I’ve made a grave mistake. At the end of March, I had mentally prepared myself for a Cash Fasting Challenge on April food spending. After all, I haven’t done any challenges yet this year. However, instead of reducing my expenditures, I went over. And I mean way over. This is the month that went horribly wrong.
I haven’t had a month like this since Cash Fasting was born
The idea for this blog came about through the concept of Cash Fasting Challenges; spending challenges that would be primarily focused on food spending after I spent $1,000 on food & dining in a single month. That month was ridiculous due to a $300 dinner at a fancy restaurant (a friend was in town and the restaurant was on her bucket list). This past month? I wish I could lay the blame on a single outing, but I can’t. For someone who typically spends around $500 a month on food but would like to cut it to $400, I went ridiculously over. Now, I’m coming clean.
Getting the non-food expenses out of the way
April was such a splurge month. I spent nearly $300 at Madewell. However, thanks to a great post by The Luxe Strategist, I don’t feel too guilty over this. Since starting this blog, I haven’t spent much on clothing. Although I’ve never entered a Madewell store prior to last month, I finally decided to after receiving a 20% off coupon at work. I tried on a few things that caught my eye and was amazed when everything fit. This was the unicorn of shopping trips. I picked up this great denim wrap top (I liked it so much, I also got the same style in a different fabric), new jeans, and a comfy dress. Only the jeans weren’t on sale, but overall I got a great sale on sale. 😏
I had a few other large non-food costs in April, the biggest of which was my one-year Bluehost hosting renewal ($100). It’s been a year since I switched over from WordPress.com to Bluehost. Being self-hosted has been great for the site, although if I had to do it again I’d probably choose a different provider. No real complaints here though, and I’m happy to stick with Bluehost for the time being.
I also paid two of my smaller medical bills, which I’m still neck deep in. Knowing that I have thousands more on the horizon, perhaps this splurge was unwise, but it’s too late now.
Onto the real damage
My final food cost for April was $1,170.19.
Groceries: $250.89
This includes groceries for both me and Ian since he hates grocery shopping. We technically split grocery costs down the middle (we use a super convenient app called Splitwise), but for the sake of easy accounting, I don’t split these transactions in Mint. Ian usually buys household items like toilet paper and toothpaste, so over time, it balances out. At only $250, this is a lower than average month for us, and that’s because we did significantly less meal prepping this past month compared to previous months.
Dining: $373.94
Split out over 18 transactions, this means I averaged $20.77 per meal. Even in NYC, that’s a lot. This spending is where I feel somewhat ashamed. I don’t have any excuses to make. 😢
Alcohol/Bars: $62.00
This is usually a very low category for me, as I rarely go out. Any booze I buy at the grocery store or with meals are lumped into grocery/dining spending, respectively, so this is exclusively for buying drinks at a bar. Funnily enough, almost the entire of April’s booze spending was not on me. My company has been going through some major restructuring, and as a result, multiple coworkers that I am close to were let go. I paid for a few drinks at their goodbye happy hour, which I have no regrets over.
FIVE DAYS IN VA/DC: $483.36
Whoooooops. I took three days off mid-month to go home and visit my parents. I still have plenty of friends in the D.C. area, and it was nice to see the cherry blossoms in person.
I also drove two hours south to visit my sister, where she’s finishing up her graduate degree. That’s where the bulk of this spending went. I took her and a friend out to dinner (and paid, of course, as the only employed person at the table); I also bought lots of beer. Collegetown beer is cheap, and I still remember the feeling of being a broke college student. In a sense, although I was in a familiar place, this spending was practically like being on a vacation; it’s not something that happens often, and I got a ton of enjoyment out of it.
So, how did things get so horribly wrong?
I honestly do think the stress of my pending medical bills accounted for part of this splurge. While paying them off won’t break the bank, the stress of them looming over me likely contributed to my desire to shop and eat. I haven’t eaten like this since I was in college (and instead of the ‘Freshman 15’, I gained 20 pounds in my first year).
Overall, I really enjoyed most of the things I spent money on, but I just wish it hadn’t cost so much. My trip, new clothes, groceries, and even booze spending I have no regrets over; if I could change one thing, it would have been my general spending on eating out. I’m disappointed that my food spending has gotten so out of control, and going out to eat has become more of a norm.
Keep moving forward
Getting back into the habit of prepping my meals for the week should go a long way in getting back on track; a full $42.33 went to Seamless last month on work lunch orders, something I never used in the past.
A crazy spending month got this blog started in the first place, and a crazy spending month can snap me back in shape again. Summer’s coming, people. Bring on the warm weather and multitude of free activities. ☀
For what it’s worth, I’m tightening the belt up for May. Summer means bikini season, and I’ll be damned if I let ramen tempt me away from yet another summer of feeling too large for my body. Next month, I better have a happier post to share with you all, heh.
Comments
Uh oh, am I a shopping enabler???
We had a spendy month as well, but such is life. When that happens I try to calculate the average monthly spending so far, and see if we’re tracking. There’s just going to be some months where you spend less and some where you spend more. As long as your savings goals are being met, you’re OK?
“Uh oh, am I a shopping enabler???” – Ha! Caught! I seem to recall a comment on modernpersonalfinance about his wife being influenced by your blog, so… 😛
Jane, I agree that’s a whole lotta food money. BUT, if I am reading it right, nearly half went towards fun with your sister (and beer!). I’d count that spending as totally worth it and not dwell on it. If you think those medical bills have power over you – can you just knock ’em out real quick?
Yeah, it’s definitely not something that will repeat itself in the near future because I was treating my sister and her friends. And Luxe is right – I still saved some of my paycheck last month, so I’m not living beyond my means.
As for those pesky medical bills, I wish I could knock ’em out – it’s a weird situation where I have to wait for all the bills to come before I can file a claim with my insurance because otherwise, I’ll be paying thousands more than I should. It’s been very stressful seeing those giant bills on my counter but not able to do anything other than wait around. 🙈
I like to think of spending on food while on vacation as under my vacation spending, instead of food spending. But it looks like you’re still ok! One bad month, doesn’t throw off the whole band wagon 🙂
And I hear you on medical bills it’s so silly the way they do it… sometimes having to wait months before you can get everything taken care of. SMH.
I like the idea of allocating food spending while on vacation as vacation spending – it makes a lot of sense to me. I should’ve approached my extended weekend trip with more of a vacation mindset, and financially treated it as one.
And on those medical bills… ugh. The latest update is that I’ll finally be able to pay for them… in 60-90 days. Ridiculous. Granted, it’ll be 100% worth it so that insurance will actually pay for part of it.