I’m at data scientist working in biotech and this week I got the stomach bug on workcation in Seattle
I had made a money dairies a year ago here
I live with my husband K in the Greater Boston area and work as a data scientist in biotech. This week I’m going on a work-cation near Seattle, WA. My husband is invited on a work trip to see their corporate office and I’m tagging along to work remotely during the week and do some touristy stuff and catch up with our mutual friends over the weekend. So I thought it would be insightful to track our spending habits this week.
Our income and spendings are mostly unchanged since my last money diary, and I’ll note some differences below.
I got a promotion mid last year so my total take home before tax last year was $250k, up from $220k the year before. K got a remote job and now works from home, his current income stayed the same ($300k).
We’ve had conversations about trying to cut down on our subscriptions but ironically added more than we have cut down last year. Notable additions include executive membership to Costco ($130 per year) and K’s gym membership ($50 per month). I did remove my Sweetgreens+ pass ( -$10 per month), canceled Netflix and Paramount plus last month, and we’re probably going to remove Amazon prime, just haven’t pulled the trigger yet.
Our expenses last year haven’t changed much, but perhaps had gone up a little due to vet costs, vacations (one international trip), and higher gas bills this winter ($600 for the month of Feb! We live in a hundred year old multi family home with poor insulation).
We made a little dent on our mortgage last year ($20k off the principal). Also my investment account had an influx of about $100k as I had been in aggressive investment mode. I split my investments between index funds (70%) and short term treasury bonds (30%).
Day one: Friday
4am I woke up to the alarm, packed some last minute items, got on Uber on way to airport. ($29). We went through security and sat down for breakfast. It was a tough decision between Starbucks or Dunkin, but Dunkin won because it seemed like a faster line. We ordered two breakfast sandwiches and a decaf oatmilk latte ($18).
I checked on my foster dog organization socials and saw an update that my foster dog is doing well settling in with his vacation coverage foster. I miss him already even though it’s only been 12 hours since we dropped him off. We had him for almost three months and he may be adopted before we get back from our trip.
While waiting for boarding I saw my annual blood test results came back and that my overall cholesterol and LDL cholesterol were high which was to my surprise as I had been working hard on maintaining my weight but may have slacked in the last few months between winter holiday break and a trip in February to food paradise in Asia. I resolved to go on a low red meat diet starting now. I know will be hard because we had all these restaurants planned for this trip to Seattle.
7am Boarded on our 5 hours flight from Boston to Seattle. I had some podcasts downloaded but forgot my earbuds in my coat jacket in the overhead compartment, so instead purchased internet for $8, browsed Reddit, Instagram, work emails which I didn’t respond to since it’s my day off, read some money diaries, and saw another update on my foster dog having a fun time zooming around with the resident dog of my vacation coverage foster.
For lunch we got Indian food near our hotel: garlic nan, mushroom tandoori, chicken saag, chicken 65 $81
Got some groceries on the way to the hotel since the hotel had a kitchenette: mixed veg, shrimps, eggs, noodles, kimchi $40 Walk around the trail by the river- it was really refreshing, I love the big trees and moss covered forests of the PNW!
Got back to the hotel. Did my physical therapy exercises for my foot injury. I developed plantar fasciitis following half marathon training end of last year and just started going to PT for the injury and they assign me PT exercises as homework.
Cafe matcha latte and lavender latte $12
We went to board games night and hung out with friends for the rest of the night. There were 3 dogs, I love playing with new dogs. We got dinner delivery there: tacos and salad $74
Day one total $262
Day 2 Saturday
Breast at hotel (free) followed by PT exercises and cable TV (Modern family, Zombie house flipping). Went to the hotel gym because it’s raining.
Today K and I are doing tourist things in Seattle! This is our second time here so we are just hitting the places we missed last time.
Uber from Redmond to Seattle $55
Lunch oysters, crab risotto, moqueca $135
Space needle and chihuly garden and glass. Space needle was mid, it was a bit disorienting on the rotating restaurant/bar/viewing area and it was a cloudy day. I loved the chihuly glass exhibit! We made it in time for a live demo of glass making which was so cool to see! $134
Pie and soft serve on space needle $29
Orange blossom mocha $7
Uber Seattle to hotel $53
Checked in on my foster dog since he went to an adoption event, unfortunately he was not adopted, but that means we get to see him again when we get back from the trip! To finish off the night we went to our friends house for board games night again (played Spirit Island and Coup) and got takeout pizza for dinner $32
Day two total $445
Day 3 Sunday
Marymore park walk for a nice 2:30 hours. Saw lots of cute dogs and a tree full of nesting great blue herons!
KFC $15
FaceTimed my mom who is dog and cat sitting at our home, they are all doing fine. Dog doesn’t recognize us on the phone.
Watched some cable tv with K: home reno shows and Naked and Afraid.
Arrived at our friends place for board games (we played Spirit Island and Carassonne) and got treated homemade pho dinner. Came home around 10pm went to sleep immediately to prepare for the work week starting at 6am (9am est time).
Day 3 total: $15
Day 4 Monday
Woke up at 5:50 am, quickly prepared for work. Worked remotely from hotel starting 6am.
Breakfast at hotel free
Feeling sick all day, skipped lunch Dinner Chinese food delivery $48
Crashed after dinner and slept through the night
Day 4 total $48
Day 5 Tuesday
Feeling better after sleeping about 24 hours
Breakfast at hotel free
Working remotely from hotel
Paid PT bill $55 with HSA
For lunch time I treated myself to a manicure $35 and chicken teriyaki $15
Dinner sushi $56 payed by K work, I barely ate because I was feeling sick to my stomach.
Laundry at the hotel $12
I was feeling bad the entire afternoon and evening, ended up vomitting my entire stomach content at around 2am and was also feeling cold. I felt a lot better after vomitting. I may have caught the norovirus, or just a bad case of food poisoning. Asked K to grab a Gatorade and water from the vending machine to rehydrate after puking $6
Day 5 total $68
Day 6 Wednesday
Woke up at 6am for work. Had a two hour meeting and some emails and work chats to reply to but otherwise took it easy. Lunch fried rice and chicken payed by K work Had some data come in for urgent analysis around 4pm, worked late until 8pm to prepare for meeting tomorrow morning.
Skipped dinner, still feeling off from stomach bug so didn’t want to eat and have to puke it out later
Went to sleep around 10pm
Day 6 total $0
Day 7 Thursday
Got up 5:50am, saw my foster dog has a potential adopter, so happy for him, will schedule meet and greet when I get back home Quickly reheated some leftovers for breakfast, K got me tea from downstairs hotel lobby
Worked starting 6am, had my data share meeting, went well consider had I half a day to prepare.
Watched part of the Amazing Spiderman while taking a break from work to do PT exercises. Finished up work around 1pm reheated some leftovers for lunch. Watched some cable tv at the hotel, many episodes of Beat Bobby Flay while strolling on the phone. Most of the contestants did end up beating Bobby Flay. Also watched the last episode of Friends before it looped back to the first episode of Friends (cable tv is funny). I realized the cast aged so much!
K got home, ordered takeout Thai food for dinner paired for by K company
Laundry at the hotel $12
Watched some cable TV to finish off the night including the last ever few episode of the Office which I’ve actually never watched before because I stopped watching after Michael Scott left the show.
Day 7 total $12
Grand total: $850
Reflections:
This amount of spending was to be expected. Most of it was due to tourist stuff on the weekends which I have no regret about. Getting the stomach bug on vacation sucked! Cable tv was an interesting break from our usual Netflix routine, but probably won’t be adding back cable once we get back home! Will have to find an alternative though since we just canceled Netflix…