Of birthdays, cute guys & lots of takeout: A spending diary

I do these weekly spending diaries to help me keep an eye on spending and general outlays. But also because, let’s face it, we’re all financial voyeurs.

So let’s see how I did this week.

Thursday

It was the day before my birthday, and I was taking my actual birthday off. So I spent most of the time thinking it was Friday. Since it was my Friday. Oops.

I got through a pretty quiet workday, then just chilled out.

I was aggravated that, thanks to trying to be on a low sodium diet, I couldn’t eat the food I normally would for my birthday. But I discovered that gummy candy mostly has very little sodium. As do Mint M&Ms.

Since last year on my birthday I’d had to quarantine — and do a nasal swab — I decided that I got a birthday eve. So I ran to Walgreens and got snacks ($13.67), then came home and watched TV while I munched.

Unfortunately, Pirate Party Guy (PPG) let me know he wasn’t feeling well. Nothing contagious, but it was taking a toll on him. So he said he probably wouldn’t be able to go out with my friends on my birthday as planned. But he was frustrated because, as he said, he still wanted to be part of my day.

I told him that we could just see how he felt tomorrow, and I reminded him that we were going to San Diego the following weekend, which could easily count as celebrating.

Total spent: $13.67

Friday

Yay, it was my birthday! Even if I couldn’t get my normal French toast breakfast. (Sigh.)

I checked in on PPG, and he wasn’t worse but wasn’t better. Plus he needed to avoid alcohol. So going out that night wasn’t possible.

But we agreed that instead he could come over for some quality time/birthday cuddles before I had to get ready to go out. (To the people who sneered at my using the term “make out” in another post: yes I literally mean just birthday cuddles. He wasn’t feeling well, after all.)

I had a massage at 11 a.m. The woman I see gave me a $15 discount for my birthday and wouldn’t let me tip. So I only paid $65 for an 80-minute massage. Amounts of more than $60 don’t come out of weekly funds.

I got home, rested up and PPG came by around 3 p.m. He took off around 5:30 so I could start getting ready.

I had bought a really lovely dress as my birthday present to myself. (This was before my spate of retail therapy dresses.) And I went ahead and wore the opal bracelet my grandmother left me. I’m trying to wear it more, but I don’t generally get dressed up fancily enough for it. But it worked this time, I think:

Fellow Dating Warrior (FDW) and I had agreed to just Uber downtown for the drinks. The total after tip was $29.41.

FDW later asked what his half of the Uber ride was, but I reminded him that he’d bought me a drink, had agreed to be the driver to the party the next night (about 40 miles away) and had given me the hilarious socks (pic below). So we should call it more than even.

We got to the venue downtown a bit later than expected — maybe 15 minutes — so one of my friends had arrived and secured one of the few booths. (It’s a speakeasy, so very small.) Over the course of the night several people stopped by. It was really heartening, since I’d been feeling like I am still rebuilding my social circle after imploding the previous one about 15 months ago.

A few people covered a drink, so I ended up paying for only one: $18 after tip.

When we were ready to go home, one of the friends gave me and FDW a ride back to my place (where FDW had parked) since she lived not far away.

So all in all a great birthday.

Total spent: $94.41 ($29.51 out of weekly funds)

Saturday

Unfortunately, about an hour after I got home — so officially Saturday — I suddenly felt queasy. And then I felt, ahem, more than queasy. A prodigious amount of more than queasy, shall we say.

I thought I’d had too much drink — and I’m sure that played a part — but my head started pounding almost immediately. And the only time I’d been that… prodigious… had been when I was in the hospital with the migraine. (Especially since the second bout was also scarily productive.)

So I’m pretty sure the drinking exacerbated my recent high blood pressure and it was a small migraine incident.

Wheeee.

I took an anti-nausea pill after the second round, and that stopped that side of things, but between the headache and inability to regulate my body temperature (probably from the beginnings of dehydration), I slept extremely fitfully.

So when I gave up on sleep at 9 a.m., I’d barely rested. But at least my headache had lifted.

I decided no more booze and no more Adderall until I got the blood pressure situation dealt with. Which meant somehow I had to get through a long party without any stimulant to counteract my chronic fatigue — and I’d probably almost the only sober person there.

But I didn’t want to skip it because I was the one bringing FDW, and I knew he was really looking forward the party.

So I stayed in bed watching TV — and tried twice, unsuccessfully to nod off — and tried to rest. But around 11 a.m. I realized I was hungry for real food. So I used a promotion from UberEATS to get two meals for $25.21 after fees/tip.

I ate about half of one meal and a couple of hours later finally managed to fall asleep. For 45 minutes. But it was enough to feel refreshed, so that was nice.

I ate the second half of the meal and got ready.

I showed an image of me in the costume in an earlier post, but here’s the finished product (aka with headband, armbands and actual effort put in for hair/makeup).

FDW showed up with his costume, looking awesome. I got his permission to share a pic:

The friend who drove us home the night before was also going to the party — and really needed to let off steam from upsetting life stuff, so FDW was driving us both.

We got to the party, an dit was a mix of people who had thrown on a bedsheet — smart and frugal, since most of us ended up in swimsuits in the pool — or people who’d gotten some costumes also. None of the other men’s outfits were as good as FDW’s, but a few came darn close. So it was a fun night all around.

And somehow I made it through the party without crashing. Even thought we didn’t leave until 1 a.m.

I came home and was in bed around 2 a.m.

Total spent: $25.21

Sunday

I woke up 12 hours later.

I did a little cleaning, but mostly just rested. Because, sure enough, I started getting weary again mid-afternoon.

I had agreed to an ice cream date that evening, so I concentrated on catching up on my spending diary — where I was woefully behind — and then got ready.

I paid for my own ice cream ($7.68 after tip). The conversation was stilted — he was relatively young — and while he seemed like I nice guy, I just wasn’t as attracted to him as I’d hoped.

I came home and messaged with a few people, then made sure I was in bed before 10 p.m. I fell asleep some time before 11.

Total spent: $7.68

Monday

Aaaand I woke up 12 hours later. Aka pretty late for my shift.

Thankfully, emails didn’t take long to catch up on. So I at least didn’t keep customers waiting all that much. (Usually, the longest wait they experience is 12 hours and only if they write in overnight.)

But the rest of my duties (plus answering incoming emails) kept me busy right up until quitting time.

Even after two days of 12-hours’ sleep, I was still feeling weary. Ugh.

I had decided to try the UberEATs Pass for another month since I’m ordering at least ( at least) a couple of times each month. That was a $9.99 charge.

I rested until it was time to get ready for board game night. FDW was bringing a game that I hadn’t done well at a couple of weeks before. I wanted another crack at it.

Alas, I lost by a notable amount. But it was fun.

I hadn’t had much to eat, so figured I could order a wrap the venue had without getting too much sodium. (I checked online to add up the ingredients.) I spent $19 after tip.

I got home around 9 p.m. aaaaand had a headache from the food. Sigh.

I took some ibuprofen and started getting ready for bed immediately. I was asleep around 10.

Total spent: $28.99

Tuesday

I got up at a reasonable hour this time — but had still gotten about 10 hours’ sleep. I’d forgotten how rough life with chronic fatigue and without any stimulants can be.

I got through the workday pretty easily, even having quiet spells where I could just rest.

I knew that the next night I’d have to drive 25 miles to Tempe (and another 25 back, of course) while still having my brain function enough for trivia. So I spent the night chilling out.

This included ordering some UberEATS again. There’s a place with a teriyaki dish that — for processed food/takeout — has a reasonable amount of sodium. I ordered two of those using a 60% off promotion. So my total was $20.75 even after fees and tip.

I called it a night at a reasonable hour, read for a bit and was asleep around 11 p.m.

Total spent: $20.75

Wednesday

I got up and got through emails. It was quiet at work, so I putzed around for a while, working on the blog and resting.

The teriyaki bowls I’d gotten were extra large, so I’d only eaten part of one the night before (to keep sodium reasonable). But at lunchtime that day, my body was demanding something besides protein bars/peanut butter. So I finished the other half of the first bowl.

Unfortunately, PPG was buried in work and not feeling great — as in, waiting on labs to see if he needed antibiotics “not feeling great” — so we agreed we’d postpone the San Diego road trip we’d planned for the weekend.

As much as I was bummed — it would’ve been the first time I’d been out of Phoenix (not including a six-hour day trip/hike) since fall of 2019 — with my energy levels, it was probably best anyway.

Mid-afternoon, I was ravenous again and had more teriyaki chicken. I wasn’t sure why I was so hungry that day.

I rested up after work, but I was still shocked I made it through the whole showering/looking presentable process. And even more shocked when I got to Tempe without complete exhaustion. Phew!

When I got to trivia, I was kind of hungry again and had a slight headache. So I got to play the fun guessing game of “Is the headache from sodium, or have I not eaten enough?”

Since I was pretty hungry, I gambled on it being the latter. (It later turned out I’d guessed wrong, but oh well.) The total was $14.28 after tip.

On the way home, I stopped at Walgreens to get a couple things for $4.99.

I came home, read for a bit, messaged with a couple people, including one guy I’d played trivia with two Fridays ago, just the two of us. Who had been conversing with me through the MeetUp app with very confusing “Has he decided to just chat while bored or is he flirting?” messages.

Anyway, we’ll call him Cute Trivia Guy (CTG).

He’d asked the previous Friday if I wanted to do trivia again, and I said I was out for my birthday. So when I got home from trivia, I messaged him to say my weekend trip had fallen through and to let me know if he wanted to do trivia Friday.

I ended up not passing out until around midnight. Oops.

Total spent: $19.27

Total spent: $209.98 ($144.98 out of weekly funds)

Massage notwithstanding, this was a pretty affordable week. Especially given that many of the charges were for food delivery! Let’s hope I can cool it on that front and keep the spending low next week.

How is everyone else’s spending going?

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Of groceries, parking and board games: A spending diary

Of blowdryers, movies & a blask from the past A spending diary