In Her Campus’ series Where’d My Money Go?, we’re taking a look at what one college student spends in a week on campus. In this piece, Abby, a senior at the University of Waterloo, shares her weekly spending habits.
When it comes to budgeting, I usually ride by the seat of my pants. Although this is a surprising trait for me, a classic type-A planner, it’s worked in the past. But after recently speaking to money experts, I learned I need more financial structure in my life, especially since I’ll be living in the real world this time next year.
A fourth-year student at the University of Waterloo, my time during the school year mostly consists of classes and extracurriculars. But this summer looks a little different: I have a 9-5 hybrid internship in downtown Toronto, where I earn around $25 CAD per hour, or the equivalent of a $50K annual salary. Let me tell you, the feeling of seeing new cash in my bank account never gets old (and I’m enjoying my 1989 era).
My summers are usually filled with more sporadic, random purchases — I have far from a normal schedule, splitting my time between Toronto, Waterloo (to visit friends who are spending the summer there), and my grandparents’ place up north. So my higher-spending days are usually when I’m not with my family. In those cases, I spend most of my money on food and Starbucks, since that’s really all I need in Waterloo short-term. But this week, I was also visiting a friend’s cottage — so be prepared for a lot of weird, food-related purchases.
The following dollar amounts listed are in Canadian dollars.
Sunday
I didn’t spend anything today, because I spent the day with my family up north. I did have a Tim Hortons muffin, but that was on my parents. Off to a good start!
Daily Total: $0
Monday
I worked remotely from up north. I did take a little break to get Starbucks, which was $5.37 CAD for a Venti, but my parents paid. So $0 spent today, yet again. (Don’t come for me for hacking the system.)
Daily Total: $0
Tuesday
6 p.m.: Booked a spin class in Waterloo at the last minute, since I needed a quick pick-me-up and I knew my weekend would be busy. If you haven’t spun before, I encourage you to try it, BTW! $18
Daily Total: $18
Wednesday
7 p.m.: Date night! We went to a Canadian classic, East Side Mario’s, for pasta and salad. It was totally worth it because I had a ton of leftovers for the next day. $26.62
Daily Total: $26.62
Thursday
8:30 a.m.: Went to grab bagels and cream cheese at this new place near my apartment in Waterloo as a gift for my friend, since she was hosting a bunch of us for the weekend. $28.58
8 p.m.: On the way to my friend’s cottage, I grabbed a sub for dinner. I also had leftovers from this, which was awesome! (Subway has my heart forever.) $11.85
Daily Total: $40.43
Friday
12 p.m.: Grabbed a mango chai smoothie at a place near my friend’s house. $7
7 p.m.: I got fish tacos at a pub with all the girls who were staying at my friend’s cottage this weekend! $24.69
Daily Total: $31.69
Saturday
1 p.m.: My friend took us to this amazing fry place in her hometown, so I had to try the dill pickle poutine. (Don’t knock it ‘till you try it — I’m a pickle lover at heart.) $7.46
Daily Total: $7.46
Weekly Total: $124.20
This week was extra dysfunctional spending-wise. Because I was away for the weekend, it involved more concentrated spending than I usually do, particularly on food. It definitely opened my eyes to just how much one weekend can cost, since the start of the week largely represented my typical summer spending habits. This also heavily differs from my normal spending when I’m at school — this week, there was no need to spend money on necessities like groceries and laundry.
Tracking my spending was no easy task — it created a sort of reality check every time I purchased something. But since it’s the summer and I’m earning money right now, I decided to live in the moment a little.