January Monthly Recap

     As the first month of my no-buy year comes to a close, I wanted to summarize my successes and shortcomings. There were a few wins, like finding gift cards hidden in my wallet, but there were also some losses, like 2 pairs of my shoes falling apart this month.

    If I had really wanted to minimize my spend during a no-buy year, I would have pre-purchased extra running shoes and socks, at the very least. I did not do that, so I have already needed to replace 1 pair of trail running sneakers, socks, and a pair of winter boots. My old boots were 14 years old, so I certainly got my money's worth ($120 in 2011). My new trail sneakers were on sale, but the new winter boots were over $200. Perhaps it was an error on my part not to buy a cheaper pair, but I did not want to have to shop for new boots in a year or two.

    As you can see, my mortgage is by far my largest expense, followed by groceries and utilities. I'm very pleased to have such a reasonable mortgage payment, especially considering that I have a 15-year mortgage term. I bought my post-war ranch house in 2017, pretty much as soon as I could afford a down-payment, and refinanced my mortgage in 2020. As for the comparatively high utility bills, my state has very high electric rates, so there is very little I can do to reduce that expense. I pay for oil fuel once annually in the summer, so that figure will look absurdly high in August or so. Normally, taxes would not register on this chart but I did pay annual car taxes so that made an impact this month. My husband also has a long commute so we are both hoping that he can find a different job to save him time and gas money.

    I'm pleased with my grocery/restaurant spending this month. We generally only eat out on the weekends for lunch at fast casual places that don't have table service. This is not just to save money on the 20% gratuity expected when you dine out in the U.S., but we noticed a sharp decline in restaurant food quality and service after the Covid-19 Pandemic. Food prices are much higher in the grocery store, yes, but restaurants are no longer a tenable option if we just don't feel like cooking. Short-staffing has made table service slow and unresponsive, which is terrible for me; I usually end up missing an entire item that I ordered and need to flag down the waitstaff. Sometimes, my food order is not submitted at all and I am left sitting there with nothing at all while my companions eat! I would much rather buy the groceries to make whatever dishes I would like at home.

    Overall, my spouse and I spent 46.6% of our take-home income this month. This is in line with our goals, despite the setbacks in our no-spend plans.