Joyabuy - Spreadsheet

At the bottom, a final note appeared in red: "JOYABUY COMPLETE. YOU HAVE ALREADY BOUGHT EVERYTHING YOU NEED. THE NEXT ROW IS EMPTY. WHAT WILL YOU DO FOR FREE?" Mara closed her laptop. For the first time in months, she didn’t log her evening tea. She just drank it.

The spreadsheet froze. Then, slowly, a new column appeared beside her purchase list. It wasn't a calculation. It was a memory.

Next to "March 3 – discount lavender hand soap ($3.49)" , the new column read: "You gave this to your neighbor after her dog died. She cried. You felt useful. True joy: 9." spreadsheet joyabuy

She accidentally typed into a formula: =JOYABUY! followed by a typo— =JOYABUY? —and hit Enter.

For six months, the spreadsheet was a model of discipline. Until last Tuesday. At the bottom, a final note appeared in

Mara stared. She scrolled up.

The next day, she deleted the “price” column. Some spreadsheets don’t track your money—they track your life. WHAT WILL YOU DO FOR FREE

She kept scrolling. The spreadsheet had been tracking not what she spent , but what she felt . The typo had unlocked a hidden layer—a joy audit she never knew she was performing.

Her most prized sheet was — a column where she logged every non-essential purchase under $20. The rule was simple: for each item, she’d later rate its “joy return” (1–10). A fancy coffee: joy 6. A used paperback: joy 9. A scented candle that gave her a headache: joy 2.

Here’s a short, draft story based on the prompt Title: The Spreadsheet of Small Joys