Here is a breakdown of my expenses for January.
| Household | $411.87 |
| Mortgage/Apt | $0 |
| Utilities | $37.58 |
| Entertainment | $15.29 |
| Transportation | $19.03 |
| Food | $86.98 |
| Phone | $103.40 |
| Health | $0 |
| Travel | $7 |
| Support | $200 |
| Total | $881.15 |
January was a very low expense month.
Entertainment expense was for an Amazon Prime subscription and a lottery ticket.
Rent was $0. My wife’s rent in Thailand is included in the support amount. I will usually account for the rent separately, but I forgot this month and I’m too lazy to go back and do it now.
Transportation was for a partial tank of gas. Since I work from home and didn’t go out of town during the month, I used very little gas.
My food expense was $86.98 That is way better than I have been doing and I might not ever be able to get it that low again. I took advantage of app deals and free food deals at fast food places to get food super cheap. This is reflected in the fact that I had fast food 21 times in January and only spent a total of $65.61. My grocery spending was also kept low due to using a free $25 Walmart gift card. Eating the food I already had at home was one more way I kept my food expense low. I won’t be able to keep my food expense as low this month, but I’m going to aim to keep my fast food bill below January’s level.
Utilities were $37.58. This was so low due in part to using $75 in free gift cards to lower the water/electric bill. It was also artificially low due to delaying paying the internet bill until February so I could pay it with my new credit card that I need to make a minimum spend amount on in order to get a bonus.
My phone bill was $103.40 This was very high because I used a lot of phone data when our home internet was out for 3 days. I switched to Mint Mobile in January and this total also includes the first six months of service with them. This will eventually save me a lot of money.
The household expense was mainly my $410 annual bar enrollment fee. I hate paying it, but it is necessary for my employment. Household expense should be way down this month since I won’t have any similar fees to pay.
I didn’t spend any money on health related expenses in January. I think that might be the first time that has ever happened. It might happen again this month. If not, my health expense this month should still be very low.
Travel expense includes the taxes on my next award flight to Thailand.
I also gave $200 to my wife. This covered her rent and a new tire for her motorbike. Rent is super cheap in Thailand.
This month’s total expense will probably be higher since it is difficult to keep expenses so low. It is crazy that if it were not for my $410 annual attorney enrollment fee I would have had less than $500 in expenses.
How was your month?