2016 Spending

Let’s look at the explosion that was my 2016 spending. Overall I spent $22,518.67 which isn’t bad (compared to the $30,000 spending of 2015) but it’s still not as low as I’d like. A few factors for this level of spending were:

• Funemployed Last Minute Travel ($4,885.99): I was funemployed for 4 months and took full advantage. As soon as I knew I was going to get laid off I extended all of my regular tickets (incurring change fees) and booked additional travel. I also bought my 2017 Thailand, wedding and bachelorette tickets ($1,353.72). All up I went to the following places:
  • Albany for the weekend (wedding)
  • NYC: 1 week
  • Phoenix: 1 week
  • Atlanta: 2 weeks
  • New Hampshire Beach for the weekend (family reunion)
  • San Francisco on a sleeper train: 1 week
  • Erie, PA: 1 week (wedding)
  • St. Louis: 1 week
• New Laptop ($680 Net): Like an idiot I spilled liquid on my laptop and had to get a new one (I waited until I was laid off and just used my work laptop for almost 6 months). Luckily I was able to sell the damaged laptop on eBay for about $250 for parts and buy a refurbished MacBook Air for $930. This will be my last Apple purchase. I usually buy them for the resale value and this time because I thought I could transfer my free Office software (which didn’t happen) so I’m going PC especially given Apple’s latest ‘updates’ to their hardware
• Medical ($407.30), Dental ($350.79) and Vision ($109.10) Expenses: For medical, it was a busy year after never having to go to the doctor basically in NYC. I had pnemonia in January and went to urgent care, I bought travel insurance while I was funemployed and I had an OB/GYN visit to remove my IUD. For Dental I guess I neglected my regime after my NYC dentist told me I was doing great when I felt like I hadn’t been doing much because my teeth got a lot worse this year. They suggested a deep cleaning and filling a few cavities. To continue my less than ideal luck I lost my glasses at a beach bonfire at night this year and had to quickly get a new pair before Vietnam (I wanted to actually SEE the sights)
• New Bike ($145): The bike was free, but also very old and required some work. I also had to buy safety gear that’s required in Seattle

Compared to 2015, in 2016 I spent about $6,654.14 less – a 23% decrease! Despite being in a new city I spent $4,869.78 less on monthly bills and $600 less on eating out, alcohol and groceries. I thought I had an explosion of spending, but it somehow decreased from last year despite all the wonderful new experiences I had.

Looking back at all the places I visited, people I met and adventures I experienced I did so much in 2016 and spent a surprisingly small amount while feeling like I was living a lavish life. I’m looking forward to 2017. I have the goal of spending $18,000 a year or $1,500 a month. Eliminating the additional large expenses above should make this fairly easy. Let’s see!