These diaries serve two purposes:
- They help keep me aware of my spending
- They’re great for those who, like me, are financial voyeurs
For reference, the goal is to live on $240 or less each week, though because of the cap, I don’t take amounts of more than $60 out of weekly funds.
Let’s see how I did!

Thursday
I caught up on emails, then with a deep sigh, headed to the car to deal with an issue.
I’d discovered on Monday that my trunk wouldn’t open. I tried the lever inside the car, the key fob and using the key on the trunk. It wouldn’t budge.
Even under normal circumstances this would’ve been a problem, but it was a pressing issue in this case. I’d agreed to host the game night portion of Fellow Dating Warrior’s (FDW) birthday celebration, and all of my extra chairs were in my trunk from when I helped out with seating at a game night at someone else’s house.
On Wednesday, I had told my friend — self-dubbed on here as Kinky Pharaoh (KP) — about this issue. I said I’d have to take it to a mechanic (which I was running out of time for) or take off the whole backseat.
He’d asked if I tried thumping the trunk. I laughed and said, “Have you tried turning it off and turning it back on again?”
But as I started trying to disassemble the backseat, I decided to give it a try with a solid thump on either side of the trunk.
And weirdly, it worked. So I texted him to let him know I owed him a drink.
I took the chairs back into the house and worked until it was time to pick up Mom from the airport.
We came back, and I caught up on work while Mom unpacked.
Once I was done for the day, we ran to Fry’s. I got some Greek yogurt nd picked up a bit of candy for a total of $13.48.
After that, we came back and rested for a bit.
I made dinner for myself with some tomatillo sauce I’d thawed. It’s a remarkably simple dish — beans, corn and bell peppers with tomatillo sauce, served over rice — but is shockingly filling, even by beans-and-rice dish standards. Mom had some too, and was similarly pleasantly surprised as to how long it kept her full.
We watched TV and called it a night probably later than we should’ve. But it’s always nice to catch up and have me show her some TV I think she’d enjoy.
Total spent: $13.48
Friday
Work was light, so Mom and I sat around chatting quite a bit.
I also ordered a few things off Amazon. (As an Amazon affiliate, I’m compensated for purchases made through the links below.)
One order was for a meat thermometer and a magnetic dry erase board to keep a running list of what I have in the freezer — meals and ingredients to make more meals. The total was $15.18.
About an hour after placing that order, I remembered that I also needed a pepper grinder, and I was running low on collagen powder. The latter is purely for the other health benefits and definitely not for signs of aging. Cough cough. The total was $40.17.
I needed to pick up a prescription at the store ($56.05), and I’d discovered I was nearly out of one of the flavored vodkas. I picked up that and a couple random things for $20.31.
Mom was nice enough to wipe off a folding table that had been sitting outside of months and thus was grungy as hell.
After I was done with work, we just sat around goofing off in front of the TV>
Total spent: $131.71 owwwwwwwww
Saturday
I slept in so that I’d be peppy for the party that evening. I’d need it because FDW wanted to do some gaming at my place and then go out to a bar for drinks. I think he forgot we’re in our 40s.
Target is applying its Black Friday prices early. (It’s where I got this great Rubbermaid food storage set — 15 containers and their lids — for $8.99.) Board games were on sale, and I want to get back to the Monday board game event, plus I plan on hosting game nights again myself. So I perused.
In the end I bought three games. I’d only heard of and played one, but the other two were a) very well-reviewed and b) very affordable, so it wasn’t a high stakes gamble. I paid a total of $48.14 after tax.
This amount doesn’t come out of weekly funds, though, because I have a gift card balance in my Target account from buying discounted gift cards at sites like Raise.
Mom helped me get the place ready. It was already relatively clean from a blitzkrieg cleaning I’d done after getting off the blood pressure meds that’d caused such fatigue. But we still had to wipe a few things down, set up the table and chairs, cut up some of the food, etc.
As suspected, I’d bought entirely too much food for the gathering. But I knew Mom and I could eat the leftovers — as long as she was the one having any leftover cheese. #lowsodiumsucks
We’d told people 6 p.m., which is when FDW showed up. And by 7 p.m. the other three people had gotten there. We played a couple games and a bit after 9 p.m. headed out to a cool bar he wanted to try out.
I bought FDW and KP each a drink and had two myself. So the total was $69.44 with tip. Honestly, I was surprised it was that low. Most of bars’ specialty cocktails now start at $15.
As a reminder, amounts of $60 or more don’t come out of weekly funds, so the drink costs aren’t counted here.
We came back around midnight. Mom, bless her, had put away all the food.
Unfortunately, FDW was still a bit tipsy, so we chatted for a while.
Total spent: $117.58 ($0 out of weekly funds)
Sunday
I woke up not too long before 10 a.m. So at least I was well-rested.
It was a pretty quiet day. Mom and I just sat around, watching TV and chatting.
A perfect day of a mom-visit, if you ask me.
Total spent: $0
Monday
Work was semi-busy, which at least made the workday go by more quickly.
I’ve decided to start having smoothies with blended oats as a way to get more dairy/fiber in my diet. And since a quart of Greek yogurt runs $5 to $6.50, that was going to add up quickly.
So Mom was going to show me how to make my own. But to do that, we’d need something to strain the yogurt, since Greek yogurt is just regular yogurt with most of the whey drained off. So we went to Saver’s (yay 50% off Mondays!) and got a 100% cotton pillowcase for $1.08.
After that, we stopped at Fry’s to get turkey for Thanksgiving.
Turkey prices were low, but most poultry is injected with chicken broth to plump up the meat. Which also plumps up the sodium levels. So I couldn’t take advantage of the $0.88/lb deal.
But the turkey with low sodium was on sale, so it wasn’t quite as bad as I expected: 11.4 lb for $23.
We got a few other things as well, so the total was $56.67.
I got home and ordered a hair-teasing brush since I’d lost mine. It was $12.98.
We came home, put away the groceries (with Mom putting the turkey in the fridge to defrost), and then relaxed with some TV.
Total spent: $70.73
Tuesday
Work was pretty busy, so the day passed quickly.
After work, I took Mom to a terrific barbecue place she loves. And one I love having an excuse to go to.
I couldn’t go completely overboard with sodium, lest I give myself another migraine. So I just got the sides — which are what I truly love — and the delicious cornbread.
The place is a tad pricey, so the total bill was $55.77.
After that, we came home. I took some ibuprofen prophylactically, and then we relaxed and chatted amid more TV. Mom was a bit frazzled when she got here — she had a busy few days with her siblings as they explored a theme park — so we were gunning even more for quiet and non-stressful activities than usual.
Total spent: $55.77
Wednesday
Work was quiet, so I had a lot of time to be bored. Which I know is quite a privilege when it comes to work. But still, I hate it when the hours crawl by.
After work, I watched a little TV with Mom before getting ready for and then going to trivia.
It had been a while since I’d seen Cute Trivia Guy — who’ll now just be CTG since we’re doing the friend thing only, so the full name is weird. So we caught up a bit before the other gal arrived. He was also coming over for Thanksgiving the next day, so we could catch up more then.
We came in third in trivia. I had a soda, and after tip that was $5.25.
After trivia, I hung out with KP again. I introduced him to Archer and Drunk History. He’s always looking for new content since, like me, he burns through shows pretty quickly.
Given that I didn’t even get to his place until almost 9, I didn’t leave until midnight. When I got home, I answered the emails that had come in already so that I could sleep a bit late the next morning.
Total spent: $5.25
Total spent: $394.52 ($276.94 out of weekly funds)
Wooooow. This was a painful amount of spending. And since the next week includes Black Friday/Cyber Monday… Well, you’ll see the horror of that before long.
How has everyone else’s spending been going?
Related reading:
Fatigue, food & more fatigue: A spending diary
Reading glasses, rolling pins & really bad fatigue: A spending diary
I’m confused. Post talking about Thanksgiving on 12/17?
I’m very very behind on my spending diaries. It’s why I published another one today. That should make the lag a bit less ridiculous.