Cash Confessional: A week of spending in Charlotte on a $105,000 salary

To see the other installments of Cash Confessional, click here. If you’re interested in keeping track of your own spending and having it featured, email Kylie at [email protected].

This week, I spoke with a 46-year-old female who makes around $105,000 a year. Here’s how she spends her money. -Kylie

The basics:

Industry: Financial Services
Position: Project Manager, Risk & Compliance / Financial Crimes (Contractor)
Salary: $50 per hour, which averages out to about $105,000; paid weekly.
Who do you bank with and why? Three banks:
• Bank of America because I was a former associate for 12 years. I have accounts for myself and one daughter.
• Wells Fargo because they’ve held my mortgage for the last 9 years. They never sell the paper, so I’m loyal to them.
• USAA, because I’ve been an associate member for nearly 30 years as a daughter of a former Army Officer. I have another joint account for myself and my daughter at college because it’s an easy way to get money to her instantly.
Savings: $15 per paycheck auto-transfers into a savings account that’s linked to my checking account, which generally gets used for overdraft protection every few months or as unexpected source of emergency cash. Another $50 per paycheck is given to my Mom to hold for me (not so easy access) when saving for bigger expenditures such as the trip to NYC for my sister’s baby shower I took last week.
Age: 46
Gender: Female

Monthly expenses:

Mortgage: $876 per month plus an extra $24 toward principal, so $900 per month. I like round numbers since I don’t balance my checkbook, and it actually reduced my mortgage payment recently from $894!  Yeah for paying down the principal!
Number of roommates: Two daughters. My 16-year-old lives at home and my 20-year-old is a rising senior at NCSU.
Utilities: 
• Power = $115
• Water = $35
• Gas = $25
• Cable and Internet = $220. This includes HBO and a Netflix subscription.
HOA: $105 per month plus two larger lump sum payments around $600-$700 in total in the spring for the second HOA in charge of the larger community amenities like street lights, pool, etc.
Student loans: None. I paid them off at 25.
Car payments: None. I drive a 2004 Toyota Camry and have gone from car payments to maintenance. I’m now in repair mode to keep it on the road. Diminishing returns, but it’s the most reliable car I’ve ever had.
Insurance: Auto for three drivers, Home Owner’s, Umbrella Policy, Personal Property Rider and Renters Insurance for my daughter’s off-campus apartment comes to $325 per month.
Health Insurance: Premium, dental and vision comes to $833 per month.
Transportation costs: I have a space in an Uptown parking garage for $140 per month and gas is $25 per week, so $240.

Other expenses:

College-aged daughter’s needs: Rent, groceries, train tickets and gas for trips home, clothing and incidentals all averages $500-$800 per month, depending on her work/pay schedule.
College tuition: $200 per month.
Credit card payment: $200 per month.
Medical expenses: My oldest daughter recently had an ER visit for an enlarged spleen due to mono that caused internal pain and shortness of breath that cost $1,200 after insurance. The pain continues…

Three financial goals:

• Establish a $2,000 emergency cash fund.
• Pay off my two credit cards. They’re both maxed out and I make minimum payments, so it’s an endless loop. I’m never really making any headway.
• Figure out what to do with my 401k from last employer – it’s losing money big time and I’m 100% invested in company stock.

Money Diary: How I spent my money last week

Day one: Sunday

I’m in New York City for my sister’s baby shower. My mom kindly sprang for breakfast before we went souvenir shopping. My daughter wanted a specific shirt that wasn’t available and she didn’t like the alternatives, so $0.

We tip the doorman to whistle up a cab at checkout ($5) and then pay $20 for cab fare and tip from East 50th to West 93rd before grabbing coffee for my sister-in-law and myself for $20.

I chip in $200 cash to help defray the shower costs for the hostess, but I’m claiming the flowers!

Time to head to the airport. $0 for transfer costs, thanks to my brother-in-law, who’s playing chauffeur. I grab $8.98 at the grab and go market at LGA before leaving.

Dad picks me up from the airport, so $0 for parking and transportation.

Total: $253.98

Day two: Monday

Last week I economized, saving cash for the weekend trip to New York City.  I brought lunch to work, had dinner at home and ate from my pantry, meaning no grocery store runs.  I’m planning to do the same this week!

I grab breakfast at Chick-Fil-A for $3.09. This is a habit several days a week, but I bring a bottle of water or Coke from home to even out the cost. I eat while driving.

Lunch is at Pho Plus in Latta Arcade. It’s a gorgeous day, so I walked the few blocks to get away from my desk. They have the best Chicken Banh Mi sandwich! $5.90

I go grocery shopping with my youngest at the local Teeter to pick up all her lunch, snack and home meal items. No coupons, but VIC specials saved us $10. $95.27. I also transfer $50 to my college daughter’s account for her food for the week.

Credit card payment is due. $118.00

Total: $272.26

Day three: Tuesday

Another stop at Chick-fil-a for breakfast on the way to work. $3.19

It’s another quiet day at work with gorgeous weather meant I got to get away from my desk for 15 minutes, so I ran to Smoothie King with my teammate. $5.50

My youngest needs to go to Target for school project supplies, so I transfer $10 to her debit account.

I make two stops on the way home from work for groceries and spend $6.11 at Fresh Market and $9.71 at Whole Foods.

Dinner is at Chick-fil-a with my daughter. I just have a cookie. $6.16

I download a couple of songs and an eBook off of iTunes. I love, love, love covers of favorite songs done in another style/genre – Flagpole Sitta by Broken Anchor, check it out! $3.51

I need to stop at Walgreens to grab my daughters’ monthly dermatology prescriptions. Luckily, I found a manufacturer that brought the cost from $160 per month to $0 with insurance and a coupon. $0

Total: $44.18

Day four: Wednesday

Breakfast is a stop at Chick-fil-a again. Note to self: Biscuits are crumbly. Need to hit the Auto Bell this weekend and vacuum my car out. $2.70

I had an overdue fine at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library from November 2015. I tend to download free or cheap ebooks (voracious readers, check out BookBub!) and have several free magazine subscriptions (Mercury Magazines and Reward Survey) so I don’t run to the library too often anymore.  But I do need to figure out how to borrow eBooks and audiobooks. $4

I prepay for two months of summer storage for my college student while she is doing her research assistant internship. $175

Lands End is having a great 50% off sale and I grab a basic swimsuit and use a $25 gift card that I’d earned from redeeming reward points. $13.08

Tuck $20 into an envelope and forward it, along with her mail, to my daughter’s college address. What kid wouldn’t appreciate a little cash? She won’t be paid for a few more weeks.

Lunch is half of the bacon and onion quiche I picked up from Whole Foods last night. $0

I eat a hamburger when I pick my youngest daughter up from my parents’ house. She goes to their house most afternoons to hang out, do homework, visit with the dog and enjoy a home cooked meal.  I relocated to Charlotte from San Francisco when my .com employers failed way back when and my marriage ended.  Having family close while raising two young girls on my own has been a godsend. It really does take a village – and yes, a parent’s job is NEVER done. $0

Total: $214.78

Day five: Thursday

I tried using the Chick-fil-a mobile order app, but didn’t get there in time for breakfast (2 minutes late) so the order was automatically cancelled at no charge. Bojangles’ it is. $3.78

I hit Chicken Salad Chick for some Cranberry Kelli for lunch. Half will be for today, half will be for tomorrow. $10.78

Found a Hallmark card for Father’s Day at Walgreens. Dad loves the goofy, funny ones so there is always a hunt for the perfect one. $3.21

Picked up a smoothie for my teammate for lunch at Energy Café. $4.98

It’s another lovely day at lunchtime so I walked to our event at Speed Street, where I bumped into my recruiter extraordinaire, Matt. By the way, don’t tell me NASCAR is a guy’s sport – every single race car on display had a female fan with her head stuck in the window, checking the car out! $0

NY Palace refunded the incidental hold they had on my debit card from the stay the previous weekend; I’d found a pretty good rate and pre-paid, so it was a splurge I enjoyed.  I’m old enough to really, really appreciate targeted splurges like luxury hotel rooms in a great part of a city.  I used to walk by this hotel years ago when I worked at HarperCollins Publishing and have wanted to stay there for 20+ years. Yes, I’d go back in a heartbeat – absolute best service I’ve ever enjoyed and a view of St. Pat’s that couldn’t be beat. +$100

Most of my shopping tends to be online and I had purchased a couple sets of travel pillows for my family a month ago. I pay it off bit by bit, so I pay the $15 QVC Easy Pay payment #2/5. This type of shopping doesn’t add to my credit card debt, there’s no interest, it just spreads out the payments.

Downloaded another song on iTunes. I wear earbuds most of the day; the office is loud with everyone on conference calls so I use music to block the voices and concentrate on my work. $6.73

I finish the other half of my Whole Foods quiche for dinner. It’s a quick and tasty nuke after a late night at the office. $0

$100 gets transferred to my daughter’s USAA account to help with the costs of having to rent a moving truck this weekend (plus the pizza and beverages for her friends who are helping).

$20 for an Amazon gift card for my nephew.

I got pulled over on I-77. I have a lead foot and it was a HUGE exercise in self-restraint to NOT pass the CMPD patrol car cruising in the middle lane with all the traffic backed up in his wake. Argh. There’s a reason why I shifted my working hours to avoid the worst of the commuter traffic. Zoom baby, zoom. $200

Total: $364.48

Day six: Friday

Breakfast is at Chick-fil-a with my daughter before work since she had no school. $9.11

Because she had no school, I get her, stop and pick up my dry cleaning. Just a few pieces and some mending. $46.66

I eat leftover chicken salad, a Coke and some Nabs for lunch. $0

Dinner is at 131 Main in Cornelius with my parents to celebrate my next 6 month contract renewal – I’m employed through the end of the year!  My parents do so much for me and my kids, it’s a delight to be able to treat them to a meal they love. $161.07 

After, I watch a free Movie on Demand. It’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens – and I’m snuggled up with my daughter for some quiet, mommy-baby time watching a movie we both enjoyed. Mi-Connection, my cable provider, gives their customers a summer movie pass good for 4 free on demand movies in May, June and July.  I’ve never used it in previous years but this seemed like a perfect time to start.  With my oldest away at school, I understand that my one-on-one time with my youngest is drawing to a rapid close now that she’s 16.  Our schedules are a little off, so the weekend is when we really get to spend time together – well, between her social engagements. $0

Another $20 transfer to USAA for my oldest child for more moving supplies and a $15 transfer to my savings account.

Total: $251.84

Day seven: 

I picked up a Loki bracelet for my daughter as a part of a birthday gift for a friend at Barnes & Noble. $13.90

Stop at Exxon to fill up my car. I tend to run through about half to three-quarters of a tank each week. I checked local prices via the Gas Buddy app and, conveniently, this gas station was on my errands route. $25.81

$42.07 at Target for water, a planner, gum, candy, eye solution and a new Nalgene bottle for my daughter – summer camp is coming!

I snag a small framed ink sketch of the Lesesne Gate, the entrance to the Citadel, my dad’s alma mater for father’s day, at Oak Street Mill Antique Mall in Cornelius behind the police station. It’s a Father’s Day gift he’ll enjoy. $12.87

$10.13 at Harris Teeter for a frozen pizza for tomorrow and a small donation to the USO and $7.77 at Tenders for a quick take-away dinner for me to eat between driving my daughter to her first and second social events of the day. 

Transfer more funds to USAA for my oldest. This time it’s $200. The truck rental company needed to put a hold on her debit card to cover incidentals, which meant she was broke and still had to get the pizza and beer for her friends who were helping her move between old apartment, her summer sublet and a storage facility on top of having grocery money for the coming week. She still hadn’t been paid as yet for her internship – I think it’s once per month.

Total: $312.55

Total spent: $1,714.07
The breakdown:
Food and drink – $374.23
Transportation – $245.81
College-aged daughter – $565
Bills – $133
Savings – $15
Miscellaneous – $381.03
What I learned: I’ve learned it’s nice to have cash in your pocket (I’m a ‘debit card for everything’ girl), but it spends just as quick as swipes.  It is easier to use cash for small purchases – there’s less mental math to recall all of the spending when transactions can take days to post to my account. I also realized its mostly feast or famine with my wallet, depending upon how many bigger bills are coming due (such as Girl Scout camp and June health insurance this week). There is absolutely no reason I can’t set aside budgeted monies for standard expenses (like lunch and gas) and commit a good, sizable amount towards my emergency fund and debt reduction. There are places I can economize without feeling deprived.  More importantly, I feel less stressed when I think of a cash cushion because emergencies ALWAYS come up – case in point: my oldest called to let me know she “traded paint” while parking a friends car in the lot at her apartment, which means two out-of-pocket repairs ahead for me to avoid jacking up the insurance even more. Accidents happen, but…sigh.

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