A Look at My Spending in May 2009

Every month I keep track of each purchase I make, every dollar I spend.  I track of them in a gmail spreadsheet and I try to categorize them so at the end of every month I can

A) compare my income to my expenses

B) see if there are any categories of spending that are getting out of control

While I’ve continued to track this, I haven’t written a monthly summary since January so it’s about time I get back into the habit.

Housing/Property Taxes:  $754.50

Every month I have to pay the co-owner of my house $99.50 to cover the difference between our mortgage and our rental income.  You can imagine how surprised I was in May when I wrote him a check for $99.50 and he said, “Actually, it’s $754.50 this month because of property taxes.”   We had a major snafu with the bank and the city/county last year which I can’t even really explain but the short story is I owed C a bunch of money in May.  I’m glad it was a 3-paycheck month.

Rent:  $500

Nothing special here.

Wedding:  $500

This was the deposit on the photo booth rental for our wedding reception.

Charitable:  $280

This includes my tithe to church, supporting a friend in the breast cancer 3-day walk, sponsoring my Compassion child, supporting MN public radio and supporting another friend who was doing a fundraiser.  A few of these are recurring every month and a few were one time deals.

Eating Out:  $258.61

Usually I put all my eating out in one category but this month that category was so high that I needed to split it up to make myself feel better.  This category is specifically eating out that I do either by myself or just with Bird.  The kind of eating out you do because you don’t feel like cooking or you don’t have anything for lunch.  Basically, it’s the kind of eating out I would really like to limit.  $258 is just so much.  I can’t believe it.  Granted, I almost always pay when it’s Bird and I because I have the rewards credit card, but still, I ate out by myself or with Bird….10 times in May.  I think we can cut back on that.

Eating Out w/ Friends:  $249.96

I needed to separate this category after seeing that all my eating out added up to more than $500.  That number shocked me, but once I looked into it a little bit, it was more understandable.  Not necessarily acceptable, but understandable.  This category includes times we would be out with friends and I would be feeling generous and decide to pick up the whole tab.  I did that 3 times in May….once for $94.54, once for $84 and once for $71.42.  It’s fun to do and my friends really appreciate it so I’m not complaining about this category, but I think from now on (at least until after the wedding) I will only pay for the whole group once a month or so.

Groceries:  $167.08

After all that eating out, I don’t know when I had time to buy all these groceries, let alone eat them.  I really have no idea what I spent $167 on at the grocery store in May.  I don’t really do budgets, but after May, it seems like it might be a good option to limit all this food spending.  I think I could probably get by on $100 a month for groceries.

Student Loan:  $116.80

Not much to explain.  I pay this same amount every month.  I have been for a long time and I will for a long time to come.  I did make an extra $60 payment on the loan this month just because I felt like it, but that didn’t get recorded on my spreadsheet.  Oops.

Gifts:  $100

Mother’s Day, random gift for Bird and my Mom’s birthday.

Gas:  $75.88

Four fill-ups for $75 in May.  This category started to creep back up in May because gas prices started to creep back up but anytime this category is under $100 I’m a happy guy.

Phone:  $65.92

I’m really starting to enjoy my Blackberry.  I still don’t know if it’s worth the extra money, but since I’m locked in at this point, I’m trying to get my money’s worth.  It’s always fun to check my email wherever I am.  Even more fun when the email informs me there is a new comment on the blog. 

Miscellaneous:  $51.08

The catch-all category.  I had 7 transaction in the misc. category in May….everything from coffee, bike supplies, a haircut and going out for ice cream.

Entertainment:  $42.06

e.g.  Redbox movie, iTunes song, date night at the movies with Bird

Clothing:  $32

I used my $25 gift card that I received from MyPoints to buy clothes at the Gap.

Conclusion:

I was very happy it was a 3-paycheck month.  Granted, two of the largest expenditures were one time things but still I would have liked to save more.  Who am I kidding?  I’d always like to save more!  It wasn’t the worst month ever and overall I’m very happy with it, except for that food spending.  I really want to cut back for June in all three of those food categories.  I might try to ride my bike a few more times to work and hopefully that will help me spend even less on gas.

Not only was it a 3-paycheck month but it was also my birthday.  I received some birthday money and so I had some extra money in my checking account at the end of the month.  With that extra money I made the extra payment to my student loan, I made a $100 contribution to my Roth IRA, I added $200 to my emergency fund and I added $500 to the honeymoon fund (sidebars have been updated).