Lately, my motto has been to convenience myself. I’m one person with a surface to clean nearly every day, and somehow every day it’s my glasses! On top of that, I’m also running a household by running errands (we’re power-walking them at best), working my full-time human corporate job ridding the world of typos—and my animal side gig—lint rolling my entire house to remove the dust I’m allergic to and keeping my skin clear so I can leave the house without makeup or a care in the world!
As you can imagine, this conveniencing of myself has led to an increase in my spending in some areas. So, I finally took to laptop the other day and wrote out everything I was paying for, the frequency of the subscriptions and how that broke down monthly.
Since I get paid three times this month, my October budget includes three paychecks for my monthly income. Keep in mind it’s usually around $1,800 less during a normal two-paycheck month. I also have no additional petsitting income this month, so it balances out nicely.
The new amount I’m spending on subscriptions initially hurt: $142/mo. I increased my subscriptions by around $100/mo. since the last time I did my budget. Then I looked at what I was paying for: Could I budge on anything?
One of my subscriptions is a filter that gets delivered every three months for my air purifier. The air purifier has significantly improved the air quality in my apartment and has helped my 100-year-old building smell less like something in the wood is actively dying—or already dead 💀.
Another thing I can’t live without? Skincare I can stay consistent with. I get a three-pack of Sofie Pavitt Face’s micellar cleansing pads delivered every two months. I keep one container in the bathroom and one in my vanity so there’s no excuse, I can do my skincare from bed if I have to.
Back in 2024, I opened a short-term goal focused on skincare in my SmartyPig high-yield savings account. I was planning to save this money for facials and skincare throughout the following year. Now, toward the end of 2026, I find myself not needing to save in that area anymore because Sofie Pavitt Face has saved me and my skin. As someone who tried every acne treatment available over the last 20+ years, sometimes I can’t believe I don’t need a facial every six months. Her entire skincare line is formulated for sensitive, acne-prone skin, and I haven’t found a single thing that doesn’t work for me. There are also great tips and education about acne on her Instagram that will help the products work better!
My favorites:
- Micellar cleansing pads, sometimes I’ll use two as a double cleanse, they’re that good! 💚
- Mandelic clearing serum, this is the one thing that has made a noticeable difference in my skin’s texture and overall tone. It’s a gentle chemical exfoliant that you can work up to using daily, but I use it every other day 🙂
- Screentime SPF, it’s literally her brand name abbreviation, so of course it’s good. SPF 30, in a tall purple bottle (my favorite color). It’s the only SPF in the universe that doesn’t break me out! ☀️
None of this is sponsored (I wish, ugh); I just can’t stop talking about Sofie Pavitt!
For now, I’ll keep my subscriptions as is and adjust if anything increases beyond what I can afford on a monthly basis. With a three-paycheck month, I plan to increase how much money I’m adding to my emergency savings account to pay myself first and replenish those funds.
Bones, and the money ego death
I’ll leave you with a money lesson from one of my favorite TV shows, “Bones.” I recently watched it from start to finish after spending most of the early 2000s watching it on my parents’ couch in the evenings. Though I never finished it back then, I enjoy rewatching media when I have a new perspective on life to bring to the screen. This time, I caught how Dr. Jack Hodgins treats money.
Hodgins grows up in a wealthy family who owns the Cantilever Group. They happen to be the largest donors at the Jeffersonian Institute where Hodgins works. Hodgins initially hides his true identity from his coworkers, not wanting to be connected to his family’s name and immense wealth. Instead, he chooses to work in order to prove what he’s capable of as an individual.
In season 8, the group is being targeted by serial killer Pelant, who ends up draining Hodgins’ bank accounts of billions of dollars. When he finds out, Hodgins reveals his balanced relationship with money: He adjusts. They don’t show details, but his wife Angela Montenegro gives him high praise for how he handles it. He never once complains or feels sorry for himself. He still has his job, and therefore income, and his family with Angela. In a way, he didn’t feel he had earned his family’s wealth, which is why he insisted on working full-time.
Later, in season 10, when Angela recovers the money Pelant stole, Hodgins thanks her for finding it. Then, he tells her to get rid of it, considering it no longer his. “There’s so much blood on it,” he thinks people will never stop looking for it. He asks her to donate his money to 100 charities, to figure out their colleague’s cancer cure, anything but give it back to him. “We have enough,” he says definitively.
This is the philosophy I’ve always strived for around money. I am happy with what I have, and I know I have my money in savings vehicles that are making me money over time. I didn’t address my budget for so long because I could afford to do such a thing. I don’t have to think about money day to day; I get to choose when it matters, which is a huge privilege. A financial education is priceless and I’m extremely grateful for all of it ❣️.
Thank you for following along with my investing discoveries!
How to make budgeting fun:
Under Budget and Overwhelmed: Real Talk on My No-Buy Year Journey
The Carrie Finances: Honey, I Shrunk the Budget
Budgeting While Paying Down Debt
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