Expense Report: June 2015
June was a life-changing month for my financial lifestyle. On top of just tracking my expenses, I started to budgeting with a You Need A Budget (YNAB) trial account. Tracking my expenses is one thing, but budgeting is a whole new ball game and I will write about that in another post.
Since we are halfway through 2015, I thought it would be interesting to share how my financial lifestyle has been like so far. It looks like my expenses are reaching a plateau at around $1350, which is expected since I have been optimising my expenses for the past few months.
This month is a bit of a struggle for me because expense tracking is easy because it’s just logging my everyday spendings. But budgeting puts a perspective on the big picture. If I’m going to spend more money on entertainment this month, having a budget would tell me that I need to cut back on other spendings like dining in restaurants to balance things up.
Transportation: $52.72 
Commuting charges on the B.M.W (bus, MRT, walk) is back down this month with only 2 taxi rides taken this month. In my efforts to cycle to work at least 4 times a week, I only took 18 train rides and 0 bus rides this month and that continues to be way below the number of train and bus rides the average public transport commuter takes in Singapore.
Food: $182.09
Food expenses is at its lowest from Jan to June and brought the 6-month MMAE Food Index lower. I kept expenses low by dining in restaurants only 3 times this month, lesser than usual to account for a few extra spendings this month to balance the budget.
Groceries: $63.39
Grocery expenses came down a bit compared to May and it looks like we have reached a plateau here. I will still keep an eye out on promotional items, especially meats and try to drive expenses down.
Shopping: $0
No shopping expense was logged this month because there was nothing to buy.
Entertainment: $0
Alcohol-free June was a big success! I managed to keep myself off alcohol for the entire month (except that time when I ordered a Rum and Raisin Milkshake). Therefore no expense was logged for Entertainment. There wasn’t even any movie worth watching.
Miscellaneous: $224.00 
This was where I had to spend a bit more this month. On top of the usual haircut ($10), I gave $214 worth of gifts and red packets for a baby shower and a friend’s wedding. There will be another wedding coming up next month too.
Total expenses for June: $1413.48 (including fixed expenses of $891.28)
This month continues to be a frugal month, all thanks to having a budget in place. The 6-month MMAE Index continues to inch downwards to 2252.
you should have a gifts account. you are going to use it again and again.
Interestingly, I actually do have one after switching to a new reporting format. Will show it in July.
It is not going to work. Over time, you will tell yourself why should I live in this manner. You will ask what is the meaning of life.
Dave, I’d like to think that I am inculcating good spending habits and lifestyle. To me, the meaning of life is not about spending lots of money and dining in restaurants. It’s about having meaningful and fulfilling experiences and sometimes, you need some money to do this and sometimes you don’t.