Salary vs Lifestyle

Most of the time, they don’t align.

The Pyramid of Luxuries

The Bespoke - $1,000 Groceries Gift Card

The Ultra High End - $100 Favorite Beverage Shop Gift Card

The Superpremium - Kate Wiser

The Premium Core - Smokin’ Ed’s Unique Garlique

The Accessible Core - Salary vs Lifestyle

The Affordable Luxury - Food Social?

The Everyday Luxury - Charity Event

The Bespoke

Click on the banner to enter The Bespoke Photo Contest. Click here for the Official Contest Rules.

• Prize: $1,000 Grocery Gift Card [ARV $1,000]

• Odds: For every 130 Ducky Tran premium member by the time of judging, I will give out one (1) Grocery gift card

• Contest Period: September 4, 2024 at 10 AM CST to October 1, 2024 at 10 PM CST

The Ultra High End

Previous Contest Winner

The winner of Issue 42 Ultra High End Contest is TAYLOR from RICHARDSON, TEXAS! Here’s her submission for “a chore you want to get rid of”:

Congratulations TAYLOR, you won $100 “To the Movies” Gift Card! Time to ignore the dishes and go see a movie! Check out the other submissions of things that are scary:

As I was going through all the submissions, I thought this was for the favorite tool. Then I realized, everyone no longer wants to sweep or do dishes. I’m with you but then again, the Asian broom is a mighty fine tool.

This Week’s Contest

Click on the banner to enter The Ultra High End Photo Contest. Click here for the Official Contest Rules.

• Prize: $100 “Favorite Beverage Shop” Gift Card [ARV $100]

• Odds: For every 70 Ducky Tran premium members by the time of judging, I will give out a gift card to your favorite beverage shop

• Contest Period: September 11, 2024 at 10 AM CST to September 17, 2024 at 10 PM CST

I always try to find prizes that are universal or easily accessible because of the members that are from different parts of the country. I was originally going to have Starbucks gift cards as a prize but then I realized, I don’t even like Starbucks or drink coffee. So, this week, I have a generic, your favorite beverage shop gift card as a prize.

This week’s focus is financial wealth and what says financially stable as a $8 cup of coffee! Jokes aside, I’ve always believed paying more than a dollar or two for coffee, tea, or water was always too expensive. However, convenience, inflation, and social events have made it impossible to ignore. So, if you’re going to spend the money anyways, at least spend it at a place you like. If you win, you’ll receive $100 to your favorite place to grab a drink, even if it’s just water (“fancy water”).

The Superpremium

This week’s Superpremium topic is Kate Wiser Chocolate. This is not my favorite chocolate shop, but it is my wife’s favorite; therefore, it is my favorite. When you receive a box of chocolates for a gift, this is the kind you want to receive. They are all works of art that make you second guess if you’ve taken enough pictures before you indulge. After 10 pictures, you realize how much you spent on them and so you take 10 more pictures.

Every creation is unique and fancy, but mostly importantly taste fancy. I love the unique flavors that set them apart from the generic milk, white, and dark chocolate bars. The best part is the reaction and fun the recipient has going through the box and taking pictures.

When we first tried Kate Wiser chocolates, we played a chocolate roulette game that requires us to guess the flavors we are fed by the other. Assuming you have no allergies, this is always a fun game with a new box of chocolates. It removes the bias you may have for specific flavors and refines your fancy palette, from basil to hazelnut or strawberry to cardamom.

If you don’t like chocolates, they do pretzel toffee and pecan brittle also. You can expect Kate Wiser Chocolate to be a future prize as it will be a delight to share it with all the members of Ducky Tran.

The Premium Core

I don’t remember if I have ever mentioned it in the last 42 issues, but I love spicy food! I love it enough to be excited when I saw Smokin’ Ed’s Hot Sauce at Costco. Smokin’ Ed Currie is the creator of the Carolina Reaper and Pepper X, the hottest chili pepper in the world.

From his hot sauce pack that I bought, I have a favorite, the Unique Garlique. The amount of garlic in this sauce is appalling, in a good way. However, I have to put a warning.

WARNING: This hot sauce is so hot, it will boil your toilet water! This hot sauce is so hot, it will give you a fever! This hot sauce is so hot, one dab is enough for a taqueria for the whole day!

Jokes aside, it’s hot, so proceed with caution!

Deal #1: I am giving out up to 5 bottles of Unique Garlique to the first 5 members that email me and let me know what the spiciest thing you’ve eaten is via [email protected]. PLEASE only email me if you can eat spicy food, otherwise, you’ll regret it.

The Accessible Core

Salary vs Lifestyle

It is probably surprising to you anymore, but the majority of the population currently lives paycheck to paycheck. With approximately 54-74% of people in different generations feel like they are living paycheck to paycheck. There are obvious ways to remove some of the spendings and save some money, but the difficulty tends to be finding a way to make additional income.

My Caveats:

1. Nothing comes for free, even air may come in varied quality or have different health effects.

2. Side gigs are just that, a gig on the side so don’t expect it to pay more than your full-time job unless you spend a full-time amount on it.

3. Because it makes money doesn’t mean it’s a good way, fun way, or the way.

Many times, the wage/salary we make doesn’t allow us to live the lifestyle we would want. Or worst, we picture our lifestyle through someone else’s salary so it’s unreachable. Instead, we should live our lives and work to improve ourselves and enjoy the current lifestyle we can afford. As we grow and earn more, we can develop our lifestyles rather than trade it out for another.

Members have asked for ways to make some additional income, so let me give you some unique ways that can earn you an additional $100/week. From these ways, you can develop yourself to make it a full-time job or have a bigger savings.

1. If you can pick up the phone or email. Find, contact, and keep connected with realtors in your area. Sell a variety of frozen cookies on a disposable cookie sheet that they can slide into the oven and throw away when their open house is over. $20/tray with 5 showings a weekend would make you $100/weekly.

2. If you’re handy and can mow the lawn. Talk to your surrounding neighbors that have lawn service. Offer to cut all their lawns weekly with your own lawn for $20. Including your own lawn, 6 lawns would get you $100/weekly.

3. If you like animals. Pet-sitting or pet-walking. You can do this through Rover or in your neighborhood chat group. Walk a dog each weekday and you’ll earn at least $100/weekly.

4. If you can actually use some tools. Find free furniture on Facebook marketplace, Craigslist, or neighborhood garage sale page. You don’t need to restore, just clean it up, screws/nails, paint and post it. You can earn $100/piece/weekly.

5. If you are afraid of needles. Sell your plasma. Some are afraid of this, but you can visit hhs.gov for more information. It’s considered safe if you meet the criteria set here. You can earn $100/weekly.

You can do one or all of these side gigs and improve your financial wealth; however, remember the purpose you are doing it. It should be equal to the time you are giving up and the lifestyle you desire.

The Affordable Luxury

Issue 42 Community Poll Results

Here’s the results from last week:

1. This surprised me, I thought I would see a more even split. However, it was a 25/75 split between $150K/year with $300K in debt vs $80K/year with no debt. I don’t think the salary is anything of focus, but that debt is more painful for some vs others since both salaries are pretty decent.

2. Most of you believe you would make the most money from talking or sleeping if paid for it. Both of them share 60% of the votes beating out walking and eating. I think I would make the most money walking.

3. TRIVIA question: In 2024, what is the income needed to live comfortably in a major city in America. 50% got the correct answer: $96,500. Personally, that feels extremely high. It’s quite sad that it’s become so unattainable to just be comfortable.

This Week’s Community Poll

Here are this week’s poll questions:

The Everyday Luxury

I want to a charitable event for the upcoming season, near Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas time. If you have any, please send me some ideas that could benefit the community around you or that you know of. Send ideas to [email protected].

(The referral program is only viewable on the email version of the newsletter.)

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