Cash Confessional: A week of spending in Charlotte on a $40,000 salary

To see the other installments of Cash Confessional, click here. This series is completely volunteer-based; 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 23-year-old woman that makes $40,000 a year. Here’s how she spends her money. -Kylie

The basics:

Industry: Property Management
Position: Property Administrator
Salary: $40,000
Savings: I’m not saving anything at the moment, which brings to goal number one…
Age: 23

Monthly expenses:

Rent: $650 for my share
Number of roommates: 1 boyfriend and 2 cats (we’re not crazy cat people, I swear… it just happened)
Neighborhood: Uptown
Utilities: Included in my share of the rent
Student loans: Not yet. Don’t remind me.
Car payments: None. I bought my car from my mom.
Car insurance: $68. I just got it lowered for good behavior!
Transportation costs: Little to none. I put maybe $10-$20 worth in a month for gas because I walk or Uber pretty much everywhere.
Phone bill: $115, but it’s covered by work.
Insurance: I’m still on my dad’s health insurance plan.
Apple Music: $10
Gym: $52

Three financial goals

Reopen my savings account and start putting money away.

Pay off my debts by next year, aside from student loans, since that’s going to be another beast.

Improve my credit score.

Money Diary: How I spent my money last week

Day one: Monday

5:45 a.m.: Quickly packed up my stuff for the gym and realized I forgot to meal prep my breakfasts for the week (no egg white muffins… sad), so I pack a chocolate chip banana bread muffin instead (they were made using whole wheat flour, no added sugar and protein powder, so I tell myself it’s okay) and a bunch of grapes to eat at work for breakfast.

10:26 a.m.: Got roped into back-to-back meetings, so I’m just now able to eat my breakfast. I meal prep on Sundays and almost always bring in breakfast, snacks and lunch, so I’m rarely spending money on food during the week.

12:45 p.m.: I had prepped a kale/apple/chicken salad for lunch, so I snagged a La Croix from the break room fridge to go with it. No money spent yet today, which I’m not surprised by.

5:30 p.m.: Had a 4 p.m. appointment at the vet for our new kitten. We thought she had a UTI ($65 later, we found out that she didn’t), but when they checked her temperature, they discovered that she had a slight fever ($25) and a viral infection. With the meds, the total ended up being $130, and I split this cost with my boyfriend. $65

After being stressed for the past week thinking our cat baby was dying, we needed comfort food… so we made Banza pasta when we got home and doused it with ghee and garlic that we had on hand. No money spent on food today.

Total spent: $65

Day two: Tuesday

9:40 a.m.: Didn’t have time last night to prep egg muffins, so I’m having a chocolate chip banana bread muffin again for breakfast, this time with a banana. I love these muffins, but I’m craving my savory egg muffins, so I’m definitely going to make them tonight for the remainder of the week.

1 p.m.: Ate the second kale/apple/chicken salad I had prepped. I also got my property tax bill for last year, but it’s not due until October, so I’ll worry it about next paycheck.

5:30 p.m.: Had some Veggie Straws with Trader Joe’s Roasted Garlic Hummus (aka my current favorite hummus) after lunch for a snack, but now I’m home and I’m starving, so it’s time to make dinner. Dinner is a combined effort — my boyfriend makes a tomato/cucumber salad while I make mashed cauliflower and baked salmon.

9 p.m.: Watching MasterChef always makes us hungry, so he grabs a chocolate chip banana bread muffin for a snack, and I grab half a muffin and a cheese stick.

No money spent today.

Total spent: $0

Day three: Wednesday

10:30 a.m.: Forgot to prep my egg muffins last night, so I’m sad… and getting tired of these banana bread muffins, even though they are delicious. In protest (against myself, I guess), I ate my lunch for breakfast because I needed something savory. It was a kale burrito bowl with cauliflower rice, sautéed veggies, black beans and shredded cheese. Yum. In the words of some idiot, “No ragrets.”

12:16 p.m.: About to meet my boyfriend for lunch and he’s definitely gonna make fun of me for eating my lunch for breakfast, but still, no ragrets!!! I’ll eat a peach or a Kind bar from the breakroom.

Update: Ate a Kind bar and a few bites of my boyfriend’s lunch because it looked good (it was).

7 p.m.: Took a nice, long nap after work and then had Banza rotini with homemade red sauce and turkey meatballs for dinner. Watched Masterchef for the rest of the night.

No money spent again.

Total spent: $0

Day four: Thursday

9:42 a.m.: Woke up at 5:30 a.m. for the gym, felt sick and decided to pass, and slept in until 7 a.m.

I used to eat breakfast at home, but then be hungry again as soon as I got to work, so now I make myself hold off until at least 9:30 a.m. before I eat. I’ve given up on egg muffins for this week… oh well. Instead, breakfast is gluten-free sea salt crackers, two slices of Go Veggie artificial cheese (don’t knock it ‘til ya try it) and a bunch of frozen grapes.

4:40 p.m.: Highly debated going to Amélie’s after work because I was in dire need of something sweet, then remembered that there was a birthday in the office today and there’s a ton of leftover Tres Leche cake in the breakroom fridge… bless. Saved a few bucks.

6:30 p.m.: Was in the mood to bake something for dinner, so I made a turkey/quinoa/veggie bake for dinner. First time trying this out and it was sooo good.

Total spent: $0

Day five: Friday

8:12 a.m.: For most people, payday is a happy day… but one paycheck per month goes almost entirely to bills and my credit card for me, and unfortunately, that’s today. There’s a reason why I don’t spend money during the week…

After paying my share of rent, phone bill (it’ll be reimbursed, but that takes a week or two) and paying off a good chunk of my credit card, my bank account has taken a massive hit. $1,166

12:30 p.m.: Left work early for a volunteer event with coworkers, where Brixx was catered. I restrained myself and had two small slices of cheese pizza for lunch.

3 p.m.: My boyfriend got a promotion today (long time coming!!), so I went to Whole Foods after the event to get champagne and ribeye steaks to celebrate. $37.20

7 p.m.: After grilling our steaks out by the pool and finishing off the bottle of champagne, we decide to meet his friends out. We go to Hoppin’ first and then Seoul Food, and he foots the bill at both places.

11:30 p.m: Having had a decent amount to drink, we walk home and pass Midnight Diner on the way and of course decide it’s a great idea to go eat… He got a Philly cheesesteak and I got a chicken cheesesteak. Luckily, he pays for our drunken decision.

Total spent: $1,203.20

Day six: Saturday

10 a.m.: We were going to go to the gym today because we skipped Thursday and always go five days a week, but woke up so late that it didn’t end up happening. Thanks, alcohol. Instead, we chugged lots of water, showered and got ready to meet my boyfriend’s family for lunch.

12:30 p.m.: Went to Seoul Food for lunch (it’s weird being there during the day…and sober) and got wings and ramen mac n’ cheese. My boyfriend paid for the two of us. You probably read Monday through Thursday and thought I was crazy health-conscious, but I’m very big on 80/20. Eat great and work out the majority of the time, do what I want on the weekends.

7:30 p.m.: We had pool plans today and then planned on going out since Saturday is generally our one night out a week, but after going out to celebrate last night, we were dead today. Ditched all of our plans and napped all day, then made chicken parmesan with Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi over sautéed kale for dinner. We watched Masterchef after for a few hours before passing back out.

Total spent: $0

Day seven: Sunday

9 a.m.: We wake up, get ready and head out to Sprouts (first time going – I’ve been wanting to check it out for a while) to do our weekly grocery shopping. The bill comes out to $130, which we split ($65). It would’ve been a little cheaper if I didn’t decide it was necessary to try out things like beet hummus and vegan cream cheese solely because they were there… but my boyfriend is used to it and doesn’t talk me down (usually). His mom lives right down the street, so we stop by to say hi and eat some berries and pineapple for breakfast.

12:30 p.m.: For lunch, we make a healthier version huevos rancheros using Sprouts’ purple corn tortillas, cage-free eggs, a mix of leftover ground turkey and veggies cooked with a bunch of Mexican spices and a sriracha Greek yogurt sauce. It was delicious.

6:30 p.m.: I love finding ways to turn not-so-healthy meals into healthier (but still delicious) versions, so we made a chicken marsala dish with beet noodles instead of pasta. It turned out amazing, I was really happy with it and I actually kind of like the way the beets turn everything pink. Can’t speak for my boyfriend on that though.

Total spent: $65

Total spent: $1,333.20
The breakdown:

Bills – $1,166
Food and drink – $102.20
Miscellaneous – $65

What I learned: I really wasn’t surprised by anything here.

I’m proud of myself for packing lunch and breakfast every day because I know that goes a long way in saving money. I also don’t drink coffee, so I’m never spending on that in the mornings.

Of the two paychecks I get each month, one is always pretty much entirely for rent and bills, while the other one is mostly for trips and fun things. This week happened to be the not fun paycheck, but it wasn’t unexpected.

I would really like to be able to start saving money soon, and I think I’m on the right track to get there in the next few months. The one thing I’ll note is that my grocery bill does seem a bit high, but after being split that’s $65 a week and I’m able to cook all of my meals throughout the week, so it more than evens out.

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