Ways and Means: August

Up until the last week or so, I was doing spectacular. On track to spend only about $200 more for the month. Then mid-month hit and I collapsed again. The good news is that my budget overage has been in decline since April, so technically this was my best month yet. But somehow I still won Budget Club (again). Next month I'm in San Francisco so I'm hoping to sabotage George and AMR's efforts to save money, so that one of them will be the winner...

I did lower my August budget on eating out, snacks, and play, so that left me two hundred dollars less to spend compared to July. That was slightly balanced out from a check from my one day of working with JMZ at FanFest though. Still, I feel like I did pretty spectacular. Slowly I will eventually hit my actual budget and then we'll rejoice.

In August I was under on play, snacks, grocery, travel, and subway costs. In fact, I didn't even have a subway card because I rode my bike so much. The downside is that I spent 140% over on dining out, 490% over on shopping, 380% over on household, 240% on gifts, and a whopping 485% over on taxis. That last number is because my taxi budget was at $50 but I went far over. Whoops. I guess I just had to get places fast. Even though I'm still constantly late. What gives?

Remember when I said in June that I was living a 75k lifestyle? Well, I've improved! The past three months, I've only been spending like I make 60k. Now if I can just halve that again in the next three months, I'll be golden and living within my means.

• ATM Visits: Seven, no fees
• Dining out: Twenty eight times, high of $88, average of $29
• Snacks: Thirteen, high of $13, average of $9
• Cabs: Thirteen, average of $18.50
• Shopping: TJ Maxx socks, umbrella, two bike helmets, Marvel vinyl toys, two Uniqlo shirts, new wallet, MLPFIS socks, three books
• Play: 90s Singalong party, Met Museum, one karaoke time, three bar nights, three movies, fantasy football dues, and one Slate Gabfest ticket for next month
• Biggest expenses: Camp WeDo ($140), bike helmets ($95), anniversary dinner ($88), sushi dinner ($55), Parm dinner ($55)