how to spend $100 in Boston 💸
special compost bags, excessive coffee, tampons, and a transit pass
Back in the day, I used to read this blog about work and money called The Billfold. The Billfold had a feature called My Last $100 where writers and normal people would journal everything they purchased up until $100. I started writing my own for fun last week and really liked how it turned out, so here it is :)
If you like reading about my trips to the store and life in a multi-dog lesbian household, you will LOVE the following posts: Dinner Diary #1, Dinner Diary #2, Dinner Diary #3, Dinner Diary #4, and Dinner Diary #5.
xoxo, Maddy
Monday
3-Gallon Compostable Food Scrap Bags: $5.09
Our first apartment in Somerville had a compost bin that was just a big, open box by the garage. There were multiple rats living in there and one larger, more confident rat who hung out on the side. I’m not a fan of rats, so I would stand back as far as possible while dumping food scraps and listen to excited rustling from below. They were thanking me, I think. We got a new neighbor our last month living there and she said she was going to talk to the landlord about the rats and the bin, so I don’t think it’s there anymore.
In our current building, we put our food scraps in special biodegradable bags. The bags go into a trash can with a locking top and once a week, a man with with big sea captain energy comes to collect it. I hate having to buy these bags because it just seems like another thing to buy and buying things is what’s killing the planet, but rules are rules.
My review of these bags is that they’ll get the job done, but not without ripping and leaking garbage juice everywhere. They were made to return to the earth and I cannot change them!! This was my third time purchasing a 25-pack and at the very least, it was cool to envision 50 bags of wet food averted from the landfill.
Relatedly, I really liked this Helen Rosner essay about food waste, expensive home composting machines, and wanting to feel like a responsible consumer.
Tuesday
iced soy latte: $7.49
Today I got coffee with Julia, who writes an amazing newsletter about lesbian culture and feminist history called Dyke Domesticity We talked about the Lex app and so much more. It’s very on-brand of me to make a cool new friend right before moving.
Next, Liz met me at the vet with Louis. He needed his annual heart worm and lyme test, plus some vaccines so he doesn’t die from the outdoors. I also purchased a 6-month supply of heart worm and tick/flea preventatives, and refilled his prescription for what I call Louie’s Little Helpers (dog Prozac). The total came to $478, which is BONKERS. He didn’t even have an exam!! I decided not to count this expenditure towards my $100 because I want to keep writing, and this isn’t like, a daily expense.
movie tickets to Showing Up: $20.00
Showing Up, the new Kelly Reichardt movie, was playing down the street. If you read this newsletter, you know this is basically like Star Wars for me. Michelle Williams plays Lizzy, a prickly artist who’s constantly being inconvenienced and interrupted by the basic needs of others (her cat needs to be fed, her brother’s mental health is precarious, there’s a whole thing with her dad), while also struggling to get her own basic needs met (Lizzy’s landlord is a more successful, more socially astute artist who’s too busy to fix her hot water). As far as Kelly Reichardt films go, this one is really fleshy. The world of the art school where Lizzy works as an administrator feels so colorful and real—some of my favorite moments were just watching student art projects. There were actual jokes, too. And dialogue! I don’t know that I’ve seen a movie that is entirely about creative labor before, and I liked the depiction of it as kind of sucky but also not a choice.
We used an inconspicuous lesbian tote bag to smuggle in our own popcorn and Skittles. I had a Diet Coke tall boy in the pocket of my fleece. Liz opted to purchase a $4 fountain soda from the official concession stand because she felt guilty. It was flat, mais oui.
Cristian Latin Restaurant: $9.00
I needed night pupusas to write and think.
Wednesday
Dunkin Donuts: $10.04
Liz was studying for a big test today, so I brought her an oat milk matcha latte for resolve. I got an iced turtle latte with whole milk because I was feeling momentarily wretched and I NEEDED my coffee to come in the form of a fucked-up milkshake. I think my last meal would be a venti chocolate chip Frappuccino and Rocky Rococo’s pizza (I am being executed in northeastern Wisconsin hhaha).
grocery run: $22.00
A few days ago, I made this Alison Roman recipe for sheet-pan chicken with chickpeas, cumin and turmeric. It was so good, I put it in my “weeknight dinners that aren’t depressing“ folder. I ran out to buy tortillas to turn the leftovers into tacos or maybe enchiladas. I also got bananas, garlic, chocolate chips for future cookies, and peanut butter cup ice cream. Overall, this was a pretty normal trip to the grocery store for me. I usually buy half ingredients and half snacks because I strive for balance in all things.
MBTA: $20.00
I swung by the train station and added $20 to my CharlieCard, which is what transit passes in Boston are called. I run most errands on foot and only use transit when I’m partying or going into the city, so this will last me a full month or two. My girlfriend read a draft of this and pointed out that she also drives me a lot of places. I KNOW, OKAY!! SORRY I CAN’T DRIVE STICK! IT’S A CONFIDENCE ISSUE!!
On the way there and back, I listened to this very funny, very smart Samantha Irby interview where she discusses the WGA strike, internet hate, and being a writer on And Just Like That, the SATC reboot. I was also really charmed by this This American Life piece about the Phantom of the Opera pit orchestra, which interviews several highly-trained musicians about what it’s like to play the same Andrew Lloyd Weber music multiple times a week for literal decades. Many of them were just thankful for the financial stability. One musician had been playing in the orchestra for over 20 years and had never actually seen the show. Incredible life experience.
Shoppy Shop: $16.63
I’m sailing over the $100 limit with this one, but I won’t lie to you. I purchased tampons and candles. The candles are for lesbian dinner party reasons. The tampons are for easy summer living. A few months ago, I bought the Salt mensural disc because I could never quite get the hang of a Diva Cup and I was tired of buying menstrual products. The disc is easy to insert and feels like nothing when it’s in. Sadly, I’m not able to remove it without sinking into a full-on goddess squat. I have to do it in the bathtub because blood drops out no matter how I angle it, so it’s not something I can use while travelling or being a busy gal on the go. Hence the tampons.
Total spent: $110.25
omg thanks for the shout-out!! re: dunks I literally once talked to my therapist about being too emotionally dependent on dunkin donuts iced coffee with "mocha swirl" (aka chocolate syrup) in it, and she was like....this isn't a real problem lol
Off topic but I am watching Ultimatum: Queer Love on Netflix and would DIE to hear your recaps, this show is WILD 😂