A rinse and repeat of last month: more travel spending, more house spending! Here’s everything we spent money on in October.

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.

October was expensive

We paid for flights and hotels for a vacation. We paid the second half of our permanent holiday lights. I spent $1700 on shoes. (But…for a good reason!) Read on for all the details!

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.

Food
Groceries	$1,022	That’s a lot! A little higher than usual because we had guests in town and made a separate trip for about $150 in baking supplies.
Restaurants	$440	Picking up the check while going out with out of town guests.
Takeout	$372	This is takeout and delivery. One of us had COVID this month and while Door Dash is a rarity for us, we had most meals delivered for a couple of days there.
Coffee	$83	Six stops at our local coffee shop. Not mad about that!
Beer and Wine	$263	Stocked up on wine.
Vacation
Hotel	$3,174	Flights and hotels for a week in Mexico next month
Home
Bat removal	$557	Paying the rest in November
Sprinkler winterizing	$80	Glamorous
Permanent holiday lights	$1,530	This is half, we paid half as a deposit earlier. I love them so much!
Water & Power	$214	Pretty important!
Home supplies	$126	Toothpaste, etc.
Streaming/Internet
Cell phone	$203	This is for a year for one line for Mint mobile. One of our lines renews in October and the other in November.
Hulu	$14	Without ads. Because I’m fancy.
Netflix	$10	I usually don’t pay for more than one streaming service but I’m watching shows on both so breaking my own rule.
Audible	$16	Debating canceling. I’m not using this a ton.
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.
Transportation
Gas	$58	I use the Upside app to get cash back but I only fill ip about once a month.
Insurance	$107	My car insurance company doesn’t offer a discount to pay all at once so I pay monthly.
Tolls	$57
Parking	$4	Couple of parking meters.
Ride shares	$150	I try to use Lyft over Uber and be a good tipper.
Charity	$104	I have hit my annual giving goal for the year, but couldn’t resist two local fundraisers for friends.
Personal
Brow wax	$50	I remember paying $8 at a nail salon when I was in college. But they’re on my face! I literally pay for more for my brows than a haircut.
Medical	$252	A prescription and physical therapy for my foot.
Gym	$48	Peloton monthly membership. Love it.
Clothes	$1,743	Wowzas. This was mostly shoes that were returned the next month in my quest to find something that would work with my foot injury.
Joy
Pets	$310	Food and medication
Wooden hangers	$102	Replaced all my plastic hangers with wood hangers and now my closet feels like a fancy boutique.
Not Joy
Fees	$142	Annual credit card fee
TOTAL (Not including the mortgage)	$11,288	Vacation, foot injury friendly shoes, and house stuff (bats and lights) were my big dents in the budget this month. 2022 has been expensive!

How did October treat you? I’ll be posting November soon and I have to tell you if was like October–more huge one time expenses! Estate planning costs finally hit and the final bill for bat removal.

Favorite purchase lately? I have to say, my permanent holiday lights are still my favorite. Pricey for sure but they bring me a little bit of joy every single day.