Month: July 2010

Proof of Low Expenses

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In one of my recent posts at U.S. News several comments expressed doubt that the budget I posted as an example used my real expenses.  A $1000 a month budget seems difficult for some to believe even though a little internet searching would show this is quite possible. Since I post my expenses every month my regular readers know what my expenses are but for the skeptics I am posting some proof of my low expenses.

First off is my high-speed internet for $15 a month.  I got this through Link City and you can see that is their basic rate.

Next is my phone bill of $35 a month. This is the SERO plan from Sprint which includes 500 anytime minutes, unlimited nights and weekends, unlimited texts, and unlimited data for $30 a month. You can’t get this deal anymore but I am grandfathered in. There are lots of discussions about SERO, the one at Slick Deals has a lot of information on this cheap phone plan.

My rent of $360 a month seemed to be the item people were most skeptical about. It is cheap rent, even for Kansas City but it isn’t hard to find a place for less than $400 a month. Kansas City apartments for less than $400 a month.

Last I have included a copy of one of my electric bills. It is very cheap because I didn’t have to use much A/C. That just left the fridge, lights, and my laptop which don’t add up to much.
electric bill

June Income- $873.35

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Here is a breakdown of my income for June.

Online Income

$362.10

Interest

$19.36

Stock Dividends

$95.02

Mystery Shops

$344.96

Bank Bonuses

$20

Cashback

$.68

Job

$31.23

Total

$873.35

It was not a good month for income.  My job ended and I just had one tiny paycheck.   My online income wasn’t as high as I had hoped because I didn’t receive about $300 in affiliate sales and direct link sales that was owed me.  I should receive most of that money but it looks like Mint.com is going to be a deadbeat.  My total income will probably be even worse this month since I won’t have any job income and I am cutting back on mystery shopping.  I plan to get a job in August and get my income back up above my expenses.

June Expenses- $1263.31

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for June.

Household

$575.70

Entertainment

$120.41

Transportation

 $292.72

Food

$117.11
Medical/Dental

$57.44

Utilities

$69.93

Debt

 $30.00

Total

$1263.31

June’s expenses were a big improvement from May but not quite down to the $1000 level that is my goal.   If I wouldn’t have spent $170 on a washer and dryer and another $130 on getting my brakes fixed my expenses would have been reasonable and I would have made my goal.

In July I should be able to make my $1000 goal if I don’t include wedding/honeymoon expenses.  The bulk of that has been paid for but there will be approximately another $300-$500 in expenses for the wedding and honeymoon.

I should be able to significantly reduce my transportation expense this month.  It has been too high because I’ve been making too many long drives.  I will be keeping the long drives to a minimum this month and will try to curb my driving around town as well.

The food expense may not look bad but it is.  Only $38 of that total is groceries I bought for the household.  The rest is fast-food I bought for myself.  Making that figure even worse is the fact that I received several free fast-food meals from mystery shops.  It is no surprise that I gained weight in June.  For July I won’t be having any fast food unless it is for a mystery shop.  I may have to make an exception for In-n-Out when I am in Vegas since I don’t get to eat it too often.

Utilities will probably go up since we will receive the first electric bill for our new apartment.  June’s utilities included my electric bill for my apartment in KC, my final internet bill, and my cell phone bill.   The July electric bill will probably be bigger than all those combined.  At least I won’t have to pay for internet any more since it is included in rent.

The other categories will probably be roughly the same.  We will not be sharing all expenses 50/50 so I will note that when I total July’s expenses.