My Frugal Miser - September Expenses: $3,347

Overall September was a very frugal month.  Working as much as I did, I didn't have time to spend money on anything.  In August I pre-paid for Shell gas, and my fuel bill for September was just $12.  Every month I take a depreciation expense to recognize the loss of value of my car.  This is a non-cash expense and is based on the mileage used during the month.

We spent a week in Las Vegas, and during the trip I hit my first Royal Flush on video poker.  I was playing a quarter machine and won $1,000.  I managed to hold onto half of that and used the casino's cash to play with the rest of the week.

I've gone way over my goal for limiting vacation spending this year.  In September, I made two large purchases towards 2017 vacations:  flights to Iceland and Amsterdam and a cruise.

Food spending benefited from the refund from Nutrisystem.  I returned the second shipment of food they sent since I still haven't started on the first month's shipment.

September Expenses:  $3,347

$1,064 Auto ($12 gas, $4 repairs/maintenance, $1,049 depreciation)

$0 Bank Fees
$7 Clothing

$0 Computer

($147) Entertainment (movies, gambling, alcohol) income this month

$33 Food

$16 Gifts Given

$127 Household/Housing/Home Repair

$52 Health and Dental Insurance

$0 Investment Expense
$117 Interest Expense*

$25 Medical/Dental

$10 Miscellaneous

$60 Personal Care

$1 Subscriptions

$0 Taxes
$127 Uber/Lyft Expenses (excluding fuel and depreciation)

$160 Utilities

$1,694 Vacation

*Interest expense includes student loans and the loan on my car.  As both rates are below 2%, I am completely comfortable paying the interest each month and investing the money that I would otherwise use to pay off these loans.  In September I paid $103 to E*Trade for "hard to borrow" interest on a short sale of Sears Holdings stock.