What I Spent in July 2024: Monthly Reset

Concert tickets, groceries, and ubers

Aug 01, 2024

I’m writing this month’s newsletter from my prewar apartment in New York City, with one window AC unit that is working harder than I do when I carry twenty-five pounds of groceries a mile home from Trader Joe’s and then up three flights of stairs. We’ve reached that point in the summer when you get a layer of sweat on the walk to the subway, another layer waiting for the train, and one more when you accidentally get in the subway car that doesn’t have AC.

If you’re new here, I manually track everything I spend in a spreadsheet, and then I review it every month. Yes, there are apps that will automate some of that work, but I do it manually because it helps keep my spending intentional. I don’t set a budget for each month looking ahead, but I reflect on what I spent the month before. Each month, I share out my monthly reset, a recap of everything I’ve spent throughout the month. I hope these recaps help the Ten Dollar Latte community reflect of your own spending (plus, it’s fun to see how other people spend their money).

I spent most of the month at my apartment in New York City, but spent the first few days coming back from my road trip to Maine and a couple days through the month visiting family in Connecticut.

Monthly Spending Review

My living costs were $2,440.50 for rent plus utilities for my apartment. Usually, utilities are around $100, but with the summer months and more AC, they were closer to $120 (I haven’t gotten the final bill yet, so I just estimated).

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

Dining out: $189.55
I started the month out high in this category since I was still on that road trip to Maine. I went out to dinner with friends a couple times later in the month. This was a little higher spending than I usually do in this category, but it was well worth it since it was on time spent with friends and family.
Groceries/Household: $380.48
This was the lowest my grocery/household budget has been since March! I get most of my groceries from Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and one local health food store that is usually around the same price or a little less expensive than Whole Foods. I also spent $30 to reload my laundry card for the laundry machines in my building’s basement.
Transportation: $137.65
I got another 10-pack of NYC ferry tickets, a bunch of subway swipes, some train tickets home, and, sadly, two ubers home from nights out. I really try to avoid spending money on ubers and cabs because it’s so expensive (and I prefer the subway), but this was after a couple late nights where I split the ubers with a friend who lives close by to me. Ideally I’d like to keep this total lower.
Coffee Out: $43.09
I went out for coffee a few times with friends this month. My coffee spending has decreased in recent months because it’s too hot to walk to a coffee shop to work—I’m sweating the whole way there.
Drinks Out: $169.59
I went out to Brooklyn and got drinks a couple times with friends, plus had a few nights out in Manhattan.
Health: $65.64
This included my usual Classpass subscription, plus I got some floss. I haven’t bought more spin class packs yet because I’ve been running outside and still have five classes left for the month of August.
Hobby/Experience: $260.87
I went to two Yankee games and got two concert tickets. A little higher spending in this category than usual, but worth it!
View from the Yankee game a couple weeks ago
Travel: $16.90
This was my train ticket home for the last leg of the trip from Maine. I don’t anticipate any travel expenses in August.
Gifts/Donations: $85.05
I had a few birthdays this month, and honestly have a list of a few more gifts to buy for friends’ birthdays and other exciting things (Babies! Graduations! Engagements!). It’s starting to feel a little like Christmas in July, but that’s okay (and I feel grateful I have so much to celebrate)!
Clothing/Makeup: $44.12
I replaced some makeup I’d used up and bought some bike shorts with pockets for running.

Totals:

$1,392.94 in variable expenses
$2,440.50 in fixed expenses (rent plus utilities)
$3,833.44 in total expenses

My spending was lower than June, and while I’d like to keep transportation costs down next month, I’m mostly happy with my spending for this past month. I expect I might spend more next month on gifts and dining out, spending time with friends at the end of summer.

And my Start, Stop, Continue Goals:

Each month, I share goals for the month ahead on three things I want to start, stop, and continue. Last month, my goals were to start using my new planner, stop being sick, and continue staying off my phone. I didn’t do amazing staying consistent with the first one, but I did great with the other two! I still have social media deleted off my phone and have kept my screen time to about half what it was before my screen time cleanse (I highly recommend the method I used if it’s something you’re struggling with too!).

START: Stretching daily. I’ve been exercising a lot but haven’t always been great at stretching, and want to keep it up to avoid injuries.

STOP: Biting my nails. It’s a bad habit I do when I’m anxious. I got over it in the spring, but it’s back.

CONTINUE: Running. I’ve been consistently running 10+ miles per week and attending my local run club. I’d love to keep this going through August, even though it’s been ridiculously hot.