It turns out I never spend as much as money as I think I have in any given month. After running all the numbers for August, I’m pleasantly surprised to find that I managed to save 16 percent of my income. Even though that’s my lowest savings rate of the year, I’m still happy because I thought I had spent so much more.
I also managed to add a tiny bit to my net worth. It now stands at $32,539 which is an increase of 3.5% (I think…math was never my strong suit! ha.)
As usual, gas and eating out cost me a bunch of money. I’ve decided I’m going to start tracking which eating out is social in nature, as I’m sure that is a large percentage of it and I will try to cut back on the eating out that is merely a convenience. Also a random expense for August was $250 for six months worth of car insurance. If I hadn’t had to pay that, I would have been able to save even more money. Oh well.
I would love to increase my savings rate in September back up into the 20-something percent range, but that’s going to be difficult. I have a trip to the Boundary Waters coming up next weekend and the girlfriend’s birthday (fyi – I’m going to start calling her Bird) is in the middle of the month. Towards the end of the month my brothers have their birthday (they’re twins). So September might be expensive, but I’m really looking forward to it! Bring it on!
Plus, I already had a no spend day on the 1st! But then I spent $5.33 on dinner tonight and then renewed a magazine subscription for $25. So the spending has begun! However, that $25 covers 3 years of the magazine which is a savings of over 70% off the cover price and it’s a magazine I actually read, so I’m quite pleased with that purchase.
Tomorrow will not be a no-spend day as I’m heading into Uptown after work to have delicious thai food. Bird’s college roommate and her boyfriend are in town to visit and it’s their first time in Minneapolis so a big group of friends is getting together to hang out and show them a good time. It shouldn’t be too expensive though because we’re only doing dinner out and then heading back to Bird’s new place for cake and ice cream. It should be really fun!
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