A Week in Denver on a $65,000 Salary
On January 4, 2022 by Sarah WellsWelcome to Spending Notes, where we do a weekly deep dive into how our readers spend their cash.
Today: a business owner who makes $65,000 a year
Occupation: business owner
Age: 32
Location: Denver, CO
Salary: $65,000 (approx. $2,000 per pay period)
Day One
Currently, I own a cafe in Denver. It’s been a challenging couple of years as a business owner, but with the support of our community, we have been doing all right and have managed to keep a decent number of employees. Most of the time, I hang around the shop and look into our daily expenses. I look at the supplies we need to order and if we can somehow bring more customers in. We already have a good number of regulars, but promotions usually end up bringing in more people even if it’s just for a short amount of time. One of my employees, T., is closing, so I left work around 2 P.M. to make dinner for me and my partner, R.
Total: $0
Day Two
I worked the opening shift again and have really been enjoying our new POS system. When you’re a merchant, credit card fees are a pain to deal with. The company we use, Payment Depot, has helped me navigate the fees, so I know I’m paying fairly. Plus, their system allows for an integrated application that takes in mobile application orders or website orders. As long as our customers are making eligible purchases, they can acquire bonus points for our loyalty rewards program. We get a lot of DoorDash orders for our savory pastries and sandwiches, so it’s nice to have a system that allows for those to come in seamlessly. I went home around three o’clock and picked up some groceries. R. had been home the whole day.
Total: $42
Day Three
R. and I took an early morning walk with our parrot, Z. He perches up on your shoulder and stays there the whole time. Z. really enjoys fresh air. I am planning on closing today because I have a lot of paperwork to handle. I also have to start working on the schedule for next month. That way, my employees can start making their plans around their schedule and have time to request time off if they need it. Before work, I got a burrito at Chipotle.
Total: $9
Day Four
I didn’t work today. My employee T. is back from vacation, so I now have workers who can both open and close the store. I decided to use my time to look over my investment portfolio. I have been considering Alamos Gold to invest in after looking at the NASDAQ stock chart. AGI, or Alamos Gold Inc., has gold mining projects in North America. I’ve decided to move around some of my investments to invest into AGI and signed up for additional alert options for this miner stock. I made dinner for R., and we caught up on our Netflix shows.
Total: $0
Day Five
After my morning shift, I took R. to an upscale restaurant. We like to commit to a weekly date night just to make sure we’re spending quality time together. In a couple of months, we are taking a trip to New Jersey to visit R.’s family. I found some plane tickets online at a decent price. We decided to book the flights and split the cost.
Total: $257.32
Day Six
With the work schedule finalized, I sent it to my team via email. One of the other memorable parts of my workday was getting to talk to a 17-year-old who is graduating high school.
Total: $0
Day Seven
I didn’t do a full work shift and just dropped by the shop to handle a few administrative tasks. Then, R. and I went to Rocky Mountain National Park for a family hike with my brother, D., and his wife, Y. I paid for gas.
Total: $25
Total for the week: $333.32