budget

December Expenses – $938.65

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for December.

Household

$398.22

Entertainment

$72.61

Transportation

 $91.21

Food

$90.98

Health

$61.66

Phone

$34.63

Debt

 $189.34

Total

$938.65

December wasn’t a bad month but there is room for improvement. The debt category is too high but it will be going down because I have refinanced it to 0% for 12 months and I will pay the remainder of it off at the end of the 12 months. That will help reduce my monthly expenses. My entertainment expense might go down a little this month.  At some point this year I will be traveling though and that will more than make up for any decrease in my entertainment budget. There isn’t much else to be cut down at this point.

2009 Expenses – $12,090.99

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My total expenses for 2009 were $12,090.99.  That does not include the purchase price of my car although it does include all other car expenses associated with the car purchase such as the sales tax and registration.  It doesn’t include business expenses either as those are deducted from my business income.

I’m fairly satisfied with that total although I want to do better this year.  I had a goal of keeping my expenses under $10,000 last year which I obviously did not meet.  I did come close to my backup goal of keeping my expenses at $1000 a month.  Considering I spent over $1000 on travel and over $1500 on entertainment it is surprising I came as close to meeting my goal as I did.  I do plan to cut back on my entertainment expense this year but I will probably spend just as much on travel.  That means I am going to have to be extremely disciplined in all other areas of my budget. Considering I didn’t have a car most of last year it will be hard to keep my expenses in 2010 below the 2009 level but I am making that a goal.

November Expenses – $1098.55

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for November.

Household

$440.61

Entertainment

$76.98

Transportation

 $118.99

Food

$160.25

Health

$90.66

Phone

$46.06

Debt

 $165.00

Total

$1098.55

I wasn’t too far off my goal of keeping my monthly expenses under $1000. Considering I moved into a new apartment this expense level is reasonable. My food category was pretty high which isn’t surprising since I had at least 30 restaurant meals during the month. That category should be much lower this month.  I might be able to shave a little off my entertainment budget.  My transportation expense will go up because I have to do a lot more driving now that I have a job.  Everything else should stay about the same.

If you are eligible for part of the $500 giveaway I would still like to hear your opinion on how to distribute the money.

October Expenses – $1446.44

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for September.

Household

$406.98

Entertainment

$54.61

Transportation

 $601.89

Food

$84.33

Medical/Dental

$61.66

Phone

$11.77

Education

 $52.20

Debt

 $173.00

Total

$1446.44

My expenses were a little high this month. That was mainly due to my car purchase. I left out the cost of the car purchase to keep my monthly figure from being skewed too much. I did count the expense of sales tax, registration, and insurance though which caused my transportation expense to be high. I should get my expenses back down to the $1000 level this month.

At the end of October my car had a cost per mile of $4.98. That isn’t too bad considering I had only had it a couple weeks. By the end of this month that figure should be way down. If I were to take out the purchase price from my total car cost I would obviously have a much cheaper cost per mile. Even though I could probably sell my car for close to what I bought it I am going to keep the purchase cost in my total cost since I plan to drive the car until it is near worthless.

September Expenses – $1435.49

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for September.

Household

$136.63

Entertainment

$71.45

Transportation

 $11.89

Food

$162.56

Medical/Dental

$61.66

Phone

$34.67

Travel

 $774.63

Debt

 $182.00

Total

$1435.49

My expenses were higher than I would prefer in September but not too bad considering I was traveling most of the month. The travel expense was the budget killer. This amount was what I spent on airfare, hotel rooms, taxis, and buses. I find it hard to believe I spent that much but I did. I probably won’t travel at all this month so this category will go down to zero. The food budget was also high since I ate out for most of my meals. My food expense should go back to normal this month.  My household expense was  low this month since my GF allowed me to not pay rent while I was gone.  This amount will go back to normal this month.  My transportation expense was low this month since most of my transportation costs were included in the travel category.  That expense will go up this month but it should still be fairly low.  My other categories should remain about the same.

It is now obvious that I will not meet my goal of keeping my expenses to under $10,000 for the year.  I may have already passed that expense level but I haven’t added up my monthly expenses yet to be sure.  I will still try to keep my expenses low for the rest of the year and I will probably set a similar goal next year.