My Frugal Miser - March Expenses: $3,446

Every dollar I spend for expenses today is a dollar that isn't earning me income. So, by not saving that dollar today, I'll have to save several dollars between now and retirement to make up for it.

Until now I have only highlighted the expenses I wanted to set goals around. I thought I should start listing all my expenses each month since I'm already doing that for my income. I may need to tweak some of this in future posts. For example, I've always just deducted rental property expenses from rental income and posted the net income. That's not the way an accountant would do it, but it simplifies things for me and I see little harm in continuing to do it this way. I also fear I will forever have "one-time expenses" that I should more accurately break down into monthly amounts (think auto insurance, which I pay twice a year). That's too much work to do for now.

Without further ado...

March Expenses

$194 Auto ($59 for service, $135 for fuel)
$4 Clothing
$204 Food (both groceries and eating out)
$399 Entertainment (movies, gambling, alcohol)
$2 Home Repair
$483 Household (pest control, fire dues, cleaning supplies, etc.)
$107 Health Insurance
$313 Interest on Debt (not including Mortgage Interest)
$99 Miscellaneous (proof that small teeny tiny expenses really do add up)
$1,293 Mortgage Interest (includes residence and rental properties)
$50 Personal Care (Weight Watchers, hair cut)
$298 Utilities

Total March Expenses : $3,446

Commentary

The household category was way more than normal. I paid my annual fire dues and for the first time ever, I had a professional pest control company come out to my house. I suffered a major reaction from a spider bite (requiring medical attention!) and decided to be extra vigilant in preventing a future bite. I am working extra hard to pay down debt, which will reduce the Interest category. Entertainment was also higher than normal. I went to a casino in March and didn't do well.