Income/Expenses For November 2011

Each month I will post my income/expenses for the previous month. I track every dollar in and out, so what you see is exactly what I earned and spent (rounded to the nearest dollar).

Income from November 2011:

$3,820–Regular Paycheck
$166–Dividends
$217–Bonus and Spiffs

Total Income: $4,203

Expenses from November 2011:

$451–Rent
$160–Student Loans
$111–Groceries
$66–Fast Food and Pizza
$57–Public Transportation
$53–Internet
$52–Pharmacy
$40–Mobile Phone
$30–Gym
$19–Movies
$540–Everything Else*

Total Expenses: $1,583

*-The Everything Else category includes things I don’t have a regular budget for. In this case, it was a plane ticket back home to see family in Michigan. The $540 ticket was more than I would have liked to spend, but I tried to get the best deal I could. I searched Kayak, Expedia and individual airline sites for about two months before finally pulling the trigger. In the end, it’s important to see family and my budget was in line otherwise.

As always, in the interest of full disclosure I like to display my income and expenses from every month for public view. This will catalog my journey to financial independence and prove that it is possible to achieve early retirement on relatively modest means.

Income this month was wonderful. The past few months have been really great for me in terms of income, and well above my norm. A couple of things have factored into that, including one guy at work missing some time and I was also lucky to sell a few key jobs.

Expenses, other than the airfare expense, were very well in line. Food came in just under $180, which is what I try to target. I took my girlfriend out to see the new Twilight movie, which she really enjoyed.So, there was a small entertainment expense this month.

Rent will actually be slightly higher going forward. I forgot to factor in the water bill here at the apartment, and we just got our first water bill very recently. So, December’s rent expense will be higher as it will be from there on out. This is the last month that will include a gym expense, as I alluded to recently. The gym-free exercise routine is going fantastic.

I managed to save 62.3% of my net income this month. I would have liked it to be a little higher, but I’m still very happy with where I landed.

My goal is to average a 50% savings rate of my net income, monthly. So far, I’ve hit rates of:

52.5%-January
54.4%-February
39.9%-March
61.8%-April
35.9%-May
72.9%-June
50.0%-July
64.3%-August
69.6%-September 
72.2%-October
62.3%-November 

I am now at an average of 57.8% for the year. I’m ahead of my goal and am confident I will meet and exceed a 50% savings rate average for the year.

How are your budgets doing?

Thanks for reading.

Photo Credit: RambergMediaImages

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4 Comments

  1. Mantra – not sure where you live in Florida, and where you are traveling to in Michigan. But Direct Air, http://www.visitdirectair.com has great prices and often offers sales, plus it’s direct, no plane changes, from a few places in Florida to Kalamazoo. Also allegiant air is in and out of S.Bend, IN, which can sometimes be worth a drive. I know you already booked your ticket, and it might not have worked because of holiday dates, etc. But for future trips you might want to check it out.

    Looks like you are right on track with spending and saving. What a great way to end the year. Enjoy your time with family.

  2. MySavingStyle,

    Thanks for stopping by!

    I never tried visitdirectair.com. I’ll have to look into it next time. I’m flying out of Sarasota and into Flint. I’m pretty limited to Flint or Detroit based on where my family is located. Any other destination airports would make things difficult, but I’ll look into it.

    Thanks for the encouragement. I hope you enjoy your holidays with family as well!

    Take care.

  3. Henry,

    Thanks for stopping by.

    The income I post is net income, or after-tax income. This is the most common income used when discussing personal finances because taxes must be paid no matter what.

    Thanks for the encouragement. I’m going to shoot for a 60% rate next year, I think.

    Best wishes!

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