Two things: vacations and shopping. Let's address the first one. While I understand that travelling is part of any well manicured budget, I don't think it can be rightly accounted for here, as the huge expense of a trip will obviously skew any monthly expenditures. For example, if I exempted money spent on a recent jaunt to Puerto Rico and the airline tickets for June that I just bought, I would only be 133% over my April budget. That's a real win and keeps me within my downward trend.
Instead, that extra $1000 or so jacks up my well laid plans to shit. My fellow budget clubbers don't see the logic of this, so I have to include the travel numbers. For the record though, April was a banner month, as I (mostly) saved across the board.
The only other thing that threw me off was early April discovery of skateboarding. What should have been a cheap transportation option turned quickly into a shopping spree, as I bought three skateboards in the span of a few days, before even knowing how to properly ride one. I caught the skateboarding bug and my credit card suffered.
An impromptu foray to into deep Brooklyn yielded a $10 deck but that had to be complemented by new wheels. Newsflash: Skateboards are no longer cheap. JMZ and I split some new wheels, bearings, and risers to the tune of $60. Then, after one ride in Central Park, I decided the cheapo board wasn't good enough. So I went on Amazon and purchased this beauty for $35. Then since we were on such a skateboard high, I got JMZ a nice little cruiser board for $85 on eBay. That was in exchange for some beautiful harem pants he brought back to me from China. One must skate in style, after all.
So far, I have been skateboarding four times and what I've learned is that I want fatter wheels and stiffer trucks. On my second ride around Central Park, the board started wobbling hard when I gained speed downhill, and I thought I was surely going to die. The wheels and trucks will likely add $50 to the total skateboarding bill, but I think not dying is probably priceless. Maybe I should also invest in a helmet.
For May, the goal is to cut down every extra expenditure and get to 100% of less of the budget. Also, AMR introduced me to this blog, Mr. Money Mustache, about a guy who retired in his early thirties and shares his techniques for living a full and sustainable lifestyle. All for under $30k a year too. The site's tagline is "Early Retirement Through Badassity," which sounds semi-douchey -- and it is -- but Mr. Money is chilling in Colorado while the rest of us are slogging on with no end in sight. He's clearly doing something right.
I don't think I'd have the fortitude to do what Mr. Money does. ("Fortitude" is probably not the right word.) I mean, it seems like saving money is his number one hobby, and that would just make for some boring conversations. Then again, I can't shut up about Budget Club to people, so maybe I'm going down the same black hole. If we're hanging out, feel free to tell me to shut my trap about my overspending ways. Then I'll regale you with skateboarding stories instead.
- ATM Visits: Six times, no fees
- Dining out: Twenty four times, high of $80
- Cabs: Seventeen
- Shopping: Skateboard x 3, Ninja Sox, earrings, X-Men poster, thrift shop shirt, Old Navy shorts, shirt, and sandals, three books
- Play: Four movies, Tween Dweam Party, two nights out, one karaoke session
- Biggest expenses: Flights ($630), vacation spending ($250), skateboard ($85), dinner, ($80), dinner ($75)
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