A Week In Seattle On A $354,000 Household Income

Refinery29

21-07-2025

Welcome to Money Diaries where we are tackling the ever-present taboo that is money. We're asking real people how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we're tracking every last dollar.
Today: an occupational therapist who has a $354,000 household income and who spends some of her money this week on chili crisp (for both personal use and gifting purposes).
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Occupation: Occupational therapist
Industry: Healthcare
Age: 31
Location: Seattle, WA
Salary: My rate is $60 an hour — last year I made $101,000.
Household Income & Financial Setup: $354,000. My boyfriend, M., outearns me pretty significantly and we are still navigating how to share that divide. Currently, I pay him rent and we split groceries and utilities 2:1. We have no joint accounts but know all of each other's numbers and are both generous with covering meals and small expenses. He does often pay for the nicer meals or bigger house purchases. We split travel evenly, but are discussing if we should change that. We use a lot of points and don't reimburse each other for those.
Assets: 401(k): $22,585; IRA: $51,401; Robinhood: $18,166; rollover IRA #1: $5,353; rollover IRA #2: $5,643; Acorns: $2,271; Ally HYSA: $15,141; local credit union checking: $1,378; local credit union savings: $800; car: $4,500.
Debt: $2,488, all in student loans.
Paycheck Amount (Monthly): $8,400 pre tax and retirement, but this varies.
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Housing Costs: $1,100 paid to M., who owns the house. We live with a dog (who does not pay rent).
Loan Payments: $476.15 every two weeks towards student loans.
401(k): 15% of what I make monthly with a 4% company match.
Roth IRA: $583.33
Gym: $99
Phone: $42.50 paid toward family plan.
Utilities: This varies but around $200 for my portion of water, trash, and electricity.
Donations: $250 reoccurring and usually an extra $100-$400 in mutual aid or Go Fund Me.
Annual Expenses
Car Insurance: $650
Credit Card Fees: $680 aggregate (high, but we use the perks well).
Costco: $65 for my half.
Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Yes, college was always expected. My parents never really talked us through other options and I was a high-achieving student at a low-achieving school, so all my teachers expected it as well. I knew I wanted to go into healthcare or social work so it was always an assumption that I would get at least a master's degree. I applied for a needs-based scholarship in middle school that got me through most of undergrad. It wasn't enough for my final year but I was able to graduate early to offset the extra costs of a tuition raise. My parents paid for the rent and end of undergrad for me. Graduate school was extremely expensive. Therapy is a very high debt-burden-to-income ratio. I paid my first semester in cash and only took out loans for tuition. I worked almost full time during which is unusual for a professional program and was extremely stressful. I graduated with around $100,000 in debt and paid extensively during COVID-19 so I am almost done, but it is pretty frustrating to see reimbursement rates stagnant as debt burdens increase.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s)/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
My parents were incredibly frugal and I picked up on a lot of that. They gave us very small allowances (literally starting with three nickels but then increasing to six) and had us split it between give, save, and to have fun with. It was negligible to pay for much, but did get the point across for budgeting. We never talked about stocks or investing or the reality of taking on so much debt for school. My parents continue to be very frugal, but I think are sometimes unrealistic about how much potential things like longterm care could cost.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
My first job was nannying at 11 years old. I made $5 an hour to watch a five and six year old for 42 hours a week. It seems archaic now, but I had that job for several summers. At 16 years old, I worked as a server at a retirement home. I kept this job through the end of high school and during early college breaks. I got the jobs to pay for any extra curricular and social activities that I wanted to participate in. My friends were all more affluent and it felt like a necessity.
Did you worry about money growing up?
Yes. Money to me was freeing and my parents never gave us money for social activities. We always had the necessities and I never worried about food or housing. We were very lucky how present our parents were and both often worked part time to be with us, but we rarely had more than the necessities. I was the only upperclassmen on my school bus for example — the rest of my rural-ish community gave kids cars at 16 years old. My dad lost his job when I was in high school and my family was very stressed about it, but I didn't know much about the realities of how that changed their finances.
Do you worry about money now?
Yes and no. Having gone to grad school I feel very behind in savings and investing as I didn't start truly working beyond paying rent and food until 25 years old. My career is also pretty capped in pay, which is frustrating. I have a very supportive partner and a very in-demand job which helps with stability. I've also made significant progress in saving and paying down debt which increases my comfort level.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
At 22. My parents retired and I got kicked off their health insurance at that point, as well as losing any support for rent and schooling. I think they would likely help me if I needed it, but I would turn to my partner or sister first. I have a large extended family so I would always have somewhere to live.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
Yes. My parents supported the end of undergrad and gave my sister and I each $5,000 when our grandmother died. This started my Roth IRA.
Day One: Monday
6:40 a.m. — Wake up before my alarm. I have been in and out of sleep for a while so I decide to get up. Kiss M., my boyfriend, and Q., our dog, who are both still snoozing. Make coffee and look through emails for the day. Put on sunscreen. M. had Q. before we met and does most of the dog care while I take the heterosexual dad approach (I know where the vet is and refer to it as babysitting when I have him for the weekend). If not mentioned, know that Q. gets four walks a day, minimum.
8 a.m. — M.'s mom is staying with us and I help her with breakfast things while M. finishes some work. They leave around 10 a.m. to go for a hike. I make and eat a quesadilla between meetings.
12 p.m. — Normally I have no gap between meetings and treating, but my first two kids are out for Spring Break so I take time to run, shower, and eat lunch. I have salted cucumbers and a salad with vegan chicken nuggets. Q. returns from his day dog walker in time to share my cucumbers.
2:15 p.m. — Head out for my first non-cancelled kid for the day. I have two teenage girls in a row who are both absolutely wonderful and totally different. Both I love hanging out with.
5:35 p.m. — Get home from my kids. M. is on the couch and we share Chex Mix my mom made us for our Passover/Easter basket. I make ratatouille and polenta for dinner. M.'s mom mentions she doesn't make a lot of stews and I have to confess I make ratatouille like the rat not like the original dish.
6:45 p.m. — Eat and clean the kitchen. I have leftover carrot cake a friend made for Seder dinner. It's good for gluten free. M. and his mom take Q. out for his evening walk and I send some emails and document for the day.
10 p.m. — Brush teeth, retinol, sleep.
Daily Total: $0
Day Two: Tuesday
5:55 a.m. — Wake up with my alarm and move to the couch. Read the news and make coffee. I prep for my sessions and clean out my backpack. I grab some oranges and a granola bar but will get something during a gap so I don't try super hard.
7:15 a.m. — Say goodbye to M. and Q. and M.'s mom, who is heading to the airport while I'm at work. Sunscreen in the car. Chat about self-advocacy and making good choices in class with my first friend and make a little visual for it.
8:30 a.m. — My second kid is out so I go to Starbucks and get a matcha oat latte and a falafel wrap ($10.41 on a gift card). Going to Starbucks in the Seattle area is pretty embarrassing, but they consistently have a place I can work. Answer emails and complete notes.
9:30 a.m. — Hang out with my next two little friends. Lots of executive functioning and social emotional stuff. The first one radiates joy and is one of my favorites. Not that I have favorites.
11:20 a.m. — Drive to my next school. Feeding therapy kid. His teacher tells me that he has continued to eat a particular food that we mastered last session. We make a mess with couscous and snap peas. Hope the teachers continue to like me. I have another big gap, although my last kid blessedly moved up. I stop by our house to send emails, document, and take a 15-minute coffee nap.
2:55 p.m. — Last kid of the day. We work on handwriting and nose blowing. He tells me I'm his favorite teacher. We are having too much fun so he probably is almost ready to be done with therapy.
4 p.m. — Drive to kick boxing. It's a short class, but enjoyable. It's a balmy day for Seattle and I get lured into an Indian cafe and get M. and I mango lassis. $11.01
5 p.m. — Give M. his snacks and check in about the day. I am doing a big screening tomorrow so I spent the evening printing and preparing.
7:30 p.m. — Make rice, Cantonese soft tofu, and roasted broccolini for dinner. We are low on chili crisp and it's cheaper to order three so I do. They make good gifts. $44.97
10 p.m. — I am having trouble settling down (couldn't be the news that I'm reading on my phone in bed) so I get up and trim and thin my hair and do a face mask. I tell M. so he can pretend to have noticed and he tells me how good it looks. Stretch, warm water, and read (On Looking by Alexandra Horowitz). I fall asleep sometime around midnight.
Daily Total: $55.98
Day Three: Wednesday
6:30 a.m. — Up and double check all the materials for screenings while my coffee drips through the pour over. Several families have added, even though the deadline is well in the past.
8:30 a.m. — I take a meeting over the phone while driving to the school (and putting on sunscreen). I am screening any child pre-K to 5th grade with another OT at a private Catholic school. I take another meeting at the school and then start pulling kids.
2:45 p.m. — All done! I had a granola bar and green juice earlier, but we didn't get a break for lunch and I'm starving. Pack up all the materials and head to a grocery store I've been wanting to try. I commit the cardinal sin of grocery shopping hungry, but don't spend too outrageous an amount. I get honey butter chips, mango sago, salmon ongiri, pok choy, pea vines, seafood mushrooms, pork and vegetable dumplings, vegetable buns, spicy rice crust crackers, peach ice cream, curry rice balls, and rice vinegar. All the meat and seafood is for M. only. $65.67
3:45 p.m. — Get home, unpack, and answer emails. I eat the honey butter chips, apples, bell peppers, and two curry rice balls. I answer emails and other therapist questions I missed.
6:15 p.m. — Grab a bell pepper each (leaving behind the bell pepper tax for Q.) and walk to trivia at a local bar. M. orders himself chili and me a beer. We split fries. The four of us there have a pretty even split in knowledge areas but there is a disproportionate amount of French knowledge on this one. We get third place.
8:30 p.m. — Home. I eat some rice chips and drink a ton of water. My sister facetimes to try to use our Amex codes for an LCD Soundsystem concert presale. We split the mango sago and a peach ice cream while talking to her.
5:30 a.m. — Wake up with the light. I make coffee and water. I answer emails and start some laundry.
9 a.m. — I meant to go for a run earlier, but got caught up in work. M. and I both leave for runs. I do a quick hill workout and head back and shower. Make a strawberry banana smoothie before my first meeting.
10 a.m. — Meet with another therapist. We meet over the phone so I'm able to pack for my sessions during. I also take Cheez-Its, peppers (this is a mistake and I get seeds all over the driver seat), apples, and granola bars. I will eat these during my drives. First session is water beads, fidget creation, and self-care.
12:30 p.m. — Drive to our clinic and see three kids back to back in a group. Lots of fine motor and emotional regulation.
3:30 p.m. — Drive to a home session. I see two brothers back to back. All the other therapists have dropped them due to behaviors, but I adore them. I think that I have easier sessions because I always let my kids know how happy I am to see them.
5:45 p.m. — Drive to a park session closer to my house. My mom calls on my drive to tell me that I diagnosed her nerve entrapment correctly. I love being right.
7:45 p.m. — Home from my final session. I am starving. M. brought me an eggplant parmesan sandwich. He is an angel. I eat half with rice chips and water. We are supposed to do a strength workout but I'm so tired. I work on notes in bed, but fall asleep at some point.
Daily Total: $0
Day Five: Friday
1 a.m. — Wake up. M. has tucked me in, put away my computer, and turned the lights off. I brush my teeth and go back to sleep.
7 a.m. — Awake for real. Emails, coffee, water. M. and I check in about the weekend. We are having a water tap error on our dishwasher. I have already replaced all the hosing and the air gap so we need to replace the seal. I try to close the dishwasher at the correct angle several times before admitting defeat and hand washing.
9:45 a.m. — Head to kickboxing. I go grocery shopping after because I need peanut butter. I get strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, bell peppers, vegan corn dogs, dried beans, jalapenos, blue cheese, and peanut butter. $45.46
11:30 a.m. — Home and make cookie dough and start sourdough bread. I am making miso peanut butter and gochujang sugar cookies. I eat a 'corndog' and all three berry types. The afternoon is a rotation of reports, emails, meetings, and stretch and pulls.
6:45 p.m. — I have baked the cookies. I don't know if I like the peanut butter miso. This is very sad. They are very pretty cookies. We head to our friend's house. M. brings lots of Passover snacks. We watch questionable movies and eat more questionable snacks, including durian Pocky. I like it. M. hates it.
11:30 p.m. — Arrive home. I am starving and finish the rice and broccolini with chili crisp. Brush teeth and immediately to bed.
Daily Total: $45.46
Day Six: Saturday
6:30 a.m. — I get up and shape the bread. I am making one jalapeno cheddar, two plain, and one cinnamon walnut. I spend the morning cleaning and fixing the dishwasher successfully.
12 p.m. — I have a medieval king lunch of cheese, nuts, and fruit. I catch up on a bit of work and start baking the breads. We have a friend's dog for most of the day and M. takes them on a long adventure.
3 p.m. — M. and I leave on a bike ride to drop off bread to several friends. Two of my friends just had babies so we do porch drop-offs until the babies are old enough to start getting vaccinated. The bike lanes are pretty abysmal along our routes.
5 p.m. — Final bread drop off and we decide to get Vietnamese food with this friend. She is also an OT and a lovely human being. S. (our friend) gets a vermicelli bowl, she and M. split wings, and M. and I both get pho and bahn mis. M. pays for all of us but I would guess it was a hundred something. We take most of the wings and the bahn mis to go to eat later.
7 p.m. — It is getting dark and we didn't bring lights so we light rail to a more protected route. I pay for both. $6
8:30 p.m. — Home safe. M. takes the dog out and I take a hot shower. We chat and hang out until bed once he's back.
Daily Total: $6
Day Seven: Sunday
10 a.m. — I sleep in. I got woken up multiple times; the church next to us started services at 2 a.m. I am irritated because I wanted to run this morning and this cuts into it. Coffee, water, straighten up, and prepare for the day, which includes making croutons and grabbing stuff for mutual aid.
12:30 p.m. — M. and I head out to meet friends for coffee. We were supposed to be individually meeting our best friends but combined it into one meeting. I pay for coffee for my friend A. (cold brew), M. (cortado and raspberry oat bar), and me (matcha latte). M.'s friend hasn't arrived yet so I'm not just blatantly not paying for him. Tip 22% because 20% is not an option. $20.76
2:30 p.m. — Hang out at the coffee shop and then go try to get our brows threaded. I appreciate having men in my life who aren't so caught up in toxic masculinity. The wait is super long so we end up not going. M. takes a power nap in the car.
3:30 p.m. — Head to mutual aid. M. and A. offer food and support to RVs and I man the hot drinks. We also have food, water, Gatorade, medical supplies, and harm reduction. I venmo A. $20 for my part of the Gatorade (the coffee wasn't enough). The rain and wind are picking up and I am getting puffs of cocoa powder on my hands as I make drinks. $20
4:45 p.m. — Head home. We listen to Amy Poehler's podcast on the drive back. M. does dog duty and I put together a panzanella with three kinds of tomatoes, cucumbers, pickled red onions, and the croutons I made this morning.
5:30 p.m. — Pick up some friends and head to a third's for dinner. We eat an Ecuadorian Easter soup, panzanella, pea vine salad, various meats and scallops (that I don't eat), yucca, and the most beautiful pavlova I've seen. Wine, cocktails, espresso, and political discourse flow and before we know it it's nearly midnight and we need to say our goodbyes, take dishes and borrowed books, and head home.
Daily Total: $40.76
The Breakdown
Conclusion
'This feels like a relatively representative week for me and matches well what I value, food, friends, and supporting others. I would say it's actually low on food spending. We really value nice groceries and spend a lot at Costco. M. also covered more of my meals than is typical (we try to trade off more). I read the diary to him and he commented that he looked good for that. I got annoyed at my debt after writing this and paid off the rest of my loans with my next paycheck. My biggest reflection is more how poor my sleep hygiene is, especially as a therapist and it's something I'm working on. While grad school was a huge burden and I feel behind, I've been really lucky to have a supportive partner and generally good health and make up for lost time. It was a fun exercise overall. I am excited to see how things change without the burden of loans.'