Select a starting day and for a full seven-day period,

Select a starting day and for a full seven-day period, record your personal consumption activities. Note that you should record things you consume, even if you do not pay. Many of you are blessed with items that parents/grandparents/fiancés/etc. may pay for, but for which you consume.

Example: housing, car, car insurance, cell phones, etc. Be sure to keep track of everything—you may be surprised at how small purchases add up. At the end of the seven day period, type your expenditures. Any expenditure that you deem to be personal / confidential you may say so and record the amount without identifying the item(s) purchased

After completing the seven day analysis, add in ¼ of your monthly expenses. For example: if your portion of rent is $400 month, then use $100 for a weekly estimate. Common monthly items include rent, car payment, car insurance, credit card payments, utilities, cell phone (including data), net flix, gym memberships, hulu, music subscriptions, etc. Remember, you should include these even if you don’t pay if you are the actual consumer (user).

• Did you incur any unusual or unexpected expenses during this time period? If so, what?. Or are the expenditures recorded fairly typical of your consumption pattern(s)?

• Did you buy primarily for yourself? Or did you frequently purchase for others?

• When shopping with others, did they influence your buying? If so, how?.

• Did you at any point experience post-purchase dissonance? If so, explain.

• How/why do you think marketers would be interested in this information?

• Is there any aspect of this consumption journal that surprised you?.Why?