For the first time all year, I was not the Budget Club loser! That honor goes to George, who spent an outrageous amount on who knows what -- including a new iPhone to replace her stolen one. While I certainly didn't make my goal of coming under budget, I performed better than at least one of my peers, which is fantastic. I am almost giddy with joy, even though my bank account has dropped a few levels as my roommate informed me that she hasn't cashed my rent check for two months. No wonder I was feeling so rich. Regardless, I am feeling on top of the world!
I also had my best spending month since February. That means I only spent 150% of my budget, which is a win all around. Percentage wise, July was my best month yet actually. I don't know how, but in February I managed to spend the least, even though I blew over $500 in taxis. Actually, I do know how February was so cheap: I didn't travel.
Basically what I've figured out is killing me is travel and food. If I want to stick to my budget, I can not go anywhere, and I can not eat. First the travel. In July I had to dump some money into an airplane ticket to San Francisco. I'll be there for three weeks in September and really, there's no other way around flying coast to coast. This upcoming cross country flight is actually the cheapest travel I've bought this year.
Other categories I went over: 150% for dining out, 150% over on play, 340% too much on household, and 400% on taxis. The taxi thing is really a painful cost because I should be biking/subwaying places. Part of that cost is the taxi back from JFK earlier in the month, but apparently I got lazy and took a few extra cabs this month. Whoops. As for the household extra, that can be explained very easily: air conditioning. It was blazing hot for a few weeks here and my room was an oven. The $120 I spent on a mini air conditioner was worth every penny.
As for the playing, I guess I went out and had drinks more than normal. I see three or four instances of bar tabs that were over $50. And I barely even drink that much when I go out. I don't know how you alcoholics maintain a budget and drop so much money on alcohol. Also, I discovered that my MoviePass fails me at certain independent cinemas so had to pony up to see Act of Killing, Computer Chess, and Blackfish -- the latter which Mae paid for. I also stupidly swiped the wrong red card and got charged $18 to watch The Wolverine 3D. All of these were quality must-see movies though, so I can't begrudge the cost. Still, this MoviePass is supposed to be saving me money. Also, I think I have to re-up in August for another three months. Sunk costs, sunk costs!
Wait, why am I explaining everything away? I think it's because George is real good at putting on the pressure and inducing guilt. I mean, not enough for me to change my habits, but enough for me to feel like I need to explain every miniscule charge. I literally get a "you spent X on X?!" text message every few days from her, as she has full access to my budget spreadsheet. I guess she didn't ascend to become a high ranking tax auditor for nothing.
My goal this month is to stick to my dining out budget. I am blowing far too much dining out. Even after splitting off my snacks -- more on this later -- I somehow dropped over a thousand on dining out. Keep in mind that I'm hardly eating like a king. I'm just eating normal one or two Yelp dollar sign food. What is happening? Add in my grocery bill and I'm literally spending more than four times on food as either AMR or George. This month I'm moving back to sandwiches, pasta, cereal, and ramen. I also started to track my food consumption as an extra category on my Google Calendar -- in green of course. I need to figure out how many meals I'm eating and what I'm eating. Basically tracking is the key to feeling like you're making progress, without possibly actually making progress. See: Budget Club.
As for that snack category. I realized that I spend an awful lot on little snacks. Walking around I'll pop into a bodega for a coffee, some candy, grab a couple of cookies, dip into Handsome Dan's for a snocone, what have you. Throw in my always consumption of Jamba Juice and boba, I figured I needed to more carefully find out if I was throwing money away on snacks. Thus, the exciting July debut of a "snacks" category. Woohoo, feel the rush!
Also, I am officially running out of money. Help.
- ATM Visits: Ten, once with a fee
- Dining out: Thirty two times, high of $80* (17 snacks)
- Cabs: Eleven, average of $18
- Shopping: Bath mats, two thrift T-shirts, Klean Canteen, backpack, popsicle molds, keychains, one book
- Play: two movies, four nights out, one karaoke session, a Broadway show for next month
- Biggest expenses: Flight to San Francisco ($350), air conditioner ($140), dinner ($80), Broadway show ($70), dinner ($60)
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