Welcome to the “My 2 Cents Transaction” Series, a money diary log written by contributors of all different income levels, locations, and occupations. Each contributor will be logging their weekly expenses in either food, lifestyle, or activities/entertainment. This is not meant to flaunt what other people are doing or how much they are spending but to open the eyes of individuals about money and how to take control of your future finances. Thanks so much for reading as always & if you’d like to be an anonymous contributor feel free to email me at rachelmchow@gmail.com or message me on Insta/Twitter. xx Rae
Occupation: Journalist (Magazine) Age: 25 Location: New York, NY Salary: $50-$60K Total Spent This Week: $356.40
Sunday: So I started out this week of recording my expenses strong. It was the last full day in Nashville at the Bachelorette party I was attending. We spent the day at boozy brunch, watching the Predators hockey game and attempting to have a drink at every bar on Nashville's strip, or so it seemed when I looked back at my credit card statement to refresh my memory. I don't usually drink or spend like this (sorry mom) but it was a special occasion so we'll let it pass. Acme $20, The Stage $16, Honkytonk Central $20, Paradise Park Trailer $8.73, Back to Honkeytonk Central $21 Total Spent: $85.73
Monday: Had a flight back to NYC after a the bachelorette bender in Nashville. Tried to be healthy with an oatmeal and coffee at the airport... regretted every $7.51 of it. Luckily as I was about to go find a seriously cream-cheesed bagel, my flight started boarding so my wallet and waistline were saved. I was planning to save money and take the bus back from La Guardia Airport but somehow ended up in a $18 Uber... and it still took over an hour to get back to my apartment. I was too exhausted to buy myself lunch so I took a nap instead, before heading uptown for class. I'm in part time grad school taking classes at night. I typically treat myself to Starbucks ($7.09 before class so I can stay awake a little less miserable than usual for the 6-9pm class Total Spent: $32.60
Tuesday: Since grocery shopping hasn't been able to fit in the schedule over the last few weeks or so, I had to buy myself breakfast this morning. Oatmeal again, and and orange juice to fight off this spring flu that seems to want to hit at the worst time possible, $5.71. Foreshadowing the $50 I'm about to spend at the drug store on Dayquil, tissues and cough drops that is definitely not in the budget this week. Lunch put me back $10.34 for a turkey sandwich and bowl of chicken noodle soup. That held me over until I was laying on a mat waiting for my boot camp core killer class to start and heard a grumble from my hungry stomach. After 45 minutes of excruciating pain a rewarding workout, my workout buddy and I treated ourselves to kiddie cone ice creams ($2.50). These scoops probably cost more calories than we burned but they were *so* worth it. Ice cream shame prevented me from buying dinner on the way home so I went to bed early instead Total Spent: $8.21
Wednesday: This morning's 4:40am wake up call was a rough one. Thankfully I was able to head to the train early enough to avoid taking a cab so I rewarded myself with an iced coffee and two pieces of fruit from my favorite fruit stand on my commute. For a $3.00 breakfast, not too bad. By the time I got to my normal 9-5 job, I was counting down the minutes until lunch. Luckily my boss had a lunch meeting in our conference room and I was able to clean up the scraps leftover, I'll never say no to corporate scraps. After lunch, I pulled the trigger on a pair of $78 shoes I've had my eye on. My brother is getting married in June and the wedding party is required to wear gold shoes so I splurged a bit to get a nice pair. For dinner a friend and I spontaneously hit the bar at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants for tacos and sangria. Unfortunately, we missed happy hour so we had to pay full price, but it's okay because the tacos were fully satisfying. $31 Total Spent: $112
Thursday: Deli oatmeal again. $2.75 (This is getting old) Opted for a vegetarian sandwich for lunch to save $2.00, is this what being frugal tastes like? If so, I don't like it. But after paying my shockingly high credit card bill this month, I deserved every tasteless bite.($4.50) I quickly forgot what a budget was and treated myself to dinner at The Cellar with a good friend of mine that just moved to NYC this week. We got happy hour cocktails and appetizers but somehow it ended up costing $41.84 a piece Total Spent: $49.09
Friday: I packed a fruit bowl for breakfast this morning but left my coffee on the counter, classic. Of course didn't think twice before grabbing a cappuccino at Starbucks $5.28. I tried to avoid the Cinco de Mayo trap our cafeteria set up but after my coworkers brought nachos back to the office, I couldn't resist. I managed to make a small plate and only spend $5.86. After work I finally put my neglected gym membership to use for my first running session of my triathlon training. Likely, nixed any benefits with the $9 green juice and $15.50 sushi I followed it up with. Total Spent: $35.64
Saturday: I was up bright and early for another shift at the gym. I thought I could survive without coffee but about an hour into the shift, I cracked and grabbed a venti $4.79. I knew I had a long day ahead of me and no groceries or lunch packed so I stopped by Trader Joes and spent $36 on some healthy snacks for the weekend. Finally, a purchase I'm not cringing to type out in this post. After my shift, I headed to the library for a good six hours to finish a group project that has been plaguing the last week of my graduate degree. Everyone was thankful of my snacks, except for my empty cabinets that didn't get filled that night. Total Spent: $40.79
Certainly not my best week, spending-wise. Definitely recognize that a quick grocery run could have saved me $150 or so. I don't typically drink this much in a week (and I'm not just saying that) though it WAS my last week of grad school, so give a girl a break. Usually my schedule is more structured and I workout instead of go out to dinner and looking back on this week, that is the better option for my wallet (and for that bridesmaid dress I have to wear this summer). I probably should have taken it easier knowing that the Nashville trip would wipe me clean but I have a 'work hard, play hard' mentality and my budget doesn't always fit into that lifestyle. That is why I wake up at the crack of dawn to work at a gym to get some extra spending money.