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Today: a senior business analyst who makes $115,000 per year and spends some of her money this week on Glossier Cloud Paint.

Occupation: Senior Business Analyst
Industry: Technology
Age: 24
Location: San Francisco
Salary: $115,000
Net Worth: $85,000 (401(k): $20,000, roth IRA: $10,000, brokerage: $25,000, savings: $30,000)
Debt: $0
Paycheck Amount (biweekly): $3,523.36
Pronouns: She/her

Monthly Expenses
Rent: $1,500 (I split an apartment with two roommates. I pay the least because I have the smallest room, and one of my roommates has the ensuite.)
Classpass: $15
Netflix: $5 (Split with college roommates.)
Spotify: $2.67 (Split with friends.)

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, both my parents have graduate degrees, so there was always the expectation that I get at least an undergrad degree. I graduated from undergrad a few years ago and paid for it with a mix of scholarships and the bank of mom and dad.

Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
We didn’t really talk about money when I was young, but when I was a junior in high school, we started talking about what college was going to cost. I also stopped getting an allowance around then, so I could practice earning and managing my money while I was still at home. My parents encouraged me to open up a credit card when I went to college and also added me as an authorized user on one of their cards so I could build credit faster.

What was your first job and why did you get it?
I got my first job when I was a junior in high school working at a takeout restaurant. It was a pretty easy job, mostly involving taking and packing up orders. I only worked three hours a week because my parents still covered all of my expenses.

Did you worry about money growing up?
I never had to worry, because my parents were very protective. But I never really had anything new or fancy, since I have a large family. There were a lot of hand-me-downs, from clothes to textbooks to phones. I never had to worry about meals or about paying for school trips.

Do you worry about money now?
I don’t really have short-term worries, but I do have long-term worries. I definitely worry a bit about living in San Francisco. So far, I really like it here, but everything is so expensive. I don’t know if I could afford to be here in the long term, but I don’t know what moving will look like for my life and career.

At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
Probably 22, when I graduated from college. My parents went back to giving me an allowance when I went to college since they wanted me to focus on my studies and my interests, instead of having to work. After college, they made it very clear that I was expected to support myself, but I know that if something disastrous happened, they would help me out.

Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
Yes, in college I received an allowance of $500 a month for every school month (so not during winter and summer breaks). Then when I graduated, my grandparents gifted me $5,000, which I use as my emergency fund.

Day One

8 a.m. — I wake up against my will, but cannot seem to get to sleep again. I do a quick scroll through Instagram and an hour later, get up to start my day with a bowl of Lucky Charms and the last of my milk. I read through SF and Bay Area articles as I eat. I recently moved to the Bay and am looking for lifestyle inspiration. Unfortunately, most of these articles were written pre-pandemic, which means the lifestyle is just not relevant anymore.

9:30 a.m. — I do my morning routine (brush teeth, rinse face, vitamin C, and moisturizer). I recently broke down and bought the Skinceuticals CE Ferulic and I have some regret. It is quite nice, but not $166 plus CA sales tax nice. I will be switching back to the Timeless serum after it’s gone.

10 a.m. — Sit down to scroll through my phone again, and accidentally pass another hour. Realize I’m running late to meet a friend for brunch. I’m very disappointed in myself because I was looking forward to getting ready. I really enjoy the process of getting ready and like to take my time. Now, I speed slather on sunscreen, Boy Brow, and mascara. Running late also means that instead of walking to brunch, I have to call a car. $16.99

11:30 a.m. — The brunch place we planned to go to has a massive line. My friend, F., and I are not prepared to wait two hours, so we walk down the street and look for another place. Thankfully there are a lot of options in this area. Unfortunately, the vast majority of them have long lines. We finally find one with a reasonable wait. We eventually sit down to delicious egg benedicts and a much-needed catch-up. $36.22

2 p.m. — F. offers me a lift back to my apartment. I gratefully accept. When I get dropped off, I head to the Embarcadero for a walk and a farmer’s market peruse. The market is winding down, so there’s nothing good left. I am disappointed, but not surprised.

3:30 p.m. — When I get back to my apartment, I find that my roommate, J., has finally gotten up and has also made chocolate chip pancakes. She offers me one, and we catch up while we eat. Our third roommate, R., is in Europe right now (we are jealous but also worried), and we discuss the crazy story she texted last night. R. is much more extroverted than J. and me and the apartment is so much more fun when she’s here.

5:30 p.m. — I am hungry again, so I microwave a bowl of leftover chicken soup until it’s steamy. Then I add a packet of instant noodles and cover the bowl with a lid. This is one of my go-to quick meals. I eat an apple and dried mango slices for dessert. Then I remember I have a box of chocolate-covered almonds, so I eat those as I watch an episode of the new season of Queer Eye.

7:30 p.m. — J. asks if I need anything, as she’s going to the small general store down the street. They have truly astronomical prices (we’re talking double digits for a small box of blueberries), so I thank her and decline.

9:30 p.m. — I drink a small glass of bad wine and call a friend from college, D. She recently quit her job at a small start-up to move to a much larger tech company. We talk about working in tech and the surprise of paying taxes when you have company stock. After we hang up I accidentally fall asleep.

12:15 a.m. — I wake up from too long of a nap. I get up, shower, do my evening routine (brush teeth, wash with supermarket cleanser, put on Weleda Skin Food), and head to bed.

Daily Total: $53.21

Day Two

9 a.m. — Wake up. Chill in bed. Then, get up and make scrambled eggs with toast. Text J. to ask if she wants any, and as expected, there’s no reply since she is asleep. My roommates and I were acquaintances in college and I would really like to get closer with them. Unfortunately, our schedules don’t usually match up, so I don’t see them that much.

11:30 a.m. — Do my morning routine, then spend the morning doing some mindless cleaning with old episodes of SVU playing in the background. We don’t have a cleaning schedule in this apartment, but J. and I both tend to be really conscientious about it.

12:30 p.m. — I really, really don’t want to cook, and also don’t want to go to the supermarket. I decide that I will go to the supermarket, so that I can have food to eat this week, but as a treat, I will order ramen for lunch. I take myself to Trader Joe’s and buy apples, bananas, oranges, Asian pears, a salad kit, baby carrots, rosé, chocolate heart cookies, matcha ice cream, chocolate peanut butter cups, frozen dumplings, frozen naan, frozen curry, frozen tamales, frozen risotto, and dryer bags. $76.68

1:45 p.m. — I get back and am very tired from hauling my groceries. I decide I want something heavier for lunch, so I order Japanese curry. $27.41

3:30 p.m. — D. and her boyfriend are in the city, so she asks if they can come over. I agree, and they come over. I am very excited to see that they’ve brought me a brown sugar boba. D.’s boyfriend leaves to run errands, and we sit in the living room chatting.

5 p.m. — J. emerges from her room. This is late, even for her. She went out last night for the first time in a while and it sounds like she had a great night. She grabs a bowl of cereal and heads back into her room.

5:45 p.m. — D.’s boyfriend gets back and asks if I’d like to get dinner with them. I decline because I feel like I’m always pestering D. and don’t want to crowd them too much.

6 p.m. — I think about getting some more makeup since I will hopefully be leaving the house more. I browse Glossier’s website because I don’t want to buy anything too heavy/expensive. I chicken out on trying anything new and instead buy a replacement Boy Brow, and another Cloud Paint (Eve). $36.55

7 p.m. — I eat the rest of my chicken soup with a piece of naan, a small side salad made of kale, spinach, and rocket, topped with kewpie mayo. I eat chocolate heart cookies for dessert. I contemplate eating an edible gummy, but I don’t like getting high on nights before work.

8:30 p.m. — I do my evening routine ridiculously early, then hop into bed with a book my mom recently recommended, called An American Marriage. It was on Oprah’s reading list a while ago and it’s absolutely riveting.

9:45 p.m. — I am pretty tired, so I decide to go to bed. Before I do, I quickly open my work laptop to check emails and messages. There are a bunch because I work with a number of workaholics. Nothing that can’t be left until Monday, so I turn my laptop back off, and turn in.

Daily Total: $140.64

Day Three

7 a.m. — My alarm rings and I wake up and immediately get out of bed so I’m not tempted to snooze. I throw on a sweatshirt and some sweatpants and go to the kitchen to make a smoothie. I add a banana, some mixed greens, two scoops of protein, and frozen berries.

7:30 a.m. — I decide not to eat the smoothie so I can go work out. I’m back within half an hour because I’m really not feeling it. I take the smoothie from the fridge and settle down at my desk to read emails.

8:30 a.m. — I hop in the shower and then do my morning routine. I read the news while I wait for my 9 a.m. meeting to start.

12 p.m. — Done with back-to-back meetings! I fix a small snack plate (carrots, orange slices, and a few peanut butter cups) that I take back to my desk. It’s not quite filling enough so I heat up a piece of naan.

1:30 p.m. — I make a bowl of pasta. I check my brokerage account as I wait for the water to bowl and then I cry because my portfolio is down so much. I can’t decide whether to buy the dip or put money into savings to avoid further losses. I decide to not make a decision and also to not check my brokerage account for the rest of the week.

3 p.m. — It’s a really slow day at work, so I call my grandparents. My siblings and I all try to call them during the week to make sure we all keep in touch. My grandpa mentions that my mother told my aunt that I would help my cousin look for an internship. I grind my teeth as she had failed to mention this to me.

3:40 p.m. — I call my mom, who has just gotten off work. She tells me she’s driving home and to call her later.

4:15 p.m. — My manager pings me with an update about what we need to present at the department wide sync later this week. I grind my teeth again, as it’s literally something I had brought up last week, and he had shot down. Now, I need to redo all of the analysis. He sends me a Word doc with an outline of the flow of the presentation. I push back on some of the content, since I know it will be a fight to get it done in time. He apologizes but says this is what we have to do. Thankfully, he offers to lend a hand.

4:45 p.m. — So much for my easy work day. I settle in for a long night of excel. I think about how nice it would be to be financially independent. I don’t hate my job, but I do wish there wasn’t so much pressure to throw my whole life into it.

8 p.m. — I have finished most of the analysis and decide to give myself a break. I cook half a bag of frozen dumplings and eat them straight from the pot. I check my phone and see a missed call from my mom, but I don’t have time to call her back.

8:35 p.m. — I’m back at my desk with an apple and start reviewing the work I just did. I want to make sure there are no errors before I start putting the findings on a slide.

9:10 p.m. — My manager pings me again, and my heart sinks when I see the message. He’s been proofreading the report that we’re supposed to submit before the presentation and he wants to discuss something with me. We hop on a call and thankfully, he just wants to move some sections around, as opposed to adding more or different content. I really hate how last minute he leaves these discussions because it adds so much unnecessary stress.

10:30 p.m. — I finish reviewing the analysis, and have built drafts of the slides. I decide to order dessert (fancy sweet toast). $25.34

11:30 p.m. — Shower, brush teeth, do my evening routine, and fall into bed.

Daily Total: $25.34

Day Four

7:30 a.m. — Decided to wake up later this morning. I roll out of bed and eat a bowl of Lucky Charms. Do my morning routine while listening to a Spotify made playlist. I feel very hyped as I head into my morning one-on-one with my manager.

9:05 a.m. — I always leave these meetings feeling very unsatisfied. My manager manages both my work and my professional development, and our one-on-ones are supposed to cover both, but we usually only have time for the former. I don’t know how I’m supposed to communicate my professional goals to him if we’re always talking about projects. I relieve some dissatisfaction by browsing r/antiwork and dreaming of forming a union at my company. It would never happen because I’m pretty sure everyone else is satisfied. And because my employer would probably union bust.

11:50 a.m. — Manager pings me and tells me he has good news. I am excited but wary. We hop on the phone and it turns out it is actually good news, potentially great news. We’ve been trying to hire a new person for our team for about six months. Last year, we went through a reorganization that moved two of our team members away, leaving us very understaffed. We’ve been looking for someone with the right mix of skills and we finally found them. They have some experience already, which is great and they can start immediately. I’m very excited about what this means for the team. I’ll be mentoring and managing this person, so it’s also a great opportunity for my professional development.

2 p.m. — I hop off a long call with a member of our finance team, who wants to discuss some of the forecasts we submitted for the product. He wants us to take another look at some specific segments, so I spend some time compiling the findings and then send them over to him.

3:445 p.m. — Finance guy calls me again and we walk through what I sent over. Then we have a little gossip session and he mentions that he heard there might be another reorganization. This is not entirely unexpected, as there’s typically been about one reorganization a year. It’s mostly because the company has undergone a lot of inorganic growth, so there’s always the need to integrate the acquired companies.

5:30 p.m. — I finish up the slides I’ve been working on and send them to my manager to review. Then, I go to the gym.

6:15 p.m. — Come back after another terrible workout. I check my work laptop to see that manager is not online and hasn’t reviewed the slide deck yet.

7 p.m. — I take a shower and do my skincare routine. Eat a microwaved tamale with some scrambled eggs. Follow it up with some chocolate-covered almonds and a banana.

8:30 p.m. — I check my work laptop and unfortunately my manager is online and has sent me back comments. Most are pretty minor, but some will require completely redoing the content and layout. I reply letting him know I’ve seen the comments, and tackle a few of the minor things. I really don’t feel like doing more, so I put on some YouTube and do some yoga.

10:10 p.m. — J. texts me that she brought some free cookies back from the office. I go out of my room to take one. Both of our offices have voluntary attendance policies, but her office serves boxed lunches and good snacks, so she tends to go in much more than I do. We both complain about work for a bit and then she disappears into her room to do said work.

Daily Total: $0

Day Five

8 a.m. — I snoozed because I woke up feeling very sad and unmotivated. I really do not want to go to work. I eat matcha ice cream and chocolate heart cookies for breakfast.

9 a.m. — Thankfully no meetings this morning, so I get started on working through my manager’s comments.

10:15 a.m. — I pick out lunch and schedule it to arrive right before the training we have. It’s performance review season and this training goes over the process we have to go through to get promoted. It seems unnecessarily complex. $25.24

10:50 a.m. — My tacos arrive early, and I decide to eat them now. I then fix a snack plate (carrots, apple, and Asian pear slices) to eat during the training.

12 p.m. — Training ends and it was actually very interesting. They talked about merit raises as well as the promotion process and it sounds like everyone will be getting larger-than-expected raises this year.

2:30 p.m. — I take a break from work and decide to book an exercise class for later this evening. I book a hot yoga class at a studio down the road using my ClassPass credits. I text J. to see if she wants to join. She does, so I send her the link to the class.

5 p.m. — Wrap up edits and send the revised presentation to my manager.

6:15 p.m. — Walk to yoga with J. She gives me tips for how to handle performance reviews, as she just had hers in November.

7:45 p.m. — We get back from yoga and we are beat. Hot yoga in a mask is not easy, and I am very out of shape. J. has amazingly good balance and I was very impressed by how she managed to do every pose. I ask if she’d like to cook or order dinner together, but she has a bunch of leftovers she needs to eat. I decide to order ramen. $20.75

9 p.m. — I call my mom. We catch up, but I forget to mention the cousin thing.

11:15 p.m. — I check my work laptop right before going to bed. Manager is not online and has not replied. Go to sleep soundly.

Daily Total: $45.99

Day Six

7 a.m. — Get up and make a smoothie. I put it in a sippy cup and take it on a walk around the block.

8 a.m. — I set up at my desk and wait for my morning meetings to start. I break my resolve to not check my brokerage accounts. We are down. We are majorly down. I decide to buy the dip and transfer $1,000 from my checking to my brokerage to buy some shares of a total market ETF.

10:30 a.m. — Done with meetings. I get started on some of my recurring tasks, which have taken a back seat to the presentation. I also think about making weekend plans because I need to see people and get out of the house.

12:30 p.m. — Order tacos again, because the ones yesterday were so good. $25.24

1:15 p.m. — Manager emails me to set up some time for us to do a dry run of the presentation. He also asks if I have any business analyst work friends who can ask him a softball question. LOL. What work friends? I’ve barely met anyone from work. Zoom happy hours can only do so much.

4:30 p.m. — Manager and I finish doing a dry run of the presentation. I am very excited because this is the first time I’ll be getting to present at the department-wide meeting. I’m only doing a few of the slides, but this is still an exciting opportunity. I tell him I do not have the hook up for softball questions and he decides to just cover the material during his voice-over. He also tells me I need to start putting together some introduction/training materials for when the newcomer joins in two weeks. We brainstorm a list of topics the trainings should cover and I block off some time to start the materials next week.

6 p.m. — I practice the presentation a bit more, then realize I’ve seriously neglected my recurring tasks. I spend some time getting what I can done, then decide to work on the rest tomorrow.

7:30 p.m. — I debate whether I want to cook or want to order food. Because I ordered tacos for lunch, I heat up a frozen curry and a piece of naan. I eat matcha ice cream for dessert, and then go downstairs to the mailroom to pick up my Glossier package. I also bring up a couple of packages for J.

8:10 p.m. — D. texts to ask if I want to go on a double date with her and her boyfriend, and one of his buddies. She sends a photo of him and he is not really my type. I agree though, since I could use the social interaction. D. suggests a comedy show, which I take her up on. She buys tickets, and I Venmo her my portion. $22

10 p.m. — Do my evening routine and head to bed. Stalk the blind date candidate on socials. He is cuter in other photos and seems very NorCal. We shall see how this goes. I do some online shopping. I barely bought any new clothes during the last two years. I take a look on Aritzia and see some pants on sale. I could wear these to dinner or to work, so I get them in camel. $115.04

Daily Total: $162.28

Day Seven

7 a.m. — I get up and I am so excited that it’s Friday! I eat matcha ice cream and peanut butter cups for breakfast.

8 a.m. — I do my morning routine and then I put on a bit of makeup (old Boy Brow, new Cloud Paint), due to the presentation today. I’m kind of nervous, but also excited.

10:30 a.m. — The presentation goes well! We did get some probing questions but my manager fielded them very well. He pings me with a cute congratulatory note.

11 a.m. — I feel much more relaxed now and make a plan for the rest of the day on how I should tackle work. Since I’m planning, I also make a list of what I need to get done for the next week, and try to make sure I block out time to make training materials.

11:30 a.m. — Decide to eat a lunch of snacks before I start doing these tasks. I really procrastinate, but also suffer under the crushing weight of my very manageable tasks. D. calls me during lunch and tries to convince me that we should both get second jobs so we can double our salary. I am intrigued. Unfortunately, the conversation is cut short because we both have to go back to sending our stupid little emails.

5:30 p.m. — I do a very good, long, unbroken stretch of work, and basically finished everything on my list. I send an overview email to my manager and outline the tasks I plan to tackle next week as well as a fleshed out version of the training materials plan. Then I sign off and power down my laptop for the weekend.

6:15 p.m. — I go to the gym for a quick run. I only run for 15 minutes before coming back.

7 p.m. — Order a fancy dinner for myself, of filet mignon with mushroom and potatoes. I hop into the shower to wait for it. $53.38

8 p.m. — Food arrives, and I’m looking for a movie to watch while I eat it. J. asks if I want to watch Don’t Look Up with her. I haven’t seen it yet, so I’m happy to accept. Unfortunately, her food hasn’t arrived yet, so I offer her some of my dinner. I’m secretly relieved when she declines. Halfway through the movie, we decide to order dessert. She has the UberEats monthly pass, which I should really get, so she places the order, and I Venmo her my half. $17.33

10:15 p.m. — I don’t want to go to bed yet, but I’ve already watched a movie and am not sure what else to do. D. has disappeared into her room. I wonder if I should hit up another friend from college, but it feels weird. I remember that I haven’t finished An American Marriage and hop into bed with it and a small glass of wine.

11:45 p.m. — Do my evening routine and fall asleep.

Daily Total: $70.71

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Welcome to Refinery29’s Feel Good Diaries, where we chronicle the physical and mental wellness routines of women today, their costs, and whether or not these self-care rituals actually make you feel good.

Have your own Feel Good Diary to submit? You can do so here!

Today: a student athlete finding balance between preseason practice, hanging with friends, and making time for rest.

Editor’s Note: This diary was written in January 2022.

Age: 20
Location: Upstate NY
Occupation: Student athlete
Salary: N/A

Day One

9 a.m. — ​​I wake up early for my first track and field practice of the day. Before getting ready, I take my vitamins — zinc, elderberry, vitamin D, and a B vitamin complex — and eat a quick breakfast of protein oatmeal with my favorite toppings: vanilla almond butter and blueberries. I try to do my grocery shopping every other week. For supplemental things, I sometimes have to go in between. But overall, I try to spend no more than $125 a month on groceries.

After breakfast, my housemates and I carpool to our preseason practice on campus in the gym. After warming up, we go through speed training that includes sled pulls, block starts, and a lot of sprinting.

It feels great to be back with my team after the winter break and to be surrounded by like-minded people. My body did feel slightly tight when sprinting. but I’m happy to be doing what I love. I have been running track since the 7th grade. One day in gym class, my teacher noticed that I was fast and recommended my mom put me in track. Because my school was new, my mom recommended that a track team be started and the rest is history! Since then I have continued running and working out. My parents did not play organized sports but have been invested in track since it has become a huge part of my life. As a family we do watch sporting events together — especially track and field during the Olympics.

12 p.m. — Before my afternoon practice session, I go back home to eat a late breakfast. I make myself two eggs, two slices of turkey bacon, and an English muffin. After I eat, I go to the weight room on campus for my afternoon session, which is a full-body lift. This lift consists of heavy box squats, bench presses, good mornings, and step-ups.

Being in the weight room with my teammates is a lot of fun, but the workout is definitely challenging. To make sure I recover, I drink my supplements that consist of BCAAs and creatine right after and foam roll my hamstrings. My BCAAs costs $23.99 and my creatine costs $15.99. I buy BCAAs and creatine about once every other month. I usually get small packs, but think I need to start getting them in bulk.

6 p.m. — For dinner I make rice, black beans, and pork tenderloin with a mushroom cream sauce. This meal turned out delicious and is simple enough to make. After I eat, I make sure to roll and stretch for half an hour. I also make myself some chamomile tea to help me relax before bed.

Rolling my lower body and stretching helps my legs to feel less tight before I go to sleep and also helps me feel fresh for tomorrow’s practice.

Daily Total: $0

Day Two

9 a.m. — I wake up the same time I do every day and eat my usual breakfast of protein oats. When I go to bed at a good time (which for me is before 11 p.m.) I wake up energized. Some mornings I wake up tired, but that’s usually after a tough couple of days. I love sleeping in — I am not a morning person.

I have practice at 9:45 a.m., and run tempo workout of 200s. Tempo workouts for runners are when you run the same distance at a certain speed, hitting a certain time, for a certain amount of reps. So, tempo 200s could be running 200 meters, six times, with two-minute rests in between. My favorite workouts are probably bike tempo (which is the same idea, just on a bike while biking slowly for rest in between sets). Afterward, we go through a quick core routine with multiple plank variations.

The tempo workout was hard to get through as the gym was very stuffy and I had my mask on. My hamstrings are also very tight this morning from yesterday’s lift. Despite these two factors, I’m able to get through the workout and I feel accomplished when it’s over.

COVID has definitely impacted my life as an athlete. My sophomore year, my team lost our indoor track season and didn’t get to practice together. Wearing a mask is really hard when running indoors because it’s really hard to breathe — but it’s a small price to pay to practice together and race again. 

12 p.m. — Before afternoon practice starts, I get a free lunch on campus. Off-campus athletes are able to eat on campus on a rolling schedule of two days in a row every three days during the preseason. Outside of this, I do have a small meal plan to help me throughout the academic year.

I eat penne alfredo with spinach, mushrooms, and chicken with garlic bread on the side. After I eat, I’m able to go back home and lay down for a little before 3 p.m. practice. Resting between practices is very important because recovery is the key to being a great athlete. Without recovery, you can’t perform at your greatest potential. Being able to rest is amazing, especially after a hard practice or day.

For our afternoon session, I cross-train on a stationary bike for 30 minutes. Being able to flush out my legs on the bike feels great for my hamstrings. After, I go through an upper-body lift that includes curls, military presses, pull-ups, and bent-over rows.

The lift gave me a pump in the triceps which was very empowering. I love that the ladies on my team push each other in our upper body training and I love how strong I feel afterward.

6 p.m. — I eat my leftover jasmine rice and black beans with grilled chicken for dinner, then drink my supplements: BCAAs and creatine. For some self-care, I light my favorite Pumpkin Vanilla candle from Target and turn on Euphoria while I relax in bed. Before I go to sleep, I drink Sleepytime tea, roll out my hamstrings with my foam roller, and use my massage gun. I use a FIIHO portable massage gun that I got Christmas two years ago from my parents.

I’m relieved to finally relax today — my body is feeling fatigued from yesterday’s and today’s workouts. Sometimes I have trouble sleeping when I have a lot on my mind. I do get stressed before bed, but usually because I was just doing homework.

Daily Total: $0

Day Three

2 p.m. — After another hard practice of speed work, I treat myself to my favorite Starbucks drink: a hot chai with brown sugar and oat milk. This drink was well-deserved after working out so consistently. I felt much faster and stronger during practice today. ($7)

After I get home, I make sure to use my massage gun on my calves and hamstrings for a while, and then stretch for 15 minutes. I set a stopwatch on my phone while I am stretching so I can hold each stretch for at least a minute. This keeps me accountable to make sure I am stretching for at least 10 minutes a day.

5 p.m. — Tonight I get dinner on campus with my teammates. When I get home I order some ear plugs for sleeping and some Beta Alanine as recommended by my coach to aid muscle endurance. ($26)

Daily Total: $33

Day Four

10:30 a.m. — Practice this morning is light. We do some biking, yoga, and mobility. For mobility workouts, we do barefoot toe and heel walks, lunges, leg swings, and hip circles as well as some yoga and stretching. 

It feels great on my body since I’m feeling pretty fatigued from the week so far. After practice, I get a large bowl and soaked my calves in Epsom salt that I bought at Walmart (I only need to buy a bag once a season or so). While soaking, I watched my all-time favorite show, A Different World. Other than this, for recovery, I just use my massage gun and foam roller after workouts.

8 p.m. — For dinner, my friends and I go to Chipotle. Sports take up a lot of my time. But I still have non-athlete friends that I work with or have met in my classes, who I try to see regularly. At Chipotle, I order my usual: a steak burrito bowl with brown rice, black beans, lettuce, cheese, guacamole, a little sour cream, and green salsa. The whole drive back we blast our favorite songs — we’re just happy we didn’t have to cook dinner! I only eat out maybe once a week, though — I usually try to cook or use my meal plan instead. ($12.91).

Daily Total: $12.91

Day Five

9 a.m. — To start my long day, I eat my usual breakfast and make sure to take my vitamins and prepare my supplements. I have work later on, so I pack a snack pack. At practice, we get to jump in the pool after our workout to do some water drills. This feels great on my legs after running around in the gym. It’s also fun to play volleyball and red light-green light in the pool with my teammates.

9:30 p.m. — I just got off the job I work at my school — I do different tasks at home games. Today, I moved the camera around for the live stream at the men’s and women’s basketball games. Some of the other tasks I’ve done are ushering and selling tickets, and I’ve worked during field hockey, soccer, and ice hockey. I get paid $13.20 an hour.

Tonight, I’m exhausted! When I get home, I go straight in the shower and drink some hot Lipton tea. I put on warm pajamas and get in bed to watch some Euphoria before I fall asleep. Laying in bed feels great after being on my feet all day at practice and at work. I always appreciate just being able to relax and think about how grateful I am for getting through another day.

Daily Total: $0

Day Six

8:30 a.m. — I wake up early for practice. Before I leave, I have a light breakfast of Honey Nut Cheerios and a banana. At practice we do more sprint work, such as banana hurdle runs. After running in the gym, I go to the weight room for a full body plyo lift. Plyo lifts are light and fast weight training workouts that are all about being explosive versus lifting heavy. They’re great because they make me feel very explosive, which helps with my race mechanics. 

8 p.m. — It’s Saturday night, so my housemates and I have friends over for a fun game night. I live with three of my teammates, and it’s great to unwind and laugh after a hard week with my friends on the team. We play Uno, Cards Against Humanity, Spoons, and Incoherent, and order pizza from 7/11 at around 10 p.m. when we all got hungry. My portion came to $20.

Daily Total: $20

Day Seven

10:30 a.m. — On Sundays I get to wake up late and not have to worry about practice. With the extra time on my hands, I make myself a big breakfast of grits, two eggs, and two sausage patties. Even though it’s just a meal, it feels like a reward to finally eat what I want in the morning. For the rest of the day, I allow myself to relax and binge-watch more Euphoria.

6 p.m. — Thankfully, I do not have to cook dinner tonight because I get to eat on campus. After dinner, I take a long shower and go to bed early because I’m so tired from the week.

Daily Total: $0

Weekly Total: $65.91

Reflection: My overall wellness and wellness routine is very important to me. There were times in my life when I was not taking care of myself, but now that I’m in college and have many responsibilities, I make sure that I take some time out to cater to my needs as a student-athlete. Wellness is all about giving your body what it deserves, no matter what society deems as healthy or correct. This has a lot more to do than just what you eat, but also the habits you create and the people you surround yourself with.

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Feel Good Diary: Long Walks & An Akashic Reading

Feel Good Diary: Pickleball & Life On The Farm

Feel Good Diary: Dance Class & Bubble Baths

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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 senior analyst who makes $67,000 per year and spends some of her money this week on an iPhone 13 mini.

Occupation: Senior Analyst
Industry: Market Research
Age: 25
Location: Chicago, IL
Salary: $67,000 + $2,750 bonus
Net Worth: ~$102,500 ($12,000 in checking/HYSA, $66,000 in Roth IRA, $22,000 in 401(k), car + moped probably worth $2,500 combined, no debt.)
Debt: $0
Paycheck Amount (biweekly): $2,028
Pronouns: She/her

Monthly Expenses
Rent: $900 for my half of a one-bedroom I share with my boyfriend, G. (He pays slightly more because he makes more.)
Utilities: ~$30-40 for my half of the electric (Heat, A/C, water, internet, cable, HOA fees included in rent.)
Health Insurance: $125.50 (Pre-tax.)
401(k): $567 (Pre-tax.)
Cell Phone: $60 (On my mom’s plan, but I pay my share.)
Peloton Digital: $6.99 (Student rate.)
Donations: $50 (Planned Parenthood, The Trevor Project, Connections for Abused Women and their Children, and NPR.)
Renter’s Insurance: $8 for my half
Netflix/Hulu/Disney+/Spotify Premium: $0 (On various family members’ accounts.)
Annual Expenses
Roth IRA: $6,000
Car + Moped Insurance: $816
Chicago Events Subscription: $60

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?
College was an unspoken expectation in my family, so I never considered not going. My parents are divorced and agreed to each pay a third, leaving me to pay the remaining third of my total expenses (tuition, room, board, etc.). I worked multiple jobs throughout my time at school to make my third. I’m extremely grateful my parents were able to help out and set me up to graduate debt-free. I’m currently in grad school part-time, but my company is helping pay about ~70% of tuition, which is awesome. I just have to stay in this job for two years after I graduate.

Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
My parents didn’t really have conversations with my older sister and I about money growing up, but it was drilled into us that you don’t spend money you don’t have! I also remember my mom being insistent we learn how to balance a checkbook… which seems useless now.

What was your first job and why did you get it?
I got my first job when I was 15 through the local parks and rec department teaching summer day camps and classes. I never worked during the school year in high school because of sports and school, but always worked during the summers at various jobs. I wanted to start saving for college, but also wanted money for gas and for fun because I felt weird asking my parents for money once I was in high school (even though they were both better off at that point).

Did you worry about money growing up?
Looking back, money was very very tight for both of my parents when I was young, but they both worked very hard to not make it feel like it. We mostly did a lot of free stuff (going to the park, beach, etc.), but never got to go to summer camp or anything like that. I do remember not even bothering to ask for things when they were more expensive though (Ski Club, eighth grade trip to DC, volleyball camps, etc.). I knew it’d be difficult for them to pay for and they’d probably say no anyways.

Do you worry about money now?
Always. I know I don’t need to worry about money, but my sister and I are both very much products of our parents. I honestly don’t think I’ll ever not worry about it in some capacity. I am always hyper aware of my spending and scale back if I think I’m spending more than I’d like in a month. Currently, I’m also worried about how I should be investing my money. I know nothing about investments and I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do.

At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
As soon as I graduated college when I was 22 and moved to Chicago. I had a bit of savings built up to last me for a while and luckily got a job just as my savings was draining out. If I were to suddenly lose my job, my boyfriend could help me out until I found another one. Worst comes to worst, even though moving back with either of my parents sounds terrible, I know I could if anything drastic ever happened.

Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
Besides helping with college expenses, my parents also created a college account when I was a baby, in case I ever needed it. But I worked a lot in college, so I never needed to dip into it. Instead, I used that to fund my Roth IRA throughout school, which has given me a great base for my retirement savings (~$19,000). Also this year, I bought my grandparents’ car for $500, even though it’s worth around $2,000 (but they’re not allowed to drive anymore). It’s a 2004 and nothing fancy, but it saved me a lot of money since used cars were so expensive in 2021.

Day One

6:30 a.m. — Even though I have this week off, my boyfriend, G., does not, so his alarm goes off and I wake up. He’s also the type of person who snoozes four times, so I can’t just go back to sleep right away. Ugh.

7:30 a.m. — Finally drag myself out of bed to work out since I’m not sleeping. I do a core workout and chest/shoulder/triceps day for lifting in my building’s gym (free). Afterwards I’m still feeling super motivated, so I do a 10-minute Peloton tabata ride (on the app). Wow those are insanely hard, I barely lasted the 10 minutes! (Also, I don’t have a Peloton, but I have an old FlyWheel brand bike I got second-hand, which is basically the same thing.)

10:30 a.m. — Eat a protein shake and jump in the shower. Mid-shower, I realize I have a haircut in like 45 minutes, so I jump out and rush there. I get my haircut at the Aveda school salon because who can beat a $16 haircut?! I’m always marginally worried they’ll mess up my hair, but this girl does a great job. Also, I feel I need to say it: I’m fully vaccinated and boosted. Anytime I’m not at home, I’m wearing a mask. Shout out to most Chicagoans for also being good about wearing masks!! $16

11:30 a.m. — Afterwards, I run to Express and buy a pair of earrings using a $5 credit I have and then stop by Walmart to grab a few fill-in items (protein bars, tortillas, gatorade, and Crystal Lite). Then, I go home and eat a salad I meal prepped a few days ago. $21.51

1 p.m. — My friend gets off work early so we decide to go to happy hour. I get a habanero pineapple margarita. $12.50

5 p.m. — I make my go-to ramen for dinner for the second night in a row because I’m lazy and it’s delicious. Just regular ramen noodles, Valentina hot sauce, Lawry’s seasoning, two eggs, shredded cheddar, and hot pepper flakes. Takes less than five minutes and is YUM as always.

5:30 p.m. — I realize I never bought my sister’s Christmas gift. Whoops! Jump online and finally send her an e-gift card to a spa she likes. $50

7 p.m. — G. and I go for a short walk after he’s done with work (we both work from home) and then we spend the rest of the night looking at Airbnbs for our trip to Puerto Rico. We previously had one booked, but the host canceled on us a few days ago unexpectedly, which sucks! We pick a few, but wait to book them.

8 p.m. — G. and I have plans tomorrow, but want to be safe, so we each take an at-home COVID test (purchased a few days ago). Negative and negative!

9 p.m. — I get ready for bed (Belif cleanser and gel moisturizer, floss and brush teeth = my regular bedtime routine) and read some of my book, The Paid Bridesmaid. I picked this as a light, easy read, and it was free on Amazon First Reads (would recommend if you have a Kindle and Amazon Prime), but, I really don’t like this book. I keep reading it because I’m expecting it to get better for some reason — it has not yet. I read until I fall asleep.

Daily Total: $100.01

Day Two

6:30 a.m. — I’m up way too early thanks to G.’s alarm.

7:30 a.m. — Finally get out of bed and head to the gym for a long legs day. I never get this much time to work out on a normal work morning, so it’s nice to not be in a rush. After my workout, I eat a protein shake and clean the apartment.

12 p.m. — I head to this thrift store I’ve been meaning to visit for months. I always like to say I’ve been thrifting my whole life, initially not because it was cool, but because we had no money. Now as an adult with money, I still can’t justify buying almost anything retail. About 90% of the things I own are second hand. Anyways, I find this amazing floor-length gold shiny Ralph Lauren gown for only $7.50! I read once that if you find an outfit that looks amazing and is a good price, buy it and find an occasion later. I did and I will! (I also buy a black workout tank.) $17.09

2 p.m. — One thrift store is not enough — I head to Salvation Army next. I end up finding a butter dish — I’ve been looking for one for months — and some shorts for our Puerto Rico trip. $6.57

6 p.m. — After G. is done with work, we order pizza for dinner. Then we finally narrow down our vacation plan and book our Airbnbs. We have a refund from the previous cancellation, so we put that towards the new reservations. The new ones we pick are slightly more expensive than the initial one, so it’s a little extra. $107

9 p.m. — We head to a club downtown. G. won tickets to this party in a contest a few weeks ago and I never say no to free stuff. Free full open bar! We also have tickets to a concert in a different neighborhood so it’s going to be a long night. We’re get to the club so early, there’s basically no one there yet, which is awesome. We pound a few drinks and toss one in a complimentary water bottle for the train ride. I tip the bartender $20 as a thank you and give the bathroom attendants $1 each as we leave. $22

11 p.m. — We take the train to the concert venue (I use a previously loaded card) and each down a little shooter of vodka before we head in. The security line is super long, but we eventually make it in by 11:30.

12:30 a.m. — G. doesn’t want to hold onto his jacket anymore so we drop it off at coat check. He doesn’t have cash so I pay. $6

1:30 a.m. — I go to the bathroom and am super thirsty, but also quite drunk. On my way back to find G. I grab a full (unattended) glass off the bar that looks like water. Nope, it’s a very strong cocktail. But drunk me drinks it anyways.

2:30 a.m. — We walk back to the train, only to wait 20 minutes for no train. Then, it says it’ll be another 20 minutes until the next one. G. gets impatient and orders an Uber. He pays. When we finally get home we have amazing sex (I’m not about euphemisms — sorry not sorry).

Daily Total: $158.66

Day Three

7:30 a.m. — My body punishes me for drinking by waking me up early and not letting me fall back asleep. I never really drink, so my tolerance is low, but I strangely don’t feel very hungover. Just very tired. I finally cave and migrate to the couch. We vowed not to do anything today, and that’s still the plan.

9 a.m. — I make an egg burrito and we watch a few episodes of Workaholics. Then, G. puts on the first Lord of the Rings movie. He’s been talking about watching the LotR movies again for months, so here we are. About two hours in I fall asleep for an hour or two.

2 p.m. — My phone has been on the fritz for a few days now. After Christmas it just started randomly turning off. This time it turns off and never turns back on… so I’m currently without a phone. My trusty iPhone 7 lasted me almost five years though, which is a success in my book.

3 p.m. — Still lounging around doing nothing. I eat some leftovers and throw on Palm Springs from Hulu. Love that movie!

5 p.m. — We bought some king crab this week and G. is preparing a full fancy dinner. He likes to cook and I love to eat, so it’s a great match. He makes king crab, a steak for him (I don’t eat meat), Brussels sprouts, and homemade biscuits. I offer to help, but he’s too kind and declines the help. He also bought the ingredients this week, so I Venmo him my half. $16

7 p.m. — We watch Cruella on Disney+. I’ve seen it before but G. hasn’t. I still like it and G. says it isn’t bad, which is shocking because he never likes the movies I pick.

10 p.m. — Bedtime after a successful day of doing nothing!

Daily Total: $16

Day Four

8:30 a.m. — Finally a full night of sleep! I feel fully rested for the first time in days. I make another egg burrito for breakfast and put on my workout clothes. I’m not actually working out right now, but figure I’m more likely to later if I’m already wearing the clothes.

10 a.m. — I head to the store and buy my groceries for the week (ingredients for vegetarian chili and cornbread, cottage cheese, almond milk, fruit, veggies, yogurt, and shredded cheddar). $27.25

12 p.m. — After lunch, G. finally convinces me that I need a new phone. All I want is for my iPhone 7 to start working again, but I quickly realize that is not going to happen. We walk to the Apple store and I pick the iPhone 13 mini because phones are so big now! This one is basically the same size as my 7. As much as I don’t want to spend this money and I hate giving my money to Apple, I need a phone. $803.72

2 p.m. — We stop at the animal shelter on the way home because we’ve been wanting to adopt a cat for months now. We sign in and sit in the waiting area. After an hour, they haven’t called anyone back, so we ask the front desk. They tell us it’ll be at least another hour! We decide to head out and come back another day.

4 p.m. — As soon as I get home, I buy a screen protector and case for my new phone. I have Amazon gift cards that cover the cost, so I don’t pay anything now.

5 p.m. — I finally force myself to workout because I just have no excuse now. I take a 30-minute ABBA ride on the Peloton app. I grew up listening and dancing to ABBA in our living room, so it’s very nostalgic and the motivation I needed.

6:30 p.m. — I meal prep my chili and cornbread for the week. It’s one of my favorite things to make because it’s so easy. Toss it all in a pot and done.

8 p.m. — G. is in the mood for pizza and willing to make it, so we have tasty homemade Detroit-style pizza for dinner. Always amazing when G. makes it!

8:30 p.m. — After we eat, we watch a little Workaholics.

9:30 p.m. — I finally head to bed and finish my book. Surprise, surprise, it doesn’t get any better. The ending is even worse than the rest of the book actually. Oh well, just relieved it’s done and I can move on to the next book.

Daily Total: $830.97

Day Five

6:30 a.m. — G.’s alarm wakes me up. Per usual, I wait an hour to drag myself out of bed and then head down to the gym and do a lazy back/bicep workout because my motivation is low.

9:30 a.m. — I have a massage later, but want to make sure I’m still safe to go. I take another at-home COVID test and it’s negative again. Woohoo!

10:30 a.m. — I quickly run to Walmart on the way to my massage because we’re out of toilet paper. I also pick up some more tortillas, dishwasher soap, spices, and Flamin’ Hot Mac and Cheese ($25.83 minus the $9 G. Venmos me for his half of the stuff we split). $16.83

11 a.m. — The massage is delightful (mask on the whole time, obviously)! It’s only the second massage I’ve ever gotten, and I think I may need to make this a more regular thing. I had a Groupon, so I already paid for that, but I also leave a $30 tip. $30

1 p.m. — Feeling all kinds of relaxed, I eat some meal-prepped chili and cornbread for lunch and have a Queer Eye marathon with the new season that just came out. As I’m watching, I also finish a painting that I’ve been putting off for months now. I don’t love how it comes out, but at least I finished it!

5 p.m. — Tuition for my grad program is due today and I’ve been putting off paying it because I hate seeing the number in my account go down. I bite the bullet and pay it. Even though my company helps with tuition, it’s not until the end of the semester, after I pass all the classes. I need to front the money and receive some of it back later. For now, it’s $7,465 out of my account. *Cringe.* While I’m at it, I also submit my 2022 Roth IRA contribution because I might as well just pay all the money at once, why not (Roth IRA noted in annual expenses)! $7,465

6:30 p.m. — G. and I go for a short walk when he’s done with work — very short because it’s freezing out. Then I have leftover homemade pizza and cookies for dinner.

7:30 p.m. — Well, well, well. G. takes our last at-home COVID test and it’s positive. Not good news. If I don’t have it now, I will soon because our apartment is way too small to separate for a full week. We’ve made it so long and been so careful! Luckily, though, we’re both asymptomatic right now. I also text my sister the news (she’s a frontline healthcare worker who works with COVID patients on the daily), and she says she’s worried she got it somehow too. She hasn’t had it yet either and feels the same. Time to quarantine.

8 p.m. — We watch the new South Park special, which is pretty funny. G. is way more into South Park than I am, but I don’t mind it. Hits a little closer to home this time…

9 p.m. — I start a new book from Amazon First Reads called The Night Burns Bright. It’s pretty good so far and I’m looking forward to this one.

Daily Total: $7,511.83

Day Six

6:30 a.m. — This time it’s my alarm that goes off and I’m not jazzed about it. Still, I get up and do a core workout and 30-minute Peloton spin class (all in my apartment).

8 a.m. — I make some eggs and log onto work, but there isn’t too much to do today. I finish up most of my work in the morning.

12 p.m. — After some chili and cornbread lunch, I go out for a lunch walk to get my legs moving. I know people may get all worked up in the comments, but I feel like it’s a safe bet to go on a walk outdoors with a mask on non-busy streets. I can’t stay in my apartment for a week straight without leaving.

2 p.m. — I do some work stuff here and there, but mostly just sit and read my book all afternoon. I am very tired though, so around 3:30 I fall asleep for an hour or so.

4 p.m. — I’m just checking my Amazon orders to see when things will get delivered when I find a good deal on my favorite brand of protein bars. I buy just one box for now. I use almost all the rest of my gift cards on this order.

4:30 p.m. — I snack on some cheese and crackers and watch Don’t Look Up on Netflix. I don’t love it but don’t hate it, so I consider it worth the watch. I totally see the parallels with our current world, which is just all too sad. I feel bad about just sitting on the couch for so long, so I jump on my spin bike and pedal my legs for the last half hour.

7 p.m. — After G. is done with work, we go for a walk (same deal as above). It’s not as cold tonight so we walk a bit further than usual.

8 p.m. — I heat up some more leftover homemade pizza and Brussels sprouts for dinner and we watch a few episodes of Workaholics before heading to bed early, around 9. I read some more of my book (still good) and try to fall asleep.

11:30 p.m. — Here we are, and I’m still awake. I can’t fall asleep for some reason, despite how tired I was all day. This is annoying. I pull my book back out and read a little until I get finally get sleepy. I know it’s going to suck waking up tomorrow. At least it was a no spend day!!

Daily Total: $0

Day Seven

3:30 a.m. — It’s insanely windy in Chicago tonight. Our apartment runs hot even when we don’t have the heat on, so we leave our windows open at night to cool it down. The wind slaps the blinds against the window and it wakes me up. I try to ignore it and go back to sleep.

4 a.m. — Nope, can’t ignore it. I get up and close the bedroom window. The bedroom gets instantly too warm. I go open the patio door in the living room to still keep the apartment cool overnight though. It doesn’t help.

6:30 a.m. — Well, not surprised — waking up today sucks. Also, leaving the patio door open makes the living room drop to 54 degrees! I end up doing a short full-body Peloton class on demand and then a live 30-minute 80’s music ride (again, all in my apartment). It wakes me up pretty well with the good music.

8:30 a.m. — I make myself a protein shake and shower before my first meetings of 2022. They’re both pretty uneventful, but I get to catch up with some of my coworkers, which is nice. The morning is pretty slow, just catching up on random tasks here and there.

10 a.m. — I eat my last slice of homemade pizza as a mid-morning snack because I’m an adult and I can.

1 p.m. — I take a short break to eat chili and cornbread for lunch (shocker). Then I watch an episode of Dead to Me on Netflix just because. It’s not a bad show, but not my favorite. Curbs my boredom for the meantime though.

3:30 p.m. — My new screen protector and phone case get delivered and I immediately put them both on my phone. I’m going to make this thing last forever!

7 p.m. — After an episode of Workaholics and my go-to ramen dinner again, we play some Mario Kart because G. bought a Switch at the beginning of the pandemic and we don’t play it nearly enough. Per usual, I lose every time.

9 p.m. — G. makes a few chocolate chip cookies using some dough I made last week in the freezer.

9:30 p.m. — Time for bed and some reading. Book is still good, would recommend. I also realize that tomorrow is our fourth anniversary, which is fun! We don’t really do anything for anniversaries, since it’s so close to the holidays. Thank you Tinder for bringing us together four years ago (and yay for another no spend day)!

Daily Total: $0

Money Diaries are meant to reflect an individual’s experience and do not necessarily reflect Refinery29’s point of view. Refinery29 in no way encourages illegal activity or harmful behavior.

The first step to getting your financial life in order is tracking what you spend — to try on your own, check out our guide to managing your money every day. For more money diaries, click here.

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Welcome to Refinery29’s Fertility Diaries, where people chronicle their joyous, painful, and sometimes complicated paths to parenthood. Today, we hear from a 39-year-old in Seattle who turned to in vitro fertilization after learning she and her husband were both carriers for a severe genetic disease.

Have your own Fertility Diary to share? Contact us here or fill out this form.  

I have a tendency to get lost. On my first date with my husband, we were supposed to meet at a bar in Philadelphia, but I somehow ended up in New Jersey. I was so late, he almost left. Luckily for me, he didn’t — we got married four years later. We started trying for a baby right away. My husband was born to be a dad, and we were both bored of being focused on ourselves. Plus, with me being 34 and him 40, we weren’t getting any younger, and we didn’t know how long it would take to get pregnant. 

It turned out, not long. We conceived on the first day my IUD was removed. We were surprised but delighted. I gave birth to an incredible son in 2016. He was a beautiful kid. He slept, he didn’t scream, he just had the tiniest little cry.

Then, at his eight-week appointment, our pediatrician said — very carefully — ’I need to get a consult on this.’ She flagged that he showed some low muscle tone. After some testing and going to a specialist, we learned he had Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), a really rare but incredibly serious genetic disease.

It wasn’t long before I knew almost everything about it — I could geek out on the science forever. The short version: Our son was essentially missing a chunk of DNA that creates the protein that allows your spinal column to talk to your muscles. This meant that although his movement looked close to normal at birth, he really quickly began to lose the ability to move. It’s a degenerative illness that gets progressively worse over time. We were told that while there were some treatments in experimental phases on the horizon, there was no cure. The average life expectancy for a child with his type of SMA was under two years. It wouldn’t affect his mind, but the physical effects could affect his ability to breathe and function. With the severe version of SMA that he had, the prognosis was not a great one. 

I wouldn’t say we handled it well, but I would say we handled it pragmatically. We decided: This is part of parenting. You don’t know what kind of child you’re going to get or what kind of parent you’re going to have to be. So, we did what any good parents would do: We tried to teach our kid to be independent and a good person who cares about people around them, even if he was still teeny tiny. And we used every resource we possibly could to give our son a shot at life. 

We knew we were really lucky to have such resources and to be near a medical center with great doctors. We got connected with Cure SMA, a research, support, and advocacy group, which helped us understand what our options were. We learned that a really powerful treatment called Spinraza was in the final stages of being approved by the FDA, and that some people could get it before it was approved through ‘compassionate access.’ The earlier on in life you can get the drug, the better it works. At seven months, we were able to get him into an early access program, and that changed his life. He was getting a little stronger. But he was still using his ventilator for breathing support between 12 and 18 hours a day. He wasn’t able to hold his head up independently. While we saw progress, he couldn’t make enough progress fast enough. The day after his first birthday, he got a cold and he couldn’t fight it. He ended up passing away a few days later. 

I was lost, yet again, but this time in my grief. I threw myself into my work. My husband became a runner. He wanted more quiet time to work through it, and I wanted more time to prove that I could still do things. We leaned on each other, our Cure SMA and church communities, family, and friends. But it’s funny — like IVF, grief is something you do with others, but it’s also something you do alone.

Way back when my husband and I were first coming to terms with the SMA diagnosis, we had thought, I know our son is meant to be someone’s older brother. But we knew because of our genetic makeup, our risk of having another child with severe SMA was one in four. It’s a recessive genetic condition, and we were both carriers. We decided to do IVF and genetic screening, which would let us select and implant an embryo without the genetic predisposition for the condition. Everyone has their own moral lines. For us, being able to prevent the conception of a child with SMA was an acceptable line. But we knew if I did get pregnant and that child had SMA, we would love them as consistently as we did our son.

So we started genetic counseling, pre-testing, and learning about the IVF process when our son was still alive, with the idea of giving him a sibling. Then, after our son died, we realized we were so rooted to being parents. It’s a strange and awful thing to go from being someone’s mother to not. That accelerated our decision to try to expedite IVF — we both had a strong desire to be parents again. We wanted to just move forward. 

We did two rounds of egg retrievals as soon as we felt we were able. I don’t remember much from that time because I was in such a fog. I remember carrying around refrigerated packets of medicine and leaving work dinners for 15 minutes to go shoot myself in the stomach with a needle full of fertility drugs in the bathroom. I recall it was not the most pleasant thing physically, but, you know, none of that compared to dealing with not having our son anymore. The first step in that journey was done through the haze of grief, but with the clarity of what it really means to be parents. 

From the two cycles, we had maybe 11 embryos total. We knew statistically one in four would be affected. We had only one embryo totally unaffected, and some were carriers, which would mean that they would be asymptomatic, but if they had a child with someone who was also a carrier, there would be a chance it would have SMA. 

We transferred the unaffected embryo in 2018, and it took. I was relieved. I had been on autopilot through the whole IVF process, but suddenly I got to be excited about being a mom again. Nine months later, I gave birth to our daughter. I think that’s when my appreciation for the IVF process really kicked in — especially when she started hitting physical milestones like holding up her head, rolling over, and sitting up. Our son had been too weak to support himself, so her development was really startling to watch. It was completely stunning to have a baby that could move. 

When our daughter was one and a half, we started thinking about another one. We had stored the embryos that testing had revealed were carriers for SMA, but that would not be symptomatic. But the problem was, we moved across the country for work, and then COVID happened. We found a clinic in our new city that would do remote monitoring, and I decided that I would just fly to my embryos when I needed to do the transfer — that seemed somehow less risky than shipping them across the country. 

The whole fertility journey was expensive, but the money was so inconsequential compared to the consequences of not paying for IVF, in our case. We paid a lot of money out of pocket, including the genetic testing, though there were things we could have fought very hard for and perhaps gotten covered. It was tricky, because the coverage was for “infertility” but I technically don’t have that. Our problem was with genetics. From an insurance company’s standpoint, the smartest thing for them to do would be to cover genetic testing and IVF for us, because they spent literally millions of dollars on our son’s care. But the way insurance policies are written is very specific: They cover for diagnosed infertility, so we had to fight to have a lot of things covered by making the argument that it was cheaper than treating another child with SMA. We spent about $25,000 total on fertility treatments out of pocket, with about $10,000 being spent on genetic testing, and about $3,000 on traveling to procedures.

Ultimately, it took two transfers and a lot of coordination… but now I’m pregnant again with our second son. We tell our daughter — and will tell our second son — about their older brother, and we have pictures of both kids up on the walls. We wanted our daughter to grow up knowing that she’s who she is and is as healthy as she is, in part, because of him. I do think it’s sad that they never got to meet each other, though.

As told to senior writer Molly Longman.

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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: an associate director who makes $79,000 per year and spends some of her money this week on ManiMe nail stickers.

Occupation: Associate Director
Industry: Higher Education
Age: 34
Location: San Bernardino County, CA
Salary: $79,000
My Partner’s Salary: $105,000
Net Worth: ~-$300,000 (I have no savings currently. What I did have in savings was used to supplement living costs while I tried to build a consulting business last year (which didn’t really take off like I expected/needed it to) and I have no retirement savings. I am confident this will change this year. Or at least, it better because it’s giving me heart palpitations every time I think about it. My partner and I have completely separate accounts, but what’s mine is his and vice versa.)
Debt: $285,000 in student loans (master’s degree and doctoral program), $18,355 left on my car loan
My Paycheck Amount (biweekly): $2,400
My Partner’s Paycheck Amount (1x/month): $5,100
Pronouns: She/her

Monthly Expenses
Rent: $2,000 for a two-bed, one-bath, including utilities. I live with my partner and my son.
Student Loans: Currently paused
My Car Payment: $355
My Partner’s Car Payment: $225
My Partner’s Loan Payment: $419
Health Insurance: $205 (Taken out of my partner’s paycheck. We are registered domestic partners, which means in the state of California, my son and I can be on his health insurance.)
Child Support: $1,450 (This is what my partner pays to his ex-wife.)
Internet: $75
Cell Phone: $45 (This is my portion. It’s $85 for my partner’s portion of his family plan with his mom and sister.)
Preschool: $794
Car Insurance: $125 for me, $100 for my partner
Renters’ Insurance: $22
Storage Unit: $94
24-Hour Fitness: $25 (My partner’s membership.)
Amazon Prime: $15
YouTube Premium: $15 (My partner’s membership.)
Apple Storage: $2.99
New York Times: $4
Spotify: $16
Sorority Foundation Donation: $15
Zoom: $12.99
Microsoft Office 365/OneDrive: $7
Disney+, Netflix, HBO: $0 (We mooch off of various family members for these.)

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?
Short answer, yes. It wasn’t even discussed, just assumed. Not even just college, but also graduate school. My parents managed all the work around paying for my undergraduate degree. I’m pretty sure my parents paid for part of it from their savings but then also took out private loans which they then also paid back. I’m still not 100% sure what the process was there. My family does not and never has talked about money. For my master’s degree and my doctorate, I took out federal student loans, the sum of which you can see above. I had absolutely no concept about what it meant to take out student loans until my repayment plan started. I cannot believe the amount of debt I amassed to attend school. Was it worth it? Debatable. Especially because I realized after the fact that the only reason I went to get my doctorate was because I was bored and felt like I needed to since all my friends were working on PhDs. If I could go back, I don’t think I would have gotten a doctorate degree.

Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
Literally none. I had no idea how much things cost or how to make a budget or what it meant to have a credit card or what credit card interest was or ANY idea about how to do taxes when I left my parents’ house. I’m still kind of bitter about this, but I’m trying to focus on doing better for my kid and making sure to start these conversations early and often.

What was your first job and why did you get it?
My very first job was working at Old Navy the summer after my freshman year of college. I think I got it because my parents expected me to be working while I was home for the summer, but I spent every paycheck and didn’t save anything.

Did you worry about money growing up?
Never. I knew growing up that my family had a decent amount of money (my dad had a private dental practice and my mom stayed home) and that we drove nice cars and ate out a lot. We went on a significant vacation at least once per year, and my mom, my sister, and I were able to go shopping all the time. I never stepped foot into a thrift store until I was well into my 20s. Now, I shop almost exclusively for clothes at thrift stores or secondhand online!

Do you worry about money now?
Constantly. I have no retirement savings yet and I’m 34. This last year, my partner and I have barely made it to the end of each month and have had to borrow money from family several times to get there. I filed for bankruptcy last year because my credit cards and a private loan I had taken out were wiping me out financially. I thought long and hard about if bankruptcy was the right choice and ultimately decided that yes, it was. I divorced my son’s father almost immediately after I had him because we were in an extremely toxic, abusive relationship, but in order to do so, I had to hire a very expensive attorney, which caused me to rack up insane credit card debt. We are still going to court almost five years later, but I had to let go of my attorney because I had no more space on my credit cards to pay her. I quit a god-awful job last January and tried to build a business doing freelance/consulting work for a while but not having a consistent income from me was absolutely devastating my partner and me financially. I applied for over 100 jobs and even got third and fourth interviews for several, but it took almost seven months of full-time job hunting to land my current gig. As someone who has never had an issue finding a job and holds a doctorate degree, this was a major blow to my ego. I started my new job, part-time, at the end of October. I went full-time in January. I am relieved to be back on a work team, with consistent income. Maybe I will be my own boss full time someday, but it’s not in the cards at this point. I’ve had to do a lot of work around feeling stupid for trying to start my own consulting business and “failing.”

At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
At 22 when I graduated college and moved into my first apartment. I was still on my family’s cell phone plan for a few years after that, but everything else I was responsible for. I lived way outside my means, using multiple credit cards to cover my budget shortfalls every month so describing myself as “financially responsible” feels like a stretch. I do know if I need money, my mom or my sister will be able to help me. Or my aunt, though she and I are not super close so I would only go to her if I were absolutely desperate. My partner, P., also has several family members who will loan us money, no questions asked, if need be. As of right now, neither he nor I have any credit cards, so we don’t have those to fall back on.

Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
When my grandmother passed away about 10 years ago, I got $1,000 from her estate. Guess what I did with it — I spent it! My aforementioned aunt also gave me a pretty significant chunk of money, I believe $15,000, when I was first going through my divorce to pay for my attorney’s retainer fee and then supplement some living expenses. I have no idea if I can expect to receive other inheritance money from anyone else in my family because, as stated above, no one talks about it! My sister and I have tried to have open conversations with my mom, and my dad when he was alive, but to no avail. It’s very frustrating.

Day One

6:40 a.m. — I am up, thanks to my kid, D., poking me in the arm and asking, “Mama, do I have school today?” When I report back that yes, he does, he gives his usual, “Aw! No fair!” reply, complete with an Australian accent from watching every single episode of Bluey multiple times. IYKYK. I call my partner, P., for a brief chat since he leaves the house by 6 a.m. most weekdays. He teaches middle school and finds if he leaves early and makes time to meditate and journal before school starts, his days go so much better. After our phone call, I make D. and myself breakfast of toast and cereal, our lunches, and coffee for myself. (Unless otherwise mentioned, you can assume this is our normal breakfast.) Get us ready and out the door by 8:10. I drop D. off at preschool and start my one hour and 20 minute drive to work.

9 a.m. — I catch up with my sister on my drive. We haven’t talked for a while, mostly because she’s on East coast time and I’m on West coast time. I have to ask her for a loan of $150 because I don’t get paid until Friday and preschool just informed us they have to start charging more since my son is now there for full days. Every single dollar in our budget is accounted for these days and this increased cost totally messed things up. My sister Venmos the money to me right away.

10 a.m. — I arrive at work, eat my second breakfast of Greek yogurt, granola, and raspberries plus a Larabar. Then off to a check-in meeting with my boss, etc.

3 p.m. — I eat the lunch I packed of leftover orange chicken, rice, and stir fry veggies. I also have some M&Ms to satisfy that sweet tooth. I am proud of myself for packing a lunch instead of doing a drive-thru near my office. I browse Poshmark while eating my lunch because I desperately need a few more work clothes options. I don’t buy anything yet, but I do like several things and now I will wait for the offers to roll in.

7 p.m. — Done with work for today. I FaceTime my son quickly since he’ll be asleep by the time I get home. It’s funny to realize the phrases he’s picking up from us, such as “What are you up to?” Talk to P. for a few minutes and head to the grocery store.

8:10 p.m. — I get gas at the gas station attached to the grocery store ($30) and then come to realize the stupid grocery store closed at 8 for some reason. I don’t feel like stopping at another store and I’m hungry so I stop at Del Taco for a burrito, some fries, and a drink ($11). $41

9 p.m. — Finally home. Do the dishes and catch up with P. Snuggle on the couch for a few minutes. Do my nighttime skincare routine (La Roche Posay cleanser, Pixi Glow Tonic, Shea Moisture moisturizer), brush and floss my teeth, and head to bed.

Daily Total: $41

Day Two

7:15 a.m. — I wake up a little later than I wanted to this morning. I place a Sprouts order through Instacart for a pickup after work. I order broccoli, eggs, ground beef, protein bars, raspberries, blueberries, half and half, apples, a frozen pizza, some yogurt smoothies for my kid, and muffins ($56.66). I finally haul myself out of bed. I make coffee, lunches for D. and me, and breakfast. By the time my kid finally wakes up, I realize it’s after 8 and I’m going to be late to work. Luckily, my boss is not a micromanager and has a young kid of his own, so he gets it. I take a two-minute shower, quickly get both of us dressed, and we’re out the door. I drop D. at preschool, give him an extra-long hug, and settle in for my long commute with an episode of the Be There in Five podcast. $56

10:15 a.m. — I arrive at work only 15 minutes late. I settle in at my desk, eat a Greek yogurt with granola and start drinking my water. I’m working on developing a bunch of new policies and training documents, so going back and forth between lots of Google docs/spreadsheets/PowerPoints.

1:10 p.m. — It’s really hot in my office. I take a bathroom break and realize there’s some kind of tear/rip situation in the dress I’m wearing directly over my crotchal region. Cool. At least there’s a significant lining underneath! I eat an apple pie Larabar and debate trying to fix this wardrobe malfunction with tape, but I think that might draw more attention to it.

3 p.m. — Lunchtime! I packed leftover chicken and rice soup, a kale salad kit, and a sweet potato. I text a little with my best friend who currently has COVID, but she’s feeling a tad better than the day before. I investigate gymnastics class options for D. because he has a ton of energy and is freakishly strong. Just as I’m wrapping up my lunch break, I get a text from P. that he thinks he should get a COVID test before picking up D. because he “doesn’t feel well.” Literally everyone I know currently has COVID or has gotten it in the last couple of weeks, so I’m not shocked. I felt like I’ve just been waiting for this, even though P. and I are both vaxxed and boosted.

7 p.m. — Head out from work. FaceTime D. and talk to P. for a few minutes, per usual. Turns out P. could not get a COVID test at the place he went to and the at-home ones are sold out any and everywhere so he will get an in-person one in the morning. I drive to grab the Sprouts grocery pickup order, grumbling about how this COVID testing situation (or lack thereof) is so frustrating.

8:45 p.m. — Home again. I am hangry. I move D. from my bed where he fell asleep to his. He left me some Hot Wheels in my bed as a welcome home treat. I eat some of the chicken and rice and catch up with P. I start falling asleep so I do my nighttime routine and we move to our bed and I read some of How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith. This is one of my favorite books already and I’m only halfway through. I decide to set an alarm for the morning so I don’t run late again and then it’s lights out by 10:15.

Daily Total: $56

Day Three

5:55 a.m. — D. comes in to tell me he’s cold. Why don’t they make Merlin’s Magic Sleep Suit for four-year-olds? I walk him back to his room, tuck him back in under his blankets, and he falls back asleep. I lay in bed for a little while texting my niece (she is 14 and incredible) and looking at emails, Instagram, and then my LinkedIn feed, of all things. I also check my bank app. I get out of bed by 7, start making coffee, lunches, and breakfast for D. and me. I call P. on the phone to see how he’s doing. He’s feeling okay, but still going to get tested to be safe. Get D. and me ready and out the door on time. Good job, self!

9 a.m. — Duck into a Target on the way to work to return a pair of leggings I bought recently that just didn’t fit right. I get the $18 back in cash, which I’ll use to get the best price on gas later. My commute is almost 80 miles one way right now and even though my car gets excellent gas mileage, I’m still filling up three times a week. I can’t wait until April when our lease is up and we can move somewhere more equidistant between P.’s and my jobs. I enjoy having the commute time to call people on the phone or listen to audiobooks, podcasts, or my boy bands playlist, but seeing how much gas I am using and how many miles I’m putting on my car is depressing. I also put my makeup on while driving (I know, I know… I can pretty much apply it without looking in the mirror, though). Most days I just wear ELF brow pencil and brow gel, curl my lashes and apply Maybelline Lash Sensational (the best drugstore mascara IMO), and Wet & Wild Photofocus foundation.

11 a.m. — Morning snack time. Yet another Greek yogurt, granola, and raspberries. I also eat half of one of the bran muffins I bought yesterday. I decide to take a break from the PowerPoint I’ve been working on the past couple of days to work on something else and give myself a break from the other content. I feel like I’ve been looking so much at these slides, I don’t know if they even make sense anymore.

3 p.m. — You know what time it is… lunchtime. Leftover chicken and rice from last night, along with a KIND bar. During my lunch break, I browse ThredUp. I find a bunch of cute work tops and skirts, but for sure have to wait until I get paid again or even the next check before I will buy anything. As someone who spent a lot of her life just buying whatever she wanted and putting it on a credit card if I didn’t have the cash, this practice is new and hard for me. But it doesn’t leave me with crippling credit card debt anxiety that keeps me awake for hours every night, so… I get a text from P. his COVID test is negative, thank goodness. Still feel like the ‘Rona is coming for us, though.

5 p.m. — I am dragging so I watch two of my favorite YouTube videos of Broadway songs to perk me up (Max Chernin singing “I’ll Cover You” from Rent and Rachel Zegler singing “Still Hurting” from The Last Five Years). I also take a lap around the office and fill up my water bottle. In work news, the first draft of my PowerPoint feels ready to share with my boss. I’ll share it with him during next week’s check-in meeting. We’ll see how this goes!

7 p.m. — I head out from work, FaceTime the kid, talk to P. You know the drill. Call my friend, B., to catch up with her. I also finish listening to a podcast episode of Nora McInerny’s Terrible, Thanks for Asking with Eve Rodsky. I love both these women and this topic of more equally dividing the household tasks. P. and I have a monthly check-in meeting where we have a list of four standing topics we check in on (how connected we’ve felt, how we feel about our sex life, ways we felt loved by the other person, and highlights from the past month) as well as any other things we think of to discuss. I’m putting this topic on next month’s list. I stop for a little bit of gas ($15). The loan my sister gave me is rapidly dwindling thanks to groceries, gas, and monthly automated expenses and I am having anxiety about making it to Friday. $15

8:30 p.m. — I make it home. Time for soft pants, popcorn, and TV. We are almost through season two of Yellowstone. Before we start watching, we talk about my money anxiety. P. grew up in a family where money was always tight, so he deals with this stress well, but I do not. He gets a call from his cousin, R. to talk about P.’s visit to them this weekend with all four kids. R. lives a few hours from us so we talk about a loose budget for this weekend. I’m staying behind because I have a meeting and a plasma donation appointment. Plus, alone time! Gimme! I give P. $13 of my $18 cash I got earlier so he can put some gas in his car tomorrow, too.

11 p.m. — We have one episode left of season two of Yellowstone but I am tired and don’t want to regret staying up too late, so I do my nighttime routine and get in bed. I spend a good ten minutes thinking about my nearly empty bank account and how much gas I’ll need to get to/from work tomorrow before my paycheck hits on Friday. I know that once I’m getting my full paycheck consistently every two weeks, things will improve but right now it’s still very stressful.

Daily Total: $15

Day Four

6:50 a.m. — Wake up, check the bank account and see I have $3 left in there. Cool, cool, cool. It’s fine. D. is up almost immediately after me so we start our morning routine — coffee, breakfast, pack lunches. Today he wants to look at the two big photo albums we have while he eats because he’s looking for a very specific picture, but we can’t find it. He’s upset, so I help him work through his feelings so we can get ready and out the door on time.

8:40 a.m. — Drive to work. Listen to another episode of Be There in Five, apply my makeup, and keep a very close eye on my gas gauge. I’ll definitely have enough gas to make it to work and then mostly home. I still have a few dollars leftover from my Target return yesterday which I’ll put in my car at some point today to actually make it to our driveway. Being in my mid-30s and living financially like I’m 19 is humbling to say the least. But when I actually was 19, and all through my 20s, I lived like I was a financially stable 30-something even though I did NOT have the money to do so (#CreditCardIdiot). On top of having no financial education to speak of, I had major FOMO and shopped a lot to avoid my feelings about things. Plus, I’m a Taurus sun and a Taurus rising, and we’re notorious self-treaters and luxury lovers, so it’s kind of my astrological destiny.

9:50 a.m. — I also try to call my mom to check in on her during my drive, but she doesn’t answer. My dad unexpectedly passed away a couple of months ago. My parents were still married, but their relationship was complicated so while she’s grieving, she’s also living life well these days. I was very close to my dad, so I’m mostly just low-level sad all of the time right now. I’ve also had several vivid dreams about him recently, which make me feel still connected to him, but are hard to shake when I wake up from them.

11:15 a.m. — I’m feeling kind of blue today and I have cramps. I’m waiting to hear from my insurance company about getting a hysterectomy scheduled because I am 100% done having children and 100% done with having insane nonstop bleeding. Luckily my OB-GYN put me on a medicine that keeps the bleeding at bay but I was dealing with it for almost two years straight. I am pretty sure given the type of insurance we have, my copay for this surgery will only be something like $10. I have no idea how insurance works. The entire system baffles me.

3 p.m. — Lunchtime. Today I packed the rest of my leftover chicken and rice soup, a sweet potato, an apple, and some pulled pork with caramelized onions to throw on the sweet potato. While I eat I think about what I want my new workout routine to be. I’m planning to start working out in the early morning once I really get used to my new routine and find something I like that I can do at home. I hate working out at home so this will be a challenge. I’d love a Peloton because I think I would really be able to stick to a routine with one, but it’s so expensive.

4:30 p.m. — I get a text from my sister. Ever since our dad died, she’s been struggling with her anxiety, but she finally found a therapist she likes. I’m very happy for her. After our chat, I get a fierce chocolate craving. I heard a rumor there’s a vending machine somewhere here, so I dig for some quarters in my bag and find enough for a treat. I end up buying a Twix and eating half. I’ll eat the other half tomorrow. $1.50

7 p.m. — Done for the day. Still feeling down. Talking to D. and P. cheers me up a little bit. I put a few more dollars of gas in my car ($6) and make it all the way home. I listen to a country music mix instead of a podcast or audiobook. Usually, when I’m in a funk, music is better than talking. $6

8:20 p.m. — D. is still awake when I get home so I read him a book and sing our normal songs and then he is out like a light. I eat some of the pizza P. heated up along with a salad. We lay down in bed to talk and cuddle, but P. is asleep pretty quickly. I get up and do my nighttime routine, read some of the book I recently borrowed from the library (Once and For All by Sarah Dessen because YA fiction is soothing to me and I’ve been reading her books since I was a YA). I’m asleep by 9:45.

Daily Total: $7.50

Day Five

5:20 a.m. — Normally I can sleep through P. getting ready, but not today apparently. I hug him goodbye and get back in bed to read more of the Sarah Dessen book. Around 6:30, I get up and take a shower and wash my hair. I loathe washing my hair. It’s not even that big of a deal, but I usually only manage to get up the motivation to do it about once per week. Out of the shower, I check my bank account — paycheck is in there, cue the hallelujah chorus.

7:20 a.m. — D. is up. We make coffee, breakfast, and lunches and talk about how he will be going away with P. and P.’s kids for the weekend, but I’m staying home. He is a little sad I won’t be coming with them, but he loves P.’s kids so much he is mainly excited to get time with them. I get a text from P. and he mentions he got gas ($43) on his way to school. I get D. and myself ready and I pack his bag for the weekend. $43

12:30 p.m. — I get a call reminding me of an appointment I made tomorrow for a pedicure. My current pedicure is almost half grown out — yeesh. I am trying out the salon at a local beauty school, so this will be relatively inexpensive. I might not be the best pedicure of my life, but we’ll see!

3:30 p.m. — Time for lunch. I venmo my sister back the $150 she loaned me. Eat my lunch of leftover pizza, another salad, and an apple and a little peanut butter. I also order a set of manicure stickers from ManiMe ($13, including shipping). I’ve never ordered anything from this company before, but I love having my nails done and hate spending the time to paint them. I’ll compare these to the Dashing Diva brand, which I LOVE, and see which one I like best. $163

7 p.m. — Leave work and get a nearly full tank of gas this time ($51). Gas prices are averaging about $4.60 a gallon here right now, so a truly full tank would be almost $65. Not to sound too senior citizen, but I literally remember during my senior year of high school being able to fill my friend’s gas tank for $12 because gas was under $1 a gallon. Ahh, memories. Talk to P. and D. and say hi to P.’s kids. P. got some groceries after school today to bring to his cousin’s ($69). $120

8:40 p.m. — Home to an empty house. The kitchen is a mess, but I will deal with it tomorrow. I put on sweats and decide to put on a set of Dashing Diva nail stickers while listening to an old episode of My Favorite Murder. Do my nighttime routine and lights out a little after 10.

Daily Total: $326

Day Six

7:45 a.m. — Relish in waking up alone. Spend a little time on Instagram, read some NY Times headlines, and roll out around 8:30 to make breakfast. I throw together a hash with frozen potatoes, eggs, cheese, onions, and peppers. I also make a piece of toast and coffee.

9:10 a.m. — I hop on Zoom for a training for my sorority since I’m an alumni advisor. It goes well and I love being able to give back in this manner. I advise two undergraduate chapter officers. The new ones coming in seem like we’ll work well together. After we’re finished, I make myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

12:30 p.m. — I head out for the pedicure. When I get to the salon school, they tell me the person who was supposed to do my appointment called out. Inconvenient, but they credit my account for two services, which I will use. There’s a legit nail salon a couple doors down, so I end up going there to get a pedicure because I cannot take one more minute of my raptor claw toes. The technician is very gentle and gives an awesome foot massage and I leave happy. $40

2:30 p.m. — My niece FaceTimes me and we spend about 30 minutes catching up. After our chat, I get a burrito bowl from Chipotle along with a lemonade. $11.84

4 p.m. — I decide to stop at Ulta to grab more dry shampoo, body wash, and eye makeup remover. After the Ulta coupon, my total is only $25.64. I have to refrain from impulse-buying anything from the cute mini section by the registers. Discipline! $25.64

5 p.m. — Get home and get to work cleaning the house and then decide to bake a cake since I have a mix and I want some cake, dammit. Video chat for a little while with P. and D. then decide to FaceTime my mom since I still haven’t caught up with her yet. We spend almost an hour chatting. I really miss her. I’m trying to convince her to come visit for a weekend, but we’re not sure when we can make it happen. After we hang up, I make a mug of tea and eat some cake while watching an old episode of Grey’s Anatomy.

9:30 p.m. — Get ready for bed and read a little. I’m starting to really miss P. and D. I will be happy when they get home!

Daily Total: $77.48

Day Seven

7:45 a.m. — Get up and review the pre-plasma donation instructions. Oh god… apparently I’m not supposed to have caffeine for like six hours before I donate?! This means I have to skip my morning coffee. Fine, fine. I make the same breakfast as the day before (egg hash and toast) and think about my plan for the day. Take a shower, put on my makeup, and I’m on my way by 9:30.

10 a.m. — Arrive at the donation center, go through most of the pre-screening stuff and then the nurse tells me I can’t donate because my iron level is too low. I figured this might happen. I’ve been fighting anemia for about a year now, but I thought things were back at a normal level due to me taking iron supplements consistently. I make a mental note to send my doctor a message about this later.

11:30 a.m. — I stop at Starbucks to get a latte for my caffeine fix and an order of the egg white egg bites. Starbucks egg bites are one of my favorite “fast food” items out there. I load $10 on my card so I can get my stars. $10

12 p.m. — Stop at the storage unit to organize everything and unload a couple of things. While I’m cleaning, I find a treasure trove of skincare stuff I completely forgot I had put in there. This is like Christmas 2.0!

2 p.m. — I have to psych myself up into going grocery shopping, but if I don’t, I have no idea when we’ll get groceries for the week. I have become pretty good at checking grocery store ads and clipping digital coupons as well as making a list and not going into the store blind. This makes a huge difference for me in my grocery spending habits. Today I go to Food4Less. It’s not very crowded so I can take my time hemming and hawing over certain things. I get lots of produce, meat, stuff to put in our lunches, frozen veggies, frozen waffles, yogurt, milk, and a couple of cleaning products. $195.85

4 p.m. — Get home, unload all the groceries, put out the trash cans since they’ll get picked up tomorrow, and zone out on TikTok for a little while. Finally decide to make a real meal around 5:30 and throw together another burrito bowl, adding some of the new chipotle crema sauce I got at the store. It is SPICY but good.

7:30 p.m. — Video chat with D. and P. They are all having so much fun on this little getaway. They’ve basically been outdoors nonstop, which is D.’s ideal life setup. They’ll be home super late tonight. After, I check my calendar for the upcoming week, do the dishes, and get ready for bed.

9 p.m. — Reflect on the week, do some breathing exercises through the Calm app (I get a free premium subscription through my insurance, which is pretty dope), and read before lights out around 9:45.

Daily Total: $205.85

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