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.
This week: A manager working in conservation who makes $50,000 per year and spends some of it on a Vera Bradley ID zip case.
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Editor’s Note: This diary was written in 2026 and is a follow-up diary. You can read the previous diary from 2023 here. And the previous diary from 2024 here.
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Occupation: Manager
Industry: Conservation
Age: 36
Location: Indianapolis, IN
Salary: $50,000
Joint Income/Financial Setup: Joint income is around $115,000; it depends on my spouse’s hours. My partner and I have one joint checking account; we both contribute to it each month to cover our mortgage, utilities, groceries, and daily family incidentals. We each have our own checking, savings, credit cards, and loans that we are individually handling. I will be tracking my individual spending as well as our joint spending for this Money Diary.
Assets: $79,692.27 (HY Savings: $2265.15, Checking: $300, Retirement: $66,451.62, Equity half: $10,675.50). I know in my past diaries people didn’t like that I halved mortgage and equity since that wouldn’t really be the case if my partner and I split; but it is how I have calculated my net worth for years, so I’m gonna do me.
Debt: $149,854.18 (Auto lease: $1,995.04, Mortgage half: $143,650.89, Credit cards: $4,208.25)
Paycheck Amount (Every two weeks): $1,500
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Housing Costs: $2,600. I live with my husband, B., and two children, O. (who is six) and A. (who is two). This is paid out of our joint account.
Loan Payments:
Car lease: $500 (I’m planning to buy out my lease before it terms later this year)
Energy/Gas: Average $75; fluctuates with the seasons (paid out of joint). Electricity: Average $185 fluctuates with the seasons (paid out of joint).
Phone/Disney+: $40 (I pay this to my parents for my phone and I cover Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ for my whole family; parents, brother, brother/SIL, and my family) (B.’s phone is paid for by his work)
Netflix: $8
Health & Dental Insurance: $500 — deducted from my partner’s paycheck
H.S.A Contributions: ~$140 deducted pre-tax (my partner has auto deductions set up from their paycheck)
Internet: $75 (my partner pays this)
Other Expenses:
Chewy Dog Food: $52 (every five weeks)
Trash: $119 (paid quarterly out of our joint account)
Pest Control: $180 (paid quarterly out of our joint account)
Car Insurance: $1,500 (paid every six months out of our joint account)
Weekly Expenses:
Daycare: $150
After School Care: ~$50 (we pay what we use so this can vary depending on schedules. This week, I ended up paying more because the system is glitching, but that will simply pay us ahead).
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 of my parents are college graduates, both the first in their families (I think my dad’s oldest brother has an associate’s degree but I don’t know if he got that before my dad finished his bachelor’s degree or not), and both have since received their master’s degrees in their respective fields as well. My mother also worked at a college before having us kids and then again once my youngest brother was in elementary school. I attended one college my freshman year in the hopes of receiving a tuition exchange, as my mother worked at another local college. That didn’t pan out so I ended up transferring to the college my mom works at and finishing school there. While my tuition at the school my mother worked at was paid due to her employment, I still took out loans for housing for three years. I lived at home during my senior year to save money.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s) educate you about finances?
I can’t recall any specific conversations per se, but I remember being taken to the bank at a young age to set up a savings account (we got dinosaurs for making deposits — as a kid, who could ask for a better incentive!). I also remember participating in a club/class that was a mock stock market class while I was homeschooled in elementary school. I remember nothing specific about that class other than that I took it, though. I learned more through watching my parents manage their money from afar.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
I started babysitting at the age of 12 and became a certified babysitter by the time I was 14. My first tax-paying job was at a local T-shirt shop in town when I was a senior in high school. I got that job because I had dropped out of all my extracurricular activities senior year and my parents said I had to do something. I loved the job and ended up working there several summers into college.
Did you worry about money growing up?
I didn’t. If there were family struggles, I didn’t know about them. I have a general idea of what my dad made when I was younger now, which was somewhere in the mid-$90K range. I know as he climbed through a few companies, he was able to leverage his skills for higher pay. We were comfortably upper-middle class. My mother stayed home with us after my first brother was born and she homeschooled us all once we got to school-age. I was homeschooled until I went to sixth grade and my mom stayed home until my youngest brother was in fourth grade. We were blessed enough to have more than we needed on my dad’s job alone during these times.
Do you worry about money now?
Yes. Very much. I recently left my previous position, in a move that I didn’t want to make but felt forced to. This meant I had to take a significant pay cut, which will probably set me back around three years in salary. I’m in my third week of work at this new location and so far it has been great, but the pay is a big question mark. I should get my first paycheck within this week, so right now I’m not certain what my paycheck will look like. The nice thing is that I’m now salaried and my pay will be stable from pay period to pay period. There is also now the question of my commute, which has tripled despite me working from home two days a week now. Lots of question marks so far!
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
Other than staying on my parents’ insurance until 26, around 23 I moved out on my own and handled all of my own bills. Currently, our safety net is our savings, then our parents. All three sets of parents (my parents, FIL & Step-MIL, and MIL) would help us out if we were in a pinch and have offered many times prior when we needed it.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
Yes. My parents paid for our wedding. Also, my parents typically gift us money for Christmas each year and we get varying amounts of cash from my husband’s parents for holidays and birthdays.
Day One: Tuesday
6:25 a.m. — My final alarm goes off and I get up and head to the shower to start my day. We had a rough night last night because we had storms and some tornadoes go through our area; the kids slept fine but one of our dogs has extreme storm anxiety so she was a wreck most of the night and kept us up. After my shower, I get the kiddos, A. and O., up and they snuggle in my bed with B. for a little while I get dressed in a floral button down and jeans.
7:10 a.m. — We’re on our way to school and sitter drop-off. Most mornings I take our Kindergartener to school and B. takes our two-year-old to the sitter. We get to school right when the doors open, so that’s a quick process.
7:45 a.m. — I make a quick detour on my commute to a traveling coffee truck which is set up perfectly along my route this morning. Normally, I don’t get to stop except on Thursdays when they’re scheduled to be set up at a hospital on my route; on Tuesdays they don’t have a set location so this was a blissful happenstance. I get a cold brew with a small splash of cream; something that should be easy but this coffee truck is the only place that consistently gets the “small” splash correctly. It’s simple and delicious. $8
8:30 a.m. — I’m the first one to arrive at the office, which has been typical so far into this job. This is my third week, and while the workday officially begins at 9 with the commute time, it doesn’t make sense for me to go back home after dropping off my kiddo, so I just head in and get there whenever. This office is wonderfully flexible and I have so far enjoyed the people and the work I’m able to do with them. I settle in. I get an email notification that our son’s after-school care weekly payment is due (in the weekly expenses). My coworkers, who are in the office today, start arriving around 9:15 a.m. and we quickly catch up and share our storm stories from the night before.
12:00 p.m. — I take a break to make my lunch. I have tomato soup and dry ramen noodles for texture. I took this job after leaving my previous position after nearly 15 years. While it was not what I wanted to do by any means, I loved the people and the work; circumstances changed and it felt like I didn’t have a choice. I had previously been doing two jobs and it was at a point those jobs needed to be separated; I made it clear to my boss which of the two positions I wanted but I felt that was ignored, and I was offered the opposite. I was informed that was my only option if I was to stay. I believe the offer was made with the hope of me staying out of loyalty. I chose to leave as I didn’t think it was fair after 15 years that my opinions on my own position weren’t considered or shared with the board of directors. It has been a rough year so far.
4:00 p.m. — The workday ends and I head on my way to pick up my kids. We have an evening T-ball game tonight for my oldest, so we are boogying as fast as we can to get going as we have to get home, get O. dressed, get snacks and get to the ballfield ASAP.
7:15 p.m. — T-ball finished, delightful chaos as usual. A. got to play with a new friend of hers at the field and we got to visit with three of the five grandparents. Since it is so close to bedtime, we capitulate and stop at Taco Bell for a quick dinner. $18.30
8:45 p.m. — Everyone is fed and in bed, including B. and me. Hopefully, we have a full night’s sleep. (Reader, as expected, this did not happen).
Daily Total: $26.30
Day Two: Wednesday
6:30 a.m. — After a rough night of both dogs and kids being up multiple times, it is time to get up and get everyone motivated. Thankfully, I work from home on Wednesdays, but everyone else has to get to where they are going. Kids are finally up and fed, and we are out of the house and in place just in time. I’m wearing a T-shirt and jeans, and a fluffy sweater because it is pretty chilly here today.
11:00 a.m. — I scheduled a grocery pickup this morning so I’m out of the house and picking that up ($172.41 from our joint spending). Then head back home for lunch and more work. I also do lots of laundry and empty the dishwasher during my day when I have a chance. $172.41
2:00 p.m. — Picked up my son from school for early release; get home and settle in O. with some books so I can get back to work. I also realize that we were missing several items from our grocery order and request those to be refunded. ($23.65 refunded to the joint account).
4:45 p.m. — I pick up A. from the sitter after my workday ended. I realize I have two more items that I didn’t get with my grocery order and request those refunded, too. ($5.41 refunded to our joint account). We get home and the kids play while I lounge around for a bit and do some cleaning. B. gets home later than usual tonight, so dinner is a bit of ‘choose your own adventure’ for us. We play with the dogs and snuggle the chicks. (Oh, I totally forgot to mention that we not only have two dogs but we recently added three chickens to our home. We are raising them for eggs and once they are a little bigger, they will move outside into the coop that B. is building. Currently, they are living in a pen in our garage and we are loving the tiny chicken snuggles and the chaos that they bring.)
9:30 p.m. — Kids are in bed. B. and O. spent the evening building with Lego, so I put A. to bed tonight. I’m snuggled into bed and playing a dumb game on my phone while B. makes himself a very late dinner. I turn on my current rewatch of Star Trek: The Next Generation and settle in for silly space adventures. Love me some Commander William T. Riker. In the hope of a better night’s sleep, I pop my earplugs in and drift off.
Daily Total: $172.41
Day Three: Thursday
6:30 a.m. — Up a little later than usual and in the shower. O. got himself up with his Yoto alarm and greets me at my bathroom door, scaring the bajeezus out of me! O. asks if he got up early enough for pink donuts. He has been asking all week, but hasn’t gotten up early enough to go get a treat, so this morning he was a self-starter. I’m dressed in jeans and a fleece sweatshirt. B. and O. head out for breakfast treats. A. and I take a leisurely approach to the morning since I don’t have to be in the office until 9. We enjoy our coffee and “coppee milk” in our vintage diner tea cups and chat about all the interesting things that two-year-olds know. Then we get her dressed, put in her two pigtails, and tell the chickies to have a good day and get in the car.
12:00 p.m. — I have been settled in at my desk for a while now and was the only person in our office until after 10:30. I’m highly considering moving my laptop into our conference room because work is being done on the building right outside of my window, and they’re hammering on the wall. It’s not the easiest way to concentrate on work. One of my coworkers forgot their lunch so they suggest we all hop in the car and head to Sweetgreen. I get a guacamole greens bowl with tofu. $17.49
3:45 p.m. — Head out for my daily commute home. I only have to get A. this afternoon. O. is being picked up by my dad and they’re getting dinner, and going to see a program with a Benjamin Franklin reenactor at our local college as part of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the US. So it is just A. and I for a while until B. gets home from work. We get lots of snuggles and giggles in.
8:30 p.m. — O. gets home from his evening with grandad. He is disappointed that A. is already in bed, but is happy to play for a while with just me while B. works on finishing our chicken coop. After a while of play and some reading, O. heads to bed and B. and I shortly follow as well.
Daily Total: $17.49
Day Four: Friday
6:30 a.m. — Finally a night of pretty good sleep! Kids are in our bed and we snuggle for a few minutes before getting up and getting ready for the day. O. asks to be a ‘lunchboxer’, so I grab a Lunchable from the fridge for him. He doesn’t often ask to bring his lunch, so I try to keep a few of these on-hand for a quick grab since he usually makes the request last minute before we leave for the day. B. takes A. to the sitters and I take O. to school. I’m in a T-shirt and sweatpants to start my day.
8:00 a.m. — I sit down to my laptop at home. Friday is another work-from-home day for me, so I can start early and finish early if I get everything done. I check and I can see that my first paycheck hit my bank. It is more than I anticipated so that is great, while it is still a large-ish pay cut from what I was making prior, but it is not as bad as I worried it would be. I work through my budget adjustments and then realize I have plenty of room to do some ordering for things for A.’s room. We recently moved her into her own room after the kids had shared since she was around eight months old. I am still working through decorating it and making it something she can grow into. I also get some groceries delivered to make up for the things that got left out of my other order. $60.07
10:15 a.m. — Got a call from school that O. is having tummy trouble. Head out to pick him up. He is in a jovial mood when I get him, but since he told the school he was having bathroom issues he has to go home. He says he is glad I came to keep him company. Get home and get settled back in for work and O. watches some Star Wars show on Disney+. O. had requested donuts since he was missing a friend’s birthday party at school today. I had already been planning on getting donuts for the weekend so I go ahead and order those for delivery from our local donut shop. $27.62
3:45 p.m. — Wrap up the work day. Swing by the bank to get the cash for our sitter $150 (in weekly expenses) and head to pick up A. After picking A. up, O. says his belly feels bad and he wants a barf bag for the ride home. Thankfully, he doesn’t need to use it and is feeling better, but tired when we get home. I let O. play a little more of his video game because A. said she wanted to watch, and O. tries to teach her how to play, which is very sweet. O. has recently become obsessed with Star Wars and my brother got him a Lego Star Wars video game for Christmas, which has been a huge hit. While the kids do that, I start working on a travel Lego case idea I found on Pinterest because I am sick of free-floating Legos in the back seat.
5:45 p.m. — B. gets home from work and heads outside to work on the coop for a while, with the help of O. We end up having quesadillas for dinner and B. picks the family movie for the evening. We wind up watching Man Of The House on Disney+. It’s quite the ’90s throwback. We ended up letting the kids stay up way later than usual, but now everyone is snuggled into bed and lights are out. I stay up wayyyyyyy too late just scrolling on my phone.
Daily Total: $87.69
Day Five: Saturday
6:15 a.m. — A. is screaming, “Mommy come get me!” from her bedroom. Not upset screaming, just attention screaming. I grab her and hope to settle her into our bed to snuggle and go back to sleep. That doesn’t happen; she instead crawls all over me and asks for snacks and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse+, and on and on and on. She finally gets down and asks her dad to take her to the living room. Saturday is my day to sleep in, so B. takes A. to the living room. I hear O. shortly after I get up and follow them out.
12:15 p.m. — I got two extra hours of sleep and after getting up at 9:00 a.m. I make my coffee and have a slow start to my morning. We gear up and get ready to head to O.’s T-ball game. I get dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt, and a sweater again since it is chilly, as well as my team hat. Our T-ball league gives all the teams names after the pros, so each year I buy myself a hat for the team O. is on. Armed with snacks and bubbles for A., we head out. We meet up with nana and grandfather at the ballfield and enjoy a good game. O. was excited to tell us that he was going to try to hit the ball off the pitch both times he bats, and how he will do this. I have been pleased with his effort this season; he is willing to learn and be a good teammate, which has been very fun to watch.
5:00 p.m. — I get a call from my mom about dinner tonight; they are inviting us over to watch the Kentucky Derby. We have already started cooking so I pivot and invite them over since we have plenty. We do a quick clean of our house, mainly to wrangle the toys into the playroom and clean off the whole table since I have been using that as my workspace. They come over for burgers, fried potatoes, and my mom made some mac and cheese. Then we watch a very exciting race and cheer very loudly for the FIRST FEMALE horse trainer to win the derby! Let’s hear it for women in sports!
8:00 p.m. — My parents leave and we are gearing up for bedtime. O. asked earlier in the week if he could put A. to bed and we forgot last night, so we offer him the opportunity to do her bedtime tonight. I get her changed and ready and send them into her room to read a book after bedtime kisses. It lasts about six minutes before I can hear negotiations taking place with A. yelling, “don’t leave, O!” and O. trying to tell her he is done. I go in and the lights are still on, so clearly they weren’t headed for bedtime. I get the lights turned off, the sound machine on, and the night light on and let O. and A. snuggle for a bit and sing to them before O. says he is done. I send him on his merry way and finish up bedtime for A.
9.00 p.m. — O. is headed to bed with B. I start reading a library book, And Now, Back to You by B.K. Borison, on my Kindle that’s due back in a few days. I don’t get very far reading it before I switch to scrolling and B. comes in for bedtime.
Daily Total: $0
Day Six: Sunday
6:45 a.m. — Another early wake-up for A. at around 6:45 a.m. B. grabs her and puts her in our bed. O. has joined us, too. A. leaves our bedroom to go play. She is usually pretty good at self-entertaining (this comes back to bite me). We snuggle for a little bit then O. and I get up and let B. sleep in.
8:15 a.m. — We walk into the kitchen and see the egg carton on the floor. A. has taken it off the counter. I check the carton and there are 11; this was a full carton before. I speak to A. about not playing with food and then ask her where the other egg is. She tells me it is in the playroom, but says, “It not broken, mommy.” Thankfully, it was on our indoor/outdoor rug — but it absolutely is broken. A. is sorry, and says she won’t do it again. O. decides he wants to watch some cartoons and I make my coffee and get the kids breakfast. A. finds some chapstick and wants to use her “wips”. This again ends in disaster as she uses it on the floor, on a Polly Pocket, and on a picture of her cousins.
3:00 p.m. — We have an exceedingly lazy day today. The kids play and I read most of my book. B. plays games on his phone. A. is up early from her nap and snuggles, and watches Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with me while I read. I order a Target delivery since we need diapers to take to the sitter’s tomorrow for A. $45.84
7:30 p.m. — Kids are both in bed and snoring. We had a little bit of a rough evening: the kids both threw fits when they were asked to clean up the playroom. But everyone rounded the corner for dinnertime and we had early bedtimes all around.
8:30 p.m. — I climb into bed and finish my book. Very cute, enjoyed the sweet relationship featured, and while not super steamy, there was just enough for a quick read. B. is in bed and we are both scrolling on our phones; I am looking through grocery lists and planning for our week. Neither of us is too sleepy, so B. turns on a movie. I promptly fall asleep after that. (Also as note, I did not change out of my PJs today — pure lazy bliss!)
Daily Total: $45.84
Day Seven: Monday
6:20 a.m. — I am up and in the shower. O. got himself up again this morning and is sitting in his room when I go to check on him. A. is a slow wake this morning but then is out and about and coloring with O. in the living room while we get ready. I get dressed in green linen pants and a navy and white polka dot button down for work since I am in the office today. I flip the coffeemaker on, and I’m so thankful that I prepped it last night before bed. We are just about ready and out the door when I realize O. hasn’t taken his inhaler today and he has already been coughing up a storm. I run back in and search to no avail. I tell him on the way to school to go see the nurse, as she has one of his inhalers on hand. After dropping him off I top up on gas and head to work. $50.01
8:30 a.m. — At the office and get right to work building my brand new office chair. Very excited to not be sitting at a glorified kitchen chair. Everyone else slowly rolls in. I also put in an order for batteries, a teacher appreciation gift, and a new Vera Bradley ID case. I had forgotten how much I loved those in college and something like that still makes sense for me as a daily carry. $36.36
11:15 a.m. — We have our standing department meeting and one of our leadership team informs us that she has turned in her notice and will be leaving the staff in early June. I am sorry to hear this, but also understand since I too recently left a job I loved. She and I had actually had a preexisting relationship. I will definitely miss working with her.
1:45 p.m. — I see a reminder that my son’s elementary school choir group is singing the national anthem at a minor league baseball game this Friday, so I text B. about getting tickets to go. He is all for it so I hop online through the fundraising link and get us three lawn tickets; thankfully, A. is still free. $49.74
4:30 p.m. — Kids and I are home now. They want to play ‘car’, which means they sit in the front seat of the turned-off car and pretend to drive. O. cleaned out the backseat so I could sit there. He lasts all of three minutes before he realizes his friend is also outside and he runs across the street to their house with promises that he is just going to say hi. He ends up staying over there for a while, so A. and I finish playing ‘car’ then head into the garage to visit the chickens. O. brings his friend back over to ours to play for a bit before dinner. They run all over the front yard, help themselves to popsicles and have a grand old time before his friend gets called home for dinner.
5:45 p.m. — B. arrives home and we all head in to start making our dinner. I also get to hanging the curtains I got for A.’s room. Chicken patties and fries for dinner. We enjoy chatting about everyone’s day. I also place a grocery order to pick up later this week (we will be charged at pickup). A. is in bed around 8, but unhappy about it and crying. I am not pleased with the new curtains; they aren’t as room-darkening as I had hoped. After I leave A.’s room, I do a return to Target for those. I will get $24.40 refunded. I look through Amazon for another option and find something in a similar color that promises full blackout; I add new sketchbook for O. and some water bottle straws. $48.50
9:15 p.m. — I take a bath and start reading another book by an author I will be seeing in person at an event later this week. I can hear A. still crying; B. goes in to calm her down. During that process, O. opens his sister’s door and tries to ask his dad something and wakes A. I get out of the bath, B. leaves A.’s room, she is still screaming, and O. starts to get ready for bed. We have a talk with O. about not going into his sister’s room after bedtime since he woke her up. B. puts O. to bed and we let A. cry for a while until she falls asleep. I hate doing that, but she was clearly overtired and won’t stay asleep if we stay in her room with her. B. comes to the bedroom and showers. Our younger dog is also in our room, which doesn’t bode well since we expect storms overnight. We are finally all tucked in and I turn on a sleep story on Calm. Fingers crossed the night isn’t too rough.
Daily Total: $184.61
The Breakdown
Conclusion:
This is my third time writing a Money Diary. I always enjoy doing the narrative portion as I do track all of my expenses on an app already. This was a pretty typical week, for the most part. Most of my spending is on groceries and gas, so that all made sense. I have also gotten better about actually returning things that don’t work for us and making sure I am getting refunded for groceries that aren’t either of good quality or aren’t actually part of our order. With money being tighter for us, not just because of my job change, but also because of the current economic state, I’m more anxious around our money than normal but trying to make easy changes that make sense for our family.
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