Every Dollar I Spent In 2018

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2018 has come to an end. Let’s see how I did with my goal to decrease my spending from $18,436.60 last year to $18,360!

In 2018 I spent $19,191.55, which is $754.95 or 4% more than last year. I didn’t exactly hit my $18,360 goal, but I do have a good reason for that: Taxes. I ended up owing $1,475 in taxes this year, which is included in my spending since it was an outflow from my accounts, BUT if I had known that ahead of time I would have taken that amount out of my 2017 savings total instead of it being classified as spending.

So with that moved I only spent $17,715.55 this year, which is $721.05 or 3.9% LESS than last year. That is actually shocking to me. Given everything I did I thought I had spent a whole lot more. I can’t believe I spent so little while living a fun, luxurious life.

For the money voyeurs my spending broke down like this for the year:

MONTHLY BILLS (59% Budget): $11,393.73

  • Rent $10,074.50 (I share a 1 bedroom apartment with my partner that’s walking distance to downtown Seattle)
  • Phone $299.48 (I have a fancy phone plan with Republic Wireless with more data than I ever use)
  • Internet $281.07
  • Electric $256.95
  • Water/Sewer/Gas $344.69
  • Transit $137.04 (I mostly walk everywhere since I want to be carfree for life)

CHANGELINGS (16% Budget): $2,978.67

  • Groceries $1,192.65 which is $301.27 or 20% less than 2017. Very nice!
  • Eating Out $760.82 which is $138.60 or 22% more than 2017. Well I guess I know why my grocery budget went down!
  • Alcohol $809.19 which is $203.68 or 33% more than 2017. This number is moving in the wrong direction – time to reign it in in 2019. Less drinking out for sure.
  • Parties $216.01, which is $70.87 or 48% more than 2017. This includes food and drinks we bring over to other people’s houses. I don’t mind the increase since this is how we avoid spending in other areas.

VACATION (12% Budget): $2,379.85

  • Travel $1,365.82, which is $567.18 or 29% less than 2017. I bought flights to Atlanta x2, Albany and Costa Rica (though the last one was travel hacked).
  • Vacation Spending $828.20, which is $114.06 or 12% less than 2017. This includes 4 camping trips as well as adventures around the Oregon Coast, Singapore, Portland, Ecuador, Atlanta x2 and Upstate New York.
  • Friends Visiting $185.83, which is $99.97 or 116% more than 2017. This was mostly going out to eat and explore when my friends and family came to visit. No regrets.

RAINY DAYS (3% Budget): $650.24

  • Household Goods $190.32, which is $5.90 or 3% less than 2017.
  • Personal Products $43.71, which is $49.22 or 52% less than 2017.
  • Clothing $20.41, which is $11.56 or 36% less than 2017. This was the purchase of 1 bikini when my partner mentioned my 10 year old one was starting to look worn out. Not bad for a whole year!
  • Entertainment $207.25, which is $28.90 or 12% less than 2017. This includes our Netflix subscription, going to the movie theater, renting karaoke rooms, buying my watercolor materials, renting films, and buying video games.
  • Medical $23.65, which is $6 or 33% more than 2017. This included a few cough drops and band aids. I was clumsy this year.
  • Dental $0
  • Grass $28: You know what this is 🙂 . Weed is legal in Washington State.
  • Vision $44.40: An eye exam and new pair of glasses from Zenni
  • Furniture $173.49: We got wild and bought an air conditioner since Seattle summers are getting super hot in the last few years. We also bought a new to us TV and stand for $30 total and paid $25 to recycle our old, broken TV at Best Buy.

LONGTERM (9% Budget): $1,789.06

  • Electronics $10.09, which is $119.41 or 92% less than 2017. This just included taxes for my free Kindle.
  • Credit Card Fees $95. I love my Chase Sapphire Preferred. It usually pays for the annual fee many times over by saving my butt when I’m stranded somewhere because of a flight delay.
  • Taxes $1,476
  • Gifts $90.88
  • Blog $117.09: 3 years of hosting this blog and 1 year of protecting my phone and email box from spam. The best impulse buy of my life so far 🙂

And there you have it: every dollar I spent this year. In 2019 I’m aiming to keep spending less than $18,727.20 ($18,360 + 2% inflation). Let’s see if I can keep this up. Onward!

How about you? How was your 2018 spending?

27 thoughts on “Every Dollar I Spent In 2018

  1. Our spending was multiples higher than yours between our mortgage and childcare alone but you’ve given me some ideas for some areas we might tackle for trimming back this coming year! How is your phone reception with republic wireless when you travel? Is it good for international travel too?

    1. Yeah I can see how owning a house and needing daycare would change these numbers significantly. Phone reception on Republic Wireless is great when I travel. The actual phone doesn’t work internationally, but you can use it over wifi anywhere in the world.

  2. 20 bucks on clothing. there’s a win. i don’t think i bought myself any clothes this past year but did replace some clippers for free haircuts at home. i think we likely spent 50k total but it cost 9k to paint our house so that will come way down. i am guessing you could about double your number for 2 people in the household to get to near 40k combined? that’s sort of a number i would like to achieve for us and still have everything we want. i think i’m going to spend less on wine this coming year and invest the difference. cars sure are expensive as we have 2 of them. i think it costs 220/mo to operate them even when they’re paid off. well done by you.

    1. Yeah I was surprised! Let’s see if I can spend $0 this year. And free haircuts at home sound awesome. It costs $9,000 to paint a house?? Wow. And yeah my numbers are for 1 person so accounting for 2 would be around 40K. Spending less on wine sounds like a good plan. I’m trying Dry January for the first time, which should cut my alcohol spending a little this year. And woah cars do sound expensive! Is that just for gas and maintenance? And thank you!

      1. yeah, we have a big house that was expensive to paint. car costs are gas/maint./insurance. insurance alone is 120/mo for 2 cars. i don’t think i’m doing a whole dry month but just a cut back for now. good luck with it.

  3. I hadn’t bought any clothes at all in 3 years. I had holes in the pits of almost every shirt, and bleach stains on almost everything (we were fighting a ringworm outbreak on the cats). I broke down this year
    and spent about $1k and threw out all of my old clothes.

    1. Oh wow – a 3 year streak is impressive, but yeah there comes a time when new clothes are needed. Glad you’re finding a balance.

    1. Yeah it’s super cool to see similar spending in different areas (even though we’re nearby). We can help motivate each other! And thank you for stopping by.

  4. Stumbled on your blog post and wow – as a single mom living in a high-cost area (NYC suburbs) I can only dream about expenses like these, but you have inspired me to do a better job tracking my spending by categories. I’m already really lean, but there are always ways to get leaner. Good luck on your journey – I wish I knew what I know now when I was 25!

    1. Yeah it can be hard living near NYC – that’s why we left Manhattan after 4 years – and obviously multiple people increase spending :). So happy to have inspired! Good luck with your journey as well. Thank you for stopping by!

  5. This is great and so detailed. Thank you so much for sharing, this has inspired me to get back on track with my finances and recording them better. I live in the UK and am looking to clear my credit card debt within the first half of this year.

    1. No problem! So happy to help. Good luck clearing your debt – you got this! Thanks so much for stopping by.

  6. First time visitor to your blog – thanks for sharing! And your ultra thrifty budget is incredibly impressive!

    What are you doing to keep your utilities (electric, gas, water) so low??That’s one area I’m targeting for improvement in 2019.

    Thanks!

    1. Hi – welcome! Utilities are low?!? I think they’re super high lol. We keep our heat at 65 degrees and I try to turn off lights in rooms we’re not using, but that’s about it. We’re not really conscious about it. Maybe Seattle utility costs are just low? We try to be sustainable over here – not sure if that has to do with it. What city do you live in?

  7. This is so detailed and so amazing to see all laid out in one place. Your numbers are so impressive for living in a city like Seattle (and having as much fun as you seem to have)! The fact you spend so much on parties and alcohol compared to transit is very entertaining.

    We live so differently but you speak to my heart girl! Way to spend less than last year!

    1. So glad you enjoyed it! And thank you so much! Not having a house and car seems to do all the magic for me. As you can see I don’t scrimp on unnecessary spending 🙂 (AKA alcohol/parties). Transit is basically free if you walk everywhere lol! So glad I could speak to your heart! To each their own for sure. Thank you for stopping by!

  8. I can’t even with your spending. That is awesome! You’re so close to FI. Even if it takes you til 2021, you’re less than two years away. Great job and congrats on the incredibly low yearly spending report!

    1. Haha – thank you. And you have a great perspective. I’m all on edge since there are variables I can’t control (and I can’t make a plan without knowing all the variables 🙂 ), but you’re completely right. Even 2021 is less than 2 years away. Thank you so much!

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