Day Three 6 a.m. — Wake up and check my email for any urgent issues from the European or Asian teams. Nothing pressing, so I sleep in until 8:30 a.m. Then, I start doing a little work from home. Grab some French press cold brew pu-erh black tea from the fridge to wake up.

11 a.m. — Take the subway to work. This might seem late, but I've been working from home for the past few hours. While my company has a big office here in NYC, the vast majority of my department is on the West Coast with additional smaller teams in Asia and Europe. My boss is incredibly flexible, so I can work from offices in other cities or from home when I need to.

2 p.m. — I'm starving. The problem with working on a West Coast schedule is that weekly meetings scheduled for morning Pacific time tend to correspond with lunchtime in New York. Usually, it's fine, and eating at 11:30 a.m. or after 2 p.m. also allows me to avoid the massive lines at prime lunchtime. I debate fresh&co vs. Xian Famous Foods and give in to unhealthy Chinese food, since I know I have a healthy veggie dinner tonight. I get spicy cumin lamb noodles and cucumber salad. $16.88

3:30 p.m. — Feeling a bit lethargic, so I grab some more tea that I had brewed overnight from the office fridge. I usually have 2-to-3 quarts cold-brewing between work and home, since it'll keep for a few days and you never know when you need a little more caffeine. This time, it's a lavender Earl Grey blend, which smells divine. I really love how tea smells, but I don't love the astringent/bitter tannins in hot tea. Cold tea is naturally milder and sweeter.

5 p.m. — I've been looking for some cheap e-books to read on the beach. There are versions of classics that you can pick up for free or for very cheap if you are looking for a particular translation. I bought The Count of Monte Cristo in French for free and in English for less than $1 on Amazon! $0.99

7:45 p.m. — I leave the office after my last call and take the subway to the cheap massage place near my apartment. I get massages about twice a month and have found a couple of great cheap Chinese massage places in West Village and Flatiron that offer one-hour massages for $39. This time, I try someone other than my regular guy, which was a bad call. Most of the massage is fine until he tries to do some sort of spinal twisting which left me with a sharp pain in my lower back. Normally, I would tip an extra $21 to bring it to an even $60, but this pain can't go ignored. The rest of the massage was fine until the twisting, so overall, I pay $50.

9:15 p.m. — I go home and have my leftovers from a couple of days ago while watching Vikings on Prime Video.

Daily Total: $67.87