I love using my debit card to pay for my purchases, and I rarely pay for anything with cash or my credit cards. I love paying with my debit card because I can track my purchases to prevent any fraudulent activity.
Because I have the memory of a goldfish, (very short term) online banking allows me to verify my previous day’s transactions online every morning. I also earn points towards free movies each time I swipe my debit card. I also have a “Bank the Rest” program which rounds up my purchases to the nearest $5, and deposits the difference into my savings account.
I am sure you could only imagine my shock when I woke up the next morning to discover that I had spent just over $500 the previous day. Here is a rundown of my previous day’s expenses:
$275 at my Family Doctor. My family doctor only sees me once a year because of “my lists”. I used to visit him several times throughout the year with various diseases that I felt I was infected with. When I was younger he used to humour me, but now he has no patience for that. I would definitely prefer to spread my visits, and my costs, over several appointments throughout the year.
$3.50 for a bagel and iced coffee. I couldn’t eat breakfast at home because I couldn’t eat for 12 hours prior to my doctor’s appointment. However, as soon as my visit was over I needed to eat quickly so I didn’t pass out from starvation.
$50 at the Chiropractor. Since I was off from work for my family doctors appointment, I decided to schedule another doctor’s appointment in the same day. I visit my chiropractor once a month; my private health insurance refunds 70% of my total expenses.
$20 for laundry supplies. After all of my doctor’s appointments I decided to take the afternoon and catch up on my housework. I needed to buy laundry soap, fabric softener, and dryer static sheets.
$56.14 at the Pharmacy. This wasn’t totally a necessary expense because I received an extra 10,000 bonus points for spending over $50.
$7.68 on my lunch and $12.73 on lunch for my boyfriend Nick. My meals are generally less expensive than Nick’s food because I am a vegetarian.
$24.21 on fruits and veggies for this week’s groceries. I buy our fruits and vegetables separately at a specialty health food store.
$62.89 for this week’s groceries at the grocery store. We usually spend about $120 per week on groceries for the two of us. We shop on a weekly basis in hopes of wasting money on expired food.
$13.15 on 4 slices of pizza for dinner. I was exhausted by dinner time and I really didn’t want to cook…and then clean the dishes.
$15.00 on alcohol for Nick’s sports weekend. We never keep alcohol in the house and therefore if Nick wants to drink he buys only enough to last for the weekend. I know it is more expensive, since buying in bulk is cheaper, but we don’t keep alcohol in the house.
$70.00 for my November public transportation pass. You may recall that I sold my Honda earlier this year. $70 per month is a lot less than the $800 that I was spending on my car.
There you have it. I spent $597.57 in less than 24 hours. What is the most you spent in one day?
Photo by Pink Sherbert )
Kristina Tahnyak
Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.
Chiropracters are dangerous; they relieve symptoms in the short-term but it’s the visits themselves that cause the symptoms to return and they cause considerably more damage long-term than the short-term relief they provide is worth.
I spent over $400 just on two weeks’ worth of groceries the other week, and my boyfriend and I are both vegetarian. I find unless you are comparing vegetarian food to expensive cuts of meat that almost no one buys, being vegetarian is more expensive than being a meat eater.
My typical weekend shopping day is between $200-$300 at the grocery store, farmer’s market, and walmart. I wish my grocery bill was as low as yours.
I didn’t like my chiropractor. I found a very gifted massage therapist that did a much better job and fixing my back with long term results vs the short term relief. For $40 I get a 1/2 hour massage vs a 5 minute crack. I also saw a friend who was a physical therapist for a while and she said that chiros can do more damage than good. She’s all about building core strength. I’m so sorry you are in pain.
Good change of pace! Good post! Wow! We enjoy nice weekend vacations for $600!
two days ago i used my cc so much over a 24 hr period, that my cc company placed a block on my cc and my next transaction was denied. 18 times and 11 of those within 1 hr. transaction totaled under $300, but the cc company put a block on it as a security measure since the “behavior” is consistent with a stolen card. ok, so that wasn’t the most I spent, just obviously the most I’ve swiped on one card.
what constitutes the most amount spent in one day? does buying a house? If so, then $900k. If a car, then $50k. If things less than a house and a car, but a single item, then $20k for a watch, although I spent $80k in one day on a stereo system once. I spent $6600 yesterday on a gift for my wife. If just routine purchases, we normally spend $180 for our weekly groceries in a single day, coupled with $20 going out to lunch in conjunction with grocery shopping, and I guess $6 worth of gas.
WOW Tim…your wife is a lucky lady. I also eat out for lunch after I grocery shop. Why is that?
I agree that eating healthy is more expensive than junk food. Healthy living fast food is also more expensive but I am happy to see places such as Mc Donald’s offering lighter menu items. However they are yet to add vegetarian meals to their menu.
$120 per week on groceries works for us. Of course we could always spend more on groceries every week, but the food would be in excess and probably end up being wasted. Since we buy mostly fresh food, it’s best to shop on a weekly basis. I also think our grocery bill may be low because my cooking skills are limited. It has been my New Year’s resolution for the past 3 years to learn how to cook….You can see how that is going :-)
Most I’ve done in one day was just last week. Been setting aside extra each week for the last year to pay off a bigger chunk of my student loans in addition to the $350/mo payment. Last week I paid off one at $8k and put $5k to the other.