#moneydiary

[budgetmilkshaketiger-blog]

January 5, 2021

I decided to keep this diary to hold me accountable for my spending in 2021. I’m trying to do a low-spend this year. I decided to go with my first day back to work, as my first day for recording entries. 

6:40AM: I leave R’s house to go home, stopping at Tim Horton’s for a coffee on the way. I found some pocket change from when I was still using change to pay toll and use that for my coffee.  Coffee + Bridge Toll = $3.03.

5:30: Head over to R’s place for the night. We’ve made plans to workout. Bridge toll = $.80.

Total spent today: $3.83

[defiesreason]

Wednesday August 29th

9:30am -- My 8:45 did not go terribly well, and I was laid off (along with 4 or 5 other people) from my company due to funding issues. I head home after saying goodbye to a few people and trying desperately not to lose it in the middle of the office (which doesn’t really work.)

5:00p -- I’ve spent the whole day on the couch kind of aimlessly looking at things on the internet and rewatching the first season of Outlander. I’m dog sitting for the next few days, so I grab my stuff and head down to tap class.

7:45pm -- Out of tap class and headed to the dog. I meet the boyf there and we take the dog for a walk and talk about what happened today and next steps. The good news is that, even though the cuts were because of funding,  we’re getting a small severance, so I should be able to cover rent and some other things for the next few months while I job search. I grab a bottle of wine from the liquor store along the way.

9:00pm -- Send boyf on his way home to feed our little cat. I make some pasta for dinner and have two glasses of wine before falling asleep in front of the TV.

[defiesreason]

Monday August 27th

6:54am -- My alarm goes off, and I’m not really sleepy, but I don’t want to get up yet, so I snooze a couple times and cuddle the boyf. The cat has stopped insisting on being fed at 7am, and it’s nice to be left alone in the morning.

7:30am -- Up and getting ready for work. I grab one of my salads for lunch, contemplate and decide against doing something to my hair, and pack up my water bottle, umbrella and tap shoes (I’m taking my first tap class tonight in about a decade). I put some cold brew in a small mason jar, pack up my Le Tote returns and head out the door.

9:00am -- Breakfast arrives at work. It looks not great, but actually tastes pretty good (especially the french toast). Then my boss arrives, which is weird, because she isn’t supposed to be in today.

10:00am -- I send a few scheduling emails for work, and then text my chiropractor to reschedule my appointment today, since I have to go meet the dog I’m dog sitting this weekend when my appointment was supposed to be. He says I can come at 3, which works perfectly.

11:30am -- Head over to the post office to drop off my Le Tote returns. Consider doing some other things, but it’s hot outside.

1:30pm -- Mixing bowl salad for lunch. I dump out the veggies I brought from home, and then top with a hard boiled egg, cheddar cheese, nuts and dried fruit I find in the office pantry.

2:00pm -- Go over to my friend’s boss’s house to meet Goose and get the skinny. Goose is great, and I’m looking forward to hanging out with him for a few days. Also looking forward to hanging out in this 3 story penthouse apartment, and this king-sized bed, and being only a 5 minute walk from work. #dreams

3:30pm -- Go to the chiropractor and get my hips adjusted (they’re always wonky after I’ve been sitting in planes/cars more than usual), plus a little adjustment at the base of my skull. This one is my favorite, because it relieves any trace of headache almost immediately, and tends to release the muscles next to my left shoulder blade, but it’s been doing well, so I haven’t needed it lately. I blame the pillows at my Aunt’s house.

5:00pm -- Change and head out to the Alvin Ailey extension. I stop to buy a lock, because the website says I need it ($3.94) and then to buy blister bandaids ($6.99) because my heels still aren’t quite healed from walking in my black flats the other day, and these are new tap shoes. This is in fact, the first tap class I have taken in over a decade. Terrifying.

7:30pm -- The class was great! Teacher was awesome, and it’s so exciting to be in a tap class again. I always forget how much I enjoy dancing.

8:30pm -- Home. I eat some leftovers and watch the finale of Sharp Objects (so good, now I need to read it) and then head into the bedroom to do some recording for AcaLumni Project.

10:30pm -- Get in bed, put on Grey’s Anatomy, and play games on my phone before falling asleep.

[defiesreason]

Sunday August 26th

6:45am -- I woke up fifteen minutes ago because apparently falling asleep at 10:30pm multiple days in a row means a 6:30 AM wakeup call. I pour myself some cold brew that I fixed yesterday and try to put on Grey’s, but Netflix on the Apple TV is logged out and the password I thought was right isn’t working. I wind up streaming through my phone, and it amazes me that Netflix now allows you to stream and do other things. Magic.

10:15am -- Boyf is up and we head to Whole Foods for a bigger shop for the week. We come away with sweet potatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, romaine, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, broccoli, eggs, 2 packs of sausage, oats, corn & quinoa pasta, ground beef, a whole chicken, two sandwiches for lunch and a piece of  yellow watermelon. Total is around $100, but boyf pays.

12:15pm -- We get home, put the groceries away and eat our sandwiches. Boyf puts on March of the Penguins, which I have seen, but it was a long time ago, and I forgot how it’s mostly about how a lot of baby penguins die. I head into the bedroom toward the end to watch Grey’s reruns and play games on my phone.

3:45pm -- Boyf wanders into the bedroom to tell me he’s going out for a walk. I use the opportunity to pull out the keyboard and work on some songs without headphones. I get the bridge figured out to an original and put the new chords into Noteflight, then spend a little time practicing it.

5:00pm -- Boyf is home again and we do the dishes and prep for cooking. He makes the broccoli, chicken and sweet potatoes for his lunches for the week. I use the pasta, one of the sausages, zucchini, mushrooms, onion and half the tomatoes to make dinner, and pack some mason jar salads for my lunches. There are leftovers from dinner, so I pack them up for dinner tomorrow.

10:00pm -- We put on Making It while we were cooking and eating, but we’ve run through all the episodes that have aired so far, so this seems as good a time as any to turn the TV off. I shower and head to bed.

[defiesreason]

Saturday August 25th

9:00am -- Up a little later than I’d like, but boyf isn’t too far behind, so we head out to grab coffee. We head down to Old Navy and I get a few more tanks, workout tops, shorts and a light sweatshirt for once it gets colder (come on, Fall!) Also get a tee for boyf. Ten things for $10 each seems like a pretty great bargain to me! ($102.92)

11:00am -- Home and hungry. Make some eggs, finally put away my clothes from vacation. I watch some more SYTYCD.

1:45pm -- Boyf takes advantage of the slightly less than a million degree heat and goes for a bike ride, while I go to Whole Foods to get some food for lunch and dinner. I end up doing a bigger shop than I meant to, and wind up with coffee, coconut creamer, two kinds of GG crackers, cheese, rainforest coast crisps, spring mix, watermelon, an apple, turkey legs, green beans, small potatoes, two kinds of salami, a pack of Justin’s dark chocolate peanut butter cups, a Theo dark chocolate and coconut bar and butter for $77. Oy.

3:00pm -- Home again and somehow boyf beat me. We have some cheese, crackers, salami and watermelon. Finish up the current episodes of SYTYCD and move onto Master Chef. I have the Justin’s cups, too.

6:15pm -- Put on Murder on the Orient Express while making dinner: roast turkey legs, steamed green beans and smashed potatoes. Food is pretty good, and the movie is alright.

8:30pm -- Decide to watch Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri. It’s incredible -- highly recommend! Boyf agrees that it was really good, which doesn’t happen super often. He helps me clean up dinner and I get in bed with some fruit snacks.

10:45pm -- Laying down makes me sleepy, and I pass out after about half an episode of Grey’s Anatomy.

[defiesreason]

Friday August 24th

7:10am -- Wake up, which is good, because I didn’t set an alarm and the boyf isn’t getting up today. I roll around in bed for a bit before getting up to get ready. Feed the cat, stare at Instagram, on the train by 8:05am.

8:40am -- Off the train, and it’s still a little early, so I stop and grab a Spanish Latte at Think Coffee on the way to the office. ($5.00)

1:15pm -- Spend the morning scheduling, cleaning up and reorganizing the kitchen, adjusting the FreshDirect order for next week and generally catching up. This month is pretty slow for me in the office, for various reasons, so thankfully there isn’t anything super urgent or crazy to deal with, and the office is pretty quiet today. I got to Pokeworks and grab a bowl for lunch. ($13.55)

4:00pm -- Head out to meet the boyf and two of his friends who are in town visiting. We have some wine at a wine bar (boyf pays) and then head to Gotham Market for some food. I get a burger and a chardonnay ($18.81) and it’s delish.

10:30pm -- After the last week and the wine, I am beat. Fall into bed after watching some SYTYCD.

[defiesreason]

Thursday August 23rd

8:30am  -- Up and very glad I decided to work from home this morning. I realize that the pet sitter still has my keys, so I can’t go get coffee. I scrounge around the house and find we still have a little bit of coffee, but no milk, which is annoying. Then I discover vanilla gelato in the fridge. Voila -- milk!

10:30am -- Take a shower, then make myself some eggs and send some things to be printed for my gig later today to FedEx to pick up. ($5.35)

12:15pm -- Head out for a Rheumatology appointment I scheduled after I got sick. The doctor is super nice (I actually love most of the doctors I’ve found in the city -- they speak to me like a person and not a non-medical professional moron) and we chat about what happened and family history. She tells me basically what I expect, which is there isn’t a lot she can do now, but that it was good I came in, because now if things start happening again, I can send pictures and possibly have the rash that seems to accompany the symptoms biopsied.

1:45pm -- Out much faster than I thought, so I stop by Minigrow for lunch. I get Chicken Jawn, and use a coupon from my accidental Yelp event. ($10.89) I then proceed to almost die on the way home (that is, fall down the stairs on the way into Penn) and the bowl opens in the bag, so it’s a little soggy by the time I get home. Still tastes good.

3:45pm -- Head out to meet up with my a cappella group to run songs before the gig in Central Park. The ceremony starts a little late, but we end on time and everyone heads their separate ways. Our bass tells me of his apartment woes (the apartment for the lease he just signed had an incident and won’t have gas for his stove/oven for the entirety of his lease) on the way to the train.

6:15pm -- Home. The boyf went out to barbeque with some friends, so I watch TV until it’s time for bed. Still tired from traveling yesterday, so I hit the hay pretty early

[defiesreason]

Wednesday August 22nd

9:00am - We get up and go to the Fort Anne Cafe for breakfast, and then do a little bit of gift shopping at the Farmer’s Market before heading back to the house. We pack everything up and head to Halifax for our flight.

1:45pm -- Make it to the airport through some rain to find our flight is delayed. We decide to get some pizza for lunch ($17.77) and then settle it at the gate. The flight is now delayed even more. Great.

2:50pm -- I’m “embarrassing” the boyf because I’m practicing music softly to myself, but it’s fine for the girl the next row of chairs over to watch a war movie with explosions at full volume. Excuse me while I roll my eyes. I try (and fail) to spend our remaining 6 Canadian dollars at Starbucks ($4.83 -- which is $6.27 CAD)

6:30pm -- Finally in Ottawa. They were delayed because of mechanical issues -- they couldn’t get the auxiliary power to start the engines, which is only slightly terrifying.  I paid for wifi on the plane so I could finish watching Ladybird  -- highly recommend ($11.47) -- and spend some time while we’re waiting for our next flight (which is also delayed) downloading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society so I can watch the remainder on the next flight (which almost definitely won’t have wifi.)

8:15pm -- Grab a caesar salad and a chocolate milk from the only place in the gate, and eat it while waiting ($11.47). When we’re finally on the next plane, it has the same mechanical issue. What gives?

9:45pm -- Landed in Newark and on our way home. We hop right on the AirTrain and then right on the NJTransit back to Penn Station ($26, even though nobody checks our ticket.)

10:45pm -- We’re back in Penn, but the ⅔ isn’t running past 96th and we just want to be home. Head outside to grab a cab, and get home around 11:35pm ($32.16)

11:45pm -- Rinse off in the shower and crash into bed.