Ready for Round 3 of the Monthly Spending Report? This month we see a whole bunch of work travel expenses, higher than normal grocery expenses, and a preview of some upcoming travel.
To catch up on previous reports, you can find January 2019’s report here and February’s report here.
Want to know more? Let’s do this.
What is a Monthly Spending Report?
Back when I first created this blog, I wrote about budgets. A budget is a plan for how you are going to spend your money.
A spending report is a record of what you actually spent. Chances are most of your spending isn’t going to perfectly align with your planned budget. For instance, you may estimate that your electricity bill will be $70 and then it ends up being $76. Or you might budget $200 for eating out/entertainment and end up being sick one weekend and only spending $160 for the month.
The point is, a spending report is what really happened vs what you expected to happen (your budget). For my military readers, you could think of building your spending report as the data compilation portion of your debrief for the month.
March 2019 Monthly Spending Report
My total personal spending for March was $2,070.88. This is below average.
Take note: I am a single human caring for one large dog. My car is paid off, I don’t have any debt other than a mortgage on my rental property, and I don’t want a giant house (been there, done that). All of those things affect my numbers, so if you look at this and anything seems surprising that might be why.
Some thoughts before I start
This is the third month I’ve put together this spending report. The first month, I spent about $1700. Month 2: $2700. Now month 3 was about $2100. Total, that’s about $6500. The monthly average is less than $2200.
That’s my personal spending. There’s another ~$3200 total in spending for work trips. All told, we’re talking about $9700, but about 1/3 of that is spending I wouldn’t have without my job.
If I didn’t go on that travel, my monthly personal spending would be a bit higher. I’d eat a few more meals at home and spend a little more on utilities. Plus if I wasn’t traveling for work, I’d probably want to travel more on my own dime. Maybe I’d spend about $2500/month in that case.
$2500/month is a $30,000/year in annual spending, not counting taxes.
To be honest, I don’t feel like a $30,000/year kind of person. I’ve always felt like I’m more of a $40,000-$50,000 kind of person, if that makes sense. Certainly I feel like I have a very cushy life for my spending level. Even once I start spending on things I haven’t really spent on yet this year (travel, clothing, gifts) I can’t imagine the number exceeding $35,000. That’s…weird to me.
I’m interested to see how the year turns out.
Anyway, on with the spending review.
Housing Expenses – $1163.35
My rent was normal. I live in a fairly low cost of living area where I rent out a nice 2-bedroom patio home in a gated community for $1010/month, including a small amount for pet rent for my dog. I pay an extra $1.95/month for the convenience of having my rent auto-paid so I don’t have to worry about checks or remembering the due date.
My utilities were low again this month ($151.40) because I prepaid several months’ worth of water/sewer/trash, electricity, and gas a while back to meet a minimum spend requirement on a credit card. This is the last month where I was able to get by on my prepaid utilities. Next month will be higher.
I include cable/internet and my cell phone bill in my utilities cost because I consider internet and a phone line to be near requirements these days. I also signed up for HBO Now at the end of March. It’s not in March’s spending because I got the first week free, but you’ll see it in April’s review.
GAME OF THRONES TIIIIIIIIIIIIME.
Insurance – $29.00
My car insurance was paid in full (6 months worth) last month and my renters a few months ago, so it was just life insurance this month. I have a $400,000 policy through SGLI, the life insurance for military members.
Groceries – $233.72
My grocery spending only includes actual food and drink meant for home preparation. I lump restaurant food into my entertainment budget, dog food under pet care, and toiletries under Miscellaneous. I know some people count all of those things as groceries but it just doesn’t make sense in my head that way.
Grocery spending was way up this month! Partly this is because I stocked up on some staples like rice, soup, and standards like butter. But I also bought some more unusual things like a nice tri tip and some sushi. Balance.
Entertainment – $132.03
This amount includes 12 meals at work (that feels like a lot), three nice meals out, and some Netflix.
Personal Travel – $16.80
I’m going to Hawaii! And then Virginia. I’ll tell you more after the trip, but your spoiler is that I bought tickets (three total) using points. All they cost me was $5.60 each way for fees. Whoop!
Transportation – $60.44
Nothing cosmic, just gas.
Car Repairs and Maintenance – $5.00
A simple car wash.
Pet Care – $50.90
Just a bag of dog food. I feed him Science Diet.
Gifts – $23.24
A friend is having a baby!
Charity – $200.00
This $200 is my paycheck deductions going to the Combined Federal Campaign and the Air Force Assistance Fund. I also have a savings account for a sinking fund where I save money for additional charitable contributions, but I didn’t disburse any money from there last month.
Miscellaneous – $156.40
This could be anything. I like having a catch-all category for the things that aren’t easily lumped in elsewhere. Sometimes it’s a mug. Sometimes it’s paper towels. Whatever.
This month, my miscellaneous spending mostly consisted of tax software (I do my taxes myself) and several items for the Bataan Memorial Death March.
Personal Total – $2070.88
So far my annual spending has been $1707.87 in January, $2710.45 in February, and $2070.88 in March for a total of $6489.20. That’s a monthly average of $2163.07.
Business Travel – $1930.61
While the above amounts show normal spending, I also spent ~$1900 more this month. But it wasn’t money I would’ve spent on my own, so I’m accounting for it separately. This money was the remaining spending for a 12-day TDY trip; I accounted for the rest in the February report. I get reimbursed after I return home.
This $1930 includes:
- Ten hotel nights
- One week’s fuel for the rental car
- Airport parking
- A rental car
- Dog boarding for my pup
I was reimbursed for all of this (I spend less on food so that my dog boarding is covered by per diem – normally it wouldn’t be) so it doesn’t feel right to include in my personal spending total. But it does affect my grocery bill, utilities, fuel to drive to the airport, etc so I still wanted to show it.
If you include this spending in my monthly spending report, March 2019 cost me $4001.49.
I’d never thought about the idea of a sibling fund to meet minimum card charge requirements (for promos). That’s a great idea!
Also, where do you live that car washes cost $5?! That’s a great price. Or perhaps I’m just not looking hard enough here where I live to find a good deal.
Thanks for sharing your numbers. Your post last month is what inspired me to share mine.
Oh, I don’t know, is that really low? I don’t think I’ve ever spent much more than that! And I’ve lived in a lot of places.
Love the review. One reason you might feel more like a 40k-50k kind of person could be you aren’t considering the civilian equivalent for your lifestyle. Healthcare is currently $0, but the civilian equivalent coverage would have a cost associated. Professional clothing would have a higher civilian equivalent. Officers don’t receive an annual clothing allowance, but organizational issue items are provided free of charge. Gym membership, tax free shopping, free dental, tax free housing/subsistence allowances and other perks we often take for granted would require increased spending to maintain your current lifestyle. Just something to consider in your analysis. As you start thinking about post-AF life, a civilian equivalent column might help you see what your civilian cash flow might need to look like. Love what you’re doing!
Oh no, sorry to be unclear. I do consider those things. I meant that in comparison to the years when I spent $40k-$50k (while in the military) my life feels no different.
My last assignment was DC, so it was obviously much more expensive there. But prior to that I was living in places with a little higher cost of living, but not much. Definitely nothing on the order of $1000/mo difference.
I understand now. I apologize for the misunderstanding. Keep up the great work and thank you for serving.
No worries! I definitely wasn’t as clear as I should have been. My fault.
Yay Hawaii!! I’m going to pull an Erin now and ask you to take me with you 😉
I’ve traveled VERY little for work so my mind boggles at spending so many nights in hotels as a normal. It’s a good thing you like flying so much.
I do! Flying, airport time, it’s all good.
Not sure how useful these types of reports are to be honest. Can’t you share some useful tips instead?
I’ve continued them because I was asked to continue them, but if you have ideas you’d like to see included I can do that as well. What do you consider “useful?”