What I Spent in 1 Week Living in the San Francisco East Bay Area in Northern California

When I decided to get serious with paying off my consumer debt (credit cards/student loans) and considered myself part of the FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) movement, I found myself living in Northern California.

To be specific, in the San Francisco Bay Area, in what is known as the “East Bay”.

Yikes! I know I’m not in the best place to be able to reach my goals quickly. Yet, here I am living a happy and healthy life with my husband.

Instead of complaining or blaming the money I spend on my location I’ve decided to frequently keep track of my expenses to see just how little (or how much) I spend each week.

The following is what I spent during the week of February 17-23, 2020. For these recollections, I’m not factoring in set expenses such as rent, utilities, my BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) card for work travel, and other reoccurring costs although I will write about that in future posts.

Monday– $0

I got off to a great start on Monday. I am very fortunate that I have a job that allows me to work remotely from home a few days a week as needed so I worked from home all day Monday.

I ate some pasta that I already had in my refrigerator and did a workout at home in my living room watching a free YouTube video.

Off to a great start!

Tuesday– $8.48

I had every intention to not spend any money today. Truly, I did!

However, I didn’t foresee being invited to go to Trader Joe’s with two of my co-workers. I thought that I could stay strong and not buy anything in Trader Joe’s which I soon found out was impossible.

I stayed strong until I got to the cookies. The oatmeal dunker cookies to be specific. I only got two packs and decided to cut my losses and not buy anything else that day.

Wednesday – $266.20

This day turned out to be the most expensive for me out of the entire week.

I had an appointment at the dentist’s office to get a much-needed root canal. I took an Uber to the BART station and took the train to the station near my dentist’s office.

I had to pay the cost upfront for my root canal which came out to be $252. It stung a bit when I paid for it but I quickly reminded myself how lucky and privileged I was to have access to healthcare and the ability to pay to get my root canal today.

Thursday– $259.20

Today I took a trip back to the dentist to get my temporary crown done.

After that, I took the opportunity to pick up a few necessities at the grocery store which included eggs, bread, bananas, soy milk, and some pasta.

I didn’t have to take an Uber today to the BART station and was able to take the bus and the train for transportation which saved me a few extra bucks.

Friday– $35.91

I’ve recently started using Soylent as a mid-day meal and a light dinner so the only thing that I bought was a 12-pack of Soylent.

Not too pricy, but nonetheless I still spent some money.

Saturday– $29

On Saturdays I often take the time to complete household chores, go hiking at the park and catch up on watching TV shows with my hubby.

I usually don’t spend much money but today I ran out of my chai tea latte mix. I found a great deal on Amazon for a 6-pack of my favorite brand and bought some melatonin gummies for my hubby who had been having trouble staying asleep at night.

Sunday– $130

I honestly came so, so close to not spending a dime today.

But I finished filing my taxes with my husband and we decided to double-check it and submit it. We like to get big tasks like this over with as soon as possible.

We both have side hustles that require us to pay extra taxes for so we had to update to the Self Employed version of TurboTax that we didn’t have to use last year.

We had an unexpected extra cost to file our taxes for the state of California. We were a bit shocked. Coming from living in Texas, we weren’t used to filling out the state section of our taxes.

Grand Total= $728.29

Ouch! This week was a bit higher than a normal week for me would be.

I had a root canal and temporary crown done which isn’t a normal expense and added greatly to my total.

I plan to continue to track my spending to help be conscious of my purchases, avoid impulse purchases, and find areas where I can cut in order to pay down my debt faster.

Do you ever track your spending? If so, feel free to share your experience with me in the comments!