I hope everyone had a lovely October and Halloween !!!! I love Halloween so October is always a month I look forward to. This month I’m happy to share with you that renovations weren’t our biggest expense for the month, and they were pipped at the post for the first time in what seems like forever.
Instead, our biggest expense this month was our mortgage, and I’m not even upset. It was nice not to have to spend large amounts of money this month on our renovations (although there is still a little more to spend).
To view all previous expense review tagged posts click here.
Top 5 Expenses – October 2021
- Mortgage= $2,059.64
Notes: Our loan was recently refinanced and we have a variable rate of 1.99%.
- Utilities = $1,515.14
Notes: This month was well above our monthly average and that was because of a larger than usual electricity bill (thanks to working from home and super cold winter). Our utilities include our mobile phones (4 phones @ $104.95 per month), Internet (MyRepublic @ $59 per month), Water, Gas, and Electricity (We use Reamped – link here for $50 referral code).
- Car Rego, Servicing, Maintainence, Petrol and Insurance = $1,311.88
Notes: Higher than usual thanks to both cars being due for servicing. Fortunately, neither car required any additional repairs, and overall are in good condition. We will need to purchase tyres next month.
- Food and Alcohol = $1012.66
Notes: Our food bill increased in October thanks to Halloween and entertaining friends. We have over a hundred trick or treaters and love being generous with the sweets, and buy them in bulk at Costco. We do our main shop at Aldi and shop at other places depending on the specials available. We shop online at BWS to make use of cashback rewards (If you want to sign up use this affiliate link – You’ll get a $10 bonus once you make your first transaction).
| Shop | Amount |
| Aldi | $606.62 |
| BWS | $132.00 |
| Costco | $105.92 |
| Woolworths | $60.84 |
| Bakers Delight (Bakery) | $40.90 |
| Fancy Bottle Shop | $18.99 |
| Coles | $13.00 |
| Foodland | $26.75 |
| IGA | $7.64 |
| Total | $1012.66 |
- Renovations = $906.82
Notes: This month’s renovation expenses included new lawn and laundry-related purchases from IKEA.
Year to Date Comparison
We spent $9,280.82 in October and $7,877.11 the previous month which is an increase of $1,403.71. We spent $299.38 per day in October which is up from last month’s $262.57 per day.
Other Expenses (% of total expenses) – October 2021
New Expenses (October)
No new expenses.
Changes we’ve made this month (October)
No changes made.
Changes to expect next month (November)
We have another large renovation-related expense in November ($1700).
Year to Date Expense Overview ($)
Total Spend 2021 (To Date) = $86,913.64 or an average of $8691.36 a month for 2 Adults and 2 Children (Aged 13 and 10).
Investment Rate 2021 (To Date) = 41% (includes wages and side hustles)
Our goal investment rate at the start of the year was 60%, but we created this goal before I took a 30k (after-tax) pay cut in March. Given the massive pay cut and the renovations, we are doing this year I’m happy with where we are at. More importantly, we are still tracking to our current goal of hitting financial independence by January 2029.
Notes: I track my Income and Expenses via my tracker available on my Etsy Store Link Here.
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Frank on FIRE 