Welcome to Spending Notes, where we do a weekly deep dive into how our readers spend their cash.
Today: a quality assurance manager who makes $75,000 a year spends some of his money this week on appliance repairs.
Occupation: Quality Assurance Manager
Age: 35
Location: Oregon
Salary: $75,000 (approximately $2,851 per pay period)
Day One
My Mondays typically begin with waking up early, having a light breakfast, packing lunch, and grabbing my thermos filled with coffee before heading straight to work. But today, I decided to grab breakfast on the go because I overslept after hosting an ugly Christmas sweater party last night. Once I’m at work, my day consists of testing the products from the manufacturing plant I work at to ensure they’re all up to standard. I also had to eat out for lunch to avoid being late. We didn’t have any problems today, so it was a pretty relaxed shift. Later, I head home and spend some time with my wife before calling it a day.
Total: $12.96
Day Two
I woke up today to a leaking dishwasher and had to call off work to get it fixed before I wound up having to replace my floor, too. I did some online searching for “appliance repair Bend, OR,” and found a reliable contractor to handle the job the same day. The Oregon Appliance Repair technician finished all the repairs during the afternoon, so my wife and I decided to binge-watch the Grey’s Anatomy episodes we’d missed this season to finish up our day together.
Total: $159
Day Three
After getting my dishwasher back up and running yesterday, I got to work today to find a bit of work piled up due to my absence. So, after a long day of testing and writing up reports on a few problems with some new products, I headed home. Once I got settled in, I remembered I needed to order my mom’s birthday gift if it was going to arrive on time. She’s a huge fan of macarons, so shopping for her wasn’t too tricky. I did a quick search for “macarons for sale near me” and came across a lovely place called Macaron Queen. So, I ordered my mom the “Mac Daddy Birthday” pack, and they should be here soon.
Total: $75.52
Day Four
Despite an easy Monday and missing work on Tuesday, it’s been an unusually rough week with several quality issues coming to my attention lately. So, I decided to treat myself and pick up a new video game on the way home, Demon’s Souls. Once I’m home, I settle in, and my wife and I share some laughs as I stumble my way through this unforgiving game—all in all, a great way to lift my spirits.
Total: $41.35
Day Five
Friday is finally here, and I couldn’t be happier! I have big plans for the weekend, and I’m excited to put this stressful week behind me. After another busy day at work, I go straight home to sit back and relax.
Total: $0
Day Six
It’s Saturday morning, and I found my mom’s gift of macarons arrived. They look so good that it’s tough to keep myself out of them! Saturday is our designated date day, or night, depending on what my wife and I want to do. Today, though, we decide to take the classic route of dinner and a movie. So, we stopped by our favorite Italian restaurant and went to see the new Resident Evil film before wrapping up a wonderful day.
Total: $125.76
Day Seven
Sunday morning, we head to church and stop for a light lunch on the way home. We usually spend our Sunday afternoons catching up on some housework together and just spending time around the house before the upcoming workweek. Then, after an all-too-short weekend, we hit the hay and get ready for a new week.
Total: $13.85
Total for the week: $428.44
