Expense Update (September 2019)

It was simple. The goal was simply to reach a point financially where one day, I no longer have to worry about the day to day worries of debts and bills. Going to a restaurant and ordering what I want to eat rather than letting prices influence what I should eat. These simple things bothered me to a point where I decided to sacrifice few years of my life to improve the next 70.

The goal was to build a strong financial foundation so I can live more and expand my options. Reclaim my life and time. To achieve this, understanding what every dollar was doing was crucial.

If building wealth is any interest to you and you haven’t started tracking your expenses, get started today! It’s a great way to begin learning about yourself. Often times, the biggest obstacle to building wealth is yourself.

I began tracking my expenses early at the age of 20 and still do so today. It’s a religious part of my life. I spend 10 to 20 minutes a month to input numbers on my spreadsheet with the help of sites like Personal Capital to speed things up. If you haven’t used Personal Capital give them a try. It’s a great free software to track your finances.

So, let us proceed to the details shall we?

Expenses

Auto – Maintenance: $381 – Many parts in a car need to be replaced on a 20 year old car particularly when they hit the 10 year anniversaries. The car runs great, but the mechanic is starting to have trouble locating replacement parts for some components. Luckily, he found them in NYC and had them shipped to get them installed. 😅

Utilities: $375

Groceries: $361

Mobile Phone: $123

Restaurants: $162

Shopping: $138 – I began using up some of my gift cards once my credit card churning was completed last month. Total gift cards spent for this month was about $185. So, my shopping spend would have been about $323.

Auto (Gas): $51 – Did I mention I used to spend about $1,000 per month just on gas when working? Today, it’s down to $51! After all the repairs I have been making on my car, fuel efficiency has gone up the roof! (Before: 13-15MPG, Today 15-18MPG) 😂

Home – Landscaping: $40

Home – Maintenance: $35 – Replaced a sprinkler solenoid and few sprinkler heads.

Service Fees: $34

Personal Care: $30

Postage & Stamps: $16

Dues & Subscription: 15

Travel – Transport: $10

Insurance: $7

Total: $1,812 (-31% from prior month)

Conclusion

This is by far the weirdest month for expenses with the largest expense for the month being my car maintenance.

I would have never thought this would be possible but I’m not complaining!

Expenses are down 31% this month compared to the last. The less that goes out on expenses, the more to invest! The more you invest? The more options!

However, the last 3 months of this year will carry the largest expenses such as taxes and insurance. Looking forward to those!

Anyhow, that is another month in the books! Thanks for reading!