February Expenses – $1131.16

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for February.

My February expenses were about the same as my January expenses. My goal is to keep my monthly expenses under $1000.  Although I usually miss that goal I usually come close. The last time I made my expense goal was February of last year. That is a long streak of not meeting my expense goal that I need to break. If this month doesn’t have any unexpected expenses and I don’t go on my hiking I should be able to break the streak. Of course, most months do have unexpected expenses.

My medical expense was a little higher than normal due to a dentist appointment. I actually had a dentist appointment and a periodontist appointment. There was no charge for the periodontist appointment since it was a continuation of the dental implant process that I paid for last year.

My food expense was way too high due to eating fast food way too often. This month I’m aiming to cut the food expense in half.

The travel expense was the $95 annual fee for my Chase Ink credit card. I’ll be receiving a bonus worth about $725 towards travel from this card making it well worth paying the annual fee.

I’m hoping to take a week-long hiking trip on the Appalachian Trail this month. If I’m able to do that then my expenses will likely go up a bit. I worked at a document review all seven days of last week. The job is scheduled to restart on Thursday and continue through the 11th or possibly the 18th. Since I will probably also have follow-up dentist and doctor appointments later this month I might not have time to take the hiking trip.  I’m willing to delay the hike a little bit to bolster my financial situation, but I definitely want to hike in April. If the trip gets put off too long it might not happen.