What I Spent in January 2024: Monthly Reset

What I spent, what I regretted, and what I'll do again

January is a lot of people’s least favorite month—the cold, the darkness, the wind cutting you in two as you walk down the block—but I don’t mind it. There’s some magic in it—even though it’s just a date, I like to be able to reset with the new year, make a new vision board, and realign my goals. This year was an especially reset type of month—I got let go from my full time job the week of Christmas, and my last day there was January 12th.

That is a long story for another post: how the layoff went down, how it’s affecting my finances, and what I’m doing next. This month of January may be the last month for a little while that I’m “in the green” in my finances, and I definitely spent more cautiously, but I also tried to spend more intentionally. And still enjoy myself—I might not be able to do exactly what I want to do at 10am on a Tuesday again, and I want to enjoy it.

For context, I’m a 27 year old living in Manhattan in a small rent stabilized one bedroom walkup apartment with my cat, Tompkins. I broke my spending into eight categories that I’ll review:

1. Dining out: $67.83

   1. I went out to eat a few times this month. I paid on 3 occasions: Sweetgreen with friends, a vegan restaurant with a friend, and breakfast with my sister and her friend. I didn’t spend any money on food out or take out alone, which was great. I find that unfulfilling, but I enjoy dining out with friends, not just for food, but for the experience. I had lunch with my sister and dinner with my old boss that they paid for, which was super nice!

2. Groceries: $569.89

   1. I feel like this number is insanely high as a single person, so let me defend myself. When I got back to the city on December 31st after being home for Christmas, I had no groceries. So on January 1st, I bought a lot of groceries to stock up. I also had a very low dining out budget, and cooked dinner for my friends one night near the end of the month.

3. Transportation: $138.70

   1. I took the train home to Connecticut twice this month, and I took one Uber home late at night after going out. Otherwise, the rest of this cost was a bunch of $2.90 charges between the subway and the bus. I took the ferry, too, but I bought a ten pack of rides in December.

4. Coffee out: $32.63

   1. Usually this number is closer to $100. I will not be accepting criticism at this time. None of these coffees were on the go—they were all enjoyed with a friend or by myself while getting things one (like this substack!) at a coffee shop. No regrets here, and I expect this number to be higher next month (one coffee was bought for me by a sweet friend, thank you!).

5. Drinks out: $345.24

   1. This number is pretty high considering I only drank once per week this month. My sister visited a few times, and we always spend a lot going out. I also spent $82 on drinks out at a bar for my friend Alex’s birthday, but that included the $20 cover to get into the bar with live music and a comedy show (definitely worth it!). And at the last bar, one guy bought me a drink, so that makes it worth it? LOL

6. Health: $747.44

   1. The bulk of this number was from an eye doctor appointment where I got a year’s worth of contacts. I also had my usual $89/month Classpass charge and one one-off Pilates class charge. This number is usually lower for me, but these were necessary expenses. I wanted to fit the eye doctor appointment in before my health insurance changed.

7. Household: $89.33

   1. This included a bunch of random things: renter’s insurance, cat litter, refilling my laundry card. Nothing fun, but all necessary.

8. Hobby/experience: $461.07

   1. This is the fun category! The majority of this was spent on Olivia Rodrigo concert tickets, which my sister paid me back half for. I also spent some money on yarn for crocheting and stickers for journaling. No regrets in this category, but I imagine it will be lower next month since I don’t anticipate buying any more concert tickets.

Monthly Total: $2,452.13

I’m happy with how I spent my money this month. I’d love to find other less expensive things than going out drinking and eating with friends to do, but it’s hard, especially in the winter months, and I don’t want to miss out on those times with friends. Next month, I expect my health and transportation budgets to decrease, but I’m sure my dining out and coffee budgets will go up. No, I don’t really budget, because I don’t want to hold myself back from doing things I enjoy and spending time with friends.

Also, no, this does not include rent and utilities, which adds up to around $2,520, bringing my total to right around $5,000 for the month. Let me know in the comments if you think this is reasonable or insanely high. It is New York City, after all.

I’ll leave my START/STOP/CONTINUE, not all finance related:

Start: marketing my new business, Sidetracks. It’s a party card game company - I will have posts on it in the future, but join the waitlist if you’re interested!

Stop: picking at my fingernails - this is an anxiety thing I need to stop!

Continue: practicing patience and gratitude. Money doesn’t mean anything if you aren’t grateful for it.

Comment below your Start/Stop/Continue for February (or for the next month, whenever you’re reading this!).