My  Week  Long  Spending  Diary  Living  in   LA

Happy Wednesday! Today I thought I would share a rather interesting blog post. I’ve read a few of these and always found them quite entertaining and sometimes helpful so I wanted to try it out as well. I’m curious to see what others are spending their money on and I love seeing inside other bloggers life so if you are a curios cat like me then today I will be sharing my week long spending diary living in LA!

Now that I live in LA it’s a bit more tricky and by no means is it cheap to live in LA and I know that so I’ve been tracking my expenses to help me out and see where I spend my money and if I need to cut down on a certain area i case I over spend. I have always been pretty good with spending my money. I don’t tend to go over board and if I want to treat myself to something that is justifiable then I do it. I’ve found a happy medium that allows me to save my money but once in a while I’ll buy something that I’ve really wanted. I’ve been told I am very good with money and my dad has always seen that and compliments me on that quite a lot. I like saving my money and thinking about the future whether it’s a a not to necessary purchase or for something big and life changing. I sometimes don’t know what I save my money for but I have it and that’s all that matters.

| top // skirt // bag // sandals // bow // necklace |

Ever since I moved out on my own about 2 months ago I had to become of an “adult” and take care of things I never had to really worry about and one of those is my spending and expenses. So I made a list on my phone and have it in my planner. After reading a few of these money diaries or whatever they are called I thought I would share with you a week of mine. Of course every day, week and month is different and sometimes it’s consistent and other times it isn’t and I think that’s realistic.

Day 1 – Monday

It was an at home day for me and so I edited my weekly vlog but towards the afternoon I walked in the kitchen and realized I didn’t have any bottled water left. I’ve been buying 2 gallons of water every other day so you will see a lot of that in this money diary. So I walked down the street to my local supermarket and bought 2 gallons for 99 cents each making it a total of $1.98 then right beside it was a liquor store so I picked up a bag of chips for $4 to munch on while I finished editing my video. Not too bad as I had lunch and dinner for that day. If I didn’t leave the house I wouldn’t have spent anything.

Total: $5.98

Day 2 – Tuesday

Today was quite different. I didn’t have breakfast or much food left so it was time for a grocery run. I got an Uber to Target from my house and that was $3.50. The shopping center where my local Target is located has an Ulta beside it so I popped in and I shouldn’t have because I walked out of their with a gel nail polish set for $4.10. It was on clearance and I wanted to either paint my nails or toenails with it. Of course I can’t go to Target without buying something I didn’t intend to purchase. Remember I went there for my weekly food shop but I had to have a browse and I ended up getting 2 L’oreal lipsticks I saw an ad for on Instagram and Youtube and kind of had to get it and they had the colors I wanted so I spent an unnecessary purchase of $16 on the lipsticks. Then I should have went to the food aisle but no you have to pass the clothes section and I saw a pretty dress and knew it would be great for fall coming up and I could style it on the blog. I wasn’t going to get it and then I saw it was only $12 so in the cart it went. I saw a few more clothes I could buy but they weren’t as cheap as the dress so I just left with that. Lastly I did end up grocery shopping and bought food for breakfast, lunch, dinner and a few snacks which came out to be spending $89.74 for everything including the lipsticks and dress. It doesn’t stop there though. After my browsing and shopping it was already 8pm but bare in mind I left after 5pm as I was busy working at home all morning and afternoon and before I pulled myself to leave the house it was late but I still get so confused that the sun sets so late here so when I left it seemed so early out to me. I convinced myself to get a McDonald’s even though I had just bought a ton of food to make at home. No that didn’t stop me and since I hadn’t had McDonald’s in a while and it was right next to Target I decided to treat myself and got a sandwich, fries and a milkshake for $11.03.

Total: $107.87

 

Day 3 – Wednesday

I was filming a video and needed some inspiration for drugstore makeup and what better way then walking down the street to my local Rite-Aid and browsing the makeup. I decided to get 1 thing which was some press on nails I watched a video on so I convinced myself to get it so I did and $7.49 later I had the nails but I couldn’t just leave the store with just that I had to browse the snacks and ended up buying 3 drinks worth a dollar making it $3 for the 3 juice drinks and then right by the cashier they had a box of Reese’s Pieces which I haven’t had in a long time and it was $1 but it was also buy one get one free so I got that.

Total: $11.49

Day 4 – Thursday

This was my best day as I didn’t leave the house and only just needed to buy water as I was out so the total for the two gallons of water was $1.98.

Total: $1.98

Day 5 – Friday

It was my roommates day off so she invited me out so we spent the day going to the Beverly Center. She paid for the Uber so I didn’t spend any transportation money the whole trip. I just looked around the mall but didn’t buy anything. Next we went to Westfield Century City and it was my first time going there. I wasn’t going to get anything until I found the H&M. I swore I wasn’t going to get something and then I found this magical dress for $99 and I wasn’t going to spend that much but it was 75% off and since it was a grand opening sale it was an additional 20% and when the lady rang it up for me it was $19.75 so I bought it. Now I have a pretty dress but nowhere to wear it to. For dinner I treated my roommate and I to Shake Shack. It was my first time eating there and I heard great things and it was good. I paid for her dinner as she paid transportation and I always treat her to dinner or lunch when she takes my outfit pictures for me. The total was $25.76 for us both as I got a veggie burger, we shared fries and I got a milkshake. I would have paid less if it was only my meal but I paid for both since she paid the Uber home. By the way this was the day she took these photos.

Total: $45.51

Day 6 – Saturday

This was the funnest day in my week and I don’t want to share too much. I paid for my share of the Uber which was $3.50. Then we went to Santa Monica Pier. I didn’t buy anything there. For dinner, my roommate and I got Mexican food right by our house on our way home from Santa Monica and I got a veggie burrito, cheese and avocado nachos with a watermelon drink for $14.39. I had a fun day and only had to pay for half of the transportation and dinner for myself.

Total: $17.89

Day 7 – Sunday

It was a pretty chill one for me as I was pretty tired from the day before. I wasn’t going to leave the house but my roommate came back early from work and needed to go down the street to get water at the supermarket so she asked if I wanted to come along and I did and bought some more water even though I had some left. I thought I could stock up so I didn’t have to go down there so often. Another $1.98 to add to the list. Then she wanted Chinese food from the restaurant right beside the supermarket so I agreed and we split it and I paid $12 for that. I got Lo Mein and orange chicken which was pretty yummy.

Total: $13.98

Overall…

I spend a lot on food I realized. Honestly other spending diaries I’ve read have done the same so I don’t feel too guilty but it makes me more aware of it. I don’t really eat out as much as I did though I have to say. Back home I ate out quite a lot with my family and hardly cooked for myself but here in LA I eat out every so often unless my roommate and I split it or she brings me back food from her work. Last week I spent most on food it looks like and I had a few purchases that weren’t the best like two dresses and some lipstick but that’s pretty good for me. I usually buy a few more things then that. August is almost over and I have a few more days until payday again so I still have a bit food left from my grocery run on Tuesday and a lot of leftovers from eating out over the weekend. So that was my spending diary and overall it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. My worst day was Tuesday but that was because most of the money went towards groceries for the week for me to cook at home which I’ve been doing a lot more recently. It may not seem like it from this diary but the weeks before that I have been and doing some meal prep a little.

That was my my week long spending diary living in LA! I actually really liked doing this and now that I live in LA I could make this a monthly thing or do it every so often to update if my spending has gotten any better or worse. It’s fun and makes you look at things more closely. I’m feel a bit more of an adult and doing these adult kind of things. Maybe do more of these adult kind of lifestyle posts more often as well. By the way I wore another outfit this day as well and you can see it here. Let me know if that interests you and what’s the most you’ve spent this week. I’d love to know I’m not the only one who spends their hard earned money on food.