being open for 9 years, opening in 2011 and Arin claiming that they have helped hundreds of people. The one exception to this was their Facebook page which has received a total 15 reviews.
Questions were also raised about whether the charity was lying on their taxes, and/or that Game Grumps was pocketing some of the money donated. Currently, these claims can not be confirmed or denied. (WARNING: This gets very technical, but I'm going to lay out all the evidence.) 2016 is the year with the biggest paper trail, so that's the year we are going to look at. In 2016, Healing Horse Charity filled out Form 990-N stating that they made less than $50,000 in their Gross Receipts). According to the IRS, Gross Receipts are defined as the total amounts the organization received from all sources during its annual accounting period, without subtracting any costs or expenses and because Healing Horse is a non profit, over three years of age, according to the IRS, in order for the charity's gross receipts to be $50,000 or less, it needs to have averaged $50,000 or less in gross receipts for the immediately preceding 3 tax years (including the year for which calculations are being made), so 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. The gross receipts for Healing Horse Charity are confirmed $6,780 in 2013, and $45,006 in 2014. In 2015 Game Grumps raised over $70,000 and in 2016 raised over $65,000 (with Vernon stating over $68,000) and the actual number being $68,221.71. Added altogether this equals a little bit over $190,000, which is $10,00 shy from $200,000, as $200,000 divided by 4 would get an average of $50,000. However, this calculation only includes Game Grumps' donation and no other donations for the years 2015 and 2016, and going off the tax forms, they received $2,800 in 2011, $5,557 in 2012, and $6,780 in 2013, which averages out to more than $5,000 a year, and with two years in question, would put it over $200,000 and thus the $50,000 average mark. If this is the case, it would mean either that Healing Horse would be ineligible for Form 990-N, which is what they filed, or a portion of the money raised by Game Grumps is not making it to the charity (And without a receipt, just like the Real Good Touring fundraiser earlier in the year, it is impossible to know whether or not this is true. Not to mention that last year, someone who worked in the Grump office claimed that Arin has done illegal things with money.) If this is not the case though, then everything checks out. While the difference between more than $50,000 and less may not seem that big, other than the potential legal issues, the biggest difference is that any charity that averages over $50,000 must release their records to the public.
​
Game Grumps Animator talks about behind the scenes
An animator came forward and talked about some behind the scenes stuff working as a Game Grumps animator. According to them, every animator is given a one and a half month deadline per video, regardless of length, and for a two minute animation are paid $800 flat rate if they are new, and $1000 flat rate if they are returning, meaning they get none of the ad revenue. When they mentioned the price they were paid to their animator friends, every single one of them stated that this was way too low for the amount of content being produced, which collaborates with what someone revealed in their behind the scenes experience last year.
​
Year Ends
​
​
Throughout the year
Another year of fans asking for the Grumps to start a Patreon to no avail
Fans complaining about the poor quality of Ben's edits and constant uploading mistakes
Another year of not thanking fans for sending in games
Click Bait Titles and Thumbnails followed by the removal of "Game Grumps" from episode titles and Grump heads from thumbnails
Constant Ads for Raycon, Skillshare, Nord VPN, Etc
No make up or mention for the Game Grumps Garage sale despite promising something bigger and better
No more information on Starbos Cawffee or the other game they teased in 2019 (They announced three at pax 2019, Soviet Jump Game was one)
Constant complains with Playlists that got so out of control with missing, out of order, and deleted videos, they Game Grumps community was asked to help.
​
Constant Upload and Editing Errors
Multiple Title and/or Thumbnail changes for Game Grumps content. Sometimes more than once.
Sakura Santa Part 3 - Uploaded two days early, then set to private. Because of this, when it was re-released, it did not show up in people's sub box
Sakura Santa Part 3 - Censoring does not cover the first and last couple of frames
Twilight Princess Part 71 - Section that was supposed to be edited out was left in (25:58-28:09)
"Looking at a DECADE of photos of us" changed to "Looking at a DECADE of photos with my best friend"
January 23rd - No upload
Unpacking our show in OUR NEW OFFICE, We summon a ghost GF for Valentine's day, Making the FASTEST Hot Wheeels Car Possible, Making Nintendo-Themed PANCAKE ART, Playing DARE UNO with our own RULES, and Testing our PSYCHIC Abilities - All have video glitches in areas
Best of Undertale Part 3 - No thumbnail. This is apparently YouTube's fault, but was later changed
Chrono Trigger Part 1 - Released six days early with a thumbnail that says "Needs Thumbnail" and wrong title
Best of House Party Part 3 uploaded before Part 2
Scarlett Mysteries Part 4 - Asked for an edit at 11:38, but no edit
Trival Pursuit: Live! - Outro offsync
Sonic 2 Part 3 and 4 - Audio offsync
House Party Part 5 - Uploaded out of order as Part 4
Assasin's Creed Valhalla - Audio offsync
Link Between Worlds Part 16+ - Audio lost so post commentary
Sonic Shuffle Part 2 - uploaded early with the title and thumbnail for Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 instead
We watch popular Game Grumps Animations - Audio balancing issues at starting around 40 minutes (animations volume too low)
Majora's Mask Part 67 - uploaded as Part 4 - fixed three days later
Majora's Mask Part 72 - Audio offsync
Majora's Mask Part 73 - Fast Forward edit asked at 0:20 but no edit
Sept 11 - Double upload Super Bunny Man Part 7 and Magic Part 1 which was probably the upload for Sept 12 as nothing was uploaded that day
Mario Galaxy 2 Part 16 uploaded as part 4 - "Fixed" four days later where it was changed to part 13 eventually fixed to part 16
Mario Galaxy 2 Parts 16-18 uploaded before part 13
Stephanie get Inspired - over 6 minutes of footage that was supposed to be cut left in
Dan is the BOY OF THE HOUR! uploaded out of order as the previous day's episode. Then reuploaded as the next day's episode with an ad in front. Later fixed.
Danganronpa episode uploaded early spoiling a major plot point (Character death in chapter 2)
​
Game Grumps Employee's in 2020
Arin - Grump
Dan - Not so Grump
Ross - Gameoververse
Brian - NSP/Starbomb
Suzy - Arin's wife/Psychic Circle/Merch (Quit)
Ben - Game Grumps Editor
Tucker - Ten Minute Power Hour EditoCameraman
Allie - Social Media ManageAssistant Producer
Brent - Office Manager
Ike - WriteAssistant
Kris Boruff (Borf)- Stream Technician/Production Coordinator
Vernon - Creative Development/Dream Daddy/Real Good Touring
Stella - Real Good Touring
Gia? - Real Good Touring
Leighton - Dream Daddy Creator
Jory - Dream Daddy
Evan - Dream Daddy
Sina - Dream Daddy
Greg - Bootleg Dan/Dream Daddy/Head of game development
Eric - AnimatoMerch
Tyler - Dream Daddy
Thom - Soviet Jump Game
Kero - Soviet Jump Game
Quade - Soviet Jump Game
Barney - Soviet Jump Game
Thomas - Soviet Jump Game
Harrison - Soviet Jump Game
Alex L- Soviet Jump Game
Rami - Soviet Jump Game
Nick B- Soviet Jump Game
Darvell - Soviet Jump Game
Barney - Soviet Jump Game
Daniel - Soviet Jump Game
Sam - Soviet Jump Game
Bafe - Soviet Jump Game
Bryan - Soviet Jump Game
Amanda - Soviet Jump Game
Alex H - Soviet Jump Game
Rob - Social Media
Micheal - Editor
Eric - Merch Creative Director
Laura - Merch
Alex Y- Soviet Jump Game Music
Lindsay - Merch
David - Merch
Dexter - Merch
Terri - Merch
Juliet - Merch
Ellen - Merch
Samantha - Merch
Daniel - Merch
Sam - Merch
Jules - Merch
Darin - Merch
Steph - Merch
Laura - Merch
Amber - Gameoververse/Merch Design
Rachel - Artist/Merch
Paul - Ghost Hunter Adventure Club
Megan - Personal Assistant
Michael N - Animation
Lettie - Cleaner
Andreas - Power Hour couch warmer
Sarah(Nails and ASMR) - ???
Dean (Best MRE) - ???
??? - Dan's personal assistant
​
Numbers are fun
Top 5 Highest Monthly Views 2012-2014
  1. 55.53M (December 2014)
  2. 51.02M (August 2014)
  3. 47.16M (July 2014)
  4. 45.64M (November 2014)
  5. 45.33M (September 2014)
​
Top 5 Lowest Monthly Views 2012 -2014
  1. 11.98M (October 2012)
  2. 14.72M (September 2012)
  3. 15.10M (June 2012)
  4. 15.63M (August 2012)
  5. 18.21M (April 2012)
​
Top 5 Highest Monthly Views 2015 - 2020
  1. 104.43M (March 2016)
  2. 97.05M (January 2016)
  3. 95.78M (August 2016)
  4. 95.53M (April 2016)
  5. 93.81M (August 2015)
​
Top 10 Lowest Monthly Views 2015 - 2020
  1. 40.50M (December 2019)
  2. 40.70M (November 2019)
  3. 43.18M (December 2020)
  4. 43.24M (March 2020)
  5. 43.51M (Febuary 2020)
  6. 44.09M (October 2019)
  7. 44.54M (September 2019)
  8. 44.85M (January 2020)
  9. 53.83M (June 2020) - Added 50M for removed videos
  10. 54.65M (February 2019)
​
Top 5 Highest Monthly Subscribers of All Time
  1. 166.39K (March 2013)
  2. 128.27K (April 2013)
  3. 118.24K (December 2012)
  4. 99.68K (Febuary 2012)
  5. 95.78K (August 2018)
​
Top 10 Lowest Monthly Subscribers of All Time
  1. ~-12.17K (November 2019)
  2. ~6.00k (September 2019)
  3. ~8.21K (September 2020)
  4. ~8.40k (October 2019)
  5. ~9.39K (December 2019)
  6. ~10.15K (October 2020)
  7. ~10.89K (February 2020)
  8. ~12.78K (January 2020)
  9. ~13.00K (November 2020)
  10. ~13.42K (August 2020)
(The numbers for December 2020 can't be found accurately right now, but would currently take the number 8 spot if it could.)
​
2020 Overall Stats
Highest Monthly Views - 59.71M (May)
Lowest Monthly Views - 43.18M (December)
Highest Monthly Subscribers - ~23.10K (April)
Lowest Monthly Subscribers - ~8.21K (September)
Total Views - 658.81M (Down by 43% compared to 2016 and 21% compared to 2019)
Total Subscribers - ~181.42K (Down 80% compared to 2015 and 32% compared to 2019)
​
"We've reached the golden era of Game Grumps"
submitted by NotBlarg to rantgrumps [link] [comments]

How to legally(!) purchase non-food with SNAP (food stamps)

If you have low or no income, and you're in the U.S., make sure you're receiving SNAP, the program formerly known as food stamps that lets you buy food at stores using a card that has special food-only funds on it. You can apply for SNAP here. A single person with no children and no income can receive about $200 a month, depending on your state, but people with low income can still receive some benefits. SNAP can only buy food at stores. However, many stores have rewards programs that let you earn rewards from food purchases and then spend those rewards on non-food. Additionally, there are cash back apps that let you scan your receipts to earn money. You're still purchasing only food with SNAP, exactly as the program is intended, and you're also earning and redeeming rewards exactly as the rewards programs are intended. While this post will focus on the US, the general concept can apply to food assistance programs and rewards programs in other countries.
The stores that offer cash back on food purchases include Kroger (and possibly stores in your area that are owned by Kroger but called something else), Target, CVS, Rite Aid, and Safeway (and possibly Safeway sister stores in your area that are called something else). Generally, rewards can't be used to buy things like gift cards, stamps, bus tickets, lottery tickets, alcohol, tobacco, prescriptions, money services, or to pay for sales tax. But you can spend it on essentials like toiletries, baby products, cleaning supplies, pet food, and more. Here's a quick look at how each store's rewards work, and more about cash back apps. For additional ways to save, search the web for "How to save at [store name]." I don't think Walmart or Walgreens offer rewards on food, but let me know if I missed anything, and bookmark this post and add comments if you have any problems, find any other stores where this works, or figure out a pro tip that I haven't mentioned. I'll update the post.
EDIT: There's a version of this post that shows the rewards with images at homeless. Images aren't allowed here.

KROGER (AND OTHER STORES)

Kroger owns many regional grocery chains, so if there isn't a Kroger in your area, check this map (PDF) to see what stores they may own near you. Kroger offers cash rewards on certain products each week. To see those rewards, go to your local Kroger-owned store's website and click the menu at the top, then scroll toward the bottom of the menu and click "Savings," then click "Cash Back" for a page like this one for Kroger. On the left, check your shopping method (like "In-Store"), then for food, check all the food categories (this is tedious: Bakery, Baking Goods, Beverages, Breakfast, Candy, Canned & Packaged, Condiment & Sauces, Dairy, Deli, Frozen, Meat & Seafood, Natural & Organic, Pasta Sauces Grain, Produce, and Snacks.) To get the cash back, you have to log in and click "Get Cash Back" for each item you're interested in, then go buy it. When you click on that item, it will tell you how many times you can get cash back on it, such as 5 times. When you buy it, the cash will be added to your account, so make sure you're using your rewards account when you make the purchase. Once you've earned the cash rewards and want to use them, log in to your account and apply the rewards to your next purchase. Or, if you eventually earn $20 or more, you can cash it out to PayPal for actual cash. Buy your non-food separately from your food in order to apply your cash rewards to only your non-food. Coupons can't be combined with cash back items. For more tips, including how to save on gas, search the web for "How to save at Kroger."

TARGET

Target offers gift cards for purchasing certain products, but usually they're pretty stingy about gift cards for food. This week is a big exception. To see Target's gift card offers on food, go to Target's website, click "Categories" at the top, next click "Groceries" in the menu, then scroll down the menu and click "Grocery Deals" to land here. Scroll down to where you see a red $5 gift card logo and the red words "Free $5 gift card" to view hundreds of foods that qualify for a $5 gift card when you buy $20. There's a limit of one gift card per transaction, but no limit on the number of transactions for this particular offer, according to a customer service rep. I don't know if that's always the case. [EDIT: Target also has their Target Circle program, where you get 1% cash back onto your account on all purchases, and then you can spend that cash on anything in the store.] For more ways to save, search the web for "How to save at Target."

CVS

CVS is another chain that's usually stingy about rewards on food purchases, but this week they're offering a $10 gift card when you buy $30 of General Mills cereal, like Cheerios, Chex, Lucky Charms, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. However, at $1.99 each, that's 16 boxes, so you'll have to figure out in advance how you're going to carry it all. No other foods are in the promotion this week. There's a limit of one reward per household, so don't buy multiples of 16 boxes of cereal, you'll deplete the store and won't get any extra gift cards. For more ways to save, search the web for "How to save at CVS."

RITE AID

Rite Aid isn't in many states anymore after half of it was purchased by Walgreens, but they offer a good number of rewards on food each week. Go to Rite Aid's website, click the menu at the top, and scroll down the menu to click "Grocery" under Departments. Then scroll way down on the left of the page until you see "Deal Type," then check the box for "BonusCash" to see over 100 items with offers this week. Rewards tend to be along the lines of "$1 when you buy $5," "$2-3 when you buy $10," "$5 when you buy $15," or "$8 when you buy $20." In my experience, even if your store doesn't show the BonusCash tag on an item and/or the item is a different price than online, you still get the BonusCash. There's usually a limit of two rewards per category of item (like cereal) per promotion, and you can mix and match items within the same category to get the offer. It will say toward the bottom of your receipt when you've hit the limit for an item. Your BonusCash becomes available to use at 6 AM the next morning. You get to decide each time at checkout whether you want to apply your BonusCash to your purchase. Buy your non-food separately from your food to apply the BonusCash to only your non-food. For more ways to save, search the web for "How to save at Rite Aid."

SAFEWAY (AND OTHER STORES)

Safeway has many sister chains in different regions, so if there isn't a Safeway in your area, check this map.pdf) (PDF) to see what stores may be near you. While Safeway doesn't offer special cash rewards on specific food items, it has a general rewards program covering all purchases, and there are ways to make it worth more than the basic 1% rate. First, for every $1 you spend, you earn 1 point. This is calculated in whole dollars rounded down, so spending $4.96 will earn 4 points, but if you really want to get up to the next dollar, you can add a cheap item like a single jalapeño pepper, carrot, banana, ramen packet, or yogurt cup. 100 points = 1 reward, and 1 reward = $1 off. But 3 rewards = $4 off, 5 rewards = $7 off, and 7 rewards = $10 off. In addition, there are periodic special offers in the app, like 3X points on select products this month, or a personalized offer like 3 rewards (300 points) when you spend $60 (which totals 360 points, and remember 300 points = 3 rewards = $4 off). You can even combine offers, so with these two offers, if you buy $60 in 3X items, you get 180 + 300 = 480 points, which is nearly the 500 points that can be redeemed for $7 off. Always tap the "Add" button on an offer before you shop to make sure you get the offer. You have until the end of the next month after you've earned your reward to actually apply it to your next purchase, and your purchase has to be big enough to use the full amount or it won't apply and will be saved until whenever you make a big enough purchase. (But I've purchased a $9.99 item with a $10 reward and it applied and I was given a penny back, so there's a little wiggle room.) After you've clipped a reward, you have until the end of the next month to use it. So if you earn a reward in February, you'll have until the end of March to apply it, and until the end of April to use it. But if you have extra points left over at the end of the month that haven't earned a reward, you lose those points. Discounts will always be applied to food first, no matter what order a purchase is rung up in, so you can't buy $40 of food and $10 of non-food in a single purchase and get the $10 taken off the non-food. This rule also applies if you receive an offer for $5 off $20 or $10 off $50. For more tips, including how to save on gas, search the web for "How to save at Safeway."

CASH BACK APPS

Cash back apps generally work by showing you cash back offers on certain products, then you scan your receipt or link the cash back app to your store rewards account and you get paid in cash or gift cards. Some apps give you cash just for joining. There are way too many apps for me to review, but this is the most exhaustive list I've found. You can use multiple cash back apps together for maximum cash.
Again, let me know if I've missed anything, and bookmark this post and add comments if you have any problems, find any other stores where this works, or figure out a pro tip that I haven't mentioned. I'll update the post.
submitted by lexicographile to almosthomeless [link] [comments]

$1541+ Guaranteed- Webull, Public, M1, SoFi Money/Invest/Loans, FirstTrade, Voyager, Chase, Porte, Aspiration, One, Stash, Chime, Radius, Moomoo, Root, Robinhood, Worthy, Acorns, ChaseFreedom, DiscoverIT, PMCU, SkyOne, N26, Coinbase, PersCap,Constant,Celsius,Crypto.com,Wings,Oxygen,Round,Fetch,Raise

Hello! Many companies are trying to expand their market share, especially in the app space, by offering cash or cash-equivalent incentives to new users. If one company offers new users a free stock/cryptocurrency/etc., and a competitor doesn't, then the company with the referral program will gain more market share. This gives you the opportunity generate a nice chunk of change by signing up for a bunch of different apps.
I constantly search the web for the latest and greatest referral opportunities, and this is an up-to-date list I'm maintaining that details the best offers around right now! There are more than $1500 worth of offers on this page.
Please feel free to leave comments with any thoughts/questions! Gemini, Crypto.com, and N26 are worldwide offers, the rest are US only.

Stock Trading Apps/Websites

Banking Apps/Websites

Cryptocurrency Apps/Websites

Credit Cards

Other Offers

--Details on each offer below--

Stock Trading Apps/Websites-

Webull

Webull is a commission free stock trading platform/app which is giving out 2 free stocks (1 worth $2.50-$250, and 1 worth $8-$1600 each for depositing $100). That's a MINIMUM of $10.50 in free stock!
Webull is available on iOS and Android, or you can use their website.
Referral link- https://act.webull.com/kol-us/share.html?hl=en&inviteCode=PUnH4ruayL3j

Public

Public is another commission free stock trading app which gives you 1 stock worth $10 guaranteed (you get to pick a fraction of a share between stocks like Disney, Apple, Amazon, Tesla, etc.) for opening an account and making a $20 deposit. The way fractional shares work is, you get a piece of one of these stocks. You can still sell it or choose to sell it/hold it/it or whatever you wish, just like with a full share.
Available on iOS or Android only.
http://share.public.com/aruiu

M1 Finance

M1 Finance is an investing account, like Robinhood or Webull. If you open an account using a referral link, deposit $100 to a brokerage account, and keep that initial deposit in your account for 30 days, you will get a free $30 bonus that posts within 14 days.
M1 Finance is available on iOS and Android, or you can use their website.
https://m1.finance/J6aLCt6SRGdW

FirstTrade

FirstTrade is a commission-free stock trading app which gives you a free stock (valued up to $200) when you open an account via a referral link. No initial deposit is required. Additionally, they are running a short-term promo where you can get an additional 2 free stocks for depositing $100. The extra 2 stocks offer expires February 15th!
Available on iOS or Android only.
https://share.firstrade.com/MilaAQOK

Robinhood

Robinhood is a stock trading platform/app which gives you a free stock (valued $2.50 - $200) when you open an account via a referral link. No initial deposit is required.
Available on iOS and Android, or you can use their website.
https://invite.robinhood.com/amadeor3/

Moomoo

Moomoo is a commission free stock trading app which gives you 1 free stock (valued at $4-$200 each) for opening an account via a referral link and making a $100 deposit.
Moomoo is available on iOS or Android only.
https://j.moomoo.com/000LR3

Acorns

Acorns is an online investing app (iOS or Android) which is offering a free $5 bonus for simply opening an account via a referral link, depositing $5, and keeping the money in the account until the 15th of the following month. You can then withdraw the money and close the account, fee free!
If you keep the account longer, they may charge you a $3 fee, so be sure to close it after the 15th on the following month from when you signed up.
Acorns is available on iOS and Android, or you can use their website.
https://www.acorns.com/invite/TLBCPD/

Round

Round is an online auto-investing app (iOS only) which is offering a free $20 bonus for simply opening an account via a referral link and depositing $500. Alternatively, you can get $100 if you deposit $10,000.
Round is available on iOS only.
https://app.investround.com/inviteCode/amadeo-r360s0

SoFi Invest

SoFi gives $50 for anyone who signs up for a SoFi Invest account via a referral link and deposits $1000. This offer stacks with the SoFi Money $25 offer, so you can do both!
Plus, you can get another $25 cash bonus when you buy $10 or more of crypto like Bitcoin, Litecoin or Ethereum. That's a total of $75 cash bonuses with SoFi Invest!
https://www.sofi.com/share/invest/2498539

Personal Capital

Personal Capital is a finance tracking website similar to Mint but tailored for investment accounts. If you open an account and link a qualified investment account for tracking (e.g. taxable brokerage, 401k, IRA, 529, etc) with more than $1000 in it, they will give you a free $20 amazon gift card within a couple weeks.
Accounts that do not qualify as valid investment accounts include bank, credit or debit card, Paypal, Stash, Acorns, Kapitall, Groundfloor, WageWorks HSA, Coinbase, digital currency exchanges, and manual investment accounts. Robinhood works!
https://share.personalcapital.com/x/oGFEyl

Banking Apps/Websites-

SoFi Money

SoFi is a bank/app that give out $50 for anyone who signs up for a SoFi Money (bank) account using a referral code and deposits $500 from any source. So all you have to do is open an account with a referral link, deposit $500, and then instantly collect the bonus and then take it all back.
You can close the account at any time with no fees-
https://www.sofi.com/invite/money?gcp=e65d8ea1-fd35-40bc-b801-547c3fc6e749

Porte

Porte is a bank/app which pays you a $50 bonus for opening an account via a referral code, and making a $500 direct deposit. There are no catches, and you can close the account at any time fee free as soon as you register their debit card (gotta wait a few days to get it in the mail).
A "direct deposit" technically means that they want you to deposit the money right from payroll, Social Security, or other direct payment, but you can actually meet this requirement simply by transferring in $500 from virtually any source including bank accounts, cashapp, etc.
Referral link- https://portebanking.app.link/es7KK8Fb6

Chime

Chime is a bank/app which pays you a $75 bonus for opening an account via a referral code and making a $200 direct deposit. There are no catches, and you can close the account at any time fee free as soon as you register their debit card (gotta wait a few days to get it in the mail).
A "direct deposit" means that they want you to deposit the money right from payroll, Social Security, or other direct payment.
https://chime.com/milazadrozny

One Finance

One Finance is a banking app/website offering $50 for opening an account with a referral code and making a $250 direct deposit.
A "direct deposit" means that they want you to deposit the money right from payroll, Social Security, or other direct payment. They are completely fee free, and you can close your account and pocket the bonus quickly if you wish.
https://share.onefinance.com/invite/Amadeo6c7b8c22

Chase Bank

Chase Bank is offering $200 for opening a checking account with a referral code and making a $500 direct deposit. Can easily get around direct deposit requirement. Credits within a few days of meeting requirements.
A "direct deposit" means that they want you to deposit the money right from payroll, Social Security, or other direct payment.
https://accounts.chase.com/raf/share/2479514579

Wings

Wings Financial Credit Union is a bank offering $50 for opening a checking account, setting up eDocuments, and either doing 5 debit card transactions of $5 or more (anything counts, including Amazon GC reloads), OR a direct deposit of $300+ in 60 days.
No fees, can withdraw and close your account any time.
https://www.wingsfinancial/newcustform/109cb9ea

Aspiration

Aspiration is an online bank which is offering a free $50 bonus for simply opening an account via a referral link and spending $250.
So all you have to do is open a “Spend & Save” account using a referral link, spend $250/1000 using their debit card within 3 months, and then you will get $50 posted to your account! There are no fees to worry about! You can close the account fee free whenever you want!
https://my.aspiration.com/app/token/referral/232Y47KAE4OG8Y8W/

Stash

Stash is a finance app that gives out $20 for anyone who signs up for the Stash (bank) or Stash Invest account via my referral link and deposits at least $5 from any source (payroll, another bank account, PayPal, etc.) So all you have to do is open an account with a referral link, deposit $5, and then the bonus will post to your account!
The app will ask you to open a paid account, but you can simply open a "beginner" account for $1 a month, and then close your account after 1 month after you get your $20 bonus.
https://get.stashinvest.com/amadeowpr10

SkyOne

SkyOne is a credit union which will pay you a $25 bonus for opening a checking account with a referral link, making a $5 opening deposit, and keeping your account open for at least 30 days.
This credit union services the SoCal area, but anyone nationwide can sign up if you follow the steps detailed here. People are normally required to make a donation to a local charity to qualify for a local credit union bank account when they don't live in the area, but SkyOne will actually pay for a donation to the "Surfrider Foundation" themselves because they want everyone on the US to be eligible! In other words, you don't have to spend a dime! Simply click ("None of the above? We've got you! SkyOne will make a one-time donation to one of the following non-profits") on the eligibility page when signing up.
https://refer.skyone.org/amadeoruiu3

Premier Members Credit Union

Premier Members Credit Union is a credit union which will pay you a $50 bonus for opening a money market account with a referral link, and making a $5 opening deposit. They will also require you to open a savings account alongside the money market account, which also requires a $5 opening deposit.
They are located in Boulder Colorado, but will allow anyone to create an account with them as long as you make a $5 donation to one of their local charities (they walk you through it during account signup). That's a total profit of $45!
And you can close the account at any time, fee free!
referral link (please remember to use my referral code during the account setup too)- https://www.pmcu.org/referred-by-a-friend/VFVJEVQQQ/

Oxygen

Oxygen is a mobile banking app that will pay you $25 for opening an account, depositing $200, and doing 5 debit card transaction within 60 days (You can just buy 5 $1 Amazon GC's reloads, they don't care what the purchase is. Lots of different ways to easily get this). PM me for a link.

N26

N26 is a banking app (iOS/Android) which will pay you $10 for opening an account and spending $20 or more on a single purchase using their debit card.
The account has absolutely no fees and can be closed at any time. Account signup only takes a few minutes. You need to fund your N26 account from another bank with enough money to make the $20+ purchase. The debit card is shipped to you immediately after account signup. You receive the $10 bonus in the form of a statement credit. Available globally, not just the US.
N26 is available on iOS or Android only.
https://n26.com/amadeor4364

Radius

Radius is a bank which pays you a $50 bonus for opening an account via a referral code and making a $500 deposit from any source. There are no catches, and you can close the account at any time fee free. You need to keep your account open for at least 90 days after depositing the $500, and keep the $500 in there for at least 60 days to be eligible to keep the bonus. So in other words, you can open the account, deposit $500, leave it in there for 60 days, then withdraw the $500 if you wish, and keep the account open for at least another 30 days to get the $50 bonus.
You need to enter my referral code when prompted during account signup top get the bonus, its TLAM9428D4.
You can see referral terms in the FAQ at the bottom of the page, even though the landing page for the referral link does not do a great job advertising it.
https://open.radiusbank.com/?utm_source=referafriend&utm_medium=narmi&promocode=9umylb

Cryptocurrency Apps/Websites

Voyager

Voyager is a cryptocurrency trading app (iOS/Android only) which will pay you $25 in free bitcoin for trading $100 on the app! Make sure to use the referral code "RAY037" in the “Reward Code” field when you create your account. The bonus posts within a couple of days, from my experience.
Referral link (open from your smart phone)-
iOS- https://apps.apple.com/us/app/voyager-buy-bitcoin-crypto/id1396178579
Android- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.investvoyager

Gemini

Gemini is a cryptocurrency trading app/website which will give you $10 worth of bitcoin for signing up using a referral link and buying/selling $100 worth of cryptocurrency.
Available globally, not just the US. This bonus posts VERY quickly, within a day or two.
https://gemini.com/share/rllzke26

Coinbase

Coinbase is a cryptocurrency trading platform which will pay you $10 in free bitcoin for trading $100 on the platform!
https://www.coinbase.com/join/ruiu_8
They will also give you $9 worth of the "Compound" cryptocurrency (which can be immediately re-sold for cash) if you watch 3 short videos and answer 3 easy questions.
https://coinbase.com.earn.comp.invite.9x21smry
In addition, they will give you $12 worth of the "Orchid" cryptocurrency (which can be immediately re-sold for cash) if you watch 3 short videos and answer 3 easy questions.
https://coinbase.com/earn/oxt/invite/t0wvs4k2

Constant

Constant is a cryptocurrency P2P investing platform which will give you $10 for signing up using a referral link, verifying your ID (pass KYC), and depositing $10.
So all you have to do is open an account using a referral link, verify your ID, deposit $10 via any means, and then you will get a $10 bonus that posts instantly and you can withdraw to your bank immediately. No deposit required.
https://www.myconstant.com?r=annoyedproduct

Celsius

Celsius is a cryptocurrency investing platform which will give you $40 for signing up using a referral link, enter the promo code "web40", and depositing $200 worth of cryptocurrency. You must keep your deposit in the app for 30 days to get the full $40 bonus. You can then withdraw the full $240 and close your account fee free. Available globally, not just the US.

Crypto.com

Crypto.com is a cryptocurrency investing platform which will give you $25 for signing up using a referral link, and "staking (aka, buying and holding) 5000 CRO (their special cryptocurrency, worth approximately $370) for 6 months. You need to apply for their "Ruby Steel" debit card when applying, its a 0 risk debit card, no credit impact, no fees. Combo's well with the Celsius promo if you need a platform to send cryptocurrency from, and you can send the $25 bonus crypto to celsius instantly.
Available globally, not just the US.

Credit Cards-

Chase Freedom

Chase will pay you $200 for signing up for a Chase Freedom Unlimited or Freedom Flex credit card with a referral link and spending $500 it within the first 3 months. This is one of the best credit card bonuses in the industry!
All you have to do is sign up for a Chase Freedom Unlimited or Freedom Flex credit card using my referral link, spend $500 within the first 3 months, and then get your $200! You can cancel the card at any time with no fees or penalties.
https://www.referyourchasecard.com/18/ONLMEFPEFJ

Discover IT

Discover will pay you $50 for signing up for a Discover IT credit card with a referral link and making ANY purchase using it within the first 3 months. This is one of the easiest credit card bonuses in the industry!
All you have to do is sign up for a Discover IT credit card using my referral link, make ANY purchase using it within the first 3 months, and then get your $50! You can cancel the card at any time fee free.
https://refer.discover.com/s/hhti4m

Other Offers-

Root

Root is an auto insurance app(iOS/Android) that will pay you $25 to download their app, let it track your driving for 3-4 weeks, and then offer you an auto insurance policy based on your driving data. You can easily ignore their policy offer, take the bonus, and walk away with the $25 bonus which then then go to your PayPal account, sent as a check, etc.
https://rootbonus.com/AmadeoRuiu

Worthy Bonds

Worthy Bonds is a finance app(iOS/Android) that will give you a free $10 bond to download their app, and open an account using a referral code. You never have to deposit any money into the account to get the bonus. You can sell the bond and take out the money after 90 days. The bond will also earn 5% yearly interest while you wait to withdraw.
The app may give you a popup saying the bonds are sold out (its a page with a celebratory emoji that pops up). I got this too. They make this popup because they sold out of a certain type of community bond, but have replaced it with a new one for referrals. In other words, you will still get your free bond. Just make sure you hit "next steps", set your initial purchase and monthly contributions to $0, and proceed. It should then credit the free bond immediately.
https://worthybonds.com/?r=etyji

SoFi Loans

SoFi Loans is offering a free $10 just for checking your personal loan or student loan refinance rate options with SoFi. You can also get an extra $300 if you like their offer and decide to actually take it, but you can also just ignore the offer and keep the $10 if you wish!
You should research the pros and cons of student loan refinancing before you consider this option. You can lower your interest rate, but lose some benefits from the federal government. Whether this is worth it to you will depend on individual circumstances.
Personal Loan: https://www.sofi.com/invite/personal-loans/?gcp=bf4f78eb-3e5a-4419-b72c
Student Loan Refinance: https://www.sofi.com/invite/student-loans/?gcp=183a665b-be7a-45ac-9d5f

Fetch

Fetch Rewards pays roughly 5 to 10 cents (7.5 cents on average) for most receipt scanned. Accepts e-receipts if you connect your email/Amazon. Can scan up to 28 receipts in any given 7 day period. $3 minimum payout.
They also give a $2 bonus for signing up using a referral code (open this link from your phone).
https://fetchrewards.onelink.me/vvv3/referraltext?code=JU1GW

Raise

Raise is a discount gift card website, that offers a $5 credit towards your first gift card if you sign up using a referral code. They have gift cards like Amazon or Uber on their site, so its pretty easy to find something you would have needed anyway.
www.sofi.com/share/2498539?src=copy
Thank you for checking out my referral post! As you can probably tell, I spend a lot of time searching the web for referral offers. If you would like, feel free to sign up for my mailing list and I will send new referrals that I come across directly to your inbox.
https://mailchi.mp/c52908afbf15/moneywhisperers-latest-finance-tips-latest-finds
I've also put together a small blog with finance tips and tricks I've learned over the years. If you're potentially interested, here's a link to it.
https://www.youngmoneywhisperer.com/home
submitted by TylerLozano to referralcodes [link] [comments]

best apps to get money back from receipts video

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best apps to get money back from receipts

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