Life Lately and Money Diaries Part 2

Money Diaries 21.01. - 27.01.2019

Part 2: Thursday-Sunday

Click here for Part 1.

Donnerstag

€178,80  AirBnB

Heaven help me, I didn't leave the house today either, but I still managed to spend some money. I reserved my accommodations for the second and third weeks of my hunting class, and the above is my down payment for the Dachwohnung (flat) I've booked for early July through AirBnB. I'll stay at a hotel in the nearest village during the third week, and although I've reserved that room as well, I haven't had to pay yet.

On days I don't leave the house, I don't just lie around all day. I do laundry and dishes, dust and/or vacuum, tidy up and clean, prepare dinner, and study for the Jägerprüfung, but I also spend too much time on the computer: emailing, checking Facebook for new videos of Poldi, working on exchange programm stuff, writing a blog post, and checking U.S. news. I really need to get out more, walk more, move more.

Freitag

€35,46   Real  (€42,81 - €7,35 Pfand (deposit))

Today's errands were making an appointment with the local Notar so that we can write (handwrite - required in Germany) our Testamente (wills) and Vorsorgevollmächte (living wills) and going to the Supermarkt (yes, I remembered the cheddar this time). The Notar's secretary gave June 11th for the next available appointment. We'll have to work extra hard to stay alive until then.

The rest of the day involved translating information sheets about our exchange students to send to the organizers in Sheboygan, reading a little from the February issue of Deutsch Perfekt, a bit of cleaning, an aborted nap, a call to my mom (who is still alone while my dad gallivants around Iceland searching for the elusive northern lights), and several emails.

Look! He found them!

For dinner we had steak (€15 of the above bill) and mashed but lumpy parsnips-n-taters. Since I had spent nearly the entire damn day on the computer, I took some time after dinner to study while M watched the new "Grand Tour" episode.

Samstag

€0

My friends and former students, Mohammad and Hassan, had invited us to Mohammad's place in Tübingen for an Arabic meal this afternoon. They served Frikeh, Kebab mit Aubergine, Tomaten und Pilze, Tabule, and Schakria. It was all very delicious, and we had a nice time and good conversation.

We brought them Kleinigkeiten (small gifts one brings when invited to someone's home in Germany), but they were things we already had. I have a stash of Wisconsin- and Sheboygan-themed gifts for such occasions, because I like to give people things from the homeland.

We were home by early evening and had a quiet Saturday night.

Sonntag

€0

Here's the thing about Sundays in Germany/Swabia: Everything is closed. Unless we go out to a restaurant or tourist attraction, stop at a gas station mini-mart, or shop online, there's no way to spend money on a Sunday. We generally stay home, watch Sendung mit der Maus in the morning and grumble if it doesn't end with "Shaun das Schaf" (it did today - Bitzer the dog had to wear the cone of shame and the sheep first laughed at him, then felt sorry for him), I read, nap, or study and don't have to feel guilty for not cleaning because one shouldn't work on God's holy Swabian Sunday.

We ate up some leftovers for dinner, which meant no new expenses and no wasting.

Therefore my grand total for this lazy week is: €408,06.

But then I opened my wallet (purse, for my British readers) to get Euro bills to take the above photo and found only a 50. M was also no help, so I donned my hat and boots and stomped to the Geldautomat (ATM) to get the bills I needed for the photo. If I add that to my total, it comes to €558,06. Then again, I haven't spent that yet, so I'll stick with €408,06.

During the coming week I will be taking the train to Esslingen (€11,90) for several meetings, and I will also need to fill the gas tank (€75?). Not because I used the car so much (because I didn't), but because M will be driving to Esslingen and back to replace his mum's laptop. I clearly have much more spare time than he does, and since a new Aral has opened right near Real, it's no trouble for me to pop over and fill up. 

I think I'll do this again, though I don't know if I'll blog about it. The original Money Diaries (I linked to them in Part 1) are much more interesting than what I've written!

What do you spend in a week? 

Are you willing to keep track and find out? :-)