Where does all the cash go? -- Week 4

Last week was super-light in terms of opening my wallet:

Monday, January 21, 2008 -- a small slice of custard pie at Nation's set me back $2.18

Thursday, January 24, 2008 -- Driving across the Bay Bridge cost me $4, while parking cost me another $10, so my morning commute was $14. (This is not typical: the average cost of my commute is $2 -- possibly $2.75 if you count gas and long-term car maintenance costs. See how public transit can save money?)

So, for the week I spent $16.18.

I was all set to dip into some of my cash reserve on Saturday and buy a dwarf Meyer lemon tree for $25. at the farmer's market I go to, but the prospect of driving rain had discouraged many of the vendors from attending, and my guy with the trees wasn't there. I was disappointed -- but not disappointed enough to pay $36.50 for the same size tree at my local nursery.

There have been a few other times in my life when I've been reluctant to open my wallet for one reason or another, and most of them have been driven by one of two factors: I was saving my money for a very specific reason, or I simply didn't have a whole lot at the time. I didn't feel deprived; I felt disciplined, like I had managed to peg the critical difference between need and want. One of the money paradoxes I've identified (and am trying to beat to death) is how, when my cashflow is relatively abundant, I don't feel flush. Clearly, I function best when I have concrete boundaries against which to define need and want. If I don't have an external framework in place for my spending, I lose focus.

This month's exercise has been pretty handy in helping me distinguish when I opened my wallet from need versus want. All of you were my external boundary on this one. And I have to say, reading through your expenditures in the comments helped me figure out what I'll be focusing on next -- the stuff we charge to the frequent-flyer card.

The point to logging this month's expenditures was to figure out where the cash was going. I had not honestly expected for it to stop going so many places! What about you.

Comments

[Stephanie]

This week was absurdly cash-heavy for me. As in I have $1 and change in my wallet right now. I blame it all on the whole Dine About Town thing. And how when you go out with friends one of them offers to put it on his credit card and the rest of you have to come up with actual cash. Also alcohol is expensive.

$ 34.24 gas
$ 90.52 eating out (the bulk of which was Dine About Town)
$ 2.20 groceries
$ 31.08 household (stamps, replacement part for my no-longer-broken shower)
$ 3.52 recreation

Knowing I was reporting here did stop me from one or two "oh, I'll just stop at Starbucks" type spending. But the biggest thing that changed my spending habits this month is that I planned menus and went and bought actual groceries. That kept me (mostly) away from the "I'm hungry and driving to In-n-Out is more appealing than figuring out something to cook" phenomenon.

I also regularly entered everything into Quicken. So yay for that.

[Lisa S.]

Oh, In'N'Out, how I love thee.

It hit me today that the last time I had anything that could be considered fast food was 12/31/07, when I got a Domino's pizza for dinner. So that's been one really nice side effect of this month's accounting: I've gotten the greasy monkey off my back.

[Jecca]

That's what a hamburger's aaaall about!

My cash spending was way up, mainly due to being a single parent again (temporarily) and being the one shelling out at the laundromat -- $18.25 yesterday. If we had the plumbing hookups, I would so be buying machines.

My current irritation with the frequent-flyer card use is that our budget is based on the calendar month, while the credit card statement period covers the end of one month and the beginning of the next. We're ahead of the curve, but it still offends my sense of order. And it makes me scared that all my math isn't right and that I'm missing something and will someday be caught short.

I once almost got into huge trouble b/c I transposed two numbers when entering my income into my spreadsheet, and then copied the error all the way across. Luckily, I was suspicious enough about how I could pay off a credit card way earlier than I'd anticipated, and uncovered the error before I started making big payments.

[Stephanie]

I did really well at avoiding the drug store - one of my biggest lures - almost all month. And when I went, it was to fill actual needs, not just boredom. I don't feel this month has been typical - I had a lot of gifts to buy (belated Christmas, babies being born, etc.) so I will keep tracking expenses for another month at least.

(And I went on vacation.)

[Erin]

I was a little too spendy this week...

Started: $42.00
Ended: $10.00

Coffee Bean: $3.20
Wahoo's Fish Tacos: $6.55
Starbucks: $12.75
Parking at Client: $7.50 (but I can expense it)
Parking at Movies: $2.00

[Polly]

Let's see--I started out with $100

$20.67 went to Lowe's for paint
$15 for gas
$49.82 for groceries
$8.48 fast food/takeout (and $20.47 fast food/takeout went on the credit card)

Which left me with about $6. (Hey! No vending machine junk! I am well!)

I'm definitely going to keep paying cash for gas--it's actually more convienent, as well as less expensive, and this way I don't feel like I'm frittering away cash on silly stuff. I've been collecting my grocery reciepts, so I'm going to have a look through and see how I spend my grocery money (and how much goes to chocolate--ah, chocolate).