The commenters have been clamoring! I know I've been delinquent, I keep meaning to post here more often and for some reason always put it off. But yes, I'm still alive and still earning and spending money! So let's talk about that.
This year I thought I'd share the total household expenses that Sweetie and I share. Throughout the year one or the other of us will always pay for certain things, but at the end of the year, I do a reconciliation of all our expenses, break out what is truly individual vs. shared, and then make sure the shared expenses are shared equally. Usually it works out pretty well, but if not, we'll pay each other back as needed.
Here's the combined breakdown.
- Auto: we have 2 cars, both fully paid off, so this is just gas and maintenance.
- Charity: I don't know why our charitable giving went down so much-- oversight, I guess, or maybe some things that were last minute and ended up in 2023 on our credit cards.
- Clothing: I've been buying my favorite jeans on eBay, and investing in foot comfort with some expensive Hoka sneakers. But otherwise, working from home makes me so much less concerned about my wardrobe.
- Dining: we don't eat in restaurants very often, and order takeout even less frequently now that we're not in the city. This line includes all meals, groceries and liquor. We do enjoy our wine, but have been cutting back in recent months.
- Entertainment: this includes books, Netflix, and things like museums and concerts.
- Gifts: this was high due to one of our nieces graduating from high school.
- Household: in 2021 we still had some "settling in" expenses of furniture, etc. This line includes getting the gutters cleaned, some small tools, cleaning supplies (at least any that don't end up combined with a grocery bill), gardening supplies, and a new electric lawn mower that Sweetie just loves! I've been growing a nice little crop of herbs and tomatoes each summer, and invested in a raised planter so as not to have to do as much weeding down on my knees.
- Housing: we have no mortgage, just property taxes and HOA fee.
- Medical: we're both covered under insurance from my job, so this reflects those premiums and a few co-pays. I'm surprised it wasn't higher in 2022 as I was doing physical therapy for several months due to back problems.
- Misc: this is very high for 2022 due to a few one-off things like a new iPhone for Sweetie, and a painting that I fell in love with, which cost just under $2,000. I've never spent that kind of money on art before! But the painting makes me really happy. I actually had been interested in a different piece by that artist that turned out to be priced at $20,000! It would not have made me ten times happier, so I'm glad I chose what I did.
- Subscriptions: I still love getting a physical newspaper but I cut back to 4 days a week delivery. I also subscribe to several magazines.
- Taxes: neither of us was working in 2020, so we owed very little in taxes at the beginning of 2021. But then 2021 was such a huge year for the stock market, we both had some significant capital gains taxes, and I was also paying estimated quarterly taxes.
- Travel: we finally got on a plane for our first real vacation since COVID! Now we're itching to do more traveling again.
Everything else basically reflects our existence as creatures of habit living in a world with some inflation.
I'll share more details in another post soon!
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