Hi! Here’s everything I spent in September as a childless, middle-aged woman living in Athens, Georgia:
- I paid $896 for my basement apartment which I lovingly call the Lair. It jumped up under different management and now that my internet is not included. However, I still think this is relatively cheap rent compared to many of my friends!
- Healthcare came to $426. This is anything connected to my doctor, dentist, therapist, or medications.
- $390 on my phone. I pay my phone bill once a year and this was the month to pay up.
- $49 on transportation. I literally just got gas this month, not even a car wash.
- $32 on my cat, Agent Cooper, this month.
- $241 on groceries. I think this was my biggest splurge on groceries for the year. Here’re my shopping trips:
- Walmart: onion, granola
- Kroger: frozen pizza, almond milk, cereal, 6 pack sparkling water, 6 pack ginger ale, 3 cans of soup, veggie chicken patties, dozen eggs, banans, bagels, cream cheese, mushrooms
- Earth Fare: cookies
- Kroger: frozen pizza, butter lettuce, sour cream, gum
- Kroger: frozen waffles, pad Thai, chuck steak, frozen dumplings
- Aldi: bagged spinach, avocado, queso, salad dressing, almond milk
- Kroger: refried beans, hamburger buns, yellow onion, tortilla chips, garlic hummus
- Eating/drinking out was $190. I had a couple friends’ birthdays out, a couple happy hours, and a date at the Indian buffet. Yum!
- $33 on my usual cloud storage and Adobe software
- $14 on shopping. I bought my mom and I one used book each.
- I spent $24 on entertainment. I went to a friend’s book release party, I went to one movie, and I got Netflix for a month (first time in a long time – I’ve been bingin’)
- $36 on travel. September started off in New York, visiting my mom, but since I’d paid for that trip in advance, I didn’t really have any travel costs this month. I did, however, book a hotel for next month (this was my half of that).
- This brings my total expenses to $2,331.
Coming in, I made $2,580. That’s $2,487 from work in a two paycheck month, $4 interest from my high-yield savings account, $50 for petsitting my favorite senior dog, and $39 cash back.
Always worth saying that having a library card greatly lowers my entertainment expenses and I’m lucky to live somewhere with a lot of cool, free activities. In September I am also thankful for the lunch my boss took me to, the dinner my boyfriend’s mom took us to, and when my boyfriend puts me “on the list” for shows.