Sarah.ccz

I help you become overly educated & financially responsible in your 20s
🌱grad school • student finance
🎓PhD Psych student
📍Toronto
contactsarahccz@gmail.com

01/26/2026

Things no one explicitly tells you about getting your first credit card as a student!

When I got my first credit card, I didn’t know which one to choose from, what to look out for, let alone how to pay my balances (”what even is a balance?!”). So I hope some of these things help you get more familiar with credit cards 💳🙌

Let me know if there’s anything else I missed! I’m sure there’s lots of good ones out there :)

1. Visa vs Mastercard
2. Understand how a credit card works & your purpose of getting a cc before getting one
3. Understand the finance terminologies around credit cards
4. Paying balance in full
5. Call up cc to get your billing cycle changed (yes — you can do this!)

01/25/2026

Got a last minute second TAship this semester, so I was a little late to the game setting up my budget. But here’s how I’m allocating my money for the next 4 winter semester months as a PhD student living in Toronto!

As PhD students in our program/school, we can get up to 3 TAships per year (1 more than MA students). Taking 2 TAships this semester means that for the summer months, I won’t get paid, so the second TA income goes straight into my summer fund account — EQ’s HISA (currently 2.75%).

01/14/2026

Some of the “best investments” I consider I made last year!

They weren’t things that costed a lot (like perhaps laser hair removal, which I’m still waiting to reap the benefits of), but things that have made my daily life — personally, academically, and financially easier & better!

I’m now trying to draft up a list of “investments” (whether that’s actually monetary values things, time, energy, system, places, or people) I want to make this year. One of which is forming a healthy relationship with social media use with strategic actions.

What are some great investments you’ve made the past year that have improved your daily life?

01/03/2026

The past year as a MA/PhD1 student 👩‍🎓📝

I don’t think academia is the kindest place for everyone, so when obstacles emerge, it’s your family, friends & colleagues that catch you. I’m grateful for those that supported me this past year.

I was reminded of what my friend once told me, which got me through the hard times: “God will only give you as much as you can handle.“

If you weren’t ready, the opportunities and challenges wouldn’t come.

You are right where you need to be. ♥️

Excited to see how I’d deal with new challenges this year.

And if it gets too overwhelming, I could always change my identity and move to Mexico…

Happy New Year everyone! 🎉

Sarah :)

12/31/2025

The holidays look a little different for me this year, since I didn’t fly back to Nova Scotia for Christmas. However, my sister came to spend the break with me.

Aside from stumbling on 2 affordable Michelin starred restaurants (really good!), the past two weeks had mainly been me grading (got 3 papers left! and a few iffy ones iykwim…). But we manage to visit Riverdale Farm on the East side of Toronto on Christmas Eve. My top three are the horses, goats, and ducks.

📍Riverdale Farm
201 Wi******er Street,
Toronto, ON M4X 1B8
Free to visit
Open 9-5pm year round

̇nmylife

12/24/2025

Definitely not the “Sunday meal prep” videos we all see online. Though I’d love to have matching containers with 3 meals prepped for 7 days, that is just not realistic for my routine/diet.

I found that prepping one to two reheatable and easy to grab meals at the start of the week really helps. It also helps that I don’t crave variety (not sure if that’s a good thing or not), so repeated meals are very common.

👉 I usually construct my meals with the structure of having 1 protein, 1 vegetable, and 1 carb/base. Very very simple.

Some current rotations:
▪️Breakfast — quinoa porridge, scrambled eggs
▪️Lunch/Dinner — chilli, bean stew, boiled veggies w/ some protein and rice

(Humm I really do need some variety here don’t I…😂)

12/23/2025

Definitely not the “Sunday meal prep” videos we all see online. Though I’d love to have matching containers with 3 meals prepped for 7 days, that is just not realistic for my routine/diet.

I found that prepping one to two reheatable and easy to grab meals at the start of the week really helps. It also helps that I don’t crave variety (not sure if that’s a good thing or not), so repeated meals are very common.

Some current rotations:
▪️Breakfast — quinoa porridge, scrambled eggs
▪️Lunch/Dinner — chilli, bean stew, boiled veggies w/ some protein and rice

(Humm I really do need some variety here don’t I…😂)

Address

Yorkville, ON

Website

https://linktr.ee/sarah.ccz

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