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Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Money diaries: a week in August

Here we go again! I'm broke right now so let's see how much I bury myself in debt this week lol

Monday - 1,453.66

  • Dinner at Sariwon - 873.66
    • I over-ordered tonight. Bought gimbap when I knew marinated beef samgyup with rice and lots of banchan is enough. I ended up taking home half the beef, rice, and gimbap. I love Sariwon's kimchi!
  • Dessert at M.Bakery - 440.00
    • Had classic tres leches and hot americano
  • Parking - 140.00

Tuesday - 0.00
  • Lunch at Tapa Addiction - 0.00
    • Jeckie paid for this one, I just had to note it down cos it's a new discovery for us! Yehey for a cheap dining option at Unimart! We normally eat at Poco Deli or Single Origin before doing the grocery. Sometimes we'd eat tusok tusok but most of the time we want a full meal haha. So yeah, value for money this sure beats Via Mare in terms of tapsi.
  • Cooked sous vide steak and truffle mashed potatoes for dinner! It's perfect I LOVE SOUS VIDE!!!

Wednesday - 0.00
  • Went to the gym then back home. Didn't spend a dime! 
  • We're on Class Pass trial making the most of the 28 trial credits (worth 50 pesos lol). And for our 2nd trial gym we went to Activate Hoop Arena. Had trouble parking cos there's only one slot left and we're in between two big SUVs. Didn't enjoy our workout so much because the gym is kinda bad? The equipment are all worn out, rusty, and all over the place. Everything is so disorganized. The lat pull down machine is dangerous. The gym area is very small, it seems like they just put a bunch of exercise machines on the court sides so the athletes may have something to use when they're not playing.

    It's very apparent the place was primarily for court players as the gym area seemed very neglected. Later on during our workout, volleyball players joined us in the gym area and at that point it became very crowded. Jeckie felt suffocated so we ended up not finishing our workout.

    I have nothing against the team in fact they were pretty respectful about sharing the space. It's just that I feel like Activate shouldn't have allowed open gym access when there are players on court because damn we were more than 10 people in their tiny gym and it's too tight huhu.

    Actually Activate should totally stop offering open gym access. There are better bakal gyms out there. So much for catering to professional athletes.
  • Anyway. Cooked chicken Caesar salad for dinner. 

Thursday - 200.00
  • Poy-Sian pasabuy - 200.00
    • I went out around to meet a friend to get my pasabuy from Thailand. Finally got a good supply of Poy-Sian. I keep losing mine in the bed or in the laundry haha. Thanks and happy birthday Meg! I missed you!
  • I snacked a lot this afternoon. Had pandesal with homemade tomato garlic spread (thanks mama for the recipe! Mine turned a bit salty lol), added in basil from my plant out in the balcony yey, ate leftover korean beef sukiyaki and egg roll from two weeks ago lol (it's still good), and finished my Lays salt and vinegar chips.
  • And for dinner I coked airfried salmon and truffle oatmeal risotto.

Friday - 139.00
  • For today's Class Pass trial we went to Gold's Gym at Robinson's Galleria. Thought it would be easier to park there compared to Megamall where we can go to Slimmer's World instead. Well, we were almost wrong haha. The line coming in to the basement parking was super long, but thank God we were able to get a slot quick. :)
  • Had a great workout at Gold's! It was big, spacious, clean, and there are tons of equipment. For once Jeckie and I didn't have to share a bench hehe 
  • Most of the equipment are looking old but they're all still functional and looks maintained naman.
  • Spent 89.00 for Takoyaki which was borderline cancerous because they torched the cheese topping right on the food box which has a plastic lining so there are black burn marks, it even crumpled a bit urgh. They're killing me. Anyway, I loved the takoyaki haha
  • Mall parking - 50.00

Saturday - 4,807.50
  • Lunch at Swagat - 1,512.50
    • Had some good Indian food after a great workout at Makati Shang Health Club! Jeckie has been telling me about Swagat for a long time. Then they moved to Rada and I finally got to try it cos it's more accessible for us in terms of parking hehe.
  • Karada massage - 2,295.00
    • First time to try it! I always thought they're a chiro clinic but they actually offer dry massage and alignment. First time to have my neck cracked and boy was it an out of this world experience! The relief is incredible. It's too expensive for me though and I still prefer Swedish massage.
  • Tip for Karada - 200.00
    • Now it's made even more expensive because two people worked on me haha. 
  • Iced mocha at Blue Wonder - 155.00
  • Dinner at Wu's Kitchen - 585.00
    • I got a bit hungry from the massage lol
  • Parking - 60.00

Sunday - 3,833.04
  • Lunch at Ono - 600.54
    • Got the salmon poke bowl. It was delicious. But I prefer Fit Fuel's salmon bowl because they use smoked salmon instead hehe
  • Dessert at Nine Fresh - 336.00
    • I've been meaning to try this for so long so I finally took the chance since we're at robmag! Looked at TBG for recos so I got the Awe in One cup which was delicious!!! It's like taho with bilo bilo, grass jelly, other jellies, toppings, and creamer. Not too sweet, not too heavy. It's perfect! 
    • Then I realized the one I've been wanting to try is actually Meet Fresh, not Nine Fresh haha. Kaya pala there's nothing like bingsu in their menu hehe.
  • Takoyaki from the basement food court - 85.00
    • 🙅‍♀️
  • Uniqlo shirt - 790.00
  • Cinnabon - 500.00
  • Army Navy take out - 1,292.50
  • Midnight snack at mcdo - 179.00
  • Parking - 50.00

Oh well, I thought I'd be spending less this time but look at our grand total: 

₱10,433.20

It's even bigger than the last time. Yikes.

As much as I want that amount to be my normal weekly budget, I can't right now cos I have to settle my credit card debts. But oh well. Looks like I have to watch my spending more! 🫠

Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Money diaries: a week in July


A lot of how my week went can be seen in how I spend. I'm trying to save money right now because I just spent most of my allowance paying for my credit card dues. I wanna start the next month on a clean slate without any debt. So yeah, watch me struggle lol. 

Monday - 1,548.29
  • Dinner at Mary Grace - 1,188.29
    • I had bangus silog with rosemary rice, carrot cake, and hot americano. Urielle and I shared cassava chips, which was lovely! It's like very thin kropek with a delicious onion dip. Definitely will try agin.
  • Coffee at Starbucks - 190.00
    • My usual tall vanilla sweet cream cold brew. Strong, creamy, not too sweet.
  • Parking at Three Parkade - 170.00
    • I'm getting used to parking here.

Tuesday - 1,263.48
  • Lunch at Nono's - 783.48
    • I had coddled egg with truffle mash, hot long black, and waffles. I loved it. Their chicken and waffles is also good! Jeckie got the one with southern rub, kinda like cajun. It was delicious! And so today, Nono's got redeemed. We really didn't want to eat here as we were disappointed twice already in the past. It seems like breakfast is their strength, and third time's the charm. Their waffles are more like croffles (waffle shaped croissant) so I can't compare it to my favorite waffles (Pancake House) hehe. They're very good though!
  • Dinner from Hia Lek (Grab) - 480.00
    • I had a lot of meetings tonight so we decided to order in. As usual I got krapow with rice and egg, lemongrass juice, and mango sticky rice! Love it!

Wednesday - 1,375.36
  • Lunch at Poco Deli - 675.36
    • I had pulled corned beef and hot americano. I just realized today that I actually love corned beef. From the cheap carne norte ones to the more expensive brands like Delimondo/Palm/Tulip. There's nothing to hate. And the homemade ones, pulled beef or slab, so much better. 👌
  • Parking at Unimart - 50.00
  • Dinner at FitFuel - 650.00
    • Fetched Koomi at daycare. It was evening rush hour so we decided to park at Pioneer Center instead and grab dinner. Boy is it crazy in this side of town. As usual, Pioneer was filled with stupid and undisciplined drivers, blocking yellow boxes, counterflowing, overtaking, and lane grabbing. It look us like 15 minutes just to get inside PC and we were right at the crossing! 

Thursday - 1,072.00
  • Day pass at Anytime Fitness - 500.00
    • Coach isn't back until mid August so we had to workout ourselves. Tried Anytime Fitness nearby and it was okay. But it's a bit expensive to do it 3x a week. Will try other options. Condo gym can get crowded, and has less equipment too.
  • Coffee at Starbucks - 190.00
    • The usual!
  • Sous vide container - 382.00
    • Jeckie bought a second hand sous vide machine from a neighbor and we're very excited to try it! Thus, the container! And ziplocs to follow! 😊
Urgh why can't I have a sub-1k day for once??

Friday - 50.00
  • ClassPass trial - 50.00
    • This is the only thing I spent on today. ClassPass trial gives you 28 credits for just 50 pesos, good for 14 days. We figured since we don't have PT sessions for now, we'll just get open gym access to wherever our trial credits take us. So far we've booked open gym time at Activate. There aren't a lot of nearby open gym options for the trial credits. But I've seen promising ones like The Health Club at Makati Shang, Rockwell Athletica, and Devarana Fitness at Dusit Thani Hotel. 

Saturday - 1,824.38
  • Yoh Yogurt drink - 155.00
    • As post-workout. Yoh Yogurt used to be where Koomi is at SM Light. It's tastes good, but not as good as Koomi. We feel like those that replaced Koomi took over their inventory so they have the same Australian style yogurt which has a great tanginess to it. Joee in Unimart Capitol Commons is a good example. Tastes almost like Koomi but they offer less variety. Koomi used to be in their place too.
  • Dinner at Maisen -1,029.38
    • Had katsu set and potato salad. Yum! 
  • Dessert at M Bakery - 465.00
    • First time to try tres leches and OMG it's so good!!! It's not too sweet and it pairs so well with strawberries. The sponge cake was sitting in milk which I found interesting but grabe the milk is so good. I love it. 
  • Coffee at Highlands - 125.00
    • I can't help it! We bought something from Landmark and I knew there's Highlands Coffee just across so yeah, got a medium iced mocha.
  • Parking - 50.00

Sunday - 674.00
  • Merienda at BRTO - 340.00
    • I had birria burrito and house blend iced tea. So good! Went to Promenade at Greenhills to have my dyson submarine serviced. The mop attachment is having issues with leaking and sucking water in. I hope they fix it, better if they replace it. 
  • Red mango - 95.00
    • First time to try Red Mango. Finally! It's sweet and creamy and almost like White Hat but it's too sweet for me hehe.
  • Parking - 50.00
  • Badminton - 114.50
  • Spider-Man Homecoming - 74.50
    • We couldn't find it streaming anywhere so we had to rent a copy at Apple TV.
Hurray for a sub 1k day haha.

So how did I do last week?


Grand total - 7,807.51 

I'm averaging 1.1k per day which is uhm, not ideal lol. That's gotta change, but also, I just need to clear my current debt so that I can afford a 1k/day spending. Maybe that should be my limit. I think the major culprit it heading out, as it opens a lot of temptation to spend money on food.