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? :)
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.
ReplyDeleteThank 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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