A Look Back: September 2008

I’ve finally had a chance to look back at my expenses for the month of September.  Here is a brief recap:

1. My food spending was out of control!  I spent $137 on groceries, $30 eating out by myself and $247 (!) eating out with friends!

Ouch!  I’ve written before about how most of my social life involves going out to eat with friends, but September was crazy.  Granted, two nights made up almost half of that $247.  I spent $60 on dinner when Bird’s college roommate was in town and I treated the whole group.  I also spent $75 for Bird’s romantic birthday dinner.  I don’t regret either of those nights, but now I’m wishing I could have cut back on some of my other food expenses for the month.

2. I spent $130 on gas in September which is a little bit more than usual.  Hopefully, I can also cut this back in October and gas prices are currently heading lower so that should help.

3. I spent $144 on travel.  I know I said my trip to the Boundary Waters was only $78 but I forgot to add the tank of gas I paid for, which brings the total trip costs to $144 – still totally worth it!

4. Another major category that was unusually high was the gift category.  I spent $128 on gifts in September and most of that was for Bird’s birthday.  I don’t regret it but it’s an outlier because it was a special occasion and my gift giving expenses shouldn’t be anywhere near that amount in October.

5. September was also the first month that I didn’t collect rent from a roommate.  T moved out at the end of August and so my housing expenses increased a bit.  Luckily, the weather cooled off and we have been able to turn off the a/c for the year which should considerably cut our electric bill.

There were a bunch of other miscellaneous expenses for the month but those listed above are the major ones.  October shouldn’t be as expensive and my main goal for the month is to not spend as much on eating out.  We’re only about a week in, but so far so good.