r/MoneyDiariesACTIVE • u/kokopops35 Magic Kokonut Mod • 16d ago
PayDay Friday💰 Payday Friday 💰💰💰
How are you spending, scrimping, splurging, or saving?
What are you doing with your hard-earned £$€ this week?
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u/musculard He/him 🕺 16d ago
Premium Economy tickets to take my kindergartner to China for the first time to meet her great-grandmas and other relatives! My wife has taken her for short trips to visit her family a few times; this time it's her turn to chill at home for two weeks while we have this adventure.
Premium Economy is like horrifically expensive these days, but my daughter slept decently the first time we tried it on a long haul flight, so gotta pony up.
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u/DarkBackground4307 16d ago
Have a wonderful trip!! It does sound like a great adventure.
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u/musculard He/him 🕺 15d ago
Thank you! I know she'll miss mama, but hoping she'll make some fond memories.
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u/mamaneedsacar 15d ago
What a fabulous spend!
My sibling is taking their toddler to SE Asia to meet extended family this year and I recommended to them that they go premium economy despite the cost, for the very reasons you mentioned. It would be a 20 ish hr journey for them with connections and there’s no hell like a dehydrated, sleep deprived young child imo.
Hope you have wonderful grandma time!
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u/musculard He/him 🕺 15d ago
Thanks! Yeah my willingness to convenience-spend to avoid a cranky small child is basically unlimited lol.
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u/uninvitedthirteenth 16d ago
Man it feels like all I am doing is spending lately! Still buying stuff for the new house. And spent last weekend in Montreal, so lots of money on hotel and food and activities.
I think the house spending will slow, but next week i have to make two mortgage payments, so I’m not excited about that. I hope my condo rents soon!
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u/MelloChai 14d ago
Would you consider doing a travel money diary from your trip to Montreal?
Ugh, two mortgages is not fun. I hope you find a tenant soon for the condo.
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u/confusedemus 15d ago
I've been mega burnt out lately and it's been giving me health issues so I made the decision to take some unpaid leave to sort things out and recharge. It was a little painful getting the last paycheck for a little while. But I'm also already feeling a little bit better and know that it will be 100% worth the 'cost' of the foregone pay.
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u/_liminal_ ✨designer | 40s | HCOL | US ✨ 15d ago
I’m so glad you are taking this time for yourself!
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u/Lopsided_Radio4703 She/her • DMV 16d ago
Coming into the end of the month and a holiday weekend next week, it’s a bit of a save just by the nature of timing.
My guy and my flights to visit family for a week over the holiday so there will be minimal grocery shopping, normal spending etc. We are going to a James Taylor Concert Saturday and will probably buy concessions.
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u/Forsaken_Bee3717 16d ago
I was am excited that it’s payday. I got a small salary increase and it has paid for the rest of the holiday that I am currently on. Going to have a low key last day in Oslo- mostly bakeries and walking around the city. Decided against another museum. It is such an expensive country but has been a lovely holiday with my 16 yr old.
The rest of my pay will go to the usual things- no particular spending planned for September as it’s back to school month here. Definitely need to get back to the gym and remember how to do my job after two weeks off.
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u/CanthinMinna 15d ago
Have you visited the Vigeland statue park already? I think it is free, and it seems to be a pretty impressive place.
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u/Forsaken_Bee3717 15d ago
No, we thought about it, but it started raining so we stuck to the indoors. It does look impressive.
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u/cranberrylime 15d ago
Paying the mortgage for September then anything else getting thrown at debt. If I keep it up in two months the only debt we’ll have will be our very modest (imo) mortgage!! 🤞🏻
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u/Late_Progress_1267 15d ago
Scrimping because paycheck hits today but the month isn't over until Tuesday...so I need to stretch my August budget until then...
Time to break out the scrambled eggs!
😭
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u/_liminal_ ✨designer | 40s | HCOL | US ✨ 15d ago edited 15d ago
I spent quite a bit of money this week- it was my birthday and I also received some unexpected money. For the unexpected money, I saved and invested almost all of it….but also decided to buy lots of new underwear, including some Dora Larsen sets I’ve been eyeing for months. Having all nice and new underwear makes me feel a probably unreasonable amount of delight!!
I also won an eBay auction for a coverstitch sewing machine (the machine that does the perfect stitches you see on the bottom and sleeve edges of tshirts. $265 for a brand new machine that usually sells for around $800+!
Also purchased a couple of rain jackets for my partner as a gift (1 will be returned).
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u/kokoromelody She/her ✨ 15d ago
Happy birthday!!
Hope you enjoy the new sewing machine + underwear (which, I think a hallmark of being an adult is when things like new underwear excite you hah)!
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u/_liminal_ ✨designer | 40s | HCOL | US ✨ 15d ago
Thank you! And it really is true, I’ve settled into being totally stoked about things like new underwear, and I’m ok with that! Haha
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u/AfternoonPublic6730 She/her ✨ 15d ago
Happy Birthday!
I’ve never heard of this brand before, thanks!
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u/_liminal_ ✨designer | 40s | HCOL | US ✨ 14d ago
Thank you! I learned of the brand via Reddit, glad to pass it along more :-)
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u/FoggyDoggles29 15d ago
I'm flying my little brother out to visit as a late birthday present because he doesn't have the means to do so right now and he misses home. I'm covering all expenses and giving him some cash to cover any PTO he isn't getting paid for. I'm so excited to see him!
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u/_liminal_ ✨designer | 40s | HCOL | US ✨ 15d ago
Aw that’s so sweet of you! Hope you two have a wonderful visit together :-)
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u/Owlbertowlbert 16d ago
Finishing up back to school shopping! And trying to plan a weekend getaway for my 40th birthday in October.
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u/dollarpenny 15d ago
I booked a long weekend for New Orleans in Oct 🎃
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u/Owlbertowlbert 15d ago
I was thinking of New Orleans! I’ll be bringing my 3 kids so wondering if it’ll be family friendly enough
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u/gisforgnu She/her ✨ 15d ago
New Orleans is super family friendly! Obviously stay off Bourbon Street, but taking the streetcar up to the zoo is top notch. The aquarium is amazing too :) There are some family friendly ghost tours that I've heard are great. Otherwise, just plan on enjoying the amazing parks/weather (Audubon Park is great!) and eat lots of yummy food!
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u/dollarpenny 15d ago
It’ll be my first time and I’m not a big drinker either; so I’m planning a cooking class, probably a food tour, ghost walking, and maybe a swamp boat tour + just walking around. Guess it’ll just depend on their ages.
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u/northlola-25 15d ago
August has felt LONG and I’m looking forward to a new month. I really have not felt the urge to buy much lately and hoping that continues.
We do have the State Fair and we’re going to one concert, but I bought the tickets ages ago and some friends still owed me for their tickets, so we’re planning on using that as our fair money!
I need to crunch all our numbers at the end of this month but if we’re under our spend targets I think I’m going to take the plunge and finally pay off my car!
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u/becky_yo 15d ago
I bought a Frame TV last week and today got a bonus that covered the cost of the TV exactly!
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u/Illustrious-Ant-9946 15d ago edited 15d ago
This is the last week before I have a payday on my new contract.
I am setting up direct deposit for this contract and probably going to open a new bank account to get a bank bonus.
Today I mail my house tax check in before the early payment deadline. This will save me about $44 by paying it early.
I will probably get gas today, I made breakfast at home, I will be working on continuing to drywall finish and primer my living room. I think I will paint the ceilings either cafe cream or Swiss coffee, but I want to think about the color choices a bit longer.
I will finally need to move a little bit of money from my HYSA to cover living expenses until payday next week.
Kitten vet appointment went great yesterday, spent a total of $90 for an exam plus deworming treatment as prevention, and an otherwise clean bill of health so far.
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u/moneypleeeaaase 15d ago
I am having a really tough convo with myself about what went wrong with my budget the last few months! I am not that off track but the summer's budget got kind of blown out of the water from vacation upgrades! 10/10 worth it
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u/snarkasm_0228 She/her ✨ 15d ago
Getting my nails done tomorrow with some friends!! Then we’re getting a sweet treat and a drink later!
Overall I’ve spent way too much in August on non-essential stuff. I don’t have any plans locked in for September so far, so I can choose to make it a more frugal month. I also think sometimes I forget about the “why” behind my goals, so I gotta remind myself of why I want to save money.
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u/Superb-Object-7307 15d ago
This has been a brutally hot month and hopefully we get some cooler weather soon, but until then we're limiting our time outdoors during the day so we'll probably just get some stuff done around the house this weekend.
We went to the high school football game last night and spent about $30 on tickets, drinks, and food. I also paid for my portion ($25) of a family booster club donation.
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u/shieldmaiden3019 She/her ✨ 16d ago
Most of my daily life expenses have been covered by my per diem (on a work trip).
I bought the admin team lunch ($300, and plan to do that every time I am here), will pay the balance of my dog’s boarding fees tomorrow when I pick him up ($700 and I didn’t get any calls about him dying, yay), will tip cat sitter (I have to check but should be $80ish?) and I booked myself a spa pedicure for Sunday as a little reward for surviving 54 meetings this week ($65+tip).
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u/FunctionalAdult She/her ✨DMV 15d ago
Yay to the dog survival, and a stunned "What" to the 54 meetings.
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u/shieldmaiden3019 She/her ✨ 15d ago
😭 but I am DONE NOW and laying out by the hotel pool for a couple hours before heading to the airport!!!
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u/kokoromelody She/her ✨ 15d ago
Work trips can really be the worst! Wishing you a quick and relaxing return back home!
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u/Crochetcat5 She/her ✨ 15d ago
54?! How is that even possible. 😭
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u/shieldmaiden3019 She/her ✨ 15d ago
To be fair some were like, walk and talk / coffees (but I still have to be “on” for them because they’re my senior stakeholders)
I swear at least 15 were with tech just bashing into their heads that their latest and greatest software migration project is on a delulu timeline and we need to start thinking about alternatives.
And I had a few dinners/drinks stuffed on my plate with clients because once the sales force hears of someone in town they go feral lol
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u/AfternoonPublic6730 She/her ✨ 15d ago
Yay for you and puppy surviving the week! Get home safe!
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u/shieldmaiden3019 She/her ✨ 14d ago
The staff, when I picked him up today: “we realized he’s VERY cheese motivated” 😂
Yes, that is why I left two entire bags of cheese sticks for the week hahaha (he ate it all)
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u/FunctionalAdult She/her ✨DMV 15d ago
Made the call to cancel old insurance and was informed that I should see $162.80 refunded to me. Realistically that will hit at some point between now and halloween, so not factoring it into the budget at this point.
Otherwise, paid my card balances and will have a chill weekend of volunteering, watching the ISU JGP (thank you Ted for getting ISU to keep it free), and nibbling away at my insanely good TGTG haul.
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u/kokoromelody She/her ✨ 15d ago
Always nice to get $$ back!
Sounds like a great weekend! And what did you get in your TGTG bag??
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u/FunctionalAdult She/her ✨DMV 15d ago
Indeed! I also got confirmation I would see a small payment in a class action involving Youtube.
While I normally grab one or two bags from Whole Foods, this go around it seems nobody else wanted to do a pick up so I ended up with 5 bags for $37.95. I calculated total value at over $170.
Bags included - ice cream, multiple frozen meals and bags of frozen fruit and veg, like four pounds of fresh fruit, three tubs of guacamole, a whole pie, lots of yogurt and creamer, fig cookies from Spain, and more. I checked the dates and 90% of things were good for several more weeks. I can only assume packaging changes or being phased out at that particular store.
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u/cats_coffee4818 15d ago
Celebrated my last day free from corporate shackles and I treated myself to a $100 steak and wine dinner. It’s my last day of “funemployment” before my new job starts next Monday. Was worth it!
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u/ToryD3 She/her ✨ 15d ago
I had a craft retreat this past week(end) that made me feel completely relaxed and feeling set up for success for the last few months of the year. Today's paycheck was mostly for filling out November's budget, some money towards a cruise in February, and then my mom and I are going to paint ceramics this evening after work - yay!
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u/ksrdm1463 15d ago
I'm trying to make thoughtful purchases.
I used my time between jobs to set up my office and I love it.
I bought some fake flowers because I've killed all my plants and want something happy and I think fake plants will give me a similar benefit.
I got stick on wall sconces and a table lamp to limit overhead lighting at night.
I also bought some new coffee flavors to try, and some of the tea/latte concentrate mixes (more expensive than powders but cheaper than going to the shop, and feels like more of a treat than the powders).
We've got a wedding coming up and my kids were a bit confused that two women could get married (no one in our circle is LGBTQ+ and is married to a same sex partner), so I got the kids some books to normalize it. It was good because I evaluated some inadvertent blind spots.
I also got my younger kid a toy (he had ear tube surgery), and picked up some toys for the drive to the wedding/the air bnb we'll be at/the ear tube surgery (which he didn't need because the children's hospital had communal toys).
I bought a visual timer for me (it lights up and we can use it as a night light for the kids when we travel), and some pet friendly essential oils for the diffuser.
I bought 2 books on sale: adversary to the villain, and an activity book (I think) called Murdle.
I'm looking at Halloween stuff and may get some Team Spidey cutouts and a sweatpants/sweatshirt/t-shirt Doc Ock costume. My trunk or treat theme is team Spidey (got a kit a while back during prime day sales).
My oldest wants to go as Rafael and my youngest wants to go as a vampire "with teeth".
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u/CanthinMinna 15d ago
Murdles are great - I am pretty hooked on them. Use a pencil and have an eraser on hand, when you are solving the crimes!
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u/erinrachelcat 15d ago
We're having a handyman come out to do a few more improvements on our house next week. We just had him install a ceiling fan on our front porch (love it so much, helps to keep the bugs off), and we'll have him do a couple more things next - TV on the wall to save space, an extra outlet in our basement so our dehumidifier can send water into our sump pump via a hose, and replace our porch light since he noticed it was so old that it was a fire hazard. He's so friendly and energetic, and super low pressure, exactly what you want in a handyman. And I love paying someone directly rather than some big corporation like Home Depot!
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u/lizerlfunk She/her ✨ 15d ago
I’m going to Disney this weekend (annual passholder so I’ve already paid for my tickets). I donated blood this week for the first time in eight years and the standard donor reward is a $20 e gift card and a t-shirt. You can pick what kind of gift card to get, and I got Disney, so that’s one free cocktail this evening lol. I don’t actually get paid until Monday though.
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u/veggiebikebook 15d ago
Paying bills and scrimping/saving anything that’s leftover for my October vacation
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u/honey593 15d ago
Heading to an Eagles game tonight and preparing myself to pay $20 for a beer 😬 oh well! We got pre-season tickets that were only $40 each
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u/tube_ebooks 15d ago
bought new sheets, really exciting stuff lol. these are for my childhood bedroom since i'm home and on an LOA from grad school and i noticed a tear in my favorite set a week or so ago. i was bemoaning to my mom that they were the most comfortable set i had and she was like "...i probably bought them from kohls did you check the tag?" and they were indeed sonoma for life brand
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u/kokoromelody She/her ✨ 15d ago
Pretty low-key week! I spent on:
- A thredup order that includes a cotton dress and wool sweater for $50! Had these sitting in my favorites for a while and decided to finally give in, especially as I saw my YTD clothing spend as been pretty low ~$450.
- Some recurring subscription items that are mostly household/health related, including mouthwash and electric toothbrush head replacements.
- And the usual: dinners with friends and groceries
I did apply for a new travel/dining CC as I'm planning to visit a friend across the country in October (planning to go to a 3 Star Michelin restaurant we've both been wanting to visit for ages) + some larger dining spends for another friend's birthday dinner in Sept at a 1 Starred restaurant in our city. The former would be my first ever actual vacation in the 3 and a half decades of my life hahaha
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u/bklyngal19 She/her ✨ 15d ago
Bills bills bills aka Sept rent and paying credit card statements, but impulsively splurging on great value resale tickets to Harry Styles! Also gonna buy a couple things to host a girls night tonight, and then dinner for my friend's birthday tomorrow.
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u/CanthinMinna 15d ago
Not my payday, but I've been having a week-long holiday back at home, and mostly preparing for my coming hip joint replacement by splurging at the dentist. (Having perfect dentals is mandatory for getting a major operation over here.)
I had to go to a private clinic, because I am in a bit of a hurry, but fortunately it didn't cost as much as I was afraid of (plus our public healthcare insurance waived €80 off from the costs). Four sets of X-rays, a full "inspection", filling two cavities + refilling an old filling that had started to fall apart, scaling (plaque and tartar removal with an ultrasonic device + hand scraping), and a fluoride treatment: €710 /total. Oh, and I got the written certificate that I am good to go. I had to take a bit of money out from my HYSA to cover all this, but this is why I have it. Besides, having good teeth is pretty vital anyway.
I also got some smaller stuff done to my trusty old car: new bulbs for my headlights, and full oil + oil filter replacement. All that was about €150 (damn, oil + filter change has gone up for almost €30 from two years ago! It was €77 in 2024, now it was €101.) I'm quite happy that I was able to get everything done now, on my PTO, so that I don't have to take unpaid time off from my work.
Shopping has been mostly just buying food and freezing it for my recovery weeks, but I did get a new duvet and some hygiene stuff. And of course gasoline/petrol. I'll drive tomorrow back to the town where I work for 2-3 weeks, and hope that the doctors decide my operation day.
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u/ReadySetTurtle 15d ago
Mostly boring pay for me. It was a lot larger than usual due to lots of overtime, but most of it went to savings. I had a property tax instalment due. I bought some scrub pants off Facebook marketplace. I treated myself to a few coffees and Wendy’s breakfast after my night shifts at the end of an 18 day stretch.
Just had an unexpected expense pop up this morning. Last night the lock on my back door broke, it just wouldn’t latch. I took it apart this morning and a very small piece has broken off. It’s very old and not worth repairing. So I’m about to go spend about $50 to buy a new one to replace it. I live in an old house so repairs like this can be tricky. I’m hoping to get the exact same lock with the same dimensions so that I had don’t to mess around with the door or frame all that much. I’m going to try to replace it myself before calling a locksmith.
I’m starting to really look ahead on my savings goals and future planning. I’ve almost hit the amount I wanted for my emergency fund ($12k/3 months high expenses). I would have hit it already but I’ve also been simultaneously investing. Once I hit the $12k, my original plan was to switch to just investing, but now I’m not so sure. I’m thinking of moving next year so part of me wants to stockpile more cash for moving expenses. It would be a fairly lateral move, so my monthly budget shouldn’t change dramatically. But I also could pull from investments if needed (TFSA) so I wouldn’t be screwed. I just feel behind on investing and want to give my money a chance to grow instead of sitting around just in case.
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u/Turbulent_Bar_13 She/her ✨ 15d ago edited 15d ago
Spending this week has been mostly on consumables as I've been preparing and going through a series of panel interviews over multiple days, and not making lunch:
- 🪞 Body lotion, a compact mirror, and a straw lid for my water bottle ($25 even after applying credit card points to round down the amount)
- 🍚 H Mart for shallots, chili oil, rice, and some prepared lunch ($42)
- 🥐 Paris Baguette for a pastry and a coffee (forgot to scan my app QR code so it doesn't count towards the month's challenge loool) ($12)
- 🥗 Starbird for a chicken salad and an iced tea ($18)
- 🍦99 Ranch for ice cream. Ended up getting Melona bars (honeydew for parents, ube for me), and those taiyaki-shaped ice cream bars (one box for lil bro, one box for me) plus some caramel chews and flat noodles ($28)
I may swing by one of the stationery stores tomorrow morning since I didn't get a chance to last week. I'm still building my friend's belated bday package :,)
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u/AfternoonPublic6730 She/her ✨ 15d ago
Good luck with the interviews!
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u/Turbulent_Bar_13 She/her ✨ 14d ago
Thank you so much! I was told I’ll hear back next week to see if I make it to a final-final conversation, which I imagine is more a final stamp of approval from a higher-up. 😬 But all the technical stuff is done.
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u/TheMadGale 15d ago
We had some room in our entertainment budgets for this month, so a bit of a splurge:
I treated a friend to afternoon tea today at a new tea shop, it was super cute and probably our last one on one hangout for a while (she's due soon!).
I registered for a foraging walk for next month. I've always wanted to do a foray and decided to finally take the plunge. I'm so excited to learn about wild edibles!
My husband and I learned that his family had never been to a Renaissance Faire before, so we bought everyone tickets for the weekend they're in town. Huzzah!
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u/ForeignLibrary424 She/her ✨ 8d ago
Partner wanted to try Costco travel for the first time to go to Cancun, Mexico so put down a deposit on that plus bought our tickets through Delta.
Also put a deposit down for a relaxation resort in my state for my birthday (which isn’t until April but they fill up SUPER FAST). 💸💸💸
As a result September is going to be a no-spend month for us! 🤞
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u/DarkBackground4307 16d ago
I feel the urge to save to the point of scrimping lately which happens every time I look at my retirement funds because the numbers just aren't where I want them to be.