By Chloe Daniels / 8 minutes of reading
What I spend in a month varies, but as we approached the holidays in October, my October 2020 spending report definitely reflected that. In this post, I’ll cover everything I spent money on in October 2020, and I’ll share the mistakes, money updates, and I’ll also announce some big news when it comes to my financial independence, retire early journey.
Hey fam! It’s been a while. I took a break at the end of 2020 to take care of my mental and physical health after a year of total sh*t globally. The cabin fever has certainly gotten to me over the last couple of months, so I needed the break to recalibrate and get the energy to keep on keeping on!
Anywho, what did I do in the last two months?
Well, it’s November 30th as I’m writing this (yes, I know this is coming out in January 2021) and so far I’ve done a lot of Netflix watching (Queen’s Gambit, anyone?), I’ve read some, I’ve spent a lot of time with my boyfriend, I’ve cooked a MASSIVE thanksgiving dinner for three, and done some macrame as well as a little bit of this and a little bit of that. It’s been good! But seeing as it’s now November 30, 2020– I’ve been on break for about 30 days and really need something to focus on again.
So? I’m prepping things for Clo Bare in January– hence this post.
You may be wondering… Why am I posting an October 2020 spending report in January 2021?
Because I like the consistency of having every spending report on my blog so that if you want to binge read everything I’ve spent money on, you can do that. Plus, it’s just cool having everything I’ve spent money on for the last couple of years up on the Bare. I want to continue that vibe.
So ANYWAY, let’s get to it, shall we?
What I Spend in a Month by the Category
New Category: Emergency Fund
Did you see that fancy new category there? That’s my fancy emergency fund category so that I can be sure I’m saving for an emergency every month.
Pretty cool, eh? I want to get my emergency savings account up to $10k again which is about 4 months of emergency expenses if I lost my job. I think I’d like to get that number up to $13,000 so that I have closer to 5 months saved.
This is a great way to keep track of your savings if you’re struggling to make it happen every month. Treat your savings like an expense and pay your savings as SOON as you get paid and don’t allow yourself to touch that sh*t, fam.
Read more about emergency funds on “The Ultimate Guide to Emergency Funds.”
October 2020 f*ck-Ups Explained
Entertainment
You caught me. And you’ll see it in November and December’s spending reports too– I’m still spending quite a bit on entertainment. I’m not proud of it, but honestly?
I’m giving myself a bit of leeway on these last months of the year because it’s been a rough year. There’s not a lot of fun extras happening because we are STILL quarantined. So if I want to spend a little extra on a nice dinner now and then, within reason?
I’m okay with that.
It’s funny looking back at October’s spending report when the virus wasn’t as rampant as it is now. Just a month ago, we were able to eat in restaurants and it was still nice out so we were able to go to things like Goebbert’s pumpkin farm.
Ah, what a time. Now it’s back to hunkering down in our homes. Hopefully by the time you read this, it’s a little bit better than it’s been in the last few months.
Travel
Now, travel looks like a f*ck up but actually it’s not. In October, T and I planned a trip to Arizona for the first week in December.
Read about my last trip to Arizona here.
The virus seemed to be doing better and life seemed like it was slowly turning back to normal– but the trip has since been cancelled. I don’t know what I was thinking, trying to plan a trip in 2020!
Anyway, most of the trip was refundable but we did end up losing about $260 each. Not great, but at the same time, we feel better knowing we’re doing the right thing by not being part of the problem in spreading the virus.
Maybe 2021 will be our year.
Special Occasions
Special Occasions had an expensive month, although not really a f*ck-up. We were able to do something fun for my mom’s birthday in October so that’s where most of the expenses came from. We went to a craft bar where we could, while socially distanced from other parties, drink and craft! It was great, the kind of heart filling greatness that I need more of in my life right now.
Dating
Dating was better! I only spent $90 in October 2020 on dating instead of $150 like I did in September 2020 and not ALL of that was on food. We went to a pumpkin patch! And we also got pizza and snacks for movie night.
Improvement? Kind of?
Anyway, that’s the random assortment of f*ck-ups. All in all, it was an expensive month with the “travel” expenses in there, but we ended up getting the majority of that back so it was actually not as expensive as it looks at first glance.
On to the spending report, shall we?
What I Spend in a Month: October 2020 Spending Report
9/25/2020
- $60.00, Groceries– Groceries
- $30.00, snacks for date night and weekend–Dating
9/27/2020
- $50.00, McDonalds and drinks– Special Occasions
- $56.00, Lyft–Transportation
- $100.00, Wedding gift– Special Occasions
9/28/2020
- $35.00, Grubhub– Entertainment
- $25.00, instacart snacks– Entertainment
9/29/2020
- $1,010.00, student loans– Debt
9/30
- $40.00, skin care– Personal
- $74.00, f*ck Oak Park parking– Parking
10/2/2020
- $45.00, Flowers for KB’s birthday– Special Occasions
- $1,419.00, Rent– Home
10/3/ 2020
- $11.00, GSuite– Clo Bare
- $23.00, Nicor– Utilities/Cell Phone
- $10.00, Biden campaign–Donation
- $35.00, Goebberts– Dating
10/5/2020
- $65.00, Groceries– Groceries
- $55.00, Dinner with Sarah– Entertainment
10/6
- $22.00, wine and chocolate– Groceries
10/9
- $2,200.00, Emergency Fund Transfer– Emergency Fund
- $34.00, socks and underwear– Personal
- $77.00, Aldi– Groceries
10/11/2020
- $25.00, pizza– Dating
- $100.00, cell phone– Utilities/Cell Phone
10/13
- $42.00, crest whitening– Personal
10/14/2020
10/16/2020
- $35.00, beer for Sydney– Entertainment
10/17
- $30.00, book for mom and game– Entertainment
10/17
- $35.00, craft moms birthday– Special Occasions
- $74.00, xfinity– Utilities/cell phone
10/19
- $16.00, jacaranda hot barre– Health/medical
10/21/2020
- $20.00, biden campaign– Donation
- $33.00, Comed– Utilities/cell phone
- $23.00, flights for phoenix– Travel
- $130.00, Car Rental (Cancelled but still had to pay)–Travel
- $95.00, Cabin (Cancelled, but leftover amount paid)– Travel
Debt and Savings By the Numbers: October 2020
- Total Spent in October 2020 (minus travel adjustments, debt, and emergency fund): $2,973
- % After-Tax Income Spent on Debt: 18%
- % After-Tax Income Saved: 36%
- % After-Tax Income Spent: 48%
Savings
- Cash: $8,300
- Real Estate Investment: $43.9k
- 401(K): $65k
- Total Savings= $117,200
Total Debt= $30,500
Net Worth= $86,700
So good seeing those numbers go up!
I’m going to skip goals for the next couple of months, because quite frankly, I need to just chill and not worry AS much about my spending. It’s the holidays, and I’m okay with loosening the reigns just slightly for a few months. Once January hits, I’ll be back on track in a real way, but before I sign off, I do want to mention some news and change to my FIRE journey.
NEWS: I’m not paying extra on debt anymore.
I’ve decided that I’m not going to focus on being debt free anymore.
What?! Isn’t this WHOLE FIRE experience built on becomming debt free by the time I’m 33?!
I know. You’re shocked, I’m shook. Who am I even?
I’ll make a longer post explaining why I’m making this change in the future, but for now the simple answer is that the interest rate on my debt is SO low that it doesn’t make sense for me to pay it off early. It actually makes more sense for me to invest it so that I can use that money to make myself more money.
So that’s what I’m doing.
The good thing is even with me not making extra payments on my debt right now, I’ll still have my debt paid off in a few years. My very last payment date will be 06/27/2025. That’s only four years! In the meantime, I can focus on using money to build wealth instead of worrying about less than $30k that has a low-ass interest rate of 3.5%.
What will I be investing in?
That is something I’ll share in a future post!
In the meantime, let this be a lesson in changing our minds. Sometimes we make decisions thinking we know everything we need to know about the decision we’re about to make– and then? We learn more. We receive new information. And with all that new information, we change our minds.
That’s called growth, not weakness.
Your Turn: Any surprise expenses last month?
What all did you have going on in the last couple of months? Any surprise expenses? Share in the comments below.
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