February Spending Recap

and March reset

taken on the reservoir loop in Central Park in early February

This past month was so cold even the rats weren’t out on the streets anymore. It felt like New York City was making up for the last few mild winters by keeping the temperature below freezing and dumping snow every few days on us. But the city has a whole new feel now that everything is thawing out.

The wildest thing that happened to me this month wasn’t walking through the multiple snowfalls in Central Park, but coming home at 10pm to both sinks in my apartment flooded with backed-up water, and my super and an emergency plumber fixing the issue by 11pm. Sometimes, being a renter is pretty nice.

I was very curious to see how my spending would vary this month since this was the first month in a while of working full-time (and getting full-time, W-2 income). Backstory for newer readers: I left my last full-time, W-2 job last year and funded my lifestyle during that time on my savings and a part-time job. I started a new full-time job in January that I have been loving!

I started tracking my spending in January of last year, and I know that had an impact on my intentional spending, too, but I also know work in the past has caused me to spend more money in my personal life—especially when former jobs I’ve had have been stressful. In general, any part of my life being stressful makes me spend more, but I really see it when I experience work stress, especially when I’m paying for the convenience of something when I’m working longer hours (of course, there is also something to be said about spending money on a convenience that improves your life and is affordable for you, but that’s a separate conversation). I’ve found in the past that I’d spent rashly and not intentionally when I’ve been stressed—getting food delivery after a long work day or buying something quickly online without thinking it through.

I made an effort this month to stay conscious of that, and my spending was only slightly higher than the average of the past few months. I also wanted to avoid lifestyle creep—just because I’m making more money now than I was a few months ago, I was happy with my spending a few months ago and don’t want to increase it just because.

One of my goals with living more intentionally (my ongoing goal for the past 1+ year of writing this blog) is to keep spending intentionally even as my lifestyle changes. I track and share my spending to hold myself accountable to that (and because it’s interesting!).

Fixed Monthly Costs

My fixed costs didn’t change much since last month.

Variable Monthly Costs

1. Dining out: $157.56

   About a third of my dining out budget went to lunch at my office. I go to the office 2-3 times per week and work from home the other days, and I try to bring lunch 1-2 days and get lunch out one day. I’m happy with that balance.

2. Groceries/household: $367.53

   One of my grocery goals was to not waste food, and I’m happy with how I’ve spent there.

3. Transportation: $159.50

   I took one trip home to Connecticut, plus a bunch of subway and bus swipes. I also took the ferry once and paid for a 10-pack, since now it’s finally starting to get warmer out and I think I’ll be taking the ferry more (the 10-pack is a better value).

4. Coffee out: $28.83

   I got coffee out three times. One highlight was grabbing coffee with a group of friends in Greenpoint, one of my favorite neighborhoods.

5. Drinks out: $383.26

   I went out a few times this month, mostly to local neighborhood spots but also had a night out with friends at a couple nice cocktail bars.

6. Hobby/Experience: $301.00

   I got concert tickets to Beyonce and Death Cab for Cutie! I never feel bad for spending on concert tickets because I feel like it’s one of the best things about living in New York City, and I want to take advantage of it.

7. Travel: $105

   I actually paid this expense in January, but forgot to add it in my expenses because it came out of Venmo—I’m attending a friend’s bachelorette later this June, and this was for one night at the Airbnb.

8. Gifts/donations: $89.94

   I got a few gifts this month, plus a couple cards at The Strand (if you live in NYC, I highly recommend them for cards)—I have a box set of generic cards, but I try to pick up cute, unique, individual cards when I can.

9. Clothing/makeup: $252.05

   I bought a couple random clothes for spring, both clothes I can wear out and to the office. Only 7% of my clothing spending was secondhand, which was below my goal.

February Totals:

• Fixed Spending: $2,668.99

• Variable Spending: $1,739.67

• Total Spending: $4,408.66

I track all my spending in my budget tracker. It helps keep my spending more intentional—and helps me maintain control of where my money is going! You can access it for yourself at the paid tier of this newsletter:

Looking Ahead to March

I decided for the next month to try something new: guessing how much I’ll spend in each category. I’ve written before about how I don’t like budgeting forward, but honestly, I’ve never really tried it out. I don’t even know if I’ll call this a budget—I’m going to write these numbers down, and then probably not look at them for a month until I write my next month’s reflections. This is just an experiment to see if I can even accurately guess a month ahead!

1. Dining out: $180

   I think I’ll spend more on dining out this month than previous months, with the weather getting warmer and having more plans with friends.

2. Groceries/household: $350

   I don’t expect to need many household goods, but I’m already low on groceries with the month just starting.

3. Transportation: $150

   I expect to have one train ride home to visit family, plus the usual subway and bus rides.

4. Coffee out: $20

   I don’t expect to spend too much here.

5. Drinks out: $300

   With the weather getting warmer, I’m expecting this spending to increase like dining out.

6. Health: $700

   I have an eye doctor appointment this month, and I expect to pay a copay and buy contacts and new glasses.

7. Hobby/experience: $0

   I am sure I will spend money here, but I genuinely have no plans to, so I’ll keep this $0 for no— it’s hard to predict how much a ticket will be when I don’t know what events might pop up!

8. Travel: $400

   I’m expecting to spend more in travel than I have the past couple months—I have a bachelorette party in August for a friend out of state, and I need to buy my flight.

9. Gifts/donations: $20

   My mom’s birthday is this month, but I already got her present. I might get something else small, or something for friends’ birthdays in April and May.

10. Clothing/makeup: $300

    I’ve been eyeing a few new things for the spring, and I also plan to buy new running sneakers this month.

11. Pet: $30

    I’m running low on cat litter, so I’ll buy that and maybe some new toys for my cat, Tompkins.

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