Meet the Account Manager Who Spends $690 on Wellness Each Month
Say hello to our new series, Wellness Receipts.
Welcome to Wellness Receipts, a franchise exploring how different people integrate wellness routines into their everyday life. In each piece, we’ll be talking to one anonymous person about their routines, habits, and monthly wellness-related expenses. This week, we’re talking to an account manager who makes $110,000 per year.
JOB: Account Manager
INDUSTRY: Tech
AGE: 38 years old
LOCATION: Los Angeles
SALARY: $110,000/year
RENT/MORTGAGE: $4,000/month for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom single-family home in Venice Beach. (The total cost is split with her husband.)
DEBT: Zero. I have no student loans and no credit card debt. I went to state school, which was less expensive, and my parents helped pay for my education. My husband went to private school and had to take out some loans, but he paid them off by the time he was 30, 11 years ago.
KIDS: One 11-month daughter
PETS: Two French bulldogsMonthly Wellness Receipts
Chiropractor: $90
Pilates Studio Membership: $200
Groceries: $300
Supplements: $100
TOTAL: $690
What does wellness mean to you? Has your relationship to wellness changed over the years?
I was in great shape [prior to pregnancy] and I didn’t realize how physically demanding pregnancy and postpartum are. Obviously, I anticipated the intensity of labor and delivery, but when I got home, I didn’t even remember what my needs were, if they were being met, if I could even vocalize to ask for help because you're just so focused on the baby that nothing else matters. I remember being so sore and inflamed on my right side from trying to nurse correctly. When I went to see my chiropractor, when I was able to get out of the house, she was like, ‘Oh my God, this is going to take a couple of adjustments.’ You spend all your time running around after the baby, cleaning up after the baby, or trying to make sure that your laundry gets done right. It's a lot of physical and mental stress. I was affected pretty aggressively by postpartum depression, and I had to ask for help. I had to rely on the people around me to notice something was wrong.
Becoming a mom has made me prioritize my physical and mental wellness. There are [so many things] in life that are out of your control. The one thing you can control is your physical and mental health.
Do you have a morning routine? What does it look like?
Yes! I wake up, drink a glass of water with lemon and salt before walking on the beach with my family and having one cup of coffee. It’s important to me now because I have so little time to myself. It also feels like it's the best way to set up for the day successfully. If you wake up and the first thing you think is, ‘I'm so tired,’ your brain will consistently look for reasons to make you confirm that, yes, you are, in fact, tired. So if you wake up and you think, ‘I'm so grateful that I woke up; my body got the rest it needs,’ you will now look for reasons to be grateful throughout your day. I try to get those things done right around the time the baby's waking up so I can feel balanced for the day.
Do you take daily supplements?
I take vitamin D, coQ10, and I started taking a prenatal because my husband and I are going to do IVF again this fall. I also take a greens powder from Arbonne and I just mix that into my water in the mornings.
I didn’t start taking vitamins until I started trying to become pregnant. When I was in fertility treatments, I realized how much of my diet, and the standard American diet [in general], is lacking in a lot of essential nutrients. In the last four years I've gotten much more interested in nutritional wellness supplements and making sure I have more of a holistic view of health.
Where do you get your groceries?
I've been kind of spoiled. My husband is a chef and he has such a great relationship with so many farmers. I just see the difference between farmer's market greens and greens I buy from Whole Foods.
He works with this wonderful family farm in California that is kind of a co-op for smaller ranches. We get all our red meat from there, so I know where the cow is coming from. For most of my produce, I'll go to the Venice Farmers Market and get my greens, citrus, and that kind of thing. Then I buy my vegetables and herbs from a community garden run by a charitable foundation called Safe Place for Youth. Otherwise, if I'm getting yogurt or something, I'll go to Whole Foods.
Do you see a psychiatrist and/or therapist?
Yes, I see a psychiatrist once every three months and the cost is completely covered by insurance.
Do you spend money on workout classes?
It was always a little bit easier to go to a studio and focus for 50 minutes. I usually do mat classes, but the reformer [pilates] is where I see a lot of change. On a good week, now, I go once or twice a week.
Do you spend any money on bodywork (massages, acupuncture, chiropractic care, etc.)?
I started going to see my chiropractor a couple of years ago because I was having a lot of tension from working in tech. Then I would see her to realign in a more spiritual way during infertility treatment. I stopped seeing her towards the end of my pregnancy but came back a lot after delivery because everything was out of whack. For about nine weeks after delivery, I would see her weekly. Now it's just a once-a-month maintenance kind of thing, and it feels so nice to go.