1) My husband pays most of our bills, including the mortgage and most utility bills.
2) I don't count anything that comes out of my paycheck, including retirement, whatever the tax situation is, and paying off my parking pass for my job.
3) I had an unexpected trip to Michigan this month. I suspect that this will end up being once a month or so for the foreseeable future, so I need to do better at figuring out economical ways to travel there.
I am not going to tell you how long it took me to create this pie chart because you might be alarmed.
Groceries (28.7%) - Look, I admit we don't have the best shopping habits. We go to the store once a week, buy mostly name brand things because they are labelled gluten free, and rarely pay attention to sales. That being said, we eat (mostly) healthy foods and eat at home.
Pets (19.5%) - The personal finance people who say if you want to save money you should get rid of your pets are correct. Both girls got food this month, they each got medicine, I had to get a city license and a dog park license for Hannah, and there were other miscellaneous pet-related expenses. Dogs, in particular, cost zillions of dollars. They're also treasured members of the family.
Travel (14.6%) - This is the cost of the hotel room when I was in Michigan. I don't think there's a cheaper hotel option, but maybe I can find a less expensive B&B or something. This will need to be figured out or else I'm going to have just deal with this cost.
Bills (8.2%) - I paid our water bill and insurance for cars/home.
Cars (6.6%) - Gas a few times, I paid for parking on my trip, and our older car got a bare bones oil change.
Gifts (5.9%) - This was birthday gifts for the month and some greeting cards.
Donations (4.5%) - I have a colleague who has had a very serious medical illness. I donated money to her Go Fund Me, sent her some food, and then donated some vacation days to her. Her prognosis is good, but it's going to be a long recovery. I also made a small donation to the local Humane Society.
Tech (4.1%) - I had to get some office supplies for my laptop.
Personal care (3.3%) - The post I wrote last December about how much money I spend on my appearance every year has been quite popular and I'm keeping particular track of how much I'm spending on personal care things this year. In January, this included floss, deodorant, hair ties, panty liners, eye cream, and face cream.
Eating out (2.6%) - Most of the time this number would be close to zero, but I ate out a tiny bit while I was in Michigan. I think this is okay, actually. I still mostly ate food I packed in the cooler.
Savings (1.5%) - I am putting a tiny amount of money each month into some investments. Eventually, once I figure out how my spending is working with my new income, this will go up, but for now it's a puny amount.
Clothing (0.4%) - I spent $10 to get a pair of my favorite shoes resoled.
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What was your favorite purchase in January?
We are similar - my husband pays the utility bills and property tax, and groceries are also my biggest expense. Depending on the month, that is followed by either health/ beauty or Rex. Sometimes clothing - I did need some new shoes! I think last month groceries were 50% of my expenditures, and since Rex had a dental cleaning, that was almost 25% right there. But of course, that's a very one-off expenditure. I guess my favourite purchase in January was my new shoes. I actually donated all my fancy heels that I don't wear anymore because they hurt my feet, and I bought a pair of actually comfortable heels that I will need for an upcoming event.
ReplyDeleteYeah, we're getting and oil change done on our newer car this month and it's going to break my budget for the month, I think. There's usually a pet or car expense that's crazy!
DeleteNew shoes are the best!!
I just had to meet with my mom's financial advisor last week and he asked me some $$ tracking questions that I scrambled to answer; the look on his face as I tried to research on my bank's phone app and do math simultaneously was something for sure, haha! Maybe there is a pie chart in my future, too; it might interesting to see if it changes as I have to go through this financial planning process... My favorite purchase of January was a new sourdough starter setup involving a kombucha jar heating pad that I'm going to play with next week.
ReplyDeleteA kombucha jar heating pad? I don't even know what this means and I'm not going to google it because I like the idea that there's still mysteries in this world.
DeleteWho are these personal finance people, and what a sad life they must lead! What's the point of having more money if your home is sad and empty? Sheesh.
ReplyDeleteI know you're not looking for any kind of praise or judgments here, but I think you're incredibly frugal! Groceries are just expensive.
Look, I 100% know what you mean about pets. They bring so much joy to my life! (But they are expensive.)
DeleteGroceries are expensive. I guess I'm going to have to do some research and try to figure out ways to bring our costs down. *sigh*
My husband and I have joint accounts so we pay everything out of the same coffers, though put the majority of the bills on his credit card since he accrues points with the CC he has; that said, though we share an account, I do basically all the bill payments and maintenance of finances. He's out of the country so frequently it's just too hard to leave that for him.
ReplyDeleteOur biggest expenditure is our mortgage, followed by groceries, then household bills.
Pets are like kids, I think, in terms of expenditures. They cost a lot to raise!
It is fascinating to me how people set up their finances in relationships. What if you want to buy your husband a present? How do you do that without him finding out? I guess if you're doing the bill payments, maybe it's how does he buy you a present without you finding out? (And maybe all this worry about gifts really shows that my love language is giving/receiving gifts. LOL.)
DeleteHa! We are not big gift people, but he will pay with things in cash if he's really trying to hide a surprise from me. I have figured out a few gifts while checking the charges on his credit card - I don't mean to be a snoop but when I see something unusual, I get to the bottom of it (like the year he bought a basket for our freezer which remains one of my favourite Christmas gifts ever, but when I saw the line item on the credit card I figured out what he was getting ahead of time). But I'd say this is so rarely an issue for us that I don't even think about it. He doesn't even have access to my credit card since I pay both cards. I think he's quite happy with that arrangement. But since I pay my card off out of our joint chequing account obviously if I bought something really big on my CC he would know about it.
DeleteThe one financial thing he does entirely independently is charitable donations. I'd say 90% of this he handles without me. I have such a hard time parting with money (to my shame) and he is far more generous, so I put him in charge of that aspect of our finances.
Thanks for answering the question. I knew it would be something like "this gift thing doesn't bother us." LOL.
DeleteCan you imagine having to get rid of your pets because they cost too much? That's like leaving your kids somewhere because they are costly. :(
ReplyDeleteI'd hate to see our pie chart...it would be Off The Charts. LOL! Groceries are probably our biggest expense too.
I certainly would do everything in my power to avoid having to give up my pets, but I can see how life could take a turn and someone would need to do so. I think it would break my heart. The people who are Really Serious about personal finance basically say you shouldn't spend money on anything that isn't completely necessary (pets, cable/tv subscriptions, etc.). I don't think that's the way to live life, personally, but when I add up how much we spend on our cat and dog, it can be unsettling!
DeleteBelieve me, I've spent a bit of time chuckling at our pet costs this month compared to the past two months. We went from zero to having to go to the pet store every few days for new toys and training treats. Whatever we're spending now is way better than $0.
ReplyDeleteIf there isn't a good Airbnb/VRBO option near where your mom lives, a hotel loyalty program might at least get you a free night once in a while. I'm currently in the process of racking up hotel points on co-branded credit cards since, ahem, I'm spending a lot of money on groceries to feed two teenagers so I might as well get something for it. Some of the cards that I've seen offer travel rebates and free nights.
Ha ha! I can't imagine how much a puppy costs! So many brand new things needed!
DeleteI think there is an Airbnb option. But it's probably worth me considering a combo of hotel rewards/credit card rewards, too. It's just never really come up before because I don't generally use hotels very often!
This looks to me like the plan of someone is both frugal and compassionate.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate what you said about life taking a turn about pets, because I kind of dislike when people say once you get a pet you would be a heartless monster to consider re-homing them for any reason. The fact is, people do sometimes lose their kids because they can't support them, so the same could definitely happen with pets.
We combine finances because for years my contribution was raising the kids while he worked and traveled a lot for work. I have my own account, but he can check it (which I'm fine with) so if I want to buy him a present that's a hundred percent guaranteed to be a surprise I guess I would take out cash.
I 100% think that rehoming is sometimes a better option for pets because life circumstances change. You might lose your job, get chronically/terminally ill, have a new family member, etc. There are so many reasons. I think most people do everything they can to keep their pets, but sometimes there are circumstances beyond your control. I think if you do it responsibly (going through a shelter/rescue/vetting the people you give your pets to), it can be the best thing you can do. But I can only imagine how heartrending it would be.
DeleteI think my favorite purchase in January was the fees for the art class I'm taking. I feel like there is never a "typical" spending month - every month has it's own unique "one time" expense, both known and unknown. Like January was summer camp, then our stove broke. February will be our pool membership, and who know what else is going to require an injection of funds.... We have to get tickets for an upcoming trip and I keep thinking we should wait until we have a month with no large unique one time expense, but I don't know that life works like that... (I know no one *has to* travel, but it's to see my grandfather in Taiwan who is 96 years old, so... I don't want to put it off anymore...)
ReplyDeleteYes! There's always a one-time thing. We're getting some work done on our new car (right now! I'm in the lobby of the dealership!) and I know it's going to be $$$. Oh, well. It is what it is.
DeleteI'm tried to think of something I bought in January, but came up empty. Let's say Sushi was the best thing I bought in January. I try to get sushi at least once a month... I loved hearing about all the ways you extended care to your sick colleague... it made my heart grow <3.
ReplyDeleteUgh. I probably shouldn't have explained so much. I hate being one of those "look at the nice thing I did" people! I know she's going to be fine in the long run, but it's been very difficult and stressful for her in the meantime. This is a good reminder that I should check in with her again to see if she needs anything!
DeleteI always find posts like this so very fascinating! How we spend money varies so much from person to person/couple to couple. Our set up is like Elisabeth's - we have joint finances although we each have our own credit cards. All of our accounts are on mint.com so we can see what the other is spending if we need to/want to. I never look at it except when I work on my annual spending post. Phil used to ask me what I spent when I had a higher credit card bill so getting everything on mint and giving him access to mint was helpful (he wasn't judging necessarily, more so curious so I figured I'd just give him access so he could do his own investigation).
ReplyDeleteThe best thing I bought in January was tickets to a show at the Children's Theater in May. We are going to "A Year with Frog and Toad."
Yeah...joint finances are not a thing with us. I am quite happy in my marriage, I assure everyone, but I worked in the domestic violence field for too long to think that it's okay for another person to control all my money. We have a joint savings account and we talk about money a lot - how much are we taking home every month and how much are we spending on household expenses in proportion to our incomes - but I would be resistant to just throwing it all into one pot. Huh. Maybe I need to talk about this in therapy. Or maybe not. It's worked for us for decades!
DeleteIt's totally a "you do you" type of thing and I don't think it says anything about the marriage really. Although I don't think of it as having Phil "control" my money. When he'd ask about what I bought it was more out of curiosity than concern if that makes sense. For us it makes it easier to have one account from which everything gets paid. But everyone has a system that works for them!!
DeleteOh, I didn't mean he "controls" money, really. It's just I've known more than one couple in which a person decides they want to break up and the other person was caught completely by surprise and bank accounts were drained. I don't *think* that would happen, but I sleep better at night knowing that at least some of my liquid assets are protected. I 100% believe our lives would be easier in some ways if we had more combined accounts, but I also think it would make me panic!
DeleteI REALLY NEED TO DO THIS, which is what I think every single time I read one of these posts. I know food is ginormous, but I want to see JUST HOW ginormous.
ReplyDeleteIt is not fun to have to document every penny spent, but I guess it's worth it to see where the money goes!
DeleteI enjoyed reading this. I should do this for us to see. I think groceries, kids, and pets would be at the top. And GAS. Especially driving to Wisconsin and back every other day. Totally worth it. ❤️
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting what would be considered "kids" separately from other things. Like, if you buy them clothes, do you put it under the kid category or the clothes category? I'm so interested in how other people do categorization!
DeleteI'm glad you did this! Why are groceries SO EXPENSIVE. I swear even when I go in to buy things for a few days, I'm spending $75 easily. I don't know if I need to be more frugal (I mean yes, but w/e) or if I need to adjust my grocery budget to accommodate the higher prices. I'm keeping an eye on this part of my budget for sure!
ReplyDeleteOur groceries haven't gone up too much because we always had "bad" shopping habits - mostly name brands, no sales, etc. A lot of that is because of my husband's dietary limitations and those haven't changed. But some staples have really gone up in price! (Also, our shopping habits aren't really "bad" because we eat everything we buy. By the time we hit up the grocery store, our fridge and pantry is pretty bare. We don't have a ton of food waste in our household.)
DeleteWe each have our own account where our salaries are going. We have a joined account from which rent and all fixed costs (car, internet, phone, electricity, etc) is handled. We each transfer a certain amount there at the beginning of the month. The husband would like to have a joint account for everthing but I don't want to. He is a bigger spender than I am and it would bother me seeing his spendings I think. Also the gift issue.
ReplyDeleteFor us rent and groceries are probably the biggest spenders. And insurances. So much money goes to insurance.
Our account setup is similar. We each have our own account where our salaries go. We have a joint account, but here's where we diverge. Our joint account is mostly for savings and we each pay a certain number of bills, etc. from our own checking accounts. It does take a lot of communication.
DeleteSo interesting to see a) what people spend, b) on what, and c) how they work with their partners/spouses on finances. To each their own, indeed. I will say that being on my own again after years of combined finances was really challenging at first. Now, however, I'm all about the control. And, you know, being as cheap as possible. :) You and Stephany and San prompted me to start tracking my detailed expenditures this year, and I am simultaneously appalled and loving it. Ha.
ReplyDeleteThe tracking situation has made me realize that my frugality comes in buying quality things that cost a lot upfront, but that I will have forever. It's been interesting for me to see this. I don't always buy the cheapest thing, but I know that whatever I buy I'll have for a long time.
DeleteHonestly, I can't even imagine having to go back to being a single person trying to figure out finances. LOL. It's amazing how much mental load I have just put on my husband. Oh, we have to make an extra mortgage payment in February? You do that, buddy. I might have to keep track of when Hannah and Zelda need medicine, etc., but at least I don't have to keep track of what bank currently owns our mortgage!
Food is so expensive. It's definitely one of our higher spending expenditures every month. I am trying to be "ok" with it because we value good/healthy food. We meal plan and eat everything buy and I cook a lot from scratch with fresh ingredients, but man, we also don't eat steak and caviar every week, so the cost for food just stings.
ReplyDeleteI am not surprised to read that pets are an expensive part of the budget too.
Yeah, I think we probably have similar food issues. We do value good food, but I think we're going to have to think about how to reduce some of our costs.
DeleteBut, lol forever at the idea of reducing pet-related costs. NEVER!