In the course of figuring out how well we did with our expenses this quarter, I noticed one of my calculations for last quarter was off. Instead of our savings rate being an impressive 62%, it was incredibly 70.6%! Oops. What a difference a misplaced digit makes.
We’ve been putting away money into our money market account rather than the retirement accounts this quarter. We are looking at moving to a new place in the area, and we need a fat down payment for that. Unlike stashing money in the retirement accounts where you tend to forget about it, putting it into a money market account is a real boost to the old self-esteem. It somehow feels realer. I feel a bit freer to spend, unlike when it’s locked away for retirement and you’re not allowed to think about it. Obviously, it hasn’t changed my spending that much, since we still topped 60% for a savings rate again. But it’s weird to have immediate access to that much cash.
Total Expenses: $12,787
Avg Per Month: $4,262
Without Debt PaymentsTotal Expenses: $9,744
Avg Per Month: $3,248
Savings Rate: 60%
The photos you’ll see are all either from the Dutchess County Fair in August or from our Thousand Islands camping trip during Labor Day week.
Summary
| Quarterly Total | Monthly Average | |
| Serious Stuff | $3,903.78 | $1,301.26 |
| Food | $2,330.36 | $776.79 |
| Transportation | $2,251.31 | $750.44 |
| Utilities | $555.73 | $185.24 |
| Fun Stuff | $2,278.00 | $759.33 |
| Miscellaneous | $1,447.45 | $482.48 |
Description
Serious Stuff:
| Quarterly Total | Monthly Average | |
| Mortgage | $2,083.74 | $ |
| Medical | $0.00 | $ |
| Home Maintenance – DIY | $29.27 | $ |
| Property Taxes | $1,791.51 | N/A |
Property taxes are the school taxes for the year, less the refund we get from the state for our city keeping tax increases under 2%.
No extra mortgage payments or any other extra debt payments.
Diner breakfast!
Food:
| Quarterly Total | Monthly Average | |
| Groceries | $1,699.76 | $566.59 |
| Wine & Beer | $75.56 | $25.19 |
| Dining Out | $249.55 | $83.18 |
| Takeout Food | $305.49 | $101.83 |
| Total Food | $2,330.36 | $776.79 |
Didn’t eat here…
We went out for breakfast one day while camping. Treated my parents out to lunch when they came to visit. And I probably overspent at the grocery store. Maybe it has to do with the confidence of having a full-to-bursting money market fund.
Upgrading our camping transportation from the Civic
Transportation:
| Quarterly Expense | Monthly Average | |
| Auto Maintenance & Reg. | $978.30 | $326.10 |
| Auto Loan | $958.47 | $319.49 |
| Gas | $472.17 | $157.39 |
| Insurance | ($217.63) | ($72.54) |
| Bus Tickets | $60.00 | $20.00 |
| Total Transportation | $2,251.31 | $750.44 |
The only bad thing about buying a new car is that you have to pay for it. Speaking of wanting to stash more money in our money market mutual fund, I took a five year loan for our new car so I wouldn’t deplete the fund. I know… Blasphemy. I plan on paying it off much earlier than that.
One of the benefits of having a new car is that it has untold safety features my 2005 Honda Civic could only dream of. That means the insurance cost is lower, which resulted in a refund.
Big auto service costs this quarter because Marge’s Toyota needed new tires, alignment, annual check-ups, etc. Gas cost was higher than normal because our driving to western New York for Independence Day and for camping.
Utilities:
| Quarterly Total | Monthly Average | |
| Cable | $149.97 | $49.99 |
| Electric | $180.86 | $60.29 |
| Gas | $86.20 | $28.73 |
| Cell Phones | $43.00 | $14.33 |
| Water & Sewer | $95.70 | $31.90 |
| Total Utilities | $555.73 | $185.24 |
Incredibly average month in utilities! Electric is up because we need an air conditioner to sleep in the summer. Cable is a basic internet-only plan.
Sheep judging sure is fun!
Fun Stuff:
| Quarterly Total | Monthly Average | |
| Entertainment | $390.52 | $130.17 |
| Recreation | $925.51 | $308.50 |
| Travel | $961.97 | $320.66 |
| Total Fun Stuff | $2,278.00 | $759.33 |
Entertainment includes a pair of $75 tickets to see The New Pornographers at the cozy Levon Helm Studio in Woodstock! They are maybe my favorite band around. I have seen them before, but it was my first time seeing Neko Case perform together with Carl Newman, so that was very special and the venue was the best venue. Only a 150 or so seats. No food for purchase, but everyone brings snacks to share.
One thing we didn’t have to pay for was tickets to the first Aurora Games in Albany where we got to see Katelyn Ohashi do her famous floor routine for the final time! (Marge got tickets through work)
Recreation included Marge’s dance class tuition for the entire year.
Travel expense includes our hotels in Puerto Rico for next February, and a couple weekend trips this fall to Vermont and Cape Cod.
Miscellaneous:
| Quarterly Total | Monthly Average | |
| Cash (Untracked) | $60.00 | $20.00 |
| Charity | $160.00 | $53.33 |
| Clothing | $558.66 | $186.22 |
| Gifts | $221.26 | $73.75 |
| Home | $263.44 | $87.81 |
| Personal Care | $20.00 | $6.67 |
| Pets | $184.09 | $61.36 |
| Total Miscellaneous | $1,467.45 | $489.15 |
Is it wrong that I’m including political donations in my Charity category? It’s the first time I’ve ever given to a campaign. Who is it? You’ll never be able to figure it out! (Hint: You probably have a problem pronouncing their name)
Clothing includes a bridesmaid dress that Marge got for a wedding next year in Ireland. Gifts also includes something for the same’s wedding shower.
Home includes all of those things like paper towels, soap, and toothbrush head, but also includes maybe my favorite purchase of the year: a robot vacuum! We bought this Eufy brand vacuum used on eBay for $60. Our floors have never felt so nice to walk on barefoot. The previous owner put these googly eyes and mustache on him to give him some character.
Pets included just paying for someone to watch our rabbits over the July 4th trip and Labor Day camping, plus typical food and litter.
Eufy!
Goal Progress
Total 2019 Non-Debt Spending of $30,000:
- Spent so far: $27,746
- On track to spend: $36,994
This annual goal we always miss! Good news is that if we do end up just under $37,000, we will be at the same level of spending as last year. I’ve been using this same $30k goal for years now, and just figuring on inflation, it will probably never happen, so I should probably increase it next year to something achievable.
Savings Rate of 65%:
- Savings rate this quarter: 60%
- Savings Rate so far this year: 59.3%
We are incredibly close for once! Usually our fourth quarter is good for savings (there must be no big property tax bill or something) so even though it’s still a long shot to hit 65%, we could come close!
Sad!
Max Out 457 Plan and Roth IRAs
- Goals: $19,000 in 457 Plan / $6,000 in each Roth IRA
- Saved so far: $5,454 in 457 Plan / $6,000 in each Roth IRA
Notice, these are the same as last quarter. We didn’t put any more into the work retirement plans, but I just changed the contributions so we will be putting in more for the final three months of the year, but they won’t be maxed out.
Contribute to Marge’s 401(k)
- Goal: $10,000
- Saved so far: $3,965
See above. If my calculations are correct, based on the contributions I scheduled for Marge’s 401(k) she might just hit $10,000 by year end.
Read 25 Books
I finished seven books this quarter bringing my total to 19. It’s the anniversary of the Manson murders, so I read Helter Skelter, which felt like 2,000 pages long by the end. By contrast, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian was very good and just the right length. But if I had to recommend one book I read this quarter, it would be Pete Buttigieg’s Shortest Way Home. No reason! Who is this guy anyway?
Years of Savings:
This magical calculation demonstrates how far we could get if we kept living every month like this ones listed above. We take our investable assets and divide them by our monthly expenses above. The number to shoot for is 25, because at that level of savings, you could afford to live forever on your money stash. According to our monthly average non-debt expenses and our investable assets, we have…
11 years of savings
Retirement Location Possibility:
If we take that number of years of savings above, and divide by 25, we can figure out where in the world we could afford to retire right now by dividing another country’s cost of living price index by our own cost of living. I averaged Buffalo and Hartford for our own cost of living since those are the closest to us on Expatistan’s index.
Our International Retirement Cost of Living Number is….
70
According to Expatistan’s index, that means we can retire in…
Minsk, Belarus!
One of my favorite travel blogs wrote a gushing entry about Minsk, so I hold it in high esteem. It’s not a place I ever think about, except as this punchline on Seinfeld.
Notably, at the bottom end of Expatistan’s index are a bunch of cities in Argentina like Buenos Aires and Cordoba because their currency is especially worthless right now. We could live like kings there! I mean, until the tenuous economy goes south.