According to my calculations, August 2020 is month 23 of attempting to achieve Financial Independence, with a goal to eventually Retire Early. Hurray!
Highlights
Saved: $700.
Mehhhhhh. Down from last month. Due to some extreme spending in July, I did not have as much to sock away this month. I need to increase my automated payments to save more and therefore force myself not to spend.
Now this savings amount includes hubs savings as well, and I deposited some $ into M’s high interest savings account at EQ Bank (click here to set one up for your kid, best interest rate in town!). I kinda think I need to start breaking this out into MY savings vs. Family savings, but maybe still track both. Something to consider for next month.
Extra Income from Side Hustles: $53.
Also Mehhhhh. I didn’t have much time this month to sell stuff on Facebook or do Usertesting, so it’s one of my worst months. September is already better! Woohoo.
Expenses:
| Category | $ | Relevant Notes of Notey-ness |
| Mortgage Interest | 590 | |
| Mortgage Principal | 807 | |
| Property Tax | 345 | |
| Interest Charges & Bank Fees | 5 | |
| Childcare | 175 | |
| Parking | 115 | |
| Auto Insurance | 56 | |
| Life Insurance | 156 | |
| Electric | 230 | |
| Internet | 124 | |
| Netflix | 14 | |
| Home Insurance | 0 | Paid in June |
| Mobile Phones (2) | 85 | |
| Home Phone | 15 | Annual Canadian # charge. |
| Water & Sewer | ||
| Groceries, Toiletries, Supplies | 943 | Under $1000! A win in my books 🙂 |
| Fuel | 75 | We didn’t do much driving this month! |
| Medical, Eye care, Prescriptions, Vitamins | 36 | MORE masks for school, prescriptions |
| Health & Fitness, Sports | 91 | Swimming lessons for M + new goggles, workout socks, and a yoga brick so I can do more home workouts! |
| Giving | 40 | |
| Haircuts | 67 | |
| Heat (Wood & Propane) | 0 | |
| Vacations | 232 | Awesome trip to the seashore with my parents, and a bit of staycation fun. |
| Auto Repair, Maintenance, Registration & License Renewals | 1257 | It was a bad car month. September will be too. We’re vigorously saving to replace the oldest vehicle. |
| Home Improvement, Services, Supplies & Maintenance | 178 | Mostly paint. The whole house needs it but I’m starting with the kitchen and hall, which are so dark! A few other household supplies fell in here as well. |
| Gifts & Holiday Expenses | 37 | Christmas Gift |
| Clothing | 417 | So, with back to school shopping and an underwear shortage in my home, this got way out of hand. Haha. We bought good shoes for the kiddo this time which added up to about $130. Partially what prompted “Saving September”. |
| Tech repair & replacement | 0 | |
| Annual Memberships & Subscriptions | 0 | |
| Education | 0 | |
| UNKNOWN expense | 56 | We have a jar of cash hidden. SOMEHOW $56 went missing from it. We don’t know how. We suspect that we took money from it and neglected to record the transaction in YNAB. |
| Allowance – M | 26 | |
| Allowance – I | 249 | |
| Allowance – T | 195 | |
| Dining Out – Family | 176 | Eeek. |
| Entertainment – Family | 121 | Foodie tour for Hubs and I. WORTH IT. |
| Lotto Tickets | 14 | Hubs pool. Still no payout. |
| Alcohol | 129 | Seems I spend this amount every 2-3 months. Had to do a restock. Probably need to slow down a bit here. I blame hot summer days that demand frosty beers. And margs. And Moscow mules? Martinis? Alright, time to slow down. |
| Business Transactions | 0 | |
| Total Expenses | $7,056 |
This is not a STELLAR month in our typical books, but we spent $1500 less than last month at least! Honestly this is below average monthly spending since I started on the FIRE train back in October of 2018, so really I cannot complain. Until I start actively being more frugal / making strides to once again challenge all expenses, this isn’t going to change.
That’s it for the August 2020 report. Thanks for tuning in!