When I need a break at work, I love to skim through the Money Diaries on Refinery29. The accounts of monthly expenses plus a week of spending in the lives of these anonymous women is such a perfect shot of voyeurism, especially for a personal finance nerd like myself.
I am so into them, in fact, that I recruited a few friends to join me in keeping our own money diaries. Complete with a very cool spreadsheet (lol), we journaled our days as it related to our spending. I've consistently budgeted for years, but this narrative exercise offered a new perspective that went beyond just accounting for the numbers. For example: I realized I love buying gifts but need to increase my budget for the unplanned, spontaneous ones.
If you want to try your own (with your friends, partner, or yourself) you can borrow my very cool spreadsheet. Keep me posted!