What I Spent in August 2024: Monthly Reset

new sneakers, Yankees games, and an expensive dinner on the Upper West Side

Sep 01, 2024

Welcome to another Ten Dollar Latte monthly reset, where I recap my spending from the previous month and set goals for the next month!

I spent most of this month home in New York City, plus one trip to Connecticut and one trip to Ohio. The end of the month in particular was a bit of a blur. Instead of sharing it all, I’ll share three non-finance related highlights for the month:

I PR’ed in my 5K and ran my longest run since 2016 (10 miles). And I actually enjoyed it!
While I made very little progress in my long term job search (it’s rough out there), I made great progress in my side gig (bartending). Since I’ve had more time to pick up more hours, I feel like I’m a pro now.
I made a lot of fun memories going out with friends, going to Yankees games, and going to museums.

I enjoyed all three weekends of summer streets this year—Park Avenue was shut down to cars from 125th St to the Brooklyn Bridge.

Monthly Spending Review

My living costs were $2,440.50 ($2,320.50 for rent, plus an estimated $120 for utilities). My rent is going up next month—they restored the cooking gas in my apartment, so it’s being restored back to the pre-rent-abatement rent. Actually, they fixed the gas issue in July, so I’m paying back the concession from August in my September rent, too. My rent is also going up in November with a new lease to $2,491, in line with the 2.75% rent increase dictated by the city for rent stabilized apartments this year. I pay my rent each month with Bilt.

Here’s a breakdown of my variable expenses over the past month:

Dining out: $83.95
The bulk of this was spent on an expensive dinner at Dagon on the Upper West Side. Honestly, I don’t think the dinner was worth $70, but spending time with my friend definitely was, and the friend I got dinner with really enjoys going out to new restaurants. Sometimes, I will recommend a different activity, but more often, I’ll go along with the expensive activity.
Groceries/household: $600.74
This was the most I’ve spent in this category since January! I spent a lot on groceries, and I also bought more cat food, which I buy in bulk every few months. I try not to feel bad about my grocery budget (even though I know it’s high) because I spend so little comparatively on dining out, and having groceries I like at home helps me do that. But, I hope this category’s spending is a bit lower next month.
Transportation: $69.10
This is the least I’ve spent all year in transportation! This was spent mostly on bus and subway swipes, plus one train ticket home to the suburbs. And I used a lot of these transportation costs to do fun, free things, like visiting the Queens Museum (with my free ticket through Culture Pass with the New York Public Library), spending a day on the beach at Coney Island, and going to a free ballet performance in Bryant Park!

Coffee out: $37.16
My coffee spending has been so low this month because, in all honestly, it really isn’t that enjoyable to go work or read at a cafe when I walk and sweat the whole way there in the 80+॰ heat. I went out for coffee three times, twice treating the friend I was with.
Drinks out: $208.99
I went out for drinks six times with friends, plus I had a couple beers at the Yankees games I went to.
Health: $85.00
I paid for my usual $49 Classpass subscription, plus I spent $36 on Supergoop sunscreen. Is this sunscreen ridiculously overpriced? Maybe, but I think it smells good, which encourages me to use it, so I think it’s worth it.
Hobby/experience: $318.50
Unlike previous months, no concert tickets this month! I bought a couple Yankees tickets and supported some creators I like on Substack and Patreon, but the bulk of this was spent on my Silk and Sonder annual subscription. It’s a monthly journal that I enjoy using, but I did cancel the subscription after it renewed. I’m not sure if I’ll want to use it a year from now, and I figured I could always reactivate the subscription next summer if I want to, but I don’t want to be hit with a surprise charge.
Travel: $2.90
I actually did have a flight this month, but I didn’t pay for it—it was for a family friend’s funeral, and I went with my mom, who covered expenses for the trip. The $2.90 was just for my subway/bus ride to the airport.
Gifts/donations: $41.52
I bought ring dishes for three friends (the same ring dish I’ve bought in the past for other friends who got engaged). Ironically, all three friends had other things to celebrate this summer (new jobs, business school graduations, and moving to new cities), and I wish I had gotten a gift that encompassed all those things instead of just the engagements. It has always bothered me that we spend so much time and money celebrating engagements and weddings compared to other exciting (and arguably harder to accomplish) things like new jobs and graduations, but I’m a little bit a part of that problem.
Clothing/makeup: $323.24
I bought some new running gear, plus new casual sneakers. I know I’ll get the wear out of the sneakers, but the nearly $200 spent on them still hurt.

Totals:

$1,771.10 in variable expenses
$2,440.50 in fixed expenses (rent plus utilities)
$4,211.60 in total expenses

My spending trended higher this month, actually at an all-time high since March. Some of my categories, including groceries and clothing, were a little higher than I’d like them to be in the future, but I don’t have any major regrets with what I’ve spent this month.

And my Start, Stop, Continue goals:

Each month I share goals for the month ahead—things I’d like to start doing, stop doing, and continue doing. Last month, I wanted to start stretching daily, stop biting my nails, and continue running. I did pretty good with stretching, okay with biting my nails, and really great with continuing to run.

START: Figuring out how I want to use this year’s credit card points. I have a bad habit of letting points sit there for a long time instead of cashing them out. Plus, I got the Bilt card this year, and want to use the points for travel instead of cash back, so I’d like to see if I can use those for a trip later this year.

STOP: Having a scarcity mindset. I’ve been caught up in some of these thoughts lately, and really want to make a better effort to count my blessings and be more positive next month.

CONTINUE: Running consistently. Okay, same goal as last month, but I’m enjoying it, and want to keep it up!

My question of the month—do you spend more on rent or your mortgage than you do on all your other living expenses? I’m wondering if this is a very high cost of living city specific thing. I actually only had one month this year so far where I spent more on variable expenses than rent.

Check out all my monthly resets here. Submit a question to my financial advice column here (I’m not a financial advisor, this is fun advice like how to split the bill on a group trip)! And send me a DM or submit the form here if you’d like to be featured in the Making it in NYC series.

Thanks for reading! I post weekly about personal finance and lifestyle in NYC. I also post a monthly reset on the 1st of each month sharing everything I spent money on the previous month and goals for the next month. And if you want to make your next happy hour unforgettable, check out my party card game company, Sidetracks.

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