I originally planned to do these like Refinery29's Money Diaries, but my life is not interesting enough to be broken down by times! Also, I don't do much more than sleep, work, and obsess about my finances. Here's a post about my budget, although it doesn't reflect a recent change where I decreased my 401(k) payment in order to increase the money I'm putting toward my credit cards.
January 24 (Sunday)
I woke up around 8:30 am and laid in bed browsing my phone. Finally got up around 9:15 am to get dressed because I have a grocery store pickup scheduled for 9:30 to 10 am.
If you're not familiar with HEB, it's basically the best grocery store in Texas. They're a local chain, and they're fully committed to being good citizens in the communities they're located in. Their business model is predicated on selling mostly their own store-brand goods, and luckily, their store-brand goods are just as good as name brands (which are also available at HEB). The weather's misty, and I feel a little bad for the associates who run the groceries between store and car, but the guy who brought my stuff said that so far it wasn't too bad. I'm doing Whole30 this month (today is day 23), so my grocery bill has been a little higher than usual. I picked up pork butt, chorizo, bacon, chicken wings, coconut milk, tomato paste, bananas, toilet paper, pre-made guacamole, collard greens, broccoli, cauliflower rice, red onion, lemon, sparkling water, plantain chips, a 2-pack of 3V batteries (my car's key fob needed the battery replaced), cat food, and cat litter. $102.32 (they forgot one bag of cauli rice, so I'm expecting a refund of $2.66 for an actual total of $99.66)
After I got home and put away the groceries, it's laundry time! My condo doesn't have laundry in-unit, so I have to go to the on-site laundry room. This week was just clothes, and I choose to line-dry (both to save money and to make my clothes last longer). $1.50
Once the laundry's done, time to work on meal prep: Whole30 butter chicken in my Instant Pot (but using the slow cooker function). Afterward, I finally hung up the laundry on my collapsible drying rack.
Then, in what was definitely an unusual expense - I went to a day spa to get a deep tissue massage. A big work project wrapped on Friday, and I was extremely tense from long hours on it, so I scheduled this massage as a reward. The massage therapist was great! Technically this money is coming out of my stimulus check, which otherwise is going toward my credit card. $150
I spent most of the afternoon reading personal finance blogs and working on this blog! My mom texted to ask if my Christmas present was delivered (she's really bad about timely present-giving). Somehow the Amazon delivery driver got a giant box up the stairs to my front door without setting off my Ring. It's an Instant Pot air fryer attachment! I can't believe how big it is. Can't wait to try it out - next weekend's meal plan includes chicken wings.
In the evening, I watched Parks & Recreation, which I bought on DVD a while back in anticipation of it leaving Netflix. Parks is my favorite TV show of all time, so the expense was worth it because I know I'm going to be watching it several times and I don't have to pay for yet another streaming service.
I cooked cauliflower rice to go with the butter chicken. Even though the store forgot one package of the cauliflower rice, I had a steamable bag of frozen cauli rice on hand, so I used that to round out my meals. The butter chicken turned out great! I had to sub a dash of cayenne for the chili powder because I always forget I don't have any.
I remembered that I had a balance due for a recent doctor's visit, so I logged on and paid that - $35.31 from my HSA.
Day 1 Total: $251.16
January 25 (Monday)
Woke up, snuggled the big cat. Finally got myself out of bed when I remembered that I needed to put together my crockpot dinner (garlic pepper pork with collard greens from The Whole30 Slow Cooker (Amazon, but not an affiliate link). That took longer than expected, so I was a little late logging on. Didn't matter, I didn't have much to do today!
Before lunch, I dropped the crockpot insert in and turned it on, then joined my coworkers on a new project for a virtual lunch so we could get to know each other ahead of the work. It was a nice time! We ended up playing scribbl.io, a virtual version of Pictionary, which ended up being really fun!
Signed off work around 5:30 pm and went for a 30 minute walk. I'd prefer to go at lunchtime (Vitamin D, anyone?) but right before sunset is okay too! The crockpot finished a few minutes after I got back, so I divvied it up into Pyrex containers (that way I can microwave them and just eat straight out of them - avoid doubling dishes later in the week) and a serving for my dinner. It turned out okay - may have needed more salt?
In the evening, I checked my bank accounts - several of my credit cards' monthly payments posted, and I got an email that my student loan paydown benefit from work ($100/month) had been sent. $345
Day 2 total: $345
January 26 (Tuesday)
Woke up around 8 again and stayed in bed looking at my phone - it’s a bad habit but I can’t help it. Breakfast was my last prepped one, so I need to get up early tomorrow to make more (lol unlikely).
Work was good - easy morning, then tons of stuff got done in the afternoon. Lunch was meal prepped (aka leftovers) butter chicken over cauliflower rice and dinner was garlic pork with collard greens. For a snack I had deviled eggs and carrots with guacamole. This is my last week of Whole30 and I would shank someone for a cookie, which is weird because I’m not usually big on sweets. I ended up having homemade applesauce for “dessert” because I wanted something sweet and it needed to be eaten. I don’t consider this giving in to my Sugar Dragon, really, because to be honest, I almost never have sugar cravings when I’m not doing Whole30.
I finally crunched the numbers correctly and realized I should drop my 401(k) contributions to the minimum to get the employer match and then use the remaining money to pay down my credit cards, so I put that into play today. My private student loan payment was scheduled for today ($56.57), so I went in and manually paid the difference between my budgeted amount and the autopay ($19.24) (I don’t remember exactly how I got on this path, but it turns out my loan term is 15 years, not 10 like I had thought, so every month I pay a little extra [plus the $100 loan payment from my work!] and every month they recalculate my autopay for a 15-year term and mail me a letter to alert me to the change). Oh, and I paid $35 via Venmo to two separate Super Bowl squares games. $110.81
Day 3 total: $110.81
January 27 (Wednesday)
More trouble getting out of bed again. I made scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast, since I haven’t made meal prepped breakfasts yet this week.
Work was good again today, and I had the same lunch and dinner as yesterday. Snacks were a Chomps stick (fancy Slim Jim) and plantain chips, plus I drank a ton of tea.
I got an email from my car insurance that they were sending me a cancellation letter because my scheduled payment last Friday didn’t go through - they had an old card number on file. I was under the impression that when I put the new card number in, they would automatically charge it for any outstanding balance, but apparently that wasn’t the case, so I manually triggered the six-month payment today. $537.06
My refund from the grocery store posted - got my $2.66 back! (Already incorporated in my Day 1 total)
Day 4 total: $537.06
January 28 (Thursday)
Light workday today. Breakfast was scrambled eggs and bacon with coffee and OJ, and a banana. Lunch and dinner were the same as the last two days. I’m glad I don’t mind eating leftovers! (I do make a conscious effort to not eat the same food at lunch and dinner, for the most part, so I still retain variety that way.) Snack was baby carrots and guac, and plantain chips.
My mom texted to ask if I had time to chat, which I appreciated the courtesy of since it’s a busy time at work. Since today was light, I called her immediately and we spent about 15 minutes catching up.
I ordered groceries for next week - if you order them at least two days in advance, HEB waives the shopper fee! (Another reason to love them) Next week I’ll start the reintroduction portion of the Whole30, so I added beans and non-gluten grains to my grocery list. I’m having my favorite chorizo/potato/spinach frittata for breakfast, loaded burger bowls for lunch (a new-to-me recipe that I’m excited for), and chicken pot pie soup for dinner. (And tacos - in lettuce leaves - for next weekend’s meals.) My card was authorized for the estimated amount of my groceries ($61.90) but since it won’t post til they put the groceries in my car, I’m not counting this in today’s spending.
Day 5 spending: $0 (finally!)
January 29 (Friday)
Another light workday! We're waiting on information from our client that we can't proceed without, so we're just sort of twiddling our thumbs. I ate the same breakfast, lunch, and dinner as yesterday, and only plantain chips for a snack.
In terms of spending, since today was my payday, I sent the remainder of my car expense envelope to my American Express. Normally I would send it to my car expenses savings account, but that account is currently in pretty good shape (almost $700 now, and another $80 will be added automatically next week), plus I only drive once or twice a week for brief trips for errands, and I'm obsessing about getting my cards paid down now that I know it'll only take 16 months! $45.82
The student loan paydown benefit from work finally posted with yesterday's date. I wish my bank allowed principal-only payments, but since the extra money appears at the same time as my regular payment, only a minimal amount of one or the other goes to interest.
Day 6 spending: $45.82
January 30 (Saturday)
Woke up a little late, but I slept badly the last couple of nights. Lounged in bed for a bit, then got up and made myself a French press of coffee and started breakfast. I have been obsessed with a chorizo/potato/spinach frittata from the Whole30 Instagram (it originally called for kale, but blech), and lately instead of making it a frittata at the end, I've been putting the cooked ingredients into one-cup Pyrex and then adding one egg each morning for my own version of breakfast-in-a-cup. This is basically all I've eaten for breakfast this Whole30 and I'm still not sick of it! (Well, there were about six days where I was eating homemade sausage and broccoli, which was good, but not quite filling enough.) I also started applesauce in my crockpot because I kept buying apples during my Whole30 and not eating them. This batch had Gala apples (usually my fave to eat!), Kanzi apples (these were new to me - I ate 1/8 of one and then ignored the rest of the slices for an entire day), and two Granny Smith (why did I buy these? I don't actually remember - they've been in the fridge for about a month.)
I had to log on to work for a while, but nothing too strenuous. I worked in my living room instead of my home office for a little change of scenery. (I got rid of my couch a few months ago because the cushions were breaking down and it was aggravating an old hip injury. Since we're in a pandemic, I haven't gone shopping for a new one yet. I chill on the floor, and it's not uncomfortable!)
I finally got to try out the air fryer that my mom sent me! I made both lemon pepper wings and broccoli in it - it may well be my new favorite way to prepare broccoli! The only thing that sucks is that it doesn't have a very large capacity - I could only fit four wings and one serving of broccoli (and they were cooked separately). If I can figure out how to quickly hand wash it, I think I will enjoy using it on weekends and when I'm not working til 9 pm during the week.
When I was lying in bed, I decided to spend some money in a game app I've been playing for a while. it's the first time I've bought anything in this app, and I've been playing it for several months and getting a lot of enjoyment out of it. My iTunes account is linked to the Amex I'm currently trying to pay down, so I'll transfer this amount from my Entertainment envelope to the Debt Payment envelope. $10.81
Day 7 spending: $10.81
Total spending: $1,300.66
Higher than average spending for me, driven largely by the massage and the car insurance, plus various loan payments (credit cards and student loan).
- Groceries: 99.66
- Laundry: 1.50
- Credit cards: 390.82
- Student loan: 75.81
- Entertainment: 45.81
- Car insurance (6-month policy): 537.06
- Massage: 150
