Here is a breakdown of my expenses for June.
| Household | $17.34 |
| Mortgage | $355 |
| Entertainment | $32.72 |
| Transportation | $0 |
| Food | $134.17 |
| Phone | $28.74 |
| Health | $39.92 |
| Travel | $343.43 |
| Total | $951.32 |
My June expenses were surprisingly low and I managed to hit my stretch goal of keeping my expenses under $1000 for the month.
Entertainment expense was for a one month digital subscription to the New York Times, and a couple meals out with friends and/or family.
The mortgage payment was my regular mortgage payment.
Transportation was $0. I didn’t drive much the first half of the month and the second half of the month I was hiking. That resulted in not needing to fill up my gas tank at all during the month.
My food expense was a little over my target amount. That is okay considering I was traveling half the month. There were a few times while hiking I couldn’t eat at fast food restaurants due to them being drive-thru only so I ate at more expensive sit-down restaurants instead. If I’d been able to eat at the cheaper fast food places I’d probably have been right on budget for the month.
My phone bill should be about this much every month.
Household expense was for reading glasses, floss, deodorant, socks, laundry, and a shoe insert to help with foot pain.
Health expense was for my monthly gym dues.
Travel expense broke down as follows. $120.20 for a baggage fee on Delta, taxes on two award flights, early bird check-in for Southwest, and a flight from St. Louis to Fort Leonard Wood. The early bird check-in allowed me to snag an exit row seat with extra legroom. The flight from STL went to a tiny airport that’s only about a half hour from my home. My alternative was to take the bus for just $11 less. I think the flight was easily worth the extra $11.
$158.45 for 4 hotel nights plus a night at a hostel. Two of the hotel nights were free and another was discounted by $30 from a gift card. That is how I managed to get 5 nights for what I could have spent on only one night.
$64.78 for a Lyft ride, an Uber ride, an Amtrak, and several local buses. In the future I need to take consideration the cost of an Uber/Lyft ride when I’m booking flights that will be outside of public transportation hours.
Despite the travel expenses I was still able to keep my expenses under $1000 for the month. I think I can keep my expenses under the $1000 level this month.
How was your month?