You may remember, a few months ago I decided not to include kind of “family” shopping – groceries, pet food etc – in my money diaries, but every now and again, like this week, it feels a bit confusing: should I include the takeaway food we ordered for Sunday dinner for everyone?
Technically, that’s a “family” expense, but if I’m looking at money diaries in general as a kind of voyeuristic look at someone’s discretionary spending, then takeout food – no matter who it’s being bought for, really – falls into that bracket.
Brandin and I split our finances, so both of our wages (my freelance payments and his regular wages) get transferred into the same account, and from there we pay bills, household expenses, buy things for the boys etc… so maybe I just stick to including all of the “unnecessary” expenditures, along with things like doctor’s bills because I, personally, always find it interesting to see what different people spend on things like that!
Feel free to weigh in the comments, or just reply directly to this email with your 2 cents.
Monday
I have a scan this afternoon at Women’s Health Advantage, and while it’s not until 1.15pm or so, having it hanging over me – I remember I would get so nervous before each scan when I was pregnant with Atlas, too – means that I find it really hard to even think about working this morning.
So, instead, once I drop Atlas to Robin’s I come home and potter around: I do (you guessed it!) a load of laundry, put up the two loads of laundry that have accumulated in the 10 seconds since I last put up laundry, make the beds, tidy up the kitchen and get the ingredients out for the pizza dough I’m going to make for dinner.
Brandin meets me at the appointment and we head downstairs first to the ultrasound department for our scan, which is always amazing to me and we even remember to take a recording of the heartbeat this time, which is very cute.
Then it’s upstairs to meet with my OB for the first time this pregnancy. I get such a shock when I see her; I hadn’t thought about this at all, but last time I hadn’t ever seen her without her mask, and somehow I had a totally different idea of what the rest of her face would look like!
We also have the conversation I’ve kind of been dreading, where I chat to her about my desire to try for a VBAC (vaginal birth after C-section), ask her opinion, tell her we’re thinking of hiring a doula, ask her opinion on that… Overall she is really supportive, although she does caveat her encouragement with her concern that Atlas was a big baby (born at 41 weeks and 9lbs 2oz, so. not like, Guinness Book of World Records big) and that, if this baby is also big, that may reduce my chances of a successful vaginal birth.
“See?!” says Brandin. “You thought she was going to be super pushy about the C-section!” (He says this, to be clear, while all three of us are still in the room together. I could murder him.) We pay a $40 co-pay; our insurance gets the rest.
After the appointment, Brandin heads back to work and I head to the pet shop to get food for Vinny, who is all out of yummy kibble, then do a little McDonald’s drive-thru to reward myself for making it through the ordeal (and for not killing my husband). Sadly – tragically, heartbreakingly – the bacon cajun ranch McCrispy is no more, so I have to settle for a boring old deluxe McCrispy meal instead. Sob. ($11.65)
When I get home, I’m freed from the shackles of stressing about my scan and could, therefore, in theory, do some work, but the appointment took two and a half hours and, sure, the day is gone!
In all seriousness, Brandin is due home with the boys within the hour so I make the pizza dough and head around the corner to pick Atlas up. We get back just as Brandin and the boys are getting out of the car and Atlas is delighted to see his brothers, which is always adorable.
We make pizza for dinner and then the boys high tail it out of the house to play with their friends while Atlas plays with his toys – very destructive dino-on-Monster Truck drama going on at the moment – until it’s bath and bedtime.
Then Brandin and I clean up the kitchen and sit down to relax for an hour or so before it’s time for us to go to bed too.
Daily total: $51.65
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