Four-Scoop Sampler! How Much Did I Spend Last Week? Apr 3-9, 2023
When would I ever say no to ice-cream?!
A friend sent me this New York Times article earlier today, about a former influencer who truly – it seems – managed to leave that whole sordid life behind. I find myself unable to stop thinking about it; what would my life be like, if I never thought about taking a photograph to share on Instagram? If I wasn’t – as I am now – preoccupied with what TikTok I can make that will catapult me to Colleen Hoover levels of literary success? If I didn’t frequently come up with plans for excellent content that I could create, and then feel immediately overwhelmed by the prospect of it?
In a way, I wonder if my absence on any other social media platforms would entice more people to sign up to, and read, my newsletter; or tune into the podcast, even. Then I look at my Substack dashboard and realise that the majority of my readers come from Instagram and, well, I conclude that quitting would not be wise, especially when this newsletter provides the bulk of my family’s income.
So: I’m back to thinking, again, about Lee Tilghman and the charmed life she must now lead…
Monday
At the start of the month, there are certain financial to-dos I set myself – more on which later – such as, pay off x credit card, pay off y credit card, pay off z credit card… but there’s also, “pay Jennifer”, our cleaner.
When we first started getting a cleaner, I paid her by the week, but there would inevitably come a week, towards the end of the month, when I would either forget, or not have the money to hand, so I started paying her upfront for each month instead.
It means I get to pay her when I actually have money; I don’t need to think about it until the next month; and I factor this into my monthly outgoings from each monthly paycheck. I still pay her if she’s sick or on holidays (because I believe in sick pay, and holiday pay, despite living in America), so I don’t worry about what would happen if she couldn’t show up. ($400)
This morning, Atlas wakes up late – after I’ve done my financial wranglings – and I make him some toast for breakfast, which he eats with cheese and strawberries (and by “eats”, I mean, he eats approximately 50% of it and feeds the rest to Vinny, who, irritatingly, won’t eat strawberries so I’ve to pick them up myself).
Around 11am, we head over to Bea’s – we’re going to get sandwiches from Jimmy John’s for lunch and eat them outside as it’s finally (finally!) nice enough weather to do that.
When I arrive, I hand Atlas to Don and Bea, Nash and I go to get the sandwiches. I go into Jimmy John’s while Bea goes into the optician to have Beau’s glasses fixed (a trampoline-related pummelling had them entirely misshapen), which is a mistake as I have never ordered Jimmy John’s in-store before and have no idea where to get the drinks or the crisps or that I should ask for a box to carry everything in, with the result that I entirely forget to pick up the five bottles of Diet Coke I ordered. (Bea pays; sorry, Bea!)
After Jimmy John’s, Bea asks – nay, begs – me to take her to Rural King. “I just have to pick up one thing,” she says.
I actually don’t mind going to Rural King, despite my desire to go home and eat my turkey club sandwich, because they have little baby chicks for sale and I like to go and coo over them.
Nash: “Can I get a baby chick? They’re only $5.”
Me: “No.” (But also, can I get a baby chick?! They’re only $5!)
In hindsight, coming in to look at the chicks was a mistake because then it turned from a quick run into Rural King to a leisurely browse around Rural King, and before we know it we’ve been there for 30 minutes and Don is texting to (a) ask if we got lost and (b) inform us that Atlas is losing his shit.
It is, to be fair, getting close to his naptime.
We bomb it back home and I decide to bring my sandwich (no Diet Coke though, sob) back to mine to eat in the back garden after I’ve put Atlas down.
Babies are hilarious, the way they can go from being fully awake and full of beans to utterly exhausted and falling asleep in the span of five minutes. I’ve barely got his nappy changed before he’s got his thumb in his mouth and is ready to doze off – usually I’ve to read him a book or breastfeed him to get him drowsy enough to put down, but not today!
I have my usual long Monday to-do list today, so once I’ve polished off my sandwich in the sun I go up to my desk to get through some work bits: I edit the week’s podcast and schedule it on our Patreon and on the main feed; make the YouTube video to correspond with the episode; send off some invoices; and create a TikTok (unlike my more recent effort, this one actually did very well).
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When Brandin gets home in the afternoon with the boys I still have a few hours of work to do, so I leave him downstairs with them while I head back up to the office.
Later, I watch the most recent episode of Will Trent while playing Minesweeper and make the slightly dodgy decision to pay to remove ads. I mean…. I play it a lot so maybe it’s worth it? ($3.20)
(By the way, if you’ve never read Karin Slaughter’s novels and you like crime / cop stories / thrillers, I’d recommend them! But trigger warning for sexual assault because there is a LOT.)
Daily total: $403.20
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