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teasing out our spending

September 24th, 2020 at 12:14 am

I spent some time this past week working on personal capital looking at our spending. Okay it's out of control. This pandemic probably helps but it's interesting. We have been spending less on things you would expect like groceries and eating out but more on stuff like home renovations, school/office stuff.

2019 Spending
$22149 Travel
$20713 Groceries ($1727/month)
$10759 Pet (dog surgery)
$9358 Eating out ($780/month)

2020 Spending thus far
$17550 Travel
$12467 Home Improvement (shed)
$11548 Groceries ($1316/month)
$4689 Eating out ($521/month)

What is interesting is that our grocery bill dropped while we are eating at home most of the time and DH no longer has free lunches/snacks. Last year we were spending that much and DH wasn't eating lunches. Now 4 people eating 3 meals a day at home and we're lower groceries and lower eating out. Also groceries has gotten much more expensive during this period.

We are saving about $650/month food, no kids activities, less traveling, which it doesn't seem like it but it is. I would say we are saving at least $3k/month.

We'll see how the rest of the year plays out. We have about 6 more months until the new budget resets.

Posted in Budget | 7 Comments »

7 Responses to “teasing out our spending”

  1. CB in the City Says:
    September 24th, 2020 at 12:35 am 1600907740
    1600907740

    That's interesting about your groceries. You must be making better choices.

  2. LivingAlmostLarge Says:
    September 24th, 2020 at 05:48 pm 1600969688
    1600969688

    I suspect it's because I am not cooking on the fly. A lot of the cooking I did I would stop and just buy stuff to cook that I wanted to make. Now I actually meal plan again. Before I was more well I need to make dinner so let's do X, Y, Z. Now it's I bought chicken or pork or beef at costco for the week and I need to make 3-4 meals. Totally easy now that we are at home and cooking.

    Before I would shop at say safeway that day and make it. Then go back again and buy what I wanted. It was much more not looking at prices and just shopping. It was easily justifiable because it was still cheaper than eating out. Of course I might question that now that I see what I really spend!

  3. disneysteve Says:
    September 25th, 2020 at 07:58 pm 1601063921
    1601063921

    I'm surprised by how much you've spent on travel. Did you do some costly travel prior to COVID? My wife and I went away for a few days at the end of February and that was it for 2020. Then everything shut down. We've spent next to nothing on travel and don't expect to do anything until next March.

  4. LivingAlmostLarge Says:
    September 29th, 2020 at 05:07 pm 1601399241
    1601399241

    We travelled on two ski trips one in January and one in first week of March and a trip to hawaii in Feb. So there was that. Then we did a road trip in June/4th of july for 10 days and that was pretty pricey. We spent more than we should because we thought it was our only trip. We spent a lot on activities. We rented dune buggies that was $500 for 2 hours. Our hotels were averaging around $300/night so $3000 for the 10 days. We also went away for memorial day weekend and that was $1000 for 2 nights. Plus I booked a few hotels and stuff next year and they took deposits for the VRBO for January ski trip for 10 days. That was another $1000.

  5. disneysteve Says:
    September 29th, 2020 at 08:01 pm 1601409707
    1601409707

    That makes sense.

    We were away 2/7-2/9 and we might have used points for that. I don't remember.

    The only other "travel" we've done was 8/5 we went to a hotel for the night when our power was out due to the hurricane.

    Other than that, we've been stuck at home due to COVID.

    A few months ago, I did spend $2,400 to get $3,000 worth of Marriott gift cards at 20% off. And just recently, we spent $1,300 to buy tickets for a special event in Florida next March.

  6. terri77 Says:
    October 9th, 2020 at 06:34 am 1602225252
    1602225252

    I really like Priceline to get nice hotels at a deep discount. If you are flexible about where you stay this can be a huge cost saver.

  7. disneysteve Says:
    October 9th, 2020 at 02:06 pm 1602252419
    1602252419

    I've never gotten involved with Priceline. I guess we're just too picky. I want to know where we're staying, what amenities the hotel has, what dining options are in walking distance, how close it is to the subway station, what the parking is like, etc. Many places, even a difference of a couple of blocks can really change things so just giving me a general area isn't good enough.

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