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This is a new series I started last month, sharing a report of our monthly expenses. At the end of the year I shared a recap of our 2017 spending, which showed graphs and percentages that we spent in each category. I decided to take the transparency up a notch and start sharing some monthly numbers.
Sharing our expenses involves vulnerability, but after contemplating it for quite some time it seemed important. The goal with these expense reports will be to keep ourselves accountable as we continue on the road of being mindful with our spending. It’s also my hope that it will help spark conversations and encourage others to examine their own budgets.
We use Mint to budget and track our expenses. You can check out my writeup about how we use Mint for our budgeting here.
Without further ado, here’s where we spent our money this month:
April 2018 Expenses
| Category | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Housing | $2321.09 | Includes rent + water/trash/sewage. The price of living in a high-cost of living area. |
| Renters Insurance | $14.00 | |
| Utilities | $21.36 | The benefit of living in an apartment. |
| Auto Payment | $274.89 | |
| Auto Insurance | $268.10 | |
| Gas | $195.90 | Gas prices are getting expensive again. |
| Mobile Phone | $467.74 | Crazy high this month because we paid off the leases on our iPhones. |
| Internet | $29.99 | |
| Entertainment | $69.98 | Mini golf and Justin Timberlake concert tickets. |
| Groceries | $217.84 | |
| Restaurants | $40.00 | |
| Pets | $36.89 | |
| Shopping | $351.78 | Includes birthday present and home/personal supplies. |
| Travel | $353.39 | Includes Airbnb/food/sights for 2 days in Berlin, and baseball tickets for our trip to Denver next month. |
| Gifts | $31.61 | Wedding present. |
| Business Expenses | $97.00 | Purchased a blogging course. |
| Misc Expenses | $56.54 | Laundry, haircut, razors. |
| Fun Money | $127.94 | |
| Total | $4976.04 | Doesn't include extra debt payments, investments, and giving. |
- Dividend Income: $59.97
- Interest Income: $19.68
- Side Hustle Income: $84.50
These past few years on our financial journey we’ve challenged everything and trimmed down our expenses, but our spending is still very much a work in progress.
Overall, it was a pretty typical month except for a couple areas. The travel line item is high because I went on a work trip to Berlin and took a few days to do some sightseeing around the city. We fully paid off our cellphones this month (18 month lease for iPhones at T-Mobile). Each phone cost $160 to pay off, but now we own them free and clear. I’m expecting our bill next month to drop to around $110.
The business expenses line item is the “Blow Up Your Blog” course from Bobby at Millennial Money Man. I’ve been following along his journey for a long time and I’m confident this course will help me learn some key takeaways that can help accelerate the growth of Spills Spot.
A few of these expenses will continue to be trimmed in the coming months. We’re hoping to have our car loan paid off in the next few months, which eliminates that line item. At that point we’ll try to re-negotiate our car insurance bill to hopefully get that lowered. We continue to look to cut back on the areas that don’t matter as much, so that we can put money towards the areas we truly value. Mindful spending is a big focus for us and we continue to improve at it.
Other Financial Updates
Our net worth continued to grow as our contributions into our 401k’s hummed along. We maxed out our Roth IRA for the 2017 tax year, which marks the first time we’ve been able to do that. April means paying taxes, and we owed a few thousand dollars. We were prepared for it, as we adjust our withholdings to not receive a refund, but still never fun seeing that money leave our account. My side hustle with a minor league baseball team started back up, so I’ll start seeing some extra income next month.
Thanks for tuning in to this months expense report, and I hope you’ll check back again for next month’s recap!
Related Reading: Reviewing Our 2017 Spending
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