I thought it would be curious to start posting my income and expenses, on a monthly basis, both as a point of reference for you readers and as a way for me to publicly keep my shit in line…as best I can. I have to admit, this is probably the weirdest month I could have started on. Me and the Mrs. Bastard just moved into a new place so we’re just getting use to some of the new bills. We also had to pay a doublewhammy in terms of our rent because the security deposit is equal to one full month, effectively making us feel like we paid rent twice. We get it back when we move out of course, but at this point it still feels like another expense…money that up and vanishes like a fart in the wind. Along with the rent situation we had to order “new” internet service, and I also haggled my phone carrier to drop my monthly bill from $55/month down to $40. WIN! I’ll be explaining my “bill paying” philosophy in a later post, so I won’t worry about that now.
Anyway, without further ado, here are the numbers.
INCOME
Paychecks: $1426.59
Tips: $7.35
Other: $235.91 (This includes the odd cash I get from music gigs, and from the Mrs. Bastard when she needs me to order her something with my Visa…it’s a little misleading.)
Interest/Dividends: $64.43
Total: $1734.28
EXPENSES
Food
Juice for Booze: $36.05 (this is the “Cider Fund” for our delicious Frugal Home Brew!)
Coffee/Snacks: $37.14
Groceries: $82.37
Booze: $67.86
Fast Food/Restaurants: $122.20
Bills
Cell Phone: $60.05
Rent: $1121.25
Tenant Insurance: $9.35
Internet: $69.88
Transportation
Taxi Rides: $24
Bike Maintenance: $65.12 (Purchased my first headlight for night time commutes to work! Excited for this thing to arrive!)
Public Transit: $2.75
Home Supplies and Maintenance
Laundry: $10
Kitchen/Bathroom supplies: $19.28
Miscellaneous
College Application Fees: $100
(Whoa! College you say?! YUP. More to come on that one later on.)
Total: $ 1827.30
INVESTMENTS
Questrade TFSA Deposits: $676.55
Alright, so there it is! Now, as I mentioned, this really is a weird month for bills. It looks like I spent more then I earned, but that’s actually not the case. The rent also seems CRAZY! high, but it really isn’t. In Mid-June, when we knew we were moving into this place, the Mrs had a little more disposable income then the Bastard here, so she slammed down $690 to cover the Security Deposit and to hold the place for us. I agreed to pay both of our share of rent for the month of July, to balance it all out. And again, like I mentioned above, I have a particular bill paying/transferring philosophy that I’ll be explaining later. Likely in the next post.
As I’m sure many of you know, moving is always a stressful time. So, some of those expenses were definitely move related! We also had some family down and visiting from Ontario, so we splurged abit on restaurants and alcohol. The Coffee/Snacks department was a little high in my opinion too. We brew up tasty coffee at home, and we can make a batch of delicious popcorn, so there’s no reason to spend that much on frivolous chips, candy, and Tim’s. I’ll blame this one on the buzzes we got from indulging abit too much in store bought alcohol this month! ha.
Even though it was a hectic month I’m still really excited to see that I was able to save and invest $676.55! That’s my favourite part of this whole game. Keeping tabs on what I’m able to save and invest. As soon as the money ends up in the Questrade account I end up picking up more ETF’s, courtesy of Vanguard Canada. So exciting!
Well, that’s it from your friend The Frugster today.
How do my income/expenses compare to yours? Any tips and tricks you care to share?
The FI Guy 