Here is a breakdown of my expenses for September.
| Household | $339.25 |
| Rent | $450 |
| Entertainment | $25.52 |
| Transportation | $486.41 |
| Food | $241.49 |
| Travel | $188.02 |
| Phone | $31.69 |
| Student Loan | $132.58 |
| Health | $178.72 |
| Total | $2073.68 |
My September expenses were crazy high. During the month I purchased a new laptop, paid a speeding ticket, and paid for six months of auto insurance. That trifecta plus travel expenses for my current Thailand trip added up to make my monthly expenses double what I’d like them to be. It might be a while before I’m able to get my monthly expenses back to the $1000 level again.
Buying a new laptop made up most of the household expense. My old one died only a little over two years after I purchased it. It was out of warranty and my diagnosis after consulting YouTube and Google was that I had a fried motherboard which would not be cost effective to fix. My other big household expense was internet. I have to pay $50 a month for three more months and after that my internet will be free as long as I stay in my apartment. This expense should go way down this month.
Entertainment was for movies concessions and one month of Hulu. This expense will probably go up this month since I am traveling for two weeks.
A speeding ticket of almost $120 and $279 for six months of liability insurance combined to make a very expensive month for transportation expenses. The insurance was unavoidable and expected – although it did go up about $50 due to my move to KC – so I don’t feel bad about that. The speeding ticket was avoidable and was just a stupid expense since I had no reason to be speeding. This expense category should go way down this month.
My food expense continues to be ridiculously high. It was about $40 less than the prior month so there was a little improvement at least. I’m eating out way too much and buying too much expensive junk food. Even though I’m traveling the first two weeks of this month and will thus be eating out almost every meal I think I can reduce this expense quite a bit. Food is a lot cheaper in Thailand. Combining that savings with making smarter choices and eating less should result in a lower food bill this month.
My travel expense was mainly for three intra-Thailand flights and travel insurance. My dentist in Thailand changed my appointment dates at the last minute which is going to cause me to not be able to use the flights. They are non-refundable fares on a low-cost carrier and the change fee is more than the cost of the fare so the flights will end up being wasted money. I’m not too happy about that. This expense will probably be about the same this month.
My phone bill returned to a normal level. My data use will likely go up this month and I already made an international call so this expense will go up at least a little.
My health expense was for one month of health insurance, one month’s dues for a fitness center membership and the $40 annual fee for my fitness center membership. The fitness center membership wasn’t a good value in September since I only worked out once the entire month. This expense will go down this month.
Even though I’m traveling in Thailand the first two weeks of this month I expect my overall expenses to be much lower this month. Most of my trip expenses were paid before this month so the travel won’t inflate my total expenses much. Having much lower household and transportation expenses this month should result in a more reasonable level of expenses this month. How was your month?