Here are my May expenses, to complete the monthly wrap-up I started the other day.
| Outflows | |||
| Business expense | $ 19.45 | ||
| Clothing | $ 890.79 | * | |
| Dining: | |||
| Breakfast | $ 36.52 | ||
| Dinner | $ 272.70 | ||
| Groceries | $ 109.69 | ||
| Liquor | $ 132.65 | ||
| Lunch | $ 113.36 | ||
| Total Dining | $ 664.92 | ||
| Entertainment: | |||
| Movies | $ 5.41 | ||
| Entertainment - Other | $ 40.00 | ||
| Total Entertainment | $ 45.41 | ||
| Gifts Given | $ 78.77 | ||
| Household: | |||
| Laundry | $ 23.50 | ||
| Household - Other | $ 52.00 | ||
| Total Household | $ 75.50 | ||
| Housing | $ 4,074.17 | ** | |
| Investment Exp | $ (19.99) | *** | |
| Medical: | |||
| Dental | $ 5.56 | ||
| Doctor | $ 60.00 | ||
| Flex spend | $ 41.66 | ||
| Health Insurance | $ 74.20 | ||
| Total Medical | $ 181.42 | ||
| Misc: | |||
| Personal care | $ 100.00 | ||
| Misc - Other | $ 73.17 | ||
| Total Misc | $ 173.17 | ||
| Taxes: | |||
| Federal | $ 891.14 | ||
| Medicare | $ 113.74 | ||
| NYC tax | $ 207.78 | ||
| SDI | $ 2.60 | ||
| Soc Sec | $ 486.31 | ||
| State | $ 354.12 | ||
| Total Taxes | $ 2,055.69 | ||
| Subscriptions: | |||
| Internet Access | $ 29.95 | ||
| Magazines | $ 49.95 | ||
| Newspapers | $ 42.40 | ||
| Total Subscriptions | $ 122.30 | ||
| Travel: | |||
| Commute | $ 76.00 | ||
| Total Travel | $ 76.00 | ||
| Utilities: | |||
| Gas & Electric | $ 61.48 | ||
| Telephone | $ 76.64 | ||
| Total Utilities | $ 138.12 | ||
| Total Outflows | $ 8,575.72 |
Nothing too weird this month. Clothing was high because A) it's just that time of year when I want to buy new clothes, B) I bought 3 pairs of shoes from Zappos which have already been returned and C) I bought Sweetie $300 worth of stuff for which I'm being reimbursed here and there via meals, groceries, and miscellaneous stuff like plants. Housing is a whopper this month because I sent an extra payment of $2,000 towards the principal of my mortgage. The negative amount for investment expense was a refund of a trade fee from E*Trade.
My salary for the month was $8,017, and I had a couple hundred dollars additional income from interest and dividends. That makes it look like I'm in the red for the month, but that $2,000 to the mortgage wasn't really a true expense, as it goes into home equity and contributes to my overall net worth. I also contributed over $1,400 to my 401k this month.
Next month I'm planning to do a 6-month recap of my expenses vs. my budget, as well as a comparison to my expenses in past years. Should be fun!
16 comments:
You know I check out your spending reports just to see how much you spent on liquor. Need to make sure someone is more of a lush than I am. But umm...
Liquor $ 132.65
Are you cutting back?
Or maybe I've increased.
Never mind...don't answer that.
you drink too much, gal!
I'm not really THAT much of a lush-- it's high this month because I bought a case of wine which should hopefully last longer than a month! My average monthly liquor spending is lower, about $80 per month year to date.
But I am still trying to cut back on the vino a bit, for health reasons as well as financial ones!
I have a suggestion for lowering your clothes bill. Wear sweatpants every day. They're very comfortable and they're the next big trend. I live in New York City too and every day people stop me to tell me how cool my pants are. Grey sweats work best, by the way.
Do you get a discounted monthly MetroCard pass? I used to pay 76/month until it rose to 81/month. Or do you pay as you go?
@anon 1:30, I get $76 taken out of my paycheck pretax. I then use that to buy metrocards. I used to get the unlimited one but don't anymore as I haven't been using it as much on the weekends.
@alfred, what a coincidence! I am way ahead of the curve on the sweatpants trend and 10 new pairs is what I spent all that money on this month!
I've just started reading your blog and it seems like you have a good amount of savings built up. My question though after looking at your expenses for May are how are you building up these savings? I feel like I'm constantly trying to save money, i.e. everything extra goes to savings. If May is a typical month, where are your savings coming from? Thanks.
Maybe you've discussed phone before, but do you have a landline? I got rid of mine and only have a cell ($40/month with the cheapest plan of 450 rollover minutes/month.) I plan long conversations for free nights and weekends. I don't use international calling much, but I've read reasonable phone cards can take care of that--reasonable depending on usage, I suppose.
anon 2:40-- this was not a typical month because I sent $2000 extra to my mortgage. Other than that sort of anomaly, I just consistently spend less than I earn, and I'm fortunate to earn enough to support my desired lifestyle!
anon 2:42-- I can't seem to give up my landline, though I also have a cellphone and a blackberry for work. One of these days I suppose I'll get over it!
I appreciate you posting your monthly expenditures. . . . I have a 21 year old who is going to strt her first job post college. . . we have had numerous conversations about budgeting. . . . I am through talking. . . . I am going to send her to your blog.
Ciao
What kind of program do you use for tracking of your bills? Do you input ur receipts daily? I use quicken and should breakdown my dinning even further like yours so I can know exactly hen and what I am spending on.
Why pay down your mortgage in advance now? I've thought about this but, in the end, always decide against it because my interest rate is low and presumably I could (?) get a higher return elsewhere. What's your rationale?
Whoah, you've almost got a full on P&L going there! I haven't read you're blog for over a year (I quit my job that allowed me to surf the internet all day), so I'm surprised to see how detailed your expenditure breakdowns are now. I like it!
Forgive me if you have talked about this somewhere else- but 74.20 for health insurance? What kind do you have, that seems really cheap- I am guessing a 10,000 deductible with a flex spending account through your employer that you use to pay for it- or is it an employee sponsored plan that you just have to pay part of?
@ David, my health insurance is through work, and my company covers most of the cost.
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