Tracking November's Grocery Spending

I just finished renovating our monthly budget, and under Groceries I have $400 per month (covers both M and I). I am going to hazard a guess and say that this is a nice blend of wishful thinking and total denial.

Since New Year's resolutions are right around the corner, I figured I might as well find out. So for the month of November I'm going to save all grocery/bodega/food co-op receipts and see what the final tally is. I figure that we should be able to eat in on $100 a week, so one of the interesting things about going through the receipts will be finding out what the budget breakers are. If I was a betting budgeter I'd place money on it being my obsessive purchase of blocks of cheese...

photo by Cpt. Obvious via flickr

What I'm Not Cutting

Inspired by a CNN/Money article Where Americans Will (and Won't) Cut Back, I decided to take a look at what's on my chopping block.

Consumer confidence is in the gutter, inflation is on the rise and the economy is struggling. But even as consumers cut back on spending, there are some things they refuse to give up.

Nine out of 10 Americans said they are cutting back expenses or discretionary spending at least somewhat because of the current economic conditions; according to a recent study from market research firm GfK Roper Consulting.

And moi? Well, I guess since I'm in the upper coast of Maine, vacation is one category that's not getting cut. But to be fair, M and I save a little every month to be able to go away once a year or so. But flying to dollar depressed countries (ie anywhere in Europe) is going to be put off for a while.

Eating out also isn't on the chopping block, though like eating through the pantry it's one of those theoretical eliminations that never seem to become reality. The reality is that I eat out for less money. No more spontaneous meals at Al di La, it's more like the local taqueria.

Some things are on the chopping block. Driving for the hell of it. Buying new clothes. Buying gadgets. Buying lots of books (though I still buy some, I'm not blowing $100 at the Strand- I'm setting one book limits which for the first time I actually adhere to). And saving.

Yes, saving more money is on the chopping block. Even though I would love to save even more pennies than I already do, and pretty much every year I try to increase it a little, this year I wasn't able to increase it as much as I would have liked to.

And what I'm not doing? I'm not one of the 50% of Americans buying a new HD/flat screen TV within the next year. Other things the article sited as things Americans are loathe to cut right now are cable/satellite TV subscriptions, vacationing and travel. It's alright, I never thought I'd see the day Americans would be conscious of fuel efficiency. Then again, I was just a kid during the last energy crisis.

Budgeting Live Music

Last night I went to BAM to see Mavis Staples sing, and boy oh boy can that woman sing. It was part of BAM's 22nd annual Brooklyn Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. I went with M and good friend G, and we had great orchestra seats. Not right up front, but in the center of the venue. Ms. Mavis came out and held the mic and sang the truth, and if your soul didn't shake then one would have to wonder if you had one to begin with.

The tickets were about $33, and afterwards we went out to eat at a nearby restaurant at the edge of Fort Greene. That came out to $25 per person for three courses. So while it wasn't the cheapest evening out all told, there are some things I will spend money on without pause. For some people, living in New York tests your temptation to constantly shop and eat out. For me, it tempts my need to clap and cheer and nod to the music.

If there's a really expensive show, like our bank breaking tix to see Etta James in April, then I'll buy them as "presents" because, um, well everybody needs to buy your own self a nice little present, right? And then, of course, there's the summer concerts that you actually have to pay for. Last summer I went to both the Yeah Yeah Yeahs concert and the Beastie Boys concert at McCarren Pool. Then there was the National with Arcade Fire at United Palace waaaaay the heck uptown. Yeah, summer is an expensive season for me...

Because I pay off my credit card in full every month, concert tickets are usually paid up well in advance of the show, so I can split up the cost of the concert and dinner rather than paying for both in one shot. I also really try to soak up the free concerts during the summer in the public parks, and I'll forgo paying to see the same bands indoors. Thankfully, my musical tastes don't include bands that play at Madison Square Garden or the Meadowlands. Now those kinds of tickets would require some serious budgeting skills.

photo of Arcade Fire at United Palace by agentmouthwashfanclubpr esident via flickr

Mystery Spending

In a recent study by Visa, nearly half of all Americans blow money on things that get lost in the ether. We're talking about $200 a month for men and women under 34 that cannot be accounted for.

A night (or two, or three) out at the bar, a quick hit and run at H&M, that last belly bruising meal at Astroland (RIP), simply evaporating in your wallet to the point where you cannot even recall the experience. It's that all too familiar moment when you open up your wallet and stare inside for that extra second, and say to yourself, 'What happened to all my money? I swore I had more...'. The cure all for this phenomenom, of course, is to track your spending, make a budget, and actually follow through with it.

I just got back from a gorgeous two day break in Amagansett with friends, so I know exactly where my money went, a clam shack off of route 27...

Brit In Brooklyn's Coney Island wallpaper found here

The Boring Budget

There IS a big picture. Being debt free. Saving for an apartment. Being financially stable. All of the above and then some. But the devil is in the details. And before you are overwhelmed with retirement numbers, you have to go through financial planning step by step. And the first step is mandatory. Thankfully, it is also the easiest.

Everybody needs a budget. You need a clear idea of just where your bank bleeds. Because I will tell you right off the bat that if you don't have zero revolving credit card debt, an emergency fund of three months expenses (also to be used as first and last month's rent plus brokers fee of 10% annual rent- for those all to frequent you got out-gentrified moments), a fully funded Roth IRA, then you need to get there. Because those are the basics. And now that I've gone and said them, just get them out of your head if you don't have them because it'll make your head hurt and it doesn't need to. Right now all you gotta be is boring as all get out.

Take a pen and paper, it could be your favorite pen and your favorite notepad, or the back of the nearest scrap paper and the pen you're sitting on, and grab a calculator. Or practice basic addition, subtraction, and long division. And write down the absolute basics. Not needs, we'll get to that part, but your needs and small wants. Like rent and wi-fi. Like so.

RENT 1000

STUDENT LN 200

CON ED 80 (average monthly cost, so august will be above $100 and december will be below)

GAS 40

Metrocard 80

Verizon 80 (phone and wi-fi)

CELL 80

FOOD 400

Now add it all up, and our budget expmple is $1880 in monthly expenses. This is made up and based on a single person in their own apartment, obviously adjust if you share expenses with someone.

One thing I do is always include food. If I can't shop at KeyFoods and do bodega runs for a hundred bucks a week, then I need to start. Ideally, since I share expenses, this hundred buck item would also include going out to eat once a week. I include it because the reality is that in New York City, we love our restaurants. We don't have a stocked walk in pantry, because we only shop what we can carry (not what we can throw in the trunk), but we have a restaurant on every block and a bodega on every corner, so if you don't include it in your budget you are going to come up short at the end of the month.

Now you subtract what you make. So waitresses, add up the average tip every night for the week and get your weekly total. Let's say it's $600. Multiply it by 4 weeks, and you have a monthly take home of $2400, subract the monthly expense total of the budget you just did, and you have your difference. Also, if you survive on tips, you know that your weekly income varies, so if you have a crap week one week, next week's tips will have to cover last weeks short. I'll get into underwear drawers next post. Now you know how much you blow, how much you thought you had but didn't, and/or a quest for a new job. In this example, $520 isn't a heck of a lot left over. It means that you would really have to spend only a hundred bucks a week on food, and when you went out that night for drinks and dancing at mon mon mon amour last thursday, you can't buy that comme des garcons wallet you almost stole from a friend. What it does, most importantly, is put things in perspective. So that you are more aware of what goes in and out of your wallet, and spending is thoughtful impulse, not blind impulse.

So that was easy, right? A little too easy. Because I am here to tell you the secret to it all. Spend less than you earn and save the difference. This is the part that hurts. I don't care how much debt you are in, you must save no matter what. You must make habits to break habits, and other trite little lecturous bits of wisdom. Let's say that you should save 20% of your income and live off of 80%. It might look easier than it sounds, or not. In either case, it aint easy. Which is why you should start at 10%. Even if you are brokety broke. Kill the wi-fi. Lower your phone bill. Anything. Our pretend budgeter above would start saving $240 a month. That's sixty bucks a week. Let's say our pretend budgeter is a waitress, so we'll just call it the A-hole tip jar. Ten percent of your customers are grade A numbnuts, or ten percent of your workload is complete and total BS, and it's your hard earned labor with them that you're not gonna piss away.

How, where, and why will be the next entry. Unitl then, please feel free to ask questions as we go along.