Best QOL purchases while in BigLaw? Forum

[beepz]

My spouse and I are trying to figure out the best things to outsource/upgrade to make life easier. Both in BigLaw so not much time between us.

We have cleaners come twice a month, which is definitely worth it. Thinking about buying the fanciest Roomba to supplement so we never have to vacuum. We typically do yard work but are thinking about switching to a company to do yard maintenance twice a month. We eat out a lot now and I would like to try one of the meal companies where you just pop meals in the microwave or oven. We've done Blue Apron in the past but found that it ended up being too much work when both of us were busy.

What were some of the best purchases you made to make life easier? Is there anything you tried that wasn't worth the money?

[hugerez]

Robo vacuum is not a substitute for real vacuum. It's something to hold you over until your actual vacuum day.

Airdresser by Samsung is a great product. It is a semi-dry cleaning machine that sanitizes and keeps clothes fresh between washes/dry cleaning. It is NOT a dry cleaner substitute.

That said, I would maximize savings while in biglaw with or without debt. It generally does not last for most people and any other job will likely be a pay cut.

[LBJ's Hair]

- Premium office chair
- Housekeeper
- Moving to a quiet NY neighborhood (rent is lower, area is convenient, just known as "boring")
- Lululemon athleisure

Still looking for a decent meal service -- did Freshly, s/o didn't love it. And Blue Apron etc don't actually cook the food, which is what we're looking for.

If anyone has a Freshly replacement, would love to hear about it

[Anonymous User]

- Premium office chair
- Housekeeper
- Moving to a quiet NY neighborhood (rent is lower, area is convenient, just known as "boring")
- Lululemon athleisure

Still looking for a decent meal service -- did Freshly, s/o didn't love it. And Blue Apron etc don't actually cook the food, which is what we're looking for.

If anyone has a Freshly replacement, would love to hear about it

Any suggestions for neighborhoods

[Anonymous User]

We have a cleaning service that comes twice a month, but the best thing I have done is hire a “personal assistant” of sorts. She comes twice a week on the two days I have started going into the office, and she walks my pup and does all the crap that I just don’t want to spend my limited free time doing. She unloads the dishwasher, folds the laundry and washes the sheets/towels, picks up my prescriptions, opens packages and breaks down the boxes, gets my mail, washes my makeup brushes, etc. It saves me a ton of time but more importantly a lot of mental energy that I generally have to expend thinking about all of this other life crap.

[beepz]

We have a cleaning service that comes twice a month, but the best thing I have done is hire a “personal assistant” of sorts. She comes twice a week on the two days I have started going into the office, and she walks my pup and does all the crap that I just don’t want to spend my limited free time doing. She unloads the dishwasher, folds the laundry and washes the sheets/towels, picks up my prescriptions, opens packages and breaks down the boxes, gets my mail, washes my makeup brushes, etc. It saves me a ton of time but more importantly a lot of mental energy that I generally have to expend thinking about all of this other life crap.

That sounds amazing. We have dogs so that's another issue now that we are going back to the office. How did you find her? And how much does a service like that cost?

[thelawyerguy]

We have a cleaning service that comes twice a month, but the best thing I have done is hire a “personal assistant” of sorts. She comes twice a week on the two days I have started going into the office, and she walks my pup and does all the crap that I just don’t want to spend my limited free time doing. She unloads the dishwasher, folds the laundry and washes the sheets/towels, picks up my prescriptions, opens packages and breaks down the boxes, gets my mail, washes my makeup brushes, etc. It saves me a ton of time but more importantly a lot of mental energy that I generally have to expend thinking about all of this other life crap.

That sounds amazing. We have dogs so that's another issue now that we are going back to the office. How did you find her? And how much does a service like that cost?

Same question - I need someone like that. How did you find the person/approximate cost?

[blair.waldorf]

We have a cleaning service that comes twice a month, but the best thing I have done is hire a “personal assistant” of sorts. She comes twice a week on the two days I have started going into the office, and she walks my pup and does all the crap that I just don’t want to spend my limited free time doing. She unloads the dishwasher, folds the laundry and washes the sheets/towels, picks up my prescriptions, opens packages and breaks down the boxes, gets my mail, washes my makeup brushes, etc. It saves me a ton of time but more importantly a lot of mental energy that I generally have to expend thinking about all of this other life crap.

That sounds amazing. We have dogs so that's another issue now that we are going back to the office. How did you find her? And how much does a service like that cost?

Same question - I need someone like that. How did you find the person/approximate cost?

Accidental anon. I found her on care.com. She had lots of great references.

I pay her $22/hour but I’m in a low COL area. She probably works like six hours a week for me.

[jotarokujo]

Still looking for a decent meal service -- did Freshly, s/o didn't love it. And Blue Apron etc don't actually cook the food, which is what we're looking for.

If anyone has a Freshly replacement, would love to hear about it

blue apron is pretty fast to cook

[Anonymous User]

- Premium office chair
- Housekeeper
- Moving to a quiet NY neighborhood (rent is lower, area is convenient, just known as "boring")
- Lululemon athleisure

Still looking for a decent meal service -- did Freshly, s/o didn't love it. And Blue Apron etc don't actually cook the food, which is what we're looking for.

If anyone has a Freshly replacement, would love to hear about it

If you're in the NYC, check out Jennie's Kitchen (https://www.jennieskitchennyc.com/). It's all prepared food that you just pop in the microwave or oven and can throw together in under 15 minutes. Similarly priced to Blue Apron - I recommend getting "Larges" of the entrees which, at $40, can usually stretch to 4 meals.

It was a lifesaver when we had a newborn, and a lot of the food is good for toddlers too.

[Jchance]

That said, I would maximize savings while in biglaw with or without debt. It generally does not last for most people and any other job will likely be a pay cut.

+1, then FI/RE

[LBJ's Hair]

If you're in the NYC, check out Jennie's Kitchen (https://www.jennieskitchennyc.com/). It's all prepared food that you just pop in the microwave or oven and can throw together in under 15 minutes. Similarly priced to Blue Apron - I recommend getting "Larges" of the entrees which, at $40, can usually stretch to 4 meals.

It was a lifesaver when we had a newborn, and a lot of the food is good for toddlers too.

We are. Killer rec, ty Anon

[LBJ's Hair]

Any suggestions for neighborhoods

If you're patient there's good value in UES, UWS, LIC. Not places a 26 Y/O single guy would think are "cool," but reasonable commute + quiet.

[beepz]

That said, I would maximize savings while in biglaw with or without debt. It generally does not last for most people and any other job will likely be a pay cut.

+1, then FI/RE

We are definitely planning to FIRE (preferably FatFIRE) and are not big spenders currently. But at this point if spending some $ on quality of life improvements makes us happier and extends our time working, it is definitely worth it at our current income.

[jotarokujo]

That said, I would maximize savings while in biglaw with or without debt. It generally does not last for most people and any other job will likely be a pay cut.

+1, then FI/RE

We are definitely planning to FIRE (preferably FatFIRE) and are not big spenders currently. But at this point if spending some $ on quality of life improvements makes us happier and extends our time working, it is definitely worth it at our current income.

never understood why go to law school if you want to fire as opposed to finance or tech. is biglaw so much more enjoyable than other professions that you're willing to get to FIRE way slower? after you hit fire are you trying to stay in law, just not biglaw? not to mention the pain of law school compared to just working after undergrad

[LBJ's Hair]

never understood why go to law school if you want to fire as opposed to finance or tech. is biglaw so much more enjoyable than other professions that you're willing to get to FIRE way slower? after you hit fire are you trying to stay in law, just not biglaw? not to mention the pain of law school compared to just working after undergrad

is your point basically "you should have chosen this other career path when you were 19"? even if you're right/those options were available to OP, who cares, what's done is done

[nixy]

also not sure how many graduating college seniors really know about FIRE.

[Anonymous User]

Slightly off-topic, but does anyone know a good apartment cleaning service in NYC? I've tried a couple a frankly...most suck.

[bretby]

I think a good way to find the kind of personal assistant described above would be to post on the job board for a local college. For cleaners, I would ask friends/co-workers for recommendations. I would rather hire a person directly than pay a percentage to a service.

[screwtapeletters]

- Premium office chair
- Housekeeper
- Moving to a quiet NY neighborhood (rent is lower, area is convenient, just known as "boring")
- Lululemon athleisure

Still looking for a decent meal service -- did Freshly, s/o didn't love it. And Blue Apron etc don't actually cook the food, which is what we're looking for.

If anyone has a Freshly replacement, would love to hear about it

Factor 75 was pretty good. Better than Freshly. But I got tired of it after 5 weeks and stopped.

[KirklandSignature]

Not really a QOL thing, but those curved ultra wide monitors are great for wfh.

[SGTslaughter]

That said, I would maximize savings while in biglaw with or without debt. It generally does not last for most people and any other job will likely be a pay cut.

+1, then FI/RE

We are definitely planning to FIRE (preferably FatFIRE) and are not big spenders currently. But at this point if spending some $ on quality of life improvements makes us happier and extends our time working, it is definitely worth it at our current income.

never understood why go to law school if you want to fire as opposed to finance or tech. is biglaw so much more enjoyable than other professions that you're willing to get to FIRE way slower? after you hit fire are you trying to stay in law, just not biglaw? not to mention the pain of law school compared to just working after undergrad

Because if not for the LSAT I would've been stuck at a govt. job making $60K a year til the end of days. Based on decisions I made in high school/college when I was a knucklehead who didn't think at all about the future, getting a good tech/finance job was totally out of reach.

But agreed that those fields are way more preferable to this law shit if one has the option. I really don't understand the people who managed to get banking jobs out of college and then decided to apply to law school.

[soft blue]

I've been pleasantly surprised by physical therapy (think, like, deep tissue massage). You don't realize how shitty your body feels just sitting in front of a computer for 10hr a day.

As far as saving mental energy, Amazon subscribe & save is pretty nice. Lots of things I don't need to think about buying anymore (paper towels, toothpaste, etc) because about when I'm running out, some more gets delivered.

[Anonymous User]

That said, I would maximize savings while in biglaw with or without debt. It generally does not last for most people and any other job will likely be a pay cut.

+1, then FI/RE

We are definitely planning to FIRE (preferably FatFIRE) and are not big spenders currently. But at this point if spending some $ on quality of life improvements makes us happier and extends our time working, it is definitely worth it at our current income.

never understood why go to law school if you want to fire as opposed to finance or tech. is biglaw so much more enjoyable than other professions that you're willing to get to FIRE way slower? after you hit fire are you trying to stay in law, just not biglaw? not to mention the pain of law school compared to just working after undergrad

Because if not for the LSAT I would've been stuck at a govt. job making $60K a year til the end of days. Based on decisions I made in high school/college when I was a knucklehead who didn't think at all about the future, getting a good tech/finance job was totally out of reach.

But agreed that those fields are way more preferable to this law shit if one has the option. I really don't understand the people who managed to get banking jobs out of college and then decided to apply to law school.

As someone who had a banking job and then went to law school, I found banking boring. Not just the junior level work, but even what I observed my VPs and MDs do. Same goes for private equity roles, the most common post-banking jobs. I couldn’t bring myself to care about the client or the deal. That being said, I am a litigator, and would rather be in finance any day than do transactional legal work.

[beepz]

That said, I would maximize savings while in biglaw with or without debt. It generally does not last for most people and any other job will likely be a pay cut.

+1, then FI/RE

We are definitely planning to FIRE (preferably FatFIRE) and are not big spenders currently. But at this point if spending some $ on quality of life improvements makes us happier and extends our time working, it is definitely worth it at our current income.

never understood why go to law school if you want to fire as opposed to finance or tech. is biglaw so much more enjoyable than other professions that you're willing to get to FIRE way slower? after you hit fire are you trying to stay in law, just not biglaw? not to mention the pain of law school compared to just working after undergrad

Finance and tech really don't appeal to me and I don't know that I would be good at a job in those fields. We are in Texas and could probably comfortably FIRE by age 32 if we really wanted to, so I'm fine with my choices. We have two rental properties that are generating income and will focus on real estate when we quit our jobs.