What I Spent in June 2024: Monthly Reset

Road trip snacks, the NYC ferry, and concert tickets

I’m writing today’s newsletter from a coffee shop in Bangor, Maine. This month, we had a heat wave in New York City, I got really sick with a virus, and then I recovered and my sister and I left for a road trip across New England. Armed with Noah Kahan in the Spotify queue, Trader Joe’s snacks, and a car with great gas mileage, we’ve crossed five states so far.

Views from the Cliff Walk in Newport, RI

It’s the halfway point in the year, which is a great time for reflection. I journaled about the highs and lows so far this year, plus some things I want to accomplish in the second half of the year. I’ll share just one of each here:

High: I started running again regularly.

Low: I’ve been feeling a lot of self-doubt and isolation.

Goal: Enjoy the summer and explore more of New York City. Spend more time on the ferry and less time inside.

Monthly Spending Review

My fixed costs stayed the same this month at $2,420.50 (rent plus utilities for my small one-bedroom uptown).

Here’s a breakdown of variable expenses:

1. Dining Out: $215.50

   My dining out spending was higher this month than usual because of some travel and family visiting me. This spending was well worth it—I feel like spending on dining out when it’s for spending time with others is worth it much more than spending money on takeout or delivery alone.

2. Groceries/Household: $415.58

   Spending in this category was higher than usual this month. I ran out of most of my household supplies at the same time, so I had a $150 Target order on top of my usual groceries.

3. Transportation: $174.45

   I had a few train tickets home to the suburbs, lots of subway swipes, one Uber home after a night out, and another ten pack of NYC ferry tickets. I also spent money on the Path train to New Jersey, visiting a friend who lives in Jersey City.

View of Manhattan from Liberty State Park in Jersey City

4. Coffee: $46.96

   Half of this was treating my sister and cousin for coffee while traveling, which, in my opinion, is the best way to spend money. 

5. Drinks out: $195.68

   This month’s drinks out budget included a selection of non-alcoholic beers when I was out with friends but still recovering from being sick, drinks on New York City patios across my neighborhood, and some brewery beers on my road trip.

6. Health: $49.00

   This was just the usual Classpass credits. I went to cancel my membership on the app, and they offered me 10 extra credits, so I kept the membership for now. I’ve still been running outside, so I haven’t bought more spin classes and probably won’t for a couple months. I did go to Urgent Care when I was sick this month, but I didn’t have a co-pay—we’ll see how much I get billed in a couple months (oh, the joys of healthcare in America).

7. Hobby/Experience: $210.61

   I bought two concert tickets this month—Clairo and The Killers. I’m very excited for both. I also spent some of this money on arcade games with my cousins.

8. Travel: $15.65

   So far, we’ve only filled up the gas tank once on this road trip, and my sister paid. This was for my train ticket from New York City to her house in the suburbs. I decided to count other travel expenses like food in their respective categories (dining out).

9. Gifts/Donations: $72.90

   I bought a few gifts for friends and family while traveling, including gifts for family we’re staying with on the trip.

10. Clothing/Makeup: $299.90

    The vast majority of this was spent on two pairs of sneakers to run and walk in, which I desperately needed. I also bought a souvenir shirt at Allagash Brewery, one of my favorites, on the road trip.

Totals:

• $1,696.23 in variable expenses

• $2,420.50 in fixed expenses (rent plus utilities)

• $4,116.73 in total expenses

My spending was higher than last month, but I’m pretty happy with how I spent the money. Most of the dining out, drinking out, and coffee was spent while traveling and visiting family, which was well worth it. And I desperately needed the sneakers that took up a good chunk of the overall spending this month.

And my START, STOP, CONTINUE goals:

Each month, I set goals on what I’d like to start, stop, and continue. 

START: Using my Gentle Productivity planner. I got a new planner that I’m excited to dive into this month!

STOP: Being sick. Okay, this one is easier said than done, but I am manifesting a healthy July after being pretty sick for a week in June.

CONTINUE: Staying off my phone. My screen time has been less than three hours per day, now spent on useful apps like Messages and Spotify, since I did my screen time cleanse (you can read all about it here). It really worked!

Drop your Start/Stop/Continue and any goals (for July or the rest of the year!) in the comments!

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)!

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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