Wednesday, December 1, 2010

November Spending Recap

Mortgage = $880.79
Car Payment = $345.00
Long Term Saving and Investment (not including my 401K contributions) = $325.00
Phones/Cable/Internet = $182.98
Medical Expenses (appointments, medicines, etc.) = $177.41
Gasoline = $140.76
Utilities (heat, electric, sewer, water) = $130.07
Groceries = $76.63
Gifts = $69.22
Pet Expenses = $43.40
Clothing/Accessories = $42.35
Dry Cleaning = $25.24
Dining Out and Entertainment = $19.94
Home Maintenance = $19.05
Donation = $10.00
Stamps = $7.92
Car Maintenance = $6.33
 
TOTAL SPENT = $2,502.09
 
Reflection:  Well, this is very interesting to me.  I really don’t think I spend that much… yet my total for the month is just over $2,500!  Yikes!  My medical expenses are a little higher than normal, as are gifts (Christmas), but it is still disappointing that my total is as high as it is.  Interestingly enough, my gasoline expense is lower than I was expecting.  So were my grocery expenses, especially considering Thanksgiving was added in (the free turkey I got from work helps!).  

It makes me think.  I am careful with my money.  If I am spending this much, how much money is spent by people who just don’t care?  And while I am very pleased that my spending, including long term savings and investments, does not cause me to go into debt, I am also frustrated that there really is not much left over for things like short term “emergency” savings.   I am curious what December brings… it is usually not the best month from a money saving perspective but that just gives me extra incentive to try to curtail my spending, right?  :) 
 

2 comments:

  1. I think you did fabulous this month. I like how everything has been itemized. In my opinion, I think that is why so many people are in financial trouble right now is that they don't know how to budget, and never worried about where their money actually went.

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  2. Thank you. You know, I am not sure if I even know how to budget. I mean, I know how much money I have to spend but it is not necessarily allocated... if I buy a lot of extra groceries, for instance, I might just forgot going out to dinner next time I don't feel like cooking. Somehow things always balance out. But now I am really curious as to how my money is spent - exactly, not just rough estimates. Hence this blog. I am curious to see how my expenses average out over several months.

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