Author Topic: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019  (Read 56018 times)

Trifle

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #350 on: September 02, 2019, 09:41:24 AM »
Posting to update.  Decent month, but could have been better.  Our goals are total spend under $2700, and to keep our top two expenses (food and utilities) down.  We're trying to keep our total food spend -- groceries plus eating out -- under $600 (family of 4, 2 teenagers), and our utilities as low as possible. 

Looking ahead, September will be an exploding bloodbath of spending (long preplanned vacation). 


               Total spend           Food           Utilities

January       $3869                $656             $539
February       2223                  593               558
March           2877                  843               444
April             2803                  606               394
May              3242                  771               323
June             4117                  822               337
July              2885                  521               324
August          3052                  624               369

Linea_Norway

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #351 on: September 05, 2019, 12:55:30 AM »
August:

There is a large expense "uncategorized" (grey). We are trying to change citizenship and this is the cost for the request and for a test.
« Last Edit: September 05, 2019, 05:04:25 AM by Linea_Norway »

Trifle

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #352 on: September 05, 2019, 04:36:31 AM »
August:

There is a large expense "uncategorized" (grey). We are trying to change citizenship and this is the cost the request and for a test.

@Linea_Norway -- Are you two becoming Norwegian citizens?  Do you have to give up your Dutch citizenship to do that? 

Linea_Norway

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #353 on: September 05, 2019, 05:01:39 AM »
August:

There is a large expense "uncategorized" (grey). We are trying to change citizenship and this is the cost the request and for a test.

@Linea_Norway -- Are you two becoming Norwegian citizens?  Do you have to give up your Dutch citizenship to do that?

Yes, we need to give up our Dutch nationality. Being Norwegian means that we can vote in Norway. Today we can only vote locally, but not at national votes.
And also, if we ever get a government that is making life difficult for (not working) immigrants, we feel a bit safer having the nationality.

We had to pass a test, answering 32 questions about Norwegian culture. Luckily we passed easily. The whole process might take more than a year. In our application we have written our jobs, as we still have them at this moment.

philli14

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #354 on: September 20, 2019, 10:12:36 AM »

Category        2018 AVG | 2019 GOAL | 2019 AVG |    JAN |    FEB |    MAR |   APR |    MAY |    JUN |
Cell Phone         $  75 |    $   10 |   $    8 | $   24 | $    3 | $    3 | $   3 | $    3 | $    3 |
Gas/Fuel           $ 150 |    $   50 |   $   43 | $   32 | $    0 | $   33 | $   0 | $    0 | $  138 |
Restaurants        $ 540 |    $  300 |   $  198 | $   13 | $   84 | $   76 | $   0 | $  425 | $  598 |
"Shopping"         $ 420 |    $  150 |   $  105 | $  426 | $  175 | $   65 | $   0 | $   54 | $   95 |
Car Expenses       $ 445 |    $  100 |   $    7 | $   54 | $    0 | $    0 | $   0 | $    0 | $    0 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total "Big 5"      $1630 |    $  610 |   $  380 | $  549 | $  262 | $  177 | $   3 | $  482 | $  825 |
Total Expenses     $2902 |    $ 2000 |   $ 1645 | $ 1799 | $ 1697 | $ 1429 | $ 641 | $ 1657 | $ 2438 |

Category                                        |    JUL |    AUG |    SEP |
Cell Phone                                      | $    3 | $   18 | $    5 |
Gas/Fuel                                        | $   40 | $  100 | $   27 |
Restaurants                                     | $  166 | $  233 | $   11 |
"Shopping"                                      | $    4 | $  179 | $  161 |
Car Expenses                                    | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total "Big 5"                                   | $  213 | $  530 | $  204 |
Total Expenses                                  | $ 1821 | $ 1674 | $  913 |


Shopping remains a challenge. In the case of this month, 120 of it was fees for a soccer league I joined this season, which gets put in the shopping category due to how I have my categories. I only really shopped for $40 for a shadow box to frame a poster. Hoping to finish the month strong and then look forward to October.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #355 on: September 30, 2019, 01:56:03 AM »
September is an expensive month. We are going to sell our home and therefore we have some additional cost upfront.
I went to Ikea to buy some stash for home staging (the darker blue colour), 260 euro.
We also went a week on vacation where we ate out every day (green). The sum spent should have been much higher, but DH paid many of the dinners, which is not visible in my numbers. We also drank wine every day, marked as food, as I bought it at the grocery store or at a restaurant.
I ordered 2 expensive books for a hobby. Haven't received them yet, 4 weeks later, so I should be checking on that. The amount is drawn from my account.
Home (grey) is big because I got a lot of bills to pay, like the 3-monthly internet bill. And the water/sewer bill.
Not visible on my numbers, but DH paid 2200 euros for a car repair.

Next month might also be an expensive month. We will have to pay for a technical report for the home sale (in Norway the seller makes such a report available to all the buyers). And we need to pay for advertising. The broker costs will be paid for when we sell the home. The broker might send an early invoice for other bills, like getting the official documents from the community, legal system, etc.

SotI

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #356 on: September 30, 2019, 06:59:48 AM »
This is a YoY view on variable expenses, starting w/ when I began tracking expenses more accurately last year.

Primary goal is to reduce overall spend, second goal is to meet my overall "variable" budget plan this year (= $2,500 per month on average, as I decided to push for a 10% reduction compared to last year's average).
I guess I still have substantial fixed costs to deal with. However, those are health-care and house-related, so they will not be influenced unless I move. So I want to focus on what I can control directly. Still, I am amazed to see how little some ppl here spend even with bigger households. There is still a lot of fat here in my budget I need to trim

 2018 baseline $                 2019
 July    (5,571)                       (2,304)
 Aug    (2,208)                       (1,954)
Sept    (4.561)                       (2,098)

zygote

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #357 on: September 30, 2019, 10:48:07 AM »
I'm on track to spend ~$44k this year, and I would love to get that down to ~$40k in 2019.

Final numbers are in for 2018, and I spent $42,874. Rent is by far my biggest expense (HCOL) and is pretty well optimized for where we are. However, there's plenty to cut elsewhere:

-2019 goal is to spend less on dining out than I do on ingredients from the grocery store. Succeeded this month…because I spent way too much on groceries. Mostly stocking up one some staples.

-I see a lot of theater, and that's also important to me, but I want to put in more effort making sure I get the lowest priced tickets possible through rushes and lotteries. Hardly saw anything this month, so the total was very low.

-I spend too much on personal care items like skincare. I need to stick to my routine, use up what I've got, and stop trying new products. Success. Only bought one thing that I love and use daily.

Just below $3200 for the month. It’s artificially low since that figure includes getting unexpectedly reimbursed for some travel expenses, but I’ll take it.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #358 on: October 01, 2019, 05:46:02 AM »
Today I received 1250$ extra in income, which is my pay increase since May. That was about time.

slappy

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #359 on: October 01, 2019, 10:29:02 AM »
Super late to the game, but definitely need to join. Spending has been absolutely crazy. I don't even think I qualify as a mustachian right now. :(

Hopefully this thread will continue in 2020.

philli14

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #360 on: October 01, 2019, 05:05:57 PM »

Category        2018 AVG | 2019 GOAL | 2019 AVG |    JAN |    FEB |    MAR |   APR |    MAY |    JUN |
Cell Phone         $  75 |    $   10 |   $    7 | $   24 | $    3 | $    3 | $   3 | $    3 | $    3 |
Gas/Fuel           $ 150 |    $   50 |   $   41 | $   32 | $    0 | $   33 | $   0 | $    0 | $  138 |
Restaurants        $ 540 |    $  300 |   $  180 | $   13 | $   84 | $   76 | $   0 | $  425 | $  598 |
"Shopping"         $ 420 |    $  150 |   $  132 | $  426 | $  175 | $   65 | $   0 | $   54 | $   95 |
Car Expenses       $ 445 |    $  100 |   $    6 | $   54 | $    0 | $    0 | $   0 | $    0 | $    0 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total "Big 5"      $1630 |    $  610 |   $  366 | $  549 | $  262 | $  177 | $   3 | $  482 | $  825 |
Total Expenses     $2902 |    $ 2000 |   $ 1587 | $ 1799 | $ 1697 | $ 1429 | $ 641 | $ 1657 | $ 2438 |

Category                                        |    JUL |    AUG |    SEP |
Cell Phone                                      | $    3 | $   18 | $    5 |
Gas/Fuel                                        | $   40 | $  100 | $   27 |
Restaurants                                     | $  166 | $  233 | $   29 |
"Shopping"                                      | $    4 | $  179 | $  189 |
Car Expenses                                    | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total "Big 5"                                   | $  213 | $  530 | $  250 |
Total Expenses                                  | $ 1821 | $ 1674 | $ 1129 |


Shopping. Mostly necessary this month so won't give myself too hard a time. Want to get shopping under control in October, planning to give myself a little breathing room on restaurants in October. Also plan on spending some money on gas with a roadtrip planned in October.

Most importantly, my monthly averages are all in the green as far as my beginning of the year goals. Shopping and gas are the only ones close to the average monthly budget.

SotI

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #361 on: October 04, 2019, 01:26:18 AM »
Super late to the game, but definitely need to join. Spending has been absolutely crazy. I don't even think I qualify as a mustachian right now. :(

Hopefully this thread will continue in 2020.
I feel the same (Mustachian-in-training) ;-)
At least I have figured out where my weak points are, but tackling them is a different story (lifestyle choices). Unless somebody has any tips for getting vet discounts (my vet bills this year already has been a total of more than $5k) and cheapest healthy way of feeding cats and dogs ...

middo

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #362 on: October 07, 2019, 04:06:36 PM »
September was a bit of a blow out for us.  Mainly due to a holiday, which will also impact on October.

Highlights and lowlights:

  • Food is going up now we have another mouth to feed in the house.
  • Money to house the kids is going down - this relates directly to the point above
  • Mortgages were up this month, due to a 3 fortnight month on one of the many mortgages.
  • Utilities were also up, mainly due to the timing of rates payments.  This will be the same next month too.
  • Holidays - $2300 on an overseas holiday we wanted and needed.  But lots of $

We are currently 6% below last year and the target was 10%.  I don't think 10% is achievable anymore, but anything below last year is a good start.

philli14

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #363 on: October 15, 2019, 06:51:19 PM »

Category        2018 AVG | 2019 GOAL | 2019 AVG |    JAN |    FEB |    MAR |    APR |    MAY |    JUN |
Cell Phone         $  75 |    $   10 |   $    7 | $   24 | $    3 | $    3 | $    3 | $    3 | $    3 |
Gas/Fuel           $ 150 |    $   50 |   $   41 | $   32 | $    0 | $   33 | $    0 | $    0 | $  138 |
Restaurants        $ 540 |    $  300 |   $  180 | $   13 | $   84 | $   76 | $    0 | $  425 | $  598 |
"Shopping"         $ 420 |    $  150 |   $  132 | $  426 | $  175 | $   65 | $    0 | $   54 | $   95 |
Car Expenses       $ 445 |    $  100 |   $    6 | $   54 | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total "Big 5"      $1630 |    $  610 |   $  366 | $  549 | $  262 | $  177 | $    3 | $  482 | $  825 |
Total Expenses     $2902 |    $ 2000 |   $ 1587 | $ 1799 | $ 1697 | $ 1429 | $  641 | $ 1657 | $ 2438 |

Category                                        |    JUL |    AUG |    SEP |    OCT |
Cell Phone                                      | $    3 | $   18 | $    5 | $    4 |
Gas/Fuel                                        | $   40 | $  100 | $   27 | $   90 |
Restaurants                                     | $  166 | $  233 | $   29 | $   31 |
"Shopping"                                      | $    4 | $  179 | $  189 | $    0 |
Car Expenses                                    | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 | $    5 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total "Big 5"                                   | $  213 | $  530 | $  250 | $  130 |
Total Expenses                                  | $ 1821 | $ 1674 | $ 1129 | $  716 |


Half-way update. Had a big roadtrip out of the country this weekend, don't anticipate spending any more on gas this month.

Shopping has been great. Overall expenses has been great.

But in one of my better mustachian moments, I had been struggling with a check engine light. I would have previously taken it into a mechanic, sat in a lobby, listened to what needed to be done, agreed to whatever they said, and paid whatever it cost. With some mustachian inspiration I headed online, found out that AutoZone can pull the error code for free, so I had that done. Found out the error code, then watched a bunch of youtube videos and read some articles. Turns out that it was due to the most common cause for that particular code (loose/damaged gas cap), so a $5 purchase on amazon was all it took.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #364 on: October 16, 2019, 12:29:14 AM »
My halfway status is that I had to pay my credit cards from last month when we were on vacation. But the expenses there were already registered on September. Now I just need the cash to pay the bills.
For the rest, the biggest numbers so far are my savings. And one bigger than usual amount for food (for good reasons). I even have got 85 euro income from my side-gig.

zygote

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #365 on: October 31, 2019, 09:54:50 AM »
I'm on track to spend ~$44k this year, and I would love to get that down to ~$40k in 2019.

Final numbers are in for 2018, and I spent $42,874. Rent is by far my biggest expense (HCOL) and is pretty well optimized for where we are. However, there's plenty to cut elsewhere:

-2019 goal is to spend less on dining out than I do on ingredients from the grocery store. I reworked this goal. I realized I was running up the dining out bill by treating my wife, which is something she and I both enjoy. I don't mind that spending. What I do mind is the spending on myself for fast casual meals when I don't have it together to cook, or overordering when I go out with friends. So I separated the category. When I do that, it's clear that the spending on myself is more reasonable.

-I see a lot of theater, and that's also important to me, but I want to put in more effort making sure I get the lowest priced tickets possible through rushes and lotteries. Pretty good. Bought a fair number of tickets, but all at reasonable prices.

-I spend too much on personal care items like skincare. I need to stick to my routine, use up what I've got, and stop trying new products. Success-ish. I did buy a new product this month, but it's something I've wanted to try for over a year, I ran out of a mediocre analogue first, and it was on sale.

This month...oy. I spent $4700 which is by far the highest spend all year. A lot of annual bills came at once (my gym membership, my renter's insurance, some software subscriptions I value), we went to a fancy restaurant for my wife's birthday, and I spent $$$ on a playoff ticket for my team that rarely makes it. Don't regret any of the spending, but I had forgotten how backloaded some of my planned expenses are for the year. I'm definitely not going to hit $40k now. I would have to spend less than $2500 each in November and December, and that's just not realistic. My half of the rent alone is $1300. But it's possible for me to hit $42k, which would still be less than last year. So that will be my new goal.


philli14

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #366 on: October 31, 2019, 08:00:28 PM »

Category        2018 AVG | 2019 GOAL | 2019 AVG |    JAN |    FEB |    MAR |    APR |    MAY |    JUN |
Cell Phone         $  75 |    $   10 |   $    7 | $   24 | $    3 | $    3 | $    3 | $    3 | $    3 |
Gas/Fuel           $ 150 |    $   50 |   $   46 | $   32 | $    0 | $   33 | $    0 | $    0 | $  138 |
Restaurants        $ 540 |    $  300 |   $  169 | $   13 | $   84 | $   76 | $    0 | $  425 | $  598 |
"Shopping"         $ 420 |    $  150 |   $  119 | $  426 | $  175 | $   65 | $    0 | $   54 | $   95 |
Car Expenses       $ 445 |    $  100 |   $    6 | $   54 | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total "Big 5"      $1630 |    $  610 |   $  345 | $  549 | $  262 | $  177 | $    3 | $  482 | $  825 |
Total Expenses     $2902 |    $ 2000 |   $ 1542 | $ 1799 | $ 1697 | $ 1429 | $  641 | $ 1657 | $ 2438 |

Category                                        |    JUL |    AUG |    SEP |    OCT |
Cell Phone                                      | $    3 | $   18 | $    5 | $    4 |
Gas/Fuel                                        | $   40 | $  100 | $   27 | $   91 |
Restaurants                                     | $  166 | $  233 | $   29 | $   62 |
"Shopping"                                      | $    4 | $  179 | $  184 | $    5 |
Car Expenses                                    | $    0 | $    0 | $    5 | $    0 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total "Big 5"                                   | $  213 | $  530 | $  250 | $  163 |
Total Expenses                                  | $ 1821 | $ 1674 | $ 1129 | $ 1134 |


End of month.. overall pretty good. A couple unexpected expenses at the end of the month but can't complain. Need two solid remaining months to make 2019 a success!

middo

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #367 on: October 31, 2019, 08:10:11 PM »
Hmmmm.  October was spendy.  An O/S holiday meant extra expenses as we learnt to ski, ate out and generally lived the good life.  These extras are clear in our expenses.

The good - Transport, utilities Kids spending, non-food expenses and food are all down 10% for the year, and will end up there. 

Down 7% for the year, aim was 10%.


Linea_Norway

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #368 on: November 04, 2019, 07:10:33 AM »
October has been a cheap month. Most the extra cost for stashing the house for sale has already been spent. And because we have been so occupied with the sales process, we didn't do anything else that cost money, like driving to our cabin.

Car spend is a little high, because of a repair of one of the brakes. DH could have done the job himself, but he thought it was a lot of fuss and thought it was worth to have it fixed cheaply.

Next month I will pay the yearly car insurance for two cars, including the taxes to be allowed to drive on the road. We plan to sell one of the cars in 2020, and then I will get the remaining money back from the insurance.
« Last Edit: November 05, 2019, 01:01:05 AM by Linea_Norway »

SotI

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #369 on: November 04, 2019, 11:06:50 AM »
October update

 2018 baseline $                 2019
 July    (5,571)                       (2,304)
 Aug    (2,208)                       (1,954)
Sept    (4,561)                       (2,098)
Oct      (2,912)                       (1,725)

philli14

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #370 on: November 04, 2019, 08:14:50 PM »
October update

 2018 baseline $                 2019
 July    (5,571)                       (2,304)
 Aug    (2,208)                       (1,954)
Sept    (4,561)                       (2,098)
Oct      (2,912)                       (1,725)

Amazing decreases each month.. nice job!

SotI

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #371 on: November 06, 2019, 01:35:54 PM »

Amazing decreases each month.. nice job!
Thank you!
It's really amazing what detailed expense tracking can do to discipline oneself.
I kind of feel embarrassed about how much money I have bled over the past decades by just not paying (enough) attention.

Trifle

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #372 on: November 09, 2019, 08:12:15 AM »
Posting to update.  Our goals are total monthly spend under $2700, and to keep our top two expenses (food and utilities) down.  We're trying to keep our total food spend -- groceries plus eating out -- under $600 (family of 4, 2 teenagers), and our utilities as low as possible.

We had a long-preplanned vacation in September, which pushed our total spend up.  Food has been a challenge this year.  In 2018 we averaged $750 a month; this year so far we are averaging $705 despite the teenagers being bigger and hungrier.  So we've improved spending somewhat, but we are far short of the goal I set at the beginning of the year.  I may take all of next year and just focus on food spending, to see if we can't nudge that needle down more.  We don't eat out much, so the savings will have to come from smarter shopping, growing more food, and batch cooking.


               Total spend           Food           Utilities

January       $3869                $656             $539
February       2223                  593               558
March           2877                  843               444
April             2803                  606               394
May              3242                  771               323
June             4117                  822               337
July              2885                  521               324
August          3052                  624               369
September    5063                  820               362
October         2731                  792              307

Linea_Norway

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #373 on: November 09, 2019, 08:22:02 AM »
We have a problem. My DH changed banks this year and he didn't print out his transactions from last year. Therefore at the end of the year, when I asked him how much he spent that year, I can't get a good answer. He can only show the difference in savings which include market growth. It would have been so nice if he has also tracked his transactions. I think we should do it both from next year, when we won't have any more income.
« Last Edit: November 21, 2019, 12:30:34 AM by Linea_Norway »

philli14

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #374 on: November 20, 2019, 06:51:04 PM »

Category        2018 AVG | 2019 GOAL | 2019 AVG |    JAN |    FEB |    MAR |    APR |    MAY |    JUN |
Cell Phone         $  75 |    $   10 |   $    7 | $   24 | $    3 | $    3 | $    3 | $    3 | $    3 |
Gas/Fuel           $ 150 |    $   50 |   $   46 | $   32 | $    0 | $   33 | $    0 | $    0 | $  138 |
Restaurants        $ 540 |    $  300 |   $  169 | $   13 | $   84 | $   76 | $    0 | $  425 | $  598 |
"Shopping"         $ 420 |    $  150 |   $  119 | $  426 | $  175 | $   65 | $    0 | $   54 | $   95 |
Car Expenses       $ 445 |    $  100 |   $    6 | $   54 | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total "Big 5"      $1630 |    $  610 |   $  345 | $  549 | $  262 | $  177 | $    3 | $  482 | $  825 |
Total Expenses     $2902 |    $ 2000 |   $ 1542 | $ 1799 | $ 1697 | $ 1429 | $  641 | $ 1657 | $ 2438 |

Category                                        |    JUL |    AUG |    SEP |    OCT |    NOV |
Cell Phone                                      | $    3 | $   18 | $    5 | $    4 | $    8 |
Gas/Fuel                                        | $   40 | $  100 | $   27 | $   91 | $   27 |
Restaurants                                     | $  166 | $  233 | $   29 | $   62 | $  122 |
"Shopping"                                      | $    4 | $  179 | $  184 | $    5 | $   25 |
Car Expenses                                    | $    0 | $    0 | $    5 | $    0 | $  314 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total "Big 5"                                   | $  213 | $  530 | $  250 | $  163 | $  496 |
Total Expenses                                  | $ 1821 | $ 1674 | $ 1129 | $ 1134 | $ 1264 |


10 days to go in November, I was anticipating a bit of a higher spend this month. Some big car items needed taken care of. On top of that, lots of shopping still to be done (I try to get all my christmas shopping done over black friday), so it'll end up being a bit of a pricy month.

philli14

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #375 on: December 01, 2019, 12:14:22 PM »

Category        2018 AVG | 2019 GOAL | 2019 AVG |    JAN |    FEB |    MAR |    APR |    MAY |    JUN |
Cell Phone         $  75 |    $   10 |   $    7 | $   24 | $    3 | $    3 | $    3 | $    3 | $    3 |
Gas/Fuel           $ 150 |    $   50 |   $   49 | $   32 | $    0 | $   33 | $    0 | $    0 | $  138 |
Restaurants        $ 540 |    $  300 |   $  166 | $   13 | $   84 | $   76 | $    0 | $  425 | $  598 |
"Shopping"         $ 420 |    $  150 |   $  116 | $  426 | $  175 | $   65 | $    0 | $   54 | $   95 |
Car Expenses       $ 445 |    $  100 |   $   41 | $   54 | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total "Big 5"      $1630 |    $  610 |   $  378 | $  549 | $  262 | $  177 | $    3 | $  482 | $  825 |
Total Expenses     $2902 |    $ 2000 |   $ 1538 | $ 1799 | $ 1697 | $ 1429 | $  641 | $ 1657 | $ 2438 |

Category                                        |    JUL |    AUG |    SEP |    OCT |    NOV |
Cell Phone                                      | $    3 | $   18 | $    5 | $    4 | $    8 |
Gas/Fuel                                        | $   40 | $  100 | $   27 | $   91 | $   78 |
Restaurants                                     | $  166 | $  233 | $   29 | $   62 | $  136 |
"Shopping"                                      | $    4 | $  179 | $  184 | $    5 | $   82 |
Car Expenses                                    | $    0 | $    0 | $    5 | $    0 | $  395 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total "Big 5"                                   | $  213 | $  530 | $  250 | $  163 | $  699 |
Total Expenses                                  | $ 1821 | $ 1674 | $ 1129 | $ 1134 | $ 1501 |


Little pricey car month for me, but still doing pretty well coming in around that $1500 average total spend. Going for a record breaking month in December, excited to close the year on a high note.

Overall, gas is the only tight budget for my beginning of year goal. I currently have a full tank and don't have much driving to do remainder of the year.

Hirondelle

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #376 on: December 01, 2019, 12:39:35 PM »
Again been absent for a few months. Time for an update.

Jan: €1175
Feb: €1110
Mar: €1060
Apr: €690
May: €950
June: €1000
July: €1055
August: €970

September: €1350 due to some much necessary clothes shopping and travel expenses.
October: €1400, spent the whole month out of the country so mostly travel costs.
November: €925, finally back to normal spending levels.

My projections for this year is about €12500 of total spending, which is almost 1k more than last year. That's A LOT of lifestyle inflation, but it's almost fully caused by higher travel expenses which was a result of a doing two big trips a year which was kind of an exceptional unanticipated thing. It does mean though that my savings rate has remained rather stable than gone up regardless of a significant raise, so I do need to be more strict for myself sometimes.


middo

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #377 on: December 01, 2019, 03:54:32 PM »
November update, near the end of the year now.  The stand out things are:
  • 50th Birthday meant a big blowout in out eating out and entertainment costs.  I'm happy with the cost, as it will only be twice (next year is my wife's 50th)
  • Our food costs are higher with an extra mouth to feed.  It is about 50% up from where it was, so not so much lifestyle creep as 50% more mouths to feed.
  • Expenses relating to kids is down.  This relates to the last point, as we are housing one under our roof rather than at uni, until February
  • Transport was higher due to a registration ($700 per year)

We are heading for a 7% reduction in overall spending for the year, which I'm hoping to be able to continue next year.  My aim was 10%.  We are not "bare bones" in our lifestyle, but we are careful in our spending.  I think we've done reasonably well when 40% of our costs are effectively fixed in our mortgages.  We had reductions in interest rates this year, but have continued with the current payment levels to get further ahead on them.

Future goals - transport costs and the "eating out/entertainment" costs.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #378 on: December 02, 2019, 07:34:43 AM »
My biggest expense this month if for transport (salmon colour) and contains 2 x car insurance for a whole year + 2 x the yearly general road tax, to be allowed to drive on public roads.

The other big category is home (dark grey). I had to buy a ladder towards the chimney, because the house didn't have one. I bought it second hand. Some of the cost is also a new swing set for a neighborhood playground that we needed to have our home officially approved for living in. Partly refunded by a neighbor, but that doesn't show in my list. Otherwise the usual home bills.

zygote

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #379 on: December 04, 2019, 11:57:27 AM »
I'm on track to spend ~$44k this year, and I would love to get that down to ~$40k in 2019.

Final numbers are in for 2018, and I spent $42,874. Rent is by far my biggest expense (HCOL) and is pretty well optimized for where we are. However, there's plenty to cut elsewhere:

-2019 goal is to spend less on dining out than I do on ingredients from the grocery store. Sort of. I spent more on groceries this month because my CSA was over...and I also spent more eating out with friends over the holidays.

-I see a lot of theater, and that's also important to me, but I want to put in more effort making sure I get the lowest priced tickets possible through rushes and lotteries. Pretty good. Bought a fair number of tickets, but all at reasonable prices.

-I spend too much on personal care items like skincare. I need to stick to my routine, use up what I've got, and stop trying new products. Success-ish. Restocked on some skincare that I love and am running low on during a Black Friday sale.

This month was painful. After spending $4700 in October, I spent an astronomical $4900 in November. Some of that was purchases I've been waiting to make for months because I knew they'd be on sale for Black Friday, some of that was a new laptop after I got fed up with my old one that was unusably slow and falling apart. Then a few medium expenses like a haircut (only 2-3 times a year), a half marathon I wasn't expected to win the lottery for (lol), and some expenses related to a hobby. I don't regret any individual expenses and it was all for things I value at good prices, but there's no way I'm hitting my goal of $40k. After paying my rent this month, I'm sitting at just over $41k in spending for the year so far. I still need to buy some Christmas presents (nothing crazy, but I like to get a few things my immediate family will appreciate), but hopefully I can at least keep my final tally for 2019 less than the $42,874 I spent in 2018.

Kind of frustrating that I have paid more attention to my spending this year than ever before, and I'm still going to end up at the same place. Maybe I just need to accept that this is my happy medium of being conscious about my expenses but still living my life in a HCOL city.

Trifle

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #380 on: December 05, 2019, 02:22:15 AM »
Posting to update.  Our goals are total monthly spend under $2700, and to keep our top two expenses (food and utilities) down.  We're trying to keep our total food spend -- groceries plus eating out -- under $600 (family of 4, 2 teenagers), and our utilities as low as possible.  Utilities have been dropping as we plug away on our house reconstruction and the structure gets tighter and more energy efficient.

It was a good month, but I'd really like to get that food spending a bit lower.  Still working on that. 


               Total spend           Food           Utilities

January       $3869                $656             $539
February       2223                  593               558
March           2877                  843               444
April             2803                  606               394
May              3242                  771               323
June             4117                  822               337
July              2885                  521               324
August          3052                  624               369
September    5063                  820               362
October         2731                 792               307
November     2467                  661               326

Peachtea

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #381 on: December 08, 2019, 05:13:55 PM »
Well, I’m way behind and we’re over budget; last four months below. We are at $38,973 end of November, so no way we will stay under 40k for the year. Just rent will put us over. It’s more of a question of what’s the least over we can go. We should still beat last year, and I guess that’s not nothing.

I had hoped to make up ground after our July couch purchase, but we picked up a new hobby, camping/backpacking, and that was that. The upfront equipment costs added up even when looking for used or cheap beginner stuff. Plus we used off-season sales to upgrade for next year’s planned trips. I’d like to say this will make future vacations cheaper, but car rentals are more expensive than flights to cities and we get a lot of flights/hotels free with cc points. So it will probably only somewhat reduce food/entertainment costs while traveling. But the car trips will be more eco friendly.

Also some health issues added up extra costs, and more paid/to pay in December. On the bright side, we’ll likely still be ahead $3500 for the year by choosing a high deductible plan vs low one, even if the out of pocket expenses suck right now.

Monthly budget to meet 40k goal is $3,333 ($1658 after rent).

August - $4,143 or $810 over budget in August.

Rent: $1675
Groceries & Personal Care: $590
Travel: $477 - $42.83 tickets & food in-laws; $126 train tickets home; $55 camp fee; $253.65 food, drinks, & Ubers out-of-town wedding
Shopping: $668 - $102.36 cat food & litter; $96.75 coffee table; $14.95 book; $40 sleeping bag; $40 used sleeping bag; $45 used tent; $121.52 2 sleeping pads & compression bag; 107.95 backpacking pack; 11.98 compression bag; $44.71 underwear; $25 cat post; $137.81 work shoes (-$120 things we sold)
Eating & Drinking Out: $35 - $22.06 lunch; $1.77 work coffee; $11.43 work lunch
Internet, Phone, & Electric: $60 - $30 internet; 29.93 electric
Other: $637.74 - $14.99 HBO; $14.16 Netflix; $58 Classpass subscription(s); $50 wedding gift; $50 tickets to play; $50 public transit; $79 cc annual fee; 14.85 game; $119 amazon prime subscription; $70.30 doctor; $9.44 meds; $108 labs

September - $3,082 or $251 under budget

Rent: $1675
Groceries & Personal Care: $528
Travel: $221 - $109 food & drink trip home; $50 camping incidentals; $62 tickets & food in-laws
Shopping: $352 - $27 ebooks; $5.04 stakes; $180.41 suit + blouse; $8.99 headlamps; $34.93 pot + camp mug; $22.99 wine glasses; $72.63 backpacking pack
Eating & Drinking Out: $168 - $1.77 work coffee; $8.00 snack out; $9.18 work lunch; $33 dinner out; $116 drinks & food w/ out of town friends
Internet, Phone, & Electric: $30 - $29.32 electric
Other: $108 - $14.99 HBO; $14.16 Netflix; $49 classpass subscription(s); $30 public transit

October - $3,350 or $17 over budget

Rent: $1675
Groceries & Personal Care: $669
Travel: $454 - $87 camping transit, fee, & incidentals; $367.20 weekend visit to friends
Shopping: $448 - $99.42 cat food & liter; $14.97 ebooks; $16.95 camp stove; $42.14 headlamps & drying rack; $16 SAC knife; $11.63 mat couplers; $246.86 backpacking quilt + pillows
Eating & Drinking Out: $292 - $41.16 work lunches; $67.46 wine subscription; $61 drinks w/ coworkers; $47.02 drinks w/ friends; 22.07 drinks w/ friends; $35.51 dinner out; $18 work coffee
Internet, Phone, & Electric: $32 - $32.18 electric
Other: $147 - $14.99 HBO; $14.16 Netflix; $98 classpass subscription(s); $9.90 gift; $2.50 public transit; $7 annual website subscription

November - $4,266 or $933 over budget

Rent: $1675
Groceries & Personal Care: $574
Travel: $298 - $125 camping transit, fee, lunch; $118 train tickets + food in-laws; $55.30 food on visit home
Shopping: $453 - $9.36 guide books; $72.13 bear bag; $46 Fire tablet; $25.42 coffee filters + nalgene replacement lid; $300 tent
Eating & Drinking Out: $275 - $15.38 drinks w/ coworkers; $69.61 dinner + drinks w/ friends; $75.87 wine subscription; $15 drinks w/ friend; $8 work coffee; $47 Christmas market; $44 friend’s benefit event
Internet, Phone, & Electric: $292 - $28.69 electric; $262.94 my cell plan (annual)
Other: $699 - $14.99 HBO; $14.16 Netflix; $98 classpass subscription(s); $19.72 shipping; $3.18 app; $8.25 taxi; $20 public transit; $95 cc annual fee; $95 cc annual fee; $300 epipens; $31.07 meds

January: $2951 | February: $3549 | March: $3394 | April: $2944| May: $3278| June: $4246 | July: $4322 | August: $4143 | September: $3082 | October: $3350 | November: $4266 |
« Last Edit: January 01, 2020, 12:37:32 PM by Peachtea »

philli14

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #382 on: December 12, 2019, 08:39:36 PM »

Category        2018 AVG | 2019 GOAL | 2019 AVG |    JAN |    FEB |    MAR |    APR |    MAY |    JUN |
Cell Phone         $  75 |    $   10 |   $    7 | $   24 | $    3 | $    3 | $    3 | $    3 | $    3 |
Gas/Fuel           $ 150 |    $   50 |   $   49 | $   32 | $    0 | $   33 | $    0 | $    0 | $  138 |
Restaurants        $ 540 |    $  300 |   $  166 | $   13 | $   84 | $   76 | $    0 | $  425 | $  598 |
"Shopping"         $ 420 |    $  150 |   $  116 | $  426 | $  175 | $   65 | $    0 | $   54 | $   95 |
Car Expenses       $ 445 |    $  100 |   $   41 | $   54 | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total "Big 5"      $1630 |    $  610 |   $  378 | $  549 | $  262 | $  177 | $    3 | $  482 | $  825 |
Total Expenses     $2902 |    $ 2000 |   $ 1538 | $ 1799 | $ 1697 | $ 1429 | $  641 | $ 1657 | $ 2438 |

Category                                        |    JUL |    AUG |    SEP |    OCT |    NOV |    DEC |
Cell Phone                                      | $    3 | $   18 | $    5 | $    4 | $    8 | $    0 |
Gas/Fuel                                        | $   40 | $  100 | $   27 | $   91 | $   78 | $    0 |
Restaurants                                     | $  166 | $  233 | $   29 | $   62 | $  136 | $    0 |
"Shopping"                                      | $    4 | $  179 | $  184 | $    5 | $   82 | $    0 |
Car Expenses                                    | $    0 | $    0 | $    5 | $    0 | $  395 | $    0 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total "Big 5"                                   | $  213 | $  530 | $  250 | $  163 | $  699 | $    0 |
Total Expenses                                  | $ 1821 | $ 1674 | $ 1129 | $ 1134 | $ 1501 | $  557 |


Mid-ish month update. Going for a record low spend to finish off the year. So far so good with my only expenses being rent, car insurance and my amazon music membership!

SotI

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #383 on: December 14, 2019, 03:28:13 AM »
Nov+ update - my computer broke, this led to unplanned expense plus a delay in updating my files.
In addition, I had some car repairs, so Dec also will look a bit spendy (probably in excess of 500 quid on top of regular expenses).

 2018 baseline $                 2019
 July    (5,571)                       (2,304)
 Aug    (2,208)                       (1,954)
Sept    (4,561)                       (2,098)
Oct      (2,912)                       (1,725)
Nov     (2,254)                       (1,745)
Dec     (2,234)                         a lot

philli14

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #384 on: December 19, 2019, 06:39:11 PM »

Category        2018 AVG | 2019 GOAL | 2019 AVG |    JAN |    FEB |    MAR |    APR |    MAY |    JUN |
Cell Phone         $  75 |    $   10 |   $    7 | $   24 | $    3 | $    3 | $    3 | $    3 | $    3 |
Gas/Fuel           $ 150 |    $   50 |   $   49 | $   32 | $    0 | $   33 | $    0 | $    0 | $  138 |
Restaurants        $ 540 |    $  300 |   $  166 | $   13 | $   84 | $   76 | $    0 | $  425 | $  598 |
"Shopping"         $ 420 |    $  150 |   $  116 | $  426 | $  175 | $   65 | $    0 | $   54 | $   95 |
Car Expenses       $ 445 |    $  100 |   $   41 | $   54 | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total "Big 5"      $1630 |    $  610 |   $  378 | $  549 | $  262 | $  177 | $    3 | $  482 | $  825 |
Total Expenses     $2902 |    $ 2000 |   $ 1538 | $ 1799 | $ 1697 | $ 1429 | $  641 | $ 1657 | $ 2438 |

Category                                        |    JUL |    AUG |    SEP |    OCT |    NOV |    DEC |
Cell Phone                                      | $    3 | $   18 | $    5 | $    4 | $    8 | $    0 |
Gas/Fuel                                        | $   40 | $  100 | $   27 | $   91 | $   78 | $    0 |
Restaurants                                     | $  166 | $  233 | $   29 | $   62 | $  136 | $    0 |
"Shopping"                                      | $    4 | $  179 | $  184 | $    5 | $   82 | $    0 |
Car Expenses                                    | $    0 | $    0 | $    5 | $    0 | $  395 | $    0 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total "Big 5"                                   | $  213 | $  530 | $  250 | $  163 | $  699 | $    0 |
Total Expenses                                  | $ 1821 | $ 1674 | $ 1129 | $ 1134 | $ 1501 | $  586 |


Continues to be a good spending month for me. Nothing outside of essentials/recurring payments. $500 rent, $56 car insurance, $1 amazon music, $29 groceries.

Going to challenge myself not to spend anything for the rest of the month. Get creative with freezer/fridge and pantry!

SotI

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #385 on: December 31, 2019, 03:36:24 AM »
Nov+ update - my computer broke, this led to unplanned expense plus a delay in updating my files.
In addition, I had some car repairs, so Dec also will look a bit spendy (probably in excess of 500 quid on top of regular expenses).

 2018 baseline $                 2019
 July    (5,571)                       (2,304)
 Aug    (2,208)                       (1,954)
Sept    (4,561)                       (2,098)
Oct      (2,912)                       (1,725)
Nov     (2,254)                       (1,745)
Dec     (2,234)                        (1,757)
Closing the books now with the Dec spend (in red).
Not as bad as I expected.
Next year, I will track total spend, though (now that I got a proper baseline).


philli14

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #386 on: December 31, 2019, 05:06:19 PM »

Category        2018 AVG | 2019 GOAL | 2019 AVG |    JAN |    FEB |    MAR |    APR |    MAY |    JUN |
Cell Phone         $  75 |    $   10 |   $    7 | $   24 | $    3 | $    3 | $    3 | $    3 | $    3 |
Gas/Fuel           $ 150 |    $   50 |   $   45 | $   32 | $    0 | $   33 | $    0 | $    0 | $  138 |
Restaurants        $ 540 |    $  300 |   $  151 | $   13 | $   84 | $   76 | $    0 | $  425 | $  598 |
"Shopping"         $ 420 |    $  150 |   $  106 | $  426 | $  175 | $   65 | $    0 | $   54 | $   95 |
Car Expenses       $ 445 |    $  100 |   $   38 | $   54 | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 | $    0 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total "Big 5"      $1630 |    $  610 |   $  344 | $  549 | $  262 | $  177 | $    3 | $  482 | $  825 |
Total Expenses     $2902 |    $ 2000 |   $ 1464 | $ 1799 | $ 1697 | $ 1429 | $  641 | $ 1657 | $ 2438 |

Category                                        |    JUL |    AUG |    SEP |    OCT |    NOV |    DEC |
Cell Phone                                      | $    3 | $   18 | $    5 | $    4 | $    8 | $    0 |
Gas/Fuel                                        | $   40 | $  100 | $   27 | $   91 | $   78 | $    0 |
Restaurants                                     | $  166 | $  233 | $   29 | $   62 | $  136 | $    0 |
"Shopping"                                      | $    4 | $  179 | $  184 | $    5 | $   82 | $    0 |
Car Expenses                                    | $    0 | $    0 | $    5 | $    0 | $  395 | $    0 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total "Big 5"                                   | $  213 | $  530 | $  250 | $  163 | $  699 | $    0 |
Total Expenses                                  | $ 1821 | $ 1674 | $ 1129 | $ 1134 | $ 1501 | $  587 |


What a fun month. Second non-essential spend month of the year, to close off 2019 with a bang.

Met all my goals for individual categories, overall spending. Amazing process, very revealing and very helpful. Thanks for setting it up!
« Last Edit: December 31, 2019, 05:09:33 PM by philli14 »

middo

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #387 on: December 31, 2019, 06:38:17 PM »
December figures.  Our food went up, with 5 in the house for a couple of weeks. 

My aim was a reduction by 10%  We got to 7%, which I am happy about.

If you take out the mortgage repayments, which we didn't change when interest rates went down, then we are at about 12% down for the year.  So a good effort.

Now, another 10% next year!

zygote

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #388 on: January 01, 2020, 11:20:50 AM »
I'm on track to spend ~$44k this year, and I would love to get that down to ~$40k in 2019.

Final numbers are in for 2018, and I spent $42,874. Rent is by far my biggest expense (HCOL) and is pretty well optimized for where we are. However, there's plenty to cut elsewhere:

-2019 goal is to spend less on dining out than I do on ingredients from the grocery store. Success.

-I see a lot of theater, and that's also important to me, but I want to put in more effort making sure I get the lowest priced tickets possible through rushes and lotteries. Pretty good. Just bought one ticket this month.

-I spend too much on personal care items like skincare. I need to stick to my routine, use up what I've got, and stop trying new products. Success. Didn't buy anything this month.

Total for the month is $3800, with Christmas gifts in there.

Annual total is even more than last year, at $43,375. I didn't make my goal of $40k, and I actually ended up spending even more than 2018. I was kind of bummed about that, but analyzing the breakdown, I don't feel as bad. I spent more on groceries than last year, but less on eating out. I spent about the same on theater tickets, and am very happy with what I saw. I did spend a little more on personal care, but I hit my goal about buying less new stuff just because it was on sale. It was all high quality items I know I love.

Honestly, the major difference is the new computer and mattress I had to get this year. And my wife's financial situation changed, so I took on more of the household expenses. (I didn't talk about it in detail monthly because she is lot more private about her info.) Without those three categories, I would have been at $40.5k, which is close to my original goal. I guess that's why I'm so glad for this place, and having an awareness about overall spending. It was not a strain at all to have to stretch the spending to pay for those "unexpected" things. In the case of the computer and mattress, I had money set aside for infrequent purchases like that. In the case of increasing my share of the household expenses, it just means a little less to save. No debt, no living paycheck to paycheck.

Peachtea

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #389 on: January 01, 2020, 12:22:03 PM »
For the year, we spent $43,252. $3,252 over the goal of 40k, but less than 2018’s $44,167. New furniture ($1250), medical expenses ($884), and picking up a new hobby ($1,160) put us over, but also not cutting back enough in other areas to absorb those expenses. At least there was no creep upwards and our raises/bonuses all went to savings!

I was happy that general shopping (if you minus the new furniture) and travel was way down from 2018, even with the new hobby expenses. But groceries and “other” went up. Most of the “other” increase was from medical, class pass, and cc fees for travel hacking. Also disappointed in not further reducing the eating and drinking out expenses.

My main takeaway from the year of tracking expenses is just how much goes to entertainment and extra non-necessities. I don’t really regret too much of the expenditures, but feel more self-aware. I feel like we’re trying to cut down on those things until I see all the black and white numbers showing we’re not. Goal is to keep trying to creep down to 40k in expenses in 2020.

2018 vs 2019                                         
Rent: $20,726  | $20,311
Groceries & Personal Care: $5,777 | $6,508
Travel: $7,078 | $4,929
Shopping: $4,413 | $4,471 (incl $643 cat food & litter, $1250 new furniture)
Eating & Drinking Out: $2,843 | $2,635
Internet, Phone, & Electric: $1,241 | $1,122
Other: $2,089 | $3,642 (incl medical, gifts, subscriptions, entertainment, cc fees)

December - $3,707 or $374 over budget for the month.

Rent: $1675
Groceries & Personal Care: $624
Travel: $106 - $106 train tickets to in-laws
Shopping: -$124 - $82.93 cat food & litter - 207.39 things sold
Eating & Drinking Out: $243 - $76.80 dinner w/friend; $152.36 drinks & dinner w/friends; $3.54 work coffee; $10.41 work lunch 
Internet, Phone, & Electric: $231 - $29.83 electric; $201.64 DH cell plan (annual)
Other: $952 - $14.99 HBO; $14.16 Netflix; $0.99 kindle unlimited; $11 shipping; $12.77 shipping; $279.40 bar dues (prof license); $325 doctor; $40 labs; $100 condo staff holiday fund; $40 work housekeeping holiday fund; $35 kid Xmas gift; $50 mom bday gift; $21 eBay seller fees; $7.35 shipping

January: $2951 | February: $3549 | March: $3394 | April: $2944| May: $3278| June: $4246 | July: $4322 | August: $4163 | September: $3082 | October: $3350 | November: $4266 | December: $3707
« Last Edit: January 01, 2020, 12:34:34 PM by Peachtea »

Linea_Norway

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #390 on: January 04, 2020, 07:12:34 AM »
I spent about 1000€ less in 2019 than in 2018. But still more than in el cheapo 2017.

My problem is that DH switched banks during the year and didn't export his expenses. So he cannot calculate how much he spent last year.  I would have preferred to see what we spent in total in the last year before our FIRE.

Trifle

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Re: Hold yourself openly accountable for your spending in 2019
« Reply #391 on: January 06, 2020, 12:35:33 PM »
December numbers.  Pretty good month, considering it was the holidays and we made another trip to see family.

                Total spend           Food           Utilities

January       $3869                $656             $539
February       2223                  593               558
March           2877                  843               444
April             2803                  606               394
May              3242                  771               323
June             4117                  822               337
July              2885                  521               324
August          3052                  624               369
September    5063                  820               362
October         2731                 792               307
November     2467                  661               326
December     3674                  566               379

Total spend for the year = $39,003 -- higher than our average, as it included some pretty gonzo travel.  Next year we need to continue to get the food spend down.  Big win for 2019 is getting the utility costs down as we progress with our house construction.  Thank you for the thread @use2betrix!

Onward!