Sunday, July 31, 2005

What I Spent This Month

Ok, first month of blogging about my finances, let's see if it helped me stay on track.

Bank charge: $1.00 for using the wrong ATM
Charity: $120 (Most months aren't this high. At the end of the year, I always feel guilty that I haven't given enough.)
Clothing: $19.51 (wow, that is pretty good, even though what I bought was a bra that I didn't really need!)
Dining: $833.96 (ugh, this is the monster. I have been trying to bring a few more breakfasts and lunches from home, but not often enough. And in the summer, my apartment gets really hot if I use the stove, so I tend to eat dinner out more.) But I also see this category as sometimes overlapping with entertainment. I didn't go to the movies or anything this month, so dinners with friends were my entertainment. (Their lives are weirder than most films.)
Education: $387.50 (sailing and French classes)
Entertainment: $13.67 (a couple of used books)
Gifts Given: $42.31
Household: $102.55 (the Bed Bath & Beyond spree, and some laundry & dry cleaning)
Medical: $55.00 doctor, and $349.62 eyeglasses
Miscellaneous: $80 haircut and $7.90 worth of balance adjustments and found money
Travel: $155 (train tickets and one taxi ride)
Telephone: $110.89

Those are all the variable expenses. In addition, there are the standard monthly things like:
Rent $850
Household insurance $12.66
AOL $23.90
Newspaper subscription $37.00
Transit pass $76
and the payroll deductions for medical insurance, FSA and taxes

Bottom line is that I managed to save $1263.10 this month, which is ok, but less than the $1800 I was aiming for. A large part of that is the unbudgeted sailing lessons (which are totally fun and worth the money!) But I spent very little on "stuff."
Next month's goal: stop eating and drinking so much! This is turning into a diet blog!

4 comments:

Zetirix said...

I hate being poor... I don't think I'll ever see $250k in my lifetime, the way things are going.

- Z

Anonymous said...

X,

You are to be commended on your savings rate. I've lived in NYC for nearly 20 years (since college) and live in Park Slope, so I know just how hard it is to save in NYC.

How do you do it. Most people with your net worth do it through home ownership or big bonuses, but that does not look to be the case in your situation.

So, how did you amass over $200,000 by mid-30's withouta home or a job with big annual bonuses. Are you really THAT GOOD at saving.

BTW, your rent seems very below-market. Are you just lucky or in a rough nabe?

Bitty said...

Based on what you paid for cable, apparently I'm not the only one still using AOL dial-up!

But I'm going to have to upgrade for work purposes. :(

ebizpromo said...

great man. really its very difficult to save money. I cant manage money. It was always used.

Thanx,
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