November Spending Recap

and December monthly reset

November was a mix of exciting, stressful, sad, and happy at the same time. I went to one concert, Palehound, a band I discovered when they opened for boygenius in 2023. I went to the concert alone because none of my friends know the band, and when it’s a band I really like, I’d rather go alone than go with friends who don’t know the music (is that crazy or are there other people like this out there?).

As usual, I spent money this month. I’ll break it all down, and then share my reflections at the end of this post.

Fixed Monthly Costs:

My rent was higher this month because I renewed my lease and had to pay the security deposit difference with the new rent, now increased to just under $2,500. Other expenses stayed pretty flat.

Variable Monthly Costs:

1. Dining Out: $85.28

   I went out to some casual lunches and dinners a few times with friends.

2. Groceries/Household: $363.73

   I feel like I spent more intentionally this month on groceries—not necessarily on the total cost, but on what I bought.

3. Transportation: $92.95

   The usual subway and bus swipes, plus a train ticket home for Thanksgiving!

4. Coffee Out: $24.61

   I got a couple coffees out with friends, and one coffee for some solo coffee shop work. This spending has been so much lower since I cut out caffeinated coffee from my diet.

5. Drinks Out: $308.87

   I had a few fun nights out with friends—this is one of the best times of year to be out at a bar with the holiday decor! I am thinking about doing dry January this year to prepare for a half marathon I have at the end of the month, though—plus it’ll be interesting to see how that impacts my finances that month.

6. Hobby/Experience: $246.05

   The most exciting part of this was my entry fee for the New York City Half Marathon in March! I also spent $99 on yarn for a blanket I’m crocheting.

7. Gifts/Donations: $178.32

   I’m still way behind on holiday gift spending, but I bought a few gifts so far, capitalizing on some Black Friday sales.

8. Clothing/Makeup: $309.23

   Up until this month, I’d spent less than $1,000 on this category this year, most of which was spent on clothing and sneakers for running. I decided to buy some “real” clothes this month.

Totals:

• $1,609.04 in variable expenses

• $2,736.36 in fixed expenses

• $4,345.40 in total expenses

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:

I felt...weird about money this month. One sentence summary of my year for any new subscribers: I left a higher paying but very stressful job in January, decided to make this year my “sabbatical” and start a business, which I did and enjoyed some parts (and disliked others) but ultimately decided I miss being in an office and working with others, so I’m now on the hunt for a new full time job, with a new list of requirements after taking a step back and reevaluating a lot of things.

While I’m making money through a part-time job (a “fun” job that I got last year and scaled up the hours a bit this year), I’m not making enough money to totally cover my expenses. And it’s weird to remind myself that in many ways, that’s okay—I intentionally wanted some time to reevaluate what I want next. And I saved a lot of money over the past five years to prepare myself to do this type of thing!

The old saying goes: “You either don’t have enough time or don’t have enough money.” I try to remind myself to challenge that and spend money (intentionally!) while I have the time.

Let me know if this resonates, and I’ll write a whole post about this at some point—reevaluating your relationship with money after setbacks is a weird spot to be in.

More on Ten Dollar Latte:

Money makes you hot

Intentional spending on vacation

Is the goal to spend $0?