Week of Money: Where I basically am a stupid idiot and go WAY over budget.

DAY ONE

??:?? — So.

??:?? — Much.

??:?? — Crying.

??:?? — I plead with him to just try and sleep, the medicine will kick in and he will stop feeling itchy, I promise him, pleading and half crying, myself.

??:?? — I wake up exhausted. I had to dose him again to stop the itching. At least it is dissipating but it pains me so much to see him itchy and crying at night.

7:21 a.m. — Little Bun asks for a banana.. and then tells me I have to eat it because it is “rotten”.. IT ISN’T. It was perfectly fine and he decided the peel was too brown:

8:00 a.m. — I get ready then call and get an emergency appointment in an hour, but the place is half an hour away (driving), and with traffic it’ll be tight if we don’t HUSTLE. This is my look:

8:23 a.m. — I get him ready and then rush out the door with him in tow, complaining that I’m rushing him.

8:25 a.m. — At daycare he bursts into tears. I was almost out the door when I hear and see him wail. I go back in I’m in a panic, I have to get to my dental appointment to fix my bottom retainer and THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO LOSE IT. Heck, I am about to lose it and all the parents can see it.

8:33 a.m. — I calm him down (he just wanted a high-five), and kiss him before I leave.

9:29 a.m. — At the appointment, they fix it, I express my displeasure at the retainer only lasting ONE WEEK when my old one lasted 15 years. Side eye. No charge. Obviously. I head to my next appointment hoping to not have to come back.

10:02 a.m. — I arrive just in time. I end up having to order more contacts, and the bill comes to.. $350

10:48 a.m. —I think I’ll look into LASIK. I’m getting tired of these costs.

11:14 a.m. —I finish my appointment, go and grab vegetables while on calls all morning, and pick up carrots, kale, zucchini… and make a side stew to supplement my lunch. $11.16

11:50 a.m. —I get home, make lunch, cook everything while on endless calls. I learn to use the carrot tops as a herb. They taste like a parsley with a carrot-y twist.

Kale, Carrots.

 

 

Adding wild mushrooms and cream.

My lunch before, and after.

Getting prepped.

And adding fresh zucchini and carrot tops on top…

12:25 p.m. —I take a break and do a bit of 15-minutes of yoga while things cook but am too rushed with everything else at work.

1:16 p.m. — I eat my finished lunch, super late. Then I have macarons.

2:33 p.m. —I shower, curl my hair, then head off to grab Little Bun. The car tells me there is a possible flat tire. ARE YOU SERIOUS?

4:15 p.m. — I drive to the gas station and learn for the first time how to refill the air – I literally googled it and then read the notes on not hearing any spray of air. I get the tire up to pressure (70 which apparently would have burst it because the normal pressure is 50!!!!! WTF do I know?) and I grab Little Bun.

5:25 p.m. — I see the PSI on the car tick down… and know there is a cut somewhere. I must have hit a pothole or some bad luck spot. I’ll have a flat tire tomorrow and have to call roadside assistance. FML. I also need to get Little Bun to daycare but luckily we have a second car (truck) and my partner can drive him while I call roadside. There goes another $$$ expense on tires I didn’t foresee. This month is just not conducive to staying under $3000. I’ll be under $4000 if I’m lucky at the rate I’m leaking our money.

5:46 p.m. — I cancel my appointment for tomorrow, telling them it was an unforeseen flat tire.

6:28 p.m. — I do dishes, laundry and then play with Little Bun doing word games.

7:18 p.m. — This was a real email from a VP to someone…

8:56 p.m. — Little Bun wants to watch videos and his father wants to read books with him. My partner doesn’t make reading fun, so Little Bun isn’t excited. He likes to sit in your lap, snuggle you, get kisses, and hear exciting voices when you read a book. He also wants you to read to him until he is comfortable and then feels safe reading back to you. My partner doesn’t get that, and gets miffed that he’d rather watch videos than read with him. I am caught between a rock and a hard place. Say something, and I am criticizing him. Don’t say anything and everyone is upset.

9:34 p.m. — Time for bed. I dose him with allergy medicine again.

Spent: $361.16

DAY TWO

??:?? — I wake up, stressed. Little Bun cried all night, I had to dose him after cajoling him into the bathroom to get him to take this medicine to stop his itching.

7:23 a.m. — I make tea.

7:26 a.m. — Make a list of things to get done today. Then I get ready. My outfit for the day:

8:18 a.m. — I go to check the car, the tires, make appointments, and .. the car is fine. WTF? The PSI looks fine. I don’t even know what to say. Why did it drop so low last night? What went on? Was it a fluke? Is THIS a fluke and wrong readings and I will end up with a flat tire then? WHAT AM I TRUSTING HERE?

9:30 a.m. — I drop him at daycare, late. Little Bun is squealing and scratching. I tell them to please dose him with antihistamines, I have to get going. I promise him 4:30 to pick him up. My partner was going to drop him today because I was going to drive in to the mechanic’s, but then the car was fine. And then he was confused because the snowpants were at daycare not at home, and Little Bun refused to leave unless he found his snowpants. OMG. JUST TAKE HIM. ASSUME they are there! *sigh* … When a routine gets screwed up…

10:11 a.m. — I am driving to work, and I am for some reason, clutching my phone in my hand, totally distracted. Of course there is a police officer, and I end up getting a $500 ticket and 5 demerit points because of the law that you can’t even hold your phone while driving. I am just.. stressed now. Thank goodness I can pay it and not go into debt, but FML. $500

10:12 a.m. — I am not even using the phone, I am actually very against cellphones in cars in general. I am THAT PERSON who will pull over, park and use the phone. I won’t do it while driving, but today, this morning, my brain was so full of everything.

10:32 a.m. — I am already stressed… and then.. I hear it. A flat tire. FML. I have to log onto a call, and I try not to cry. Roadside comes and helps tow the car away to the garage.

1:43 p.m. — Tires changing while I am on calls. I got lucky with them. I am starving, didn’t have lunch, so I end up eating the rest of my macarons. I am stress eating. This is the worst day ever. This truly is. I am beating myself up for being STUPID, and for being UNLUCKY. $850

2:29 p.m. — I head into my appointment early to work in the spa until it is time for my pedicure. YES. I AM GETTING A PEDICURE. What’s another $60, $70 on top of a more than $1000 day?… REALLY. I am on calls while getting my nails done. I use up the last of my gift card. $0

5:02 p.m. — I pick Little Bun up late. I promised him 4:30 but.. listen. This day .. this day has been rough. Everyone has been really kind with the messages and support, and it honestly helped me put things into perspective:

• It wasn’t an accident
• It wasn’t thousands of dollars
• I can afford it

It is okay. Tomorrow will be a much better day.

5:35 p.m. — At home, after we are changed, I ask him for the longest hug ever. I really need a big hug to feel better, I tell him.

6:55 p.m. — Little Bun tells me: “Mommy I am sending an email to my baby!“… To do this, he just says: “Boop Boop Bleep Bleep” and wiggles his fingers to “send” an email. LOL It is very cute.

6:17 p.m. — “Mommy your toes look like dark strawberries!“.. I was going for blackberry, but I’ll take it. <3

7:37 p.m. — I feed him soup, we do dishes, laundry….. I eat a bit of food too. He is such a sweet helper, I love him so much.

7:41 p.m. — He plays math games under the blanket in the bedroom, giggling to himself.

8:55 p.m. — At least this made me laugh. People don’t know what this is *laugh*

9:13 p.m. — I play a logic game with him and am enjoying it. I start to feel a tickle in the back of my throat, like my throat is swelling. I am pretty sure I am now getting sick. I feel fatigued… and my throat hurts.

Spent: $1350

DAY THREE

??:?? — I wake up not tired, but feeling sick. My throat hurts badly, like it is swollen.

8:00 a.m. — I drop Little Bun at daycare, and get on a call.

9:30 a.m. — I go to my massage for my back, and my therapist is so surprised at how tense my shoulders are. She asks me what’s wrong and if I was stressed and I recount my day, and she says “Ohhhhh”…. she can feel it all in my shoulders and my neck, and tries her best to work it out. $80

10:55 a.m. — I pick up a smoked meat and liver sandwich. It is so satisfying and making me feel good. I eat it while working. $12.90

And the sandwich breakdown:

12:08 p.m. — I take a short break for lemongrass tea, my throat is really in pain right now.

4:47 p.m. — I go and pick up Little Bun after logging off work.

5:42 p.m. — We pick two pomegranates together. He doesn’t like the seed so he chews it and spits out the seed after taking the juice. He is so cute and helpful, helping me with the pomegranates. <3 He of course looks like he got into a fight because he looks like he is covered in ‘blood’.. LOL…

6:16 p.m. — Just by chance, I am cleaning up my files on my desktop and I realize I didn’t schedule the payment for my taxes which are DUE IN TWO DAYS. *cold sweat*. I immediately schedule the payment and move money around so I can go to the banks tomorrow, withdraw cash, deposit it physically and have enough to make the bills for the following month. I keep my accounts at low balances because I like putting the excess into high interest savings accounts.

6:39 p.m. — I teach him the colour wheel..

7:11 p.m. — I feed him some vegetable stew.

8:45 p.m. — I go and lie down early. I want to try and make 7 a.m. yoga class tomorrow, so I need to wake up early too.

9:15 p.m. — Little Bun spends the next 20 minutes studying his Periodic Elements Table book (it is SO MUCH FUN, even I love it, it might be my favourite one of all), and runs back and forth to tell me what each element does and why while I am lying in bed, in the dark ,trying to sleep (he can read, remember..?)

Spent: $92.90

DAY FOUR

6:30 a.m. — YASSSS!! MOMMY IS UP AND READY FOR 7 A.M. YOGA! I get ready SO QUICKLY and bolt out the door. My partner is wondering why I am going to work so early, and when I tell him — No it’s yoga! — He nods in understanding. LOL…

7:59 a.m. — This class was so good, but just before I got in, I twisted my back a little. Ugh. I am going to pay for this.

8:17 a.m. — Nope. Not making it to work. I need to lie down on my back and ice it every 4 hours because the twist is getting worse. I am in my car on a call, and my back is hurting. I put on the seat heaters (YAY FOR FANCY CARS — yes, seat heaters are fancy for me coming from very crappy lemons), and realize too late it might be inflamed and I should have iced it first, and then put heat on it after. Oh well.

8:59 a.m. — I quickly drop by 2 banks, pick up $1700 in cash (each bank only allows $1000 cash withdrawals a day), and pop it into my bank account to pay my taxes which I COMPLETELY forgot to schedule the payment of (duh… I dropped the ball this week, I really did).

9:40 a.m. — Home. My partner looks at me – I thought you were going to work? I tell him I twisted my back.

10:26 a.m. — These are 2 examples of the kind of instagram DM crap I get sometimes. And I do get snarky.

Yeah, don’t hold your breath.

This one was snarky. I get this question all the time. #1. If I had a $1 for each time I got this question, I WOULD BE SO MUCH RICHER.

12:03 p.m. — I eat the pizza they make – Little Bun is SO EXCITED that Mommy is home for Pizza Thursdays, and loves watching me eat my slices.

4:50 p.m. — I head out again to run a quick errand. Can’t help myself. I ice my back before I go.

5:12 p.m. — I drop by a few shops before heading home. Cute! So pretty. Soaps with numbers – Little Bun would love this…

And using cotton balls for perfume sniffers:

5:40 p.m. — Home. I log in to work because I forgot to log in my timesheets and spend the next half hour doing so. Then I go and lie down, ice my back, and then do dishes as much as I can stand, … standing.

6:57 p.m. — I make a small bowl of noodles, and then discuss the philosophy of time with my partner. He basically says time is a human construct (which we all knew) and we base our thinkings on TIME but really, it has nothing to do with the actual event itself. For instance, aging – we blame it on time, or attribute it to time going by, but it has nothing to do with time, it is just that our cells get older and disintegrate. Time has nothing to do with it, from a philosophical standpoint, it is the cells themselves that change.

8:25 p.m. — I lay into bed to sleep early. I am taking in my car to get the tires changed. Little Bun goes to read his Periodic Table book in the living room again, memorizing what each element does and telling me the cool things they can do / don’t do. I nod, and snuggle him as he tells me about each element. Who the F knows if he is right or not, I need the book to verify.

Spent: $0

DAY FIVE

6:30 a.m. —Up early. I know I have to hit my 8 a.m. appointment. I go to ice my back, and then hear the squeal of Little Bun: BUT I WANTED MOMMY IN THE BEDROOM…. he is SO tight with me that he cries if he doesn’t see me or feel me first thing in the morning, it basically ruins his morning. I go in there and tell him I had to ice my back because I am trying to fix it as I have to leave for an appointment by 7 a.m. He sobs in the bed. I hand him milk. He cry sobs while drinking it.

7:03 a.m. — I squeal happily: TIME FOR BUSY WORKERS!… and he helps me put away all the dishes. I am making this a CHORE, a MANDATORY morning routine so that he knows he has to do it before we do anything else, and put away all the dishes from the night before.

7:23 a.m. — I leave just to make it to the appointment RIGHT ON TIME. <3 I am a big stickler for making sure I make it to places on time, if not 10 minutes early. I hate being late, it is just so disrespectful of everyone’s time that you promised to be somewhere at a certain time, and you aren’t there. Unless there is a serious reason, there is … no reason not to be there on time. You know how long it takes for you to get ready, for you to get to the car or bus, to drive or take transit there, and then leave time to find where this place is to meet if you are unfamiliar. ZERO. EXCUSES. TO. BE. LATE. I’ll definitely be teaching backward scheduling to Little Bun.

8:11 a.m. — I drop off the car, and go wait.

9:30 a.m. — I hop on a call.

10:12 a.m. — Car ready. I shoot the breeze with someone who tells me I should just buy tires off season and have them ready when they are replaced, would save me a few hundred. I am considering it… but also, is a few hundred worth it? I might as well just pay the $300 extra and have them already have the tires without having to lug these heavy things to the mechanic, risk my back etc. It really isn’t like saving a thousand bucks, which I would do. I am factoring in the stress, the storage, the lugging of said tires, making sure I didn’t screw up and buy the wrong ones…..  $2219.02

10:55 a.m. — I drop off a Poshmark sale at the post office and pick up a new mascara (my old one just clumped up on me). $6.31

11:15 a.m. — Home. I log in to work in peace before I head upstairs.

1:15 p.m. — Upstairs, he is refusing to sleep. Of course he is.

3:05 p.m. — He “sleeps” basically, I sat there with him, and worked on my phone answering emails while he “slept” (read: ran around the bedroom).

4:15 p.m. — He’s up. I make him help me clean up, do laundry, etc.

6:36 p.m. — I do all the dishes while he watches videos (there was a lot).

8:57 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $2225.33

DAY SIX

??:?? — WHY IS HE SQUEALING.

??:?? — OMG. SO MUCH SQUEALING. This stuff wakes me up out of my sleep and then I have to try and fall back asleep again, only to be woken up again. He keeps kicking the blanket off and squealing, then gets very VERY salty when Daddy puts a new blanket on him, so he scrambles over to my corner, squishing me into the bed, and tries to sleep on top of me to get some Mommy-ness. It is all very cute and clingy, but MAMA NEEDS HER DANG SLEEP.

7:59 a.m. — I wake up, have a tea, and we clean up the apartment, vacuum, do the dishes, etc.

9:15 a.m. — I read books with Little Bun, we try and find a new colouring app but end up just bloody paying for Happy Color to get it without ads. $12.59

11:33 a.m. — I skip lunch at home and pick up a friend and her mother who are stopping over in YUL for a short period of time, and take them to go get some smoked meat and liver sandwiches. I pay for all of them because.. I AM A HOSTESS. $48

3:15 p.m. — Spend the afternoon just driving them around. They were pretty tired, had a terrible flight, and I could tell they didn’t want to walk, were fatigued, so I drove them instead of making them walk. It’s much nicer than having to get out, park etc.

4:57 p.m. — I head home after working in the lobby. I am scrambling because there is such a short period to do all of these budget roundup posts after the end of the month and to get them scheduled in the next 2 days. It is a lot of work, believe it or not, these graphics don’t make themselves. I manage to get the first post scheduled and properly graphick-ed out, plus scheduled on Instagram. Phew.

9:15 p.m. — We do dishes, I put heat on my back and then have dinner, play more games (he loves ThinkRolls by AvoKiddo), and we go to sleep.

Spent: $60.59

DAY SEVEN

??:?? — He keeps kicking all the blankets off then squealing when he gets tangled back up in them. UGH.

??:?? — THIS ANIMAL. I shush him and plead for him to sleep with the blankets without getting tangled because he is driving me mad, this wiggler…

7:34 a.m. — Off to yoga. I leave and take my green tea with me.

10:39 a.m. — After class, I head into the lobby and finish scheduling the budget posts for the first week. Finally. Now I can rest, because the posts for next week don’t have to be done until later. When I say schedule, I also mean I created all the graphics and wrote posts to schedule them on Instagram as well. Yes, this is literally like a full-time job, but a fun hobby for me.

11:50 a.m. — I head upstairs. Little Bun tells me the eggs were bad, so we just have salad, bread and avocado. Fine by me.

1:03 p.m. — Again, refuses to nap. I sit with him in the bedroom and plead with him to sleep.

3:49 p.m. — I grab his milk, do the dishes in spurts (my back is still a bit ache-y), and then say – screw it, and I book another massage with my therapist for this week. I will be seeing her this week and next, but my shoulders and my back are all in pain from twisting it this week. I really need her help.

6:17 p.m. — My partner also made rice pudding and Little Bun hovers around me saying: MOMMY, go ask Daddy if there is rice pudding. I refuse to do it, but then I realize the rice pudding was all put away, and Little Bun wanted some, but knew he wouldn’t get any, and his best chance would be to wrangle Mommy into asking Daddy so he could have some. Sorry kid… not that desperate. Poor baby. We have yoghurt instead. It is kind of cute how he schemed it, and tried to play Mommy against Daddy. LOL

8:12 p.m. — Bedtime. I am so tired. We honestly just hang out, clean up, do laundry, wipe down dishes, cuddle, have tantrums (both him and me, obviously)….

Spent: $0

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Want more? Read all of my previous Week of Money Diaries.