To keep tabs on my monthly budget, I promised to check in at least twice a month. So here’s where I’m at so far this month….
My goal is to save $3,000 this month after expenses.
INCOME: $2700
Rent: $630 / $630
Personal Care: $145 / $150
Food & Dining: $310 / $350
Auto & Transport: $155 / $200
Shopping: $107 / $150
Bills: $0 / $150
Entertainment: $0 / $150
Health & Fitness: $75 / $100
Gifts: $0 / $100
Travel: $0 / $50
Fees: $12 / $20
Education: $0
———————-
$1478 / $2053 spent
Despite thinking I had succeed at a frugal March, it turns out I spent ~$6300 over the course of the month. This means April is going to be fiscally conservative, and I need to stick to a carefully planned budget (to be defined in my next post.)
In the meantime, here is a breakdown of what cost me so much this month…
| Personal Care | $4,348.10 (laser hair removal) |
|---|---|
| Food & Dining | $646.10 (eeks!) |
| Home | $632.50 (rent) |
| Shopping | $292.16 |
| Bills & Utilities | $280.12 |
| Health & Fitness | $192.43 |
| Auto & Transport | $164.89 |
| Uncategorized | $50.00 |
| Fees & Charges | $14.25 |
| Entertainment | $9.81 |
| TOTAL | $6630.36 |
April is going to be a month of discipline. At least this month the majority of my spending was on the one-time fee for unlimited laser hair removal ($4300.) But the amount I spent on dining was ridiculous. And it’s not like I went out often or had extravagant dining experiences.
This is how my restaurant spending ($440) broke down…
| Mar 29 | Neiman Marcus | Restaurants | –$56.18 | high tea with friends |
| Mar 29 | Tokyo Go Go | Restaurants | –$84.74 | shared sushi with aunt, cousin. water. |
| Mar 29 | Little Chihuahua | Restaurants | –$12.50 | breakfast with friend |
| Mar 28 | Benissimo Italian Pizz | Restaurants | –$47.73 | dinner with aunt, entree, shared bottle of wine |
| Mar 25 | Max | Restaurants | –$24.64 | dinner for bf, appetizer for me, water |
| Mar 22 | Bangkok Bay | Restaurants | –$49.76 | thai dinner for boyfriend and I |
| Mar 11 | BJ’s Restaurant | Restaurants | –$64.58 | bf’s birthday dinner & his drinks. I didn’t eat. |
| Mar 7 | Cha-am Thai Restaurant | Restaurants | –$36.06 | dinner in city with friend |
| Mar 1 | Morocco Restaurant Restaurant | Restaurants | –$70.63 | nice date dinner with boyfriend |
At least my rent cost is still low compared to my income, so I can get away with months like this. Sure, I spent more than I made, but I make it up on other months (as long as you keep me away from the mall!!!) I’m worried about moving, and spending more money on rent this summer. Ok, time to figure out my April budget… coming up next…
Four separate checks were brought to our table, with four separate pens with the elegant Neiman Marcus logo scripted on their sides in gold ink. Two hours of quality social interaction was ready to be swiped on my credit card bill for $44 plus tip.
The $44 wasn’t about to put me in debt, but the cost of my social weekend was adding up. Most of my weekends are spent hibernating in my apartment and being a couch potato, which is probably for the better, because once I get out I end up spending way too much money.
My expensive weekend started on Saturday night, when I had dinner with my aunt. We split a bottle of wine and each had an entree. The cost of that meal was split, and put a $50 something charge on my account.
The next morning, I drove to the city, and borrowed $20 from my aunt for a $6 bridge toll (which ended up costing me a lot more than $20 in repayment… I’ll explain in a minute.) I spent $12 on breakfast meeting with a friend, and then went to a coffee shop to get some work done and waste a few hours before another dinner with my aunt, along with my cousin and their friend. But a good friend saw a Facebook update of mine that mentioned I was in the city and called me with an invite to high tea at Neiman Marcus. A fan of tea, high tea, and friends, not to mention jealous of all the women who were at the coffee shop with their own Sex & the City cliques, I immediately accepted the invite, not thinking of the expense.
So I drove across the city and found a free spot on the street about a half mile from Union Square. I felt giddy on the walk down to the restaurant, excited for this random invite to high tea with my friend that I hadn’t seen in ages and two women who I hadn’t met yet.
The tea menu had three options, starting at $37. Then there were two more expensive options with champagne. I didn’t need champagne, but as the other women decided on it (the mid priced option) I figured we’d end up splitting the bill anyway, so I might as well indulge. And the entire experience was so worth it — the conversation, the tiny tea sandwiches (which I scarfed down despite not being hungry), the champagne, the delicious fruity black tea… and at that point my weekend had added up to about $110 for dinner, breakfast and lunch, not counting the cost of gas. And the women I had tea with weren’t about to spend that much on tea the next weekend — we all discussed making this a seasonal thing, with our next high tea at another restaurant tentatively scheduled for June.
After tea, I went straight to dinner at a sushi place. I wasn’t hungry at all at that point, but everyone decided it would be best to share a few rolls. They were really good, so I had some of the sushi, when I shouldn’t have even eaten anything more at that point. Dinner was enjoyable, and I was so happy to be having one great social experience after another… when normally I’m depressed due to being a hermit or nervous due to being in awkward large social experiences where I don’t know how to interact with people. That dinner, however, ended up costing me something like $70. My aunt brought up that I owe her $20… which I did… and I paid the bill plus tip, which came out to something around $84. She gave me $13 cash.
So my social life this weekend cost me $200. One thing I’ve been thinking is how much more money I would spend if I move to the city… not just on an apartment, but on all the things I will do (and eat.) At least living in the burbs makes it impossible for me to have the opportunities to spend a lot on being social… well, mostly because my friends all live in the city. But then… what’s life without these experiences? I’m making $90k a year and I feel guilty for spending money… I’ve become such a miser. And despite not exactly saving as much as I could, I’m also greatly limiting my life experiences right now so I may have enough money to live in retirement. It’s a major trade off.. and I’m starting to think a social life today… and my happiness today… may be more valuable than an extra couple thousand dollars down the road. What do you think? How much money do you spend on your social life?
My sister apparently got detention with 3/4ths of her senior class for coming to school late today to get free pancakes at iHop. While that deal’s offer, you can still take advantage of the free food deals popping up at restaurants and fast food joints across the country.
Some are country wide offers and others are local, here are 10 free food offers across the US to take advantage of during this nasty recession.
1. Free Sub — USA
Get a free sub from Quiznos; all you have do to is sign up for their mailing list and print a coupon.
See: Quiznos(R) to Give Away One Million Subs on MillionSubs.com
2. Lunch for Layoffs — Alabama
Recently got laid off? Hungry? All you have to do to qualify is bring with you proof that you were recently laid off and you’ll be provided with a free lunch at Dothan restaurant in Alabama. Nick Nitkowski, owner of D’Monico’s said, “We are going to make sure they get a good hot meal, something to drink, bread and pats on the back and to let them know things will be better in the near future.” Domonico’s serves lunch from 11 am until 4 pm, Monday through Friday.
3. Economic Stimulus Package – California, Iowa, and Other Locales
Salt Creek Grille – Dana Point’s premiere dining destination – has created the Salt Creek Grille Economic Stimulus Package – a bailout plan that offers a random free meal to unsuspecting customers, a reduced-price award-winning Sunday brunch and special discounts during the week. In Iowa, Islamorada Fish Co.’s restaurant owner has a similar “surprise free meal” plan to lure in customers.
4. Free Buffet – New York
Union Restaurant and Bar Latino in Haverstraw, New York, will open their doors to serve complimentary buffet meals from Monday to Wednesday. Owners of Union Restaurant and Bar Latino, David Martinez and Paulo Feteira, said they decided to hold the event to welcome those who can’t afford to dine in a nice restaurant because of the current financial crisis.
5. Free Spaghetti - USA
Fazoli’s, known for fast, fresh Italian food, kicks off its 20th anniversary celebration today with a feast of special offers, including a continuation of its popular free spaghetti promotion and nearly a dozen delectable new menu items, all of which are now baked fresh to order.
When I exclaimed to my roommates “let’s have a dinner party!”… I certainly wasn’t thinking about cost. Last night, we had about 15 people over (including us) who we fed and entertained for the evening. It was a really lovely gathering, a holiday event dubbed the J-Food Dinner party were we served a mix of Jewish food and Japanese food (don’t ask.)
But the bill came out to be way more than I expected. Not that I thought that through when I decided to have a dinner party, or when my roommate and I invited enough people to have to feed a small country.
Problem with throwing dinner parties is that you’re never sure how many people are really going to make it. You need to invite a few extras just to make sure you’re not sitting alone with all the food you make.
So between all the dishes we made, it cost about $300. I ended up buying $50 worth of frozen blintz at the last minute because I ran out of time to cook, and sadly bought the ingredients to actually cook them fresh as well – but that was only a few extra eggs and a lot of creme cheese, like $10 worth.
My boyfriend also decided to cook up this mushroom tart that we learned how to cook at my work’s holiday party the day before. It was a Whole Foods cooking party, which was awesome, but of course they used expensive ingredients and in order to recreate our delicious tart he had to buy all these things… pastry shells, wild mushrooms, Camembert cheese, sherry… all of that added up.
And then there was the hummus and baba ganosh for an appetizer and bread, and the two bottles of wine (not to mention the other two bottles we already had) that got served. And a few bottles of martenelli’s cider for the non alcohol drinkers. And all the latke ingredients, which my roommate bought, that I owe her for… about $60 worth (that’s included in the $300 total).
Ultimately $300 for a party of 15 people isn’t that bad, I guess. But it’s still… $300. The same $300 I’m not making this month because my uncle’s marketing firm had to cut back on its freelance budget. Yea, exactly $300.
Well, at least I’ve made $75 thus far in my posts for that tech blog I’m writing for about twice a week. I’m going to have to really turn up the posting on that so I can make up for lost costs. My next paycheck is going to rent, paying my boyfriend back (I owe him about $900 now including the cost of food for this party, he charged it since my credit card is missing), bills, taxes, and that’s about it. I hope people don’t mind that this Christmas I’m going to be a bit short on gifts. At least I bought my one really good friend a dishwasher for her birthday earlier this year (split with my boyfriend as a gift for her new kitchen) but still – she can’t complain that i’m not getting her a gift. I should get my roommates something but… that might have to come with the next paycheck.
My “stable” job is still on the rocks. It’s looking ok… but I’m not sure. They’re letting go all the contractors besides me, which is really sad for those contractors and rather uncomfortable for me. My contract isn’t up until the end of Jan, so at that point they’ll have to decide how valuable I am to the team. I think I’ve proven my dedication – I’ve been there for over a year now, but in this economic climate anything is possible. And I’m a little worried. I’m hoping for a full time job with health benefits (!!!) but expecting the worst. And the worst case scenerio is that I can write up to 5 posts for this tech blog a week, making about $500 a month, which covers a large chunk of rent. Then I seek out other freelance positions… since the full time job market seems non-existent in my field at this point.
Probably not the best time to throw a $300 dinner party, huh?