A Week in Pasadena on a $60,000 Salary

Welcome to Spending Notes, where we do a weekly deep dive into how our readers spend their cash.

Today, a human resources representative who makes $60,000 a year spills the beans on what he’s doing this week.

Occupation: Human Resources Representative

Age: 33

Location: Pasadena, CA

Salary: $60,000 (approx. $2,300 per pay period)

Day One

It’s Monday after work, and I’m waiting at home for the best wired mouse to arrive at my doorstep so I can continue building my world on Minecraft. I hear the door ring and nearly trip over my shoes. I open the door and my package is sitting there. I unbox my new SteelSeries Rival 3 gaming mouse and immediately plug it in. I can already feel how durable the encasing is and the RGB lighting is sleek and gives it that cyberpunk vibe I love. I hate having to move my wired mouse around too much so I crank up the DPI to 8,500. The optical sensor provides incredible precision, and the best part is I can switch between work mode to game mode with keybinding. This is the best mouse for gamers like me who prefer wired vs wireless mice. It’s also an ergonomic mouse so I can play for long hours while keeping my battery life intact.

Total: $32.94

Day Two

Tuesday is here, and during my lunch break, I ordered a Monarch Legion of the Bloom vape to see if I can chill a bit because work has been overwhelming these last few months. A lot of people are having personal issues due to the global situation so we’ve had to make a lot of changes to the company’s policies. I got the Animal Cookies Monarch vape pen and added a one-gram cannabis oil cartridge of Ice Cream Cake and another of Hawaiian Purple Kush.

The Animal Cookies Monarch contains 90 percent THC and has a terpenes profile of pinene, myrcene, and limonene. Its flavors are vanilla, earthy, and sweet and provide a relatively great head high and a medium body high. This is already my favorite vape because it’s so sleek and plastic-free, and it fits perfectly in my pocket. Please speak to your primary health care provider before using a vape, though!

Total: $57.98

Day Three

Today, I’m at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens to enjoy the peace and tranquility this place offers. I figured I’d enjoy my vape prior to coming here so I’m more relaxed to enjoy the scenery and have more peace of mind.

Total: $26.73

Day Four

It’s lunchtime and I’m starving. I wanted to try something different this week, so I ordered some Vietnamese noodles from Ginger and Spice Noodle & Grill. Their Pho Noodle Soup with house beef broth and rice noodles is to die for. I can’t believe I haven’t ordered from here before.

Total: $12.54

Day Five

Friday is finally here and I can’t wait for tonight because I invited four of my friends over for a game night. We’re playing some Just Dance on my Switch for now and later we’ll maybe get into Mario Golf: Super Rush. I ordered wings, mozzarella sticks, and garlic bread from Pietro’s Restaurant as appetizers for my friends, and the night passed by fantastically.

Total: $22.43

Day Six

So today, Saturday, I decided to go walk through Old Pasadena to shop with my good friend C. We went to Anthropologie, and I bought myself a pear-scented Strata Glass Candle and a Giada Task Lamp for my living room.

Total: $156.02