Vacations and haircuts and everything we spent money on in August
Why share the details of what we spent? Because I always wish more people would. It’s an interesting way to see how people are living their lives. No two people spend money the same way.
I’ve always posted a summary to Instagram, but I’ve also always loved the way The Frugalwoods post each month. So I’m trying out something new. It’s a surprising amount of work to type it all out, but also strangely satisfying.
Cheers to August
August was a shockingly not-spendy month. (For us.) I have bills coming due for house painting and bat removal, but those won’t hit the budget until September! So I’m going to let Future Liz worry about those.
This is total spending for a month for two adults in a medium-to-high cost of living city. One thing you might notice is missing is cell phone service. I use Mint Mobile and so I only pay in a lump sum once a year.
The Thing | The Cost | The Notes |
| Food | ||
| Groceries | $575 | Easy to keep this low-ish when you go out of town for a week |
| Restaurants | $70 | Two stops at an inexpensive neighborhood Mexican restaurant |
| Takeout | $200 | Things I love: getting McDonalds the days I drive to the office. Eating from food trucks or walking to get ice cream in the summer. |
| Coffee | $53 | I’m not a fancy coffee drinker |
| Beer and Wine | $216 | Tis the season to sit in the backyard and drink IPAs |
Vacation | ||
| Hotel | $801 | Booked on hoteltonight.com last minute and got a deal! |
| Cash | $60 | I always take cash out before traveling. I could not tell you where this went. |
| Cocktails on the plane | $20 | $10 each! Remember when plane drinks were like $5? |
| Guided Tour | $100 | Not looking like a tourist is overrated. |
| Eating out | $951 | Fancy dinners, fancy brunch, ice cream, the works. |
| Home | ||
| House painting | $900 | This was the deposit, I have to pay the rest (about $3k) next month. |
| Home supplies | $155 | Shampoo, batteries, super glue. Exciting stuff. |
| House cleaning | $440 | We switched to a new house cleaner. The cost is higher but the service seems better. This is for every other week. |
| Water & Power | 306 | I’m shocked this isn’t higher because I have been cranking the air conditioning at night to sleep better. |
| Streaming/Internet | ||
| Hulu | $14 | Without ads. Because I’m fancy. |
| NY Times | $4 | Support good journalism. |
| Apple storage | $3 | Cloud storage. |
| Internet | $50 | Happy to have fast service so zoom works most of the time. |
| YNAB | $100 | You Need a Budget. Signed up for the annual plan after testing it out a few months. It’s fun! |
| WordPress | $50 | Signed up for the paid version of WordPress to bring you this very post. |
| Transportation | ||
| Gas | $60 | I use the Upside app to get cash back |
| Insurance | $108 | My car insurance company doesn’t offer a discount to pay all at once so I pay monthly. |
| Tolls | $56 | |
| Parking | $4 | Couple of parking meters. |
| Ride shares | $182 | I try to use Lyft over Uber and be a good tipper. |
| Charity | $750 | My usual monthly budget. Visit thelifeyoucansave.org to find out more about effective altruism. |
| Personal | ||
| Haircut | $30 | Thanks, Great Clips! |
| Medical | $25 | Just one prescription. We’ve spent so much on medical this year, happy to have a low month. |
| Gym | $48 | Peloton monthly membership. Love it. |
| Clothes | $37 | I’ve been trying to spend less on amazon but do I love these pants? Yes, yes I do. (Affiliate link.) |
| Joy | ||
| Pets | $235 | Food and medication |
| Live performances | $110 | Local theater and lectures. |
| TOTAL (not including the mortgage) | $6713 | Second lowest this year. I’ll take it. |
How did August treat you? I cashed in some credit card points to cover part of our travel costs, so my savings rate was higher than usual. I just squeaked out a 50% savings rate after taxes. Feels a little like cheating, but I’ll take it!
Liz Gets Loaded 
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