The Last 10 Things I Bought: How This 36-Yr Old Single Financial Planner Spent His Money

October 15, 2015

Since my colleagues, Scott, Tania, and Kelley, blogged about their last ten purchases this week, I decided to join the fun. Looking at my last ten expenses confirmed what I thought. I don’t really buy “stuff” much. It’s all about food, drinks, and women (okay, one woman):

Saturday

City of San Diego Parking: $1.5

I hardly ever pay for parking because I can walk practically everywhere in my neighborhood and will go to great lengths to avoid paying for parking the few times I go downtown. That being said, this was a particularly hot day and my girlfriend wasn’t feeling well so this was one of the rare times we drove to dinner. Unable to find a free spot close enough to the restaurant, I reluctantly paid the $1.50 parking meter to avoid the worse fate of a parking ticket.

Poke Go: $16.07

This is a new restaurant that moved into my neighborhood and is the only Hawaiian one here that I know of so we were interested in trying it out. (The fact that this was the last day for a 20% discount flyer that I received in the mail helped too.) The food was tasty and that price was for two so it was a pretty good deal.

Sunday

Chocolat: $24.41

I love brunch. It’s usually my favorite meal of the week. My neighborhood has a lot of popular brunch places with long lines so we usually like to go to this relatively undiscovered gem to share a boar sausage omelet and stuffed French toast.

Rite-Aid: $6.31

I’m embarrassed to say that I have no idea what this was.

Pappalecco: $4.59

I later enjoyed a nice milk and chocolate gelato on a hot day.

Pappalecco: $8.56

We then had a glass of wine.

India Palace: $20.52

This is one of our favorite restaurants and the best Indian food I’ve had in San Diego. It ended up being three meals since we shared vegetable samosas, sag paneer over rice, and naan and I still had leftovers for a meal later in the week.

Hudson News $3.28

I bought a Hersheys almond bar and some peanut M&Ms at the airport. Airports are the one place I tend to buy junk food. It’s like my terrible way of trying to compensate for the stress of travel.

Monday

Rio Hash House: $23.45

I was looking for a quick brunch before doing some workshops at the Rio in Las Vegas but failed to find the deli that I was told was there. I ended up pigging out to eggs, sausage, and giant-sized pancakes at the bar at Hash House. If you’ve ever been there, you know their portions are massive so I had some leftover pancakes as a post-workshop snack on the way to the airport.

Burger King: $11.23

The pancakes didn’t quite satisfy me so I had a burger and a small mix of fries and onion rings for “dinner” at the airport. (Did I not say that junk food while traveling was a terrible habit?)

Tuesday

Napizza: $20.52

My girlfriend and I shared some gourmet pesto and spicy pizza for dinner. This also ended up being 3 meals since I had my leftovers later in the week. (Notice the trend.)

Favorite purchase: My dinner at India Palace. The food is delicious and it cost less than $7 per meal.

Biggest regret: The dinner at Burger King. Not only was it overpriced and unhealthy, I stupidly bought the meal (which I usually never do since they give you free drinks on the plane) only to find out that they didn’t have any beverages I like. (I don’t drink soda and the only other option was unsweetened/bitter iced tea.)

What have I learned from this? I need to eat better, especially when I travel. It could save me a little bit of money now but more importantly, a lot of money in future health care bills!