This post is all about my September 2018 expenses. I started my Yearlong Shopping Ban on October 1 and figured it’d be great to share my expenses with you while I am at it. I gotta get into the groove of doing this every month, after all, and so I figured to also share with you my September expenses.
September was a wonderful month! I spent one and a half weeks of it in Taiwan and almost three weeks of it house sitting in Thailand. I looked after five cats and three dogs and it was lovely. It was also time to celebrate an anniversary – 3 Years on YouTube.
In one of my most recent posts and videos, I shared with you The Rules for My Yearlong Shopping Ban. They will help me to stay on track and function as a guideline for what I can and cannot buy in the next 12 months.
Sharing my expenses with you is something that I’ve been wanting to do (again) for quite a while and the start of my shopping ban is the perfect opportunity.
How I organize my expenses
I keep track of all my expenses and have been doing so since 2014. It’s something that I absolutely love doing. Keeping track of your expenses, is in my opinion, the best way to get a handle on your money.
If you don’t track your expenses you don’t really know where your money is going. If you don’t currently track your expenses, give it a try. Trust me, it makes all the difference.
I use Google sheets and have been doing so since 2014. This is the template that I am currently using. I amended lots of the categories and switched things around to suit my needs. The template is 100% customizable. Previously, I used a plain google sheet without any graphics.
How to read my expense report
Frugal living is my default and keeping track of my expenses is, believe it or not, something that really excites me! It’s so ingrained in me now that I couldn’t imagine living any other way.
Frugal living for me is all about living in alignment with my values, enhancing my experience of life and spending my time and money accordingly.
I am traveling the world on less than $1,000 per month. My current monthly average is around $720. How do you spend so little while traveling full-time? I am traveling the world on a budget like a pro, that’s how!
My expenses reports will not list every single expense item by item but will list the main categories and my expenses in each one. In the notes section, you’ll find more details as to what each category contained that month. If an expense is extremely personal I will simply add “super personal expense” in the notes section.
Interested in frugal living and its benefits? I’ve got heaps of videos about frugal living on my YouTube channel. I also have a handful of posts about frugal living on this blog (and plan to post a lot more).
These are my September 2018 expenses:
| Category | Amount | Notes |
| Phone | $27.50 | 50% of Project Fi Phone plan |
| Groceries | $68.84 | Groceries in Taiwan and Thailand |
| Eating out | 16.91 | 11+ meals in Taipei and Bangkok |
| Treats | $15.39 | Lots of taiwanese and thai sweets |
| Accommodation | 189.37 | 50% of accommodation for 10 days in Bangkok. 50% of accommodation for 19 days in Europe |
| Public transportation | $46.23 | Public transportation in Taipei and Bangkok |
| Flights, buses & cabs | 303.66 | Bus and train Taipei-Longdong, flight from Phuket to Bangkok, flight from Bangkok to Europe, flight within Europe |
| Healthcare | $12.86 | Vitamin b12 supply for almost two years |
| Toiletries | $47.76 | 4 Sonicare toothbrush-heads, one bar of soap - the soap was only $0.81! |
| Total: | $728.52 |
That was it for my September 2018 expenses. I’ve had a wonderful month and I miss the lovely animals I looked after already. Saying goodbye to animals that I lovingly cared for is always a little tough for me. I get attached so quickly!
This post is hugely inspired by the lovely Liz from Frugal Woods. Check out her blog Frugalwoods.
Great way to track your expenses. I have to say you are still in your very young years and your expenses gravitate towards you which make them eaay to track. When you have kids, pets, house, cars, unexpected things happen all the time! Bday parties, car repairs, computer breaks, home repairs, kids or dog gets sick, etc… of course you budget for those things but what I mean is that judging by your spreadsheet your life is pretty simple (which is great, just saying is way different than mine) 🙂
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I think it’s all about having a good system in place. The system that I am using right now is totally scalable and I can switch things up, depending on my life situation and changes that may occur. If I were to have pets and/or kids I’d definitely have separate categories for those (where it makes sense, of course). That’s true, my life is pretty simple. I choose to live in places where I don’t need a car (I don’t even have a drivers license!), prefer apartments over houses and although I love hanging out with pets, I travel a little too much to commit to one. I am petting a cat I am looking after as I am writing this. Animals are so freakin’ adorable! What I highly recommend is having a scalable and adaptable system in place that allows one to track all expenses. I’ve found tracking my expenses to be a really eye-opening experience! 🙂
Wow! 303.66 Euros on travel that includes flights from Bankok to Europe and within Europe??? I thought I was pretty frugal, but I definitely need your tips on how you get such cheap flights.
Author
303.66 US Dollars .. not Euros, even cheaper 😉 This might actually be something I could work on with my man. He’s even better at finding cheap flights than I am! It’s also worth noting that all of these flights were booked pretty last minute (less than a month in advance), which makes it even more surprising that such deals were still available! Our flight from Bangkok to Europe was roughly $200! 🙂
The fact that we can only book flights for school holidays now that my older child is in secondary school does make a significant difference in price. Still, it’d be great if your man wrote a blogpost on how he looks for flights and long-distance train/bus tickets.
Author
I’ll ask him if he could help me with a video or blog post! They key with finding book flights is definitely being flexible though. The more flexible I am the more options I have and the greater the chances of finding a great deal! 🙂
i’m 46 and I live and travel on 1700 a month including savings.