Welcome back to Receipts with me, Emma Edwards (of The Broke Generation Podcast), where I share with you what I spend for four weeks over the silly season. This week was (finally) a much quieter week of bashing out desk work before the holiday shutdown, devouring self-serve acai bowls and watching the Taylor Swift documentary in between work bursts.
I kicked off the week with a nail appointment that, earlier in the year, I had surrendered to factoring into my monthly budget. Last year, I cut nails out altogether, only getting them done if it was a very specific occasion, like being a bridesmaid in a wedding, for example. But around midyear, I finally admitted that I really did enjoy having my signature hue of orange-y red on my fingertips at all times. Shortly after that, I started paying myself a proper salary from my business, and so it became a monthly staple. Anyway, that was $65 to kick off the week, plus a $15 tip for my nail tech. After that, I hot-footed it back home to hammer away at my keyboard for the rest of the afternoon, thankfully meaning no further dollars wandered out of my account that day.
On Tuesday, I took a lunch break to go and meet my friend before she flew home to Perth for Christmas, so we went to a self-serve acai bowl place. It’s a bit like a frozen yoghurt bar but for acai, where you pay by weight, so you have to be careful not to pay a week’s rent in drizzling Nutella atop your mountain of acai. We did pretty well to keep them under $20 each. I paid for both of us, totalling $38.38. Later that night, my husband and I went on a drive to look at some of the well-known Christmas light hotspots. We got a hot chocolate each from 7-Eleven on our way, which cost $5 in total.
Once again, I paid $58.99 for my meal box via direct debit, but other than that, Wednesday was a no-spend day spent at my desk, ticking off my ever-growing to-do list and saying ‘let’s revisit this in 2026’ for the 55th time.
On Thursday, I got up early and went to the gym at 6am, which was a goal me and my husband had set. We said that if we went, we could get Guzman y Gomez for dinner, so that was incentive enough. Later that day, I had a pre-budgeted-for brow appointment that cost $20, which was a welcome break from work. After I wrapped up work for the day, we ordered the aforementioned GYG, which cost $41 after the use of $10 of our rewards dollars, and that was it for the day.
Got to get in some last-minute gym sessions before Christmas, right?
On Friday, our gym memberships were deducted from my account, which was $28, plus $98 for the two annual fees on our membership. Admittedly, I forgot this was coming out as it was scheduled three months into our membership, so I was a bit rattled when I saw the transaction. I immediately put a reminder in my calendar for this time next year. Later that day, I placed an Amazon order for a gift for my friend’s son who I’ll be seeing after Christmas, some compression socks for an upcoming long-haul flight, and a fresh pack of nose strips for sleeping. If you haven’t tried them, gamechanger. That all came to $77.79, and that was it for the day. I did stop at the supermarket after picking my husband up from a work event, as we needed to get some ingredients for a family dinner we were cooking on Sunday, but he paid for those extras.
My weekend started as it often does, with a 7am pilates class, at which I purchased another 10-pack of classes for $372. I know, it’s expensive, but they’re 1:1 classes with my osteopath, and it’s an investment in my spine health. Plus, I can take my husband along, and he’s got really into it too, so that’s a win! Later that day, I went round to my sister-in-law’s new house to help them move in. I brought the vibes and did a coffee run for everyone, which came to $37.74. When I got home, I paid our cat sitter who is coming to stay with our cat while we’re away in January, which was $550, before I finished off the last few pages of Opal by Patricia Wolfe on my Kindle. I immediately wanted to chew into the next book of the series, Nemesis, but my Kindle Unlimited membership had lapsed, so I rejoined on an intro offer for three months at $0.99c. I then set a reminder in my calendar to cancel or review it when the three months are up because I will not be caught out!
On Sunday, I continued with the trip admin and booked travel insurance for $172.55 via Bupa, as I get a 15% discount for being a health insurance member with them. After doing that, I was checking my bank accounts, updating my PocketSmith transaction categories, and getting everything ready to move money into my travel account for our trip. In the process, I decided to get one more investment contribution in before the end of the year, so I transferred $400 to my Pearler account and invested in some ETFs.
…and that was it for the week! All in all, another balanced week where larger expenses were planned out, regular appointments were budgeted for, and discretionary spending was under control with my weekly allowance that I can do whatever I like with.
See you next week!
Emma Edwards is a finance copywriter and blogger, on a mission to humanize the financial services industry by creating meaningful content that’s accessible and empowering. You’ll find her penning money tips at her blog, The Broke Generation, sharing financial insights on Instagram, or injecting life into content for her business clients.
