Spending log

One of the exercises this week in The Artist's Way is to keep track of all money spent. I've started this type of record keeping too many times before—lasting, at best, two months. But once more, I'll try. I want to focus not so much on how much money I spend but rather on what I spend it and why.

Starting yesterday, Monday, November 17:

• $18.23 (cc) for 10.607 gallons of gasoline at $1.719 / gallon; 119,038 miles

• $4.00 (pre-paid account) for salad mix

• $20.57 (cc) for three books. I stopped in at Archives Bookshop because I had some extra time before needing to leave for work. Bought:
  
  The Hymnal for Worship & Celebration—$10.00—because it has a lot of the old evangelical, gospel-type songs that I learned in the Baptist church growing up but that Lutherans don't know and that aren't in their hymn books (although some of the old gospel songs are now being included in newer Lutheran hymnal supplements).
  
  A Testament of Devotion by Thomas R. Kelly—$5.00
  
  Walking with Thomas Merton: Discovering His Poetry, Essays and Journals by Robert Waldron—$5.00. I'm overwhelmed by all the Merton books available and thought this would give me a good overview and guide to Merton's works. I can take advantage of my alum status and check out Merton's books from the seminary library.

• $4.30 + $1 tip (cash) for pho at lunch on the way to work. Think about what I could do to make and bring my own lunches to work more often.

• $0.79 (cash) for packet of cinnamon sticks to make Cranberry-Orange Sauce for potluck at work 11/18.

• $0.75 (cash) for peanut M&Ms from the vending machine at work. Remember to bring my own healthy snacks to work, e.g., an orange or two.

[Update at 9:00 PM]: $0 spent today. Potluck for lunch at work. No other occasion or desire to shop. Middle of the month—no bills due.

[Update for Wednesday, 11/19/03]: $4.00 (cash) for church dinner.

[Update for Thursday, 11/20/03]:

• $1.00 (cash) for sucker someone at work was selling as a fundraiser for his daughter's sorority for Alzheimer's research.

• $5.60 (cash) for hot chocolate and muffin in lieu of lunch

• $31.93 (cc) for used books from Bodhi Tree Bookstore
  
  The Intimate Merton: His Life from His Journals edited by P. Hart and J. Montaldo—$8.00
  
  The Still Point: Reflections on Zen and Christian Mysticism by William Johnston, S. J.—$10.00. And because I can't pass up the opportunity for yet another T. S. Eliot quote, the title is taken from Eliot's Four Quartets:

  the light is still
  At the still point of the turning world

  The Cloud of Unknowing, 14th Century Anonymous. Thomas Keating's Centering Prayer method draws much from this book.

• undisclosed

• $ undisclosed for dinner and fundraiser for Pasadena-area Bad Weather Shelter

[Update for Friday and Saturday, 11/21-22/03]:

• $2.17 (cash) for yogurt plus granola and the LA Times

• $2.00 (cash) library fine

• $3.00 (cash) cut flowers from the Farmer's Market

• $18.79 (cc) for 10.681 gallons of gasoline at $1.759 / gallon; 119,271 miles (21.81 miles/gallon—mostly city traffic with one 50 mile freeway round-trip)

• $2.92 (cash) bean and cheese burrito, spicy, with cilantro

[Update for Sunday, 11/23/03]:

• $2.50 (cash) for load of wash in large frontloading machine at laundromat

• $1.45 (cash) for coffee and donut whilst waiting for wash to finish

• $ undisclosed church contribution

• $3.00 (cash) for sandwich for church fundraiser

• $1.65 (cash) Sunday LA Times, purchased because the cover article of the Magazine is about Fuller Seminary

• $358.25 (cc) round-trip ticket to Washington state for Christmas. The fare might have been cheaper if I'd bought the ticket more in advance. But it's difficult to know my schedule so early. Plus it's high demand time for air travel.

• $14.02 (cc) for Simone Weil's Gravity & Grace.