Andy Hough

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?

Here is a breakdown of my income for September.

Interest	$414.59
Dividends	$8.10
Job	$2974.70
Selling	$46.61
Cashback	$25
Bank Bonus	$100
Credit Card Bonus	$750
Insurance Refund	$41.09
Odd Job	$200
Total	$4560.09

September was a great income month.

Dividend income came in at $8.10.

Interest income was $414.59 This was much higher than usual due to a CD maturing during the month and a fund paying me at the beginning of the month rather than the end of the month like my funds usually do. This month’s interest income will return to a normal level.

I made $46.61from eBay and other selling. I currently don’t spend much time on this since it is more profitable to spend that time working at my job.

I made $25 from cash back.

I made $2974.70 from job income.

I had a credit card bonus of $750. That was for the U.S. Bank Triple Cash Card. I need to do more bonuses like that.

I made $200 from an odd job. I probably won’t have any odd job income this month. It isn’t something I seek out, but occasionally it finds me.

I made $100 from a bank bonus and received a $41.09 refund from the health insurance company I used last year.

This month should be good again, but it is unlikely to be as good as September. My job looks like it will continue through the end of the year. This will be my best money-making year since before the pandemic.

How was your month?

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for September.

Household	$45.56
Mortgage/Apt	$0
Utilities	$249.69
Entertainment	$37.97
Transportation	$240.50
Food	$427.09
Visa	$0
Health	$46.48
Travel	$0
Phone	$15
Total	$1062.29

September’s expenses were once again very reasonable. If I can keep my monthly expenses around this level, I will be happy.

Entertainment expense was for one month of Amazon Prime, one month Netflix, and a trip to the movies. I had a free popcorn for my birthday and also had a couple of gift cards to use. Without those I wouldn’t have gone since the movies no longer seem like a good value.

My transportation expense consisted of $151.70 for gas and $88.80 for maintenance. I had more long trips than usual which increased the gas expense. I should have fewer long trips this month and shouldn’t have any maintenance so this expense should go down this month.

My food expense was $427.09. That is divided between $260.57 for groceries and $166.52 for restaurants. The restaurant expense was inflated by the purchase of a gift card. I bought a $75 Mcdonald’s gift card for $64 and counted all of the expense for September. Still, I feel like my food expense was too high. My restaurant expense should be much lower this month since I have two gift cards to use that were already counted in previous month’s expenses. I will try to keep the grocery bill down too. Hopefully, that will lead to this month’s food expense being much lower.

Travel expense was $0, and it will probably be $0 again this month. This is unusual for me, but I probably won’t go to Thailand again until sometime next year and I’m unsure if we will have any domestic travel this year.

Utilities came in at $249.69. This was for electric and internet. This month I also paid the trash bill so this expense will be higher even though the electric bill should be a little cheaper.

Household expense came in at $32.55.

I spent $15 for one month of phone service for my wife.

The $46.48 spent on health consisted of $30 for a doctor visit and $16.48 for medicine.

This month’s expenses will probably be about the same. How was your month?