Here is a breakdown of my expenses for September.
| Rent | $550 |
| Household | $751.71 |
| House Repairs | $750 |
| Utilities | $358 |
| Entertainment | $0 |
| Transportation | $173.36 |
| Food | $339.11 |
| Health | $24.56 |
| Student Loan | $0 |
| Phone | $20 |
| Total | $2966.74 |
September’s expenses were once again quite high. If it were not for a couple of one-time expenses, they would have been under $2000. I’m hoping this month will not have any unusual expenses, and I can finally get our expenses back under $2000.
Entertainment expense was $0. Amazon Prime was free after applying a free gift card to my account. I also have 1 year of Apple TV free from one of my credit cards.
My transportation expense consisted of $173.36 for gas. I used some discounted gas cards or otherwise this total would have been even higher.
Food expense was $339.11. That is divided between $298.03 for groceries and $41.08 for restaurants. That is much better than the previous month. I’m hoping this month we can keep the total under $400.
Travel expense came in at $0.
Utilities came in at $358. Internet was $40 and electric/water was $318. This expense will be much lower this month since we’ve used the A/C much less the last few weeks.
Household expense came in at $751.71. Some of the big expenses were a new freezer, a plumbing repair, and partial payment of my dad’s cremation. The rest was for miscellaneous household stuff.
I spent $20 for phone service. That is the usual monthly amount plus $5 for extra data.
I paid $0 on my student loan. I’ve switched to the RAP plan which apparently starts this month which meant no payment due in August.
I also contributed $750 to my in-laws so they can make some improvements to their house in Thailand.
This month’s expenses should be quite a bit lower. How was your month?
Sorry to hear about your dad. Months like this are why I like splitting unexpected costs into two buckets. A new freezer or a plumbing repair isn’t predictable to the month, but on an older house it is predictable over a few years, so a small monthly house-repair sinking fund can absorb those bills without the monthly total jumping. True emergencies, like losing income, stay in the emergency fund. Your $298 grocery total is impressive, by the way. Do you expect the RAP payment to be noticeably lower than your old plan once it starts?
Thank you. The RAP payment will only slightly lower my payment this year. It will mostly help by keeping the interest from accumulating on my loan. With my previous payment plan my loan balance was going up every month since my payment wasn’t enough to cover the interest. Now, my loan balance will stay the same or go down slightly.