personal finance

Monthly Spending Report | March 2025

Happy Friday, friends! I am here today to report on my March spending. As a reminder, this is a spending report, which means I am only talking about the money I spent after it hits my bank account. You will not see anything related to my 401k, health insurance premiums, HSA contributions, etc.

Before I get into the fun stuff, let’s review my money goals for March:

A full boycott of Amazon and Target – Not complete. I definitely used both places a LOT less than normal, but I needed to use Target a few times for toiletries and Amazon for a few hard-to-find items.
Switch from Publix to Aldi – Somewhat complete. I did one shopping trip at Aldi but I wasn’t too impressed with the selection nor the quality of some of the food. Womp.
Reduce my shopping budget further – Not complete. As you’ll see below, I actually spent double in March than I did in February. Oops.

SPENDING BREAKDOWN

Categories That Increased

BILLS ($5,872 | ↑ $3,825)

Well, no surprise here! This category increased dramatically because I paid off my Care Credit debt. That comprises over $3,000 of this overage. I also had two car payments in March because I missed my February payment (it was a few days late but within the grace period, so no biggie). My electric bill was also slighter higher than February but ($124 vs $108).

SHOPPING ($682 | ↑ $300)

Whew, my shopping category got a workout in March. Some of this was expected; I knew I was going to spend a lot of money at the bookstore in Orlando and I bought a large area rug for my home. And hey, I got my bonus this month and was responsible with the majority of it. The rest got to be fun money! Here were my highest categories:

Books and bookish items: $197
Home (area rug): $150
Workout clothes (sports bra, yoga mat, workout top, and stretch strap): $88
Clothes (dress, t-shirt, socks, bralette, and nightgown): $84
Office (thank you cards and a mousepad): $55

MISC ($257 | ↑ $179)

This was almost all taxes. I paid $182 to the government and then paid $70 to TurboTax. There was also a small $6 charge from Google for something related to the blog but I couldn’t tell you what it’s for.

SUPPLIES ($196 | ↑ $148)

I replenished my collection of body wash and also needed to buy some household supplies that I don’t need often, like dishwasher detergent, toilet paper, and Clorox wipes. Oh, and I bought a new toilet bowl brush!

GIFTS ($143 | ↑ $56)

A little higher this month since I finally gave my mom her birthday present, which was going to a pet portrait event to make paintings of our pets! I also bought some bulk gifts for friends (I have a fun plan for celebrating friends’ birthdays this year!) as well as some sweet treats for Chip and Lucy’s birthdays. My monthly donation to the ASPCA is also part of this category.

Categories That Decreased

MEDICAL ($127 | ↓ $318)

This month, I spent money on some ice packs for my finger (I’ve been having some weird joint soreness/pain in my index fingers that comes and goes) and medication. Last month, I had to pay off a big medical bill for my CPAP machine that I had been neglecting.

CATS ($185 | ↓ $64)

No vet bill this month, which brought down this category by a bit. I did have to replenish both their wet and dry food, which was a hit to the ole bank account. Plus, they needed new litter and I finally got a Litter Genie to make the whole litter-scooping process a lot less arduous.

ENTERTAINMENT ($283 | ↓ $58)

This month, I added the “food with friends” subcategory back to my entertainment category. It’s good for me to see how much money I spend monthly when going out to eat with my mom and with other friends. This month, it was $140! I also spent $50 for book club’s afternoon tea event, $60 on the pet portrait event (my portion—what I paid for her portrait was added to the gifts category), and $10 on iPhone game tokens.

FOOD ($769 | ↓ $36)

Yay! My food budget improved this time around. I’m very happy with this number, even though I went overbudget in my online takeout category. But I didn’t do as poorly as February (I was over by $73 rather than $105), so that’s a win for me.

CAR ($215 | ↓ $36)

A small decrease for my car category due to only needing to fill up my car with gas once rather than twice.

Categories That Held Steady

SUBSCRIPTIONS ($98)

I still have not canceled my Amazon Prime – argh! I need to do that ASAP. And I’d like to take the money I was using on Amazon Prime and pay it forward for some of the Substacks I read.

SAVINGS ($125)

Of course, same old same old. I have a recurring savings autodraft of $75 to my Christmas fund and $50 to a cat fund for future medical bills.

NEW Categories

TRAVEL ($620)

This category was nonexistent for the first two months of the year, but it’s going to start getting a workout! This month, I categorized all food purchases when I was in Orlando under the “travel” category. I also paid for the VRBO (where I’m typing up this post now!) for my reading retreat.

SPA ($232)

I got my hair colored and cut, and I also got my underarms waxed and my brows waxed and dyed. It was an expensive appointment at the salon! But I will only need to get my hair colored/cut every three months. I only need my brows waxed every 2-3 months at most (and I don’t think I’m going to continue getting them dyed since it only lasted 1-2 weeks, ugh). My underarm waxing will be more frequent for now, but I’m hoping it means no more cyst growth!

Overall Thoughts

I’m happy with my spending habits this month. The bonus obviously helped, and I’m proud that I put most of it toward paying off my LASIK debt. Now the only debts I have are my student loans ($2,400) and my car loan ($27,000). I’m feeling good I can finally get those student loans paid off within the next year, and having a car loan doesn’t really bother me right now.

I’m also happy to report that I spent under my means this month, only by $100 but hey—it’s something! I was worried that I was in the red this month with all of the extra shopping I did and the deposit for the VRBO and such, but nope. It was a good month for my spending.

There are some big things coming up for me in the second half of 2025, namely my trip to London in October and moving to a new apartment in November. I want to make sure I’m saving at a decent rate so that neither of those investments puts me in the hole. This will be even more precarious with the way the government is messing with the stock market, so we’ll see how things shake out. I’m not optimistic, but maybe something will be surprising. (A Trump-loving family member keeps telling me to just “wait” for 1-2 years and things will turn around. Hmm, okay then.)

One thing I’m excited about: I’m $70 away from meeting my health insurance deductible! Woop! I’ve been spending so much money on appointments and medication and equipment costs (thanks, CPAP machine) and it will be nice to get something of a break on some of that. Maybe I’ll even be able to build up some money in my HSA since right now, I’m draining it every time I get paid to pay off some sort of lingering medical bill. It’s fun getting older.

March was a good month and my goals for April are to reduce my shopping budget by half, meet my online ordering goal (less than $100 spent), and finally cancel Amazon Prime.

What was your last “spa” purchases, aka hair color, haircut, waxing, pedicure, manicure, etc? Do you have any financial goals for April?

Categories: Personal Finance

Monthly Spending Report | February 2025

My February spending report isn’t going to be quite as nice as January, but there were some bright spots. I’ve broken this post down into five sections:

Spending Breakdown: Categories That Increased
Spending Breakdown: Categories That Decreased
What Went Well
What Didn’t Go Well
Goals for Next Month

Let’s get into it!

Spending Breakdown

Categories That Increased

MEDICAL ($445 | ↑ $411)

This was an unavoidable increase, as I had to deal with a CPAP bill from my insurance company. I had hoped I would be able to use the last of my 2024 FSA funds to cover the bill (that was over $400!) but apparently, I spent more than I thought with my FSA so I could only use it for a portion of the bill. The rest had to come out of my own pocket. Annoying!

FOOD ($945 | ↑ $253)

There are two reasons this category increased so much from January to February. The first is that I revamped my categories a bit and added a “Food with Friends” line. I would normally put this in my Entertainment category, but I’m moving it into this area to better understand how much I spend on food, even when I’m out with friends or my mom. I may move this back to entertainment at some point, but we’ll see. The second reason this category increased is those damnable Ubereats orders. UGH. I spent over $200 this month and it’s mostly because I didn’t meal plan very well and some nights I just didn’t have anything at home for dinner. Instead of going through the arduous task of driving to the grocery store, I ordered takeout. After doing that too many times, I decided I needed to have some extra meals on hand for those kinds of nights so I loaded up on freezer meals and ready-made dinners at Trader Joe’s! Let’s hope March is a much better month in this department.

CATS ($249 | ↑ $162)

The majority of this overage is due to Lila’s vet appointment. She needed an updated vaccine so it was around $154 for that appointment. I also spent nearly $30 on restocking treats, if I’m wondering why Lila gains a pound a year.

GIFTS ($87 | ↑ $54)

I had to purchase a few more gifts in February than January – Galentine’s, a gift for a colleague, and a gift for my nephew.

CAR ($251 | ↑ $17)

This month, I had to fill up my car with gas twice (shocked face) so that’s the reason for the increase.

ENTERTAINMENT ($201 | ↑ $12)

It’s impressive that I still managed to increase my entertainment category, even though I took out a major part of this category (food). But there were some important purchases here, such as a ticket to see Ben Schwartz & Friends when he’s here in July and my Galentine’s date with Bri.

Categories That Decreased

BILLS ($2,047 | ↓ $385)

The only reason this category decreased is because I was a few days late with my car payment (I thought I had set up automatic withdrawals, but apparently not!). So this category will increase in March for sure.

CREDIT CARD ($741 | ↓ $509)

I paid off my credit card in February, which was such a good feeling! This amount equals the payoff.

SHOPPING ($382 | ↓ $132)

Hooray! My goal in February was to reduce my shopping spending and I did that. I was hoping to spend under $350, which didn’t happen, but I feel good about this total. I bought a lot of books in February (11), bought some yoga accessories, and replaced my purse.

SUBSCRIPTIONS ($101 | ↓ $14)

I cancelled Netflix in February – woop! Next up is cancelling Amazon Prime.

SUPPLIES ($48 | ↓ $36)

Not much to see here – I just didn’t need to replenish as many supplies in February. Boring stuff: mouthwash, toothpaste, a new toothbrush, Q-tips, conditioner, aluminum foil. Blah.

No change categories

Savings ($125) and my miscellaneous category ($78 – this was my nose piercing).

What Went Well

Paying off my credit card – It felt so good to pay off my credit card at the beginning of February! I had been chasing after that accomplishment for all of 2024 and just couldn’t get my act together. But now I feel inspired to keep paying it off so I’m never in that situation again.
A reduced shopping category – Honestly, while I’m proud that I spent less money shopping than I did in January, I didn’t actively track my shopping spending throughout the month and felt like I spent more money than I should have, so it wasn’t a conscious effort. I hope to make this effort a lot more conscious in March.
Cancelling Netflix – I was very tired of paying so much money for Netflix and they just kept raising the prices. After their latest price hike, I called it quits and that felt really good.

What Didn’t Go Well

Medical bills – These large medical bills are killing me. I haven’t built up any sort of savings in my HSA yet (since I haven’t had an HSA for a few years), so all of this is coming out of pocket. I’m hoping the HSA will be worth it in the end, but right now, I’m just annoyed by healthcare expenses.
Not checking on my budget regularly – This was a problem in January and it remained a problem in February. I need to figure out how to make this a part of my daily habits, whether that means combining it with another routine I have, setting an alarm on my phone, or something.
Spending too much on Ubereats – My goal is to to spend less than $100 a month on online takeout orders and in February, I spent more than $200. Not good! I hope that my new plan of having more freezer/ready-made meals on hand will ensure I don’t reach for that Ubereats app as much as I did last month.

March Goals

A full boycott of Amazon and Target – It’s time. I use Target for toiletries, beauty products, and household supplies but I’m hoping I can make the switch to Aldi for some of that. For the rest, I’m still deciding. Amazon will be harder but I’ll figure it out!
Switch from Publix to Aldi – I was supposed to do this last month but I chickened out. I am just so entrenched in my Publix grocery routine, but that’s no excuse for giving a Republican-supported company my money.
Reduce my shopping budget further – My shopping budget reduced by $132 in February and I’d like to keep that trend going. If I can get it under $300, that would be amazing! I think boycotting Amazon and Target will definitely help with this goal.

When was the last time you ordered food from an app like Ubereats or Door Dash?

Categories: Personal Finance

Monthly Spending Report | January 2025

I wanted to take a different approach to my monthly spending reports this year. I still need to write this post every month because they are oh-so-helpful for me. I understand that they are not everyone’s jam, but I am an Obliger through and through, and it helps me to put it all out there.

This year, I’ll do a quick run-down on my spending (using actual numbers this time!) and then dive into what went well and what didn’t go well. I’ll end with some money-related goals!

As a reminder, this is a spending report, which means I am only talking about the money I spent after it hits my bank account. You will not see anything related to my 401k, health insurance premiums, HSA contributions, etc. We’re just talking about the money I spend once it’s, well, mine.

Spending Breakdown

Bills (rent, phone, car payment, electric, student loans, gym, internet, Care Credit): $2,432
Credit card: $1,250
Food: $692
Shopping: $514
Car (car insurance, gas, tolls): $234
Entertainment: $189
Savings (cat fund, Christmas fund): $125
Subscriptions (Patreon, Netflix, Paramount+, Spotify, Canva, Book of the Month, Prime): $115
Cats (food, new scratcher): $87
Medical: $34
Gifts: $33

What Went Well

Food budget – I brought my food budget down to $700/month (from $800), and I was excited to see that I came under budget in January! What helped the most was fewer Ubereats orders. I spent just $78 on Ubereats orders, which may seem high to some, but last year, I averaged nearly $200/mo in this category so this is a startling improvement! My goal is to spend less than $100 on online ordering every month, and I am well on my way to that goal.
Paying off my credit card every two weeks – Okay, this is going to be embarrassing to admit as a functional adult, but I’m going to be open and honest about this: I have been carrying a balance on my credit card for many many months. Probably for all of 2024. The problem is that every month, I would send a huge chunk of money to my credit card to bring down the balance but then I would use the credit card, so I was really only chipping away at the balance by a couple hundred dollars every month. But on January 31st, I was able to fully pay off my credit card (this will show up on my next spending report) and that’s because throughout January, I made sure to pay off any credit card purchases every two weeks. This allowed me to keep my balance at a reasonable number and then, thanks to January being a three-paycheck month for me, pay it off in full at the end of the month. What a friggin relief this is!
Spending less than I make – Last year, there were many months when I spent above and beyond my income, which is the biggest no-no. But it happens and if there’s anything I can do with these spending reports, it’s to make those of us who are not great with our finances feel a little better. In January, I spent just about $360 less than I made, which isn’t a TON of money, but it does keep me in the green, and that’s all I care about.

What Didn’t Go Well

Shopping – My shopping budget was a bit out of control in January, as I spent over $500. Eeks! My top three categories were beauty ($141), clothing ($128), and tech ($77). Most of the beauty purchases were replacement products so hopefully next month I’ll spend a lot less. I am allowing myself to purchase new clothes once a quarter so I took advantage of a sale at Lane Bryant where I got a new pair of boots, jeans, and a bra for $128. And my biggest tech purchase was my hand massager. I’m going to try to see if my wellness reimbursement will cover that, so stay tuned! I also spent $61 on books and $58 on home organization purchases, so January was just a very spendy month for me and hopefully I’ll do better in February.
Savings – I was hoping to put more money in savings, but I prioritized my credit card this month. Now that the credit card is paid off, I can focus my attention on my savings goals!
Not keeping up with my spending – My goal was to check in on my bank account every other day to categorize my spending and see what adjustments I needed to make for the rest of the month, but ugh, I did not do that. I probably logged in once a week and then had to play catch-up.

Goals for February

Spend less money shopping – If I can get my shopping category down to $350, I’ll be a happy gal.
Do a budget check-in every other day – If I’m checking in on my budget more frequently, I think I can definitely get my shopping category down to a reasonable number.
Switch from Publix to Aldi – I am intimidated by the prospect of going to another grocery store but I know this will be beneficial in many ways, both financially and making a bigger impact with my dollars.

What was something you were happy to spend money on this month? For me, I was happy to purchase a spot at the cat cafe Jenny and I went to last month! I’m always happy to give money to a good cause.

Categories: Personal Finance

What I Spent | December 2025

Ugh, December budget. Okay, fine, let’s get this over with. Please be gentle.

Bills (39.6% | -3.9% from November): Last month, I got a break on my bills because I didn’t have a car payment and had a nice credit on my Internet bill, but things were back to normal in December. This category comprises rent, my phone bill, Internet, my car payment, electric, my gym, Care Credit, and student loans. The percentage was lower than November because of all the spending I did in other categories.

Food (13.1% | -2.2 from November): Well, being away on a cruise for a week helped bring this number down because I definitely don’t feel like I spent less money on food in December.

Holidays (10.9% | +2.1% from November): Oh boy, Christmas was expensive this year. I budgeted $850 for the holidays, which encompassed gifts, new decor, supplies like wrapping paper/cookie ingredients, and events. I went about $300 over budget. I had a feeling I was going overboard, but it’s so hard to rein in that holiday spending. I need to do a better job of tracking my purchases in 2025.

Travel (7.6%): I went on a five-day cruise in December and I’m honestly shocked at my final bill for the cruise (which we get on the last day, which details the money spent on drinks/casino purchases/gifts/bingo/etc). It was so much more than I was expecting, eeks.

Cats (5.4% | +3.7% from November): A much spendier month for the cats. I had to replenish both their wet and dry food and Lila had a spa appointment that cost $100 (oof).

Shopping (5.3% | -3.1% from November): Well, hey! Kudos to me. I don’t know if I really spent less this month or if the percentages just shook out differently, but I’ll take it as a win. I felt like I spent a lot of money on myself this month, though.

Misc (3.3% | +2.1% from November): I wasn’t sure where to categorize my tattoo, so I put it in miscellaneous. (For full transparency, it was $200 total with tip!)

Savings (3.2% | -2% from November): In December, I only put money away in my car insurance fund and my cat fund (no Christmas fund).

Entertainment (2.9% | +1.3% from November): There was a lot going on in December, but a lot of things that would normally go into my entertainment category went into my holiday category, so the number isn’t too startling here.

Car (2.2% | -1% from November): I spent so much money on gas in December! I filled my car up four times, and that’s mainly because I drove to and from Miami for the cruise.

Subscriptions (1.8% | -2.8% from November): All of the usual suspects here: Patreon, Canva, Prime, Paramount+, Netflix, Spotify, Book of the Month. It’s a lot less because last month I paid for a yearly subscription to a photo-editing app.

Gifts (1.3% | +.8% from November): A charity donation to the ASPCA and sent some Starbucks gift cards to writers who won the games I played during our team meeting in December.

Medical (1%): I waited way too long to get a replacement FSA card mailed to me after losing my wallet in November, so I had to pay for a few things out of pocket, like an urgent care appointment (one of the cysts on my underarm burst, and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t dying lololol) and a topical antibiotic for said burst cyst.

Beauty (.4% | -3.1% from November): I replaced my facial cleanser and also bought a brush.

Final Thoughts

I find it hard to gauge the differences in my spending when I use percentages rather than raw numbers. For example, this month everything was a bit skewed because a good chunk of my spending went to my holiday and travel categories but that doesn’t mean I spent less in other areas. I just spent less relative to what I spent in the bigger categories. I want to continue writing these budget posts in 2025 (honestly, these posts are mostly for me but I do hope they’re somewhat interesting for others!), but I want to do something different. I’m not sure what that is yet, but I do have a new fancy budgeting spreadsheet that I’m excited to start using.
I’m not happy with myself for overspending by such a large margin ($300!) in my holiday budget. I could have reined myself in if I had been accurately keeping track of how much money I was spending, but I didn’t do that and it shows. Next year (or, well, this year), I’ll do better.
I started keeping track of everything I bought in my shopping/beauty categories so I could report on those findings, but I fell off the bandwagon of accurately itemizing everything in September. I’ll try again this year, sigh.

How was your holiday spending?

Categories: Personal Finance

What I Spent | November 2024

Ooh, boy, I have not been budgeting like I should be. In fact, I had to download my entire transaction history for November and itemize each purchase one by one because I didn’t even open my budget spreadsheet in November. Oops. It was not a fun task. This is why I need to do it throughout the month! Argh. Anyway, here’s how it all shook out:

Bills (43.5% | -2.9% from September/October): This category comprises rent, my phone bill, Internet, my car payment, electric, my gym, Care Credit, and student loans. I didn’t have a car payment this month (my payments start in December) and I got a nice credit on my Internet bill from the hurricanes (my Internet company credited us for the days we were without Internet service!).

Food (15.3% | +4.1% from September/October): I came in under-budget in my food category, which I’m happy about. I still feel like I spend so much more in food costs than the average single person, but it is what it is. I’m hoping to make some changes in 2025 that will help me get this category lower.

Holidays (8.8% | +8.3% from September/October): This includes presents, decor, and Christmas fun. I’m trying to spend less than $800 on Christmas this year, so we’ll see if I can do it. November was a spend-y month because I bought a lot of Christmas presents.

Shopping (8.4% | +3.9% from September/October): Ack, my spending was a bit out of control in November and I didn’t even realize it until I sat down to do these numbers. I bought some books, somehow dropped $80 at Bath & Body Works, and finally got Tiles for my key ring/wallet so I can stop losing things.

Savings (5.6% | +.5% from September/October): I didn’t save more money this month; the percentage just shook out differently. I put money away monthly into a car insurance fund, a cat fund (for medical bills and the like, not for a new cat lol), and a Christmas fund.

Subscriptions (4.6% | +2.8% from September/October): The majority of this increase is due to a yearly subscription I paid to Befunky, gah. Should I have paid $80 for their service? Probably not, but I’ve yet to find a better collage maker. I’ve tried finding a cheaper alternative, but they just do it better than anyone else. Oh well.

Beauty (3.5% | +2.2% from September/October): I did a hair dye night with my friends (the actual supplies were free but I “pay” my friends in pizza and cheesy bread), got a professional haircut, and also bought some skincare products.

Car (3.2% | -4.6% from September/October): I filled up my car with gas twice and also had to pay an overage fee to my car insurance when I upgraded my car/changed loan providers. Wah.

Supplies (2.1% | +.4% from September/October): Nothing too exciting here. I bought toiletries and stuff. (I didn’t keep track of what I bought like I usually do, but I know I placed a big order at Target for things like toilet paper, laundry pods, etc.)

Cats (1.7% | -1.1% from September/October): They needed some treats and I also bought wet food. I have finally learned that Eloise vastly prefers wet food to dry food so now the girls get two cans a day (I split a can between two bowls in the morning and split another can in the evening). It’s expensive, but if it means Eloise is going to put on some weight, I’m all about it.

Entertainment (1.6% | -.9% from September/October): Nothing too much to report here. I had some dinners out with friends and bought some tokens for iPhone games.

Misc (1.2% | -.4% from September/October): I renewed my license, fun times.

Gifts (.5% | -1.2% from September/October): Just my monthly donation to the ASPCA.

What was something you bought for yourself in November?