Welcome to Money Diaries where we are tackling the ever-present taboo that is money. We’re asking real people how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we’re tracking every last dollar.
Today: a marketing content manager who makes $160,000 per year and spends some of her money this week on a $22 drink with a tiny rubber ducky (that she saved and ended up giving to her son).
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Occupation: Marketing content manager
Industry: Tech
Age: 38
Location: Kansas City, KS
Salary: $160,000
Assets: Solo checking: $10,000; HYSA: $25,000 in solo savings; $6,000 in joint savings and $25,000 in 529 savings for kid; my brokerage: $29,000; our HSA: $1,200; my 401(k): $178,000; $232,000 total home equity. My husband’s retirement accounts are almost double mine. My husband, K., and I maintain separate bank and brokerage accounts but split all our expenses equally. We have one shared checking account that we put mortgage payments in and when we have to pay each other for bills. I normally pay all bills (utilities, food, childcare), then put it in our tracking spreadsheet and he pays me back half each month. I enjoy doing this and it has worked for us throughout our almost 20-year relationship (ack!).
Debt: $26,000 car loan for me; $253,000 mortgage; $1,200 0% APR 12-month furniture loan (for new couches purchased last year).
Paycheck amount (2x/month): $2,600 from full-time job (each paycheck after taxes and 401(k) contribution), then ~$4,500 monthly from freelance (after I deduct 30% for taxes).
Husband’s paycheck amount: $2,200 after maxing out retirement.
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses (unless stated, these are joint expenses my husband reimburses me half for)
Housing costs: $1,072 for my half of the mortgage for a five-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom house (we paid extra on our first house and bought this one in fall 2019 so we are aware how lucky we are to have an interest rate below 4%).
Loan payments: $900 for my SUV (includes about $200 extra); we split the $120 furniture loan.
My half savings contributions: Joint HSA contribution: $100 (our health insurance is completely covered by my job! Grateful); my brokerage: $1,000; $50 joint HYSA contribution; $100 529 contribution.
Gas/electric/water/trash/recycling: ~$330
Wash & fold laundry: $109 for 50lb (usually my laundry only, so I cover this expense).
Internet: $75 (my work reimburses $50 of this).
Childcare: $600/month for summer camp (our son, C., goes about 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday); $360 for before/after-school care during school year.
Swim lessons: $120
Spotify: $20
Poop scooper: $32 (a boy in our neighborhood runs his business with his dad and he comes weekly to scoop our lawn. We have two dogs).
Lawn treatment: $30 (about $100 each quarterly treatment).
HVAC maintenance plan: $20 (this includes two visits, then we get “discounted” rates on repairs or parts if that comes up).
Chiropractor: $200 for my two biweekly visits.
Therapy: $320 for my biweekly visits.
Massage: $200 for my ~two visits a month.
Prescriptions: $40 for mine.
Gym: $110 for me only.
My individual charity donations: $225 total recurring: $10 ACLU; $10 Planned Parenthood; $100 Undue Medical Debt (they buy defaulted medical debt loans and pay them off); $40 charity: water; $33 Grapeview (women’s local chapter of a community donation organization); $32 Dollar Donation Club; plus an additional ~$100 average monthly on various fundraisers.
Subscriptions: $30 (NYT/The Cut/two Patreons/local online newspaper my friend owns and I want to support).
Other subscriptions: $85 (YouTube TV, Disney+, Netflix, Max, Boomerang TV Prime Channel, Showtime, Hulu, Paramount+. Max and Showtime are $0 since we trade logins with our friends, Hulu and Paramount+ are free through Walmart+ and phone plan).
Cleaners: $280 (they come every three weeks at $185 so averaging out their holiday bonus plus weeks in a year).
Phone: $80 (regular plan plus new iPhone payment and insurance).
DoorDash DashPass: $10
Car wash: $22 (unlimited membership; mine only).
Car & house insurance: $100 (my car and half of our house insurance).
Freelance business expenses: $185 (Flow Club virtual coworking; Fantastical; Readwise; SaneBox; storage; cloud backup; email; podcast editing; website and podcast hosting. This is expensed to my LLC but is taken out of my freelance income mentioned above).
Annual Expenses
Costco membership: ~$65
Prime: $120
AAA & annual insurance member’s fee: $160
Credit card fees: $500
HOA: $300
Art museum membership: $85 (I pay).
Walmart+: $100 (used mainly for grocery delivery).
YouTube Premium: $69 (split with friends; this is my portion).
Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Yes, but not too much pressure. My mom went to college and so did most of the adults on her side of the family, but almost no one went to college on my dad’s side. So I think they would have supported me either way. I went to a state school and graduated with about $25k in debt (grateful for 18- to 20-year-old me who only took out the bare minimum for tuition and books), which I paid off about eight years ago. I worked part-time all of college for all my bills but my mom (my parents were divorced by this point) gave me $300 a month for rent and car insurance and paid my phone bill. I also went back to school part-time during the pandemic and got an MBA. I paid cash for this as I went.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s)/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
No, but I knew they had a lot of credit card debt. I wish they had explained to me more about the dangers of credit card debt because I signed up for a few cards in college (in my opinion, credit cards shouldn’t be allowed to set up booths on campuses IMO) and then pretty much had $6,000-15,000 in credit card debt from ages 19 to 30 when I finally read I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi and got my act together and paid everything off. Now I pay off all my credit cards in full each month.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
I was a terrible table busser at a restaurant at 14. A few months after that I ended up working at a grocery store as a bagger and cashier throughout high school, which I loved. The job was minimum wage but we got PTO! We had open lunch at our high school, which meant we could leave the grounds, so I mostly spent my money on lunch food and buying The Offspring, Ludacris, Spice Girls and boy band CDs.
Did you worry about money growing up?
Yes, my parents never argued about money in front of us but I could tell money was tight. Especially after my parents divorced.
Do you worry about money now?
I recently got a lower-paying full-time job that is MUCH less stress (I love it) so that was a little scary but I keep telling myself that we have savings for a reason. Freelancing helps me feel more in control of my finances because I’ll always have a safety net. I am looking for another few freelancing gigs right now but the amount above is an average of the last few years.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
In college I mostly paid for everything myself, like I mentioned above, except for $300 a month. After college, my mom had a “loving” conversation with me where she said I was on my own from then on for my car insurance, phone and rent. So I have been completely independent since 22. My only financial safety net now is our own savings and retirement; my parents couldn’t give me money but they would probably let me and/or my family live with them if we needed to. So we have a housing safety net.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
I got $3,000 from my beloved step-grandma when she passed a few years ago. It went straight to my HYSA but I want to do something fun with it, like take a trip to Italy. I think she would have liked that.
Day One
7 a.m. — I wake up grumpy because I had a very vivid bad dream last night and had to take melatonin to fall back asleep. My husband, K., and I sleep in separate rooms since he snores so bad. Our 6-year-old, C., comes into the bedroom I’m in and says good morning then asks for help feeding the dogs and getting milk out of the fridge. I answer some work Slacks that coworkers on the West Coast sent me when I was already offline yesterday.
8 a.m. — After helping C. and getting dressed in leggings and a T-shirt since I want to go on a walk before it gets too hot, I finish putting the ice packs in C.’s lunch I packed last night and pack his backpack. We drive the seven minutes to his school for summer camp. He loves it. Today is snow cone truck day so we talk about what flavor he’s gonna get.
8:20 a.m. — I drop by my beloved McDonald’s for a hash brown and Diet Coke. I know my period is coming today or tomorrow because my cramps are so bad and I have a headache. I take my “breakfast” to a nearby park but decide I feel too terrible to take my walk (even though it would likely make me feel better) and sit on my phone for a bit, texting my old coworkers in our group chat and watching TikToks. $4.14
9 a.m — I get home and briefly talk to K. who is working from home today (he’s a project manager) and he reminds me I have to get C. from camp later since he’s going golfing. He plays golf about once a week and does basketball once or twice on the weekends. I’m glad we are supportive of each other’s exercise time because I want us to stay healthy. I then get sidetracked doing this Money Diary and finally get into an online coworking session to start working on tasks.
12 p.m. — Finally eat lunch: leftover chicken pad Thai from dinner last night with a former coworker and a Diet Pepsi. Yes, I do drink water but I didn’t finish my Diet Coke and I am still on the PMS struggle bus. I eat while QAing an email and an article revision from my teammates. I then edit and send off a bunch of article outlines before lying down for a bit. I’m grateful my job is so flexible.
3 p.m. — I get up from my one-hour nap and work more until I have to go get C. from summer camp at 5 p.m.
5 p.m. — I am solo parenting tonight so I take C. to Sonic and he gets a kids’ meal and I get fries and a diet cherry limeade. I enjoy with a protein shake then water. Big believer in the three drink rule: one for pleasure, one for nutrition, one for hydration. $10.91
6 p.m. — I FaceTime with my sister-in-law for an hour and then C. and I decompress with some Minecraft videos before we go upstairs to do bath and bedtime. We alternate reading pages of his book so he’s practicing his reading during the summer. I then head downstairs to pack his lunch and water bottle before decompressing with Pinterest and TikTok. I fall victim to the allure of TikTok shop and buy a French retinol cream, an acid-washed oversized hoodie, and a striped quilted jacket. I head to bed around 11 p.m. $130
Daily Total: $145.05
Day Two
7 a.m. — Same morning routine except I am feeling a lot better today even though my period still hasn’t come. Get dressed, pack C.’s lunch in his backpack, check Slack messages and email, take C. to camp, then go to my workout class. It’s dance aerobics with weights and the ladies recently found out I have a podcast as a hobby so we talk about who should be a guest.
9 a.m. — I get McDonald’s again: Diet Coke, bacon, one hash brown. $6.54
9:30 a.m. — I get back home, hurriedly shower (where I manage to break my wet brush from a tangle!), then have a 1:1 with my boss that goes 30 minutes over. She’s great. I quickly browse Facebook and notice an old friend is doing a fundraiser for water.org for his birthday. I donate plus cover the processing fee. $21
11:30 a.m. — I make and eat lunch: half a bag of caesar salad from the fridge with bacon bits, Bugles on the side, and a Diet Pepsi. Start the dishwasher that K. emptied and started loading last night. I then jump on a podcast recording I have with a former coworker. My period finally comes. It’s two days late but I’m not on any hormonal birth control so it does vary slightly.
1 p.m. — I remember a domain with a .co I should buy ($11.99, since I have the .com version) and do that quickly. Then I realize my main LLC website is down and spend 20 minutes on the phone with my hosting support to fix it. He sells me on upgrading my dedicated server hosting plan for one year and that fixes everything. I then work on some more of my FT job admin tasks. $216.49 (expensed).
2:30 p.m. — I get ghosted on a freelance job interview (this person’s second time cancelling/ghosting) so I learn my lesson. They want to reschedule via email but I say no. I order a new podcast intro/outro on Fiverr and send the voiceover artist the script and notes. $114.83 (expensed).
3 p.m. — I get distracted on Instagram and learn about this “cook in a book” interactive kids’ cookbook series where it looks like you’re actually cooking on the paper. Most of them are sold out but I find three of five in the series in the used section on Amazon and order them. Then I force myself to work the rest of the afternoon on my full-time gig, reviewing new content topics and keywords for a new audience we are targeting and assigning out some blogposts in Asana. I snack on some almond flour cheddar crackers. $48.16
5 p.m. — I finish and send off a proposal for a potential freelance client and change into sweats before heading downstairs to think about dinner while K. goes to get C. from camp. We end up deciding on spaghetti and meatballs so I make that while K. and C. watch Bob’s Burgers. I also serve strawberries with a little coconut milk whipped cream and make coffee cake muffins for breakfast the next few days since the oven was already on for the meatballs.
6:30 p.m. — K. thanks me for dinner and C. says he’s still hungry but doesn’t want more spaghetti so K. gets him half a peanut butter cookie and a Sunny D. K. has a legacy fantasy football draft upstairs and the neighbor kids come over to play with C. in the backyard while I sit in a camping chair to loosely supervise and start reading Wonderful by Harry Baker (amazing poet I found on TikTok). K. finishes his draft and comes outside and sits with me and we chat and enjoy the breeze.
8 p.m. — K. puts C. to bed while I pack his lunch for tomorrow. I am on the menstruation struggle bus so I then park myself on the couch. I finish the book and send photos of his title poem to my mom and brother because it made me cry. I take more Tylenol and finish watching Beverly Hills Cop II with K. to prep for the revival of the series. Brigitte Nielsen is a badass. We start the fourth movie on Netflix.
10:30 p.m. — Head upstairs and do my bedtime skincare routine of The Good Oil facial oil, snail mucin, and beef tallow moisturizer. If you have really sensitive skin or eczema/psoriasis, I highly recommend beef tallow balm from Toups & Co. Doesn’t smell like beef, I promise! Brush teeth and take vitamins (magnesium citrate for muscle cramps, digestive enzymes, pro and postbiotic, Zyrtec). I order a new shower wet brush, Weleda Skin Food light moisturizer, lamellar water treatment for my hair, and Prilosec on Amazon on my phone in bed. Then lights out! $48.35
Daily Total: $124.05
Day Three
7 a.m. — Alarm goes off and I linger a bit in bed then get up to cuddle with K. for a bit. I get dressed while K. makes sure C. is up and feeding the dogs and eating breakfast. I grab one of the coffee cake muffins for breakfast as we are leaving.
8 a.m. — Drive C. to camp for his field trip to a nearby museum. He’s stoked and I’m so happy he loves camp.
8:30 a.m. — I meet my bestie for coffee. Nothing sounds good so I end up getting an Italian soda. We try to do this a few times a month so we see each other regularly since she is a working mom too. $3.03 (including tip).
9:30 a.m. — Head to my haircut. I’m a little early so I step into Walgreens for a drink and Cheetos ($5.86). I am trying a new stylist and I’m nervous but excited! She is running late so I work a little on my laptop while I wait ($72 with 20% tip). $77.86
11:30 a.m. — Get home, love my hair. I work on some editing tasks. At my full-time job, Fridays are “flex days” so you can work or catch up on personal errands. We still get 100% of our salary. I really hope all jobs move to a four-day work week. We all deserve more leisure time.
12:15 p.m. — Another friend comes over to go to the pool that’s nearby. We pack a few snacks, lots of water, and sunscreen. We read some but mostly chat. I am rereading The Egypt Game, which I first read as a kid and loved. The pool is included in our annual HOA fees.
2 p.m. — My friend leaves and I shower, do my self tanner (B.Tan Love at First Tan Self Tan Mousse — love it), get dressed, then review several freelancer assignments for my full-time job. I drink a 30g protein shake because I obviously have just had carbs today, whoops.
4:30 p.m. — I sign off and watch Dateline and chat with my friend for about 30 minutes about our upcoming girls’ trip. I snack on more Bugles. Period cramps are making me feel nauseous (or maybe it’s all the carbs and no nutrition?) so I take more Tylenol.
5:30 p.m. — I go with K. to pick up C. from camp just for funsies to surprise C. We eat mac and cheese for dinner while watching Bluey. I put veggie powder in our pasta and no one notices. K. got himself Chipotle since he didn’t want mac and cheese. C. eats a coffee cake muffin for dessert.
7 p.m. — I chill in the backyard again on TikTok while C. plays outside by himself for an hour then I put him to bed. K. and I alternate bedtime duties each night unless one of us has plans, then we switch.
8:45 p.m. — I’m done with bedtime and come back downstairs. K. and I chat about his annoying friend and then a website I’m considering buying.
10:45 p.m. — K. and I finally put the dogs and ourselves to bed after skincare, vitamins, floss and brush teeth, and changing into PJs.
Daily Total: $80.89
Day Four
7 a.m. — It’s Saturday so K. goes to play basketball in his pickup league early and I wake up and then fall back asleep while C. feeds the dogs, eats one of the muffins I made for breakfast and plays Minecraft on his iPad. I fall back asleep until 8:30 a.m., hooray!
9:15 a.m. — I finally drag myself out of bed after browsing Reddit, shower off the self tanner, get dressed in a plain T-shirt and flare leggings, and do my Weleda Skin Food and Elta sunscreen tinted moisturizer steps, then some mascara. Then I get a wild hair and put on some foundation powder, blush and bronzer, as well as a necklace and some bracelets. Who is she?!
10 a.m. — C. eats a PB&J and pretzels in the car while we drive to Target to get a birthday present for his bestie, W., who is having his party today. We also return a present C. got for his birthday but didn’t like and he gets a store credit card for about $30. C. picks out two Lego sets and W.’s gifts: a keychain and this surprise tube toy C. swears he will like. I also get some more fig bars for C., Tylenol, tissues and a couple snacks. We use C.’s store credit and I pay for the rest. K. will reimburse me for half. $84.08
1 p.m. — K. gets home, I wrap the gift, then K. takes C. to the party. I run some errands then get two beef tacos with spicy ranch and a Diet Pepsi from Taco Bell and I round up for their scholarship fund. I eat in my car while browsing vintage Bottega bags on eBay. $9
2:30 p.m. — I go to a nearby Ross to walk around. Ross stores are usually amazing or a complete disaster and this one has some gems. I get small hair clips that will work better for my shorter hair, two tank tops, a ceramic pot to repot a plant on my desk, and a set of three gift bags for my mom’s birthday in a few weeks. $33.34
5 p.m. — We get home from the party and errands and C. builds his new Lego set. I turn on Toy Story 3 for C. and go lie in bed to cuddle with K. as he’s starting to nap. When he starts snoring I dip, and order DoorDash for C. and me since K. is having a friend over tonight and they like to eat later. I get fried pepperjack cheese balls with ranch for me and mini corn dogs for C. I pair my delicious cheese balls with half a bagged salad mix, bacon bits and raspberry vinaigrette from the fridge. The vinaigrette is nasty (it’s a “healthy” one so I’m assuming no sugar?) so I don’t eat the whole salad. $28.73
6:30 p.m. — Japanese beetles are ruining my flowers so I order some more traps, a new tanning mitt, and spray that won’t hurt the bees if I spray it low. I eat six powdered doughnut holes outside while C. plays and has me watch how far he can jump off the swing. K. has his friend come over to smoke and play video games, so I give C. a bath and do bedtime around 7:30 p.m. for an hour, then lie in bed reading and browsing more vintage bags on eBay. I finally do my night routine and conk out around 11 p.m. $53.74
Daily Total: $208.89
Day Five
1:30 p.m. — It’s been an easy morning with yard work and tidying. My mom asks if C. wants to come over in the afternoon. We, of course, say yes to have a kid-free afternoon. K. is done mowing and showered so we head over to a local brewery for a late lunch and a few drinks. We get four drinks (two beers, a seltzer and a soda), wings and fries, and chips and queso. I pay but we’ll split it during bills. $56.66
4:30 p.m. — After the brewery, we head over to the pool and chitchat with our neighbors. I also buy K. new swim trunks since he couldn’t find the ones he wanted to wear and I think I lost them since I emptied the pool bag last (whoops). I also get some body wash for K. that’s 50% off and a toy for our friend’s preschooler that is 50% off for her birthday in a few months. K. will pay me back for half the toy cost and his body wash. $50
8 p.m. — K. puts C. to bed and I go get Chipotle for us. I get a kids’ meal because I’m not that hungry and K. gets a full entree. I am aware I’m a full adult but I only get kids’ meals as takeout and never at a full-service restaurant. We eat while watching soccer. Then I pick up the kitchen, pack C.’s lunch, then sit back down and we finish watching Beverly Hills Cop 4. $21.04
Daily Total: $127.70
Day Six
7 a.m. — The alarm comes too early since I stayed up late last night. I should have packed while watching Netflix because my flight to my girls’ trip leaves at 5 p.m. and I haven’t packed at all. I’ll need to leave for the airport at 3 p.m. so today is going to be busy. Get up and get dressed in workout clothes. K. remembers that C. needs a special shirt today and changes him. Take C. to camp and drink a protein shake on the way. After dropping him off, I get to the park but sit in the car and finish doing a Walmart delivery order for food for C.’s lunches this week. Get some of his school supplies to meet the minimum order amount for free delivery. I do a quick 30-minute walk while listening to music at the park trail. Check emails and Slack messages. Then head home, let out dogs, shower and get dressed. Clean out the shower drain since it wasn’t draining right and get a huge, rat-sized clump of hair out. It smells so bad — K. and I are traumatized. $66.37
3 p.m. — After working a half day, I leave for the airport to get my flight. I have enough time to do economy parking instead of something closer. I try to do economy parking for personal trips but if my job or a client was going to expense it, I would definitely park in the surface lot closer to the airport. I find out my flight is super delayed so I eat a leisurely dinner and get an app AND an entree because I can’t decide between the two. The General Tso’s chicken is gross (and NOT wok-fried like the original location) but the Brazilian cheese bread is delicious. I get a Diet Coke. Somehow with tip it’s almost $40?! Spend the rest of the early evening scrolling TikTok and reading on my Kindle app. I’m trying to get through The Courage To Be Happy but it’s not as interesting at its predecessor, The Courage To Be Disliked. That one I highly recommend to everyone. After my flight delay, I finally get to my destination, my friend J.’s house, at 10:30 p.m. and head to bed! $39.87
Daily Total: $106.24
Day Seven
12 p.m. — Last Money Diary day! I laze in bed for a bit since we don’t have anywhere to be. The rest of the girls are coming today. I eat some chia seed pudding with fruit, get dressed, then do a little bit of freelance work on my laptop. Around noon, the rest of the girls are here so we all go out to lunch. We get apps to split and I get a Diet Coke. $32
2 p.m. — We go back to J.’s house and chat and some people shower to start getting ready for the Missy Elliott/Ciara concert we are going to tonight. Around 3:30 p.m., we head downtown and we each get a cocktail at a bar before dinner. It is crazy expensive but mine comes with dry ice and a rubber ducky? $22
5 p.m. — We head to dinner at a Mexican tapas place. It’s so good. I have been thinking about this place for years since I first went to it. I’m glad my obsession is still valid. Everyone else gets drinks but I get a water. We eat family-style again and split the bill (I’m fine to cover some of their cocktails!). $56.78
6 p.m. — We stop and have one more quick cocktail at another bar. Mine is disgusting. I think about sending it back but I can’t decide if it’s just my tastebuds or the drink so I don’t. We leave around 7 p.m. and get to the venue. Run to our seats after we hear Ciara already performing “Goodies”. She’s great. Busta Rhymes also performs, he’s okay but has good energy. Then, the main reason I flew all the way here: MISSY MISDEMEANOR ELLIOTT. Her show is incredible. The costumes, the choreo, the set design, the songs. Definitely one of my favorite concerts of all time. We apparently missed Timbaland who started at 7 p.m., bummer. $22
11 p.m. — We speed-walk out after “Lose Control” with Ciara so we can beat parking lot traffic. I venmo my friend for my portion of parking and a bottle of water she bought me during the show. By 11:30 p.m., we are back to our rooms and lights out. I fly home tomorrow! $20
Daily Total: $152.78
The Breakdown
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