Money Diaries

I have spent an incredible amount of time in my adolescent, Brandy-Melville-wearing-era of life reading magazines. I am neither particularly selective nor pretentious when it comes to what I pick up from the stalls every week, or what I choose to covertly read in my psychology lectures. Hand me a Vogue, People Magazine or Men’s Health and you can find me happily engrossed in between its pages for a good few hours.

The more I read, the more I have realised that all publications share many similarities: a Letter from the Editor, a recipe from a vegan food blogger, and a one-minute fitness guide accompanied by a Kayla Itsines look-alike. In recent months, there is another similarity that I’ve picked up on: money diaries.

Irrespective of how fascinating Laura from Portland’s weekly tax expenditure is, all these budget diaries are based on working millennials with real jobs and salaries, or celebrities with unreal salaries and semi-real jobs. It was a sad realisation that I couldn’t relate nor aspire to any of their spending and saving habits. However, it did make me realise that, especially as a student, I need to at least attempt to be a bit more aware of what I spend.

So, last Friday, I decided to create my own money diary for one whole day…student style.

7 AM: Amazon Prime once again lied to me about next day delivery and my two boxes of Quest bars finally came through after two weeks. Single Quest bars are sold for $3.79 on campus but given that our school gives students free Amazon Prime, I managed to get mine for under two dollars each. Mood: Feeling like I’ve successfully conquered the system whilst getting my daily protein intake.

Cost: $46

 

8 AM: Hit the gym as practise was cancelled. Luckily, the gym is free at college, but I got hungry after my workout, so I treated myself to a chocolate and banana protein shake. I quickly realised (as always do) that it never tastes as good as a bottle of chocolate milk does.

Cost: $5.00

12 PM: Brunch plans got cancelled. My friend unfortunately contracted a staph infection…Mercury in Retrograde has truly hit the friend group. I ended up getting brunch on campus with Food Points (i.e. our school meal plan, i.e. money not coming out of my pocket). Avocado toast with scrambled eggs. The perfect pre-day-party breakfast.

Cost: $0.00 (to me, at least)

 

3 PM: Buses were free to the party, so no money wasted on an Uber. Decided to utilise my sugar-free mixer that I had bought on a whim at CVS the day before, but I quickly concluded it was the biggest waste of $7.20 I’ve ever spent. Tasted like a combination of absinthe, pineapple and sewage water. Note for next time.

Cost: $7.20 (Plus an hour spent pondering in deep regret)

8 PM: Ubered back home with a boy who *claimed* that his phone was dead and thus couldn’t split the cost of the ride. Still awaiting on a response to my Venmo request.

Cost: $11.20

10 PM: Woke up unable to understand where the evening had gone. Binged on a bag of raisins (I think I had read about their anti-oxidant benefits in class the day before), then managed to pull myself together and order a chicken and avocado salad to my room on Food Points.

Cost: $0.00

TOTAL: $70 minus Quest Bar *genius* savings = $24 (is it fair to not count the Quest Bars if I saved money in the long run?)

My Thoughts on the Process

Going into journaling my costs for a weekend day, I thought I was going to spend a lot more than I did and was secretly quite impressed with myself. Compared to my hometown (London), where I spend nearly all my money on coffee dates at Time Out’s “Best Latte Art” spots, I’m not as reckless at school as I first thought. The protein bars were my largest expenditure, but I’m excusing those due to my genius savings skills.

I haven’t decided whether keeping a money diary is a sustainable way for me to keep track, nor do I know if I really want to feel guilt when thrift shopping for a double-denim themed party. However, even one day of scribbling down what I spend my money on has made me more conscious of what I do and do not need. Keeping a money diary can definitely teach you a lesson about what's necessary and what's excess. I hope, having witnessed my personal habits and mistakes, that you can go and start a money diary for yourself and learn from mine!

Thomas T. Munger once said, “The habit of saving is itself an education; it fosters every virtue, teaches self-denial, cultivates the sense of order, trains to forethought, and so broadens the mind.”

Of course, everything Thomas said is true (plus I found him on goodquotes.com, the most legit source for these kinds of things). But the diary taught me a greater lesson than that of virtue and self-denial: never buy mixers from CVS ever again.

By Sophia Parvizi-Wayne

Duke Student, leader of national campaign on mental health, Cross Country All-ACC, fashion alchemist, Huffington Post writer, and all-around world-runner