August 2023 Expense Report

As usual, it is time for another expense report. This time for August 2023.

I do these posts to show my actual numbers, barring a little bit of rounding to make the numbers easier to talk about, and show others an idea of what someone else’s expenses could look like. Maybe they’ll get some ideas from it to apply to their own FIRE aspirations.

Expenses

Housing

Housing was $2,704. The payment for my rent that I normally would have made on September 1st got posted to my account before the date I usually pay off my bills so I ended up paying for both. I get the bill on the last Tuesday of every month. I usually pay my bills on the first, and usually, it hasn’t been posted to my card by then. It’s just a feature of how I pay my bills. I expect next month will be my usual amount.

Utilities

My utilities for the month were $236. I expect September to be the last full month that I can get away with not running the heat. I expect sometime in October I’ll have to turn on the heat and it will start to trend upwards again. Although late September I may have to turn the heat on in the evenings, we’ll just have to see.

Groceries

My groceries were $302. Closer to my goal than in previous months. I had to buy a few items that I buy and use over long periods of time (rice, beans, pasta, etc.). I expect less of those next month so hopefully I can drop below $300 next month.

Discretionary

My discretionary expenses were $79. I am still working to set aside some cash to travel for my friend’s wedding in December.

I also played golf for the first time this month in preparation for some free game of golf that work will be paying for next month. I was not good.

My goal fund currently has $116.

Other

My other expenses were 0. I don’t have any comments here, no unexpected non-discretionary expenses this month.

Total

In total, I spent $3,321 this month. If you exclude the extra rent payment it was $1,969. This is a bit below my goal of $2,100. I’d say this $1,969 is pretty close to the lowest amount I could spend in any one month with my current setup.

Income

My income for the month was $6,394. The table below shows the sources of that income. Currently, I do not include investment income in that total.

Not much to say about my income this month. Just a regular month with the usual cash flows in.

Account balances

The graph below tracks my change in net worth since I started tracking it in January 2023.

Still trending up and to the right. It looks like this month was a little bit slower than previous months. But I think it’ll be closer to its normal rate again next month. I’m still very curious to see when my investment returns will really start to have a significant impact on this graph month to month.

Savings Rate

This month, my savings rate was: 48%. Definitely a lot lower than my goal of 66%. But I think it will even out over the next few months to make up.

My average savings rate Year to Date is 61%.

Much like the net worth graph, the graph below tracks my savings rate month to month. This is to help me track long-term trends regarding my savings.

Nothing too interesting to say about the graph this month. Kind of the same as in previous months, my savings rate is still very erratic month to month, but that could just be due to scale or lack of data. I’m hoping as I get more data I’ll be able to get a better sense of trend.

Goal Updates

Other than the net worth goal this month not much to say either way.

I’m almost 10% of the way to my FIRE number, which is a fairly good milestone to hit. Each percentage is easier to achieve than the last.

Overall I think this month was an anomaly and next month will be much more in line with the trend that we’ve seen in previous months.