Spending:
Category - Oct Spending/YTD Spending: Context. I do not include any bills in my spending, as I do not have the ability to adjust them in the short term, this is all discretionary spending.
Alcohol - 0/$279.80: I don't think I am going to keep this as a separate category for next year - I clearly don't spend a lot of money here, on a regular basis. I'm ok with it skewing my grocery category in the instances that I do buy something.
Car/Gas - $2.15/$474.04: just some parking meters this month. I do need to get gas this weekend though, I am down just under a quarter of a tank.
Clothing - $86.92/$1518.91: I'm still pretty pleased with where this category is, even though I've loosened the rules I placed on myself at the start of the year. As I continue losing wieight, I need to replace clothing. As long as I do so in an economical way, and not at the expense of paying bills or making progress on debt, then I am fine with it. I am not willing to live below my standards to pay my debt.
Dining/Entertainment - $190.66/$1979.13: this, however, is a category that needs to calm down lol. This is sadly only on meal out, plus a Kindle book (entertainment)....the rest is delivery which is always overpriced and not nearly worth it. I meal prep like a champ, and so when I am giving myself a break of a meal, sometimes it goes too far. Need to find a happy medium here.
Education - 0/$1022.59: I'll never be mad at this category! This accounts for any out of pocket costs I incur in the pursuit of my degree, that are not covered by student loans. Not so bad for the progress I've made so far this year. I expect next year and 2023 to be far less, since I won't be paying for the credit by exam study resources, and most of my classes seem to be using free resources as texts. 65% of the YTD amount also includes a laptop and associated software that will not need replacing through the course of my degree.
Gifts - $27.36/$574.50: split a condolence/housewarming plant with my best friend for my other best friend, when she had to put her cat to sleep as she was moving back into her newly renovated apartment. I'm expecting this category to jump a bit as I do holiday shopping, I only buy for my mom and brother/sister.
Grocery/Household/Toiletries - $614.16/$5391.52: always a big one. Still a little higher than I would like, but there are also a lot of sub-categories wrapped into here. I either need to adjust my expectations for 2022 or start getting more granular.
Medical - $343.78/$965.23: this includes a few co-pays, a few prescription refills, and the bulk of it is a consult fee I needed to pre-pay for a plastic surgeon I am hoping to work with. If I decide to go with him (won't know til next year), the $200 gets credited towards my procedures. If I decide to cancel before the consult (currently scheduled for July, but seriously hoping that gets moved up to February!), then the fee will be refunded.
Miscellaneous - $31.72/$585.65: this was a table top Christmas tree from Traget and an electronic greeting card for one of my direct reports on her birthday.
Office Supplies - 0/$106.92: still holding strong on ink and such. I think this is pretty good considering I work from home, am a full time student, and print a lot of stuff.
Personal Care - $567.52/$2005.21: this was a bigger month - hair appointment for color which is pricey, a mani/pedi with Mama and it was my turn to pay, and I had another pre-piad appointment for which I gave a cash tip. On top of that, I got a piercing, and bought some jewelry for other piercings at the same time, and didn't feel like separating that out.
Pet - $101.42/$1036.39: same ole same ole. Food, litter, toys. I haven't started dipping into the pet sinking fund for anything yet, I am hoping to be able to cash flow their daily needs, and keep the sinking fund set aside for vet bills as they come up.
Subscriptions - $12.98/$339.32: easy month here. Just my monthly iCloud, and a DashPass, which saves me money, a fairly significant amount, on DoorDash orders. I need to cut those down and then I will re-evaluate if I want to keep this.
Travel - ($95.68)/$2206.69: back in July when I went to Chicago for a long weekend, I got an offer to upgrade on one of my flights to first class for $95.68. I said yes, I paid for it, and the charge never posted. While I am completely willing to pay for it should they come looking, I've done my part here haha. So I reversed the charge from my spending, since at this point, I have not incurred it.
Grand Total - $1882.99/$18485.90: this month was a middle of the road month as far as totals go. This is the first year I've ever tracked spending like this, and I find it so helpful. I'll be interested to see where I finish the year out.
Summary:
As per usual, this does not include the 401k contribution/loan payments from my last paycheck of the month. Since I am a day behind in writing this post, was hoping they'd have posted by now, but no luck.
Debt continues to go down. Savings continue to go up. I've re-grouped my savings accounts (again), as I consolidated down to far fewer accounts now that I am done with bank account bonuses for the year. The sinking funds are lower than last month, because I made a large purchase yesterday that I've been saving up for. But in the same breath, I received the check for my school tax rebate, and was able to send a good chunk of it to savings. I'll likely need to dip into that before the end of the year to get new tires, but I've known about that for a while now, so it's not a surprise. I'm getting really close to the 401k hitting 100% growth this year (in fact, should happen whenever the stuff from Friday's check posts!) 401k loan #1 should be paid off right after the start of the new year (depending on how quickly I get my tuition reimbursement for the fall semester), and that'll also be a good start on loan #2. I plan to start trying to refnance my mortgage in March or so, taking enough out to pay off the New Credit America loan. I am not planning on having this mortgage for more than another 2 years so I am comfortable with that. This will free up a lot of cash flow every month to deal with plastics, tackling the rest of my debt, and starting to save for my next down payment. Everything really feels like it's come together from where I started the year, and I couldn't be more pleased.