This January I embarked on an Uber Frugal Month with Mrs. Frugalwoods. You basically cut out or down on all unnecessary spending. I’m very happy this coincided with my new low carb, high fat diet. It made me not even want to eat out which is unheard of.
Let’s see how this month looked and then compare it to previous Januarys to see if there were any improvements
January 2017
Groceries: $155.99 (The highest in the history of my tracking spending)
Eating Out: $12.34 (The lowest in the history of my tracking spending)
Alcohol: $8.76 (The lowest in the history of my tracking spending)
Parties: $0
Rent: $803.31
Phone: $14.81
Internet: $24.99
Electric: $13.09
Transit: $5.50 (Refilling ORCA)
Household Goods: $7.99 (Conditioner and Lightbulbs which could have waited)
Entertainment: $11.81 (Netflix split and 1 $6 morning movie)
Medical: $5 (Cough drops)
Vacation Spending: $183.60 (Disneyland bachelorette party – unique and will never happen again)
Giving: $240.02 (Disneyland bachelorette party – same as the above)
TOTAL: $1,487.21
TOTAL (Minus stupid wedding traditions that won’t happen again): $1,063.59
Woooooah! $1,063.59 if I’d had my way (which is the number I’ll be using to show normal spending). That’s wild. That’s what I call a lean month and I did so much and didn’t at all feel deprived! I thought I’d have to cut out that one matinee movie, the unnecessary at the time cough drops, lightbulbs, conditioner etc, but no. That is LOW! And I can go lower. In addition to cutting those I could have not eating out at all and stopped alcohol all together. I also could have bought less groceries. My freezer is stuffed to the brim with meat right now. Great to know that lean spending if necessary would not be that difficult and certainly wouldn’t be the end of the world. Now to compare this January to past ones:
January 2016
Groceries: $62.25
Eating Out: $188.63
Alcohol: $49.57
Parties: $27.28
Rent: $798.87
Phone: $14.53
Internet: $24.99
Electric: $16.14
Transit: $16.87
Household Goods: $5.64
Entertainment: $3.99 (Netflix split)
Medical: $115.40 (Urgent care for pneumonia and medicine)
Vacation Spending: $11.35 (Sending passport for Vietnam visa and a flight with points I didn’t end up taking)
Travel: $11 (Uber from airport)
Giving: $35.73 (Dinner for Carlos and 1/2 Kate High Tea for Birthday)
TOTAL: $1,379.74
Compared to 2017: Decreased spending $316.15 despite living in the same apartment and same city. Nice!
January 2015
Groceries: $77.57
Eating Out: $63.49
Alcohol: $29.16
Parties: $15.23
Rent: $1337.50 ($534.18 difference right there)
Phone: (Paid at a later date in bulk)
Internet: $22.50
Electric: $25.47
Transit: $113 (Monthly metro pass instead of walking to work)
Household Goods: $5.99
Entertainment: $3.99
Medical: $15.99
Vacation Spending: $85.05 (Trip to Seattle 🙂 )
Travel: $343.98 (Flight to Seattle)
Giving: $1.05 (Mom’s birthday card before she said she doesn’t want cards)
TOTAL: $1,941.48
Compared to 2017 (when adjusting for rent prices): Decreased Spending $343.71
Overall I’m very impressed and excited that I was able to decrease spending that much without noticing. It gives me even more confidence in my FIRE plans and ability to be flexible!