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In October we had to fly to San Francisco for a particular errand. Since we had canceled all our travel plans up to that point, we were a little scared about this trip. We did not know what to expect at the airport, the airplane, the car rental, the Airbnb, etc. However, this was something that we could not avoid, so we took the plunge and went for it.
We stacked with KN-95 masks, shields, gloves, sanitizer wipes and went to the airport. Fortunately, both the airport and the airplane were almost empty. When we arrived in San Francisco, we sanitized the car and drove to the apartment. The apartment was clean, however, we also did our own sanitization. We stayed for a few days in the city and we had lots of fun. As time progressed, we became more comfortable with the city, so we spent some time visiting different places. We also did pickup from different restaurants and tried different cuisines.
The only hiccup with this trip was in our return flight. It turned out that the family sitting next to me (at the other side of the aisle) was not a big fond of masks. As they sat down in the airplane, they took their masks off. I complained once to the flight attendant, so they put their masks on for 5 seconds. As soon as the flight attendant left, they lowered their masks below their nose. After my second complaint, they put their masks on and kept them for the whole flight. Every now and then they would give me the look, but I looked the other way. When we landed and went out of the plan, they immediately took the masks off and were showing off how “brave” they were. Maybe that’s why US has so many covid cases and deaths…
However, the toughest part for me during October was I lost a very close family member. This was totally unexpected and not due to covid. Big loss for the whole family. Currently, hospitals do not allow visitors, so it was not possible for me to be closer at time of death. I am still very sad about it 🙁 I’ll miss you 🙁
Our expenses this month were elevated and reached $13.1k. This was expected, as it includes travel expenses (airplane tickets, car rental, restaurants, etc). This is the second month, where we paid full tuition for 2 children at daycare.
Observations
- Our total expenses were $13.1k
- Biggest contributors: Daycare and mortgage (almost 50%)
- Trip to San Francisco total cost: $2.2k
- Airplane tickets and Airbnb: $1.4k
- Restaurants: $395
- Car rental: $282
- Gas: $131
- Parking: $42
- Fees: $39
- Coffee: $13
- Additional one-time costs: $1,091
- Bereavement donation: $824
- Dentist: $239
- Photo: $27
- Periodic costs: $174
- Car licensing fees: $174
Detailed breakdown
| Category | Expenses | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Daycare | $3,612 | 2 children at daycare |
| Mortgage | $2,658 | This is a 15-year mortgage @3% |
| Utilities | $1,514 | This is elevated, as it includes 2 payments for water/sewer (33%) and 2 for garbage (33%). The rest is electricity (10%), internet and alarm |
| Travel | $1,319 | Flights and Airbnb in San Francisco |
| Groceries | $1,110 | Whole Foods (66%), Costco (34%) |
| Bereavement donation | $824 | I’m very sad for the loss of a family member 🙁 |
| Shopping | $654 | Amazon (33%). The rest is from Target, Walmart, Walgreens, Ross |
| Restaurants | $395 | Eating out in San Francisco |
| Car rental | $282 | Car rental in San Francisco |
| Dentist | $239 | Dental cleaning |
| Car licensing fees | $174 | Annual fee for 1 car |
| Gas | $131 | Elevated due to San Francisco trip |
| Cell phone | $72 | 2 lines with T-Mobile, unlimited plans |
| Parking | $42 | Related to San Francisco trip |
| Fees | $39 | Random fees |
| Photo | $27 | Family picture |
| Children’s activities | $20 | Online learning for children |
| Coffee | $13 | San Francisco trip |
How to easily track your monthly expenses
This is the methodology that I use to monitor my monthly expenses. You can also do the same:
- Create a free online account at Personal Capital
- Link your accounts, so that you can track them in the Personal Capital dashboard
- Bank accounts
- Retirement accounts (401k, IRA, etc)
- Credit cards
- Investment accounts
- At the end of each month, view the list of your Expenses (also found if you go to Banking -> Cash Flow -> Expense)
- Go through each line one by one
- Check if the “Category” of the expense is correct. If not, then move it to the correct category. You can also create your own categories
- When you are done, you can view the graphs with the aggregate data and compare your expenses with last month
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