Here is a breakdown of my expenses for March.
| Household | $414.54 |
| Entertainment | $79.78 |
| Transportation | $90.53 |
| Food | $103.38 |
| Student Loan | $106.00 |
| Travel | $78.30 |
| Phone | $26.81 |
| Health | $117.36 |
| Total | $1016.70 |
My streak of below $1000 monthly expenses came to an end in March. The total was just barely above $1000 so I’m still happy with my level of spending. The $1000 level of spending doesn’t allow me much leeway in my expenses. Our trip to Las Vegas at the end of the month increased my travel and entertainment expense and put me over the $1000 target. The total cost of the Vegas trip was just a bit over $100 which was a great bargain. I actually won enough gambling to cover most of that cost. My credit card allows me to erase past travel purchases so the cost of the vacation could get even lower. I might break down the cost of the trip in a later post if I’m not too lazy this month.
Meeting the $1000 target will be tough to do this month. We have a vacation to Niagara Falls planned. Airfare and hotel will be free, but there will still be a rental car and other expenses. My student loan payment has also gone up to $183 a month. This increases my fixed expenses and doesn’t leave me with much for discretionary expenses. I’m not complaining though. I get a lot of value for the money I spend. Even if I don’t meet the $1000 target I think I’m doing pretty well at keeping my expenses under control.
Your spending on travel is incredible. It would be interesting to hear more about your Las Vegas vacation, particularly anything you do to keep your budget so low. How much gambling do you do? Go to any shows or do other things while there?
We went to the aquarium at Mandalay Bay. We didn’t see any shows, but just checking out some of the casinos and gambling easily took up all of our time. I won about $90 gambling although I didn’t spend a lot of time gambling.