Spending Habits: How much money I have spent this week (November 29–December 5, 2010)

This is a weekly review of my spending habits for the week of Nov.29 - Dec. 5, 2010.

Date	Amount
Monday Nov. 29	330.30 kr. ($60)
Tuesday Nov. 30	233.95 + 193.20 + 44 = 471,15 kr. ($42.50 + $35.20 + $8 = $85.70)
Wednesday Dec. 1	342.45 kr. ($62.30)
Thursday Dec. 2	160.90 + 200 = 360.90 kr. ($29.25 + $36.40 = $65.60)
Friday Dec. 3	280.95 + 625 = 905.95 kr. ($51.10 + $113.70 = $164.80)
Saturday Dec. 4	0 kr. ($0)
Sunday Dec. 5	0 kr. ($0)

TOTAL: 2410.75 kr. ($438.40)

So there you have it. A tally of what I’ve spent during the course of the week. I’ve split things up with plus’es (+) because I wanted to differentiate between my actual spending habits and bills. So the first amount is my actual “spending habits” (this is mostly food and some toiletries) while everything after the first amount are bills.

So there you go. An overview of my spending habits for said week.

If you’re interested in reading my posts for the previous weeks, you can take a look at them here:

Spending Habits: How much money I have spent this week (November 8-14, 2010) 

Spending Habits: How much money I have spent this week (November 15-21, 2010)

Spending Habits: How much money I have spent this week (November 22-28, 2010)

This is week 4 of my expense tracking:

On Week 1 I spent $80.

On Week 2 I spent $189.

On Week 3 I spent $143.50.

On Week 4 I spent $438.40. (Because it’s the 1st of the month, and all my bills come in at this time.)

Spending Habits: How much money I have spent this week (November 22-28, 2010)

This is a weekly review of my spending habits for the week of Nov.22-28, 2010.

Date	Amount
Monday Nov. 22	$24.50
Tuesday Nov. 23	$24
Wednesday Nov. 24	$15
Thursday Nov. 25	$43
Friday Nov. 26	$37
Saturday Nov. 27	$0
Sunday Nov. 28	$0

TOTAL: $143.50

The last 2 weeks I’ve made similar posts:

Spending Habits: How much money I have spent this week (November 8-14, 2010) 

Spending Habits: How much money I have spent this week (November 15-21, 2010)

This is week 3 of my expense tracking:

On Week 1 I spent $80.

On Week 2 I spent $189.

On Week 3 I spent $143.50.

 

Final Thoughts

I started this rigorous expense tracking 3 weeks ago to take a closer, introspective look at how I was spending my money. Very honestly and very openly. I’ve already had a couple of those “aha” or “Eureka” moments during  these weeks. I normally pay attention to what I spend, but when you’re living on around $537 a month after all fixed expenses are paid (not including phone bills, electricity, or food) , you not only have to pay attention…you  really have to control every single coin and bill that goes out of your wallet. Keeping a close eye on every cent you spend. So this expense tracking has really helped me get a clear and concrete overview (one that I realize I needed) of how much money I spend daily and weekly.

I realize that I spend on average $75 a week. However, this average is misleading as I was sick on the first week. So the average should be based more on the last 2 weeks, which should be $166.25.

So I realize I spend on average around $166.25 a week.

I realize that I should budget for $181 on average a week - to give myself a realistic buffer.

However, $181 a week would be $724 a month, and as mentioned above, I only have around $537 a month to spend. So no wonder I’m in the hole right now and having difficulty beginning my paybacks to my Dad. I really needed to see this black-on-white. I’ll have to take a good look at my paycheck next month, take a look at the bills I need to pay (because I know that there’s a $124 annual bill that’s coming up very soon), and then budget weekly. What I mean by that is make a budget for each week. And take an overview every fortnight, as well as weekly & monthly. Just to really keep a close eye -and close hold- on my spendings.

 

Well, that’s all for now. Bye, again.

Spending Habits: How much money I have spent this week (November 15-21, 2010)

This is a weekly review of my spending habits for the week of Nov.15-21, 2010.

Date	Amount
Monday Nov. 15	$43.50
Tuesday Nov. 16	$0
Wednesday Nov. 17	$33
Thursday Nov. 18	$33.50
Friday Nov. 19	$39
Saturday Nov. 20	$40
Sunday Nov. 21	$0

TOTAL: $189

Last weekend I made a similar post  named Spending Habits: How much money I have spent this week (November 8-14, 2010).

I began only just last week to rigorously track my expenses everyday. This is week 2 of my expense tracking.

Spending Habits: How much money I have spent this week (November 8-14, 2010)

This is a weekly review of my spending habits for the week of Nov.8-14, 2010.

Date	Amount
Tuesday Nov. 10	$21
Wednesday Nov. 11	$15.50
Thursday Nov. 12	$8.5
Friday Nov. 13	$35
Saturday Nov. 14	$0
Sunday Nov. 15	$0

TOTAL: $80

As you can see in the post (right below) called Spending Habits: How much money I have spent today, Thursday 11/11/10 I began to keep track of my daily expenses here on the blog to keep myself accountable for my spending. However, I also kept a written record outside the blog, so I found that I was doing “double the work” because I was typing every single item AGAIN. So I decided to keep my daily expense trackings off the blog and just post weekly expense trackings instead.

Another reason for not posting daily expense trackings is because I want to keep the blog posts varied and fun to read – I realized that a daily expense tracking post like the one below would – in large numbers – begin to clutter up the blog with monotonous posts of just spreadsheets and dry numbers. But these are just my feelings right now. They may change someday. Maybe it’s just the way I present them. Perhaps with some cool graphics or design they’d be more fun to look at. Hmmm…I’ll have to give this more thought and keep this one open. But for now, weekly is the way to go.

A few notes about the past week in retrospect: I‘ve been sick since Friday and that explains why I haven’t spent any money this weekend. What a rotten time to get sick, but I guess that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. I spent a large amount on Friday for grocery shopping for the weekend.

That’s all.

Spending Habits: How much money I have spent today, Thursday 11/11/10

My spending habits today on Thursday November 11, 2010

Amount	What	Where
$3	croissant, chocolate drink	bakery
$5.50	lunch	cafeteria

Total: $8.50