A Week In South Brisbane, Queensland, On A $65,600 Salary

Welcome to Money Diaries, where we tackle the ever-present taboo that is money. We ask real people how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we track every last dollar.

Content Warning: This article contains mentions disordered eating, self-harm, and domestic violence in a way that could be distressing for some readers.

Occupation: Library Technician
Industry: Higher Education
Age: 26
Location: South Brisbane, Queensland. 
Salary: $65,595
Net Worth: $47,343 ($26,700 of savings, $35,219 of super. My husband and I have a joint account that we both contribute to where all our shared bills come out of (such as our car loan and insurance, pet insurance, etc.). We will usually put $250 each a month into it. We keep our own personal accounts for day-to-day transactions and savings. In the past, I've talked to him about joining all our accounts, but he doesn’t want to do that because he doesn’t want me to see how much money he spends on dumb stuff (his words, not mine!). Although it would make me feel more comfortable if I could always see our full financial situation, I respect his feelings about it, and as long as he continues to contribute a fair amount to our joint account so our bills get paid, that’s all I need to know.
Debt: $14,588 ($4,723 car loan, $9,865 for university, paid through FEE-HELP).
Paycheque Amount (fortnightly): $1,800
Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs

Rent: $560. My husband, B., and I live with one of our friends, A., and have done so for the past couple of years. At first, it was just because it made more financial sense to have a housemate, but now that we live in a capital city, we need to live with a housemate in order to live somewhere that meets our needs. We rent a place that's $410 a week — I pay $140 a week as I earn the most, and the boys pay $135 each a week.
Loans: $91.17 for my half of the car loan payment. My FEE-HELP payment comes out of my pay before tax, which is about $100 a fortnight, so $200 a month.
Gas: $22
Water: $22
Electricity: $32
Antidepressant medication: $20
Netflix: $20
Healthy Pets Plus (This is kind of like pet insurance, where you don't pay for vet consultations and get discounts on pet-related things): $40
Pet Insurance: $47.67
Car Insurance: $61.86
Patreon (I subscribe to a band called La Dispute): $6.95
Income Protection: $29.28
Mobile Phone Plan: $25
Internet: $26.33
Savings: $300

Yes, I have a Certificate 3 in Business Administration which was free through the ‘Cert 3 Guarantee’. I also have a Diploma of Library and Information Services which was paid for through the FEE-HELP system.

All of our conversations about money revolved around how little we had and how we couldn’t afford anything. I didn't really get any education because my mum didn't really know much about finances to begin with. I know my mum worked up a lot of credit card debt at one point by using it for groceries and stuff, and we also regularly got food hampers from The Salvation Army. There were some points where we were technically homeless, staying in a friend's spare room. My mum worked part-time/casual retail and cleaning jobs — basically whatever minimum wage gig she could get and make work with having two young kids. I think there was one stage in my life where we got pocket money — I remember having a chart on the fridge we filled out and we'd get like 50 cents for each job we did. As I got older, we would have to ask Mum for money for things and we would usually get rejected.

My first job was as a sales assistant at my mum’s work after school and during school holidays. Her boss was essentially doing her a solid as I was 13 and in recovery from anorexia at the time under The Maudsley Method. My mum had to supervise me, making sure I ate, wasn't exercising, or engaging in disordered behaviours, but she couldn't afford to take the time off work to do that. So, I got a job with her, and we took the same breaks so she could keep supervising me.

Yes. My mum escaped from an abusive relationship with my dad when I was very young, and raised me and my younger sister by herself while working casual jobs. I was always very aware that we never really had enough money to get by.

Yes. I think my childhood had a huge impact on how I think about money as I’m always scared I won’t have enough to get by and think I need to cut down massively on costs even though I have a decent paying job, savings and don’t lead an extravagant lifestyle.

I was kicked out of home at the age of 18 because my mental illness was taking too much of a toll on my family. I developed anorexia when I was 12 to cope with ongoing trauma throughout my life, and I also self-harmed from the ages of 11-23 to cope. It became too much for my parents and little sister to deal with. I was really angry about it at the time because I felt abandoned, but now I think it made me stronger and forced me to deal with my shit alone.

When I was first kicked out, I stayed with my boyfriend’s family until I could get on Centrelink payments, but that wasn’t a long term option, so I ended up living with my friend and her dad in their spare room. He was really understanding of my situation. He only had me pay $20 a week in rent, which when you're young, mentally ill, scared, alone, and broke (Centrelink payments were only $450 a fortnight) meant a lot. I was also on a lot of medication at the time that wasn’t covered on the PBS, so I was paying over $100 a month to have some semblance of mental health.

I lived there for about a year, and then my boyfriend had some savings built up from working as an apprentice chef so we got a cheap apartment together and I contributed what I could to rent and bills. After another year or two, I became more mentally stable and got a casual job at a curtain store, so I was able to contribute an equal amount to B. Then, I got my Cert 3 in Business Admin and got a full-time job as an admin assistant at a real estate. From there, I studied for my Diploma in Library and Information Services and got a job in a library that I love! My financial safety net is my savings, which isn’t that much, but I’m working on building it up so I feel secure.

No.

6:00am — My alarm goes off and Milo, my 10-month-old rescue puppy, starts pawing at me because he knows the alarm means he gets his breakfast. I get up and take him outside and try to get him to go to the toilet before breakfast, but he only wants food and acts like he doesn’t have to pee (he totally does). I put his wet food in his bowl and scatter his dry food around the lawn to keep him occupied while I shower. 

6:10am — I have a quick shower and do my skincare routine, which is mostly Sunday Riley stuff at the moment as I got a kit as a gift, but I think I’ll go back to The Grown Alchemist after I finish these products (for the record: Sunday Riley Ceramic Slip Cleanser, Sunday Riley Pink Drink Essence, The Quick Flick Quick Screen Prep 50+ Moisturiser, Sunday Riley Auto Correct Brightening and De-Puffing Eye Contour Cream). I run some smoothing serum through my hair to try and combat the flyaways (it doesn’t work) and then get dressed in black skinny jeans, a sleeveless blue and white striped button-up and Doc Martens. 

6:45am — I go out to the kitchen to take my antidepressants and gummy vitamins then have breakfast which is WeetBix Bites with skim milk and half a banana. I watch the news, scroll on social media, then play with Milo for a bit and give him a dental chew, walking out the gate at 7:30am to catch the train to work. 

7:50am — I tap on at the train station with my GoCard (prepaid) and get on the train to work. It’s a 40-minute train ride so I read a book on the way. After the train, I then have to get on the bus for another 10 minutes so I listen to my ‘Gigs’ playlist which is just the discography of every band I’ve got tickets to see in the near future, and get to work at 9am. I make a mocha with a Nescafe sachet and have a long chat with the people I’m working with today — I haven’t seen one of them in ages and she’s my work mum so we’ve got a lot to catch up on. 

9:20am — We got a gas/hot water bill the other day but it was the day before payday, so I couldn’t pay it then. I got paid yesterday so pay the bill now before I forget. $67.62 for my share, covered in my monthly expenses.

12:30pm — I’ve been pretty busy at work even though we’re in a quiet period now (I work at a university library and the students are on holiday). I love the back-end data side of my job as a Library Technician and spend a lot of time on projects relating to this. One of them is a project that our whole team is doing, but the other one is a project that only two people from our team were selected for. I feel pretty good about that and I want to do my best work to make a good impression on the people who asked us to do this project. I break for lunch and have leftover Hellofresh from last night, which is cheesy bacon corn fritters and salad. 

5:15pm — There aren’t too many people in the library today, so I close without any trouble and head out to the bus stop to make my way home. I eat a Carman’s oat bar while I check the Translink app — my bus is running late as usual, and it’s gotten to the point where if I wait for it I won’t make my train and will have to sit around for another half an hour waiting for the next one. I quickly book a Didi to get me to the train station faster. The driver is really nice and keeps apologising for the traffic, even though it isn’t his fault. I give him a tip in the app. $9.05

5:20pm — I break a nail while scrambling through my bag for my GoCard and I’m so sad I could almost cry. That nail felt really weak because I’d been using it to hook onto books while doing stocktake yesterday, but I’m booked in to get my nails done tomorrow and now have one super short nail. It seems like a silly thing to be upset about but I chewed and picked at my nails all my life until like last year, so I take pride in having nice nails now. The last time I got my nails done I got gel instead of my usual SNS because I wanted some Halloween nail art which was easier to do with gel, but I’m regretting it now as the gel isn’t as good for my nails or as strong as SNS.

6:15pm — I get off the train and decide to call my Nanny on the way home. We have a good chat, I get home and my husband, B., says hello to her too. I get off the phone, cuddle B. and play with Milo before feeding him and having a shower.  

6:50pm — Christmas is coming up. B. and I were thinking we weren’t going to visit family this year as we saw most of them in the last 6 months and we don’t want to leave our puppy with a dog-sitter. But my sister who lives in Melbourne thinks she’s going to be able to visit us as the border restrictions between QLD and VIC will be eased. This sways me more towards wanting to go as I haven’t seen her in over two years. I discuss it with B. and we end up booking flights and I start looking at dog sitters. $328.26 for my half.

7:20pm — I’m not hungry because the HelloFresh meal I had at lunch was huge and I had a snack in the afternoon, but I know I need to eat something for dinner, so I have some roti from Aldi that was stashed in the freezer with some salad. It’s okay, but not great. B. and I sit on the couch with our cat in between us while we scroll on our phones for a bit until I start to get tired and go to bed at around 8:30pm. I get a Lindt ball and take Milo to bed with me. He hops up on the bed while I read a chapter of my book (currently: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah) and then go to sleep.

6:00am — Same morning routine as yesterday, except this time I’m working a different shift at another campus. I have to leave home at 7:20am to get a bus (just one — what a treat!) and start at 8am. This is my favourite campus and shift combination to work — it’s much closer to home and is an 8am-4pm shift on a Friday! Today, I’m wearing black skinny jeans and Doc Martens which is the norm for me, and a turtleneck with a goblin print on it.

7:50am — I get into work and start opening up before students arrive. This involves turning on all the lights, self-checkout machines and front desk computers, opening up all the cupboards in our work area and checking in any books that were returned overnight. After this is complete, I make a coffee and sit down at my computer, log onto our phone and chat system, and get started on some project work.

9:00am — I have a desk shift, so I go out the front and sit at the desk out there. It’s pretty quiet so I mostly just browse Reddit and talk to my co-workers on Teams until 10am, before going back out to the workroom to help another coworker with some interlibrary loans. I have a Fibre One birthday cake bar for morning tea. 

12:30pm — I forgot to make lunch at home last night and don’t want to buy anything on campus, so I text my co-worker and ask her to get me a chicken fajita wrap from 7/11, which I’ll pay her back for. She gets to work after doing stocktake at another campus, and I transfer her $6.50 for the wrap. B. messages me and says the lawnmower service centre got back to him and our mower needs a complete rebuild that will cost over $500. We only bought it for $150 off Gumtree, so I tell him to say no — we’ll just buy a proper new one from Bunnings. However, we do need to mow our lawn ASAP because we have an inspection coming up, so I text a couple of lawn-mowing services I’ve seen advertised on our suburb’s community Facebook page. One of them gets back to me really quick — he says he knows our house and only charges $80. For mowing, whipper snipping and weeding a big lawn, as well as trimming a huge hedge, it’s a pretty good deal. I book him in for tomorrow morning. $6.50

4:00pm — I finish work and hop on the bus home. I get off a couple of stops early as I have an appointment to get my nails done just down the road from where I live. I love this salon — it’s a girl around my age, and her parents put a little extension on the front of their house for her business. I get along with her really well, so it feels like going to see a friend — plus she’s amazing at what she does and doesn’t charge a lot. I decide to go with a purple gradient for my nails and she gets started while we chat. 

6:00pm — An hour and a half (and one acrylic tip on the broken nail) later, and we’re done! I’m so happy with my nails. It only ends up being $50 for removal of the gel polish, a complete manicure, one acrylic tip and SNS polish. I walk home and call my mum on the way — she’s super happy we’re coming home for Christmas. $50 

7:00pm — B. and my housemate both aren’t home tonight, so it’s just me and my baby doggy. I snuggle up on the couch with him, put on Dear White People on Netflix and eat ice cream for dinner — just because I can! 

9:30pm — I’m bored of TV but don’t feel like reading either, so I scroll on TikTok for a while. B. gets home around 10:30pm and I chat to him for a bit before going to bed. He stays up to have dinner and play video games. 

6:00am — It’s Saturday, so I can sleep in! But B.’s been out working on a big job so he’s working overtime today. He gets up and takes Milo out while I fall back asleep until 8am. 

8:00am — I get up and let Milo back in and he promptly jumps up on the couch and falls asleep. I have my usual cereal and banana for breakfast then have a shower and get dressed in a comfy shirt and denim shorts. 

9:00am — The lawn mowing guy, N., arrives right on time. Milo does a soft bark as he walks in the gate, so I pat and reassure him, before asking if I can bring him over to say hello and show him that this guy is okay. Milo’s a rescue so he’s got some issues, particularly with larger men (LMAO, me too buddy). The guy is a dog-lover, so all is well and Milo chills out after he has a sniff and a play. N. says our yard is larger than he remembers but it’ll still only be about two hours of work, so I take Milo inside so he can get started. 

11:05am — N. is done with the lawn and I go out to chat with him. I tell him I’m totally happy to pay more than he quoted because the yard is bigger than he remembered, but he says it’s all good. I don’t have cash so he texts me his bank details and I pay him $10 more than he quoted anyway, ha! ($90). I do a couple of loads of washing and hang them out to dry, but it starts raining so I ask our housemate (and my best friend), A., to take me to the laundromat so I can dry them. He needs to go grocery shopping anyway so we put the clothes in the dryer at the laundromat, then go to Woolworths. A.’s been struggling for money lately and has a big tax bill because his work stuffed up the tax on JobKeeper. I offer to pay for his groceries and he accepts ($173.50 for my groceries and his). We walked to Woolworths from the laundromat because we weren’t planning on getting much, but then we had to carry almost $200 worth of groceries back to the laundromat… oops! Luckily, A. works out. $263.50

1:17pm — Obviously after going grocery shopping we need Subway for lunch. I get a six-inch BLT with cheese, spinach, lettuce, tomato, capsicum, mayo & sweet chilli sauce while A. gets a footlong chicken and ranch with basically everything. We get some cookies too, because you can’t go to Subway and not get cookies. $22.95

2:30pm — We’re bored, so we browse Netflix for something to watch. I remember that A. hasn’t seen one of my favourite movies from when I was a teenager — Whip It. We put that on, and while it’s not as good as I remember, it’s still decent and kills some time. Milo’s cuddled up on the couch with us the whole time. 

4:30pm — I take Milo for a walk and it’s quite eventful. First, I see a car crash at the end of my street. It looks like a single-vehicle crash where the person ran into a pole and then abandoned the car as it has its doors open and the indicator on. This is common in my area as it has quite a high crime rate. There are people gathered all in the street staring and talking. I keep walking and see someone on the other side of the road walking their dachshund — and Milo wants to say hi. We’re still training and socialising him with other dogs, so I try to refocus his attention on me with some commands and treats. The person sees this and picks their dog up and walks the other way. I understand that people can be wary of Milo because he’s a bit of a scary-looking mutt, but he’s a beautiful soul that just needs love and understanding. He wasn’t going to attack her dog — I had him under control and was just doing some training, but whatever. I later realise I may be projecting here... 

5:00pm — I get home and realise the back of my foot is bleeding quite a bit, but I don’t know what I did. I wash it off in the bath and it looks okay so I leave it, but my housemate, A., says I’m trailing blood around the house. He makes me sit down while he does ‘proper first aid’ — aka wiping it down and putting an extra-large bandaid on it. 

6:00pm — I have a shower and get ready for the gig A. and I are going to tonight — it’s one of our favourite bands at a new venue so I’m excited. I wear a Bugs (the band we’re going to see) shirt with a Dangerfield Rush skirt and Converse sneakers. I actually feel like wearing makeup for once so I just do some winged liner using the Quick Flick eyeliner stamp — the best thing since sliced bread — and some powder foundation. A. and I cook dinner (by which I mean A. cooks and I stand there reading out the recipe to him) which is HelloFresh beef burgers with sweet potato fries. I have a sugar-free energy drink with vodka and then we leave for the gig. My husband, B.,  stays home with Milo as he doesn’t like this band.

7:30pm — We tap onto the bus and sit down near the front because A. gets motion sickness. We get to the venue just after 8pm, and there’s still a line even though the doors opened a while ago. We get in line and sort out our documents — tickets, ID, and COVID check-in.

8:31pm — We get into the venue and it’s pretty nice. We beeline straight for the bar and I get myself a vodka with orange juice and A. a beer ($21.50). The first band comes on and I like their vibe because it’s chill and reminds me of my hometown, but I feel like it’s maybe a bit too chill to be opening for the band we’ve come to see. A. and I are both almost falling asleep — and that’s after an energy drink! They finish and we go get another drink — I just get a vodka and orange juice for both of us. It turns out cheaper than our first drinks ($19). The second band comes on and they’re certainly more high energy which is fun, but there’s a lot of idiot guys there which makes it harder for me to enjoy myself. After the second band, we go out into the courtyard and get another two vodka and orange juices ($19) and sit out there for a bit. I chug some water then we go back inside for Bugs! $59.50

11:30pm — It wasn’t the best gig — I think partly because of the crowd, partly because it was their third gig in three days, and partly because I felt a bit off — but I had a nice time with A. We walk to the station and get on the bus home. As we walk home from the bus stop, we sing our favourite song that they didn’t play tonight. After we get home, I wash off my makeup, have a shower, do my nighttime skincare (All Sunday Riley at the moment — Ceramic Slip Cleanser, Pink Drink Essence, C.E.O 15% Vitamin C Brightening Serum, C.E.O. Glow Vitamin C + Turmeric Oil, Good Genes Lactic Acid Treatment and Auto Correct Brightening and De-Puffing Eye Contour Cream) and go straight to bed because I’m working the Sunday shift tomorrow.

7:45am — My alarm isn’t set to go off until 8am, but I wake up naturally and decide to just get up. I take Milo outside, give him his breakfast then come back inside to get ready for the day. I’m not feeling the best after drinking and staying up late last night, so I just wear jeans, a black shirt under a red and black flanny, and my Converse for work today. I do my morning skincare and have cereal with milk and half a banana for breakfast, before playing outside with Milo for a bit. I got myself some energy drinks and Gatorade yesterday because I knew I’d be feeling a bit worse for wear today, and I thank past me for that decision as I put them in my work bag along with leftovers from last night. 

9:05am — I asked B. to take me to work this morning so I could get some extra sleep (and because Sunday bus timetables are terrible!) so we leave home and I get to work at 9:20am. I open up the library then sit down at my computer, log onto our phone and chat system and browse Reddit for a bit while waiting for my brain to start working. My coworker for today shows up (we only have two people rostered on Sundays because they’re so quiet) and I run through the Sunday routine with her as she hasn’t worked one for a long time. 

1:00pm — The morning feels like it goes really quickly. I think it was because I had an energy drink so I was really focused on my work, got heaps done and helped my coworker, S., a lot. I brought the leftovers from dinner last night for lunch and I’m very glad I did because a big burger and chips are just what I needed today. I would usually go for a walk at lunchtime, but I’m so tired today so I just find a nice quiet corner in the library to curl up in and read.

3:00pm — Aaaaand here’s the post energy drink crash. I have a coffee and try to do some more work on my individual project but I think I used up my whole quota of focus for today because it is just not happening. S. is feeling the same (she had a big night last night, too), so we spend the rest of the afternoon chatting and eating leftover Halloween lollies until it’s time to start closing. 

5:05pm — We close up and S. asks how I’m getting home. I tell her that I catch the bus and she says she’ll give me a lift home because it looks like it’s going to rain and I don’t live too far away from her. I try to tell her no because I know we don’t live that close, but she insists — everyone at work treats me like their kid because I’m so much younger than them (by 20+ years), which is kind of sweet. 

5:30pm — I get home and both the boys are out (A. has work and B. is at a friend’s — I was invited, but knew I’d be too tired after work). I walk in the door and see that B. didn’t put his clean clothes away or iron my work tops like I asked him to today, so I feel annoyed at that for a bit, before deciding to just do it because it has to be done. I’m annoyed because I do about 90% of the housework in our three-person household. I struggle to ask for things, so when I do ask for things and they don’t get done, it just feels crap. Also, like the whole AFAB people doing the majority of housework and carrying the mental load etc, etc. I play with Milo for a bit then give him his dinner and have a really refreshing shower which feels amazing. 

7:00pm — Again, not really hungry for dinner but know I should eat some semblance of savoury things instead of just eating ice cream for dinner again. I’m a firm believer in ‘dinner goes to your stomach, dessert goes to your heart’. I have a piece of toast with Nuttelex, then browse Netflix for a new show to watch because I finished Dear White People. I decide on Becoming a God in Central Florida and settle on the couch with Milo for the first episode.

8:00pm — I get a bit hungry, so I get my ice cream out of the freezer and end up finishing the tub. The second episode finishes and I decide it’s definitely bedtime. I take Milo out for his nighttime wee, lock the doors, but leave the lights on for the boys and get into bed for (hopefully) a good night’s sleep.

6:00am — I did not get a good night’s sleep. The weather was weird and the humidity is increasing as we come into summer, so I just couldn’t get comfortable. I get up, take Milo out to pee and give him his breakfast, have a shower, then do my morning skincare and get dressed. Today, I’m wearing the same outfit as yesterday and have my usual cereal with milk and half a banana. I play with Milo in the backyard before giving him a dental chew and leaving at 7:30. I have a co-worker that literally lives around the corner from me (not S who gave me a lift home yesterday, a different one — K.), and she takes me to work and brings me home when we work the same shift. Today is one of those days, so I hop in her car and fall asleep as soon as we hit the highway.

8:00am — I wake up when we get to the service station that K. gets her coffee from because there are huge speed bumps... but I fall back asleep again as soon as the car stops. We get to work and stay in the car to listen to our favourite radio segment, then walk up to the library. There’s still half an hour before I officially start work, and if I sit down at my desk I’ll just start working anyway (and I don’t get paid enough for that, plus I already put in 110% during work hours) so I have a nap under my desk for 20 minutes. 

8:50am — I crawl out from under my desk and make coffee before starting work. Another one of my favourite coworkers, J., is at this campus today so we catch up on work and personal stuff before I go upstairs to collect books that people have put on hold over the weekend. I check those in and send them to their relevant campuses then have a desk shift from 11am — 1pm. I’m at the smaller campus today so it’s a quiet desk shift.

1:00pm — Lunchtime! We still had leftover sweet potato chips because the boys don’t like them, so I had some of those and a buffalo chicken salad for lunch, but unfortunately, I forgot to bring kewpie mayo to dip them in. I run down to the cafe and buy a Coke No Sugar and ask for a little dipping sauce container of aioli which I’m expecting to pay for, but they only charge me for the Coke. Win! $2.50

1:45pm — Back to work — and I’ve got some training and personal development to do. This week, we’re working on digital decluttering and fake news which is pretty interesting and has fun little games so that makes it less of a bore. I finish that at about 3pm, then log into our phone and chat system for my 3-5pm digital shift. I finish work at 5pm and walk down to the car with K. to go home.

6:00pm — We’ve got one HelloFresh meal left to cook from our delivery this week, and it’s got duck as the protein. This scares me, so B. cooks it (he used to be a chef and is now a tradie). We don’t end up eating until like 7:30 because B. has ADHD and gets distracted a lot which is part of why he’s not a chef anymore. But we all hang out while B. cooks, and start the new season of Big Mouth on Netflix. 

8:00pm — God, I forgot how gross Big Mouth can be. We watch two episodes and that’s all I can do for tonight, so I head off to bed with Milo to read, A. goes to his room to watch Twitch, and B. stays in the lounge room to play Xbox. 

6:00am — You know how it goes by now. Get up, get ready, eat, play with Milo, then go out the front to meet K. I got a better night’s sleep last night so I don’t need to nap on the way to work (or at work) this morning.

10:00am — We’ve got a training webinar to attend today about managing challenging student situations. I thought it’d just be a ‘listen and watch the powerpoint’ thing, but it’s interactive and involves splitting off into breakout rooms on Teams which is always a bit awkward. The training is helpful, but really just reinforces what I would already do in difficult situations which I guess is good as it means I’m doing the right thing. I'm on desk duty from 12-1pm, then have lunch — the same as yesterday.

2:00pm — S. is rostered on ILL’s (Interlibrary Loans, FYI) today, but hasn’t made a start this morning and it’s almost time for the afternoon ones to come through. I go upstairs to retrieve the items that have been requested and pop them on her desk. She then gets back from lunch, so I go upstairs to do the search reports which is looking for ‘missing’ books.

5:00pm — Finish up for the day and walk down to the car with K. B. messages me and lets me know he picked up stuff for dinner and a longer bar for my nipple piercing that’s been hurting. This leads to K. and I discussing breasts for twenty minutes of the drive home, haha. Once I get home, I whip off my top so I can change the bar in my nipple piercing. It hurts a looooot and I’m sad about changing it from the cute bar I had in, but the bar on that one just isn’t long enough and it was really irritating.

6:00pm — B. said he was going to cook dinner tonight because he didn’t work today, but he then asked me to. I’m not great at cooking and hate changing plans, so freak out a tiny bit at first and say no. But I then rationalise and realise that it’s just boiling water for pasta and heating up some tinned tomatoes and a Chilli con Carne recipe base, so I get over it and just do it. It turns out fine, but the meal base B. got was a spicy one instead of a mild one so my mouth is burning.

7:30pm — Channel Ten has a new show called The Dog House that we love watching and it’s on tonight, so B. and I sit on the couch with Milo and watch that. Tonight, there’s a kelpie and a pug that find their forever homes, and I give Milo big cuddles all through it because this show makes me even more thankful that we have him.

8:30pm — Dinner was really spicy and my mouth still hurts, so I have yoghurt for dessert. I’ve got a caramel slice Chobani Flip in the fridge that has a ‘best before’ from two days ago, but I figure it’s just a best before and it’s yoghurt which is cultured anyway, so it’ll be fine... right? It tastes a bit funky, but I have been eating Gippsland Dairy yoghurt more than Chobani lately which is sweeter so I figure it might just be the shock of the change. Either way, I’ll live.

6:30am — I don’t have to get up until 7 because I’m working a later shift at the closer campus, but B. gets up just before 6:30, waking me up in the process. I decide to get up and get ready for the day. It’s really humid, but my office is really cold, so I have to really think about what to wear so that I’m comfortable on the way to work and at work. I end up deciding on my normal black skinny jeans and Vans with a light long sleeve La Dispute top. I do my usual skincare routine, breakfast and play with Milo before reading a chapter of my book (now reading A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride). A. is home today and asked me to bring Milo into him before I go, so I do that and Milo hops up on his bed for some morning cuddles.

8:20am — I leave the house and walk to the bus stop. I’m already sweating just walking 200m up the street (the coffee I’m drinking probably isn’t helping) and hope the bus comes soon. I check the TransLink app and it’s already running late, which sucks, but is pretty typical. The bus finally comes and I tap on, which triggers the auto top-up on my account which happens my balance drops below $10. $50

9:05am — I get into work and stress that I’m late, but remember that I’m closing today so don’t actually start until 9:15. I’m on backup for the first hour, which is just standing by in case the person on the desk needs extra help. There’s a couple of trolleys of books that need to be reshelved, so I do that for an hour before my desk shift from 11am-12pm.

12:29pm — I’ve wanted plastic surgery on my chin and nose since I was a kid, and I’ve gotten to the point where I can afford this, have wanted this for ages, thought about it from all angles and done my research. So, I decide to book a consultation. The next one with the surgeon I want isn’t until May 2022, which is probably good so I have even more time to think and save. I pay a $100 deposit fee that will come off my consultation bill. My husband and housemate are shocked when I tell them in our group chat, but it’s been on my mind for so long and I haven’t even booked in for surgery, just a consultation. Also, it’s my body so I can do what I want! $100 

1:46pm — I have a salad wrap for lunch today, but it’s really hot and I’m not really satisfied, so I go down to the on-campus shop and get a sugar-free lemonade. $1.50

5:00pm — The rest of the afternoon was pretty slow, so I’m happy that it’s 5pm and I get to go home now. I tap onto the bus with my GoCard and listen to music on the way home. Nobody’s home when I get home, so I play with Milo then blast my music while washing the dishes.

7:00pm — I don’t feel like dinner foods, so I just have a piece of toast with Nuttelex followed by a bit of brownie for dessert while watching Becoming a God in Central Florida. I hop into bed and read for a bit then it’s lights out at 9pm!