Here's another way I've been looking at my January-April numbers: a comparison to January-April 2005. There were a few surprises.
Income:
Bonus +15.75%
Gift Received -100.00% (probably just means I cashed my Xmas checks before the end of the year!)
Interest Inc +63.41% (no surprise given interest rate trends in general and some securities being sold and the proceeds earning interest in a money market account)
Salary +3.80%
Tax Refund -50.88% :(
I've left out all the investment-related income lines, as they include some realized gains that aren't regular occurrences.
Expenses:
Charity +2300.00% (but that museum wing named after me will be worth it)
Clothing -96.15% (wow. I guess all the clothes I bought last year are what I'm wearing now)
Dining:
- Breakfast -35.96% (my efforts to eat cereal and yogurt at home paid off)
- Dinner +17.18% (due to a couple of nice meals out, including a fab dinner at Markt)
- Groceries +15.41% (due to the shift in breakfast/lunch habits)
- Liquor +104.77% (yikes! uh, it was for medicinal purposes!)
- Lunch -33.99% (again, just a bit more discipline here)
Education -20.94%
Entertainment:
- Books +28.06%
- CDs -78.79% (I guess I haven't had my quarterly binge yet. But I have a couple of gift cards for when it happens, so this one should stay on track!)
- Movies -37.57%
- Entertainment - Other +118.02% (this is the Broadway tix)
Gifts Given -10.38%
Household -45.19% (there may have been some one-time expense last year. Either that or I'm just wearing dirty clothes more often.)
Total Medical +0.25% (despite my medical and dental insurance costs having gone up a lot this year, this is almost flat because I haven't gone to a doctor yet this year after being sick a lot last year, and I'm not on any prescriptions any more. And see "Dining:Liquor" above!)
Payroll Taxes, Self: +11.85% (ugh.)
Rent 0% (I just love this.)
Subscriptions: 72.31% (I think I had to renew a magazine. My newspaper costs are also up now that I get it delivered rather than buying it on the newsstand, mainly because I still end up paying for it even when I go away.)
Travel: -46.69% (I haven't been traipsing around the world lately)
Telephone -19.67%
I've left out a few of the boring lines under expenses too.
As for totals, here they are, including everything:
| 2005 | 2006 | Var. | ||
| Total Income: | $44,089 | $52,395 | $8,306 | 18.84% |
| Total Expenses: | $23,269 | $22,434 | ($835) | -3.59% |
| Net Income/Expenses: | $20,820 | $29,961 | $9,141 | 43.91% |
A lot of the increase in the bottom line was from those realized gains.
But still, heading in the right direction so far!
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