pipsqueakpower

[pipsqueakpower]

What I Spent, September 9-15

A relatively thrifty week followed by a spendy weekend. Unlike the Dowager Countess, I am very familiar with the concept of weekends.

Monday, September 9:  $1.50 - Laundry Thanks to an unexpected vomit party from Kiki late on Friday night, I got to do some weekday laundry, which was my first opportunity to have the ~2.5 hrs required to do a load of laundry at my apartment complex (🙄).

Tuesday, September 10:  $38 - HEB Good ol’ groceries. A much better total than in weeks past.

Wednesday, September 11:  $7 - Movie ticket I made plans to see Hustlers with the bestie over the weekend, and used my Alamo Season Pass to split the cost. Basically, two tickets for the price of one!

Thursday, September 12:  $25 - Alamo Drafthouse drinks and food Yeahh, Alamo got a lot of my money this week. I went to a fancy dress party advance screening of the Downton Abbey movie, and dressed like a flapper to boot! I figure it’s a good last minute Halloween costume if nothing else. 

Friday, September 13:  $75 - Veterinarian’s office Sigh. Kiki has a weird nipple thing. Weird enough to warrant a vet visit, where I got to pay $75 for the vet to say, “That IS weird! I have no clue what that is! I guess we try some antibiotics?” Thank goodness for Kiki’s emergency fund.

Saturday, September 14:  $16 - Alamo Drafthouse / $28 - Haymaker / $15 - Patrizi’s / $15 - Butterfly Bar I saw Hustlers with the bestie and then met up with people to watch UT take on Rice. Drinks were had, Patrizi’s lured us across the street. Definitely a high-spend day.

Sunday, September 15:  $0 ...Which meant Sunday was for being hungover and doing absolutely nothing. I’m ashamed at my lack of productivity, but I do think I needed a day spent sleeping. I literally went back to sleep after a short morning dog walk, took a nap in the early afternoon, dozed in the evening, then went to sleep by 10:30pm. This is 30.

TOTAL SPENT: $220

Honestly, while spending got out of hand on Saturday, I think I did pretty good this week. Unexpected costs were covered by savings and I mostly managed to rein in spending elsewhere. Now to work on the whole being-productive-on-the-weekend thing.

[pipsqueakpower]

What I Spent, September 2-8

I’m baaaaaack. After a few months of lax budgeting thanks to moving apartments, I’m refocusing back to an aggressive savings plan for a whole bunch of things coming up in the next year or so. Which means I’m back on that accountability train. CHOO CHOO.

Monday, September 2 (Labor Day):  $4 - Amazon / $1.50 - Laundry I’m so bad at Labor Day. It always sneaks up on me since it comes so close after the start of a new fiscal year. Anyways, I proceeded to be boring (and frugal!) and do laundry. The Amazon purchase was my monthly Subscribe and Save purchase.

Tuesday, September 3:  $18 - 8 Track HH My one social outing of the week was to go to a happy hour I organized for a departing colleague. He’s a sociable guy, so a bunch of people outside our team came, too, which made for a nice and chatty evening. I had a frugality win by replacing a round of beer with a sparkling water. I’m a lightweight, and I drink too fast in social situations anyway, so this was a good compromise.

Wednesday, September 4:  $45 - HEB I’d been putting this off, but I finally got myself to the grocery store. I haven’t been making the most cohesive purchases, but I got enough odds-and-ends to last me through the rest of the week. I’m really working on keeping my bill reasonable after a few months of not paying attention and splurging on the more expensive (and responsible) cuts of meat.

Thursday, September 5:  $20 - Gas / $50 - Amazon clothes A new, longer commute means more filling up the tank. But thankfully, gas prices have been dropping enough to keep it reasonable. I splurged on some costume pieces for a Downton Abbey fancy dress screening next week. Probably not my most well-thought-out purchase...

Friday, September 6:  $6 - Parking / $80 - TribFest registration Even with a four-day week, Friday felt a long-time coming. I fought campus traffic and paid for parking for a 30-minute meeting. I’ll get reimbursed for parking and mileage at least. Then I bit the bullet and bought my educator registration for the Texas Tribune Festival. It’s honestly become something I look forward to every year, so it’s money well-spent.

Saturday, September 7: $0 Thanks to past me, who bought herself two tickets to John Mayer in San Antonio for her 30th birthday back in January, I got to log some time in my favorite Texas city outside Austin. And since I went with my mom, I somehow pulled off a no-spend day. Even so, I was proud of myself for never really overindulging in food or alcohol, minus ending the night with a bag of Cheetos that gave me wicked acid reflux during the night. HOORAY OLD. Another sign of oldness? I learned that my knowledge of JM songs after 2013 is extremely limited. Plus I legitimately can’t remember how many times I’ve seen JM in concert, haha.

Side note: very annoyed Tumblr does not have gifs of the New Light video. Ugh, I love this asshole dork.

Sunday, September 8: $17 - McNay Museum / $67 - LOFT outlet / $8 - Taco Cabana / $16 - Amazon book / $11 - MightyNest

I, uhhh, guess I felt the need to even out my no-spend day. With no rush to leave San Antonio, my mom and I took our time eating brunch (her treat again) and visiting the McNay for the first time. I bought a mug to add to my museum mug collection, then stopped by the outlets on my way back to Austin. Without a pup to rush back to (or in the car beside me), I enjoyed taking my time and picking out a blouse and dress on sale at LOFT. I am always woefully in need of more work clothes. Aaaaand then I had a moment of weakness, opting to stop by the Taco Cabana less than a block away from my apartment instead of pulling together a mishmash of food at home. Ugh, it wasn’t even that good. Then, I ended the night by finally purchasing the book club book of the month (Circe by Madeline Miller) for my Kindle. I’m only a chapter in and I can tell it’s gonna be a good ‘un. And finally, I had a moment of weakness and subscribed to MightyFix, which sends you an eco-friendly product each month. They have some really appealing items like Stasher bags and beeswax wrap, so I’m hoping the $11/month will be worth it, but if they send me a reusable water bottle I’m immediately canceling.

TOTAL: $343.50

Not great, Bob. My takeaways are that I could do less clothes shopping and impulse fast food purchasing. Buuut I also need new jeans and American Eagle is having quite the sale this week. I literally wore holes in my last pair! So, we’ll see 😅

[pipsqueakpower]

What I Spent, February 4-10

Long time no see! I recently reread a bunch of posts, and really missed it. So here you go!

Monday, February 4: $26 - Brow wax / $12 - Haymaker My monthly brow wax has been getting incrementally more expensive over the last few months ($22 to $26). It’s a little annoying, but I love my esthetician, so at the end of the day it’s not a deal breaker.

Then I had some snacks and a drink at Haymaker for Mexico City trip planning. I was glad I stuck to the drinks on special ($2 Lone Star) and appetizers.

Tuesday, February 5: $130 - Vampire Weekend tickets Between this and the John Mayer tickets I bought the previous week - HOO BOY. But, I very rarely buy concert tickets, and Vampire Weekend rarely go on tour. Worth it, IMO. And only possible since I paid off my credit cards last month.

What I will NOT look like at the concert. I am in my thirties now and thus unabashedly buy balcony seats for good views and actual seats, like the old shortie I am.

Wednesday, February 6: $0 A no spend day. The best kind of day.

Thursday, February 7: $8 - Alamo Drafthouse I was pretty proud of my frugality on this one. I was determined to see Roma in a theater, without distractions. Luckily, Alamo rereleased it in 70mm. Unfortunately, it was only at the Ritz downtown. But thanks to a Lyft credit, Alamo rain check, and coupon for free popcorn, I only paid for a beer and tip. Not bad, if I do say so myself. (And Roma obviously became my frontrunner for Best Picture.)

So glad I watched this in a dark theater, publicly pressured into not looking at my phone.

Friday, February 8: $41 - Chewy.com Kiki continues to have expensive prescription food, that is all.

Saturday, February 9: $20 - Shopping ($30 AE credit) / $13 - Pinthouse Pizza A much-needed day with the BFF consisted of a reasonable shopping trip thanks to returned jeans as well as lots of good conversation and activities, much of it paid for as a birthday present.

Sunday, February 10: $15 - Bucee’s gas / $12 - Bucee’s food / $20 - The Majestic parking & drinks Another Sunday, another trip to San Antonio. This time to see Anastasia. It was a great time with the usual costs of gas, parking and some intermission waters. Plus snacks at Bucee’s. Because how do you not???

TOTAL: $297

I mean, that’s not great. But most of it is concert tickets, so I think I otherwise did pretty solidly. Next week is Mexico City, so I doubt I’ll be saying the same thing after that!

[pipsqueakpower]

20 pounds lost and 500-day streak in MyFitnessPal. I think it’s a good time to take a break from logging and enjoy the holiday season!

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Putting Friendsgiving leftovers on greens makes it healthy, right? That’s how that works?

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If you had told 18-year-old Pipsqueak that 28-year-old Pipsqueak went straight from work to run, then came home and drank kombucha and popcorn tofu, she’d be like, “What’s kombucha?”

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W1D3 done on Monday (with a buddy!), and W2D1 done today 💪🏻 Soreness from yesterday’s Pilates class couldn’t stop me!

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My new exercise/running mantra :)

[pipsqueakpower]

What I Spent, October 23-29

Oh hey, long time no see, “What I Spent” posts. My spending has slowly but surely been creeping back up, so I thought it was a fine time to bring this back.

Monday, October 23: $2 - 7-Eleven / $20 - Brow wax / $13 - Brentwood Social House No groceries meant stopping by 7-Eleven for breakfast, and ordering out for lunch after getting my brows done. But at least getting errands done over lunch meant I got to walk at the track with a couple of friends!

Tuesday, October 24: $10 - Galaxy Highland I had to work late, which meant barely enough time to fit in a dog walk before I had to rush to a screening. Which means popcorn for dinner, womp womp.

Wednesday, October 25: $2 - 7-Eleven / $47 - DSW / $30 - HEB / $6 - Petco Again, no groceries meant 7-Eleven for breakfast and scrounging together something for lunch. Since this was my one evening at home this week, I managed to run by HEB and Petco for groceries/supplies. Oh, also DSW had a flash sale, and I’ve been needing some new Chelsea boots bad, so I snagged a pair for 50% off!

My boots are not sparkly gold, but I certainly wouldn’t say no to a sparkly gold pair. *goes off to search the Internet*

Thursday, October 26: $15 - Birthday gift A birthday happy hour was somehow covered by the birthday girl herself, but I did manage to at least put some money towards a collective birthday card.

Friday, October 27: $27 - Be More Pacific Another day, another happy hour. I love this new Filipino restaurant, but dang if I don’t end up spending way too much money there.

Saturday, October 28: $1 - Downtown Parking / $7 - Central Market / $22 - Total Wine / $17 - Airbnb A very random day, which began in the early afternoon with going downtown to pick up my Austin Film Festival pass, then to Central Market to pick up healthy snacks for a screening. Then, post-screening, I stopped by Total Wine to replace a broken bottle of Jameson (R.I.P.). Later that night, with a Halloween weekend spent firmly indoors, I booked a brewery tour for my friend and I while we’re in London next month.

Sunday, October 29: $100 - American Eagle Those dang AE sales got to me, and I ordered some new undies, redeemed my free bra from rewards points, and threw in a sweater and some black jeggings for funsies.

TOTAL: $319

Oh man. I was not at my best this week when it came to impulse shopping, which is perhaps why I felt motivated to start these “What I Spent” posts. Others binge eat, but I binge shop. I can go months without buying a thing, but as soon as I allow myself one purchase, it often turns into many. It doesn’t help that I realized this week that me being 20 pounds lighter has decimated my winter wardrobe, a fun problem to have, but less fun when it eats your bank account.

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No running today. Instead, 35 minutes with my fave Internet yogi.

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Ran with a couple of coworkers around the neighborhood by our office and tackled W1D2 of C25K!

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So obsessed with this harvest grain salad from Trader Joe's. I'm determined to recreate it!

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Trying to do the C25K program. W1D1 done!

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Please excuse this #brag and my lil belly, but these jeans wouldn't zip up a couple months ago. 🙌🏻

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Trying to polish off camping leftovers means potatoes, eggs and cholula for dinner. 243 calories. (Which allowed me a microwave s'more.)

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Turns out Trader Joe's has some pretty good prices when it comes to organic, free range chicken, so guess who gets to enjoy some responsibly-raised animal-based protein this week? 🤗 Roasted sweet potato, black beans, kale, and chicken tenders, about 300 calories/serving.

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Roasted Carrot Soup, adapted from a recipe by Well Plated. A bit chunkier than it’s supposed to be, but still delicious with some wheat toast and fresh basil!