. I decided to do this a few days early....
Total 2016 expenses: $42,970, a 4% increase over last year. Here they are, ranked in order of amount.
New driveway: $12,655, or 29% of total budget. I love the driveway, but this one expense dwarfed everything else. I could have saved money by paving with asphalt, but I do love the pavers. It's nice to know that not counting the cost of the new driveway, I was able to live on just $30,315 for the year.
Property taxes: $5,856, about the same as last year.
Food: $4,083, about the same as last year, surprisingly. But its' a lot for one person isn't it?
Health insurance: $3,711, or a 51% increase over last year, mainly because when I lost the job in July, my monthly premiums via COBRA shot up. I'm paying $520 a month starting with the January payment, which was only about $7 more than the 2016 rate. Still, it's a big chunk of change each month when you're not working f/t.
Cats: $2,955. This is about 5% more than last year and I really hope I can rein these costs in a bit next year. I did change vets; the prior vet said he had to pull one tooth and once he got the cat in, he pulled many more; he did that with both cats this year and I wonder if he milked the opportunity.
Household: $2,157. This is my only "catch all" category where I put expenses that don't seem to fit anywhere else. This was about the same amount as last year.
Lawn & garden: $997. This was 18% less than last year, mainly because, once I was laid off, I asked my mower to mow every other week instead of weekly, and it saved me a bit. I plan to continue alternate week mowing in 2017 for as long as I remain underemployed.
Out-of-pocket medical: $961, or 30% more than last year. This was due to physical therapy related to my pulled hamstring/numb toes, which it proved to be a waste of time, and also meds and supplements when I thought I had Lyme disease.
Phone/Internet: $915, or 23% more than last year. This included the minimum amount of cell phone minutes I had to buy ($100) and I plan to not buy any minutes in 2017.
Entertainment: $897, or 50% more than last year, mainly due to my Amazon Prime subscription, my Ancestry.com subscription and DNA test.
Car insurance: $887, 17% more than last year but that's before counting whatever credit I will get from Safeco once I finish Right Track at the end of January, and right now I'm at 16% savings. I did increase coverage as well.
Electric: $863, about 5% more than last year.
Dining out: $755. Hard to believe I spent this since dad always pays, but during the first 7 months of the year when I was working, I would eat at the cafe a few times a week.
Homeowners insurance: $639, or 7% less than last year.
Heating oil & Cleaning: $610, or 48% less than last year, but that doesn't include an oil delivery I'm getting tomorrow.
Clothing: $583, a 47% increase over last year. Purchases made when I was working; I plan to cut this to nothing until I work full time again.
Gas: $558, or 28% less, due to less driving since I'm not commuting.
Car upkeep: $427, or 75% more than last year. This bothers me, since the car is just 3 years old. Mostly due to more expensive oil changes; since it's a newer model, it requires more expensive synthetic oil, or lat least that's what they tell me.
IRS: $364, paid at tax time.
Charitable donations: $360, while I was working.
Home maintenance: $346
Car tax/registration/license: $338.
Vacations: $231
Water: $204
Gifts: $189
Borough taxes: $151
Sewers: $100
Dump sticker $85
Haircuts: $45
So this gives me a pretty good idea of where my money went this year, but when I put the top 10 expenses in a pie chart form, it really reinforces things:
Namely, that the new driveway was a BIG expense!
How do my expenses compare to yours? Are there any that stand out for being very low or very high?
My 2016 Expenses: A Review
December 28th, 2016 at 09:45 pm
December 28th, 2016 at 11:35 pm 1482968144
December 29th, 2016 at 12:08 am 1482970116
December 29th, 2016 at 12:19 am 1482970743
This category includes food, litter and vet visits.
I can tell you that 3 vet visits (2 for Waldo and 1 for Luther) came to $1470 and Waldo's meds came to $380.
The rest was food, treats, toys and litter.
Thanks, Bluebird. That makes me feel good when you say that! You're right, buying organic is important to me. I would rather be frugal when it comes to clothes and other stuff so I can keep making healthy food choices in the grocery store.
December 29th, 2016 at 12:31 am 1482971485
The driveway was a killer; at least it is a lasting thing unlike say a cruise or something...I know it gave/ gives you pleasure to look at it-- that makes it worthwhile, in my opinion.
December 29th, 2016 at 01:46 pm 1483019186
January 3rd, 2017 at 05:11 pm 1483463461