Of showerheads, beauty products & (of course) takeout: A spending diary

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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 woke up and got through emails. Then I had to go to a doctor appointment. The copay was $25.

I came back and caught up on emails. This was supposed to be the day I got back on track with my diet, but my willpower was nowhere to be found. So when I went to pick up a prescription ($47), I picked up a bunch of junk food for the night too ($27.46).

I finished out the workday and noshed for the remainder of the evening. Then I finally got the dang stripped screw out of the shower knob, so I could take it and the remaining bit of shower fiberglass wall off in preparation for the tiling.

I still needed to go over the bathroom walls once more and wanted to paint the ceiling, but I figured I’d save that for Friday or Sunday. (Saturday, I had a board game MeetUp event and then allegedly a date. But those have been falling through lately.)

I started chatting with a guy who actually was pretty funny and fun to talk to. But given my luck lately, I didn’t trust much would come of it. Especially since he works twelve-hour shifts Friday to Sunday, so we couldn’t meet until Monday. Generally, guys have been super interested and then three to four days in, when I can finally set a meeting, they go quiet. Ugh.

I went to bed around 10 p.m. but didn’t fall asleep until at least 12:30 am. Blech.

Total spent: $99.46

Friday

I woke up groggy, but I got more clearheaded as I dealt with all the emails.

I did two loads of laundry, so $7 went to the Washer/Dryer fund. It has since been pointed out that I can probably cool it on this fund for a bit since I have a brand new dryer and more than enough (by at least $200, probably $300) to cover a new washer when the time comes.

So after next week’s spending diary (since I’m about a week ahead of any spending diary that gets published), I won’t be counting laundry for a while.

I got through the workday, but was pretty annoyed that I hadn’t been able to set up going-out plans for the night. Still, I was going on either a date the next night or (more likely, with my luck) going to a MeetUp event for a house party.

At this point, men are flaking and ghosting so often that it just makes sense to have a backup thing already chosen.

After work, I went and grabbed some teriyaki ($12.27). I came home, watched TV, munched and traded a couple messages with the guy from the night before.

I went to bed around 1 a.m.

Total spent: $19.27

Saturday

I woke up around 10 a.m. and just sorta putzed around. I really didn’t want to do much cleaning, but I did some nominal things.

I got advice from a Twitter follower about some neck cream that is supposed to work wonders. It’s quite pricey, so I decided to try the small size first (just about an ounce, but the person said it works quickly). There was a sale, one reason I decided to try it (so no saved savings), and I paid just $12.27.

I’m also running low on my overpriced hair stuff, which I love because it smells amazing. I initially felt bad about paying more than $30 a bottle — especially since I get a leave-in conditioner and an oil — but then I realized that perfume costs just as much if not more. And I don’t wear perfume. So I think it evens out.

Plus there was a sale, bringing the cost of each down under $30. I added in a couple more Rimmel lipsticks* for more color options, so the total was $69.23. Ouch. Amounts of $60 or more don’t come out of my weekly funds.

I was having a craving for Culver’s, which is rare. I got chicken tenders and fries for $12.90. And I stopped at DQ and got a Blizzard for $6.60. There was a $1 off coupon so $1 went to Saved Savings.

When I got home, my date for the evening hadn’t even opened my message trying to confirm we were still on. Lovely.

At 3ish I sent a second message saying that I’ve been having bad luck with things falling through, so if I didn’t hear from him by 5 I was making alternate plans. But that the plans were a party, so we could still potentially meet.

At 5 p.m. I RSVPed to the house party on MeetUp. Sigh.

I got to the party around 8, and… knew no one there. It’s not a group I’ve checked out often. But I found some people to chat with. And at 1 a.m. (about 3 hours after my last drink) I felt sober enough to drive home.

But I fell to chatting with some people and thus didn’t fall asleep until 3:30 a.m. Gah!

Total spent: $100.95 ($31.72 out of weekly funds)

*The Provacalips line has amazing staying power. And they’re only about $7 each. Highly recommend. (As an Amazon associate, I’m compensated for orders through my links.)

Sunday

Thanks to the late bedtime, I didn’t wake up until about 11. And with a little less than eight hours’ sleep, didn’t have a ton of energy. Yay chronic fatigue.

I had food cravings, which happens in general but especially when I don’t sleep enough, so I did a quick grocery store run and got $6.99 of food.

I mostly chilled out, though I did get a little cleaning done.

In the evening, I used the auction site to bid on a showerhead I really liked. I want a nicer new one to accentuate what will be my nicely tiled shower.*

It was a little more than I had hoped to pay for a new one, but I hadn’t seen this particular model very often in the past. So I spent $50.23 after buyer’s premium and tax. But it retails for $159, so still not a bad deal. I’m not taking amounts for my remodel out of weekly funds.

I rested until about 9:30 and then got ready for bed. I was asleep around 10:30, thankfully.

Total spent: $57.22

* Update: The tile guys finished the shower stall and bathroom floor. But there’s an issue (because of course there is) with one wall bowing, which I need to address before we can put the bathroom back together. But I swear I really will have a triumphant before/after post before too much longer!

Monday

I woke up and got through emails. Then caught up on secondary duties and messaged with my friends for a bit.

I had to go back to the gym after a two-week lapse (and the one week I did before that was after a multiple-month lapse), so I was dreading it.

I took a break around noon to go pick up the showerhead. Yay!

Then I came home and waited for my brain to start trying to bargain its way out of the workout. Which it very much tried to do. Sigh.

But I put on sunscreen and headed resolutely (if self-pityingly) to the gym.

After that, I got ready and left for a board game event. I ordered some food there ($14.54), but I missed getting in on any of the first round of games and started to have a bit of a headache.

A guy I’d talked to briefly and who’d then gone quiet messaged to say that he was sorry for going quiet. He had broken up with his live-in girlfriend recently, and since he’d ended it (and since they had to finish out a lease that didn’t end until July 31st), he’d felt guilty and deleted the app for a bit.

He’d decided to escape the tense atmosphere at home with a two-day stay at a local hotel and was inviting me for a drink and chat. And… meh, why not?

We had a couple drinks — cider, so I could drive safely after 90ish minutes — and I headed home. He was actually fun to talk to, so hopefully I see him again. I had to fill up the car, which was a wine-inducing $55.63.

I came home and got ready for bed. But I wasn’t asleep until about midnight.

Total spent: $70.17

Tuesday

I woke up and got through emails then lay back down for a bit.

I had been in a lot of pain, so I had to get an extra massage. She could only fit me in midday, but luckily almost nothing came in while I was gone. I paid $75 for the massage with tip. Amounts of more than $60 don’t come out of my weekly funds.

On the way home, I grabbed some cherries that were on sale. The total was $4.41. Num!

After that, I came home, finished out the workday and relaxed.

I went to bed early to try to get caught up on my rest.

Total spent: $79.41 ($4.41 out of weekly funds)

Wednesday

I did almost literally nothing this day. Like, since I got behind on this spending diary, I genuinely don’t remember anything that happened.

Apparently, I didn’t spend any money, partially because trivia didn’t have any RSVPs and thus got cancelled.

So presumably I just chilled out at home.

At least it was cheap, I guess?

Total spent: $0

Total spent: $426.48 ($282.25 out of weekly funds)

Ouch, not a cheap week. I comfort myself that almost 20% of weekly spending was just from filling up the car. Another 16.6% was for a prescription.

And out of overall spending about 17.6% was a necessary massage (I was getting headaches because my neck was so bad). And while the overpriced hair products were 16% of spending, one will last me at least three to four months — probably closer to five or six. The other will last me… probably years since I’m still working on the travel-size version I bought last summer.

So all in all, a pricey week, but nothing too extravagant as far as what I spent on.