This month in Erin’s finances saw a trip to the Azores and a weekend trip up to New Jersey for one of my best friends’ wedding, so it was certainly an atypical month. I’m just going to jump right in with all the gory numbers from May:
| Rent |
$1050.00 |
My half of rent |
| Internet and utilities |
$54.52 |
My half of the utilities |
| Groceries |
$142.39 |
Lower than normal this month again, but I was also on vacation for the first 8 days of the month |
| Student loans |
$110.25 |
Automatic loan payment |
| Car insurance |
$0.00 |
Hooray for a prepaid year of car insurance! |
| Gas |
$31.58 |
Not a bad number for driving up to Jersey for a weekend plus a hiking excursion |
| Barre membership |
$104.69 |
|
| Medical expenses |
-$93.00 |
One $30 copay plus a refund from having overpaid after hitting my deductible last month. Negative spending is awesome and something I don’t usually see! |
| Transportation |
$10.00 |
Not too many metro rides this month |
| Misc shopping |
$22.05 |
Souvenir booze from the trip from the liqueur factory on the island |
| Clothing |
$129.68 |
Paying off more of my Old Navy card, plus sometimes you gotta buy new underwear because most of yours is from high school and turns out it’s all getting huge holes at the same time… |
| Restaurants |
$18.29 |
Went out once with a friend who was visiting, and then I broke down and bought a bagel sandwich the morning after a different friend’s wedding. Hangovers require greasy breakfast sandwiches sometimes, especially when you have to drive 3 hours back home that morning |
| Personal care |
$81.37 |
Honestly most of this is new, natural face washes and products I’m trying out. As part of the adjustment period for my new birth control, my face is breaking out worse than it has since middle school. I’m attempting to quell the acne with new face products that don’t have weird chemicals in them before I reluctantly go to the doctor to ask for a prescription to give me back my previously clear skin |
| Azores trip |
$247.80 |
My portion of the trip after my mother and sister paid me back for putting a substantial amount of the trip on my travel credit card (yay points!) |
| Friend’s wedding |
$160.17 |
Hotel for one night, wedding gift, and Uber rides to/from the venue because the hotel I was staying at was WAY cheaper |
| Misc dues/subscriptions |
$21.58 |
Spotify, Patreon, and YNAB |
| Total spending: |
$2091.37 |
|
| Other income |
$246.29 |
Deposits from my parents, interest, and found money |
| Paychecks |
$1578.22 |
Way lower than normal. I took 2 unpaid days for the Azores trip (that I proceeded to make up by working extra the week I got back and the following 2 weeks), so the next week’s paycheck was super sad. I should’ve had an extra 4+ hours in my next paycheck, but HR messed up payroll and re-ran the previous week’s payroll so I got my sad, 25-hour check again instead of the almost 40 hours I was supposed to get paid for. All of the money they owed me came in the next week’s paycheck, but I got that last Friday, which was officially June. It’ll show up in my income next month |
| Total income: |
$1824.51 |
|
| Total: |
-$266.86 |
Oy |
Hello, my name is Erin, and my first two spending reports have been ugly. Not nearly as bad as last month, even with a vacation, but still. Although it definitely should be noted that the messed up payroll really threw all my calculations off. I would’ve about broken even if I’d been paid what I should’ve been when I should’ve been.
The situation isn’t quite as awful as it looks either: before I ever get my paycheck I have an automatic pre-tax deduction that goes to my 401(k). I’m also sending about $70 over to my Vanguard taxable account each week, but these numbers don’t reflect that. The savings this month were minimal, but they were still there.
April and May were also atypical months for me-June should be much more normal since I don’t have any trips planned and no weddings to go to. Stay tuned for what should be (and now has to be since I’ve said it!) a net positive month in June!