Birthday money? Nope, nobody gave me birthday money. Ahem. Oh wait, I'm thirty five now. Old people don't get birthday money. Well, there was a small website job that contributed nicely to the bottom line. That probably allowed me to slip right under George's overage, winning her the crown for the month. So far the only "winners" of the Budget Club have been the two of us, that's probably not good. We should probably recruit some members who are real loose with their money and have no self control. Any volunteers?
I was only 130% over on dining out this month, and made it spent just about perfect on play and grocery. Yes, I did go high on travel, shopping, and taxis, but they were all for good causes. First, I was convinced to stick around San Francisco for an extra week to attend Jasmine's 30th birthday party. She had a roast and toast and obviously it was worth any price to stick around. So I ditched my prior ticket -- most airlines don't do refunds, or they charge a huge fee, lame -- and just got another one-way back to New York. So worth it.
And then I had to buy a Solid State Drive for my laptop. JMZ, AMR, and Victor sing the praises of a SSD swap so I had been waiting for this upgrade for awhile. The $180 was money well spent! And those taxi rides were mostly airport shuffling back and forth, plus a very necessary cab ride back from Sausalito after our birthday bike ride and the ferry was super crowded. See how necessary each overage was?
Of course, the dark side of this is that a likely reason I was able to stay near budget this month was because I was dealing with a lot of days that were already pre-paid. September had six days I couldn't spend any money, even if I wanted to. Three for the houseboat and three for a friend's camp wedding. Both were pre-paid for -- altho houseboat incurred expenses afterwards -- so they really helped cut down September spending. Now I know that the key to having a successful month is to just go on vacation where you're cut off from stores, technology, and food is provided for you.
I was a bit surprised that I dined out and snacked just as much in SF as I do here, but I guess that makes sense. You can't not eat right, and what do you do with friends besides meet up for dinner? Also, for a second I was in love with SF again, and ready to move back. Until I got on the buses and realized that to live in the city would require every mode of transportation: bus, car, bike, walk, Uber, skateboard, you name it. I borrowed AMR's bike the whole time I was there -- and got two flats -- and riding around was amazing but you really can't survive on just one mode of transportation in the Bay. I mean, you can of course, but convenience calls for having every mode of transportation at your disposal.
Three more months of tracking our budgets. Then what happens? Do celebrate with a big New Year's Eve party where we don't spend anything? What, what?
- ATM Visits: Six, twice with fees
- Dining out: Twenty seven times, high of $78, average of $29
- Snacks: Fifteen, high of $16, average of $9
- Cabs: Nine, average of $25
- Shopping: Uniqlo shirt and tie, one bowtie, two T-shirts, one book, various jewelry, Solid State Drive
- Play: Hello Kitty karaoke, a few drinks, two dance parties, one dance class, two movies
- Biggest expenses: Houseboat expenses ($250), Solid State Drive ($185), flight to NY ($160), shabu dinner ($80), Sausalito taxi ($70)
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