Save. Spend. Splurge.

Week of Money: Where I get my Instagram @saverspender account back after 45 days!

DAY ONE

??:?? — I feel a baby foot digging into my back, and another on my face. I push his legs away. I am scared he will kick me in the eye again.

??:?? — I fall back asleep.

7:48 a.m. — We wake up ‘late’. Goodness, it is almost 8. I make tea, and then we sit together.

7:59 a.m. — I will forego doing math with him today because he did extra pages this weekend, so we will do some math tomorrow instead.

8:09 a.m. — My partner starts on making some almond bread.

8:20 a.m. — I waste the morning looking at new gemstones and pieces I want to buy so that I can make my own Adina Mills pieces. She used to sell them for $70 CAD before she became famous and now her prices are very high at $200 – $400, selling out within half an hour.. and I figure, I can rip apart some of my necklaces and chains, and create my own pieces too. I will keep everyone posted. I might as well spend $300 USD on supplies (what one necklace would cost), and create 10+ pieces of my own design. These pieces by the way, went for $400 CAD for the necklace and unsold, respectively. I can do this myself.

9:50 a.m. — I eat lunch and Little Bun eats his as well. Then he asks sweetly to play in my closet, and we play in there together, making up stories with buttons and so on.

12:03 p.m. — We have almond bread.

12:28 p.m. — Little Bun has a meltdown about something that happened with his blocks, and I take this as a parenting win:

Me: NO. NOPE. *goes to the bedroom with a book* I am not doing this today.

*Little Bun follows me, yelping*

Me: NO. You go to your father. I am going to read and then nap.

*Little Bun wavers… then runs to his father, squealing about how his grocery store is ruined and he needs to fix it bla bla bla*..

My partner takes over, and I lie in the bedroom, eyes closed, and drift off to sleep. They play with blocks out there, I hear giggling, and all seems to be better.

1:03 p.m. — I finish reading a book that I am unsure about. I finished it because I wanted to know what happened but it wasn’t a very good book, if that makes sense — Summer Wives – the stories were a tiny bit disjointed for me in short stories, and I couldn’t get all of their names straight. I finish my cup of delicious Earl Grey, and eat 4 chocolate squares.

3:13 p.m. — Little Bun is up, and I kiss him, he grabs the mini iPad and runs off. That’ll keep him busy for 30 minutes until he gets bored and comes to me. When he does, he will be folding all the dried kitchen towels and I’ll make him scrub the floors to stave off ‘boredom’.

3:50 p.m. — I watch more episodes of Grace and Frankie. Love this show.

5:33 p.m. — Little Bun plays with a pouch we have with markers, and he makes the front pouch ‘talk’ like a mouth while the Stuffies are inside “riding” the boat…

6:45 p.m. — I love these outfits… they’re by a magazine called Precious in Japan, and their flatlays are just so beautiful and chic:

7:18 p.m. — Little Bun does his schooling with his father, then reads a book, and then brushes his teeth.

8:31 p.m. — As we get ready for bed, we play in the closet with a new game he made up with the items in there. A random broken piece of plastic, an old iPad mini box, an old box for my exfoliator product, a bag, a few beads and two tags off clothing he coloured in and calls “tickets”.

9:02 p.m. — Time for bed after a few books. We are now reading to the bead AND the Stuffies because he thinks the beads look like a person.

Spent: $0

DAY TWO

??:?? — I wake up to Little Bun snuggling into my side, smiling in my face and saying:” Wee.. wee wee wee!“.. the way he thinks a baby squeals.

6:20 a.m. — I get his yoghurt, and then he starts on math while I drink tea.

6:30 a.m. — He starts getting angry at me for not reading his mind, and frustrated (plus sleep deprived), I snap back. Then we spend the morning cuddled. I tell him: Please tell your Mommy you’re sorry you disrespected her, and I will say I am sorry back to you because I was mean to you. Sometimes you’re mean to me and you don’t even know it, and Mommy gets her feelings hurt. We exchange Sorry’s, and then snuggle in silence.

7:16 a.m. — Then he hops down and uses the PROPER words to explain to me what he wanted (without screaming), and I praise him for using clear language, and we continue on. He HAS to learn some time to not get mad at me for not reading his mind, and to stop being so rude which translates as mean.

8:00 a.m. — My partner wakes up and starts on pizza prep, and I work on some things for my mother.

8:16 a.m. — Little Bun is grumpy. He wants to play with me, but I have to finish this and it will take about 3 hours. I foist him off on an iPad.

11:55 a.m. — Everything finished while they made / ate pizza together, and I eat my cold slices of pizza after I email the documents to my mother.

12:28 p.m. — I make a cup of tea, this time the Marco Polo one that is fruity and delicious:

1:54 p.m. — I finish my first necklace, I think it turned out well! I am pretty happy about it. I am working on a second one that is similar but with a white drusy stone instead.

2:57 p.m. — I have forgotten how amazing the show Grace and Frankie is. Smart, witty, and brilliant.

https://amzn.to/2WvPt1j

2:59 p.m. — Little Bun knocks on the door loudly and squeals: YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!…. he does this every time to let his father know that “nap time” is over (he didn’t nap) and it is time for milk or yoghurt. He runs out and his father spoons out yoghurt.

3:13 p.m. — I finish organizing some files. And contemplate buying this drusy stone grip for my phone which would be super handy… and it’s so PRETTY. Comes in green, blue…. gorgeous. *hearts in eyes*

5:05 p.m. — I feed Little Bun.

6:22 p.m. — I do the dishes, and then make dinner for myself while my partner is in his Zoom class.

7:18 p.m. — I play with Little Bun in the bedroom, we make up games, and then we play Two Dots on the iPad.

8:30 p.m. — I watch more Grace and Frankie while I do the dishes.

8:35 p.m. — I am ENAMOURED with one of my friends’ necklace creations online. I want it. $90?… It’s just so.. me in a way.

Spent: $0

DAY THREE

??:?? — I wake up with Little Bun wiggling into my side. He is insistent. I guess he has to go to the bathroom as well.

7:12 a.m. — It’s foggy, rainy, dreary.. my head is in pain. I take a pill to stop it and then spoon his yoghurt out for him (I think my partner forgot to add in mixed sugar in the big glass jar, but he eats it anyway) and make a tea.

7:28 a.m. — I definitely overspent this month. Almost $3000. And $1700 of that was on wants. Oh well. Have to live some time. A good chunk of it was shopping but the other chunk was jewellery material to start making my own pieces. It was that, or spend just about the same amount on a single necklace rather than getting a bunch of pieces out of it.

9:33 a.m. — I make an early breakfast of pasta while trying to coax Little Bun into doing his worksheets. He just doesn’t want to focus. But NO IPAD UNTIL HE IS DONE.

10:20 a.m. — He has a meltdown because he couldn’t sit in his chair nicely (kept tilting it, and I could just see him smashing to the ground with the way he was sitting off kilter), so we removed the table and the chair. He’s going to do it all on the ground or at the counter.

11:10 a.m. — His meltdown over, he finally finishes the TWO LAST QUESTIONS on time, and I log in to check my bank accounts.

12:55 p.m. — He goes down for his nap after protesting that he hates this time. It’s because he spent so much damn time whining about math in the morning, then not sitting properly in his chair, that he wasted most of his morning, and didn’t get to his activities until ELEVEN. So.. I respond back calmly he has to plan his time better and not waste it then. *side eye*

1:56 p.m. — I make and finish a cup of tea, and try out the new microphone I got, but it doesn’t work, so it’s going back. – $63.77

3:35 p.m. — Little Bun is still sleeping. I think he is partly grumpy from having a cold, so … stands to reason.

3:41 p.m. — I sort through all my necklaces with Little Bun and take out the pieces I am “meh” about because I will upcycle them instead.

6:26 p.m. — I start to feel nauseous and dizzy.. so I go and lie down, and I take a short nap.

7:17 p.m. — I wake up feeling a bit better, and play with Little Bun, who was watching videos beside me, to help me feel better. (What really makes me feel better is when he is busy and happy, and I am able to take a break).

7:26 p.m. — We eat a second dinner of light pasta and cheese together, and then I make a list of things I want to get done tomorrow.

8:01 p.m. — I do all the rest of the dishes and then he starts doing his schooling with Daddy (about half an hour to 45 minutes)

8:21 p.m. — I feel extremely nauseous. I cannot even keep my eyes open. I lie there, still, listening to Little Bun read some books on the iPad (it’s a read-to-me set of stories), and I wonder if I should take some pills, but hold off until tomorrow morning.

Spent: $0

Returned: $63.77

DAY FOUR

??:?? — I wake up a little better. Little Bun is on me, squealing in protest at the noise outside from beeping horns.

6:30 a.m. — We are both grumpy. I take a daytime cold pill, and I will likely take motion sickness pills as well, as the weather’s barometric pressure really dropped suddenly last night around 8:21, I can tell because it hit me like a freight train, and the nausea was intense.

6:41 a.m. — We start on math on the counter, and he does baby division (what I call simple division) — 60 divided by 10, what is 32 divided by 4… etc. He had his table and his chairs revoked from yesterday, and we will remove them for a week until he learns to sit properly.

7:08 a.m. — He finally solves all the problems and starts using the answers to colour in the photo.

7:30 a.m. — He eagerly solves more word / logic problems and loves these ‘brain teasers’, before we take a break. I also manage to teach him combinations, you know… like if you have 3 types of bread, 3 types of cheese, 3 types of meat, how many sandwich combinations can you make?

Of course I didn’t tell him that status quo (nothing) was an option, as is any kind of combination that is just one cheese and bread, but no meat… and so on. He’s only 6, so I am keeping it simple. He figures it out on his own, and then I give him another question to test his understanding.

8:25 a.m. — My partner wakes up and I do dishes.

9:50 a.m. — I hustle Little Bun into the bedroom and we play in the closet, and then play on the iPad, and then I lie down and read, as I am nauseous.

11:40 a.m. — Classes over, he runs out for lunch, and a new snack Daddy baked during the morning class (white mulberry bread), and Little Bun considers it to be like cake but I call it sweet bread.

12:08 p.m. — I do the dishes after eating lunch, and then having my mulberry bread with my afternoon tea. Today is the start of a new month so I am going through and entering my month-end balances and income. I almost spent 100% of everything I earned this month.

2:56 p.m. — I finish off my posts for the week on my Income, Expenses, Net Worth and Investments and spent my afternoon working on the blog.

3:11 p.m. — I start working on my Shopping Haul video. It takes time to record, edit, and I have to get it done for this week!!!!!

5:10 p.m. — “Mommy… I am very excited for the Tooth Party for my first tooth.” .. and I shoo him off to go tell his father that we are having a Tooth Party when his first tooth falls out.

OK Back story….

We have decided together early on, that we will not encourage well-meaning traditions like Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and so on, because they just find out eventually.

What we have decided is we WILL celebrate those events as they come up, with nice meals and reading stories centered around the tradition, and even decorating a tree every Christmas, but we won’t be making it about presents (Christmas is the worst for this), and focusing it on family time, the goodwill of others, and so on.

This is not a popular opinion. A lot of parents think I am a monster for not even encouraging Santa Claus, but I really don’t want to lie for something that doesn’t matter. I have seriously stressed however, that he is NOT TO REPEAT any of this to any of his future friends or classmates because THEY may still believe in these figures, and we shouldn’t be mean and burst their happy, excited bubbles.

We’d rather have Little Bun happy about the event itself, and being with us, plus the great food we will get that are treats every time.

So, when he brought up the Tooth Fairy now that his bottom two baby teeth are wiggling in his mouth, he looked at me so sweetly and earnestly that he wanted to put a tooth under his pillow to see if the Tooth Fairy would appear and leave a quarter (just like in the children’s shows he has been watching which are not helping our case.)

I gently told him that the Tooth Fairy was like Santa Claus and didn’t exist, BUT!!!!…. instead of the Tooth Fairy, we should have a TOOTH PARTY FOR HIS FIRST TOOTH!… and he enjoyed that. So.. Tooth party. He has been talking about it every day now, each time he feels his tooth wiggle.

7:05 p.m. — “Mommy, the moon is so big and orange!“… and he runs and grabs his mini iPad and tries very hard to take a photo of the harvest moon. It’s so adorable I snap a photo of him doing it.

7:25 p.m. — I do all the dishes and let them dry.

8:25 p.m. — I tried not to eat anything for dinner but I feel peckish (stress?) so I make a quick meal, and then regret it because I feel way too heavy afterwards. Shoot. Okay, no more dinners. No more eating past 17:00 or so, because I really don’t like this feeling in my stomach.

9:13 p.m. — Time for bed. I feel a sudden drop in the pressure and am instantly dizzy.

Spent: $0

DAY FIVE

??:?? — I wake up nauseous. This weather is really doing a number on me. I am feeling sick from all the barometric pressure changes – the sudden drop last night is pulling over to today.

6:02 a.m. — Neighbour is STOMPING around upstairs IN HEELS in her bedroom. WHY. I cannot even go back to sleep, I just hear “stomp stomp stomp”….

6:50 a.m. — I fell back asleep somewhat, and then was woken up again by Stompy McStomperson, and Little Bun rolls back to sleep but doesn’t really sleep.

7:02 a.m. — I rub his back and kiss him, he loves this.. and I snuggle him for a little bit, smelling his little boy-ness.

7:06 a.m. — We get up and he has his yoghurt and I have my tea.

7:22 a.m. — I start laundry.

8:30 a.m. — My partner is in class now, and I corral Little Bun into the bedroom and help him play, read and we snuggle.

8:51 a.m. — We play in the closet, and I organize things.

9:30 a.m. — I glam up a ring I did not really enjoy wearing as much because it felt so dull, but now I LOVE IT.

 

11:08 a.m. — I paint my items and let them dry, and I am pretty pleased with how they turned out. I like the final product (took me 3 days), and I am enamoured. And excited. Now I want to buy more brass findings but I already WAY over spent this month so I have to calm down, and maybe take apart some of my old necklaces and redo them in a fun way instead.

12:02 p.m. — I have a quick lunch, and then play with Little un who creates ‘trophies’ for me out of blocks.

1:03 p.m. — Little Bun goes down for his nap. I work on some blog posts, editing the video, and then prep for my mini photo shoot because I need to make more outfit of the day shots (all of which are posted here daily, at noon EST).

I have to do these in big batches because it takes me about 20 minutes to clear the room of things (Little Bun’s ‘summer home’ in cardboard, 3 chairs, random boxes… that sort of thing), to have space to be able to take photos against a blank wall.

OH HOW I WISH I HAD A MASSIVE WALK-IN CLOSET!!!!!… it would make these pictures a lot easier and quicker to take.

1:19 p.m. — My partner heads out to run errands, and I start doing photos after taking a break, watching more (amazing) episodes of Grace and Frankie. I am so inspired by Frankie’s outfits. I love the kimonos, the gorgeous necklaces, I am SO into this look and am currently trying to find some vintage kimonos for a similar look.

3:59 p.m. — 15 outfits down.

4:18 p.m. — I replace everything back into the room, and then I go and play with Little Bun.

5:25 p.m. — My partner is home, and I am with Little Bun, reading and snuggling.

6:40 p.m. — I finish the laundry and all the dishes.

7:25 p.m. — I eat another bowl of pasta. Again, regret. Why didn’t I stop myself. Maybe I should eat half the amount next time!

9:21 p.m. — I go and read to Little Bun, and we take extra time on the book now, pointing out new details, asking him to explain why he thinks something like a situation or scene happens… and it takes us well past 9 p.m. which shocks me (my partner came in to tell us to go to sleep) because we were having so much fun discussing the book instead of just reading it.

Spent: $0

DAY SIX

7:30 a.m. — We wake up “late” as we slept later last night, so I feel refreshed, somewhat. I pop a cold pill because I am certain I have a cold right now, and Little Bun gets his milk which he criticized as not being refreshing enough. *eye roll…* .. he’s a future food critic!!

7:47 a.m. — I work on a few things, making lists, and organizing, and then my partner is up to cook.

8:08 a.m. — In the bedroom, I call my friend and we chat. Little Bun keeps hearing my side of the conversation and interjecting with questions and comments about what I am saying, not realizing he isn’t actually part of the conversation (little BOYS, amirite!?) … and I finally have to tell him to shush because I cannot hear my friend.

10:15 a.m. — OMG MY ACCOUNT IS BACK!!!!!! Someone saw it pop up and informed me. I AM SO HAPPY! It took 45 days and two internal tickets kindly submitted by friends of mine online. *sob*

1:21 p.m. — My partner finally cooks down his 50 pounds of tomatoes to freeze for meals and pizza, disinfects the entire kitchen and we are ‘released’ from prison to eat a lunch.

1:36 p.m. — He goes down for a nap. Not going to be much of a nap, frankly….

2:10 p.m. — *tap tap* he requests to go to the bathroom. My partner takes him, then we discuss recent events.

2:16 p.m. — My jewellery stacking box was delivered yesterday but I may not have gotten it because it depends on my partner going out to pick things up. Sigh. Waiting another two weeks now.

2:41 p.m. — I keep watching more Grace and Frankie (almost done!) I love that this show celebrates older women, seniors.. and this is fantastic as a REAL show that is interesting, witty, fun and not at all shy about talking about the real issues plaguing women and aging in general.

3:10 p.m. — I finally get in touch with Amazon and my bank, with no real resolution. I make a note to contact them again. I didn’t get the tea and I am waiting for it. I also have to call my bank to merge the accounts and get working on that $300 promotion.

4:49 p.m. — I call the bank. Estimated wait time of 3 minutes. If it was 30, I’d hang up and try again later.

4:52 p.m. — I order more green tea while on the phone. This time, trying this out. To get free shipping, I add a light pink nail polish very close to my favourite Essie Ballet Slippers to finish off my collection of a light pink, dark pink, magenta, berry, red, burgundy and so on nail collection. It seems silly to add on $13 to an order just to get free shipping but if I am going to pay $7 for shipping anyway, why not pay it toward something I want? $46.90

5:15 p.m. —  I get on the phone with another bank to ask where my $1000+ balance has gone. They were supposed to issue a cheque and it has been over a month now.

4:49 p.m. — OH! I HAVE THIS CUFF! It’s on Frankie’s arm in the show. It’s a gold twisted cuff by Soo Inh Kim, I found it secondhand on Poshmark but I didn’t know that it was in the show as well. This is so cool, seeing a piece you love, show up in a TV show as well and you immediately recognize it:

6:16 p.m. — I play with Little Bun, and then have dinner. My partner makes a huge BBQ with some roasted mushrooms this time. YUM.

8:25 p.m. — I finish all the dishes and pots, he has to cook again tomorrow and it makes the load a lot easier if I can have a clean kitchen to start in the morning, so it isn’t double the work.

Spent: $46.90

DAY SEVEN

??:?? — I wake up before Little Bun and start reading my book.

7:34 a.m. — I make a cup of tea, and he slept in pretty well, I think he has a cold, his nose is running.

7:59 a.m.This is pretty much the size and layout of our future kitchen. The island will be long enough to fit 4 people comfortably to eat, a big farmhouse sink, a simple back area with LOTS of storage and that’s it. I save the images for future reference (this is me, building up design ideas).

8:45 a.m. — In the bedroom, we play, and I read my book.

1:28 p.m. — Lunch time. Fries and some chicken from yesterday.

1:50 p.m. — He goes down for his “nap” and I go out on the balcony and cover myself in cashmere. I have to say that sometimes I forget to charge my phone and I am SO THANKFUL I have this under $50 light portable battery charger that I can plug in and use on the balcony without being tethered to an outlet. It’s so handy when I am out for a whole day running around and my phone is being used a lot.

2:15 p.m. — I’d agree with this:

3:00 p.m. — Little Bun is up, I am inside already, and I start on all the dishes.

4:25 p.m. — Dishes done, kitchen clean, I go through my list of things to get done. I should spend time doing more work for my mother tomorrow. I make a note.

4:45 p.m. — I feed Little Bun.

5:11 p.m. — I go through my bank information, check notes, etc. I am also definitely doing this for my future home lawn:

6:22 p.m. — This is such a smart idea. INDOOR HAMMOCK!!?!?

9:18 p.m. — Time for bed.

Spent: $0

———-

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

3 Comments

  • Sherry of Save. Spend. Splurge.

    Hi – Thank you for your feedback, I am actually in the midst of trying to fix the issue because all the ad networks need to comply with European cookies / standards. As a result, they’re all failing to work together and as I am not a computer programmer it is trial and error.

  • Sarah

    A TOOTH PARTY! I’m in love with that idea, now I’m mad that we already did the tooth fairy. 😭

    We tried to skip Santa, but with other kids in the family, it would have been impossible. Now we say Santa only brings one gift (so at least they say “Thank you” for gifts), but I’m waiting for a classmate or friend to ruin it…

    • Sherry of Save. Spend. Splurge.

      I came up with it on the fly because I knew that the tooth under the pillow would be a no-go “gross” thing for my partner to comprehend. A tooth party is also fun and celebrates the tooth falling out!

      Oh yeah – we don’t have other cousins his age who live in the city, the other ones are in Europe, so we don’t need to hide our values or pretend… which makes it easier.

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