Of pricey fuel, convenience food & a Mom visit: A spending diary

For those who are new, my style of “spending” is a little convoluted. I have two checking accounts. I keep the majority of my money in the secondary account, transferring $240 a week into the main account. But I charge everything to the card to maximize rewards. As charges accrue, I transfer money out of the main account into the secondary one. Then I make a weekly payment on my credit card.

A tad confusing, perhaps, but it works for me. Anyway, here’s how spending went this week.

Thursday

I got up and got through work. Mesa Guy (MG) was supposed to come over, so around 10 a.m. I texted to see when he was thinking.

I did a little cleaning, plus a load of laundry ($3.50 to the Washer/Dryer fund).

I putzed around a lot of the day, but finally around 2 p.m., MG got back to me to say some things were up in the air, and he wasn’t completely sure when he’d be available. I suggested we just reschedule.

Since I was then free for the evening, I checked in with my Saturday date to see if he wanted to meet. We’re calling him Cute Indian Guy (CIG) because… Well, self-explanatory. He was busy a little later than usual, apparently, so we set up to meet at (ugh) 8:30 p.m.

I ran an errand during the day, and while out, I decided I really wanted a Jamba Juice smoothie ($8.99). I also stopped at Fry’s and got $5.29 of snacks.

I went home and finished up work. I had some e.l.f. products I’d wanted to try, so I made a purchase there ($19.36). Otherwise, I just rested until my date.

I took an Uber to the bar for $12.26, and I paid for my first drink ($6 after tip). We had a good time and he dropped me off at home.

Unfortunately, the date meant I didn’t sleep until around midnight.

Total spent: $51.90

Friday

I got up and got work done, then worked on a project until the workday was over.

Then I ran out to CVS to get some eye solution. With coupon and Extrabux, I got the item for $1.17, so $8 went into saved savings. I went to Sprouts and picked up $4.08 in cinnamon bears, which I couldn’t find for love nor money anywhere else. Then stopped at Walgreens for some munchies ($4.49). And grabbed some takeout ($11.75) on the way home.

I chilled out and snacked after work. Around 8 p.m., I ran to Fry’s to get a few things for when my mom showed up the next morning. The total was $27.10.

Beyond that, I just chilled out and watched TV until about 11 p.m. and passed out around midnight.

Total spent: $56.59

Saturday

Mom has her own keys, so she took an Uber to avoid having me drive out to the airport at an ungodly hour. Bless her.

I heard her come in but passed back out for a bit. Around 9 a.m. I woke up, but my seasonal allergy symptoms were so bad that I took a COVID at-home test before getting anywhere near her.

Then we relaxed and chatted for a bit. Then I lay back down and dozed for a couple of hours.

We then ran some errands. Filled up the car for $51.37 (ouch) and picked up some cold meds ($13.01) because I was miserable. Then ran to Fry’s for more foodstuffs ($42.40).

By then, I was exhausted again. So we came home and watched TV and rested. Mom decided to lie down for an hour around 2 p.m. Aaaaand woke up around 6:45 p.m. She’d taken a redeye and was exhausted.

I messaged with Rock Climbing Guy (RCG) a bit chatting. Mom finally woke up and we watched some more TV.

Keytar Guy resurfaced — 18 days after we last talked. I replied that I really couldn’t handle people who went to ground for more than two weeks at a time. That I didn’t enjoy feeling like I was chasing people.

He said he was sorry if that’s how it’d felt. He had genuinely thought I was just going to message him when I felt like meeting. I said that was a strong no. He said he’d be happy to talk/see me more.

He’s very sweet — and cute — so I’d been bummed when he disappeared. Thus I’m giving him another shot. We’ll see if he follows through. But we did chat the rest of the night, so… promising.

I called it a night around 10 p.m. but I didn’t fall asleep until midnight. I had to keep toilet paper around because my nose kept running off and on all night.

Total spent: $106.78

Sunday

I woke up feeling worse than the day before. I decided I should try some Flonase on the advice of a Twitter friend.

I belatedly got a spending diary up and tried to catch up some on my running spending diaries/spending Excel document. But I took a break so we could go get the Flonase and a few things.

We started at the Dollar Tree ($12.57) and also stopped in Fry’s again for a few things we’d forgotten the day before ($16.38). We then got Flonase and some much-needed tissues and a few things ($23.40).

We came home and watched TV. I started feeling really warm. I took my temperature and was at 99.0. I run high 97s/low 98s. And allergies don’t generally cause fevers. So maybe I really did have a cold.

Whatever it was, my throat was killing me. Fun.

I did get my business taxes printed. Yay! I got everything addressed, and then settled in for more TV and relaxing.

I called it a night around 10 p.m.

Total spent: $52.35

Monday

Even with work, this was an exceedingly quiet day.

I felt like hell from the cold, so I ordered UberEats. To amortize the fees a bit, I ordered two meals for a total of $37.85.

I took a brief break during the day to run to the post office and mail my business taxes with tracking. These are business expenses, which I don’t count in my spending diaries.

The Apple charge for my cloud storage hit my account. I had a small credit left, so the charge was only $0.19 cents, and the other $0.90 covered by the credit went into Saved Savings.

My peanut butter shipped for $31.63. They don’t sell the brand I prefer down here — which is very low in sugar — so I have to be ridiculous and have it shipped to me every few months.

Otherwise, Mom and I just chilled out. At this point, my cough was really bad — to the point that my back spasmed a few times that evening when I coughed several times in a row. So we sat around chatting, watched TV and both feeling sorry for me until about 9:30 p.m., at which point I was exhausted and called it a night.

Total spent: $32.72

Tuesday

I got some more emails sent out for work wherein I politely nagged people to please do their damn jobs. Always fun.

After work, I needed to run some errands, and Mom tagged along. I returned some Amazon items to Kohl’s. We stopped by Fry’s for more foodstuffs ($18.29), and I got us some takeout at my favorite place. It’s a local chain, so I try to make sure Mom gets some when she’s in town. The total was $21.50 for the two meals.

A dress I’d ordered ages ago from Amazon finally arrived, so the charge finalized on my card for $14.11.

Then we came home and went back to chilling out and watching TV and generally being gloriously unproductive.

I went to bed around 9:30 because I was once again pretty wiped from being sick, though slowly starting to feel better.

Total spent: $53.90

Wednesday

I finished up my nagging emails for my should-be-monthly-but-usually-every-six-weeks-because-I-hate-it project. And unfortunately it didn’t really have much in the way of results. Sigh.

I’ll be honest: Since I’ve been struggling to just kind of cope with life, I’m writing this about a week after it happened. So I genuinely don’t remember what happened this day.

I don’t have any charges on that day, so I think we really just sat around, watching TV and kibitzing.

Total spent: $0

Total spent: $354.24

Owwwww. Of course 1/7 of this spending was just to fill up the car. And I spend more on groceries when Mom is in town. (She tries to pay, but I don’t let her.) Plus convenience food, of course.

But there’s also a lot of indulgent spending going on the past couple of months, which I need to cut down on. I don’t know if it’s from struggling mental health-wise or just because it’s spring and I want to look cute with new clothes and such. But I really gotta tone it down.

How’s everyone else’s spending going?

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Of movies, new dresses & bad trivia outings: A spending diary

Of clothes, dating frustration & far too much takeout: A spending diary