Hold Yourself Openly Accountable for Your Spending in 2020

[kittykat]

              |  Fun Out  | Restaurants | Groceries  |   Shopping   |     Total   |
NOV 2019      | $     412 | $       843 | $      510 | $      2,791 | $     4,556 |
DEC 2019      | $      26 | $       682 | $      634 | $      3,473 | $     4,815 |
JAN 2020      | $     118 | $       147 | $      678 | $         86 | $     1,029 |
FEB 2020      | $     232 | $       253 | $      687 | $        229 | $     1,401 |
MAR 2020      | $     110 | $        30 | $    1,448 | $      1,420 | $     3,008 |
APR 2020      | $       0 | $       111 | $      965 | $        723 | $     1,799 |
MAY 2020      | $       0 | $       232 | $    1,326 | $      1,824 | $     3,382 |
JUN 2020      | $       0 | $       274 | $    1,034 | $        348 | $     1,656 |
JUL 2020      | $       0 | $       346 | $      989 | $         87 | $     1,422 |
AUG 2020      | $       0 | $       669 | $      570 | $         21 | $     1,260 |
SEP 2020      | $      47 | $     1,564 | $      401 | $        622 | $     2,634 |
OCT 2020      | $       0 | $       936 | $    1,220 | $        912 | $     3,068 |
NOV 2020      | $       0 | $       244 | $     928 | $       2,733 | $     3,905 |

              |-----------|-------------|------------|--------------|-------------|


I did a bunch of shopping in November. So looks like I managed to spend half the year in green and the other half not so much. A lot of that was due to moving expenses. I do plan to continue this tracking into 2021 and hoping for more months in green as I get settled into the new house.

[SotI]

Closing the books for this year.
Update YoY, total expense.


          2019 Spend        2020 Spend       
Jan             5,797                   5,379
Feb             3,523                   3,876
March        3,548                   4,030
April           3,702                   3,774
May            4,469                   3,437
June           4,462                   3,635
July            3,776                   2,938
August       3,423                   2,659
Sept            3,400                   3,012     
Oct              3,201                   3,858
Nov             3,307                   2,393
Dec             2,964                   4,145
Total                  45.6k                  43.1k 

In total, I spent 5.3% less than 2019, but missed my target by half. Spent more than planned on vet and garden redesign this year.

Mitigating factor: this includes an unplanned loan to family - if I exclude it from spend, I got close.

So again aiming for another 5% reduction next year.

[philli14]

              |  Gas/Fuel  | Restaurants | "Shopping" |  Groceries |    Total   |
2018 AVG      | $      160 | $       541 | $      422 | $      195 | $     2902 |
2019 AVG      | $       45 | $       151 | $       93 | $      182 | $     1464 |
2020 GOAL     | $       40 | $       100 | $       50 | $      200 | $     1200 |
              |------------|-------------|------------|------------|------------|
JAN           | $       27 | $       137 | $       73 | $      273 | $     1247 |
FEB           | $       26 | $         0 | $        0 | $      278 | $      921 |
MAR           | $       41 | $       164 | $        0 | $      142 | $      912 |
APR           | $        0 | $         0 | $        0 | $      229 | $      807 |
MAY           | $       21 | $         0 | $        0 | $      394 | $      973 |
JUN           | $       21 | $       223 | $        0 | $      209 | $     1011 |
JUL           | $       23 | $        78 | $      156 | $      194 | $      966 |
AUG           | $       23 | $       151 | $       53 | $      277 | $     1430 |
SEP           | $       24 | $       101 | $        8 | $      362 | $     1426 |
OCT           | $       46 | $        91 | $      132 | $      262 | $     1683 |
NOV           | $       23 | $       131 | $        6 | $      216 | $      950 |
DEC           | $       23 | $        69 | $      122 | $      255 | $     1978 |
              |------------|-------------|------------|------------|------------|
2020 AVG      | $       25 | $        95 | $       46 | $      258 | $     1192 |


Closing the year! Wow, that was a close call on a number of categories. I think my total spend is a bit inflated by end of the year purchases that I will be inevitably be reimbursed for, but I will keep it as an expense now and count the reimbursement as income later.

Pretty awesome year all things considered.. nothing went as expected, but it was financially a solid year all around.

As far as spending.. pretty close to my goals. Barely under in 3 of the 5 categories (total, restaurants, shopping), solidly under in 1 (gas), and quite significantly over in 1 (groceries). I had a big increase in the amount of craft beer purchases (due to less craft brewery trips), which accounts for a larger-than-i'd-like portion of that. That will be a focus of mine in 2021.

Thank you all for joining me on this accountability-trip. My second year doing it, and I will plan on doing it again in 2021. Congratulations to each of you and wish you a happy new year!

[middo]

My EOY update.

I managed 8.6% down from last year, which is against my aim of 10%.  I'm happy with that.

The big drops were in eating out, holidays and transport.  Covid related mainly I suspect.

[Queen Frugal]

              |  Groceries  | Entertainment  |   Clothing |   Travel   |    Total   |
2018 AVG      | $       738 | $           42 | $       86 | $      463 | $     3719 |
2019 AVG      | $       614 | $           88 | $       51 | $       63 | $     3855 |
              |-------------|----------------|------------|------------|------------|
2020 GOAL     | $       400 | $           50 | $       60 | $      100 | $     3300 |
              |-------------|----------------|------------|------------|------------|
JAN           | $       287 | $           24 | $        0 | $        0 | $     2255 |
FEB           | $       349 | $            0 | $       63 | $       55 | $     2327 |
MAR           | $       728 | $            0 | $        0 | $        0 | $     3407 |
APR           | $       423 | $           71 | $       30 | $      414 | $     3791 |
MAY           | $       412 | $            0 | $       78 | $      173 | $     4139 |
JUN           | $       424 | $           71 | $       30 | $      414 | $     4360 |
JUL           | $       596 | $            7 | $       10 | $      228 | $     3782 |
AUG           | $       555 | $           31 | $      129 | $       69 | $     3115 |
SEP           | $       881 | $           12 | $       57 | $        0 | $     3921 |
OCT           | $       566 | $            8 | $      270 | $        0 | $     3245 |
NOV           | $       593 | $            8 | $       13 | $        0 | $     3047 |
DEC           | $       455 | $           23 | $       71 | $        0 | $     4585 |
              |-------------|----------------|------------|------------|------------|
2020 AVG      | $       560 | $           15 | $       60 | $       68 | $     3498 |


EOY update! Overall I am happy with my spending. It could have been better but it was, for the most part, what I expected.

I did add some unexpected changes to the mix which messed with my numbers a little. I had a mortgage with PMI on it. I refinanced it rather unexpectedly this year because interest rates were so low and I threw enough money at the new mortgage to get rid of the PMI. Wasn't sure how to accurately account for all that here, but suffice it to say, I'm happy with my total budget numbers.

The budget item I wanted to tackle the most was the grocery spending. I didn't reach my goal, but I came a lot closer. I included the cost of a new freezer and some storage buckets in my grocery budget so that skewed things a little. I figure they are really a food cost since their only purpose is to store my food! Also I now have 3 months of staples on hand and I didn't have that at the beginning of 2020.

Thank you @philli14 for starting this thread and I look forward to participating in 2021!

So many people on this forum track savings rate and I can appreciate why, but my income stream is random and I don't have a steady paycheck. Tracking my spending is the best way I can set myself up to maximize my savings!

[zygote]

Spent $3850 this month, which is high for me, but on par with last December. It was mostly due to Christmas presents and more takeout than usual. I'm not really mad about it.

Total spending for the year was $46,300. While that's up from my 2019 total of $43,400, it includes $6500 of orthodontia. Without that lump medical expense, I would be under $40k spending for the first time since I started tracking. Wow. Given that I went into the year knowing some recurring expenses were going up, I am very happy with that. The pandemic ended up helping my budget because my two main hobbies (theater and travel) became moot. Goal for 2021 is to be mindful of what activities I incorporate back into my life once things get back to some semblance of normal.

[kittykat]

              |  Fun Out  | Restaurants | Groceries  |   Shopping   |     Total   |
NOV 2019      | $     412 | $       843 | $      510 | $      2,791 | $     4,556 |
DEC 2019      | $      26 | $       682 | $      634 | $      3,473 | $     4,815 |
JAN 2020      | $     118 | $       147 | $      678 | $         86 | $     1,029 |
FEB 2020      | $     232 | $       253 | $      687 | $        229 | $     1,401 |
MAR 2020      | $     110 | $        30 | $    1,448 | $      1,420 | $     3,008 |
APR 2020      | $       0 | $       111 | $      965 | $        723 | $     1,799 |
MAY 2020      | $       0 | $       232 | $    1,326 | $      1,824 | $     3,382 |
JUN 2020      | $       0 | $       274 | $    1,034 | $        348 | $     1,656 |
JUL 2020      | $       0 | $       346 | $      989 | $         87 | $     1,422 |
AUG 2020      | $       0 | $       669 | $      570 | $         21 | $     1,260 |
SEP 2020      | $      47 | $     1,564 | $      401 | $        622 | $     2,634 |
OCT 2020      | $       0 | $       936 | $    1,220 | $        912 | $     3,068 |
NOV 2020      | $       0 | $       244 | $      928 | $      2,733 | $     3,905 |
DEC 2020      | $       0 | $       504 | $    1,132 | $      1,435 | $     3,071 |

              |-----------|-------------|------------|--------------|-------------|
AVG 2020      | $      42 | $       227 | $      948 | $        953 | $     2,302 |



I was able to successfully control spending for half the months of 2020, and had a decent monthly average spend...especially compared to 2019 before I started all this. The food spend during the move and renovation months threw me off quite a bit, but I also started spending more past couple of months given black friday sales and holiday shopping etc.
I did substantially better than previous years but I am looking forward to being more disciplined in 2021 as things settle more.

[oneday]

Echoing @Queen Frugal with thanks to @philli14 and looking forward to doing it again this year

Year End wrap up


              |  Entertain | Restaurants | Groceries  |    Total   |
              |------------|-------------|------------|------------|
DEC 2019      | $      358 | $       309 | $      281 | $     3553 |
JAN 2020      | $      231 | $       293 | $      206 | $     3109 |
FEB 2020      | $      529 | $       311 | $      152 | $     4345 |
MAR 2020      | $      -79 | $       193 | $      146 | $     3804 |
APR 2020      | $        4 | $        47 | $      285 | $     3175 |
MAY 2020      | $       37 | $       103 | $      110 | $     3912 |
JUN 2020      | $        2 | $        55 | $      186 | $     2825 |
JUL 2020      | $       39 | $        35 | $      443 | $     3250 |
AUG 2020      | $       40 | $        28 | $      141 | $     3233 |
SEP 2020      | $      124 | $        53 | $      215 | $     3733 |
OCT 2020      | $      223 | $        89 | $      247 | $     4006 |
NOV 2020      | $       46 | $        30 | $      291 | $     2327 |
              |------------|-------------|------------|------------|
TOT           | $    1,554 | $     1,546 | $    2,703 | $   41,272 |
AVG           | $      130 | $       129 | $      225 | $     3439 |
              |------------|-------------|------------|------------|
DEC 2020      | $       30 | $        34 | $      291 | $     3308 |
              |------------|-------------|------------|------------|
DIF           | $      100 | $        95 | $       66 | $     131  |
              |------------|-------------|------------|------------|
 

Compared to historical average (Dec 2019-Nov2020):

Pretty average month, despite the holidays. Partly due to Covid, partly due to planning ahead and buying gifts in November. But I spend modestly on the holidays in a normal year, too.

Sold my extra car! I had it in a storage locker, so not only do I get an influx of cash, I also eliminate the storage fee going forward, hurrah!

The other thing to celebrate this month is a full calendar year's expenses. I gave up tracking after my divorce and that actually worked well for me for a time. But I'm glad I got back to it; gives me some data to work with when calculating FIRE stuff.