My Money Diary

[kadams767]

Alternate title:  It's possible to be both boring and an overspender!

So, as a few people noted in the original thread, they felt very boring compared to a lot of the diarists in the R29 series.  I agree!  Other than spending time with DH and a happy hour with a client, I only had one social activity last week and it was meeting a friend to go running!    Though, I did track Saturday-Friday, and had friends over for a dinner party the next day, so maybe I am not as lame as I fear.  Maybe.  Probably not. 

In any event, people seemed to be interested in separate posts, so I figured I would kick it off.  I'm pretty open about my situation, so if anyone has any questions, I'm happy to try and answer. 

My stats:
Location: 
Roommates:  2 (husband and my dog)
Occupation:  partner at a small law firm
Salary:  Me - 


Mortgage - $1,400 PITI
Gas bill (heat, hot water) - $125-$150ish
Electric - $90
Water and sewer - $45
Garbage - $15
Internet - $60
Cable - $65
Car Insurance (full coverage for two older-ish, not fancy cars) $90
Student Loans - $200
Gym and sports fees - $250ish
Dog expenses (food, meds and grooming for one older dog) - $150
Fuel (2009 Outback and 2010 Prius) - $100
Groceries - $400 for two adults
Investments - we have an automatic transfer to our taxable investment account $1,000
Backdoor Roth - $458

We don't have kids, so no childcare expenses or college savings. Everything else is variable (entertainment, home improvement, vacations) or we do annually (charity, house maintenance) so we just sort of cash flow these things.

My exciting week last week up next!

[kadams767]

Day One
7am – wake up, lounge around reading in bed. Feed dog and let him outside. Eat a bowl of cereal with almond milk. It’s a miracle that there is any food in the house on a Saturday morning, so I feel good to find both cereal and milk. $0
10am – go grocery shopping for the week ahead. Plan several dinners and make a vague list in my head. Stop for a coffee at my favorite shop, $2.50. Go to two local grocery stores and one larger store, hopefully have managed to buy everything we need to avoid getting takeout on impulse. $99.46
12:30 – take dog for a 4 mile walk
1:45 – have lunch from food purchased earlier (frozen Amy’s meal, not the best, but quick and it's Saturday and I am lazy)
4:00 – purchase dog medications $131.75; browse online and make a smoothie (banana, greek yogurt, almond milk, frozen mango and flax seed)
4-7:00 – relax, read, watch bad TV, take a shower
7:00 – make jambalaya for dinner for me and DH. We will have leftovers for lunches tomorrow, but otherwise we both ate huge portions. Oops. Happy Saturday night?
Total: $233.71

Day Two
6am – wake up, feed dog, let him outside. Try to go back to bed. End up getting out of bed for real around 8:00. Throw in a load of laundry and straighten up the house a little; start a pot of coffee.
9am – make breakfast with DH (egg sandwiches on whole wheat English muffins with spinach, tomato, basil and cheese, with veggie sausage patties); have a leisurely breakfast while watching TV and catching up on internet news. Drink second cup of coffee and work for an hour. $0
11 – take dog for walk 1.5 hours
12:30 – go to Macys to buy new bed pillows. Ridiculously expensive necessity, they are “on sale”, plus there is a 20% coupon and I have a $50 gift card. Buy two pillows, still $84.83 out of pocket.
Spend the rest of the day at home doing weekend chores like cleaning, laundry, talking to my mom on the phone. Watch some more bad TV, read, and take care of weekly grooming stuff – file nails and clean up cuticles, paint toenails, fix stray eyebrows, do a face mask. $0, used all products already at home. Make a note to plan a trip to Ulta or Sephora soon though.
6:00 – Make chicken and dumplings for dinner. We eat and watch a movie together, multitasking some more chores and work emails.
9:30 – in bed early.
Total: $84.83

Day Three
5:15am – up for the day. Take care of dog, pull some laundry together while husband showers; start filing work emails to get a head start on the day. Take a shower, get ready for work. Make smoothie for breakfast to drink in the car (banana, greek yogurt, pineapple, frozen mango, flax seed) $0
7:30 – arrive at work, make coffee at office $0 (work provides free coffee, tea, etc.); browse emails, get set up for workday. Remember that I never ordered birthday present for husband, order him the new watch I want to buy him - $305 after tax.
11:00 – eat half of a whole wheat bagel and PB, leftover from bagel Fridays $0
12:30 – lunchtime. Eat salad I packed from home $0
3:30 – cut up grapefruit I brought from home for a snack $0
6:00 – leave office, take care of dog; meet friend for a 45 minute run outside. Nice weather today!
7:00 – Husband has to take a client to dinner, so I am on my own. Make dinner with ingredients bought on Saturday (baked chicken breast, roasted sweet potatoes, sautéed mushrooms and spinach). Eat dinner while catching up on internet news. $0
9:30 – prepare batch of hummus for snacks this week; eat a bowl of cantaloupe for snack. $0
Total: $305

Day Four
5:15am – up. Take care of dog, respond to work emails from overnight, pack gym bag, breakfast and lunch; shower, get ready for work.
7:30 – arrive at work, make coffee at office $0; eat breakfast from home (cereal with strawberries and almond milk) $0
12:30 – lunchtime. Eat leftover chicken and dumplings from home $0; take a walk to the bank to deposit some checks.
3:30 – cut up grapefruit I brought from home for a snack $0
5:00 – eat a granola bar from the office-provided snacks $0
5:15-6:15 – go to gym
6:30 – back to office for a conference call.
7:30 – head home; husband’s turn to make dinner – Italian sausages with penne pasta and side salads. All ingredients at home $0
Total: $0 (apparently, a zero spend day is a miracle.  Going into this, I thought almost all of my work days were $0 unless I was traveling!)

Day Five
Up at 6:00 – usual dog chores, pack breakfast and lunch, get ready for work.
8:15 – arrive at work. Make office coffee, eat breakfast from home (yogurt, strawberries and almonds); $0. Order some pictures to be printed and picked up at the drugstore
12:30 – eat lunch from home (leftover chicken, black beans and avocado in a tortilla) $0
3:00 – leave to drive to a client happy hour out of town, buy coffee for the road $2.38; fill gas tank $35 (will be reimbursed);
Snack and a gin and tonic at client event, $0;
11pm - stop for a burrito for dinner when I get home since I was starving from lack of real food at the event. $9.50
Total: $46.88 ($35 to be reimbursed)

Day Six
Up at 6:00 despite the late night getting back from happy hour yesterday. Hastily pack up leftover pasta from Day 4 dinner, eat for breakfast in the office. Make a much-needed office coffee. $0
12:30 – buy lunch from cafeteria in office building. Nothing is subsidized, but there are some affordable options. A cup of veggie chili and some sweet potatoes from the salad bar come to $3.95. I have half an avocado in the work fridge from my lunch yesterday, so I top this concoction with that as well.
3:00 - Relying on random leftover office snacks for the afternoon, there are some pretzels and carrots in the kitchen to go with some hummus that I brought in. $0
6:00 – head home, supposed to go for a run but it is a torrential downpour today. Stop at Walgreens to pick up the pictures ($3) and also buy tampons ($9.50).  Do a yoga video on YouTube and lift free weights in my living room instead.
7:30 – My husband is working late, so I am on my own for dinner. I cobble together dinner of the last of the leftover pasta, plus saute some tomatoes, artichoke hearts, spinach, chick peas and garlic to throw on top for some actual nutritional benefits to balance out the pasta.
Spend the rest of the night catching up on some work that I’ve been putting off, putzing around on the internet and reading. Feeling virtuous, I also load the dishwasher and do a load of laundry.
Total: $16.45

Day Seven
TGIF!! Get up early to take care of the dog and make tuna salad for both my lunch and my husband’s. At the office by 8:00, tempted to buy a fancy coffee, but am really trying to keep the sugar in check and really, all I want is a milkshake-like drink anyhow, so I pass.  Make office coffee and wait for breakfast to arrive. $0.
My co-workers and I have a Friday breakfast club where we alternate bringing breakfast for everyone on Fridays. Today my co-worker, bless him, brings in bagels, cream cheese, lox and all the toppings, plus an egg casserole and some fruit. I make half an everything bagel with cream cheese, lox, red onion and capers and grab some strawberries as well. This makes a good start to a Friday. $0
12:30 – eat tuna salad and an orange I packed from home. $0
4:00 – grab another half a bagel and add some PB from the jar we keep in the kitchen. $0
5:30 – head to the gym and get a good workout in so I can feel smug going into a weekend where I am sure I will overindulge.
8:00 – go out for dinner to a favorite local place with my husband. I have a beer while we wait for our food. Dinner is a salad of mixed greens, new potatoes, smoked gouda cheese, French lentils and croutons topped with a fried egg, and a bowl of mushroom/lentil soup. Total for the two of us for dinner and one drink each is $41.
Total: $41

Weekly total: $727.87

[kadams767]

Apr 10, 2017 12:11:21 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Thanks for posting:) an aside but I feel like a salary of 125k would be more than $2500 bi-weekly?

LOL forever!  I swear, whenever I see people posting take-home amounts, I die a little inside.  This is what I take home, though.  We are in a fairly high federal bracket (33%) and live in NYS (6.8% state income tax), so that takes care of a big chunk.  Add in $18k to my 401(k) and the rest of standard deductions like FICA, and this is where I am.  I don't even pay for insurance or anything else pre-tax.  And we do not get a large tax refund either. 

I should add, I do max out on SS early, so there are a few months at the end of the year where I am not paying into SS that it increases. 

[kadams767]

Apr 10, 2017 11:54:54 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

I'm super impressed at how frugally you live! I find these so interesting. I'm shocked at how low you can keep your groceries.

Thanks!  I won't tell my husband that you agree we are frugal.  I am pretty sure he thinks I am crazy when it comes to money.

Groceries are actually fairly easy.  I cook a fair amount, we don't eat a lot of meat, and we both usually have at least one work dinner every week, if not more.  But I don't include takeout or going out to eat in that $400 either, that is strictly grocery store spending. 

[Deleted]

Tell me about these pillows! I just got come at a discount store that I really like and they were only like $18 each.

[mccallister84]

Apr 10, 2017 12:11:21 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Thanks for posting:) an aside but I feel like a salary of *** would be more than *** bi-weekly?

I took out the details in case a dd happens but that's actually a smidge more than my H takes home on the same salary. Maxing out the 401k and paying for health care adds up. I couldn't believe it at first. We don't even contribute to an FSA and probably should because we have a HDHP.

We live in MD and to be fair we have gotten rather large tax refunds the last two years since we have had major life changes (bought our first house and had a baby) and didn't adjust withholdings.

[kadams767]

Apr 10, 2017 14:10:32 GMT -5 @notquiteblushing said:

Tell me about these pillows! I just got come at a discount store that I really like and they were only like $18 each.

They are Charter Club from Macys.  They are the ones I have found to be the most comfortable over years and years of trying cheaper ones.  Unfortunately, they (allegedly) retail for over $100 each depending on the style.  So I bought two pillows, on sale, plus a 20% Macy's coupon, and I had a $50 gift card, and the total was still $84.  I am, admittedly, not-MM about my bedding, though. 

[Roc A Bee]

Damn! You do sell well brining breakfast and lunch. I could learn a lot from this!

[calico]

Apr 10, 2017 12:25:02 GMT -5 kadams767 said:

LOL forever!  I swear, whenever I see people posting take-home amounts, I die a little inside. 

You and me both. Between taxes and standard deductions, insurance and retirement, my payday takes a beating before I even see anything.

[tacom]

I love the idea of a breakfast club!!

[kadams767]

Apr 11, 2017 9:01:32 GMT -5 tacom said:

I love the idea of a breakfast club!!

It makes going to work on Friday a little more tolerable! 

[daisypaloma]

Apr 10, 2017 11:54:54 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

I'm super impressed at how frugally you live! I find these so interesting. I'm shocked at how low you can keep your groceries.

I agree.  It's definitely a frugal budget considering your income level.