How Much Did Author, Podcaster and Athlete Sophie White Spend Last Week? | A Guest Money Diary

(A lot! She should be ashamed of herself!)

This week, my friend – despite her being a very prolific author, something that would usually put me off a friendship due to sheer jealousy – Sophie White offered to write me a money diary, “so you can have another week to focus on your baby”. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I said yes, please! (Also very nosy, so any money diary offers are gratefully accepted.) So here we are.

(Sophie also writes an excellent Substack which you should definitely subscribe to!) She shares writing and recipes and has a weekly Zoom meet-up where you just all hang out via Zoom while doing your own creative things, it’s very lovely.

Well, well, well… How the smug have been de-smugged this week. Hi! It’s me (Sophie White – friend/fan of Rosemary’s and longstanding reader of the money diary). I’m the smug in question. For literal years now, I have been reading Rosemary’s money diaries with the kind of horrified fascination that I usually reserve for the darker parts of Reddit and hyper-bland insta influencers. As we all know she’s extremely, terrifyingly flaithulach (Irish for Lavish Extra Bitch to any non-speakers).

Each week Rosemary’s deranged spending has negated any need for cardio in my life and I can usually be found muttering something to the effect of ‘Jesus fucking christ she’s spent 112 quid on a mug and given the baby a 30 dollar Taj Mahal for its dinner!’ at my phone. I always assumed, if I ever did a money diary, I would be a paragon of frugality. I have a flask for my coffee because it KILLS me to be raked over for coffees all day (I drink a lot of coffee)! I cycle most places. I would sooner drink boiling fluids out of my cupped bare hands than spend three figures on a cup. [Crucial fact check from Rosemary: the mugs were $50 each. I bought two of them. Shipping from Norway was another $50. It WAS ridiculous but it wasn’t “three figures on a cup”.]

Well fucking spoiler alert, I spent a fortune in the last seven days. Easily more than many of Rosemary’s most insane diaries. The only difference is my spending was way more boring than hers.

Doing the money diary has given me a fresh respect for Rosemary because (a) the urge to lie during this thing is powerful and (b) at least when she’s torching her money by the fistful, she’s enjoying it! Living it up. Spending upwards of $50 on books about fairies fucking each other and the like. My money diary, on the other hand, merely shouts to the fact that I’m living a scarily banal life. And one that’s as expensive as it is tedious. Anyway… sigh. Here we go.

Monday

Monday in my life is podcast day. I co-host two, The Creep Dive and Mother of Pod. Both podcasts put out two shows each week and we aim to record all four across the day which means it is a long one but also a very fun one. Not many people get to earn a good chunk of their salary from pissing about with their best friends after all.

After feeding and watering my children and drop-kicking my kids into school, I do my workout (I am a die-hard devotee to Empowered Movement which is an online strength training programme that I’ve been doing and loving for nearly a year now).

After that I have a body-rinse, skipping the hair because, oh my fucking god, washing my hair is the worst (I keep it greasy and glued to my head in French plaits 80% of the time) and I’m out the door to Jen’s house to record the two episodes of Mother of Pod.

On the way in the car, I eat (carefully and safely!) eggs smashed onto buttered toast with Worcestershire sauce and grated parmesan and I drink my green juice.

I am an unabashed green juice wanker. It’s not so much a health thing as a lazy thing. I blend up water, the juice of two lemons, a big whack of ginger, cucumber, celery and spinach and then it really doesn’t matter what I eat for the rest of the day, at least I’ve had my vegetables. Also I genuinely like the taste.

By the time we’re done recording, it’s after 1pm. We usually have about two hours between finishing Mother of Pod and starting the Creep record and I usually spend this time… I’m almost ashamed to say it… getting a massage. Look. I don’t drink. I don’t do drugs. Massages are my thing.

I stop in Tesco to grab lunch of popcorn, cooked chicken tikka and a protein bar (€9.47) on the way to the massage place which is halfway between Cassie’s and Jen’s.

As always the massage is heaven and I also get my shellac done so the total is €119 plus €10.62 tip. My parking is €9.02 – robbery. I try not to bring my car around much because it pretty much feels like you can barely pull up anywhere in Dublin for less than a tenner.

For the next few hours me, Jen and Cassie have a fab time telling some of the worst stories you’ll ever hear for the podcast. Then we order dinner on deliveroo from Yeeros which is currently, in my opinion, the best kebaberie in Dublin. I send €13.30 to Cassie’s revolut. What makes the Yeeros kebab so good is the bread which is breadier than the kind of toasted wraps that resemble foot skin that so often envelopes our kebabs in Ireland. Also we got the most IMMENSE white chocolate mini donuts for dessert. Insane. I paid €6.35 parking for the pleasure.

Daily total: €167.76