Welcome to Money Diaries where we are tackling the ever-present taboo that is money. We’re asking real people how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we’re tracking every last dollar.
This week: A senior product designer working in technology who makes $98,206 per year and spends it on a Big Thief hat and a CD while at the band’s concert.
This Money Diary was written in the fall of 2025.
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Occupation: Senior product designer
Industry: Technology
Age: 29
Location: Oakland, CA
Salary: $98,206
Joint Income/Financial Setup: I make an additional $300-$400/month walking a dog in my neighborhood. My partner and I live together but keep our finances mostly separate. We have one joint account for our sinking funds (2026 wedding, travel, car, and family funds). We both contribute to our sinking funds monthly, and then pay ourselves back for items purchased. My partner makes $108,000/year.
Assets
Emergency fund: $10,000
House savings: $40,300
Sinking funds (shared account with partner): $26,829
Retirement accounts (401K and Roth IRA): $68,226
HSA account: $2,000 (My partner has his own emergency fund, house savings, and retirement accounts.)
Debt: $0
Paycheck Amount (2x month): $2,509.19
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: $1,500 for my half of rent. My partner and I have a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment and we split our $3K rent 50/50. My partner pays utilities since he makes more than me — they range from $100-$200/month for everything.
House savings: $1,300
Loan payments: $0
Other monthly expenses
Banjo lessons: $180 (weekly 30-minute lessons).
Phone bill: $55
Various independent media outlets: $25 (Defector Media, Sunroom Flyer Club, Substack, and Patreon).
Garmin inReach monthly plan: $14.99 (I pay for this usually April- October when my partner and I are doing backpacking trips).
Sinking fund savings: $500 (my main priority right now is saving a nest egg for my little brother, who is turning 15 this year).
Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Yes, there was an expectation for me to attend college. I’m a first-generation college student, and my parents worked really hard and heavily encouraged my siblings and me to go to college — an opportunity neither of them had. To minimize college costs, I went to a local commuter university near where I grew up, and I took heavy course loads so I could graduate in three years instead of four. I also had a scholarship that covered about half of my tuition. Throughout my three years in college, my parents contributed $7,500 ($2,500/year), and I covered the other $10,000 over three years. I worked 30 hours per week throughout college to pay for my tuition, groceries, rent, and car payment. I was very lucky not to need any student loans during this time period. In 2021, I decided I wanted to switch careers and I did the General Assembly UX design bootcamp. The cost was $14,500 and I received a no-interest loan from my older sister. I paid her back between August 2022 and April 2024 in monthly payments.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s) educate you about finances?
Yes, my parents taught me and my siblings about finances. Even though my parents didn’t have a lot of money, they were very smart with their money and provided everything my siblings and I needed (I have four siblings, and also had two cousins living with us for a while so we had a very full house). My parents were very scared of debt and were big on personal finance expert Dave Ramsey, so they taught us the “envelope method” (a budgeting technique) when we were young, and we learned about budgeting as soon as we started having money of our own.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
I started babysitting when I was 14 as my first unofficial job. My siblings and I were expected to start contributing to our expenses when we were early teenagers. As a teenager, I had to pay my portion of my phone bill, and I needed to save up to buy a car when I got my license, so I babysat as much as possible for that reason. When I was 18 and moved out of my parents’ house, I needed to get a job to support myself and pay for college. I got a job at a law firm through my university’s student employment network, and I worked as a file clerk there from the time I was 18 through 21.
Did you worry about money growing up?
Yes, money was always tight growing up and my household was a very paycheck-to-paycheck life. Even though my parents did their best to shield my siblings and me from this stress, we all knew that there wasn’t extra money and we never really asked for anything extra (although we were lucky enough to receive birthday and Christmas presents every year). During the 2008 financial crisis, my dad was laid off and I remember that being an extremely stressful period.
Do you worry about money now?
2025 was probably the first year I didn’t have intense fear around money, although I still track and manage my money pretty closely. From 2017 to 2022, I made about $40K a year while fully supporting myself and trying to make progress on saving for an emergency fund and retirement, but things were extremely tight. After my career switch, my salary more than doubled. It has been a huge stress relief for me to catch up on saving for retirement, a house, and building my emergency fund.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
I had to pay some expenses as a teenager (paid my monthly phone bill and bought my first car), but I became fully financially responsible for myself at 18 once I moved out of my parents’ house. I feel extremely lucky to have a really strong safety net. My partner supported me through a six-month stint of being unemployed in 2021, and I know he would do so again if needed. I’m also very close to my siblings, and any of us would gladly help each other out if needed. I’m also close with my partner’s parents, and they would be able to help my partner and me out if we ever needed it.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
No, I have never received any passive or inherited income.
Day One: Monday
7 a.m. — I wake up around 7 a.m. and read the news on my phone before getting out of bed and getting ready for the day. I work remotely and have my first meeting of the day at 7:30. My partner, P., drops me off a cup of coffee and says bye before he heads out to work at 8:30. My meetings go until 9:30, when I get my first break to eat breakfast. I heat two slices of banana bread that I baked yesterday, and head back to my desk to continue working.
11:30 a.m. — I take my second break of the day around 11:30 when I decide it’s finally time I purchased some office supplies I have been thinking about. Last week, I got a promotion, and I also used the last page of my work notebook, so these things combined inspired me to upgrade my work setup. I typically like to make these types of purchases at local businesses, but I’m pretty picky, and I haven’t found a local stationery store yet that carries the items I like. I go online to MochiThings and purchase new notebook inserts (I use the paper republic portfolio setup), sticky notes, notebook tabs, and photo corners (for my scrapbook, not for work). $32.60
11:50 a.m. — I walk a dog in my neighborhood every weekday for 30 minutes, and I make $20/walk doing this. It has been really nice for me to make sure I get away from my desk in the middle of the day, and the extra income has been really helpful as well. I get back to my house at 12:45 from the dog walk. When I get home, I grab an Uncrustables out of the freezer, along with some fruit and string cheese from the fridge, and have a “toddler lunch”. I’m trying to be better about prepping my lunches ahead, but I often forget, so having easy-to-grab items at least makes sure I’m not skipping lunch.
4:45 p.m. — My friend L. and I took a pottery class together and some of our pieces had sharp glaze drips we wanted to remove, so L. rented a Dremel from the Oakland Tool Library (an incredible free resource) and came over to my place. We used the Dremel on my balcony to remove the excess glaze, and another one of our friends, N. who does ceramics brought one of her pieces over to work on as well. It didn’t work as well as we hoped, but we made all our pieces a little better so it was a minor success.
7:00 p.m. — P. goes for a run and I walk to our local grocery store to grab a few items for dinner. Our local grocery store is very nice, but also pricey, so we usually only shop here for last-minute items. P. roasted a pork shoulder yesterday, so our meals this week will center around that. I purchase hamburger buns, pineapple rings, cheese (for a meal later this week), yogurt, and an Olipop (my guilty pleasure). $15.96
7:15 p.m. — P. makes up a quick pulled pork pineapple sandwich dinner and salad while I get my workout in. I have a very busy week ahead of me so I squeeze a 20-minute HIIT workout even though I’m really not feeling it today. After I finish my workout, P. and I have dinner together.
8:15 p.m. — I practice Banjo from 8:15 to 9:00 p.m. While practicing, I realize I didn’t finish all the work I needed to get done, so I pull my work laptop back out and work from 9 to 10 p.m. to make sure I’m ready for my morning meetings tomorrow. While practicing banjo and finishing work, P. does laundry.
10:30 p.m. — I put my laundry away before crawling into bed. I read until I fall asleep, which is sometime after 11 p.m.
Daily Total: $48.56
Day Two: Tuesday
7:00 a.m. — I wake up, quickly get ready for work, and start my workday at 7:15. I’m again in meetings until 9:30, when I get a chance to heat my banana bread and get a cup of coffee, then head back to my desk to eat breakfast.
12:00 p.m. — I leave to go walk the dog in my neighborhood, and on my way back, notice one of my neighbors who sells the Street Spirit (an independent East Bay newspaper) is out today. It is a hot day in Oakland, so I run into 7/11 and buy him a 1L water bottle ($3.09). I bring him the water and give him $10 cash for the newspaper (the newspaper has a suggested donation of $2, but vendors get to keep 100% of the profits they make, so I like to give extra when I can). I get back home just after 1, and make myself a chicken caesar wrap with items from the fridge. $13.09
3:00 p.m. — Someone in my Buy Nothing Facebook group is giving away some groceries they won’t be able to use. It is all items that me and P. will use, so I walk over to their house to pick the items up. I pick up a block of paneer, hot honey butter, cojita cheese, and mango chutney. It is about $30 worth of groceries, so it is very nice to be able to get these for free!
4:45 p.m. — My friend, L., stops by again to finish working with the Dremel on my balcony. I work while I hang out with her, and she leaves around 5:45. I finish up a few more work items before closing my work laptop for the day.
6:20 p.m. — I’m starting a new class at my pottery studio today! I have taken two six-week wheel classes there this year, but decided I want to try more hand-building, so I’m taking a hand-building class this session. The pottery studio is just under a 10-minute walk from my place, so I leave around 6:20 to head over for my 6:30 class. I pre-registered for this class over a month ago and paid at registration, so I don’t have any cost today (the class costs $360 for six weeks of 2.5-hour lessons, supplies, and unlimited open studio time).
9:15 p.m. — I walk home from class around 9:15 and still am not very hungry for dinner yet, but I know I need to eat. P. makes us both pork pineapple sandwiches again for dinner. After feeding us for three days, we are finally through the full pork shoulder. We eat our late dinner together on the porch and catch up on our day.
10:30 p.m. — I realize that I have a book club with friends this upcoming weekend, and I haven’t started our book yet, Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. I check Libby to see if I can get the audiobook to get started tonight, but there is a 12-week wait. I do some research and find the app Everand, which I can try for a free trial. I start my free trial and then immediately cancel it, which still lets me use the app through my full trial (this is my hack for never forgetting to cancel a free trial). I start the audiobook and listen for about an hour before heading to bed at 11:30 p.m.
Daily Total: $13.09
Day Three: Wednesday
6:15 a.m. — Wednesday is usually my earliest start, and I’m dragging a bit from my early alarm today. My team is based abroad, which is why most of my days have early starts. I start my workday at 6:30, and have my first meeting at 7:00 a.m. I’m in meetings until 9:00 a.m., which is when I head to the kitchen to make myself banana bread once again. I’m starting to get a bit sick of the banana bread, so I heat it in a pan with the hot honey butter I picked up from the Buy Nothing group yesterday. I head back to my desk to eat my breakfast, which is exciting again with the added hot honey butter.
12:00 p.m. — I head out to walk the dog in my neighborhood. On my way home I decide I want to stop by my favorite bookstore to see if I can find a used copy of Pachinko so I can have a physical copy as well, but I can’t find one so I don’t end up making a purchase. I walk over to my branch of the library to see if they happen to have a copy in, and they do! My library branch is very tiny, and you usually have to place holds online for books you want, so I’m pretty excited that I was able to get my hands on this today. I get home around 1:15, make myself a chicken caesar wrap again, and get back to work.
3:45 p.m. — I finished all my work for the day, which gives me enough time to get in some banjo practice before I head to lessons. I play from 3:45 to 4:45, and then pack up my banjo and lesson books. I eat a CLIF Bar to hold me over until dinner as well.
5:00 p.m. — I leave my house to catch my bus to banjo lessons. The bus is $2.50 per ride, but I already have money on my Clipper card, so I don’t have an expense today. I get to lessons 15 minutes early and sit in the park while I wait for my instructor.
6:30 p.m. — When I leave banjo lessons, P. is waiting for me outside, and we walk next door to our zero-waste store to pick up some house items. I end up getting three bars of soap, refilling my bathroom foaming hand soaps, and buying beeswax pillar candles and candlesticks. Most of the cost from this trip is the beeswax candles, but I have almost burned through all my candles, and I love having candles lit, especially as we move into fall. $79.82
6:45 p.m. — P. is leaving for a trip tomorrow and taking our shared car, so we decide it would be easiest to stop now so I can get some groceries. The closest grocery store is Trader Joe’s, so that is where we end up heading, even though it isn’t my favorite spot to get groceries. I get some vegetables, chicken sausages, cottage cheese, salmon burgers, oat milk, a bottle of wine, and some other miscellaneous items for the rest of the week. $56.34
7:30 p.m. — When we get home, I start listening to Pachinko while I unload groceries and do some house cleaning. P.’s brother is coming into town tonight, and he leaves to go pick him up while I finish getting everything in order.
8:30 p.m. — When P. and his brother get back from the airport, we walk down the road to our local pub to grab food and beer. P. gets us a round of beers, and I get us a pizza to split. We hang out here until around 10, and then head back to our place since we all have early mornings. $33.97
11:00 p.m. — After hanging out and chatting a bit longer, I head to bed first. I bring Pachinko with me and read for about 30 minutes before falling asleep.
Daily Total: $170.13
Day Four: Thursday
6:45 a.m. — I wake up at 6:45 and get ready so I can join my 7:00 a.m. meeting. P. brings me coffee during my morning meeting block, and I finish up with meetings around 9:30. P. and his brother are leaving at 10 to go on a backpacking trip, so I have a second cup of coffee and chat with them while they finish packing. I help them bring items down to their car and say goodbye. I really don’t have an appetite this morning, so I end up skipping breakfast.
12:00 p.m. — I leave my place around noon to go walk the dog in my neighborhood. I usually don’t like to be distracted on my dog walks, but today I bring my headphones so I can talk to my sister about some family issues. We talk for most of my dog walk, and continue talking for a bit after I drop the dog back home.
1:30 p.m. — After skipping breakfast, I’m very hungry when my regular lunchtime rolls around. I eat a slice of leftover pizza from the night before, along with half a salad kit from Trader Joe’s. P. also bought me a four-pack of lemon lime Olipops earlier in the week when he saw them on sale, so I get to have an Olipop with my lunch today as well.
3:30 p.m. — I finish up my workday and am feeling exhausted. I have an hour and a half before I need to leave for plans, so I brew myself a double shot of espresso and take a quick 20-minute nap. I practice banjo for about 20 minutes, then I start getting ready for the concert I’m going to tonight. The theater lets you bring in blankets and some food, so I pack myself some snacks and a blanket for the show.
5:00 p.m. — My outfit doesn’t come together how I hoped, so it takes me a bit longer to get ready than anticipated, and I miss the bus I was originally planning on taking. For some reason, the next bus won’t come for 40 minutes (it’s supposed to come every 15 minutes), so I decide to pivot and walk to BART instead. My Clipper card is below $10 at this point, so I add $10 since I’m taking BART to and from the concert. I get on the train. $10
6:30 p.m. — I was only planning on going to the show (Big Thief) with two of my friends, but leading up to the show, I found out that a few of my other friends would also be there, so we ended up having a nice merged friend group of about 10 people! I bought my ticket for the show many months ago, so I didn’t have any ticket fees, but I did decide to buy merch once there. I bought a hat and a CD and included a tip for the folks working the merch table. $57.13
10:00 p.m. — Since it is an outdoor venue and a weeknight there was a curfew and the show ended right at 10. My friends and I walk back to BART to head home. (It was a $2.40 ride home, but since I reloaded my card earlier, I already had money on my Clipper.)
11:00 p.m. — Once I’m home I make myself a (very) late dinner of butternut squash pasta, and I eat on the porch while I read Pachinko. Even though I have been busy, I have been switching back and forth between the audiobook and physical book and have made my way through about 160 pages. I get ready and go to bed just after midnight.
Daily Total: $67.13
Day Five: Friday
7:00 a.m. — I wake up and make myself a double shot of espresso first thing. I just have one meeting today from 7:30 to 8:30, so I’m hoping to get a lot of work done.
9:30 a.m. — I take my first break of the day to make myself a smoothie. I pretty much always have stuff for smoothies on hand, and in a regular week, this is my standard breakfast. For my smoothie, I add Greek yogurt, oat milk, frozen fruit, protein powder, chia seeds, and some leftover spinach I have.
12:00 p.m. — I leave my place to go walk the dog in my neighborhood. I have a little extra time today, so we end up doing a slightly longer walk (45 minutes). On my way home, I pop into a thrift store to look for some items I’m collecting for me and P’s wedding next summer (mainly wine glasses and linens), but I don’t find anything I like, so I don’t end up buying anything.
1:30 p.m. — I sauté some bell pepper and onion, then make myself a bean, cotija cheese, and pepper quesadilla. I have some chips and salsa and a lemon lime Olipop as well, and head to my desk to eat lunch while working.
2:00 p.m. — I try to get a little work done, but I’m very exhausted from not getting enough sleep this week. I decide to take a nap so that I can get a couple more solid hours of work in.
3:00 p.m. — The nap helped a ton, and I ended up finishing up my workday from 3 to 5:30 p.m. I had a lot of vacation time and backpacking trips over the last couple of months, so it was really nice to have time to catch up on work this week.
6:30 p.m. — I was supposed to go to an outdoor movie night at a friend’s house, but I can’t find the energy to leave the house again, so I end up deciding to skip my plans. I practice banjo for an hour and make some progress on new techniques I’m learning.
7:30 p.m. — I have really been slacking on my workouts this week, so I decided that since I’m skipping my evening plans, I should at least get a workout in. I do a 30-minute HIIT workout before taking a shower and starting on dinner.
8:30 p.m. — I make a marinara sauce from canned tomatoes, then cook myself up a simple pasta with the sauce I just made, broccoli, and grilled chicken sausage. I eat dinner on my balcony while reading Pachinko and drinking a glass of Vinho Verde for the next couple of hours. At 11, I get ready for bed and continue to read in bed until I fall asleep.
Daily Total: $0
Day Six: Saturday
8:00 a.m. — I wake up and let myself have my first slow morning of the week. I read the news and catch up on my phone until 8:45 a.m., when I finally get out of bed.
9:00 a.m. — I listen to more Pachinko while I do some cleaning around the house. I have a friend’s birthday celebration today and I need to leave sometime around 10:30 a.m., so at some point, I switch from cleaning mode to getting ready mode.
10:45 a.m. — I walk to BART to catch a train into the city. My ride is $6.85, including the transfer, but since I have money in Clipper, it isn’t an expense today. When I get off, I hear a friend yell my name and realize a couple of my friends were with me on Muni and we didn’t know it. We walk to the museum to meet up with my friend for her birthday. I bought my ticket for the museum entrance the week prior, so I didn’t have any expenses today (the entrance fee is $49).
4:00 p.m. — We walk from the museum over to a Peruvian restaurant for a group of 10 of us to have dinner. It’s Happy Hour, so we order a bunch of starters, a pitcher of sangria, individual cocktails, and some entrees. It’s fantastic. $75 p/p
8:00 p.m. — After dinner, one of my friends offers me a ride back to Oakland. We head to a local bar with a big outdoor space. I buy a round of beers for the five friends I’m with, which somehow only comes to $20 for drinks plus tip. A couple of new friends join and we hang out for a couple of hours. A friend buys me another beer, but I don’t make any more purchases. I ride back to my friend’s house, who lives down the road from me, then I walk back to my place from there. $20
10:30 p.m. — I get home, and P. and his brother had just gotten back from their backpacking trip, too. We sit around for a few hours catching up on the last few days. We all get ready and go to bed around 12:30 a.m.
Daily Total: $95.00
Day Seven: Sunday
9:00 a.m. — All three of us sleep in and have a slow morning at home. P. bikes to pick up bagels for us. After breakfast together, P. and his brother go into the city for a day of sightseeing. I keep my slow morning going and do a bit more reading of Pachinko (our book club is tonight so I’m right up to the deadline!)
12:00 p.m. — As part of my pottery class, I’m able to go to the studio anytime during open studio hours. You can make a lot of progress during open studio, and I will be busy the next two weekends so I want to make sure I go to the studio today. When I arrive there’s a class on and there aren’t any open spaces, so I decide to head home. Our book club meeting tonight is a potluck, so I decide to go to the grocery store for a few items instead. I walk over to my local grocery store and get a small orange juice, a Cara Cara orange, and heavy whipping cream. $7.37
12:30 p.m. — I have just enough time to make a citrus olive oil cake (I use the King Arthur recipe) while I wait for the pottery class to end. Once I have the cake in the oven I make a mascarpone frosting and mandoline some orange slices for topping the cake later. At 1:20 p.m., the cake is done, and by 1:40 p.m. I’m able to take it out of the cake pan to cool.
1:45 p.m. — Now that I have the cake cooling, I walk back to the pottery studio to get a couple of hours of work in. A lot of folks have cleared out so I have a big space at the handbuilding table to work on a large 16″x12″ drawer organizer I’m making for my desk. After I finish that, I trim a cup I had been working on and put it on the shelf to be bisque-fired. I have a bit more time before I need to leave, so I decide to make myself a paint palette as well. Normally, I don’t wear headphones when at the studio, but since I was in a time crunch with Pachinko, I listen to the book. I finish up at the studio around 5:30 p.m. and walk home. I’ve saved the last chapter of Pachinko to read in the physical book, so I finish it, then I get to work frosting the cake. P’s brother heads to catch his flight, so we say goodbye before he heads to the airport.
6:50 p.m. — Some of my friends pick me up to head to our other friend’s house for book club/potluck dinner. The host makes an incredible zucchini stew with rice, and some other friends brought salad, soju, and miscellaneous snacks. We have dinner together and discuss Pachinko.
10:15 p.m. — I get home before 10:30 p.m. and I hang out with P. until around 11:30 when we both get ready and head to bed.
Daily Total: $7.37
Conclusion
“I feel really good about my spend. I think I spend my money pretty aligned with my values, focusing on things that are important to me: friends/community, hobbies, and food. I rarely find myself going to chains or big box stores, and love the variety of local businesses I can shop from in Oakland.”
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