Wow…it’s already September and it seems like August just passed by. I can only think – where did the Summer go so? It seems like it just got here and now it’s going away so quickly. In the northeast it hasn’t even felt like Summer most of August, we went from 90s-100s in July with brutal humidity and now to this Fall-like weather most of August. I’m not ready for the cold just yet! It has been another busy month for me and I had the expectations going into the month that my spending would be higher than average with going on vacation and car insurance payments starting up once again. Let’s see exactly how I did and if I was able to keep my spending down in other areas to counteract that increased spending.
| Item | Budgeted | Actual | Difference |
| Income | $2,920.00 | $2,920.00 | $0.00 |
| Rent | -$100.00 | -$100.00 | $0.00 |
| Car Insurance | -$110.00 | -$500.00 | -$390.00 |
| Cell Phone | -$20.00 | -$20.00 | $0.00 |
| Gas | -$100.00 | -$164.00 | -$64.00 |
| Gym | -$20.00 | -$20.00 | $0.00 |
| Dining Out | -$50.00 | -$120.00 | -$70.00 |
| Entertainment | -$100.00 | -$100.00 | $0.00 |
| Total Income After Fixed Expenses | $2,420.00 | $1,896.00 | -$524.00 |
| “Extra” Spending | $0.00 | -$330.00 | -$330.00 |
| Total Income Before Student Loans | $2,420.00 | $1,566.00 | -$854.00 |
| Student Loan Payments | -$2,200.00 | -$2,500.00 | -$300.00 |
| Total Remaining | $220.00 | -$934.00 | -$1,154.00 |
Well now…let’s take a step back and analyze this before any sort of freaking out ensues! Rent, cellphone bill, and gym are all normal as usual. I ended up prepaying a large portion of my car insurance this month at $500 to save some on my future monthly payments, so hopefully that will help that out. So really I just paid around $400 extra in advance, making my budget look much worse at face value. I’m a little disappointed that my insurance rate had increased this year. I am approaching the “magic” age of 25 for insurance, have no accidents or tickets, and it’s not like my car is getting any newer. I know we have a quality insurance provider in the case that I ever did get in accident but I think next year I will try shopping around for some quotes.
Gas was much higher this month again, only 3 dollars less than last month. This is exactly what I expected after making the drive down to Ocean City, MD and I assume this will settle back down towards $100 in the coming months especially with trying to carpool 4 days a week.
My eating out budget was much higher this month, as I treated for going out a favorite restaurant of mine while on vacation. It’s a little pricey but I think it was worth it for a once in a while treat and the food and service was excellent. We also celebrated with lunch twice this month for a coworker getting a promotion and another birthday as well as a happy hour. Nothing too crazy but I do know this adds up if it keeps repeating being over budget.
With vacation, my entertainment and extra spending budgets were pretty out of whack this month. Overall vacation ended up being cheap with most of meals being cooked at home (thank you Grandma’s condo!) so minus the one night we went out our expenses just consisted of groceries, mini golf, parking/bus, some things on the boardwalk, and some ice cream. There’s a ton of free things to do down there, and we have no problem just hanging out on the beach all day.
The extra expenses were actually mostly from car maintenance of getting an oil change, new spark plugs, and the PCV valve. I also decided to get a new car stereo so that I would finally be able to play my iPod through an auxiliary input – no new speakers or anything crazy like that, just a new head unit. It’s something I had been wanting for a long time and think it will definitely be worth the money I paid for it in the long run. With some help from my Dad, we were able to install it without having to pay anyone to do it – so money was saved there. I’ve tried an FM transmitter but it just never seems to work great in my area, there are barely any good empty stations and my car lacks a cassette player to use an adapter. So far it has worked perfectly and I’m happy with my purchase.
We booked a cabin for a camping trip over Columbus Day weekend, so after splitting that with my girlfriend it ran me around $70 of extra expenses as well. We had a family wedding, so there was a gift card purchase in there as well. I was also able to find some t-shirts and work shirts online for $5 and $10 – pretty good bargains for clothes that should last me a few years. I need to take a visit to a thrift shop again to see if I can find even better deals!
Photo Credit: Dave Dugdale via photopin cc
Wow, I love how low your rent is. I wish mine was that low, this would be a dream come true! 😛 Great job on paying off $2500 of student debt! Way to go!!
Haha, if only it were truly rent 🙂 That is currently just the ‘rent’ I pay my parents. Once I move out the rent in my area is mostly likely around $1000/month+
But for now I plan on staying at home until my student loans are completely paid off or very close to being paid off. Not the most ideal situation, but with the amount of debt I had it was necessary.