Income from work and PhD salaries and garage rent in 2018: $41,505
Spending in 2018: $30,115
This does NOT count monthly savings ($500/mo), all travel spending, money given to me, and times where I saved up funds in other years, and then spent them this year. All that is just too hard to track, particularly because when I am on vacation and spending the night in a different place every night, the last thing I want to do is track my spending. I LIVE for my travel and don't let any work get in the way. :)
2018 Spending
| Category | Spent | Per Month | Budgeted Amount | Balance | % spent |
| Rent | $12,255.00 | $1,021.25 | $11,700.00 | -$555.00 | 1.0474 |
| Groceries | $5,453.84 | $454.49 | $5,100.00 | -$353.84 | 1.0694 |
| Internet | $289.63 | $24.14 | $315.96 | $26.33 | 0.9167 |
| Electricity | $472.42 | $39.37 | $600.00 | $127.58 | 0.7874 |
| Eating Out | $1,841.53 | $153.46 | $1,716.00 | -$125.53 | 1.0732 |
| Charity | $460.00 | $38.33 | $360.00 | -$100.00 | 1.2778 |
| Cell phone | $260.49 | $21.71 | $480.00 | $219.51 | 0.5427 |
| Medical | $635.00 | $52.92 | $780.00 | $145.00 | 0.8141 |
| Misc | $8,447.71 | $703.98 | $8,400.00 | -$47.70 | 1.0057 |
| Savings | $6,000.00 | $500.00 | $6,000.00 | $0.00 | 1 |
| Total | $36,115.62 | $3,009.63 | $35,451.96 | -$663.66 |
RENT: $12,255. Over budget, I had several weeks without flatmates and had to carry the rent myself. Things should be back on track in 2019.
GROCERIES: $5,453: Over budget slightly. I increased the grocery budget mid-year, and slightly again for 2019.
INTERNET: $289: On target because I combined internet and electricity towards the end of the year.
ELECTRICITY: $472: Electricity seems to be under budget. 2019 might be over budget--I'm with a new company that combines internet and electricity so I am not sure yet what the costs will be like.
EATING OUT: $1,841: Slightly overbudget. Have made adjustments for 2019.
CHARITY: $460: Underbudget. I will aim to do better in 2019.
CELL PHONE: $260: Under budget but this doesn't give the full picture, as I used roaming on my NZ SIM while in the US and Italy for 2.5 months, and used my travel funds to cover that cost.
MEDICAL: $635: Under budget, but I think I made some reporting errors here. For 2019, I need to cover:
- 2 dental appointments
- at least 1 general check up for routine blood and lady-medical examinations
- 1 eye appointment
- monthly therapy appointments
- possibly a weekly physio appointment
- possibly a dermatology appointment
It breaks down as follows:
alcohol: $120
entertainment: $156.20
exercise: (not tracked, counted towards other categories)
fees: $83.31
gifts: $348.54
goods and wants: $2,763.84
transportation: $1,682.86
travel: $4,386.34
SAVINGS: $6,000: Exactly. This is automated. Monthly overages get split between all of my active short-term funds. This system is working well--I'm saving towards a house and everything else that I want.
I contribute the max of 8% salary to my Kiwisaver for retirement currently; that isn't counted in any of my savings tallies on this blog (but is included in my Net Worth posts).
2019 won't change much; my income has increased slightly and this will result in several categories getting a bump. :) Stay tuned!!
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