$100 is a lot of money and not a lot of money at all. Where did your last hundred bucks go, Pearl Higgins?

$45.59, Gas. My friends got a new puppy. He is only four months old, and we all know that the puppy window is a small adorable window. I couldn’t get to Rochester fast enough.

$10.10, Toll from Albany to Rochester. Ouch New York, ouch.

$3, Peanut butter animal-shaped dog treats for the puppy. It’s bad form to visit a new puppy with nothing for the new puppy. Turns out it’s also bad form to come bearing peanut butter-flavored treats for your peanut-allergic host.

$20, Broccoli and cheddar omelet with an english muffin, hash browns, and tea. We went out for drinks the night before, and they covered my T. Collins, so I put in more for breakfast at the diner. This breakfast easily weighed four pounds, so dollar for pound it was a good deal regardless.

$4, Mushroom pizza at the Sbarro at the Clifton Springs travel plaza. I was hungry, and I ran before I left Rochester, so I decided to reward myself with pizza. The pizza decided to reward me with the bloat for the remainder of the drive.

$2.50, Tea. I got a hot tea from the Starbucks at another travel plaza on the way home, because I drove another 80 miles, and I decided that warranted another reward. Regardless of what style of training my friends will be using with their new puppy, it’s pretty clear that I’ve treat-trained myself.

$10.10, Toll from Rochester to Albany. This stung a little more when there wasn’t a puppy waiting for me on the other side of the toll booth.

Pearl Higgins would like an adulthood mulligan.

Where did your last hundo go, Sarah Todd?

$4.98, Rex Goliath sauvignon blanc I got this at my favorite wine shop, where there is a sweet elderly woman who always asks to see my ID. Then she notices that my driver’s license is from Ohio, and she tells me her son used to live there. We talk about this every time I see her. Tradition!

$4.16, Chai latte + tip This year, I adopted my friend’s weekend-only fancy coffee drink allowance, which has made writing in coffee shops feel way more luxurious. While I was drinking the chai, the man at the next table said he was my blood brother because we were both wearing Claddagh rings. We had a brief conversation about Ireland, and then I realized that he wasn’t going to stop talking to me, so I just started typing really fast even though all I was writing was “I hope he stops talking soon” over and over like Jack in The Shining.

$13.50, Movie ticket to Beautiful Creatures + plastic cup of pinot grigio A fine new film! Four stars, a teen paranormal romance Southern gothic camp triumph. Goes great with cup wine.

$23.75, iPod car charger, seltzer, and N.Y.C. Makeup blush in rose glow I was listening to the This American Life episode about Harper High School in the car and my iPod was about to die—I pulled over at a CVS and bought the charger so I wouldn’t have to wait to finish it.

$17, Pad see yew + split order of spring rolls + bottomless cups of green tea + tip Tofu never does that crispy, golden-brown cubed perfection thing when I make it at home. What is the secret?

$8, Cappuccino + chai + tip Friend + me.

$8, Grilled portobello-spinach-basil pesto sandwich Normally I eat out almost never, but that went out the window last week. Frugal February fatigue, maybe.

$16, Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed (indiebound // amazon) I was walking down the street trying to figure out what to do about two life-type matters, and I passed a bookstore, and I thought maybe Cheryl Strayed would tell me what to do and then I wouldn’t have to decide on my own. She is much wiser than I am. But none of the letters were about my two specific questions, which makes sense, because why would they be. It’s not a psychic book. It’s still tremendous, though.

Sarah Todd blogs about feminism and popular culture over at Girls Like Giants.

$100 is a lot of money, but also not a lot of money at all. How’d you spend your last hundo, Meghan Nesmith?

$20.58, Fancy chocolate, eggs, and butter. With which to make this Nigella Lawson chocolate loaf for my coworkers for Valentine’s Day. This made me feel very good in theory, but I busted the cake—overwhipped and overcooked it. Whatever. Valentine’s Day is for jerks.

$10, Salmon avocado roll, sweet potato roll, miso soup. I almost always bring my own lunch, but I just finished day 10 of leftover lentil soup, so this was a reward. (To note, I frequently try to reward myself for good financial behavior by buying myself something. This is the stupidest rewards system ever.) 

$1, Can of Coke. An attempt to quit the migraine that had been lingering on the periphery for three days.

$18, Broadway Bodies class. Have I told you yet about Broadway Bodies? If you’ve found yourself within five feet of me in the last two weeks, the answer is yes. A tiny shot glass of energy and muscle teaches you a routine from a Broadway show, and it is literally the best thing that has ever happened to me.

$7.04, Valentine’s Day tulips for the interns. I wore red shoes. I felt optimistic.

$8.51, Just Salad salad bowl. It took a year of sporadic salads from Just Salad before I committed to the Just Salad reusable bowl. The Just Salad reusable bowl costs $1 and every time you use it, you get two free toppings or a free cheese. The goat cheese I usually add to my salad costs $1.50. Thus, the Just Salad reusable bowl offers a return on investment (boom) after just one salad. I have no idea why I resisted this so long, besides the fact that I’m now the girl carrying her reusable salad bowl around the streets of the Financial District.

$54.43, Wine and cheese for two. I took my friend out for Valentine’s Day. No funny business. We used to sleep together, but we don’t anymore. He’s the only person in my life who has smoothly made that transition – the only one I can sit with and not constantly be thinking, “that time we had sex, that time we had sex, that time we had sex.” I think that’s worth a splurge every now and then.

Meghan Nesmith hangs out in Brooklyn and on Twitter. She recently had a conversation about power, sex, and money// pic by loutraje

$100! It is a lot of money, and yet, it is also not a lot of money at all. What happened to your last hundo, Sara Noel? 

A couple of overpriced-but-delicious whiskeys with a single giant ice cube, plus a drink for the birthday boy. Also a local artisanal organic cheese and honey plate because it was the only food item under $10. This may not seem like a crazy amount to spend on a couple of drinks and some cheese, but I live in Pittsburgh—things are supposed to be cheap here.

$11: Movie Ticket for Zero Dark Thirty. We went to a matinee to get the cheap price but it turned out to be IMAX so we paid full price anyway.

$15: Flu Shot: I ignored everyone who kept telling me I should get one but then I heard that Meryl Streep got the flu and it was bad and she stayed home from the Golden Globes. If it is bad enough to take down Meryl, you should get a flu shot!

$15: Chinese Take-Out: Because I was getting paranoid about getting sick and felt like I needed soup, NOW! The soup was cheap but I had to order shrimp and veggies to meet the delivery minimum. I justified this because I could take the leftovers to work for lunch the next day.

$5: Turkey Sandwich from Subway: Because I forgot to bring the stupid leftover Chinese food for lunch.

$1: Banana: I bought a banana for a dollar from the cafe in the lobby of my office building. ONE DOLLAR. Bananas are 19 cents at Trader Joe’s.

Where did you spend your last hundred bucks, Edith Zimmerman?

$7, Vodka and soda at a bar. ($5 drink, $2 tip because I want them to like me and I do a lot of stupid shit there.)

$4, Two bottles of seltzer.

$3, ATM fee for cash withdrawal from CVS, which is a lot, I know, but my Bank of America ATMs across the street were both out, and I’d seen several in the past few days that were also out, and I was running low and kept envisioning apocalyptic-type situations where I’d have to bribe someone for something crucial, but because I couldn’t find an ATM I’d have to be like, “Here, take my … North Ireland 20 pound note, omg but you can exchange it, omgomgogmgomg.”

$22, Wine from the wine store.

$50 to the Red Cross! Haha, exactly as I always do. But I did actually do this.

$8, Two bottles of seltzer, and a Five Hour Energy drink. I don’t know if Five Hour Energy works (“works”?), and I generally try to avoid processed stuff and bottled drinks, but I also really hate to sleep or get tired, and I like to wander around my apartment and consume things. And then it’s not like I finished these seltzers and had to buy the two others above, but that a friend wanted seltzer, so instead of bringing her my opened/flavored ones (these), I bought her new ones (above). Although the ones above should have cost like seventy cents each, I don’t know why they were $4. Should I go on???

$7, Hummus, onion, stamps.

And haha, too bad this isn’t the last $200 you spent, or you could hear about the crazy stuff I bought at the health foods store. Ask me about jojoba oil!!!!

Edith Zimmerman runs The Hairpin. 

$100! It is a lot of money, and yet, it is also not a lot of money at all. Where did your last hundred bucks go, Marion Johnson?

$27.49: A bottle of Kraken spiced rum, to make delicious dark & stormies/spike my chai with

$5: Transcript fee from college, so they’ll send my transcript to my grad school

$ 17.30: Wine, lemonade, ciabatta, frozen peas, mango sorbet, and fresh mozzarella from Whole Foods. Shockingly, the mango sorbet was the most expensive thing, at $4.99 

$12.18: Memphis barbecue sauce, apple cider vinegar, chicken broth, and arborio rice from Harris Teeter

$10.18: Finished out a long week with a salmon bento box from Teaism.

$10: One ticket to Whedonism!, a Joss Whedon-themed burlesque show at Red Palace

$5: Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold at Whedonism!

$15.09: Drunken noodles, edamame, and tip at a “welcome interns” lunch, at Banana Leaves. (Their website has a tiny dancing banana on it. The little guy is killin it.)

Marion Johnson works in D.C., talks about pop culture on Blogger, and lives on Tumblr

$100! It is a lot of money, and yet, it is also not a lot of money at all. Where did your last hundred bucks go, Brittany Shoot?

$62.30: Whole Foods produce run, which included: carton of apricots, bag of cherries, bundle of asparagus, two avocados, one purple onion, one lime, two vine tomatoes, two cartons of raspberries, one carton of blueberries, one carton of strawberries, two bell peppers (red, yellow), two heads of broccoli, four bananas, one sack of tiny red/purple/white potatoes, and one blueberry vegan donut. Opted for organic when possible, and almost everything was.

$18.97: Apple iTunes store, purchased new albums by Bobby Womack (The Bravest Man in the Universe, $9.99) and The Tallest Man On Earth (There’s No Leaving Now, $7.99), plus “The Break-Up Song” (re-recorded, what? $0.99) by Greg Kihn because I couldn’t get it out of my head.

$1.94: Subway. Bought iced tea for homeless (?) guy sitting out front as I passed. If you have a sign that says you are hungry, I will feed you—and especially if you sit in front of a cafe. Hey, let’s all buy and eat food in front of people who don’t have any! What? No. In this case, he just wanted a cold drink.

$30: Cab rides to/from Japandroids concert over in NOPA. $12.20 there, $11.75 back, and I believe in generous tips. Cab drivers know more about my city than I ever will, and they always drive faster than I do.

That’s actually $113.21. Wouldn’t have gone over paying for cabs if I’d forced my we-share-our-income sweetie to shell out, though I likely would have gone over on something else.

Previously: Aurora Almendral

Brittany Shoot is a journalist with some disposable income.

$100! It is a lot of money, and yet, it is also not a lot of money at all. Where did your last hundred bucks go, Kevin Nguyen?

How I Thought I Spent My Last Hundred Bucks: 

$15 on happy hour drinks at an Irish pub near work. (I’m only now realizing that when someone says “but it has a good happy hour,” it really translates to “we probably shouldn’t go there.”)

$25 backing a Kickstarter campaign for an illustrated tribute to Metroid (which seems like exactly the kind of endearing, nerdy thing Kickstarter was built for)

$10 at a new bakery called Crumble and Flake for a chocolate croissant, scone, cream puff, and tummy ache

$9 for lunch at the cafeteria (I work at one of those big tech companies that has a cafeteria, but not one of those Google-type cafeterias where the food is free.)

$20 on a ticket to see Beach House in October

$6 to do laundry (In my building, to wash and dry is a criminal $2 per load, and I usually have to dry things twice.)

$8 for two slices of pepperoni pizza at a food truck

$2 for an iPhone/iPad game called OLO, which I still haven’t played

$5 to rent This Means War on Amazon Instant Video, apparently the price of seeing what would happen if McG directed The Bachelorette (I fell asleep halfway through.)

 
 
How I Actually Spent My Last Hundred Bucks: 

$23.71 on happy drinks (had two more drinks than I thought)

$35 backing a Kickstarter campaign (backed for more than I remembered)

$10.75 at a new bakery called Crumble and Flake

$8.21 for lunch at the cafeteria

$29 on a Beach House ticket (CONVENIENCE FEES SDJFKLSJDKFJALJFDS)

$6 to do laundry

$10 for two slices of pepperoni pizza (forgot about the tip)

$2.18 for an iPhone game

$4.99 to rent This Means War

 
 
The Additional Hundred Bucks That I Didn’t Even Think About: 

$78.28 for utilities

$9.99 for an Rdio subscription

$8.75 for a Hulu Plus subscription

$20 for a New York Times digital subscription

$4.75 for coffee

What I Thought I Spent: $100
What I Actually Spent: $251.71

Kevin Nguyen is an editor at The Bygone Bureau. He also writes a monthly book column for Grantland and tweets from Seattle.

$100! It is a lot of money, and yet, it is also not a lot of money at all. Where did your last hundred bucks go, Alissa Burton?

$58.28:  Walmart. 4 medium packing boxes + 4 large boxes (still not enough wasn’t enough). Bubble wrap. Vacuum bags. Box of 8 Mr. Clean Erasers. Swiffer sheets. Tape. Toothpaste. In case it slipped you: we’re moving.

$0.99: Hastings (it’s like Borders, but it still exists). Team America rental—it was Memorial Day, after all.

$49.75: Bath & Body Works. At checkout, “Is this price correct?” appeared on the debit screen. Was it? Couldn’t be. Six antibacterial hand soaps for $20—that one I remembered, a candle half-off, and a candle holder half-off … oh yeah, and that new lotion. Does taking advantage of a Memorial Day sale count as smart shopping if  I’m still  spending almost $50 on smelly good stuff?

$4.20: Hastings. A bag a king size (plain) M&Ms and This Means War rental. Definitely worth a watch given the team up of Chris Pine and Tom Hardy (hello, gorgeous accent that can talk to me all night long) and it’s funny once you get over Chelsea Handler’s “acting”.

…okay, that was $113.22. You win debit card. You always do.

Alissa Burton never says no to a Sunday matinee at the theater and blogs here. Picture: Alissa Burton

$100! It is a lot of money, and yet, it is also not a lot of money at all. Where did your last hundred bucks go, Alex Sachon?

$132: My half of the weekly daycare payment for my two-year-old son

Previously: Choire Sicha

Alex Sachon lives in Washington, D.C.