December Expenses – $1580.99

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for December.

My December expenses were quite a bit higher than my November expenses. Ideally, I would keep my monthly expenses below $1000. I came close to that level in November with expenses coming in at $1113.82. My December expenses came in at $1580.99. The high amount was mostly from my transportation expenses. I paid sales tax and licensing on my new car and six months insurance for both my van and car in December. Some of the insurance money will eventually be refunded once I’m able to sell the van. My gas expense for the month was $208.96 compared to $571.96 in November. That is a significant improvement, but I would like to do better. I had three trips from KC to SW Missouri in December and shouldn’t have any this month. That alone should result in a significant drop in my gasoline expense.

My food expense was also higher than I would prefer. One reason it was high was from eating fast food too often. The other reason was that I bought a lot of groceries when I moved into my apartment. I’ve barely made a dent in my groceries so I should have a much lower food bill this month.

The household bill will be a little larger since I will be paying a full month’s rent. I will also have to pay my first electric bill. I expect it will be about $25-$30 since I haven’t been using much electricity.

In order to meet my goal of living on minimum wage, I will need to keep my expenses below $1274 a month. I shouldn’t have any large expenses this month so I should easily keep my expenses below that level and perhaps I might get them below $1000 for the month.