After thinking about it for a bit, I’ve decided I’m going to show you the real, raw numbers of my spending. Sometimes the way percentages shake out don’t paint the most accurate picture of how I’m spending my money, and since I’m only reporting on myself, it feels fair enough to use actual numbers. Let’s do this! Note: This is a spending report, so I’m only talking about money I spent after it hit my bank account. Don’t expect to see anything about my 401k, FSA, health insurance, etc.
Bills ($2,381 | ↓ $715 from March): Y’all, I am stumped on this one. I don’t know why my bills were so much lower in April than in March! I did miss paying my water bill (the setup is so complicated, and I can’t do automatic, ugh), and maybe the way the car payments shook out meant it didn’t show up on my April budget? IDK! I mean, I’m not complaining, but I’m just not sure if I did my math right, ha.
Savings ($1,370 | ↑ $945 from March): I am so very proud of this number! I finally put four figures away in savings this month. I don’t know if I’ve ever been able to do that. Most of this went into my emergency fund. I’m so close to having $3,000 in that fund, which feels really good. I’ll keep building it, of course, but woohoo!
Food ($794 | ↓ $8 from March): A pretty steady month for my food budget. My goal is to stay under $800, so I’m happy I managed to do that in April! I spent a little less on groceries, but didn’t meet my Ubereats goal of $100. Womp, womp. No bougie pedicure for me this month! Still, my total for Ubereats was $138, so it’s still much lower than it’s been in previous months. The key is making sure I have fun dinner options for the weekends.
Shopping ($640 | ↓ $830 from March): This is the sweet spot for my shopping budget, I think. Ideally, I’d keep things under $500, but what can I say? I like buying things! This month, my highest-spend categories were home ($245 – mainly due to having to replace my Keurig!), beauty ($160), and books ($82).
Travel ($611 | ↑ $611 from March): I didn’t spend any money on travel expenses in March, but this category got a sweet lil workout in April. Anything I bought during my reading retreat (groceries and one Ubereats order) went into this category, as well as paying my mom back for a plane ticket for our New England road trip in the fall.
Pets ($306 | ↓ $112 from March): Last month involved getting Lila set up with a new vet wellness plan (so I had to pay a setup fee) and a gorgeous cat tower for my office. This month, things were more normal, sort of what I expect things to look like going forward. I paid for their wellness plans, bought some accessories (a new collar for Eloise, a new cat scratcher, etc.), and got some necessities like litter and wet food.
Car ($283 | ↑ $33 from March): I got gas twice (nearly $50 both times, sigh), put money into my car insurance savings fund, and got a car wash membership. I’ve been very leery about starting a car wash membership because I don’t trust myself to use it enough to make it worth it, but I’m giving myself a three-month trial. As long as I get my car washed 10 times in the next three months, I can keep the membership. Wish me luck!
Gifts ($223 | ↑ $68 from March): I bought two thank-you gifts and a gift for a grieving friend.
Entertainment ($126 | ↓ $145 from March): A much more reasonable number for April! I want to keep my entertainment category under $200, and I came well below that target. The majority of this spending comprises restaurants. I don’t include those in my food budget if I’m out with friends or my mom because that’s part of being social!
Household Supplies ($108 | ↑ $100 from March): I seemingly needed to replace all of my household supplies in April! Mopping solution, mopping pads, dishwasher pods, mouthwash, toothpaste, shampoo/conditioner, and on and on. It was a busy month for those household supplies!
Subscriptions ($93 | no change from March): This seems to be the sweet spot for my subscriptions—just under $100! If you want to know the way my mind works, I feel like there’s room to add another subscription to this list. Frugality? I don’t know her.
Medical ($0 | ↓ $126 from March): No medical expenses needed in April! Everything was able to go on my FSA card, yay!
Overall Thoughts
This was honestly my ideal spending month. I am not a frugal person so I’m never going to be someone who doesn’t spend a ton of money in a single month, but if I can do so while contributing a good amount of money to savings and investing in travel, then I feel really good about that!
What went well?
- I put almost $1,400 away in my savings! And it didn’t even feel like a massive sacrifice. It feels so good to have made this happen. I need to hold onto this feeling!
- I still came in under-budget in my food category, even though I didn’t meet my Ubereats goal of $100. With prices rising everywhere, I’m glad I haven’t felt the pinch too much yet.
- I’m proud of bringing down my shopping category in a substantial way. Of course, that was bound to happen since I bought two pieces of furniture in March, but sometimes it’s hard to bring myself back down to normal spending after an expensive month. I’m learning how to be a smart money manager, I guess.
Where can I improve?
- I still need to get a handle on Ubereats orders. Even though I didn’t go massively overboard ($138), I still didn’t meet my goal because sometimes I prioritize comfort/ease over saving money. It would be nice to switch bodies with a frugal person for a day so I can better understand how their mind works. What do you meeeean you don’t want to spend money all the time?!!?!
- While I didn’t spend beyond my means, if I didn’t have a big buffer in my checking account, things would have gotten a bit tight near the end of the month. I came in just shy of $100 under my take-home income, so that’s something I really want to keep track of to make sure that number starts to increase. Then again, my housing costs have risen dramatically, so I’m really glad I’m still able to spend below my means when my rent is 25% higher than it used to be!
What is one of your must-have discretionary expenses? Mine is probably Starbucks.
Wow, that is a lot to put away in savings! Great job! And $138, while over your goal, is really not too bad. Overall it seems like a great month for you!
Thank you! I am super happy with the savings number. Four figures! That’s never happened.
Let’s see…why don’t I use Ubereats? Because I think it would be expensive, I think it would take more time than if I went out to pick up the food myself, and because Doggo goes nuts when anyone comes to the house. Hmmm…maybe that’s the answer: get a reactive dog! Oh wait, then your pet expenses would go up so overall it would take your budget in the wrong direction so that’s not the answer.
Actually the answer is pretty clear: you put 4 figures in savings this month. Your Ubereats spending is fine.
I never had Patreon subscriptions until recently, and I’m finding that I’m getting a lot out of them. I’m thinking the same as you, that I need to increase my budget for these.
Ha… my mom gets takeout often, and she has TWO reactive dogs. These days, you can ask for the delivery driver to leave the food at your doorstep and not ring the bell, which helps a lot. I think if you haven’t ever done delivery like this, DON’T START. The sticker shock alone will give you a heart attack!
It may be time to add another Patreon to my repertoire! We’ll see.
Yep, Starbucks! Totally worth it IMO.
I’m going to say the same thing that everyone else probably will- you did GREAT. All that money into savings! I know you didn’t meet your Ubereats goal, but it also wasn’t terrible. I say, if you’re putting a good chunk into savings then you deserve some treats. I mean, what’s life all about, anyway?
$82 for books… now I want a trip to the bookstore!
I feel good about that Ubereats number. I wish it was lower, but $38 over my budget isn’t too bad, especially considering some months I’m in the $200-$300 range!
Well, I’m spending a lot on our trip. I am definitely frugal, but living abroad it’s hard to be excessively frugal, that’s for sure! And there is a lot of joy in drinking a delicious coffee by a canal in Venice, but it comes with a price tag, that’s for sure.
I’ve never done Ubereats or had any prepared food delivered to my door ever. I’ve had a few meal prep kits (they were basically free because a friend shared a code with me). I’ve never had grocery delivery either, though that is tempting!
I have been tempted to start doing grocery delivery more often these days because walking up four flights of stairs with all my bags is a LOT. How did I do it when I was having so much joint pain?! I’ll never know.
+1 on Starbucks being a worthwhile splurge. I get one about once/week and then sometimes more if I feel like I need another treat.
I think a $138 uber eats total is not bad at all! I still have my door dash credit from my fire incident last fall but I’m down to about $250 now, I think. I tend to order a poke bowl as a Friday treat since it’s a meeting heavy day w/ little to no breaks to make something for lunch. That habit will go away after the credits run out, though, because it feels a bit too splurgy to do that every week, but maybe I will do it once/month!
I definitely hope you continue to get your poke bowls once your Door Dash credits are gone. Once a month sounds very reasonable!
I really appreciate you are sharing your real numbers. I know that makes the whole situation a little bit more “vulnerable”, but I do appreciate it because it can be so hard to “know” where other people are financially when you don’t know their income. Do you really take home about $7k/month? That is a really decent salary my friend! That is a little less than my gross pay! But then again, I work for the government LOL
Wow this is so amazing that you were able to puts so much into savings. You can be proud. I feel like I am rewiring all my monthly savings back because its never enough in my account theses days. Sigh.
Thank you for the honest of showing real numbers. It’s very interesting and very different to Germany I think.