Partially Done! #66

♡ 66. Do projects #9, #15 and #26 in Keri Smith’s How to Be an Explorer of the World. 

Activity #15 in Keri Smith's How to Be an Explorer of the World has the reader record everything consumed or purchased in a specific period of time (a day, a week, etc.) How wasteful are we? How much to do we spend on frivolous things? I decided I would record what I purchased during this past work week. 

I'm still not sure what my relationship is with money. I grew up poor, six on one pretty low income, so during my entire childhood and adolescence I very rarely got anything I wanted. Our clothes were either hand-me-downs or from the Salvation Army. Prior to leaving home for college I think I only saw one movie in a theater (and it was a showing of Charlotte's Web that our neighbor took her kids and us to watch). I've become more self-conscious about crying over all the things I didn't get to have as a kid because I can see now, as an adult, that it wasn't a huge deal. Or was it? I think this is definitely one of the things about my life that defines how I view and use money. I am at once very aware of something being a non-necessity, but also wanting to give myself these things because, goddamnit, I earn my own pay now and can.

Admittedly, I started out the week doing well and then it kind of went down hill. Partly as a result of how the schedule changes on Wednesday when I work the evening shift. Partly because sometimes I see something on sale and while I deliberate to a painful degree, sometimes I cave in. And then I feel guilty and ashamed of myself for spending money on crap. I'm glad I didn't do this the previous week when I bought that pair of Fluevog boots (which are awesome, and for which I only have a drop of regret).

Anyway, it's kind of embarrassing, but here's what I spent my money on this week.

Monday, January 14

• Two pairs of knee high socks (one black, one brown): Macy's $15.30 
• One tube of mascara: Sephora $19.35

Tuesday, January 15

• One salted caramel latte: Metropolis $3.49 [It was tasty at first, but too sweet toward the end. This is another thing I do: I buy something and then always manage to feel disappointed.]
• Lunch stuff for E: one cucumber, one honeycrisp apple, one pear; package of small sweet peppers; pack of Newman's Own Ginger-Os; bag of Barbara's Cheese Puffs [holy crap these are good!]; pack of gum (for me): True Nature $19.02

Wednesday, January 16

 

 

• (Lunch) Coffee-braised pork burritos, a slice of pecan pie and coffee: First Slice $14.71
• Slingshot Planner: Women and Children First $6.56 [It was on sale! 50% off!]
• Hippie bracelets (one on sale) and zinc letters: Andersonville Galleria $20.84 [I saw those zinc letters and thought, hmm, we could really use a P and a Z above our front door....]
• CTA card: I think I added $10
• (Dinner) Noodle soup: Wow Bao $4.19
• Coffee: Starbucks $2.15 [In my defense, I was really concerned about its fair trade status, and I asked for a "medium" and not a "grande" when I ordered, but the Starbucks choice really came down to my being too lazy to walk to Intelligentsia. God, I'm an asshole!]
• Pack of Godiva chocolate caramels: Walgreens $5.45 [This is the kind of bad impulse buy I make when I work the evening shift. I ate three of them, and then I felt like crap.]

Thursday, January17

 

• Medium coffee: Intelligentsia $3.25
• Chicago Card: CTA $25.00 [I lost my old card.]
• Large champurrado: Street vendor outside E's school $1.75

Friday, January 18

• Two doughnuts, a burglaur and a coffee: Dinkel's Bakery $8.87 [I went in for just one doughnut and coffee but had no cash on me and they pulled the whole $10 minimum for debit card bull  and rather than do the right thing and just go get cash or something I bought two doughnuts and this egg, bacon, pesto thingamajig. And then I didn't even enjoy any of them. Except for the chocolate doughnut with Bavarian cream which I scarfed down at my desk at work later that afternoon and then felt totally guilty for (a) eating it and (b) eating it so quickly.]
• Added value to my CTA card: $5.00
• One Gala apple and a bottle of probiotics: Whole Foods $23.77
• Medium latte: Intelligentsia $4.00
• Two issues of Uppercase: Anthropologie $21.75 [They were on sale!]

I'm not even going to add up how much I spent this week. On the bright side, I brought my lunch to work three out of five days. Also, am I imagining things, or do I have a lot guilt about money?