If you go to the website, it only has a page that says this:
"Thank you, and goodbye.
Mischief Academy is closing. We're grateful to everyone who gave our scents a home."
The Instagram account is gone as well. Does anyone know what happened?
I was very sedentary the year following my college graduation since I no longer had my student access to the "free" campus gym. But as of the past few months, I'm now paying $125/month for a membership to a local dance studio because I know that, realistically, these classes are the only way I'll consistently exercise. ($125 is just the monthly average; I paid for multiple months upfront because it was cheaper than doing a regular month-to-month membership.)
I'm curious to know what your monthly spend is like! I thought this was on the pricier side, but my mom and I were comparing the prices to a Pure Barre studio she got an ad for, and the Pure Barre studio was actually quite a bit more expensive.
There are also the "start-up" costs of buying activewear, appropriate footwear, etc. Thus far, that's averaged out to be about $150/month. However, once I get appropriately stocked (which will probably happen by the end of the year), I don't anticipate buying anything else maybe more than once a year. After all, I've got activewear that's in the rotation all the way from high school, lol.
I do not like cooking, but I dislike spending money on food even more. I'm actually really proud of how little I spend on food. Even though I can have a hectic work schedule, I rarely buy lunch/dinner at work. As such, I'm a big fan of meals that are very easy to make at home.
Here are a few of mine, and I'd love to know yours as well! I've organized mine from most effort to least effort required.
Requires real cooking but is very easy:
Chinese stir-fry tomatoes and scrambled eggs (西红柿炒鸡蛋): All in one pan, I stir-fry onions, then stir-fry tomatoes, then scramble the eggs at the end. Eat with rice. I think you're "supposed to" half-cook the eggs first, then do the tomatoes, then finish scrambling the eggs with the cooked tomatoes. That's too much effort for me lol, but I've always felt like my method is perfectly fine.
There are a million recipes/tutorials out there because this is a classic Chinese dish, but you can use any combo of soy sauce, oyster sauce, cooking wine, etc. that your heart desires.
Requires assembly but no cooking:
Tinned fish and no-prep vegetable: I often do this when I need to pack my lunch for work but don't have any leftovers (or time to make anything). I usually at least have leftover rice in my fridge, so I pack rice, tinned sardines, and some sort of vegetable that doesn't require any prep, like kimchi (which I eat with the rice/fish) or baby carrots and dressing/dip (which I eat separately). Sesame seeds and some sort of sauce like Sriracha can help it feel like more of a "real" meal.
No cooking and no assembly:
I always keep a stash of microwavable meals for the days I'm really in the trenches. I stock up when there's a sale. Lean Cuisine-type of meals are generally not filling enough for an entire meal, so I also pack Greek yogurt and a fruit.
I just watched this super interesting video from a woman who lost her corporate job making $75k a year and finally found a new (part-time job) at a dog kennel for $15/hour. It touches on a lot of super timely topics, like going to college just for the sake of going to college without any thought to how that translates into a career, this awful job market (even for low-paying service/retail jobs), how AI is impacting the workforce, etc.
One thing I really like that she touched on is how physically demanding her dog kennel job is. Online, people LOVE to shit on college and encourage everybody to go into trades, but people neglect to think about how tough that type of career is on your body in the long-term.
Now that we are halfway through 2026, I'd love for everybody to reflect on the state of their personal finances with me!
Some questions to ponder to help you get thinking:
I graduated last May and started working full-time in August. In comparing my net worth, particularly my 401k balance, to last summer, it's really incredible to see how much it has been able to grow now that I have a full-time income. My 401k balance at the end of June 2025 was about $500, which is close to how much I now contribute to my 401k in a single week. I'm really proud of how much I have focused on saving/investing at my age, especially before I actually have to start paying for my own insurance lol.
One of my goals for 2026 was to donate at least $1000 to nonprofits (in comparison to the $575 I donated in 2025). I'm at $600 so far, so I'm on track!
Through the rest of the year, the only thing I really want to change is to spend less money on my hobby stuff (namely beauty/fashion). I feel like I've just been buying too much stuff.