I’m just getting back into applying for focus groups on survey websites/apps after taking about 6 months off.
I’ve only been back for a little bit so I’m pretty excited to have passed $4k in earnings! 🎉
This is my first money diary, so please be kind!
Section One: Assets and Debt
Retirement Balance (and how you got there): $17,750. ($10k from my Roth IRA, $7.75k from my job's pre-tax retirement account/pension) I put in 5% pre-tax on each paycheck ($275.16/mo), and my employer supposedly puts in 10% post-tax ($307.06/mo).
Savings account balance: $10,002.91 in Emergency/Job Loss fund(goal is $15k by the end of the year - I will hit $12.5k saved by the end of this quarter), $876.95 in other savings (car maintenance, health, etc.)
Checking account balance: $50. I use the zero-budget method. I get paid next week, also, I don’t like to have a lot of additional money in here; I am a “recovering” super spender.
Credit card debt: $0. I pay my credit cards off every month. I’ve never carried a balance.
Student loan debt: $23,513.41, all federal loans. With an average interest rate of 3.68%. I have a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs with a minor in sociology.
Anything else that applies to you: I owe $3400 in an old BoA checking account (no interest rate), as I was charged for a car rental instead of my insurance. I’m HOPING I can get this covered by my insurance, but we shall see.
My S/O, and I don’t combine finances. So I will not be including hers.
Section Two: Income
Income Progression: This is my first full-time “big girl” job! I've been working in my role full-time for almost 2 years. My starting salary in 2024 was $61,000. Then I got an additional 3% COLA, moving me up to $62k, and last year, when I hit my first anniversary, I moved up to $66k. I’m really looking forward to my raise next month when I hit 2 years! I actually worked at this institution before in a part-time role, making $20k and living at home, but I was laid off. I feel very fortunate to now work full-time and make triple my part-time salary. I know a lot of people crap on working in the public sector, but I honestly really enjoy it. Personally, I do think the benefits outweigh the drawbacks for me. I dream of that sweet, sweet pension baby!
I do still struggle sometimes and feel behind in comparison to some of my peers' incomes, but I need to remind myself to just enjoy where I am at. Also, the job market is horrific, so I do plan to hold onto this job at least until the job market improves.
This is not at all where I planned for my career to go. I have a degree in foreign relations and had originally planned to become an ambassador for the US, but then I fell out of love with both my country and the job.
This is not my forever role, but it pays the bills, and I have a good work-life balance. Also, my partner works in the arts, so I feel grateful to be able to bring in a bit more money to allow us to live in an apartment and an area that we love.
Like with most roles, sometimes I hate my job, sometimes I really like my job. I’m currently in the mindset that I feel grateful to have this job, and make a good income for my age.
Main Job Monthly Take Home: I take home $3,970 per month. (This year I started having an additional $141 taken out each paycheck for my FSA. I used to take home $4,196/mo).
Side Gig Monthly Take Home: $0. I sometimes do bank bonuses. I’m currently doing one with Key Bank. I'll receive $300($210 minus taxes) after I direct deposit $2k, but I won’t get the bonus this month.
Any Other Monthly Income Here $0. No
Section Three: Expenses
Please include ALL expenses relevant to you.
Rent / Mortgage / HOA fees: $1600 TOTAL for rent+utilities. It’s a little under 30% of my gross monthly income. I am including utilities here because it makes more sense to me, as our utilities are every other month. I pay 60% of our rent/utilities, my partner pays 40% as she makes significantly less than me.
Renters/home insurance: $7.33/mo.
Retirement contribution: $300/mo (I plan to increase this next quarter, and also start investing in a 407b plan to hopefully reduce my monthly student loan payments in the future! If you have any experience or advice on this topic, please let me know).
Savings contribution: $1110/mo ($900 EF, $60 Therapy, $50 new couch, $100 car maintenance).
Investment contribution: $0
Debt payments: $0 currently, I won’t start paying back my student loans until this summer. I am also on a PSLF plan, so hoping for forgiveness in 10 years.
Donations: $0.
Electric: $120-150 every other month (included in my $1600 I budget for rent/utilities)
Wifi/Cable/Landline: $40/mo split with my partner. (included in my $1600 budget for rent/utilities)
Cellphone: $0. I paid for Mint for the entire year, totaling $207.99. If I was paying monthly, it would be about $17.30/mo.
Subscriptions: $6 Disney+/Hulu, $4 HBOMAX (both black friday deals). $13.25 Kindle Unlimited (need to just bite the bullet and cancel), $8.25 Spotify (use yearly gift card at $99).
Gym membership: $0.
Pet expenses: Probably $50/mo, I split with my partner and make it part of my weekly grocery expense so I get 3% back on my credit card. I pay $122/mo for pet Insurance for my older family dog, who lives with my mom on multiple acres of land. I already paid $405 for my cat for the entire year back in January. Monthly, that would’ve been around $35-40.
Car payment/insurance: $74.08/mo for car insurance. I’ve had my car since I was 17, so no car payments. I should probably start saving for a new car. I’m not planning on having kids, so I am thinking a drop-top Mustang could be fun for my first “big girl” car. Hopefully, I won’t have to buy it for a few more years, so I can save.
Regular therapy: $200 for virtual therapy twice a month. Will raise to $240/mo next month.
Paid hobbies: Nothing currently.
Week Diary
Monday
8:00 AM: Wake up, omfg it’s another week! JESUS CHRIST! THE HORRORS CONTINUE. Thank god for my partner, who helps pull me out of bed and makes me tea and breakfast to get my day started. I have an incredibly difficult time waking up in the morning; I’ve struggled with it my entire life. I feel so lucky that I fell in love with a morning person who loves me. I am so lucky to have her. I also start my work day remotely. Another great side effect of being super disoriented in the morning is that I struggle with painful headaches and migraines. As a result, I worked really hard with our HR department to get accommodations, so now I get to work the first two hours every day remotely! Which is a small but powerful win, because I have a boss who believes that remote work is basically devil worship lol.
8:50 AM: Leave later than I would’ve liked, so I can go to the PT office. I call to let them know I am running a few minutes behind. I am currently listening to the audiobook “I’ll Have What He’s Having” by Adib Khorram and really enjoying it. I actually love the character's frequent use of the streetcar in Kansas City; it’s reminding me that we do have reliable public transit here in Seattle that I can use instead of driving.
9:15 AM Physical Therapy: $52/ per session w/ Dry Needling, which comes out of my FSA (just hit my deductible, so now I pay way less and my insurance pays the remainder). I really like my physical therapist; she is only a few years older than me, so we discuss life and our relationships while she sticks needles in my back. This is the only time I can make work with my schedule, so I am always the youngest person getting PT in the office. It’s just a bunch of 80-year-old men and me. The needling definitely hurts a lot less than it did when we first started, and I can tell I am in less pain, so I am going to keep at it!
10:00 AM I fill up half of my tank close to the PT office, as there is a Safeway with cheaper gas. It’s $43 for half a tank! *cries* Of course, I am me, so I make sure to use the credit card that gets me 3x points on gas. It was $5.19/gal, which is cheaper than the other stations with gas around $5.79gal. I only actually paid about $14 on gas this week, as I had a $55 reimbursement from trying out Monarch Money. I technically could use public transit to get to work, but it will turn my 30-minute drive into an hour-long bus->link->bus commute. Plus, I suffer from terrible motion sickness! I got really motion sick the last time I took the bus to a poetry night in the city oof. I think next week I’m really going to make an effort to use public transit to get to and from work, especially now that the weather has improved. Cross your fingers for me, I really hope I don’t get sick.
10:30 AM At the office, I realize my co-workers have started decorating their offices (our building got renovated and we just moved back in), so I decide to buy a candle warmer on Amazon that I’ve been wanting. With my family’s Prime account, the total is $18.78
5:45 PM After work, I drive up to pick up my groceries for the week: $84.16. To avoid buying items I don’t need, I always place my order online and then get it delivered to my car. My budget is small as my girlfriend and I split the weekly cooking. We both cook three dinners a week, and we make four portions, so we’ll both have lunch for the following day. It’s not a perfect system, and sometimes we are both too exhausted to cook, but I’ve definitely saved a good amount of money on groceries since moving in with her.
I will also add that I have only really gotten into cooking in the past year and a half. I used to not cook as much, and loved how good a cook S. was, and still is. However, everything changed after she admitted to me that she’d promised herself years ago that she wouldn’t marry someone who didn’t know how to cook. I decided then and there that I was going to start learning! I knew I didn’t want to risk losing her over something as simple as learning how to cook. Fast forward to now, she is still a better cook than I am, but I am getting better at making more complex recipes and knowing what spices to add! If you are trying to get into cooking more at home, I recommend giving the Safeway app a try if you have a store near you. It doesn’t always give you the cheapest options, but they have a meal hub, with cooking directions, and you can add all the ingredients directly to your shopping cart!
Monday Total: $145.94 + $52 FSA = $197.94
Tuesday:
8:00 AM every day. It’s so hard every day! My partner went to work out at the gym, so she wakes me up when she gets back. I have no idea how she manages to wake up around 6 AM to get in a workout before work. She is a different breed. I go through my emails on my computer in my PJs. I know my boss is definitely judgmental of my work ethic while doing my two-hours remote. So I always try to respond to emails he is cc’d on so he can tell I am clocked in.
10:00 AM I leave for work, listening to the “If Book Could Kill” podcast, which I love! If you haven’t listened to their episode on the previous NYC mayor, Eric Adams, I highly recommend it! It’s hilarious!
2:00 PM At work, I take a Virtual Meeting with my Psychiatrist. I should only have to do this every three months, but I am on one controlled medication for my ADHD, so I have to meet her monthly. I will die on the hill that people with ADHD are not abusing their controlled medication and don’t need to be monitored so closely! If anything, I have to fight to remember to take it each morning! Also, I had one grocery store refuse to refill my vyvanse because I didn’t have my monthly meeting in person… Ugh. Anyway, the cost is around $74.56 (fully covered by my FSA and partially reimbursed by insurance, not part of this week’s expenses). I take this during worktime, and I really don’t care. I think our society is so messed up that people need to use their leave just to get medical assistance. This is my way of fighting back against the system, especially since it’s only a 30-minute session. I do put a note on my door that I’m in a meeting just in case.
This year, I’m focused on total health and wellness. So I’m receiving counseling, going to physical therapy, seeing a psychiatrist, and will hopefully start my Invisalign treatment next month. Yes, my wallet is weeping! We are thinking long-term gain, ladies!!!!!
4:00 PM I buy S and I AMC tickets for Hail Mary $15.72 for 2. I put it in Splitwise and will get $7.86 back from my girlfriend. I get 3% back on entertainment from my credit card, so I like to pay for us and be reimbursed later. I pay for the yearly AMC Stubs Premiere, which waives ticket fees. I will only go to the movies on Tuesday or Wednesday when tickets are 50% off!
5:45 PM I get home and turn on the kettle to brew tea for S and me to take with us to the movies since AMC stopped selling tea. Also, going in with stuff makes me less likely to ball out on expensive theater snacks I don’t need.
6:15 PM We took the bus there, we both brought caffeinated tea we brewed at home, and I snuck us in a bag of chips. No motion sickness, hallelujah!
8:30 PM Project Hail Mary is soooo good! I highly recommend seeing it in theaters!
9:30 PM We leave the theater, and it is absolutely pouring. It was raining on our way to the theater, but it’s raining much harder now. We both brought our umbrellas, so we admire the beautiful fog and city lights above us as it rains. We have a pleasant 10-minute walk back to our bus stop. The bottom of both our pants gets absolutely soaked, but it feels like we are in a movie. I love being in the city for moments like this. When I look up, I can see colorful lights reflecting beautifully with the raindrops; the fog forbids me on seeing all the way to the top of the buildings surrounding us. I feel very lucky to live in Seattle and be comfortable walking around holding my girlfriend’s hand. I have always lived in this county, and the older I get the harder I think it would be to live in another city in the US. Seattle isn’t perfect, but I never worry about being treated differently for being gay. I recognize the privilege that is, I don’t take it for granted.
9:45 PM We take the bus back and paid around $6 for two rides. We used our ORCA cards for both trips, so no current money was used.
10:00 PM, I make us sleepy tea and hop in the shower. S. Warms us up leftovers, and we’re both in bed by 11 PM. Not asleep until after Midnight.
Tuesday Total: $15.72 + 74.56 FSA = 90.28
Wednesday
8:00 AM Woke up to my sister asking if I could pay her back for the 2028 Olympic tickets she just bought for our family. I didn’t even know they were selling tickets to the Olympics yet! She’d brought it up briefly in the past, and I did say I’d love to go, so I guess I am going now! She bought 2028 LA Olympic tickets for my entire family to see a Basketball tournament. We are all very excited. Both my parents are originally from Cali, we have family down there, and both my sister and brother already live there, so it’s a wonderful future trip to look forward to. I am seemingly the only one of my siblings who feels like WA could be their forever home. I am very proud of my siblings for chasing after what they want, even if I miss not having them around as much. I am very lucky to love my family and enjoy spending time with them. In fact, for my birthday next week, my mom and I are going to a hot springs spa together, which is something we both enjoy. I’m looking forward to it!
8:15 AM I Zelle her $150. I hadn’t planned for this purchase, so I pulled half of it out of my “fun” fund, and the other half out of both my couch-extender fund and a little out of my therapy fund. I will have to recoup these accounts with my next paycheck. I also clock in to work remotely and start going through my tasks for the day.
10:30 AM I get to work and pay my monthly car insurance of $74.08, which I budget out of my paycheck every month. I save 3 dollars each month by logging in and paying it myself instead of setting up an automatic payment. I’m not sure why, but I’ll take the three bucks.
11:00 - 5:00 PM work is very much WORK. I don’t want to dox myself, so I will keep this area very light, but no money was spent. I ate leftovers for lunch.
6:50 PM I tried and failed to make a slow-cooked chicken pasta. S. Was thankfully able to save it by covering it with cheese and adding a bunch of additional spices.
Wednesday Total: $233.33
Thursday
8:00 AM The morning is a blur; I haven’t been sleeping very well. S is, as usual, incredibly helpful in getting me up and brings me a hot cup of tea to start my morning. I somehow drag myself into the shower and put clothes on my body.
11:00 AM We are focused on team building in our department today, and lunch was provided! I know quite a few of the people in the events department, so I was able to grab several leftover sandwiches to take home for S and me to eat!
2:15 PM Clickety clack typing noises! Work is boring, nothing to add!
3:00 PM I sent out a Partiful invite to my friends as I want to host a Clothing Swap on a Sunday this quarter. I don’t have a specific day in mind, so I gave several options for invitees to choose from. Basically, instead of yearly goals, my partner and I set quarterly goals, one of which is to host a get-together, thus a clothing swap was born!
4:00 PM Clickety clack! I really don’t want to share much about my job or workplace, so please appreciate my noises. Clickety clack *backspace backspace backspace*.
4:45 PM I had a $10 bonus that was about to expire at CVS, along with two 40% off’s, so I bought Shea Moisture hair mousse and a Shea Moisture hair oil, which gave me another $10 off for my next trip. I have very thick curly hair that I’m focused on growing out. In college, my hair was actually down to my butt! I’ve had it short for the last few years. I want to see if I can actually get it around that length again. I also bought two bags of candy and two big-size 4-pack Reese’s for future movie nights, as I try not to pay theater food prices (except for the occasional chicken tenders or cinnamon bites). $22.58
5:35 PM We have a Trader Joe’s right down the road, so I stopped in there and got S. a small bouquet of tulips for her workplace, along with a small bag of her favorite chocolate cups and some gum. Work ended early today, so I’m able to drop these off to S near the end of her own workday. She is very happy. $11.71
5:50 PM I get home, load the dishwasher, clean out the cat litter box, and take out the trash. Our apartment is full of clean laundry waiting to be folded and put away.
7:00 PM S & I fold two piles while watching the newest Abbott Elementary episode. Then I start “Die My Love”, which is a new movie with Jennifer Lawrence & Robert Pattinson, while S does her own thing. I forgot to cancel my Mubi subscription for this month, so I’m challenging myself to watch 3 movies before my subscription ends to make the cost worth it.
11:00 PM, I get a little over halfway through the movie before calling it quits. I will hopefully finish the rest tomorrow evening. Took a shower. I did all my PT stretches and tracked them in the app.
Thursday Total: $34.29
Friday:
8:00 AM Omg I am so exhausted this morning! S & I both had a terrible time sleeping last night, so we were incredibly groggy when we got up. I have my laptop open, but honestly, I don’t get too much done. It is a rough morning in our household.
10:40 AM I am 10 minutes late for the meeting I need to run this morning. But thank goodness it’s a meeting with students. They are all very forgiving, and the meeting goes very well.
2:00 PM I am so over this work week; my brain feels like mush. I have quite a few things I still need to get done, but I can’t seem to get my brain working properly. I do have ADHD, so I am always proud of myself when I successfully make it through the workweek. Taking medication daily definitely helps, but it can still be a struggle.
People talking about ADHD on social media and self-describing themselves as having it has been kind of beaten to a pulp. But being very honest, ADHD can be debilitating. I highly recommend the Reddit page r/ADHDwomen. I get a lot of great tips on there, but also it's a place where we can mourn the ways our lives are different because we have different brains. I am very lucky to be a woman who was diagnosed young. My mom knew she had it, so when I started showing signs as a child, she immediately knew what was up. I do sometimes worry about how my life will look compared to my siblings, one has ADHD, but not as extreme, and the other is fully neurotypical. School always came easier to them; I don’t want to fall behind them. Especially as their big sister. I like the analogy someone told me a while back, that being neurotypical is like walking around a house with the lights on, and having ADHD is like walking around the house in pitch black. Taking ADHD medication gives the person with ADHD a flashlight, but the lights will never be on. I am lucky to now have three medications that enable me to function in this capitalist society, one for anxiety, another for depression, and the third for ADHD. But I know many ADHD people cannot make this 8-5 in-person schedule work for them. Even my own mom, who has run her own business for the last 30-something years! I never knew what it meant to work a 9-5 growing up because I never had parents who did it. I don’t think I could handle the stress of running my own business. For me personally, I have had to work very hard to make the 8-5 work schedule work with my body and brain; it is a regular battle. I don’t want you to think I am making excuses; I always try very hard. But we have to remind ourselves that every day, not everyone is starting at the same starting line.
6:15 PM S and I make fresh cups of tea and walk to our favorite local dispensary while discussing our workday. I pay for a new batch of our favorite edibles, $32. I added this to Splitwise (not sponsored or anything, just useful as a couple) as well, so I’ll get Zelle’d her half later. I honestly don’t even count this money, because I keep it in my drawer as cash; it’s not part of my budget.
6:40 PM S starts making dinner while I begin editing this post. The weed kicks in, and I end up watching the entire Marie Antoinette movie starring Kirsten Dunst. It’s not a new favorite, but I did enjoy it.
Friday total: $0. I’m not going to count the weed purchase in cash, as the money wasn’t pulled out of my budget, and I don’t track it. I actually think this $100 was part of the Christmas money I got from S’s parents.
Saturday:
9:45 AM Wake up for therapy, warm myself up with a cup of tea, and eat a 4-pack of Reese’s (these were the CVS ones I just bought). I kind of just eat what I crave, which very recently has been chocolate, a new craving for me.
10:00 AM I start therapy, I love my therapist. We were supposed to meet next Saturday, but I moved it to this week so I could have my birthday weekend off. I started seeing her last February, and this has definitely had a positive impact on my mental health and all my relationships. Therapy costs $100 (will increase to $120 next month).
12:00 PM I end up sleeping around the apartment today as my partner is at work today. I’m not the best about doing things on the weekend, as I’m usually so exhausted from the workweek, I just want to sleep and hang out with my girlfriend. Also, because I work a 9-5 with ADHD, I like to not take my medication on Saturday and just let my body and mind be sluggish. It helps me prepare for the coming week. I need a day of rest once a week. But also, means I don’t do any chores around the apartment.
5:00 PM I decide I don’t want to cook, so I order us Pagliacci Pizza, which is an amazing but pricey pizza joint with locations across Seattle. We always get their Margherita pizza. It is AMAZING! I decide to treat S and not be reimbursed. S. picks up the pizza on her way home from work. Seattle food is so expensive it’s not even funny. Total: $34.81
Saturday Total: $34.81+ $100 FSA = $134.81
Sunday:
8:00 AM Car detailer shows up at 7:50 AM to clean my car, my girlfriend wakes me up, and I walk out of the apartment in pajama pants and a comfy to give him my car keys. I love this service. I used him for the first time last year at my old apartment, and I love that he comes to your home, and he’s very thorough.
9:00 AM S. and I spend the morning together tidying the apartment. Another symptom of my ADHD is that I am very messy, so there is always tidying that can be done. I have definitely gotten better, but it is a daily effort. I make us Ube pancakes (from Trader Joe’s), which are amazing. We are still working through our stash from last spring, as they are a seasonal item. S. makes us a yummy fruit syrup with some older blackberries I got on sale and additional frozen fruit. I love slow Sunday mornings like this, though realistically, I probably wouldn’t be up this early if my car wasn’t being cleaned.
11:00 AM S. leaves for a hangout, and I get a text message that my detailing is done. I zelle him $250 (saved up $250 last quarter) and walk out to find my car absolutely pristine. I went back and forth this time if I it was worth it, but I do not keep my car clean, I always forget how clean he manages to get it. $250 for a once-a-year detailing is definitely worth it to me. Plus he actually upped his price to $300 this year, but as I am a returning customer, he kept it at $250!
12:25 PM I leave to go pick up my dad to meet his best friend, daughter, and granddaughter at a local gun range. I’ve never been to one before, so once we arrive, I am immediately overwhelmed by how casually they talk about different guns and bullets. I got my gun license/certification last January after Trump was sworn in, but I kept putting off going to a range because I hadn’t actually shot a gun before. I’m actually glad I waited because not only did my dad’s friend pay for all of us, he brought his own guns for us to shoot with and taught us how to hold them and reload them. We wore ear protection and eye protection the entire time, and I genuinely enjoyed myself. I did not, however, enjoy the guy with the rifle shooting in the stall beside ours. Until you experience it, you don’t realize how big a difference there is between a handgun and a rifle. If I cringe at the sound in a shooting range, I cannot imagine what children have experienced during school shootings. I don’t know if I will end up buying a gun one day, but I just know that as a queer woman in a relationship with another woman, I would rather be safe than sorry. Always.
2:30 PM Our shift in the range ends, and I leave my dad to hang out with his friend. I stop at the nearest Emerald City Smoothie and get their recommended Maui Waui, which was incredible; if there is one thing to know about me, it’s that I will get a little treat. The smoothie absolutely tastes like being on a Hawaiian beach. I also got three of their power meat sticks, totaling $18.38.
3:30 PM Get home, S. shows me beautiful photos she and her friends took during their hangout. I put in a load of whites. I’m back on my ADHD meds today, and my partner jokes that I become pure business. We finish cleaning up our living room and dining area. I swear we’ve been washing and folding laundry all week. I also sorted a few items at home that I want to bring to my office to decorate it.
6:00 PM We eat leftovers I brought home on Thursday from the catered lunch event for Dinner.
7:00 PM S. Braids my hair, and we watch the season two finale of The Pitt. I love this show, and I enjoyed the ending. I am not looking forward to waiting another year for season 3. I love when she braids my hair and she seems to really enjoy it, so that’s a bonus. We both love physical touch so this is another way to get it in a new way. Then we watched episode 2 of the new season of Euphoria, which I absolutely loved! As a queer woman, I honestly really enjoy Rue in her “hey mamas” laidback/fuckboy era. That personality type was so real for so many women I went to college with. Plus, Zendaya is so hot in this role, which I never thought before! Her as Rue is just something else. She is a straight actress who plays gay a little TOO well lol. I’m looking at YOU, HAILEE STEINFELD!!!!
11:00 PM I take a quick shower before bed and hope like hell I sleep well enough to handle restarting this schedule all over again. Thanks for joining me this week!
Sunday Balance: $268.38.
Reflection:
Week total: $732.47 + $226.56 FSA =959.03
Looking at these numbers immediately freaked me out. But I must remind everyone that at least half of this total amount was pre-planned and pre-saved/budgetted. So this wasn’t 900 I blew willy nilly! BUT JESUS CHRIST STILL!. Can you tell I'm trying to calm myself down?
I ended up spending quite a bit more money than I planned to, but honestly, it wasn’t too bad. I saved for quite a few of these things and will reimburse myself next week so I’m not worried. I still manage to save/invest about 35% of my take-home income.
But honestly, I think this week of tracking my expenses has shown me I am budgeting and saving for the person I want to be. Not realistically for the person I am. I think I’ve been almost too focused on saving money and hitting that 30% savings rate on my take-home each month. I’m obviously still spending money, I’m just not budgeting it. Which is doing me a disservice. I looked back on my purchases last month, and like clockwork, my partner and I seem to get takeout once a month when neither of us wants to cook on the second or third weekend of the month. I could easily budget for that. And I like it when I’m able to treat my girlfriend to dinner. She is even more rigorous with her budget because she has to be, so I like it when I can splurge on her.
I would love to reduce how much I spend on gas and be able to use that money for eating out and/or treating myself. But I haven’t ever used public transit to get to work, and I do tend to run late, so maybe I am being too overly ambitious? I would love to be the type of girl who takes public transit to and from work. Especially as the prices on gas seem to be climbing higher and higher. I would also like to start saving money monthly for travel. I miss traveling, and it used to be a huge part of my life. S and I are looking into starting a joint savings account for travel through Wealthfront, which should help me actually put the money aside. She puts aside $100/mo, and that is definitely doable for me.
I struggle with having a scarcity mindset, which is strange because I grew up very middle-class, which is rare coming from a single-parent household, and never had to worry about money. I think my issue is that my mom was never a saver. If she didn’t have money for something we wanted to do, she would hustle harder to make that money. But I don’t want that additional stress. I want to know I will have the money when I need it. My therapist is very well aware of these stresses I have, trust me. I get so worried about my retirement and savings for the future; I'm not setting aside enough for myself to enjoy the now. I could definitely be focused on increasing my income, but I just don’t have the energy for that currently. I’ll check back in a few months. Reducing my savings/investing rate will not make that big of a difference in the future, but it will allow me to enjoy my life now more realistically.
That’s all I got, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed following along with me this week! Let me know your thoughts! Or feel free to ask me any questions! This is my first-ever money diary, so please be kind! :)