A Week In Virginia On A $108,280 Salary

Occupation: Forensic accountant
Industry: Consulting
Age: 27
Location: Virginia
Salary: $108,280 + variable annual bonus (last year was $20,000).
Assets: Emergency fund: $19,250; 401(k): $43,000 (contributed 5% for about three years with a 4% employer match; started contributing 15% in late 2023); Roth IRA: $4,500; brokerage account: $975 (just opened this recently); various sinking funds: ~$1,500 total (for wedding, vacations etc.); car: ~$15,000 (~$30,000 value split with my partner). My partner, E., and I split all expenses equally.
Debt: Student loans: $6,500 remaining. Car: $7,000 remaining.
Paycheck amount (2x/month): $2,670
Pronouns: She/her

Housing costs: E. and I live in a small three-bed, 2.5-bath townhouse with our two dogs, hereafter referred to as Velcro Dog and Pukey Dog. My half of the rent is $2,000.
Car payment: $226
Student loans: $100
Internet: $45
Electric: $40-100 depending on the month.
Gym membership: $42
Phone bill: $25 for Visible (what’s the catch, you ask? I don’t know but I’m convinced there is one).
Donations: $13 to NPR; random donations to GoFundMes and dog rescues as they pull at my heartstrings.
Subscriptions: $2.99 Apple storage; $12 Spotify; $70 dog meds (both of our dogs have anxiety and take doggie Prozac… Nice).
FSA: $125
401(k): $1,356
Car wash: $38 for unlimited plan.

Amazon Prime: $139
Pool membership: $450
Car insurance: $1,500ish (split with E.).
Renter’s insurance: $100ish (split with E.).
Washington Post subscription: $60

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. I was an International Baccalaureate kid in high school, surrounded by equally college-bound IB kids, so I just assumed at the time (with great privilege) that it was what I was supposed to do. I also wanted to compete in NCAA cross-country and track and field. I completed four years of undergrad and a one-year master’s in accounting, the point of which was mostly preparation for the CPA (Certified Public Accountant) exam. My parents helped pay for part of undergrad; I covered the rest with smaller loans and got a few need-based grants thanks to my parents getting divorced and my primary parent (mom) having a low income. For grad school, I got a $10,000 scholarship and took out a $21,000 loan. Contrary to popular belief, I received a whopping $0 from athletics and, in fact, sacrificed my long-term health. Don’t ask me how many MRIs I’ve paid for in the five years since finishing undergrad.

Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s)/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
We didn’t have conversations about money so much as constant rumblings from my dad that we were running out of money and the mortgage was too high, we were spending too much on frozen fruit and other “luxuries” etc. My dad was incredibly resentful about the family spending “his money” and his way of educating us about money went the way of telling us as teenagers that we should open a Roth IRA and that we were stupid if we didn’t. Shockingly, this did not make us more inclined to open a Roth IRA.

What was your first job and why did you get it?
I started working as a mother’s helper when I was nine ($6/hour) and a babysitter when I was 12 ($8/hour). I didn’t get an allowance and wanted to have spending money; I also wanted to go to an extra week of sleepaway camp and my parents told me I had to pay for it ($800). My first W2 job was at a local ice cream and coffee shop.

Did you worry about money growing up?
Yes, but I’m not sure how much of it was warranted. My dad is from an immigrant family with a single mother and allegedly grew up eating hot dogs for every meal and not being able to march in his elementary school parade because they couldn’t afford the T-shirt. My mom grew up with very-not-amicably divorced parents, one of whom (her father) was well-off and the other (her mother, the primary parent) was dirt-poor. Oh, how history repeats itself. My mom became a stay-at-home mom after I turned four, and my dad grudgingly worked full-time and was controlling and resentful of his family “spending all his money.” He made it seem like we were always on the verge of bankruptcy. But I had piano lessons, both my brothers took tae kwon do classes (with MUCH complaining on my dad’s end), everyone had braces, my parents were able to pay for me to go to Peru in middle school etc. When my parents divorced when I was in high school, my dad refused to pay a penny more than he legally had to for child support, and my mom had to borrow money from my grandmother to stay afloat. We drove the family car on a doughnut tire for an entire summer one year. To this day, I have no idea what my family’s actual financial position was when I was a kid.

Do you worry about money now?
Sort of. I’m proud of my career and my salary, comfortable with my emergency fund and my retirement savings rate, and I can afford my living expenses. But I constantly feel the need to plan-plan-plan and feel uncomfortable if an expense comes up that I didn’t plan for, even if I know I can cover it. Could this be control issues that developed due to a financially unpredictable and blame-laden upbringing? Who can say?

At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
I started my full-time job at 23 and was fully financially independent within a year of that. I lived at my mom’s house for a year after grad school; she charged me $500 per month to ease her own living expenses but that’s still much cheaper than what I would have paid for a shared apartment. I moved into an apartment with a roommate at age 24 and have been financially independent since then. In terms of financial safety net, I would say E. and I are each other’s safety net. I could live with my mom if I absolutely had to, but my mom wouldn’t be able to provide financial support and my dad would refuse. We could also live with E.’s parents if needed.

Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
My mom gave me $500 a few months ago for my wedding — does that count? Otherwise, no.

6:15 a.m. — My alarm goes off. I’m working remotely today but enjoy having several hours to myself in the morning. I Velcro myself into my wrist brace (I broke my wrist in a bike crash a few weeks ago), check to make sure my partner, E., is okay, and walk the dogs. E. developed a horrible ear infection and fever over the weekend so is down for the count (and the rest of this diary is going to seem like I do ALL the chores and dog duties around here. I promise this is not usually the case). His illness is a bit of a letdown for both of us because I’m pretty sure that he was planning to propose this weekend!

7 a.m. — I feed the dogs and start the prescribed strength session from my running coach/PT. The coach was a splurge the last few months as I am trying to finally fix my body (broken wrist notwithstanding) after years of punishing collegiate athletics and post-collegiate injury. I already paid for the coaching services in past months so re: the temporarily exorbitant monthly expense… I’m not telling ;)

8:30 a.m. — I finish PT, shower, log onto work and make a banana-berry protein smoothie for breakfast. We’re in a bit of a lull on my main case. It seems like I’ll have a busy morning and then have no idea what work will come up after that.

10 a.m. — E. wakes up and I help him put ear drops in his infected ear. Good thing I love him because this shit is gross. My friend texts to let me know she can’t make it to a concert we had planned for next week, so I ask another friend if she wants to go. She says yes so I buy us both tickets ($48.50 for mine). $48.50

12:30 p.m. — My work hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. with an hour for lunch. I eat at my desk (eggs/kale/lentils/homemade hummus), heat up soup for E., then spend the lunch hour running errands. I drive to PetSmart to get 12 cans of bougie beef stew for Pukey Dog ($42.27, my half $21.14). He eats better than we do. PetSmart is right next to Target so I get spinach, bananas, Ritz crackers, Greek yogurt and E.’s special request of chocolate milk (he is a 31-year-old 5-year-old) ($24.04, my half $12.02). $33.16

1:30 p.m. — My boss messages to say that she can’t approve my printer ink expense report because I “could print at the office” so that’s $52 I wasn’t expecting to cover. Fabulous. Also, my broken wrist starts to hurt from carrying groceries and dog food. I drive home from errands cranky as heck. $52

3 p.m. — I have no billable work at the moment so I make a yogurt bowl with berries and chocolate and study a bit. I’m studying for the Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF) certification and after a few months of a more-off-than-on study routine, I feel like I’m finally getting into the groove. It’s also mid-year performance review season so I write a ~glowing~ review for my coworker.

5:30 p.m. — Work is done! Velcro Dog lets me know that I should close my computer and pay attention to her by putting her chin on my arm and staring at me disconsolately. I attempt to take the dogs for a walk right as a summer thunderstorm hits. So much for that. We sprint home, I feed them and my wrist still hurts so I heat up a Kevin’s paleo meal of Thai coconut chicken instead of cooking for real. E. and I veg on the couch for a bit before I do some more CFF studying. E. charges me for a movie ticket — we’re going to see Deadpool in a couple weeks. $20.98

9:30 p.m. — Bed! I say goodnight to E. and then lie awake with intrusive thoughts about his ear infection getting worse and him needing me in the middle of the night and me not hearing my phone (he woke up yelling in pain the other night) but eventually drift off.

5:30 a.m. — Alarm goes off (it’s an in-office day). I stumble to the kitchen and drink half a citrus LMNT and a banana. I walk and feed the dogs, do my warm-up drills and go for a short run. I’m currently following a very conservative return-to-running approach from my coach after a lonnnggg foot injury, so today’s run includes a 30-second walk break every four minutes. This is a great challenge to the ego.

7:30 a.m. — I stretch, shower, swipe on some makeup, do nothing with my hair, make a smoothie, say goodbye to E., grab the lunch I packed last night and hit the road. This is such an automated routine that my butt lands in the car at 8 a.m. with no conscious memory of the last 30 minutes.

11 a.m. — I get hungry so eat my lunch early (leftover Kevin’s Thai coconut chicken, rice and veggies) while making trial demonstratives.

12:30 p.m. — Actual lunch break. I chat with coworkers for a few minutes and then walk to Whole Foods to get ingredients to make a superfood soup for dinner per E.’s request. I stand in the refrigerated section for a few minutes to cool down since it’s 100 degrees outside. I don’t impulse-buy anything! $13.25, my half $6.63. $6.63

3 p.m. — I finish up making demonstratives, let my boss know I’m available for more work and spend a few minutes following up with a friend-of-a-friend who is interested in pivoting to forensics from audit. I send an email to our talent acquisition team telling them to look out for her email, then spend a few more minutes surfing Amazon Prime Day deals. I need (okay, want) a new Garmin running watch and one of the models I’m considering is nearly half off. I eat some chocolate and text my running coach for his input while I ponder.

4 p.m. — The availability chat pays off. I get pulled on to a new case with a doc review deadline this week. In classic fashion, the second I start reviewing for this case, my other case group chat pops off with trial prep questions. The last hour and a half of the workday flies by.

6:15 p.m. — I arrive home starving and greet the dogs. Velcro Dog jumps all over me and growls in excitement, while Pukey Dog immediately grabs a squeaky ball. E. is still pretty miserable but is feeling well enough to chop some vegetables while I snack on a peach and make the rest of our soup.

9 p.m. — I log onto Amazon to see that the usually good move of “waiting to see if you still want to buy the thing you wanted to buy earlier after time has passed” was NOT the move this time as the watch I was looking at has gone up $125. I don’t buy it (or anything else). I eat a gummy, say goodnight to E., and go to bed shortly after that.

6:15 a.m. — My alarm goes off. I did the thing where you wake up early feeling refreshed, see it’s not time to get up yet, go back to sleep and wake up later feeling exhausted. I wash my face, chug half an LMNT, eat a banana with almond butter, and walk and feed the dogs. I see that the E-ZPass charged a refill yesterday so add it to our Splitwise ($17.50 for my half). $17.50

7:30 a.m. — I bike on my spin bike for what’s supposed to be an hour but ends up being 50 minutes because I simply cannot be bothered. Watch Sprint on Netflix while I spin. I grew up running at the same meets as Noah Lyles so it’s cool to see him make it big! I have an hour of strength and PT exercises to get done but that will have to happen after work.

8:30 a.m. — Log onto work, shower and make a smoothie. Spend the next several hours doing financial statement analysis for the new case. My boss asked me to put together preliminary questions to send to counsel but I have so little background on this case that my questions are all along the lines of “What does this term mean?” Not exactly what they’re looking for.

10 a.m. — E. wakes up and I help him with his ear drops. The romance this week is off the charts, let me tell you.

12 p.m. — Lunch break! I make the world’s ugliest omelet before running to the grocery store. E. is feeling well enough to leave the house after several days so he comes with me. We get Mush overnight oats, wild-caught salmon, eggs, brown sugar, dish soap, dishwasher pods and E.’s impulse buys of Ovaltine and pudding since it hurts to chew ($74.77, my half $37.39). For someone who’s been dying on the couch all week, E. is suspiciously intent on hashing out our weekend date plans of hike and winery. This is suspicious because we designed an engagement ring a few months ago and I know he’s planning on proposing soon, but he’s keeping the exact plan a secret from me. $37.39

2 p.m. — My gut tells me to check on the Garmin watch price again and I see that it’s come back down. I bite the bullet and buy it. This isn’t a purchase I factored into my monthly budget but it’s not the end of the world and I save $160 thanks to Prime Day deals! $229.69

4:30 p.m. — After several hours of financial statement analysis, my anxiety starts creeping up again so I lie down on my yoga mat to do some box breathing. I recently quit Zoloft (the withdrawal was hell) after being on it for a couple years following some massive life trauma, and I’m really trying not to go back to the pre-2022 life of having anxiety attacks at 4 p.m. every day.

7 p.m. — I complete a PT session and make some salmon for dinner. I keep watching Sprint because it’s too good to stop. After I finish eating dinner, I make carrot muffins to bring to the office tomorrow. I love to bake and frequently bring treats to the office since E. and I do not need dozens of cookies/muffins/scones to ourselves. E. buys movie tickets for us on Friday but doesn’t charge me for them.

5:30 a.m. — Alarm, LMNT, banana and peanut butter, walk dogs, drills, run. It’s humid but at least it’s not 85 degrees at the crack of dawn. The arthritis in my foot is flaring up today so I vow to take a turmeric shot later.

8:30 a.m. — I get to work and start back on financial statement analysis. My Gen Z friend texts me to complain about something a millennial friend did that apparently only a millennial would do. I don’t have the heart to point out that, while technically Gen Z, I am a wannabe millennial and therefore whatever point she’s trying to make goes right over my head.

10:30 a.m. — I get hungry so eat carrots and hummus. I take a quick break from work and the Athleta flash sale influences me so I buy two pairs of Ultimate 7” shorts. $66.74

12 p.m. — I eat my lunch of leftover salmon (I know fish is an in-office no-no but oh well), rice, spinach and avocado. I decide to leave at lunch and work from home the rest of the day. E. and I are going to our friends’ place in D.C. for dinner. My office is in the opposite direction and I don’t feel like commuting for an hour and a half straight this evening.

3 p.m. — I feel drowsy after getting home so I lie down for a few minutes and then run to Target to grab a kombucha, along with some LaCroix for E. ($7.55, my half $3.78). $3.78

5:30 p.m. — I eat some yogurt with berries and chocolate while finishing up the workday. E. walks the dogs and I wrap up a few work tasks before we head to our friends’ place in D.C. They break out the pasta roller and feed us delicious Italian wine while we help them roll the pasta.

10 p.m. — Late night for me! We leave their house after several hours of great conversation, great wine and copious amounts of pasta and bread. I’m tipsy (major lightweight) so E. drives. We get home, E. takes the dogs out and I chug water.

7 a.m. — Velcro Dog sticks her snout in my face until I get out of bed. She doesn’t even try to wake E. up anymore; she’s learned to go straight to the morning parent. I wash my face and chug LMNT before walking the dogs. Two glasses of wine have made me feel groggy and dehydrated.

8:30 a.m. — I log onto work and make a smoothie. We’re supposed to have half-day Fridays in the summer but my company has been doing a not-so-subtle subtle phaseout of that perk because revenue is down and therefore we are expected to take half-day Fridays only if we have no billable work. But we’re expected to always have billable work. Sigh. Anyway, I’m hoping but not expecting to log off at 12:30 p.m.

12:30 p.m. — I will definitely not be logging off for the day but I take my lunch break to go get a gel manicure for the proposal that I’m still suspicious is going to happen tomorrow. My favorite nail salon is conveniently located a two-minute walk from my house. $42 + $8 tip = $50. $50

1:15 p.m. — I log back on, make a cheesy omelet and eat an apple for lunch, and continue doing work for several hours. Finally around 4 p.m. my boss says I can log off. I do my PT exercises while watching the last two episodes of Sprint. Noah Lyles starts crying on the podium and I start crying watching Noah Lyles cry. Quitting antidepressants has marked the return of my emotional extremes so I now cry at the drop of a hat.

6 p.m. — E. and I head out for a date night. We have dinner at a nearby seafood restaurant and order a drink each, plus Parker House rolls, oysters, shrimp, lobster rolls and fried octopus. It’s so nice to spend quality time together after E.’s physically tough week. Dinner is a splurge and we split the bill. My half is $103. $103

8 p.m. — We walk over to the movie theater two minutes from the restaurant (I love where we live). We watch Twisters. I love Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell but the movie is SO bad. We whisper snide remarks at each other the whole time and walk home giggling. E. paid for the movie tickets so my portion is $0.

6 a.m. — I wake up too filled with anticipation to go back to sleep. I remind myself that while I’m pretty sure E. is going to propose today, there’s still a chance I totally misread the signals and we’ll have a great day no matter what happens.

8:30 a.m. — I’m dillydallying while E. uncharacteristically rushes around packing up the car and getting the dogs ready to go. This only increases my proposal suspicions because usually I’m the one packing up the car while E. gets in the shower three minutes before our targeted departure time. I put on mascara and a cute hiking outfit. You can never be too prepared.

9:30 a.m. — We arrive at the hike spot and I eat a Larabar because I forgot to eat breakfast before we left. I drove and spent the majority of the car ride analyzing E. Meanwhile, E. spent the majority of the car ride texting his best friend, N., who is also not a morning person and has no business being up at 9 a.m. on a Saturday, unless...

10 a.m. — After a steep uphill climb in which both dogs beelined for every cow patty they could find, we reach a scenic overlook. E. not-so-sneakily tucks a note into Velcro Dog’s collar and asks me to read it. The note says, “Will you marry our dad? From [Velcro Dog] and [Pukey Dog].” E. has to go the extra step and ask me to take my wrist brace off, which is incredibly romantic. After I get the brace off, E. gets down on one knee and proposes! Of course I say yes, and then turn around and see N. coming out of the bushes with a camera. I KNEW IT!

10:30 a.m. — We head back down the mountain after many more photos and time spent soaking in the moment. It feels wild to have the ring on my finger, even though I knew it was coming and helped design it. N. leaves, and we debrief the proposal before heading to a nearby orchard to go peach-picking. I pay for two half-pecks and we leave with nearly 40 peaches. $40

12 p.m. — After peach-picking, we drive 30 minutes to an excellent fast-food burger place (I know, it sounds like an oxymoron but it’s local and really good). We have the most perfect post-proposal celebratory meal of drive-through burgers, fries and frozen custard milkshakes, eaten while sitting in the car in the parking lot and calling everyone we know. The dogs even get custard pup cups. I pay for our food. $33.75

1:30 p.m. — The last step in our plan for the day is a local dog-friendly winery. I get a tasting flight with four different whites, and E. gets a Coke because he’s still on antibiotics and not drinking ($15.69). Velcro and Pukey get ice cubes left over from someone else’s party. Everyone is incredibly helpful and accommodating, and E. and I decide that we have to consider this winery in our wedding venue search. It starts raining once we’re safely under cover of the winery’s porch, and we continue to call and FaceTime our loved ones while I enjoy the wine flight. $15.69

4:30 p.m. — We get home and E. immediately falls asleep. I don’t think he slept much last night. I bathe the dogs since they’re both covered in cow shit, and then my mom comes over for a few minutes on the way to hang out with friends. She brings flowers and a large Crockpot.

6:30 p.m. — We get Japanese food for dinner — ramen for him and a salmon bento box for me. He pays. N. sends over the photos he took of the proposal and they are ADORABLE. We jointly post on social media and immediately start receiving likes and comments from both loved ones and completely random people that we haven’t spoken to in decades.

11 p.m. — Neither of us wants the day to end but finally I get tired and go to bed. Velcro Dog has been snoozing for hours, while Pukey Dog still wants to play.

6:30 a.m. — So much for thinking the dogs would be tired after yesterday. Velcro Dog boops me until I wake up. I am moving slowly but drink half an LMNT, coffee and eat a banana and peanut butter to get ready for a run. I also walk and feed the dogs. It’s humid as hell and I drink the other half of the LMNT when I get home from my run.

10:30 a.m. — I intend to do some CFF studying but get distracted setting up a wedding planning spreadsheet, which is the nerdiest thing to find joy in but I don’t care. E. buys some groceries and probiotics for himself and charges me for half. $21.23

12:30 p.m. — Right as I start studying, E. asks if I can get bagels with him. I should keep studying but he pulls the “It’s our engagement weekend, we can go easy on ourselves for one more day!” card. We drive to our favorite local bagel spot and I get an everything bagel with egg, cheddar, spinach and sprouts. He pays.

4 p.m. — After I actually study, E. wants to get taiyaki soft serve since it’s National Ice Cream Day. We drive to the taiyaki place and E. gets ube soft serve with ube-filled taiyaki. I don’t get anything because my stomach is a little upset from all the fried food this weekend. On the way home, we stop to pick up tortellini, penne and tomato sauce from a local Italian store for dinner ($22.12, my half $11.06), as well as a 35-pound bag of dry dog food, 12 more cans of wet food and a bag of treats ($169.77, my half $84.89, ugh). $95.95

6 p.m. — I make us dinner while E. lies on the couch. He’s not feeling well, likely due to the antibiotics. My brother, A., and his fiancé call to hear about the proposal and discuss our respective wedding planning. I think A. is afraid we’re going to have a wedding super close to his but doesn’t want to be a groomzilla so doesn’t bring it up.

10 p.m. — I go to bed but feel extremely wired so take a gummy. I probably fall asleep around 11 p.m.

Weekly Total $$ Spent: $875.99
Food & Drink: $284.55
Entertainment: $69.48
Home & Health: $387.72
Clothes & Beauty $116.74
Transportation $17.50
Other $0