Here is a breakdown of my expenses for October.
| Household | $170.45 |
| Mortgage/Apt | $0 |
| Utilities | $320.16 |
| Entertainment | $20.94 |
| Transportation | $92.37 |
| Food | $411.68 |
| Visa | $0 |
| Health | $333.23 |
| Travel | $0 |
| Phone | $20 |
| Total | $1368.83 |
October’s expenses were a little higher than September’s but still very reasonable. This month’s expenses will probably be quite a bit higher.
Entertainment expense was for one month of Amazon Prime, one month Netflix, a lottery ticket and some books.
My transportation expense consisted of $92.37 for gas. I’ll spend much more in this category this month.
My food expense was $411.68. That is divided between $288.11 for groceries and $123.57 for restaurants. That is slightly lower than last month. I thought I would be able to bring it down more. This month I should at least be able to get this expense under $400. I have a couple of gift cards that were counted in previous months, and I have decided I won’t buy any groceries for myself. I’ll just eat what we already have or part of what I buy for others.
Travel expense was $0, and it will probably be $0 again this month. I won’t go to Thailand again until sometime next year and I don’t think we will have any domestic travel this year.
Utilities came in at $320.16. This was for electric, internet and trash. This month I don’t have to pay for trash and the electric bill should be lower since we’re no longer using air conditioning. That should lead to a significantly lower total in this category.
Household expense came in at $170.45. The big expenses in this category were sending money to my wife’s family and buying a used laptop.
I spent $20 for one month of phone service for my wife.
The $333.23 spent on health consisted of $309.12 for a doctor visit and $24.11 for medicine. I had an unforced error here as I didn’t check to see whether the doctor was in network for our insurance. Since the doctor was out of network, I ended up having to pay the entire bill.
This month’s expenses will probably be a little higher. How was your month?
Nice to see you continue to write…although I’d love to see more posts than just the month-end ones. One question: are your student loans completely paid, since they’re never on the expenses list?
I really only write the income and expense posts for my own records. Maybe someday, I’ll be inspired to write more posts. I doubt that will happen, especially since blogging is almost dead now. My student loans are on an income-based repayment plan. Due to my current low income my monthly payment for this year is $0. That might change next year.