How Much Did My Week Cost? // No. 1

Something I need to start practicing is keeping track of my expenses. My payment isn't regular so I should be more mindful when I bring out my wallet. Honestly, I still need to make this a habit because I still keep skipping a day... or a week. But around last week, I tried to compute how much I spent. There were both wise and foolish expenses I made, and it's because I'm a messy person.

Currently, my schedule is pretty much a routine. Thrice a week, I take a basic Japanese class in the afternoon. Mornings before class, I go to cafés to do work or catch up on some homework. Sometimes I'd eat in the café, or if I want a bigger meal, I move to a restaurant.

WEEK OF EXPENSES: JANUARY 15 - 21, 2018

Day 1: 2018/01/15

• CAR PARKING

  • Arrived at the parking lot around 08:43, left at 17:53. Total time: 9 hours, 10 minutes. Cost: PHP 210.

• Coffee + Lunch

  • Went to Starbucks and ordered 1 hot grande Matcha and Espresso Fusion to go along with my work. Cost: PHP 175.

  • Did some work, applied for projects. Had 2 French butter croissants because one is not enough to satisfy my hunger. Cost: PHP 140.

• After Class Snack

  • 2 Butter croissants were not enough. Headed to Potato Corner for 1 jumbo sized fries, sour cream flavor. Cost: PHP 80.

Total Cost For Day 1: PHP 605

 

Day 2: 2018/01/16

• Did not go out this day, at all. so, money spending dodged.

Total Cost for Day 2: PHP 0

 

Day 3: 2018/01/17

• Car Parking

  • Arrived at the parking lot around 08:26, left at 19:00. Total time: 10 hours, 43 minutes. Cost: PHP 270.

• COFFEE + LUNCH

  • Went to Starbucks again. Tried a hot, grande Okinawa latte. Cost PHP 180.
  • Ate a chicken salad croissant bun. Much better than the croissants from Monday, but didn't feel that full either. Cost: PHP 170.
  • Dehydration's bad, so I got a Hope water bottle even if those things cost a lot for water. All for a good cause, I guess. Cost: PHP 50.

• RECESS SNACK

  • I was really hungry in class. Luckily there's a convenience store so I got myself some medium sized Clover Chips, BBQ flavor. Cost: PHP 35.
  • My snack also needed a drink so I got 1 500 ml Wilkins bottled water. Cost: PHP 50.

• Shame Purchase

  • All I needed to do in Starbucks (again) was to send a deadline to a client! I had no need to drink or eat at all, as I was working on a deadline. So last resort was to buy another Hope water bottle just to avoid looking sus. Cost: PHP 50.

• Lost Powder?

  • A few days ago, I couldn't find my Canmake Marshmallow Finish powder. Lately I found the powder's oxidation levels high, so I was thinking of switching to another brand. This forced me to buy another one, and I needed to spend on a more internationally known brand in case of moving... So I picked Maybelline Perfect Powder Foundation, in natural beige. Cost: PHP 299.25. (Plot twist: I found my damn powder all along in a pouch I left at home...)

Total Cost For Day 3: PHP 1,074.25

Day 4: 2018/01/18

• FOOD DELIVERY

  • I have this perpetual hunger that came out of nowhere. I really wanted to eat a lot of things, but at the same time I didn't want to go out and deal with traffic. The best I could do was with Food Panda. So from Tenya Tempura Tendon, I got the Asakusa Special Tempura Basket. Cost: PHP 320.
  • There's a Food Panda delivery fee. Cost: PHP 59.

Total Cost For Day 4: PHP 379

 

Day 5: 2018/01/19

• Recess Snack

  • I didn't drive to class that day, and I only ate brunch. However, I was pretty hungry. All I remember was I ate Calbee's Honey Butter chips and drank Pocari Sweat, but I forgot to get the receipt. Genius, I know. (Estimated) cost: PHP 75.

• Late Night Meeting

  • I went out with a couple of friends, old and new, to discuss action plans for a project. We met up at Coffee Project to have some food while discussing our plans of action.
    • For dinner, I had carbonara. Cost: PHP 180.
    • It was my first time there so I had their "project" sized caramel vanilla frappe. Too sweet for my own liking, would've drank a smaller one. Cost: PHP 190.
    • The sweetness was too much for me, so I bought bottled water even if I knew it would cost me again. (Service water was served in a tiny glass and we were caught up in a meeting so I didn't wanna stand up much.) (Estimated) cost: PHP 50.

Total Cost for Day 5: PHP 505

 

Days 6 + 7 (Weekends): 2018/01/20 - 2018/01/21

• No Going Out
  • I didn't really go out, and if I ever did, it was with family. My parents shouldered the costs so I didn't have anything to compute. I didn't buy anything too.

Total Cost for Days 6 + 7: PHP 0

Total Weekly Cost: PHP 2,563.25 (US$ 50.34)

There it is, the cost of living for a 20-something freelancer living with her family. For some this is too much, for others this is too low. It was also before this week that the tax reform law was implemented, so costs of living did increase to some degree. Going out of the house is quite a huge expense, noh? Luckily I've learned to get what I only need, or what I really want that I'd definitely need in the future. Here's hoping that my next set of expenses will be wiser!

How about you, what did you spend on last week?