Year end financial calculations are always exciting for me! After all, I make plans and try hard to stick with them during the year. Now it is time to find out how I have done and what I can learn from the past years experiences.
Here is how I have done in terms of my budget, expenses categories, and savings:
A. Expenses within the weekly allowance:
Taxi cab (not including bus fare): $435.25 (ouch!…)
Unhealthy/junk food: $973 (OUCH!)
Grocery: $2,104.5
Eating out, including my weekend breakfast: $534.05 (maybe too much?)
Others (such as occasional books): $223.75
TOTAL: $4,180.6
B. Extra expenses (these are the expenses other than the weekly allowance expenses):
Dining out (myself or with others, excluding my weekend breakfast): $1,011.5 (ouch..)
Hosting at home/visiting others: $296
Gifts/donations: $754.5
Health-related expenses (e.g. dental visits, yoga etc.): $1,292.5
Cleaning and personal care products: $1,933.5
Clothes/shoes/sewing machine/sewing related expenses: $695
House repairs/furniture/extra house tax: $1,259
Annual vacation/family visit: around $6,200 (worth every penny!)
Fun funds expenses (expenses for my own enjoyment): $943.5
TOTAL: $14,385.5
C. Special savings
Total fun funds (savings from $120/week weekly allowance): $1,219.5 (yay!! – it is great to see these savings 🙂 ). I end this year with a positive balance at the fun funds (~$188)
Savings from would-be-expenses: $7,784.3!!! These are the money that I save by not taking the cab (as I would usually do), by using coupon/sales, and other lucky encounters. Honestly I am very surprised by this amount and am very excited!. can you imagine? Under different conditions I would be spending this money but I chose not to; I chose to follow the sales; and I chose not to make unnecessary expenses…I am very proud of these money that are now left with me!
D. Total savings and investments: Around 31.2% of my income after taxes (not including the home equity)
E. Others. I increased my mortgage payment in September by $100/biweek, which is not reflected in these calculations. Nor the bills, insurances, etc. (i.e. fixed expenses).
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In summary; I see that I am capable of spending frugally and sticking with my budget to my best, but there are areas that I can focus. For example, I can reduce those junk food category and increase my hosting expenses. I should keep following the sales and taking the bus/walk to keep save a considerable amount of money.
Overall, I am content with what I have done, but I would love to save more of my net income.
Maybe in 2017! 🙂 happy new year everyone!
Life as I interpret it 
I don’t even want to calculate ours but we really should. I think our spend nothing month will reveal interesting results.
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this was the first time I had such a detailed calculations and I am surprised by some things (like how much the occasional cab taking and the junk food cost me)… I realized i was making way more expense than I had anticipated/planned in some categories (such as cleaning and personal care products), which tells me that I must make wiser choices.. Overall, I guess I liked this activity. Savings were great motivators too! I bet you have done well; that no spend month sounds awesome to me! 🙂
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We should do it together! We are planning on February – shortest month for our own mind games!
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Let’s do it! what are the rules?
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We were thinking don’t spend anything that is not necessary. Paying your regular bills and utilities are “necessary”. Things like food and personal stuff like deodorant would be ok but the junk food and eating out would be stopped for the month. John joked that he would be sure to refill his Starbucks app before we began so that he wasn’t spending anything out of the budget for the month.
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hah ha!! he is smart 🙂 that is a great plan. because of my work and social cycle, I may not be able to cut out social/dining expenses, but I sure will implement a “clean the pantry/freezer” rule as well as no junk food/dining out myself rule for myself. I am sure I can get more creative and do more… let me think abut this – it is a great idea and I may love it. thank you for sharing this idea 🙂
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This is amazing! I absolutely love your savings from would be expenses category!
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I could not believe how much I am actually saving by changing my habits/life style and making wiser choices… I wish I had done this earlier. Alas – still feels great! 🙂
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What a great way to analyse your spending for the year! I started keeping a detailed budget around April but have not done an end-of-year summary. One thing my brother and his wife do that I think is great is to set a monthly budget and put any amount leftover into a special fund for doing something fun. Not the vacation fund that’s already planned for but a special treat once there is enough saved up.
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thank you 🙂 my fun funds is something like what you described – I would like to use it for my sewing needs/wants and to make extra payments to my mortgage. i hope you will summarize your budget and spending and get a better idea about where your money is. I was surprised by some of the extra and unnecessary expenses. I sure will keep an eye on them this coming year. Happy budgeting! 🙂
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I was THINKING about doing a no spend January! I am not sure if I can manage it. What would I miss? Not being able to buy yarn for my crochet projects would be hard. And we normally do one night ordering out….personally I would not miss that, but my husband would. I can do without spending for clothes or personal stuff like that though.
Dagne from yankeefrugalist.com.
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I think Dagne you can still budget for those activities that bring joy to your and your husband’s life 🙂 saving and budgeting is about maximizing the value of our hard-earned dollars but I believe it should not feel like deprivation (it sometimes feel like it to me..) rather than joy and motivation, it brings negative emotions.. we do not need these negativity if you ask me. So if you want, go ahead and have a no spend january only with exceptions of your choice. Enjoy your January and happy new year! 🙂
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Really enjoyed reading this post! Can totally empathise with trying to save money, I find the problem isn’t so much saving the money it’s the strength needed to not spend the stuff when I see something I want!
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thank you. we all have been where you have just described.. I could not resist books, for example. I had to buy them… every…single…weekend….I still love books but I started with a week of “shopping freeze” on books. the aim was to only for a short time limit their purchase. I thought it was quite a challenge. but I also felt that I could return back to the pleasure of buying them after a week, so it did not feel like a deprivation. Give spending freeze for certain expense categories/items a try – it may work wonders for some like myself. I hardly buy books now – busy reading what I already had bought and had not read till now 🙂 all the best
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I really like the idea of a spending freeze! I will let you know how I get on! It seems January is the month for new starts..
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give it a try or two and see how you feel about it 🙂 I am looking forward to seeing your future posts. we are all on the same journey of life, making our lives better, saving/controlling our finances, and cheers! all the best and happy new year 🙂
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Really enjoyed reading this! I totally empathise with trying to save money! I find the difficulty is not so much the saving it’s the strength needed to not spend the stuff when I see something I want!!
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