Money Diary

If you've not tuned me out over the past couple of years, you'll have heard how much I love the Money Diaries that you find on Refinery29. These are series of posts, written by women across different industries and ages, who keep a diary of what they spend over a week. There's usually slightly more context given, such as annual salary, monthly expenses etc, and I have used the diaries over the years to learn money management techniques, as well as a way to sometimes feel better about my own savings habits. You can find the UK ones here and the US ones here (make sure to scroll to the end for the comments - that's the best part!).

Well, I've always wanted to do a Money Diary, and truthfully, have even sent in an application before! I'm still waiting on that answer back.....

But considering this is my blog and I get to write whatever I like, I'm going to mimic the style and track everything I spend over the course of the week. Hope you enjoy!

Occupation: Unemployed

Age: 26

Location: Belo Horizonte, MG

Daily Budget: 50€ a day, or roughly 260 reais.

Current Stand: 230€ over budget (oops).

Day 1

6:30 My overnight bus from Brasília rolls in to the bus terminal, 30 minutes ahead of schedule. I debate getting an Uber, but decide to walk the 25 minutes and reward myself with a coffee for doing so. 1.5 R$

7:00 Arrive at hostel but as check in isn't until 14:00, dump bags and head out to explore the city. Head to the central market, which opens at 8 and grab myself a juice and a chicken empanada. 16 R$

9:00 As all my underwear is in the laundry, I head to a little shop to purchase urgently needed supplies. Get chatting with the owner, who tries to sell her son off to me. (He's an IT engineer, looking to move to the UK - let me know if anyone wants contact details!) 16 R$

11:00 After wandering around the city centre, visiting the Parque Municipal and visiting the Palácio das Artes for one free museum, I'm honestly feeling knackered. Head to a coffee shop for a diet coke and read my book. 5.5 R$

13:00 Having dragged myself another cool (and free!) institution, it's now just a waiting game for my check-in. Head to a(nother) coffee shop and grab a water. 7 R$

14:00 Check in (finally!) and pay the hostel for the next few days. Then shower and nap. 255 R$

16:00 Take advantage of the in-hostel laundry service (35 R$) and purchase a smaller lock (15 R$) needed for the lockers.

18:00 Finally get laundry finished and decide to drag myself out. There are only Brazilians staying in my hostel, but am brave and ask if they'd like to join me. One even says yes! We head to a popular bar and grab some beers along with a it of food. The guy from my hostel gets one round, but I get the next round at a second bar (55 R$).

21:30 As the first round was more expensive, I also get our uber back to the hostel (10 R$)

22:00 Go to bed!

Total: 416 R$

Day 2

08:00 Get up and have breakfast at the hostel (included) before walking to the Praça da Liberdade where there is a range of different museums.

10:00 Have a bit of a cry in the park about feeling lonely, before pulling myself together and visiting two different museums (both free!)

13:00 Am now starving, so walk to a part of town full of restaurants and settle on a restaurant known for food from the region. It's a bit posher than I was thinking, but I try the classic dish Feijão Tropeiro. 55 R$

14:00 Feeling full but tired, I traipse back to hostel for a nap.

15:00 Wake up feeling motivated again. Book bus (105 R§) and ticket (50 R$) for my trip to Latin America's biggest Art Museum tomorrow.

16:00 Head to the Mercado Novo. A place that looks super humble on the outside, but the minute you head upstairs it's a hipster's paradise. Wander around before grabbing myself a coffee... 4R$

17:00 ... where I get chatting to a great French girl living in Belo Horizonte who decides to introduce me to the gastronomic and alcoholic delights of the city. Over the next few hours, we get several rounds of the drink Xeque Mate, I try a Capucu cocktail, as well as some great food, including torresmo (pork crackling). Pork crackling is traditionally eaten with a shot of cachaça, so of course this is also purchased. 104 R$

00:00 Uber home, chug water and shower. 10 R$

Total: 328 R$

Day 3

07:00 Wake up feeling surprisingly ok. Take part of hostel breakfast for snacks and eat sandwich breakfast on way to bus station.

08:45 Bus arrives a little late! Promptly fall asleep, before waking myself up with my own snoring.

10:00 We arrive at Inhotim. I decide against paying extra for the internal transport and reward myself for this good decision with a coffee. 7 R$

13:00 After zooming around the first half of the park and clocking in 7.5km I get a posh sandwich at one of the museum's coffee shops. 31 R$

16:30 Bus back to main station in Belo Horizonte. Fall asleep (obvs).

18:30 We arrive. As one of the other people on the bus was from my hostel, we try to book an uber, but decide to then walk back.

19:30 Book hostel and Blablacar for tomorrow. Combination of throbbing feet and tiredness means I decide to treat myself to the Italian next door. Turns into me treating myself to a three course meal, while researching Brazilian art. This leaves me feeling culturally very rich, but financially very poor. 115 R$

22:00 Shower and bed.

Total: 153 R$

Day 4

07:30 Get up and enjoy the free breakfast again. Stash half of it for snacks later.

08:00 Go to supermarket to buy ingredients for dinner tonight and healthy snacks. 25 R$

12:15 After spending the morning on my laptop organising and writing things, I check out. Decide against getting a taxi and walk to terminal, a move I instantly regret in 30+ degree weather.

12:45 Arrive in the terminal, only to find out my Blablacar has been cancelled. Annoying, but at least I am in the perfect place to find replacement. Buy bus ticket. 55 R$

13:30 Use the loo (2 R$) and buy a filled pao de queijo (v. good!) (12$) before boarding bus at 14:30

17:00 Arrive at bus terminal in Ouro Preto and try to book an Uber. Doesn't exist here. Try to grab a taxi. There are none. A bus? None on Google Maps. Thankfully its only a 22 minute walk and flat according to Google.

17:30 Can confirm that Google lied. Those were some of the steepest hills I've ever climbed and I arrive a sweaty mess. Pay hostel for next two nights. 105 R$

19:00 After showering and eating, some French girls from my hostel ask if I'd like to join going to a local festival in the video. We find it after descending some VERY steep hills and I grab a beer. 8 R$

20:00 Some of their friends join, who buy food that looks delicious. Decide I require a snack and get a sanduiche de pernil - pork, with fried onions and tomatoes in a lil white roll. Sensational. I also get another beer. 30 R$

22:00 End up making friends with some Brazilians on the dance floor, who unsuccessfully try to teach me samba. French guys leave and a get another drink with my new mates. 6 R$

00:30 We stay until the end of the show and then I share a taxi back to my hostel with my new found guardian angels. Payment from me is refused and I trip into the hostel.

Total: 243 R$

Day 5

08:00 Wake up feeling...fine? There's no breakfast at this hostel so I go on the hunt for coffee. Oh MY god the hills are steep here.

09.30 Traverse the streets until I found a super cute coffee shop/ artesanal shop with a beautiful view of the valley. Get a cappucino (which is where I learn that the European definition and Brazilian definition definitely differ) and a toastie. 18 R$

10:00 Spend the next few hours visiting free museums and traipsing up and down steep hills.

12:30 Get hungry and on way back to hostel, pick up some toothpaste, tomato sauce and an onion (9 R$) and some local cheese and sausage (25 R$) for dinner.

13:00 Arrive in hostel, eat leftovers from day before and then head back out to scale yet another hill in search of a viewpoint.

14:30 As a reward for the biggest hill yet (great view though!), I reward myself with a pastry (or two, they're only small!) and a drink in a bakery with ANOTHER view. 12 R$

17:00 Having since returned to hostel and showered, I go out for a beer. There's a local bewery called Ouropretana which I want to try. I order one, spill it, order another, witness an engagement and pay. 33 R$

18:00 What I really want is torresmo, which is just pork crackling. Have seen online that the cute cafe from earlier has this on the menu for only 10! Reais!! so obvs go back. Try another beer and read my book. 31 R$

20:00 Having become tipsy and chatty, I arrange to meet up with the waiter for a drink after his shift ends. I go back to hostel and cook sausage I bought earlier.

21:30 Decide am too tired and antisocial, so cancel and go to bed.

Total: 128 R$

Day 6

08:30 Wake up with my calves aching and feel unexplicably grumpy. Go to bakery across the road for coffee and bread rolls. Also get some small other pastry things for snacks. Snacks help my mood. 7 R$

09:00 Decide to stay in Ouro Preto another day, so book another night and pay. 50 R$

09:30 Head out to bus stop to go to a nearby national park. Need to break a 50 note for the bus, so buy some cereal bars. 7 R$

09:45 Get bus to Parque das Andorinhas. 3.5 R$

11:30 Having spent the last few hours swimming in waterfalls and reading, the grey sky sends me home. Decide to try hitchhiking from the park carpark, as most people will be heading back through Ouro Preto, but it turns out I am the only one going home! Grumpily stomp my tired legs back to bus stop 3.5 R$

12:00 On way home I buy some cherry tomatoes and biscuits (can't explain). 12 R$

13:00 After showering back at hostel and eating leftovers, I get the bus to the nearby city of Mariana. 7 R$

14:30 Arrive and head straight to coffee place for another sweet cappucino. 15 R$

15:00 Had a cool couple of hours visiting local (free) exhibitions and chatting with locals. Having huffed up the steepest hill I can find (Where there is a hill, there is my way), I walk unwittingly past the tourist information. The guy working there calls me over, shows me around and then invites me to his artist's studio and gets me playing the drums whilst he plays the Berimbau. His unwilling daughter is also roped in and it's SO cool.

17:00 Meet up with two of the Brazilians from Saturday night, who are studying in Mariana. We go for coffee and have a snack. 17 R§

19:00 Upon leaving coffee shop, we bump into another guy from Saturday. I stay for a beer (don't want to be rude!) 5 R$

20:00 Get bus back to Ouro Preto. 7 R$

21:00 Arrive in OP, starving, so go to only food place open. Grab a burger and a coke. 20 R$

22:00 Guy from coffee shop comes to join me and we get caipirinhas. He graciously covers these.

00:00 We head home (separately!!).

Total: 154 R$

Day 7

09:00 Slept badly so put off getting up as long as possible. However, check out is at 11 and I have NO CLUE where I am going, so heave myself to the bakery for breakfast and coffee. 9 R$

11:30 Having booked accommodation and Blabla car, I wander around a new part of Ouro Preto before stopping for a cappuccino (my new vice). Turns out to be just pure chocolate and I am turfed out 20 minutes later. 18 R$ which I mourn the loss of!!

13:00 Wander around a bit more and then go for a prato feito, whilst reading my book. 37 R$

15:15 After working a bit in the hostel, I get a taxi to my Blabla car pick up. 20 R$

15:30 Get Blablacar!

16:30 We stop at a supermarket and I get apples and water. 7 R$

19:00 We arrive in São João del Rei and I pay my lovely driver/ lift-giver 40 R$. I then check into hostel and settle down for the evening. 75 R$

Total: 206 R$

Breakdown

Over the course of the week, I ended up spending 1628 reais, or around 305€ euros. This means I managed to reduce my deficit by 45€ which is pretty cool!

Having written this and read it back, I will definitely be reducing my dependency on cappucinos and travelling by bus even more. I was suprirsed by how many free museums and cultural insitutions there were in Minas Gerais - think I can kiss that goodbye in my next stop though!

Let me know what you think and if you enjoyed it - maybe I can do a part II later on in the trip.

Beijooos

Liv

Money Diary - 1 week in Brazil

MONEY DIARY