Expense Report: January 2015
It’s my second month of 2015, tracking my expenses and I’m determined to get this post done on time.
I’ve set a lot of challenges so far and I’m ashamed to say that I’ve never managed achieved them. I’m happy that I cleared January’s challenge with flying colours! Instead of the the 175 kilometers target, I managed to hit 237 kilometers with 2 big weekend rides. Booyah!
Every week, I’ll be sharing practical tips and invaluable knowledge to guide you on your path to financial independence.
February Challenge: Keep food expenses below $475.
Transportation: $38.51
Commuting charges on the B.M.W (bus, MRT, walk) went way down this month! I started cycling to work this month and surprisingly, it took me 30 minutes to cycle to work which was shorter than the usual 45 minutes I needed by train. I’m determined to keep this up.
Food: $471.87
Food expenses are at its all time low since I started tracking my expenses. But my fear is that it’s because I spent a week overseas. So February’s challenge will be to maintain my food expenses below $475.
Groceries: $127.12
Groceries went up this month because I made a few purchases on iHerb to try a few organic products. They should last for a while so I won’t be making a similar purchase in the next few months, at least the expensive items.
Shopping: $1265
I bought quite a few items this month. That includes clothes, bicycle equipment, and even a Mayer Air fryer that was on sale. The Air fryer is going to allow my family to cook more food with less oil, without all that cleaning. I aim to reduce the shopping expenses further next month.
Entertainment: $187.73
Entertainment expenses went significantly higher compared to last month but it’s mainly because I paid $97.33 for a year of subscription for Astrill VPN service. I have used this for 6 months and I am very happy with this. Now I renewed the subscription for a year and took this cost out from fixed expenses.
Miscellaneous: $645.31
The miscellaneous expenses this month accounted for the $500 used in my trip to Taiwan. I found cheap tickets to Hong Kong in February for only $145.31. A good time to check out the shops to see if there are any cheap buys for some clothes for Chinese New Year.
My total expenses for January is up to $3930.16 (including fixed expenses of $888.83). It’s went above my high spendings in December (which was a little over the top) but totally justifiable and we should expect February to be much better. I also updated my fixed expenses for 2015 to reflect the figures more accurately, and exclude CPF transactions since I don’t record CPF contributions in the first place.
