Finishing 2018 (December Finances) And Looking Ahead To 2019

Holy smokes.

Our food spending for December took a large (LARGE) jump. And while I can point to some reasons why—the holidays, my aunt's hospitalization and death, restocking some key items, extra baking—I still winced when I totaled up the figures for December.

Grocery (food) spending in December? $266.85. Yes, you read that right. $266.85. (Enlarging the font size there makes it so much more real.) We spent another $27.07 on household items: soap, toilet paper, that kind of thing.

December total? $293.92.
Here, let me blow that WAY UP: $293.92. 

When I plug that figure into the rest of the year, Warren and I spent $2288.18 this year on groceries and household items. That comes out to $190.68 a month average, rounded up to $191.00, which puts me $16.00 over the $175.00 a month I was aiming for.

Okay, not bad. But I'd like to do better. (I'll come back to that comment.)

Our eating out bill in December was (for us) staggering: $134.52 (more or less, as I estimated a meal that I didn't have the receipt for). [An aside: December eating out was less costly than November!] Again, there were some extraneous circumstances: meals at the hospital, a luncheon after the graveside services, some other meals out with family because of the holidays. (When Warren or I treated others (the luncheon after the service, for example), I only added that portion of the bill directly related to what the two of us ordered.) Some of those meals out were because we were just too worn out and sad to prepare a meal.

When I add up our 2018 eating out expenses ($884.45) and divide by 12, I get $73.70 a month for our average on eating out. Not the worst figure by a long shot, but considerably higher that I would have guessed before we began this year. That in and of itself was eye-opening. I truly has no idea we averaged that much.

So, back to my comment about wanting to do better in 2019. Those who know me well know I do not spend money casually. Some of that is underlying frugality (not entirely unrelated to my grandmother's stories of making it through the Great Depression, all of which I took to heart as a child), some of that is knowing I will always have medical expenses (even with excellent insurance) that I need to be prepared to meet. (January 2019: insurance out of pocket and deductible costs to be met! Thanks to Mayo Clinic and Zangmeister Cancer Center, I'll probably hit that mark before the end of February!) Longtime friends (and readers) know that I went through a bankruptcy in 2005, caused in large part because of my cancer diagnosis in 2004. While almost 100% of my staggering medical bills were covered by Medicaid, I was unable to work, so I could not support myself, let alone my children. (It didn't help that I had absorbed a lot of credit debt from the recently concluded divorce, trying to keep two households afloat.) So having been truly and utterly broke, dependent on help from family and friends, I tend to keep a close watch on my spending. (It also helps that I don't like to shop for or buy many things. Clothing, household decor, electronics, cars—no thank you.)

So what? No, I mean, what does this mean for 2019? I'm going to track our grocery spending again, still shooting for that elusive $175.00/month average. (Interesting that I am willing to track groceries, but not books!) After Warren and I have a chance to talk, I'll set a monthly eating out goal and see how close we can come to it in 2019. And on all other fronts? Continue to watch my spending, focus of reusing and repurposing what I already have when I am able, and keep lowering the monthly cost of living for both of us. As I did at the start of 2018, I will continue to parse my paychecks (starting with the one tomorrow, the first of 2019) and set aside as much as possible in my "expense account." (Looking back at my 2018 posts as I write this, I just realized I wrote extensively a year ago about my money goals. I did get our monthly grocery/household spending under $200.00 per month, even if I didn't hit the $175.00 mark. And I see I was laughably naive about how much we spend on eating out!)

2019 holds some challenges and some aspirations. There is a new grandchild on his way, which will send us west again. There will be several trips to Mayo, including one this month (testing) and one next month (oncology appointment). (It's a long, complicated, insurance-mandated story why the two are not combined; let me just say that I am eternally grateful to Mayo for getting the testing approved.) Warren has an elderly aunt in Florida (near where we have close friends who just relocated from Ohio) and we will likely travel south for a long weekend this winter to see them all. I am banking on my health to hold steady—a more and more elusive goal the farther I am from my original diagnosis—so we can do all this. We'll see.

A quote I often recall when I am writing about money is this favorite from Thoreau: "Keep your accounts on a thumbnail."

I hear you, Henry!