Spending Report for January 2010

Well, I fared better than I did in December but I didn’t exactly keep my spending in check as closely as I’d wanted or even expected to.

That said, there were a few budget busters at fault for my breakdown — most notably that unplanned but definitely necessary fileserver that I purchased along with all of it’s related accessories.

The high utility bills certainly didn’t help either…

Anyway, here’s where all of the money went:

• $1850.00 : Mortgage
• $1134.51 : Business Expenses
• $335.24 : Natural Gas
• $233.67 : Electricity
• $120.00 : Cash
• $111.50 : Cable/Internet
• $66.93 : Gas
• $57.77 : Phone
• $34.20 : Clothing
• $8.00 : Car Wash
• $3.75 : Vending Machine

All together, that adds up to $3955.57.

I suppose I could pat myself on the back for keeping the sum under $4k even while dropping over a grand on the previously mentioned business expenses… but I’m not going to go that route.

I still spend far more than I *need* to.

Sure, I guess I could make the argument (to myself and with myself) that I can *afford* to spend this much, I mean, my net worth still went up, but, really, I think my true expenses (minimum payments across the board) only add up to around $2000 per month.

I routinely spend double that?!

On the success front, though, you might notice something absent in this month’s spending report — or you might not… The hockey jerseys.

Usually a staple in these reports and, more often than not, they’re in the second or third spot too. Not this month.

So far, that’s the only goal for 2010 that I’ve adhered to.

It’s still early though… ;0)

Posted on February 6th, 2010 at 9:28 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Spending Report | 2 Comments »

Spending Report for December 2009

Well, it’s a new year now so I’m not going to apologize for *any* of my ridiculous expenditures last month.

Really, though, I didn’t go drastically overboard in any category and I even got a jump on some of my financial goals for 2010 — specifically the mortgage goal.

So, here’s a listing of the damage:

• $1850.00 : Mortgage
• $1147.23 : Hockey Jerseys
• $226.54 : Christmas Related Stuff
• $200.00 : Lawn Service
• $152.32 : Electricity
• $136.59 : Natural Gas
• $111.50 : Cable/Internet
• $81.42 : Gas
• $69.50 : Business Expenses
• $68.48 : Phone

That’s $4043.58 — a lot of money.

Explaining it all…

I stepped up my mortgage payments this month to the tune of $175 towards the principle per week. This puts me back on pace to finish off the mortgage in a timely fashion.

The hockey jerseys… Well, history shows that I splurge at the end of November each year and I did it again this year except, for once, it didn’t hit the books until December rolled around. Yeah, it’s a number I should feel shame over but I said up at the top that I wasn’t going to apologoze for anything.

Christmas only cost $226.54 this year. Definitely a thrifty holiday compared to years past. We figured that Duncan isn’t going to remember this one so we didn’t bother to go all out.

The lawn service expendure was also a hold over from November. I’ve mentioned a few times on the site that I’d never be raking my own leaves again because, in my eyes, it’s definitely worth the money to have someone else come and get rid of them for me. They sucked every last leaf up back during the first week of November but the bill arrived in mid-December.

The bills this month were a pleasant surprise. It’s gotten super cold so I expected the electricity and natural gas bills to skyrocket. They both went up but not by much.

The gas total indicates that I only filled up 3 times in December — a combination of getting great gas milelage and not making a single lengthly car trip.

Lastly, the phone… This one is starting to irk me. See, if I recall correctly, I only used the phone a total of 4 times this month. If you were one of the lucky fortunate to have spoken with me on the phone this month I’m sure that you’d agree that none of the calls were worth the roughly $17 I ended up having to pay for them.

Bring on 2010…

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PIAC Post Extension:
Though I didn’t start doing these spending reports until the end of March, I have the data for the entire year nice and handy so, for the record, I “spent” $48665.80 in 2009.

That works out to an average of $4055.48 per month so, really, I had nothing to apologize for this month — I came in under “budget” in a wacky sort of way.

Here are the totals for all years past where I’m 100% confident that the numbers are complete and accurate:

2004: $55,594.06
2005: $66,791.22
2006: $78,530.31
2007: $81,046.25
2008: $49,342.55
2009: $48,665.80

Keep in mind that 2006 and 2007’s numbers are skewed by the home improvement projects we took on back then.

No matter how you read the numbers, whether you think they’re insanely high or welfare level low, I’m on the right track having kept my expenses over the past two years lower than they’ve ever been.

What exactly occured roughly two years ago that allowed me to turn the table?

Yep, I wiped out the last of my credit card debt.

Coincidence?

I think not.

If you’re carrying some credit card debt, I can’t stress it enough — wipe it out before anything else because once you do all of the other stuff will suddenly fall into place.

Posted on January 1st, 2010 at 12:26 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Spending Report | 1 Comment »

Spending Report for November 2009

A few days later than usual but that’s because I’m always reluctant to report less-than-inspiring news…

Without sugar coating it, I spent $3581.74 in November. That’s a lot of money — far more than I can afford to spend each month.

Here’s how it all breaks down:

• $1500.00 : Mortgage
• $653.00 : Homeowners Insurance
• $297.33 : Hockey Jerseys
• $166.52 : Business Expenses
• $161.99 : Baby Stuff
• $131.95 : Electricity
• $116.08 : Water/Sewer
• $111.50 : Cable/Internet
• $105.15 : Gas
• $102.31 : Natural Gas
• $95.40 : Lowe’s & Home Depot (the faucet project)
• $64.51 : Phone
• $60.00 : Cash
• $16.00 : College Hockey Tickets

For $3500, you’d think the list would be longer…

Anyway, the biggie this month came in the form of the homeowners insurance. You’d think that I’d be upset by this but I’m actually elated.

See, this means that it’s been an entire year with a conventional insurance policy — after 5+ years without on something inapproriately named the FAIR plan.

The hockey jerseys are what they are. Yes, I spend too much on them month after month after month but I’m not putting myself in debt doing it like I was in the past. For once in my life, I can afford it.

I’m working on it. Honest.

The “baby stuff” was a new car seat for Duncan. We did the single car seat thing — swapping it from one car to the other — for six months and that was enough. For those having kids in the near future, two car seats are the way to go. Sooooo much easier.

Everything else is just kinda routine stuff. And — since we’re so far into December already I can tell you that this month isn’t going real well either…

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PIAC Post Extenstion:
Yeah, so see that horrible picture of Duncan and Santa up there?

Well, though we usually shop at Target, this past weekend we wandered into Walmart and this ghetto Santa talked us into having a picture taken.

You can tell than Duncan is thrilled — he *was* looking pretty enthusiastic as I dug through that $5 DVD bin moments earlier. No so much in the arms of, um, Santa.

Hey, to this Walmart Santa’s credit, his beard was real but my wife got that icky alcoholic drug addict vibe from him. I wanted to disagree but really couldn’t. He was a dirty Santa in a dirty Santa suit — about what you’d expect from Walmart.

At least it was complimentary…

Posted on December 8th, 2009 at 8:30 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Spending Report | 3 Comments »

Spending Report for October 2009

Another month passes and I’ve again managed to lower my spending. That’s the good news.

Unfortunately, though, it’s also that time of the year where the utility bills tend to increase by measures of nearly 100% each and every month so I don’t really feel like I took full advantage of the summer time weather that’s now in the rear view mirror…

I think I feel that way every year…

Anyway, here are the numbers:

• $1450.00 : Mortgage
• $439.51 : Business Expenses
• $245.86 : Baby Stuff
• $109.26 : Cable/Internet
• $105.23 : Gas
• $104.07 : Electricity
• $89.97 : Clothing
• $76.00 : Hockey Jerseys
• $71.19 : Natural Gas
• $68.95 : Phone
• $40.00 : Cash

All together, that’s $2800.04.

The mortage expenses were the same as last month. I haven’t been overpaying it like I did earlier in the year because I’m trying to boost my savings balance.

The business expenses were definitely a little out of control but I’m proud to announce that I’ve added a pretty substantial client in the meantime as well. Of course, this means nothing in a spending report post but it should pad my income quite nicely for the next six months or so.

My wife usually pays for most of the “baby” related stuff but the high chair purchase a bouncy-chair exersaucer thing (the high chair was actually last month) and his school pictures went on my credit card.

Why, you ask, would a professional photographer buy his kid’s school photos and not just take his own?

Yeah, don’t ask.

I’m not real happy with them — weird facial expression and some horrible colouring — and it makes me sad that I paid so much ($112) for such poor work but whatever…

(On a whole separate rant — since when is it customary to have school photos taken of 5-month olds? Perhaps this is a market I should look into…)

As I mentioned earlier, the utility bills are starting to creep up. It’s unlikely that my natural gas bill will be under $100 (or even $300) again until at least April. That makes me sad.

I spent a bit of money on clothing this month — a rare occurance — but I think I got a pretty good deal.

The hockey jersey collection was kept under control too. Last month, I spent over $750 in this frivolous category. This month, I spent less than $75.

Still frivolous, but hardly budget breaking…

Posted on October 31st, 2009 at 4:01 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Spending Report | No Comments »

Spending Report for September 2009

Is it just me or did September come and go in the blink of an eye?

I can’t believe that we’re just hours away from October — and all of the things that go along with it like hockey season (woo-hoo!) and raking leaves (boo!).

So after two months of grossly overspending, I tried a different approach this past month. Basically, I stopped my extra weekly mortgage payments and trimmed my transfers into savings.

For some reason, I thought this would be a step in the right direction, and while it did keep my spending down, it didn’t really help me at all when it comes to the big picture.

More specifically, my mortgage balance didn’t go down as much as it usually does, my savings balance didn’t go up as much as it usually does, and my checking account, well, it didn’t seem to sway one way or the other.

In short, I think this financial strategy failed. You’ll see what I mean in tomorrow’s net worth update.

On to the numbers:

• $1450.00 : Mortgage
• $758.28 : Hockey Jerseys
• $271.51 : Hilton Hotel
• $160.00 : Cash
• $155.23 : Gas
• $125.35 : Electricity
• $109.26 : Cable/Internet
• $82.69 : Business Expenses
• $52.42 : Phone
• $36.07 : Natural Gas
• $20.94 : T-Shirt
• $8.99 : Diapers
• $8.16 : International Transaction Fees
• $2.00 : Hartford Parking Authority

All together, that’s $3275.99.

Still a lot of money but A HUGE improvement over August and July…

The most obvious problem with my spending is the hockey jersey hobby. I had a pretty good run earlier in the year where I kept it under control but $750+ in the span of 30 days is far too much to be spending on a hobby.

It’s one of those things where every now and then a great deal comes along — and then 5 more come right at the same time.

Now that I’m not carrying any consumer debt, when a flurry of deals come along, I have the flexibility to take advantage of *all* of them. Hopefully, though, for my wallet’s sake, there aren’t too many more deals to be had for the rest of the year.

Irregular expenses this month are the Hilton stay (a result of the family reunion that we attended), the $160 cash withdrawal (for spending money while on the road), the $155 in gas for the car (to keep us on the road), the international transaction fees (also a result of the reunion), and the Hartford Parking Authority charge.

That last one is because Hartford, CT recently installed new parking meters that take credit cards. I’d never had the opportunity to swipe my card at a meter before so I gave it a try.

My conclusion?

Definitely more convenient than making sure the ashtray is full of quarters.

Posted on September 30th, 2009 at 8:51 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Spending Report | 1 Comment »

Spending Report for August 2009

Ignoring the very favorable net worth updates of late, and just concentrating on my spending, I can’t help but wonder if I’ve just been spinning my wheels lately…

I know that I can get by on as little as $2500 per month — I did it in April — so why have I been so far over every month since?

September and October will be different — I’ll calling it right now.

Here’s how August shaped up:

• $2170.00 : Mortage
• $897.20 : Allstate (Auto Insurance)
• $477.00 : College Hockey Season Tickets
• $347.99 : Hockey Jerseys
• $138.20 : Electricity
• $116.48 : Business Expenses
• $109.93 : Water/Sewer
• $109.26 : Cable/Internet
• $104.93 : Hilton Hotel
• $85.71 : Amazon
• $85.00 : DMV
• $60.00 : Cash
• $55.09 : Gas
• $49.36 : Phone
• $36.81 : Natural Gas
• $8.50 : ING Direct

The list doesn’t look very long but it adds up to a sobering $4851.46!?

So one month after spending nearly $8k, I “improved” and only spent almost $5k… I guess it’s progress but, well, it’s still crazy?!

To my credit, for the second consecutive time, I paid my entire auto insurance premium up front just to get it out of the way.

The $477 season ticket expenditure was less than we spent last year because we didn’t reserve seats for the women’s team this year. My wife just couldn’t get into the women’s hockey thing… Understandable.

I’ll still go with Duncan and buy tickets at the door though.

Eitherway, this is pretty much our entire winter entertainment budget paid for, again, up-front.

Business expenses are what they are. They seem a little high to me each and every month but I’m still making a hefty profit so I’m not going to dwell on them.

The water bill is quarterly. The DMV bill was for my car registration and I think that’s an every-other-year type of thing.

The Hilton Hotel is pre-payment for one of the rooms we’ll be staying in when we go to that family reunion that I mentioned a few weeks ago. I booked a few more hotels in advance but, for whatever reason, they haven’t hit my card yet.

The Amazon spree was for a bunch of random things I’ve been wanting to buy for a long time but never have — sort of an extension of my online shopping spree last month.

For $85.71 ($22 of which was shipping — I HATE Amazon for that…) I picked up a couple 4GB CF cards for my cameras, a Weezer t-shirt, a couple of Canadian flag stickers, and a DVD of “The Gods Must Be Crazy“.

I plan to torture Duncan with all of my favorite kid-friendly movies someday. Already made him watch “Batteries Not Included” and “Teen Wolf“.

The last purchase that needs a little explanation is that $8.50 charge from ING Direct. I bought a t-shirt from their online shop. It’s pretty nice too — and they didn’t charge anything for shipping!

Posted on September 2nd, 2009 at 8:14 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Movies, Spending Report | 5 Comments »

Spending Report for July 2009

Okay, okay, okay… Enough of this stalling tactic.

Yep, I spent too darn much last month.

Way too much.

It wasn’t as if I didn’t see it coming…

So, I’m just going to put it all out there…

No reason to even bother sugar coating it:

• $2915.00 : Tree Service
• $2170.00 : Mortgage
• $1669.25 : Hockey Jersey Expo/Vacation
• $385.18 : Auto Property Taxes
• $269.34 : Business Expenses
• $109.26 : Cable/Internet
• $96.06 : Electricity
• $87.70 : JC Penney (I bought a pillow-top thing for our mattress because the hotel we stayed in while at the Jersey Expo had one and it was extra comfy.)
• $60.00 : Cash
• $78.21 : Phone
• $50.22 : Gas
• $44.58 : Natural Gas
• $27.37 : Lowe’s (Grass Seed)
• $10.27 : K-Mart (I forgot to pack underpants on vacation so I had to buy a couple pair)

All together, that’s $7972.44.

That’s over three times as much as I spent in April.

I’m not proud of the number but it feels pretty darn good to have spent so much and not be in one single dime of debt as a result. That feels great, actually.

As for the out of control spending? August will be better…

Seriously.

(But only because the daycare bill is coming out of my wife’s account!)

Posted on August 6th, 2009 at 7:58 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Spending Report | 2 Comments »

Spending Report for June 2009

Well, I certainly fell off of the wagon…

I was keeping my spending in check for a few months (April was amazing) there but now I’ve officially gone off the deep end.

To my credit, I did fire a warning shot on June 7th.

In fact, I was already “over” budget then…

Okay, here goes:

• $2400.00 : Mortgage
• $617.77 : eBay
• $282.45 : Business Expenses
• $109.26 : Cable/Internet
• $95.14 : Electricity
• $65.26 : Natural Gas
• $52.64 : Gas
• $49.39 : Phone
• $40.00 : Drum Corps Tickets
• $34.35 : Target (Diapers, wipes, and some side snapping baby t-shirts)
• $21.16 : Lowes (Plastic lawn chairs)
• $20.00 : Cash
• $15.00 : Car Wash

All of that adds up to $3802.42.

That’s nearly $1k more than last month. Back in April, I spent $2500 total — this month I spent $2400 on the mortgage alone…

So while the mortgage expenses were the obvious budget buster (term stolen from Debt Destroyer over at Happy Rock), I still have a little explaining to do in some of the other categories…

Yep, I spent a nice chunk of change on eBay this month… And yep, game worn hockey jerseys were the culprit. Again.

Technically, though, I made these purchases right at the end of last month. I just didn’t actually pay for them until June. Doesn’t make it any better, I’m just sayin’…

The business expenses line is also quite inflated. Before Duncan was born, we’d planned on creating our own birth announcements rather than use the kind you can buy at any store that sells stationary.

We wanted full color. We wanted gloss. We wanted alligators. We didn’t want to have to write something in any of them. And we wanted it to look professional.

I designed them myself so that part was technically “free”.

I did spent around $100 on stock imagery, though, and the printing company that I use (and recommend highly) also hit us up for over $100 for printing the cards. Then we had to mail them all.

Costly, but totally worth it. If you were fortunate enough to recieve one of the announcements a few weeks ago, I hope it stood out as a Brainy original. Maybe I’ll post a picture of them here on PIAC…

All of the related costs fall under “business expenses” because I use all of the same vendors for my, well, business. This was essentially just a non-paying project for myself.

The car wash expenses will end this month though — that’s for certain.

In short, a bird pooped right on the door handle on the side where we have the car seat installed. That just wouldn’t do. And it seemed like a fun thing to do at the time…

I’m not going to say that next month will be better — what I don’t spend on eBay, I hope to send towards the mortgage — but I’m going to try my best to perpetually keep my monthly expenses under $4000.

Posted on June 30th, 2009 at 8:53 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Spending Report | No Comments »

Spending Report for May 2009

So last month I curbed my spending all the way down to my self-imposed $2500 ceiling.

This month, I decided to toss that out the window so that I could aggressively attack my mortgage balance without feeling any sort of guilt.

I’m setting the stage for a dismal and embarrassing spending report…

Or am I?

Here’s how I spent my money in May 2009:

• $1860.00 : Mortgage
• $254.42 : Business Expenses
• $208.00 : eBay (yes… another game worn hockey jersey)
• $109.26 : Cable/Internet
• $106.62 : Electricity
• $96.62 : Water/Sewer
• $84.41 : Natural Gas
• $69.36 : Gas
• $48.46 : Phone
• $40.00 : Cash
• $10.00 : Car Wash (so the car would look nice when we brought the smurfling home)
• $2.12 : RedBox Movie Rentals

Total spent was $2889.27.

Over last month, that’s an increase of $389.27.

Not great, but when you consider than before last month’s success, I was consistently spending over $4000 each month, well, it makes me feel pretty good.

Sure, the warmer weather and the related lower utility bills are a big help. (I used my savings there to treat myself on eBay. Bad, I know.)

But if I can continue to throw that much “extra” at the mortgage and still manage to keep my other expenses relatively low, well, things can only look up.

Posted on June 3rd, 2009 at 8:12 am by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Spending Report | 2 Comments »

Spending Report for April 2009

Last month I proclaimed that I would keep my expenses for the month of April under $2500.

I should have been more specific but, even still, I’m happy to report that my expenses for the month totalled exactly $2500.00.

I’ve put my wallet away until Friday so this is where the number will stay.

Here’s the breakdown for the month April:

• $1653.90 : Mortgage
• $153.59 : Natural Gas
• $124.01 : Business Expenses
• $112.91 : Electricity
• $109.26 : Cable/Internet
• $99.99 : Frivolous eBay Purchase
• $66.05 : Phone
• $66.04 : Gas
• $47.67 : Smurf Dolls
• $40.00 : Cash
• $26.58 : Grateful Dead T-Shirt

So, after just three months of paying attention to my spending, I’ve taken my expenses (that were previously an unknown grey area) from $4133 all the way down to $2500.

That’s a difference of over $1600!

Basically, I was blowing $400 per week on non-essentials… and thought I was doing a great job.

And really, even this month, I *still* managed to “blow” roughly $175 on Smurf dolls, some eBay junk, and a tie dye t-shirt.

That means that there’s still room for improvement…

Posted on April 29th, 2009 at 10:26 am by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Spending Report, Success | 9 Comments »

Spending Report for March 2009

Last month I followed Debt Destroyer’s lead and listed out all of my monthly expenses.

I found it to be a pretty good exercise and it opened my eyes to a few holes that I still have in the my grand scheme to reach my financial goals so I’m going to do it again.

Now, it may not quite be the end of March just yet but I don’t have any expenses looming in the next couple of days so these numbers will be accurate.

I should also say that after last month’s $4133 total, I said that I’d try to keep my expenses under $2500 this month.

That didn’t happen.

I’m not sure what I was thinking, actually…

Here’s what I spent my money on in March:

• $1575.00 : Mortgage
• $905.00 : Hockey Jerseys
• $460.00 : Federal Tax
• $305.01 : Business Expenses
• $250.98 : Natural Gas
• $135.87 : Electricity
• $109.26 : Cable/Internet
• $80.00 : Cash
• $68.81 : Gas
• $53.33 : Phone
• $26.48 : Baby Stuff
• $1.87 : Finance Charges (I’ll have something to say about this at a later date…)

That adds up to $3971.61.

An improvement over last month, yes, but certainly not something to be proud of.

I’m genuinely embarrassed by the hockey jersey expenditures. I can’t adequately justify it except to say that the last two months have been my last hurrah when it comes to this hobby of mine.

Once the big day arrives, I won’t be nearly as active in the hobby. Of that, I’m sure.

And if you’re keeping track at home, and I sincerely hope that you’re not, you might have noticed that my utility bills have started to fall… By next month, they’ll drop by another 50% or so. I love summer.

And you know, I think that $2500 limit is do-able for April.

I’m gonna try it.

Again.

Posted on March 29th, 2009 at 5:10 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Spending Report | 9 Comments »

Do I Spend too Much?

A simple yes or no answer will suffice.

Over at the Happy Rock, Debt Destroyer lists out his monthly expenses and every month I think to myself, “Man, that guy spends a lot…”

I’ve even left a comment a few times saying almost exactly that.

But does he really spend a lot?

Obviously, his numbers always seem high to me so I’m pretty convinced that he spends a fortune each and every month but, honestly, I’ve never really kept great track of my own spending — just my plus/minus.

In short, I’m going to give it a try.

I think I had a pretty expensive February, so these numbers might be a little bit higher than usual, but maybe not…

• $1350.00 : Mortgage
• $897.20 : Auto Insurance
• $498.00 : Hockey Jerseys
• $327.08 : Natural Gas
• $320.00 : American Cancer Society
• $154.72 : Electricity
• $123.62 : Business Expenses
• $109.26 : Cable/Internet
• $98.67 : Water/Sewer
• $62.00 : Clothing
• $60.00 : Valentine’s Day
• $59.40 : Phone
• $38.87 : Gas
• $20.15 : E-Filing
• $14.97 : Finance Charges (GRRRR!!!)

That adds up to $4133.94!

Holy crap.

DD’s tally for January was $4205.68 — just a tad more than me!!!

I’m actually quite surprised that I’m right there with him… and to think people gave him a hard time, myself included, over a $180 Pearl Jam box set and here I am dropping nearly $500 on hockey jerseys.

(In reality, I dropped over $800 on hockey jerseys as the American Cancer Society donation was in fact a charitable donation for, well, a jersey…)

It’s complete madness.

The only good thing I can take from this analysis is that, as I said, this was an expensive month for me.

It’s not like I drop $897.20 on auto insurance each month. And the $818 spent on hockey jerseys, as lame an excuse as it sounds, was a much needed splurge.

Subtract those two from the picture and my expenses for the month were only $2418.74.

I say that like it’s nothing… Crazy, I tell ya…

And, technically, I could even take it a few steps further and take out the water bill (it’s quarterly), Valentine’s Day, the e-filing fee, and the finance charges.

And really, with the weather warming up, the gas and electricity bills be be cut in half (or more) in a couple of months.

So I guess it’s all good news for the months ahead.

Either way, though, my short term goal for March will be to keep my expenses under $2500…

According to Microsoft Money, I haven’t accomplished this since April of 2001 — not even close. That blows my mind.

Posted on February 28th, 2009 at 9:38 am by Brainy Smurf
2009 Goals, Finance, Motivation, Spending Report | 10 Comments »