A Week In Wichita, KS On $22.06 An Hour

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This week: A teller working in banking who makes $22.06 an hour and spends some of it on a custom poem.

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This diary was written in 2026.

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Occupation: Teller
Industry: Banking
Age: 23
Location: Wichita, KS
Salary: $22.06/hr
Joint Income/Financial Setup: My spouse makes between $22-25/hr, so combined, we bring home around $70k per year after tax. We have a joint checking account for groceries/eating out and pet expenses, as well as a joint savings account for travel. We contribute the same amount to our checking account every month ($600 each). All other money is separate. We love having the joint checking since it makes any small purchases or eating out really easy — without having to keep track of who owes what.
Assets:
Checking: ~$450 (I contribute $300 biweekly and my spouse contributes $150 weekly)
High-Yield Savings: $9,721.72
401(k): $8,623.70 (this is a combined value with my Roth)
Car (KBB value): ~$18,000
Debt: $0
Paycheck Amount (biweekly): ~$1170 ($1,700 minus taxes, pet insurance, 10% 401(k) contribution, and 5% Roth contribution)
Pronouns: They/them

Monthly Expenses

Housing Costs: $575 (one-bed, one-bathroom townhouse — plus pet rent, split evenly with my spouse)
Loan Payments: $0 (I have one CC that I put larger purchases on to get cash back, but I pay them the same day they post)
Utilities: $50-100 (gas and electric, depending on time of year, split evenly)
Internet: $0 (we both have unlimited data on our phones and use our mobile hotspots to save money)
Phone: $30 ($360 prepaid yearly for unlimited data with Mint Mobile)
Car: $160 (insurance, tags, oil changes, and gas)
Compost: $6 (split with spouse)
Google One: $2.99

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?
It was definitely assumed that I would go to college. My dad is highly educated, and my mom got her bachelor’s degree. Although I’m sure they wouldn’t have been opposed to me going to a trade school or something, college was just the default. For their generation, it was worth the cost and time, but now it’s not guaranteed you’ll make more, or even be able to pay back your loans. They told me my whole life that they would cover tuition or room and board, so if I could study hard and get a full tuition scholarship, I could go to school for free. I ended up getting a half-ride at a small liberal arts college, and paid for the room and board with a combination of savings, campus/summer research/off-campus jobs. Since I got a half-ride, my parents did contribute some money to my housing, and I did graduate with my bachelor’s degree debt-free, which is an immense blessing.

Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s) educate you about finances?
My mom is really into finance and always managed the money in our house. She tried to teach me about the value of money from a young age. I was raised religious, so any money I made doing chores around the house had 10% go toward tithing, 50% to savings, and 40% to what she called “fun money.” If I wanted to go to the mall with my friends or get something from the store, it came from that. I also remember her telling me to open a credit card at a young age to build credit, but to never spend money I didn’t have (that advice apparently didn’t stick; I got into upwards of $2K at one point and $5K at another in credit card debt in my life, all of which I have since paid off).

What was your first job and why did you get it?
I babysat for families in the church growing up for pocket money, but my first taxable job was during the summer at 16, working as a host at a chain restaurant for $4/hr plus tipshare. Quite literally, it is the hardest job I ever had in my life. I got it because I wanted to save for college and my parents wanted me to get work experience.

Did you worry about money growing up?
I don’t know that I was worried, but I was definitely aware. My dad was in school during my childhood, and my mom didn’t work, so I knew that there were things we “couldn’t afford.” I think things were tighter than I knew, but they made things work. We would go out somewhere to eat like Taco Bell on birthdays, but otherwise never ate out. Every other year we drove twenty-plus hours to visit family, but otherwise we didn’t go on vacations. We got hand-me-down clothes from friends or family, or went to thrift stores. It just seemed normal then, but now that my dad makes more, they can afford a lot more. My siblings are all younger and I’m the only one who remembers it being different. My mom is still very frugal and particular with how they use their money, and they save a lot but they go on a lot of nice trips and eat out weekly, which is just kind of shocking to me.

Do you worry about money now?
I’m thankful to have the means to provide for my lifestyle and have some leftover, but I’m very conscious that I have no choice but to work. I have an emergency fund built up that would last me about six months of unemployment, and I know I’m lucky enough to have a safety net in my family and spouse, but capitalism is just scary. I’m currently thinking about moving to part-time work to pursue writing as a career more seriously, which we can afford, but it does worry me. I’m aware I don’t really have that much in savings or my 401(k). It’s really important to me that I’m able to retire, and I care more about being able to work fewer hours and still make the same income than increasing my income.

At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
I was pretty much responsible for myself in college. Other than the half of tuition my parents provided, I covered my rent/board and living expenses. I always paid my own insurance and tags for the car my parents let me drive, as well as my phone bill. I would say true financial independence happened at 22 when I’d had my own place for over a year, and got my own insurance and phone plan, instead of paying my mom back. If I really needed it, I think they would be a safety net for me, but I would like to avoid that at all costs.

Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
As mentioned above, my parents paid for my college tuition, which I’m very grateful for. They also bought a car during my last year of college after I broke up with my long-time partner and didn’t have a way of getting to school out-of-state. They ended up giving me this car, paid off, which was unexpected, and I’m so lucky to have. My parents also offered $10K towards my wedding, which we ended up using ~$8K of.

Day One: Tuesday

7:09 a.m. — Get out of bed. Morning routine using my spouse C.’s phone to do my Duolingo lesson (461 days of Spanish) and read my horoscope on CoStar, then brush my teeth and snuggle with C. and cat, Y. You can safely assume I’ll do this every day. I put out some food for Y. She’s on a prescription diet after a health scare, so it’s dry in the morning and canned in the evening. I already packed my breakfast yesterday and this week my work is providing lunch, so I kiss C. and head out.

8:30 a.m. — I snack on the breakfast I bring to work every day (fruit, cheese, peanut butter). It’s kind of a busy morning with calls but I do the LinkedIn and NYT games and manage to read a bit of the book I brought. I’ve read 52 books this year already.

12 p.m. — Eat the free lunch, which is surprisingly good. We very rarely get lunch paid for at my work, but this week has a lot of organizational/system changes happening, so they’re treating us. I sit in my car while I eat and read.

5:03 p.m. — It’s been a slower day, thankfully, after some busy weeks. I finish my book and rate it three stars. I try to start the other book I brought but after one sentence it’s clear I’m not going to like it. Yesterday, I was stuck here until almost 6 p.m. because of a system error, so I’m out a little bit earlier than usual today. I stop by the library on the way home to return the two books I brought to work today and pick up a hold.

6:00 p.m. — C. and I start on dinner — shrimp scampi. We are both gluten-free and don’t exactly love cooking, so dinner can sometimes be a struggle. Thankfully, we’ve been on a pretty good streak. It doesn’t sit well with me tonight, though. C. puts out the wet food for Y. We chat about what C. is going to do this evening. Today is a writing day for me. I have a novel I’ve been working on for the better part of a decade that is finally nearing a state where I can start querying agents. It’s definitely been a learning curve figuring out what pursuing writing while working full-time and spending time with C. and family looks like. We’ve settled on selecting a few days a week for me to focus on writing in the evening while C. hangs out with their family or works on their own projects. They decide to go to a baseball game with their family.

9:30 p.m. — C. gets back. I’m done writing for the night after getting a good amount of work done. I set a goal date to start querying and put down this draft, which is coming up in about ten days, and I feel good about making that deadline. We talk and catch up since we didn’t get to see each other much earlier. I take a quick shower with a shower cap on before falling asleep sometime around 10:45.

Daily Total: $0

Day Two: Wednesday

7:11 a.m. — Typical morning routine using C.’s phone since I have a flip phone. I bought a flip phone at the beginning of 2025 when C. and I decided to quit social media as a New Year’s resolution. We ended up deleting our accounts but didn’t end up switching to flip phones since it seemed like a big jump. In July 2025, my phone broke and I decided to just try it out rather than buying a new phone. Now, it’s been nearly a year and other than using C.’s phone for Duolingo and banking apps, I rely solely on it.

11:05 a.m. — Lunch. We all come back to eat and chat while it’s slow for a second. C. texts me about a potential lead for a part-time job starting in the fall. I’m considering working part-time for a year so I can focus on writing and applying to an MFA program that would start next fall. For a year, we can definitely make the part-time work, and this job would be close to my house and I can potentially bike to it, so we could cut costs with only one car.

1:49 p.m. — Today has been slower, too. Over lunch, I start my new book, the hold I picked up yesterday. I text with the potential job and it sounds like it could definitely be a good fit, values-wise. It feels like a sign that I only decided to start looking two days ago, and this is checking every box, but I try not to get my hopes up.

5:30 p.m. — I call C. on my way home and they’re still at our friend D.’s house picking up a book for book club and chatting. They have made plans to hang while I write tonight, since it’s another writing day for me. I head home to start dinner — elote pasta salad, with some reheated leftovers from work. C. gets home pretty soon after me and we chat about our days. They are really excited about the potential job, and we set up a time to meet with the lead next week. C. works in the same field so they are invited to come along.

6:40 p.m. — Our downstairs neighbor texts C. that the yoga mat on our balcony fell into our yard again and that our other neighbor has a poster for us. We go down to chat with her. She’s the nicest older lady ever. The poster turns out to be from a few years ago for an event in our community. It’s sweet he thought of us and I put the poster up immediately. D. picks up C. to go pick up art supplies and snacks for a party C. is throwing this weekend.

8:45 p.m. — I finish up the chapter I’m writing and realize I only have one, potentially two, depending on how I go about it, more to write. This slightly terrifies me, so I call it a night and start watching movie trailers on YouTube. There’s a couple of funny ones that I decide we need to watch. C. gets home, gives me a haul of all the snacks she got and we catch up before getting in bed around 9:45 and zonking out pretty quickly.

Daily Total: $0

Day Three: Thursday

7:05 a.m. — Get out of bed, morning snuggles and phone time. I get sucked into looking at old pictures. I’m leaving a bit later today (still correcting the overtime from Monday), so C. and I sit out on the balcony chatting about the part-time job until I have to leave. I get to work, eat my breakfast, and start doing calls. Thankfully, we’re almost caught up on the backlog of these and I won’t have to do as many soon. My boss’s boss comes down with candy, which I accept.

11:57 a.m. — We’ve had system issues all morning and it’s been moderately stressful. I’m glad it’s lunchtime. I read in my car and eat. When I come back from lunch, the issues have gotten worse, and it’s pretty busy for a while. I finish the book from yesterday and rate it four stars, barely. It started strong but didn’t really stick the landing.

3:55 p.m. — I journal intermittently about the ending for my novel since I’m still feeling anxious about writing it. It’s daunting to be so close to a sort of end, even if there’s plenty more to do in terms of edits if/when I get an agent. The querying stage will be much more nebulous. I write about my fears of not doing the story justice and what isn’t seeming to click right now in the narrative, which gives me an idea for what to do instead. It all kind of flows from there, and I outline for this weekend when I’ll have some writing time.

5:30 p.m. — Get home from work and C. has made stuffed peppers (without the peppers, so basically ground beef, rice, cream cheese, and tomato sauce). We eat, I load the dishwasher, and then we head to our rock climbing class. We just started this month and we’ve loved it. It was $60 a piece for four lessons, prepaid. We’re the only adults in the class and this week some of the kids didn’t show up either, so we get a lot more opportunities to climb. A kid asks what the best time is for one of the courses and the instructor says the fastest he’s timed is 35 seconds. For shits and giggles, I try it and get 38 seconds and briefly feel like I’m about to be scouted for my abilities.

7:55 p.m. — After class I grab a sparkling soda from a local drink place ($3.17, but I have $15.18 in cash back on my credit card) and we walk around the nearby nature preserve. The weather is really nice and we end up talking and sitting watching the water pretty late.

9:15 p.m. — Get home and C. realizes they’re not at all ready for the party this weekend. I take a shower and then help them set up before we get sucked into looking at my aunt’s Facebook and finding really old pictures of me from ten years ago. Lay down around 10:40 p.m. and fall asleep around 11:15 p.m.

Daily Total: $0

Day Four: Friday

7:13 a.m. — Get out of bed. Definitely stayed up a bit too late last night. C. feeds Y. as I do my usual morning stuff. C. is tired and not in the best mood so I put on a song and do a corny dance. We keep listening to music while they eat breakfast and I pack my bag. We’re both in a good mood by the time I leave. When I get to work, I withdraw $20 from the ATM before I clock in. C. and I are going to a poetry open mic tonight with a suggested admission of $10 a piece. This comes from our joint checking, so my total is $10. It’s a busy morning and a client has made a complaint about something that wasn’t in my control. I try not to let it get under my skin. $10

9:57 a.m. — The deadline I gave myself to start querying is in one week. I bite the bullet and get a month’s subscription to a website about publishing deals for my querying research ($30 on my credit card, which still has $12.01 in cash back). It bothers me how much information in publishing is behind paywalls but I consider it an investment. I schedule it to cancel my membership before it charges me for another month and will decide then if it’s worth the money. $17.99

11:38 a.m. — I get a text that our electric bill is ready, so I go in and pay it. It’s $125.14 (already included in utilities above). Sigh. Gone are the months of winter/spring where we could squeak by paying $50-$75/month. I eat lunch in my car and start my new book. The hours after my lunch are so busy, and it’s not over yet. Usually there’s another rush around 3:30/4. I’m very grateful it’s Friday.

4:59 p.m. — It gets worse. Finally, I clock out and head home to feed Y. C. and I eat some leftovers before driving over to the poetry event. We park and I pay for two hours of parking through the app ($2.35 on joint card) and immediately realize the default license plate is C.’s old car. I moan and groan a little bit about having to do two more hours with the correct license plate ($2.35 on joint card) before we go inside. We give them our $20 donation and roam around the gallery before sitting down. There are art supplies at the tables and we chat with some strangers while collaging. $2.35

8:05 p.m. — I realize we’re probably going to need to extend the parking for another hour ($1.35 on joint card) so I do that before going up and reading two poems. I’m slightly nervous but they’re received well! We sit through the rest and have a lot of fun before heading home. I work on laundry while C. sets up for the party. I’m pretty tired and not in the greatest mood as I help and we end up going to bed soon after. I fall asleep pretty fast. $0.67

Daily Total: $31.01

Day Five: Saturday

7:45 a.m. — C. comes in to snuggle and ask if I want them to start breakfast. I say yes and get in the shower while they make French toast, hashbrown patties, and eggs. We eat and move Y.’s stuff into the room. We set up all the food and supplies for the party.

10:05 a.m. — People are going to be late and C. gets a bit sad, but then everyone shows up in a big clump and I head into the office to write. I get about a thousand words written. C. grabs me to set up the projector to show everyone pictures. The first thing one of our friends says is, “Where’s the book?!” which is funny. I hang out with everyone until they have to leave so we can eat lunch and get ready to go to a musical (previously paid for, ~$84)

1:45 p.m. — Get to the musical and realize they moved us but the seats we originally had were by some family friends! We get a really yummy mocktail ($4.30 plus $1 tip on joint card) and end up moving to sit with them after intermission. They mention that their oldest has a pretty big role in a musical coming up next month. $2.65

5:15 p.m. — We get home and buy tickets to see the musical they mentioned ($90 from joint savings). $45

7:45 p.m. — It’s really hot and we decide to go swimming. We grab food on the way ($32.72 on joint card). C. and I swim for a while with my siblings before the weather starts to look kind of dicey. We end up playing some games inside with my family while it starts raining, hoping for the weather to blow over, but it just gets worse. $16.36

9:20 p.m. — Finally head home. Thankfully, it’s not actively raining but there’s so much lightning and the streets are kind of flooded. We are both tired but wound for sound and have a hard time getting to bed.

Daily Total: $64.01

Day Six: Sunday

8:15 a.m. — I’m exhausted this morning. C. gets in the shower and I feed Y. and do my usual morning stuff. I started doing French lessons yesterday out of novelty and do three more today since they’re basic. We decide we’re going to bike to a coffee shop to get breakfast before going to a Pride event today. We get all dressed up and head out. On the way there, we run into N., a friend we haven’t seen in a while who is walking over to the event. We tell them we’ll see them there.

9:40 a.m. — Food finally comes out and we are #hangry. C. paid for the food on their card because we realized it’s the only card we brought but when we get home I’ll transfer everything I owe (my half is $13.79). After fueling up and refilling the water bottle, we bike over to the event. Pretty much immediately we run into N. who is there with a friend, too. We wander around with them and run into D. and a few other people we know. C. gets some stickers and tea and we share a mango limeade (my half is $2.50). We then run into C.’s boss and they chat for a while. N. and their friend are hungry but C. and I are still wanting to walk around so we part ways. $16.29

11:40 a.m. — I run into someone I know from a local writing group. I’ve missed several meetups because I’ve been busy, but we catch up a little and I end up getting a custom poem from them ($21.20). We also catch up with a musician friend performing. C. finds a really pretty frame which we get since we’re trying to make a gallery wall in our living room (my half is $5), and then we grab some herbs from the apothecary (my half is $5.29). I run into another person from writing group and start to feel like maybe I do live in a small town. We start to get hot and hungry so we bike home. $31.49

12:45 p.m. — I take a shower first thing. Then we have some lunch and C. figures out what I owe them and I send it to them. While we’re sitting there, I order our groceries for the coming week — everything we need for breakfast/lunch as well as four dinners. We’re trying out a different store and they have a deal for $30 off your first order, and with some other coupons, $130 worth of food ends up being $64.28 (on joint card). We will pick this up tomorrow after work. $32.14

4:40 p.m. — Get some much-needed chill time at home before C. and I head over to have dinner at my family’s house. We play board games and hang out before leaving a bit earlier than usual since we were there late yesterday.

8:20 p.m. — Get home and prep for the coming week. Go to sleep at a decent time and fall asleep around 10 p.m., thank God.

Daily Total: $79.92

Day Seven: Monday

7:00 a.m. — Snuggle with C. when the alarm goes off until we have to get up. Usual morning routine. I’m still doing French even though I find the way words are pronounced really funny. Pack my lunch and I’m off to work. It’s a pretty typical morning. I crush the Wordle in two guesses, get no mistakes in Connections, and use no hints in Strands. This makes me feel unnecessarily accomplished.

10:05 a.m. — Continue tinkering with my query letter. I got some critiques back on it so I make some edits. I struggle sometimes with critical feedback but I know this will make it stronger, so I’m proud of myself for how I’m handling it. I have lunch, food from home, at my usual time. I’m annoyed about various work things and not in the best mood.

5:06 p.m. — Clock out and head home. Really glad to be off. Eat a random Unreal almond joy in my bag to tide me over until we make dinner later. When C. gets home, we go pick up the groceries (shrimp, tortillas, bread, seaweed, strawberries, jalapeño poppers, pork loin, avocados, lemons, cube cheese, string cheese, ground beef, broccoli, carrots, lemons, GF spaghetti noodles, oatmeal, potatoes — paid for yesterday). When we get there, I find out that they didn’t have shrimp or pork loin and never emailed me to let me know or try to substitute. ($14.73 back on the joint card). C. runs in and gets a lot of shrimp and a pork loin ($49.55 on the joint card). It’s so late by this point that we just give up and get Chipotle ($25.80 on the joint card). $30.31

7:15 p.m. — When we get home C. FaceTimes a friend while I get some writing done. I mostly tinker with my query letter (which is literally an endless task; it is never “finished”) and finish the second to last chapter. I just have one more chapter to go. C. says bye to their friend around 9:30 p.m. and we get in bed and fall asleep pretty quick.

Daily Total: $30.31

The Breakdown

Conclusion:
I think I did pretty decent this week. It was a somewhat average week, maybe on the lower end because typically we eat out more often, but we’ve been working on lessening that. The Pride event did give me the chance to spend some, and I did have to make some creative purchases, but overall I don’t think there’s much I would change. Keeping track of my spending actually made me feel better about what I’m buying and I feel more cognizant of the value I get from my purchases. In the future, I will probably have to be a bit more strict so I can pursue writing, but overall I think I’m not doing too bad.

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