Just as a reminder, my husband pays a lot of the larger bills - mortgage, electricity, phone - and I do the rest. He did have to float me some money this month so I wasn't pulling out of savings.
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Groceries ($810) - Three trips to our regular grocery store, one trip to Costco, some local honey, and a few small stops here and there for fresh produce. This is the second highest amount we've spent on groceries this year, mostly because we were replacing things because of the Great Mouse Incident of 2024.
Clothes ($744.79) - I mean, what can I tell you? I bought new winter boots, new cross trainers, a new winter coat, a new fall coat, two new dresses for work, five pairs of leggings/pants and a cardigan. I desperately needed a wardrobe refresh and all of my winter gear just gave out at once and I walk the dog too much to put off purchasing new cold weather outerwear. All was on sale except for a dress and the cardigan.
Cars ($547.51) - I bought gas three times and put four new tires on our older car.
Pets ($314.80) - After spending thousands last month, I was thrilled with this number. This was litter, some medications, Zelda's food, and a couple of new bins for Zelda's radioactive litter. Don't worry, friends. Zelda has a follow-up appointment tomorrow, so expect this number to be much higher next month.
Gifts ($313) - A roll of stamps, gifts for my Bestest Friend who just got a new job, a couple of birthday gifts for niblings, gifts for student workers, and a gift for the Secret SANta exchange.
Bills ($236.22) - Water and insurance.
Holidays ($205.94) - I didn't know how to classify buying holiday cards, but I added a Holidays category. I suspect this will get lumped in with "Gifts" at the end of the year.
Savings ($200) - LOLOLOLOL so much at this.
Technology ($174.20) - Can we talk about how my cell phone just stopped playing podcasts? It was a problem and meant we were constantly running out of data and my husband eventually just begged me to get a new phone.
House ($147.05) - OKAY. There was a mouse. We had to replace some things, including dish towels (neither of us was willing to sanitize the chewed up towels and use them - this was probably wasteful, but I have NO REGRETS) and hot pads. I also went ahead and purchased a new rug that I've been dithering about for months. I mean, what's another $40 when money is flowing out of your checking accout like crazy? I also bought grow lamps for my office because my plant could no longer wait for light.
Miscellaneous ($130.60) - I had to print some photos for work and get some stuff for my work office.
Personal care ($98.40) - I had a hair cut and bought some feminine hygiene items and face masks like it was 2021.
Eating out ($64.50) - I had coffee so much this month, friends. And I ate lunch out TWICE, which is a lot for me. Can anyone say stress eating?
Fitness ($63.30) - Classes at the community center through March.
Entertainment ($48.83) - I met up with a friend and we spent some money.
Let's hope December has fewer expenses!
What's the most expensive thing you bought last month?
Well... life is expensive. You didn't buy anything extravagant, it was it was all things you needed (I mean, you didn't NEED to meet up with a friend or have lunch out, but those things are important too.) It will all even out- after the holidays your spending will probably go way down. Except for the vet bills, oof.
ReplyDeleteI hope things ease up after December. Sheesh. I can't keep this up, that's for sure.
DeleteI feel you, Engie, I AM YOU. I spent so much in November too and a lot of it was clothing. Also dental bills and vet bills for Rex's checkup and then follow up and ear medication and eye medication and LICE MEDICATION. Three weeks in the kennel, he comes back with an ear infection, an eye infection, lice, and a destroyed collar. Well, at least he had fun. I feel like I picked him up from some crazy three week frat party.
ReplyDeleteWowza! I bet Rex has some stories to tell...
DeleteI have to hear more about this lice mediction. Do you have to go through his hair with a fine tooth comb like you do with little kids? If so, oh no! I really hope that you don't.
DeleteWHAT!?! I am never sending Hannah to boarding. With her health, she'd probably come back with like three legs and missing half an ear or something.
DeleteI want to know about this lice treatment, too. How do you get rid of lice on a dog?
It’s just a pill they take, it’s not a big deal at all. It doesn’t transfer to people or to bedding, so super not a big deal! The pill kills it and you can give them a preventative treatment as well, which I’m going to do next time!
DeleteWhy isn't there an equivalent pill for people lice? Is this one of those things where there's a Lyme vaccine for dogs, but not for people?!
DeleteHee hee months like this happen. November was a very reasonable month for me, but October was off the charts. It all averages out.
ReplyDeleteWe are twins for pet expenses in November - yes I spent the same for one dog that you spent for your two girls. Doggy day care and boarding for camp weekend adds up!
Boarding and day care is so expensive. Hannah loved it when she was younger. Now she's too grumpy. But don't worry, I've already spent more than $300 on the pets this month!
DeleteHave you thought about buying a big trash can instead of individual bins for Zelda's litter? It might be more cost effective and easier to store. Hm. Probably you have.
ReplyDeleteIt's so disheartening when a bunch of big expenses all occur in the same month. We've had that. Our March was that way with basement waterproofing, car repair, and a few other things that were pretty expensive. I felt like I was just shoving money out the door the entire month.
The thing is that we need to be able to throw the litter away at the end of January. So if we bought a really big trash can, we wouldn't be able to put it in the trash can that the trucks can pick trash up in. Hence the smaller bins.
DeleteI'm hoping the first quarter next month is a lot less expensive than this quarter, but I guess we'll see!
I chuckled at "Let's hope December has fewer expenses!" But you probably got all your holiday purchases ahead of time... This is the month I'll keep adding "just one more thing" to everyone's list every other day...
ReplyDeleteAlso that clothing amount is huge... but you keep your things forever because you buy quality stuff, so yay for that. I'm sorry things have been spendy, Engie; I hope things calm down soon.
DeleteYeah, the clothing expense seems huge, but I'll wear all of those things A LOT, so I think it's all justifiable. But maybe it would have been more justifiable over the course of several months...
DeleteI will have to buy for five people, I think. And that's it! I think I can do this reasonably. Or what I say is reasonable. LOL.
I love that you put dollars this time! I am always fascinated by how much people spend and love reading about it and watching YT videos about costs of this and that. Yay! However, obviously I don't love (for you) that you had to spend all the dollars. If it makes you feel any better, I put tires on my car about six months before I ended up selling it, which cost me about the same as it cost you (doh) but the old tires were so bald and we were going into winter etc. so I had to do it for safety. But it hurt and would have been nice to have that extra $500 to spend on travel!
ReplyDeleteAlso I meant to add that I put my holiday cards under gifts, which is actually under my misc. category, along with shipping costs/stamps etc.
DeleteI have included all my stationery and postage expenses as "gifts" this year. I don't know if I should separate them. Gah. I never knew categorization was so hard until I did this.
DeleteI think you might hate me if I tell you I just paid my credit card bill this morning and, it was a whopping $4.84. And then, I had to look to see what it was for (a drink). Household bills is another matter. That all comes out of our joint account which is a whole other story.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I put everything I can on my credit card so that I get points. I do not think I will ever see a credit card bill that low. LOL.
DeleteI love reading these posts, Engie! I've been saying this for a few years, but Holy Cow, everything is so expensive! My big expense was going to Costco for paper towels, T.P., tissue, laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, and Lysol. It was $200 for just basic stuff, not even anything fun.
ReplyDeleteYeah, we do not splurge at Costco. We rarely buy anything that isn't food or paper products like you say. *sigh* It's so much! But we gotta live, you know?
DeleteWell, at least next winter's clothing expenses should be a lot lower!
ReplyDeleteI don't blame you for throwing away the towels. We had mice get into the garage where we were storing items before buying a house in town and had to toss a bunch of stuff, too. I'm still annoyed about that.
I just knew my husband would never ever ever use those towels ever again. And I'm not sure I would have blamed him.
Deletemice!!! eep! I think they are everywhere right now. We had (have?) a mouse in our sun room. And there have been *many* mouse sighting in the theatre this past month. There was an all staff memo sent out about mouse prevention.
ReplyDeleteI can't even think of what I spent money on last month, it was such a blur...I don't tend to spend a lot of money when I'm in a busy work season - so maybe my most money was spent on paying a phone bill. I should have spent more money on Christmas cards. Still working on those....
If I had mice at work, I would LOSE MY TINY MIND. There is a problem with fly clusters in our building, though, so that's also very gross. *sigh*
DeleteI was thinking about our grocery spending and I think the reason it seems shockingly low to you is because we are not eating every meal in our house like you guys do/Mr. BB has to. Phil goes into the office 4-5 times/week and buys lunch every day (but typically spends less than $10 because he just gets a sandwich from Potbelly each day). I eat at least one lunch out but if I am traveling which is about 6-8 nights/month, all of my meals are on the company's dime. So that's how we get off with spending so little on food. But we definitely spent A LOT more than usual in November since I had to buy a lot of groceries for my Thanksgiving sides + food to host our family for Taco's bday.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest expense for November, though, was my annual contribution to the Twin Cities United Way. That's the charity that I give the most to because I feel like they can support the various needs of the metro area (housing insecurity, food, education, etc).
Hmmmm...I guess if we did take out one person's lunch every weekday and someone's every meal for 6-8 days a month, it would cut into our food budget. But you're feeding FOUR people on about half of what we are for two!
DeleteDamn your groceries are expensive. Wow. I do not want to trade.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it crazy that the wardrobe always gives out entirely at the same time. For me it is like about three or four ¥ears i have to replace a lot of stuff. Like last year I added all summer clothing. I am good this year but I think next xear a lot of winter stuff need replacement.
I guess it makes sense that everything wears out at once if we buy at all at once, but that doesn't make it harder to swallow the high cost all at once!
DeleteI hate when I have spendy months like this (although I had to laugh about eating lunch out TWICE; that would be a good month for me! Hahasob) But life is gonna life, so what are you gonna do?! Sometimes, we just need to spend the money.
ReplyDeleteI so rarely eat out that I super enjoyed my random lunches that I did not have to prepare. I know a lot of people eat out more than I do, but honestly the cost is so much! Although, looking at our grocery bills, I'm not sure we're saving that much buy preparing our own food.
DeleteI think my biggest spend in November was about $500 to host Thanksgiving, though about $175 of that was for 3 nice bottles of wine. Still, $325 for one meal for 6 people is a lot. Oh well, it doesn't happen but once a year.
ReplyDeleteI keep thinking I want a dog, and then I am reminded of vet bills and prescriptions and I console myself with my lack of dog by thinking of all of the money I'm saving. My life is sometimes about silver linings.
Dogs are a two-edged sword. So much fun! So much love! So much time outside! But, you're totally right that there are vet bills and worry about sickness and it's all very hard sometimes. I am not sure we'll ever get another dog after Hannah, so I'm trying to enjoy every second I have with her, even when it's not all rainbows.
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