There are several interesting notes about September’s income and expenses, but fiirst, here are the details.
My higher salary did not come from an unexpected raise. In September, my company scheduled three paydays. This is almost like “found money” if you budget for two paychecks every month. Sadly, this is not how I do things. The money in the third paycheck is already accounted for.
Income from my side businesses stayed high this month, despite my expectations last month. I’m still not counting any growth in this category.
Somehow, I cut my fuel expenses in half since August. I’m not sure how this happened as the recent drop in gasoline prices couldn’t have accounted for all of that. Perhaps I visited my girlfriend less frequently, but I haven’t been keeping track.
My dining out expenses were up. Eating lunch out with my coworkers is a bit of a financial strain. I like the people I spend the time with, but perhaps I can cut back. The cafeteria is not much less expensive, or even more expensive, than our trips to Wendy’s, but I’ll have to cut back on the days we go to IHOP.
Entertainment expenses were very high this month, thanks mostly due to the Mets games I attended with my girlfriend. We visited the Diamond Club for the first time. It was fun, but not something I’d do too often, particularly more than once a year. Some of that expense also fell in the “Dining Out” category.
My promotional price for high-speed (officially 8 Mbps that performs like 12 Mbps) cable internet has expired, so at some point this month I’ll evaluate my options. My rent expense has normalized to $901 after paying some fees that go along with my lease renewal.
That’s it for this month. What I don’t understand is how, while my numbers look good, I still feel like I don’t have money to spare. I suppose this is due to everything being immediately distributed to various savings accounts. I may be doing this overzealously, and it might come back to bite me in October.
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Better budget for a couple of Mets playoff tickets.
Unfortunately you won’t have to do that anymore…. :(