Monday, June 05, 2006

May Spending

I was about to say it had been another month on spending-lockdown, but not really-- I went out to dinner a few times, saw some live music, etc. Nothing fancy but it's the little things that make you feel like you're treating yourself well without busting the bank.
I'm still having a hell of a time trying to revitalize my warm weather wardrobe, but I did manage to spend $40 on clothes this past month. Nothing exciting, just... foundation garments. I love that term, "foundation garments." It sounds like it should mean a steel-reinforced girdle. I actually did not buy anything that falls under Wikipedia's definition of foundation garments, but I don't know quite how else to refer to the items in question. Even in an anonymous blog, there's only so far I'll go! (Well, this week, anyway...)

My usual bête noire, the dining category, came in at a better than usual $564.
Gifts given $38
Household $47
Medical $296 because I went to the dentist and it hasn't been reimbursed by insurance yet.
Travel $270
Telephone $77
Subscriptions $71, which includes the usual monthly amounts for NYT, AOL and Verizon internet, plus a couple of other stray periodicals bought while on the road.

Bank Charge is an evil $81-- not only was I charged a late fee and finance charge when I paid my Visa bill a day late (it's still on my to-do list to call and plead for forgiveness) but I also got stuck having to pay ATM fees a couple of times, which I rarely do. I generally manage to avoid bank fees because I have high enough combined balances, but I wonder what the average person pays a month in fees. If you write too many checks or don't maintain minimum balances, there might be something to be said for actually leaving your money under a mattress instead.

I don't have all my investment statements to be able to nail down my exact month-end net worth, but I think it was pretty flat from last month due to stock market fluctuations. At one point during the month, it was actually up around $291,000 but that didn't last long!

I'll be on vacation this week so posting will be intermittent at best, but hopefully I'll have fun tales to tell upon my return...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can you DO that? Beg for forgiveness on a day-late VISA payment?

I always pay my VISA every other week, each payday, to make sure I never fail to pay on time.

February brought the perfect storm for me, however. Bad timing, short month, personal distraction. I paid the bill the day before a new billing period started. Then my grandmother died and I was distracted by that and by the trip to her funeral. I didn't make a payment in mid-billing period because, heck, I had it covered (I thought). By the time I sat down to make the next bi-weekly payment, the new billing period had begun that day.

I've wanted to whine about that for four months now. Thanks for the venue.

(Seriously, will begging get me anywhere? My record with these people is spotless-plus otherwise.)

(This is Bitty; apparently my work computer has forgotten my identity and I don't have my Blogger password handy.)

Anonymous said...

I always keep a little extra in my checking so as to never overdraft. I also do the pay twice a month trick with my credit card. Prevents errors in a posting to your account really hitting you hard.