A Week In Indianapolis On A $50,000 Salary

Occupation: Director of grants and scholarships
Industry: Nonprofit
Age: 34
Location: Indianapolis
Salary: $50,000
Joint income: My spouse’s salary is $68,000. I haven’t combined his income or assets with mine, as we keep our personal spending separate. We do share a joint account we use for home, grocery, and general family spending, which I will track.
Assets: Checking: $300; joint checking (my half): $2,000; HYS: $8,100; savings: $1,000; retirement: $48,000; home equity (my half): $163,000.
Debt: Auto lease: $11,000; mortgage (my half): $146,000; credit cards: $2,100.
Paycheck amount (every two weeks): $1,700
Pronouns: She/her

Monthly Expenses

Housing costs: $2,600 mortgage; this comes out of our joint account. We rounded up to pay more into principle. It is my husband, myself, and our two kiddos, who are 5 and 1.
Loan payments: $500 (my car lease).
Phone/Disney+: $40 (I pay this directly to my parents as I am still part of the family plan. I cover Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ for my parents, brother, brother/SIL, and my family).
Energy/gas: $20-$? (this is depending on season; we only moved into our house in July so we haven’t seen our seasonal change just yet).
Electricity: $?-$220 (as above in terms of seasonality).
Netflix: $7

Other Expenses

Sitter: $150 (weekly).
Chewy dog food: $50 (every six weeks).
Trash: $103.22 (billed quarterly out of our joint account).
Car insurance: $1,800 (billed twice a year out of our joint account).
DashPass/Max: $93 (billed annually out of our joint account. I will probably cancel this).

Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Yes. Both of my parents are college graduates, both the first in their families (I think my dad’s oldest brother has an associate’s degree but I don’t know if he got that before my dad finished his bachelor’s or not), and both have since received their master’s degrees in their respective fields as well. My mother also worked at a college before having us kids and then again once my youngest brother was in elementary school. I attended one college my freshman year in the hopes of receiving a tuition exchange, as my mother worked at another local college. That didn’t pan out so I ended up transferring to the college my mom works at and finishing school there. While my tuition at the school my mother worked at was paid due to her employment, I still took out loans for housing for three years. I lived at home my senior year to save money.

Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s)/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
I cannot recall any specific conversations per se but I remember being taken to the bank at a young age to set up a savings account (we got dinosaurs for making deposits — as a kid, who could ask for a better incentive!). I also remember participating in a club/class that was a mock stock market class while I was homeschooled in elementary school. I remember nothing specific about that class other than I took it though. I learned more through watching my parents manage their money from afar.

What was your first job and why did you get it?
I started babysitting at the age of 12 and became a certified babysitter by the time I was 14. My first tax-paying job was at a local T-shirt shop in town when I was a senior in high school. I got that job because I had dropped out of all my extracurricular activities senior year and my parents said I had to do something. I loved the job and ended up working there several summers into college.

Did you worry about money growing up?
I did not. If there were family struggles, I did not know about them. I have a general idea now of what my dad made when I was younger. I know that as he climbed through a few companies, he was able to leverage his skills for higher pay. We were comfortably middle class. My mother stayed home with us kids after my first brother was born and she homeschooled us all once we got to school age. I was homeschooled until I went to sixth grade and my mom stayed home until my youngest brother was in fourth grade. We were blessed enough to have more than we needed from my dad’s job alone during those times.

Do you worry about money now?
Yes and no. We just sold our starter home that we purchased nine years ago; we definitely made a good profit that has set us up well enough. But with the purchase of a new home comes more expenses; our mortgage nearly tripled and our rate went from 4.2% to 7.99%. So that part isn’t fun. But we are being smart with our money and easing into the new expenses. After we sold the house we both paid off debt, so that bit of breathing room was very nice.

At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
Other than staying on my parents’ insurance until 26, at around 23 I moved out on my own and handled all of my own bills. Currently our safety net is our savings, then our parents. All three sets of parents (my parents, FIL and step-MIL, and MIL) would help us out if we were in a pinch, and have offered many times prior.

Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
Yes. My parents paid for our wedding. We had family help with some big issues a few years ago and those were treated as gifts. Also my parents typically gift us around $1,500 for Christmas each year and we get varying amounts of cash from my husband’s parents for holidays and birthdays.

6:35 a.m. — I can hear my 1-year-old, R., starting to fuss in her crib on the monitor so I sneak into the kids’ room to grab her for snuggles. My 5-year-old, S., is still asleep. I bring R. into my room for cuddles and a little bit more rest.

7:50 a.m. — R. is up and ready to play. She and I sneak out while my husband, N., sleeps in. We each get one weekend morning to sleep in while the other takes the morning kid duty; yesterday was my day. R. and I head to the living room to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and start breakfast.

8:30 a.m. — S. is awake and bypasses my good morning to say good morning to his sister. Their relationship is so sweet (most of the time). I finish getting R.’s breakfast and my first coffee of the day while S. tells me he isn’t sure what he wants yet. S feeds the dogs while sulking.

10 a.m. — N. is up and off to find energy drinks for himself before we start cleaning the garage out. We moved into this house at the end of June and after three months we are mostly settled but the garage... We’ve done bits and pieces so far; with winter on its way we want to at least get one car parked in the garage and most of the stuff in there right now we obviously don’t need or we would have used it in the last three months. We’ve sold a few pieces of furniture but we’re at the point that we just want things out. S. eats his breakfast and R. goes down for her first rest of the day. Laundry and more organizing for me.

12 p.m. — After some garage cleaning it is lunch for me and S. — we have “save-laters” as he refers to leftovers. I also ice my shoulder because at almost 35 I apparently shouldn’t be doing pushups (I wrecked my already bad shoulder yesterday). My save-laters are BBQ cauliflower wings on a spinach salad and a passionfruit La Croix.

1 p.m. — Dishwasher emptied, reloaded and running. Sunday is typically our big chore day. Since N. and I both work full-time outside of the home, we made the choice that we don’t focus much on cleaning throughout the week, since we want to spend the time we have at home enjoying our family. This system has worked out pretty well for us.

4 p.m. — Lots more cleaning, some outside play, and TV hanging. Now to finish a documentary (The Devil’s Climb) I’m watching and crochet. R. goes down for a nap (she doesn’t actually rest) and S. watches a DVD on the freshly hung playroom TV.

8:15 p.m. — Both kids are down early! A quick clean-up from our dinner of grilled cheese and tomato soup, then we dive into the new season of Sister Wives.

11:45 p.m. — Well, I stayed up way too late judging the Brown family of Sister Wives. After being soothed by me and then N., R. is in bed with me and N. is in the guest bedroom — she is not remotely sleepy anymore. Lots of tossing and turning for her until she finally knocks out with her head resting on my face around 3 a.m. Tough night.

5:55 a.m. — I hear N.’s alarm go off in the guest bedroom.

6:12 a.m. — Snooze my own alarm. This is repeated three additional times.

6:48 a.m. — I sneak out of bed so R. doesn’t wake up, then into the shower. Get myself washed and dried and I hear R. start to cry in bed. Peek my head out of the bathroom and she gives me the biggest smile. While last night resulted in very little sleep for me, I will always take a happy babe. I get myself dressed in jeans and a logo shirt. N. wakes up and comes in to get himself ready. R. and I head to the kitchen for her breakfast and my coffee. Sit R. in her chair and go get S. up. This is his first day back to school after being off for fall break last week so he is reluctant, to say the least. Everyone is up and breakfasts are doled out (dogs included); N. and S. are out the door, followed shortly after by me and R. by 7:40 a.m.

8:35 a.m. — After drop-off and a quick catchup with my coworkers since half of us were out last week, I am finally at my desk and sifting through the emails I missed last week. Thankfully half the county was also on fall break, so the pileup is minimal. We have our standing weekly staff meeting and catch up on what everyone has on the docket. We have two big events this week so we will be all hands on deck. After the meeting our marketing coordinator hands out our group Halloween costumes; we are all pilots à la Top Gun. Another coworker gives us all call signs; mine is Dream Maker.

10:45 a.m. — I missed a call from my dad during staff meeting, so I call him back. He asks to grab lunch this week because he misses me (he traveled last week and then wasn’t feeling great). Plus, the lunch we were supposed to go to last week with the kids turned into him getting barfed on by R., and then after cleaning up, it was just he and S. who had lunch. We have determined that R. is going to be our carsick queen, joy. Then we work on scheduling our weekly family dinner. I am super lucky that my parents want to spend so much time with us. We have a pretty great family village with our kids, I would be remiss to not mention that.

11:30 a.m. — Head out to the chiropractor for my appointment. I am wildly thankful I already had this scheduled, since I subsequently hurt my shoulder. Catch up with my chiro and her sister, who works the front desk for her. We all went to high school together so it is fun to chat with old friends. Schedule my next appointment and head out. $60

12 p.m. — I pick up a black bean Crunchwrap and a cheese quesadilla at Taco Bell then go back to eat at my desk. I should be writing up a report that is due in a few weeks but I really don’t feel motivated yet. Thankfully this report is one I could essentially pump out in a few hours, so I don’t feel much pressure. $11.43

2:35 p.m. — My TickTick reminder pops up to schedule an oil change so I go online to do that. Also get an email that a survey reward is ready for me. Woot, $5 Amazon money.

4 p.m. — Out of work and on my way to make the kid pickup rounds. R. is first, from the sitter. She had a good day, which is wonderful considering her lack of sleep last night. On the way to pick up S. at school, my dad texts to confirm family dinner tonight. Get S. from school and head home for a little rest before dinner.

5:35 p.m. — Get to my parents’ for the evening. S. immediately goes upstairs to grab some toys — his latest obsession is a Power Rangers Megazord from when I was a kid. R. reaches out for my mom. I play with my parents’ new puppy while Mom and I catch up. My dad comes in a little later and R. basically leaps into his arms. She absolutely adores my dad, and the feelings are mutual. N. gets to the house and dinner is on its way.

7:45 p.m. — We get home after a good visit, and now it’s time for bedtime routines. I get R. ready for bed with the insistent help of S. while N. takes care of the dogs. S. decides that he wants to sing his sister her bedtime song “Goodnight, My Angel” — he knows the words and his sweet little voice just makes my heart soar. After he gets through one verse he decides that he has other things to do and ends up coming in and out of the room no less than four times before N. comes in to help me with R.’s eardrop prescription. Finally R. is down and S. and I read a book; he then plays with his cars for a bit and N. puts him in bed. I head to bed and scroll and start the next book in the Bridgerton series. They are easy reads and I finished the first three in quick order. Thankfully I have been able to borrow them from Kindle Unlimited or my Libby app through the library. N. comes in and turns on a movie. Here’s hoping that R. sleeps through the night tonight.

6:30 a.m. — After a few snoozes, I am up and in the shower while N. goes to grab a fussing R. Get dressed in a lovely blue dress from a local fair trade boutique, and — as always when wearing a dress — my trusty bike shorts. Husband gets R. her breakfast and we work on rousing S., who is still on fall break time. Breakfasts all around, people and dogs. We are all out the door by 7:30 a.m.!

11 a.m. — Work has been steady this morning, which is nice. I take a break to peruse mascara options — my beloved blue mascara is on its last legs, so I need a good replacement (dear gentle reader, she never did get her new mascara). I get a text from my SIL that she will be picking up S. from school tonight to take him to dinner with her girls and she needs my pickup card, so I get that out of my car. I have a work event tonight so I won’t be doing pickup for either kid, and being that N.’s commute is just over 30 minutes, there isn’t a great way for him to get both kiddos before their 5:30 p.m. pickup times without him leaving work an hour early. Thankfully we have a good village.

1 p.m. — Have lunch with my dad, his treat, and get to chat chaos-free for the whole time. Then I deliver lunch to my mom, who was planning on joining us but ended up staying in her office to grade. During lunch, my dad and I do some vacation planning for next summer. Sounds like we will be going on a full family (my family, mom/dad, brother/SIL, other brother) trip to Gatlinburg next summer so the guys can hike up to LeConte Lodge for a night. My mom and dad just did this hike earlier this year with their friends and Dad LOVED it (Mom not so much). We are a big hiking family, but our range tends to stick in the easier trails these days, with the kiddos. Back to work finally and catching up on more emails from while I was gone.

3:15 p.m. — Now I am waiting for all of us in the office to head to our big offsite meeting and dinner. If you read my previous diary, this is actually the same dinner I went to on day three of that diary. We are hosting a fiduciary dinner for our board of directors to help them understand how our endowment investments work and what responsibility we have to the donors who put their money and trust in us to manage those funds. We like to tell prospective fund holders that we want to act as a savings account for our community; the funds donated and invested will go on to create local community impact long after anyone in the room is around.

7:15 p.m. — Finally home after a pretty good evening. As always I learned a lot about not only how work’s investments function but the things I should consider with my own finances. Dinner was good: pasta and salad and then the most decadent berry tiramisu a girl could ask for. R. is in the bath and S. is in a good mood after dinner with my FIL, his wife, and my SIL and her girls. Get the kids ready for bed after baths; N. puts R. to bed and S. and I climb into bed to watch shorts before he too is off to bed. Climb back into bed and get to reading Bridgerton. Since I have no self-control I read until after midnight, oops.

6:50 a.m. — Lots of snoozing this morning but now we are all up and moving. S. is moving particularly slowly this morning, but after a lot of back and forth he is in a good mood as he and N. leave. I am dressed in a peasant top and jeans — love being able to dress for my day (I just have a virtual meeting with a salesperson this afternoon so no need to be dressy). With the later start I decide that R. and I are going to visit the Starbucks drive-thru ($16 including tip on my preloaded card), since I can’t drop her off between 8 a.m. and 8:15 a.m. Our sitter has her own kids and they get on the bus during that time so she has asked that we don’t drop off then. Get to work and tuck in.

10 a.m. — “Um, yes hello.” Realize I didn’t watch my Spooky Lake Month videos last night because I was reading. If you don’t know, go and follow @geodesaurus on Insta. I love random facts and every October she posts the most interesting series of videos about “haunted hydrology”. Last night’s video was on aerated sewage — not something I knew I was going to need to worry about, but now obviously will.

11 a.m. — Finish up filing a consumer complaint with our state AG. To risk sounding like a Karen, this is not the first step — we have had several civil discussions with them and made reasonable requests but have been met with stonewall silence. We have had nothing but issues with our internet provider not burying the line they installed when we moved into our house in early July. The line has been cut and installed now three times and two weeks after the most recent install it is still not buried. Irritated.

4 p.m. — Head out on the pickup rounds. N. is the only one in his office today so I know he won’t be leaving on time, so I decide to run and get gas ($38.38) and get a car wash ($16). S. helps me pump gas and loves every minute of it, he also loves the carwash and can’t get enough of the octopus and Christmas trees. R. does not love the carwash and she cries through most of it. S. holds her hand through some of the wash and she calms down a bit. We head home and play for a bit before N. makes it home. S. has some major meltdowns tonight and at one point straight-up lies to us about eating all of his dinner. His nightly 20 minutes of watching Disney shorts is taken away for the rest of the week, so he’s unhappy about that. After all of that kerfuffle he is in great spirits and he, N., and S. play pirates in the kids’ room before bed. $54.38

8:30 p.m. — I have a blinding migraine so I get into bed after S. goes down for the night. N. stays up to build a new tool cabinet he bought for the garage. I pop an 800mg ibuprofen and end up scrolling until after 10 p.m., since my head feels better. N. comes in around 10:45 p.m. and we end up hanging out until almost midnight. So much for an early bedtime.

2:25 a.m. — R. is crying in her bed. I get up to grab her in hopes of soothing her back to sleep. No such luck — she’s pretty awake, so I take her to my room and she takes a minute but finally settles herself next to my legs like a goober.

6:48 a.m. — My final alarm goes off and I am up and in the shower. I have another event today after work so I dress in navy wide-leg, pull-on pants, a white top, and trusty Target flats. N. gets the kids fed and S. dressed; I get R. dressed and we are all out the door and on our way by 7:45 a.m.

6 p.m. — It has been a whirlwind of a day. Just got home after the evening event at work. We had a good turnout and it was a smaller event, which was nice. My mother-in-law is at the house with husband and the kids so it is nice to catch up with her for a bit. They all ordered dinner and it just arrived so I head to my bedroom to put on my comfy clothes and take another ibuprofen; my migraine is back.

8 p.m. — MIL has headed home and R. is finally headed for bed. She snuggles into me as soon as I take her into the kids’ room to get her ready for bed. N. comes in and takes over bedtime and S. and I head back into the living room. He requests listening to stories instead of music so I queue up Green Eggs and Ham then roll into The Princess and the Frog and Lilo and Stitch after that. He wanted to sit in my lap so we are all snuggled up; it has been a good snuggle day for this momma. After S. goes to bed, N. and I have some adult time with adult activities and then my regular ASMR to fall asleep.

6:15 a.m. — R. is chatting in her bed and we hear a thud on the monitor. Husband goes in and finds S. in R.’s crib with her. Husband brings R. into our room. She’s hot about something so she’s crying while trying to snuggle — apparently we aren’t snuggling her correctly so she gets more mad. When we’re all up I let the dogs out, get R. breakfast and start my coffee. S. and N. are at each other’s throats this morning so that is fun; S. finally sits down to eat his requested breakfast. Husband feeds the dogs. I get R. dressed. Back to the kitchen and S. hasn’t eaten more than one piece of his breakfast. He tries to tell me he’s taken his allergy pill and inhaler; he gets a Mom Look™ from me and fesses up quickly that he hasn’t. Another conversation about honesty. He’s not been great about eating his breakfast lately so we have had lots of conversations with him about needing energy to play with friends at school. Going to have to look for some other options he likes. Loaded up in the car early today!

11 a.m. — Just sat through a sales call for an application platform. I didn’t go in with high hopes but was pleasantly surprised by what they have to offer. Only one hour left before my weekend can start. My boss gave us all a half-day since we have all worked two evenings this week. It’s also payday so I check through all of my prescheduled transfers. I need to remember to get the sitter’s money before pickup today (included in monthly budget).

12 p.m. — Half-day activated! Pick up another Taco Bell lunch ($13) and head home to rot for almost two glorious hours. Finish all the current episodes of Sister Wives — yikes, man. A quick and furious clean of the playroom because its current state has been driving me nuts. $13

3:45 p.m. — Get the kids picked up and head to the store to get presents for the birthday girl and some snacks for the weekend. S. picks out a small Cinderella doll, and we get earrings and a Lego set as well. Lots of snacks for R., who goes through her toddler snacks so quickly, and milk for my weekend coffee. $43.21 (my half).

9:30 p.m. — Home from the birthday festivities and chaos; R. immediately goes to bed since it is so late for her. She took lots of steps tonight, so that is a big improvement. She is not really walking yet but she absolutely has the capability to do so, she just doesn’t want to. S. asks to read his dinosaur book before he goes to bed. Once we are in the kids’ room, S. asks to be rocked and sung to — he doesn’t do this often, and I relish the time to snuggle him like when he was little. Then bed for me and old episodes of Futurama. N. apparently falls asleep in the living room and comes to bed sometime in the wee hours of the morning.

7 a.m. — Kids are up and so am I. S. has already gone to the living room and I find him lying on the couch. I go grab R. out of her bed and get her diaper changed. Breakfasts all around and my first round of coffee.

8:45 a.m. — We are all up and out the door on our separate ways; S. with me and R. with N. I scheduled an oil change this morning and S. and I are going to get Starbucks second breakfast. I reload my Starbucks card ($25). S. gets bacon, gouda, egg sandwich (need to look into getting an at-home version of these…) and a lemonade and I get coffee and an Impossible Sandwich. We get to the dealership to check in and they can’t find my appointment on the books. I show them my email confirmation and we realize that I made my appointment at a dealership in Kentucky with the same name. They don’t have any available appointments today so I schedule for next weekend. S. and I head out to my FIL’s to see if we can catch up to R. and N., who went to pick up things we stored there after moving. $25

12:15 p.m. — N. and I have dropped the kids off at my parents’ and are headed to his coworker’s house for his work picnic. They are smoking a whole alligator, because that makes so much sense in Indiana. The drive is mostly back roads so I am feeling pretty nauseated by the time we arrive.

4:15 p.m. — N. and I were the only people there besides the host and one other couple until around 3 p.m., so that was sufficiently awkward. I got to check out the chickens and pigeons so that was fun for me. They live on a beautiful piece of property tucked away in the woods. This weekend is peak fall foliage in Indiana so it’s absolutely gorgeous. We stop at Dollar General so I can pick up minty gum and water for the drive home. $5.45

5:45 p.m. — Kids are picked up and we are home. N. had alligator for dinner and isn’t hungry, and I am too drained to make anything, so the kids and I order Mexican delivery — chile relleno and a cheese enchilada for me. $40.35

9 p.m. — Pretty decent evening as a family tonight. S. heads off to bed and I queue up the final episode of Alone for N. and me — we watched it in real time right up until the very end so we want to wrap it up.

10:15 p.m. — S. is screaming and crying and we realize he has coughed himself sick — his lungs do not like weather changes. I handle getting him cleaned while N. strips the bed. Thankfully R. only stirs a little and is easily settled down. S. posts up in the recliner with a blanket and quickly passes out; N. says he will sleep in the living room with him so I head off to bed alone.