Ways and Means: December

Before I do an end of the year mega-recap, I thought I’d better get December down for posterity. Basically I blew through a wad of December money, despite being home in San Diego for half of it. All in all, the 165% over budget I went was higher than any month since June. And even though some of that change can be accounted for due to my lowering of the budget, the actual expenditure was still higher than any month since August. It would be nice to say that it was the holidays and gifts and all that, but I’m a Grinch and don’t exchange presents with anyone. So that extra +65% didn’t exactly go anywhere

Apparently I did a lot of playing in December as it was just "shots shots shots shots” all month long. Okay not really, but there seem to have been a lot more alcohol consumed this month than in the recent past. List of places I apparently paid for drinks: Brooklyn Bowl, Summit Bar, Pour George, Ippudo West, R Bar, Sugarland, Dada. I wonder how many Pepcid ACs I took…

As usual, dining out slayed me, to the tune of 170%. I also went 130% on snacks, but made that money back by only spending 45% on groceries. Regardless, that dining out number was super high, spinning me back to the days of mid-summer where I went over 1K on food regularly. Ouch. While I’m here, let’s talk about this food replacement thing. Soylent is a nutrient drink that's designed to replace your regular meals, all at the cost of three bucks per shake. I have long said that I’d love to take a food pill and this looks like the next best thing. Is it safe, effective, useful? Who knows. Should I find out in 2014? Probably. Clearly this is an idea that strikes the fancy of many, as their crowdfunding campaign raised more than one million dollars.

During December, I also went 200% on travel, most of it caused by a horrendous trip to the airport that ended up in the cabbie trying to take me for a ride. Seventy five dollars later, we settled our differences and I’ll know to stick to the Filipino company forever -- my normal Brooklyn to airport cab ride is half that. Arecibo, I don’t know why I ever left  you. Also, since I barely was going to make my plane, I paid ten dollars to jump the security queue at JFK and then my huge second bag of check-in luggage was another forty bucks. When you fly, those baggage fees are nasty and I kind of forget to account for them. Lesson learned.

I spent over 400% on both taxis and miscellaneous. The taxis were unfortunate, but December got a little cold for bike riding so it was taxi there, taxi there. As for “miscellaneous,” most of it was just a Time Warner bill that needed to be paid off, so while the percentage overage seems high, it wasn’t all that big. At the end of December, I gave up my apartment in Brooklyn, which should result in lower household expenses. I’m paying rent in Chinatown now, albeit at a lower fee, which means more cash to spend next year! Anyhow, onto the end of year review, which I'm super excited to do.

Also, I have no idea which of us Budget Clubbers won December as everyone fell apart in recording due to the holidays and we haven't had the chance to compare notes. The exciting news is that we're about to head into a new year and hopefully another year of spreadsheeting!

• ATM Visits: Nine, once with fees
• Dining out: Thirty eight times, high of $60, average of $22
• Snacks: Sixteen, high of $24, average of $8.25
• Cabs: Eleven, average of $18.50
• Shopping: Globe cruiser skateboard, website URL renewals, Hello Kitty USB dongle, a graphic novel, one book
• Play: Six or seven nights out, one karaoke, a NYE party ticket, three movies
• Biggest Expenses: Costco ($105), Cab to JFK ($75), Southwest ticket ($75), Sharaku Japanese dinner ($60), skateboard ($55)