half full, never half empty
(money musings 10) month 2/3 of the "advent" calendar spending challenge, getting proposed to, visiting washington, and spending joyfully
Money Musings is a series where I break down my total income, expenses, savings, and investments for a designated month, and review whether my spending aligns with any challenges I’ve committed to.
Notable mentions for May 2026: visited Olympic National Park and got proposed to; could not stop talking about Off Campus and sharing the word to literally every single person I know (current influence count: 5 people); transitioned out of veganism after being a vegan for 10 years; took a small break from reading because I clearly am a hobby extremist and have already knocked out 60+ books in the first five months; and started planning a trip to New York for Mr. Beans’ friend’s wedding.
If you would like to support my work monetarily without paying for a subscription:
my frugal spending diary | apr 20-may 3 — (fsd 03) double week feature ft. a shopping spree, getting tickets to my dream event (since high school!), my second target purchase of the year, gifts for my man, and king of gluttony release
did i really drop $1,500 on clothes? — (money musings 09) income, expenses, savings, & investments in april 2026. month 1/3 of the “advent” calendar spending challenge + how much i spent as the maid of honor at my bestie’s wedding.
frugal spending diary | may 4-10 — (fsd 04) reviewing my 7th (!!!) 5-star book of the year, a generous gift from mr. beans, & the number of queues we were in to get olivia rodrigo’s the unraveled tour tickets
frugal spending diary | may 11-24 — (fsd 05) a few emojis to summarize these past two weeks: 💍🏞️🥾🍵🔬🍖
a list of delights - 01 — overly detailed rants on things i’m delighted with, through an anti-consumer lens -- incl. my top dystopian novel, where to get THE best vegan bánh mì in socal, and 1-yr update on my $600 work tote
A detailed overview of my income sources, mandatory expenses, non-essential expenses, and savings/investments. I use YNAB, a budgeting tool that allows me to budget with the money I already have, instead of what I plan to make. This section does not contain any financial advice; please do research on your own prior to making any financial-related decisions. Amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar for ease of calculation.
One of my Instagram posts that went viral resulted in a lot of backlash, confusion, and doubt about my reported numbers. This post goes into detail with screenshot proof and detailed explanations for each category. I won’t be doing this for each newsletter because this level of reporting is unnecessary and excessive, in my opinion. But anyways, it’s there if you want it.
My NET WORTH is $285,877 (↑$23,242 from the prior month).
My assets consist of all retirement, investments, checking, and savings accounts, and liabilities include my credit card. I do not have any debt. Stock market’s doing reeeeal good this month.
My INCOME was +$9,181.
Full-Time Job +$8,807 | Got paid twice this month (which just means I won’t be getting a paycheck in June). In addition, the union that I’m a part of according to my job code won us a small bonus, so I received an extra $400!
Interest Payment +$134 | I currently use Wealthfront for my HYSA. If you’re interested, you can get 4.05% on your first three months if you open an account using my link! And if you want to compare different HYSA financial institutions, CNBC has a resource here.
Ebay +$62 | Sold one item that’s been listed on my account for three years. I consider this one of the biggest resell wins in all my ten years of doing this.
Cashback +$50 | From allll the shopping I’ve been doing.
Money With Beans +$47 | This is a combination of my social media streams— Instagram, Substack/BuyMeACoffee, Gumroad, and partnerships.
My PERISHABLE EXPENSES was -$1,854.
Rent -$1,000 | I split rent with my boyfriend. Our apartment has two bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms, and is located in a relatively medium/high cost of living city in Southern California.
Health -$254 | Purchased a treadmill for my standing desk (sadly learning that walking + typing is nearly impossible) and restocked on my Lexapro. Received a refund for a supplement purchased from Sprouts.
Groceries -$503 | Outside of my regular grocery runs, I also purchased coffee beans from a local shop, syrups for my coffee, and overpriced but delicious oat bran muffins for breakfast for one week. [hyper-specific grocery breakdowns by category and item can be found in my frugal spending diaries]
Transportation -$97 | Filled up gas once; the other expenses are parking for work.
My PRIVILEGED EXPENSES was -$2,396.
Maintenance -$60 | Refunds from Dieux, Prequel, and Sprouts significantly decreased the total amount for this category. I purchased glass jars for my chia pudding, drain maintenance items, and dishwasher powder.
Outside Food & Drink -$331 | Went out five times for some sort of caffeinated drink (a few of those times, I covered Mr. Beans’ order), went to an AYCE dumpling restaurant, got Japanese curry, and vegan Vietnamese food.
Gifts -$62 | A return is pending for this category, so once that gets processed, the real total for gifts this month should be $10 for the Trader Joe’s sunscreen that I gifted to Mr. Beans.
Entertainment +$153 | Ended up with a positive balance because the return for Vivaia hit this month (gave back $400+). Outside of that, this month consisted of Olivia Rodrigo tickets + parking and tickets to Lauren Okie’s book signing for Tropesick.
Wishlist Item -$490 | Chaotic month, because so many transactions were made — including both purchases and returns. I have a few items that need to be returned, so the “true” amount will be less than the reported. Disregarding the purchases that have been returned in the same month, I got: Mulberry card case (plan to return), Patagonia sweater & jacket (keep); REI carabiner (keep); Levenger case (keep); Hario bottle (keep); Away bag (keep); Crate and Barrel scale (keep); Topo Designs bags (plan to return).
Travel -$1,191 | Purchased a few travel supplies, including shoe bags and hiking shoes (that I will be testing out in June). I purchased a Patagonia backpack but will be returning because it is too big for a personal item. The rest of the expenses are from the Washington trip — a postcard is in the works!
YNAB -$109 | I’m still a YNAB user, but man, is it hard to stay a user considering all the controversy the people behind the app have been facing. Most recently, they laid off a number of staff members from the social media team, who I should add, have been integral to YNAB’s brand image.
I SAVED/INVESTED $6,929.
401A $1,050.00 | Every month, I contribute 7% of my paycheck ($490.00) pre-tax, and my employer matches 8% ($560.00).
403B $948 | Divested in a variety of university-specific target date funds (that are honestly so insanely well curated that my rate is return is 43% (versus my Roth IRA which wavers around the 20-25% mark).
Sinking Funds & Future Months $4,931 | Because it was a two paycheck month, I allocated some of the leftover money to June’s budget categories, while maxing out my sinking funds. Most of it went to Travel because of the trip I was already on, an upcoming trip to New York, and later in the year, an Asia trip.
For Quarter 2 of 2026, I’ve decided to do an Advent Calendar Challenge — meaning, I designate a “category” of items that I am allowed to spend on for the next few months. And I must stay within category, otherwise I’ve “broken” the challenge for the month.
Let’s review for May, which I’ve limited to workout, hiking, travel, and health. If there is an asterisk next to the item, then I will be returning the item and the final amount is expected to change.
Green Flag
Portable treadmill ($273) - don’t know how i feel about this purchase. for one, it’s great to have an indoor option when the outdoor weather is not it. but no one told me that it’s nearly impossible to type and walk at the same time. having to deal with misspellings every three words is a headache, and lately, haven’t been using the treadmill as much as i would like because of this. sighhhh.
Patagonia sweater and jacket ($208) - best purchases for my trip! both were on sale, and fit perfectly. while it’s now too hot to wear them, i’m excited to pull them out when the weather cools down in…six months.
Eagle Creek shoe bags ($40) - i’ve always used plastic bags as shoe bags, and after trying the thule shoe bags (which we returned bc they weren’t machine washable), i'm a changed woman. i purchased the eagle creek ones bc they can be machine washed.
Carabiner ($14) - might be one of the most functional items i’ve seen in use for travel. went ahead and purchased a heavy duty mountain climbing one, for the sole purpose of hooking my water bottle to my personal item.
Dirty Labs dishwasher powder ($26) - honestly have been enjoying this one. much better than the seventh generation powder i purchased from sprouts.
Book signing with Lauren Okie ($25) - i’ve never regretted a book signing experience, and i’m so so so happy to be adding a new book to my very small, curated, personalized shelf. lauren was so kind and sweet, and i can’t wait to see the impact she has on the romance publishing industry! big moves to come.
Pink House Alchemy ($56) - i can make my own syrups, yes, but the maple delight syrup is magic. i won’t ever stop supporting this brand bc every one of their syrups has been a hit.
Yellow Flag
Fjällräven Kånken mini backpack - used this on my olympic trip, and it was such a bad experience. straps were too short, and as an above average in height woman, i struggled putting both straps on. it was way worse with thick clothing. i’m not entirely sure if this will be accepted for a refund (i emailed customer service, they told me to send it in but no guarantees).
Clementine scrunchies ($68) - expensive ass silk scrunchies but i really do love them. let’s see how well they hold up.
Levenger Tissue Holder ($30) - takes up a lot of space because it’s made of leather. not doubting the quality, but i would rather have something much more compact in my bag because space is limited! something like this perhaps, or even a regular small pouch for me to designate it as the tissue pouch?
Away toiletry bag ($94) - completely unnecessary. i know. i’ve had some issues with my current one (cotopaxi accessory), and i wanted something that could fit my items better. cotopaxi was a black hole, and i always struggled to get things out of it. so far, the away has been impressing me.
TubShroom drain stoppers ($38) - could’ve been a green flag, but mr. beans has been busy and i’m too scared to snake a drain…so i’m 100% aware that these items are a need bc we keep clogging our drain but can someone please do this for me.
Red Flag
Fjällräven Kånken sling - i want to be able to carry a small pouch and water bottle in my bag. this sling not only was a tight fit for both items, but i couldn’t even make use of the back pocket where i wanted to keep my wallet and phone. all in all, this was too small. plus, the fabric, similar to the mini backpack, is a pain to care for.
Mulberry card case* ($296) - cute and slim, but can only fit two cards and the key attachment feels like it’ll break off at any moment. also hard to take the cards out of the slot.
Olivia Rodrigo tickets ($260) - thank god i love liv that much to justify these tickets bc wtf was up with the pricing scale?!? so disappointed, but because i missed out on sour and guts, attending this concert was almost a necessity if we won the ticketmaster lottery. 21 queues later, we did.
Hario cold brew bottle ($43) - oof. i’ve been having some issues with this specific bottle, namely, the lack of strength yielding from the cold brew after following instructions. customer service helped me figure this out, but now, my issue is how tiny the bottle is! it doesn’t give as strong of a concentrate as the chameleon cold brew concentrate, so i’m drinking this up much faster than i’d like to, and as a result, i have to keep making it every few days. a bit annoying, and it also uses up a lot of ground coffee. having mixed feelings about this one.
unions rock