On my previous blog, this series has always been a crowd favourite. There’s something fun about seeing how others spend their money, right? I know I’m a big fan of Millennial Money on YouTube and Money Diaries from Refinery29.
As a big fan, I feel I should do my part and share my money diary. I used to do this on a weekly basis but found it too overwhelming so I dropped down to a monthly diary instead. When I share my money diaries, I also don’t include my mortgage or student loan payments or how much I contribute to my investments but I’m considering including mortgage and student loan repayments in the future! Perhaps, in my 2022 diaries?
Without further ado, here is my money diary for October 2021!
Some things to consider when looking at this table: I rarely buy groceries because Dan covers our runs. I will cover the occasional groceries. No matter how small, any purchases related to restaurants, coffee shops, etc. is automatically classified under “Take Out”.
| Date | Merchant | Total Cost | Category | Comments |
| October 1 | Strata | $258.03 | Housing | |
| October 1 | Roger’s Mastercard | $100.00 | Bills | |
| October 1 | Soon Coffee | $5.08 | Take Out | |
| October 1 | Soon Coffee | $50.00 | Gifts | |
| October 1 | Costco | $63.00 | Gifts | |
| October 1 | iParty Dollar Store | $1.12 | Gifts | |
| October 3 | Steam | $55.99 | Entertainment | |
| October 5 | Coast Capital | $3.40 | Fees | |
| October 7 | Amex Travel | $1,302.34 | Entertainment | Vegas trip for Dan’s birthday! |
| October 8 | Fido | $44.80 | Bills | |
| October 8 | 88 Supermarket | $108.12 | Groceries | Thanksgiving dinner. |
| October 8 | ICBC | $75.00 | Fees | Had to renew my driver’s license, ugh. |
| October 8 | TransLink | $10.00 | Transportation | |
| October 8 | McDonald’s | $6.08 | Take Out | |
| October 9 | Canada Goose | $500.00 | Gifts | My dad really wanted a Canada Goose jacket so we agreed to split the cost 50/50. This is going to be his Christmas gift! |
| October 9 | Interact | $1.50 | Fees | |
| October 10 | Soon Coffee | $10.05 | Take Out | |
| October 12 | Cineplex | $25.01 | Entertainment | |
| October 13 | AliExpress | $28.44 | Shopping | |
| October 14 | American Express | $10.00 | Fees | |
| October 15 | Roger’s Mastercard | $100.00 | Bills | |
| October 15 | Sushi Garden | $51.14 | Take Out | |
| October 15 | Pixel Scrapper | $31.75 | Personal | |
| October 16 | Spotify | $17.91 | Entertainment | |
| October 16 | WannaDo Beauty | $48.30 | Personal | This was my birthday facial, haha. |
| October 16 | Chatime | $5.57 | Take Out | |
| October 17 | McDonald’s | $12.90 | Take Out | |
| October 19 | Vancouver Christmas Market | $33.77 | Entertainment | We go every year as an anniversary gift since this event was our 2nd date. They had an early bird special. |
| October 20 | Netflix | $16.79 | Entertainment | |
| October 20 | Square One Insurance | $24.03 | Housing | |
| October 23 | Sushi Garden | $35.06 | Take Out | |
| October 23 | Justin Stitches | $62.72 | Gifts | |
| October 23 | CoCo Fresh Tea | $11.66 | Take Out | |
| October 24 | Buck or Two Plus | $6.42 | Take Out | |
| October 26 | Evo | $7.90 | Transportation | |
| October 27 | BC Ferries | $104.70 | Transportation | Christmas travels! |
| October 28 | Amazon | $29.83 | Groceries | |
| October 29 | Tim Horton’s | $3.97 | Take Out | |
| October 30 | Downlow Chicken | $62.49 | Take Out | |
| October 30 | Winners | $17.51 | Shopping | |
| Total: | $ 3,342.38 |
Personal reflections: Honestly, not the best month for me. I was NOT expecting to spend this much this month and I was a bit disappointed because I did plan to use this month’s 3rd paycheck (I get paid bi-weekly) to put towards my student loans but ended up just making additional purchases, haha. I’m not blaming anyone or any particular situation – I agreed to make these purchases. A lot of it was purchased in preparation for the holidays such as gifts and travels because it was cheaper now than later, and some required months in advance of booking (looking at you BC Ferries!).
The Amex travel is for our trip little getaway to Vegas. It’s a birthday gift for Dan and he’s also never been to Vegas either. We just miss travelling so much!
Next month, I plan to do better!
