What I spent: September 2017

Tracking our spending has many benefits. It keeps us accountable and also shines light on tricker budgeting categories, like travel spending and home decor spending.

In September I traveled to San Diego with my book club. Usually when we travel we designate all spending as “travel.” Because of course you’re going to eat out while traveling and spend money on activities and sights.

To be conservative, I’m including my San Diego spending here in my personal allowance spending to be transparent. I think spending ~$120 during a three day trip is pretty good. Including it does immediately put me over budget for the month but I’m okay with that since I had planned to spend this money while in San Diego.

I also did some home decor shopping this month to the tune of $67. Spending money on home decor feels like a bit of a tricky budgeting category and I’d love to hear your thoughts. On the one hand, I am purchasing things for our home so perhaps it should come out of our “home supplies” budget. On the other hand, Chris would not choose to spend this money which makes it different than home supplies like air filters, lightbulbs, and the like. So maybe it is my personal spending. 

Chris and I actually chatted a little about home decor spending in our recent Matrimoney episode. We decided that in 2018 we should designate an annual home decor budget separate from personal allowance spending and home supplies spending. That way there is allowance for the spending but it’s an amount that we have both agreed to.

I’m already looking forward to our 2017 budgeting review and 2018 budgeting summit in December!

What I spent in September:

$105.60 – three dinners and a coffee out while in San Diego with my book club. I would highly recommend Ironside in Little Italy.

$15.60 – groceries at Trader Joe’s while in San Diego.

$9 – DO GOOD WORK print that I’ve had my eye on for awhile which went on sale.

$55 – Befriend Gin workshop with Iconic Cocktail Co.

$15.43 – breakfast at Snooze for a friend’s birthday.

$11.75 – fall drinks for Erica and me while fall decor shopping.

$67.85 – fall decor at Home Goods: cozy blanket, wooden leaf dish, two picture frames, bird candle holder.

 

Total spent in September: $280.23 out of $100 budgeted.

 

August $204.48 out of $100 budgeted.

July $74.39 out of $100 budgeted.

June $92.32 out of $100 budgeted.

May $92.21 out of $100 budgeted.

April $117.18 out of $100 budgeted.

March $101.35 out of $100 budgeted

February 2017: $78.57 of $100 budgeted

January 2017: $126.25 of $150 budgeted

 

9 responses to “What I spent: September 2017”

  1. Dawn Avatar
    Dawn

    Hi Kelsey! Re the home decor question, we have a category devoted to decor but I call it “House and Home” because I wanted it to encompass more than just decor. It’s kind of a catch-all for anything needed for the house that doesn’t truly fit into the “House Supplies” category (things you use/buy on a pretty regular basis). Some examples of what I have categorized as House and Home are: paint, multiple-use paint supplies (drop cloth, paint brushes etc), book ends for open shelving, and upholstery fabric for recovering a bench. I have a list of other items to save up for since we don’t put much into this category each month. Slow decorating happening over here 😉

    Reply
    1. Kelsey Avatar
      Kelsey

      I really like this idea and I think we’ll implement something similar in 2018 – thanks for the inspiration!

      Reply
  2. Meg Avatar
    Meg

    Home decor can be so tricky! My husband wouldn’t spend on decor either, but he does like it when the house looks nice and cozy so….

    What we do is have a groceries budget and a home maintenance budget. We tend to put things that other people would separate out into a different budget line in with groceries, like cleaners, toilet paper, etc. Home maintenance usually encompasses things like light bulbs, boiler repair, and decor, budget pending. I do usually mention my desired decor purchases to my husband first so it’s not a surprise, but I consider the occasional seasonal decor item to be me maintaining my home.

    Reply
    1. Kelsey Avatar
      Kelsey

      Oooo I like that perspective – seasonal decor as maintaining the home. And yes – communication is key, especially on spending where you might not see eye to eye.

      Reply
  3. Rachel Cassinat Avatar
    Rachel Cassinat

    Hi Kelsey! This may just be the food nerd in me, but it looks like from your San Diego spending you only ate out for dinner, and your TJ groceries were for other meals/snacks during the days you were out of town. I’d love to know what your go-to grocery items are while traveling to avoid eating out for multiple meals a day! Plus $15.60 sounds like such a killer grocery store total!

    Hope all is well in AZ, sending love from NC!

    Reply
    1. Kelsey Avatar
      Kelsey

      I was thinking of a blog post about snacks/food for travel. Alas I’m not finding much blogging time lately! But here’s a quick list: instant oatmeal, cheese and crackers, Clif Bars, PB&J + bread, and a couple of fun things like the dar choice PB cups (OMG) and cheddar/caramel corn. There were also 8 other women at the house so there was lots of food to go around!

      Reply
  4. Victoria the Justice Pirate Avatar
    Victoria the Justice Pirate

    Awesome!!!

    Reply
  5. Julie Avatar
    Julie

    I also struggle with where to put home decor budget items! I don’t do it often and usually at the dollar store, but I usually put it in Groceries/Home Supplies. I also keep track of “non-food” items in that line item so I know our “true” grocery budget. I like the idea of a “House and Home” line item since I usually put paint and such in “Home Maintenance”. Just sounds easier, especially as we finally get more into investing in our home (only 3.5 years in!). I love knowing I’m not the only budget nerd out there!

    Thanks for these posts! I love them (and also wondering if you’ve thought more about adding your restaurant/date night spending?)!

    Reply
    1. Kelsey Avatar
      Kelsey

      So glad you like them! Maybe starting in my 2018 budget posts I’ll do a more expanded version. I really like the idea – it’s weirdly type A of me but then I think I’d need to change the series name to what we spent or just mostly spending and I’d rather do it with a fresh start – ha! Little insight into my brain 😉

      Reply

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