Monday, December 11, 2017

Budget Porn: November 2017

Another month in the books, another budget blown. 2017 is proving to be the spendiest on record, and we just keep leaning in to it. I don't know what's up, but frugality has not been the theme this year.

Can I blame the political environment? Maybe Trump made me do it.

Or maybe this budget post is just fake news. I don't like what my spreadsheet is showing me. Maybe I can just call the numbers "alternative facts" and be done with it.

These false figures can't be trusted. Our real budget is fine. Better than fine: terrific, just terrific. Spending is right where we want it to be.

Fake as they may be, here are the figures from that blogger, who I hear is a Democrat and didn't even major in Finance. And many people are saying that he went to a state school, too, a party school, a school for losers. Covfefe.


Total November Spend: $4,606
Non-Mortgage Spend: $3,049
Annual Spend YTD: $45,137
Forecast for 2017 Spend: $49,240

So where did we go wrong?

The pups both went in for their annual exams and got caught up on their vaccinations. Jax is getting to be a pretty old golden retriever, he has some stiffness in his hips, and the vet suggested he get started on a daily painkiller (Carprofen) to improve his mobility and quality of life. And it's working! He's moving around better and wants to play more, which is great. But it's a new ongoing expense, too.

Throw in a year's supply of Heartguard and a bag of food, and somehow that adds up to nearly seven hundred bucks.

I love you, pups, but yinz need to find jobs in 2018.

We ended up buying bunch of Christmas gifts in November: over four hundred bucks spent already. (Spoiler alert: we're going to spend over a grand on Christmas this year. I'll be turning in my frugal card as instructed.) And we bought a toaster oven for the house, too. An extravagance, sure, but I sure do like being able to make toast and properly heat up leftovers again.


Groceries were out of control last month, coming in at $523. The delta came from Thanksgiving: we like to buy mom a bunch of groceries at Winco whenever we head up to visit. It's a small thing to us, and she's on a fixed income now in retirement.

Keeping up with the theme of 2017, we're trending towards a forecasted total spend of $49k or so: a full $9,000 over our $40,000 target. For one year, it's not a terrible problem. But if spending $50,000 is going to be our new normal, then we'll have to consider some changes to the plan.

We'd either want to increase our nest egg target up to $1.25M or, if we'd rather just lower our annual expenses, we could take that extra $250k and pay off the mortgage. And I suppose we could try to count on some part-time income on a go-forward basis if we didn't want to put in the effort and time to save the extra funds.

All things we can figure out as we go.

But it's important for us to see how spiky our spending is, how our level of comfortable frugality might change over time, and how important it is to have some contingency plans for when things change. We're in a much different place than we were when we started this journey to FI. It's fun to look back and see how the goal has changed right along with our thinking about debt, investing, and work's place in our post-FI life.

For today, here's what our trend looks like:


August 2020 is the date I turn forty years old, so we're just barely on schedule to be done by forty. If I miss it by a month, then I suppose the fair thing to do is take the blog down, admit failure, and just give up on this whole financial independence thing. 

But looking at the incredibly spiky green line, I am hopeful that our spending might revert to our historical mean. 

Maybe a renewed sense of frugality is the thing I'll wish for this Christmas.

Though a new board game would be nice, too. 

Thanks for reading, friends.


*Photo is from SNappa2006 at Flickr Creative Commons.

17 comments:

  1. hmm, how do you wrap frugality? Is it just a box with nothing in it? :) At least I give you props for tracking your spending. Funny how I have a hard time with that when I know I'm spending more than I "should."

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    1. I think it comes in a plain cardboard box with no wrapping paper or ribbons. =P

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    2. Ha! Yes, and there's a note inside asking you to kindly return the box when you're done with it.

      Hey Tonya. Tracking the spending is the only thing that keeps us from being even further off target. I try to update the spreadsheet once a week and towards the end of the month, I at least *try to avoid eating out and buying more drinks, now that I see we're going to go over....as we do every month. :)

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  2. 2017 hasn't been our most frugal of years, either. Some was hurricane spending (an unexpected ~$5K right there), some was just indulging whims while we've still got plenty of income coming in... but it has added up to not the most frugal of years. So don't feel bad, you're not alone. =) *raises glass* Here's to 2018 being better for all of us!

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    1. I think you get a pass for the whole year after seeing multiple hurricanes though, Mrs. PoP. I don't have a good excuse.

      But yes, I'll raise a glass of box wine with you. To a better, more frugal 2018!

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  3. Our spending has been crazy, as well. We're wrapping up what should be the last year of daycare and college tuition, so we're trending to spend about $100K. I don't do monthly expense reports, but I think I'm going to do a yearly recap for this one. We'll also spend over a grand on Christmas, so you won't get any side eyes from me :)

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    1. Hey Dreamer in Chief,

      Yeah, things like daycare and college tuition really make me question the back of the envelope 4% approach so many of us take. Are we even forecasting for those spiky costs?

      And I really like seeing different budgets within the FIRE community. Not everyone needs to be around $30k, right?

      Will have to look for your annual report, and will be interested to see how things change post daycare and tuition!

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  4. Fake News! I demand an apology and retraction. Fire the writer who posted this on your blog. SAD.
    I give you credit for keeping close track of your budget. I keep telling myself that we're frugal and follow Paula Pant's Anti-budget...but I think I'm just too lazy to actually budget. I'm sure if I actually got off my lazy butt and tracked our expenses...it might be eye-opening and I might also be right behind you turning in my frugal card.

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    1. The writer really should be fired, Andrew. :)

      I think there are a lot of ways to handle personal finances re: budgets or no budgets. For me, I like having a goal to try to hit because without one, my spending gets way out of control. Like Zig says, if I aim at nothing....

      But yeah, we can turn in our frugal cards together. :)

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  5. So do your YTD figures include mortgage payments? Just wondering how you've accounted for all that in your FI red line on the chart. I mean, if you've decided that your money is better off in the market than in the house, your investment income line should go up accordingly, but it seems like you'd need to raise the FI line to account for the mortgage payments.

    But more to the point of general frugality... I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that if you're anything like me, you've probably got at least a little bit of anxiety about leaving the land of the employed - especially as it starts to become closer to reality than wild fantasy. I mean, there are real questions and uncertainties out there... like what if the market tanks? Or what if the ACA goes away and buying health insurance becomes much more difficult/expensive?

    In a funny way, my situation gave me a nudge out of employment which made the whole decision much easier. My web pages were earning more than my salary - and I knew I could make even more money there if I had more time to work on them. That made the decision to jump pretty easy. And, in fact, the first few years after I quit my job were the most lucrative of my entire life. I sorta felt like I had money coming out of my ears - so the pressure to live frugally actually diminished.

    But if I was in your situation, I think the psychology of it all would have been totally different. I can imagine that I might have felt like once I quit there's "no more pussy-footin' around," and I'd have to be super frugal forever. Under those circumstances, I can totally understand why one might go through a phase of rebelling against frugality and/or why you might want to up your annual spending allowance a bit.

    I'm not entirely sure what my point is here, but I guess I'd just say that perhaps it's worth considering some gray area between working a ton and socking away money, and total retirement. Maybe if your plan included a few years of transition period (like doing some contract work for your current employer for a few years after you leave or something) it might make the whole thing feel a bit less like jumping off of a cliff, and allow you to take some of the pressure off in terms of "getting there" on time.

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    1. Hi EcoCatLady!

      Yep, our FI figures include mortgage payments (most of the year at our current house, but Jan-Mar at our old house). So it's 'all inclusive'.

      A transition period is a great idea. I actually plan to have some sort of 'work' in my post-FI life just because of the research I've previously written about, in which cognitive decline was observed at higher rates with early retirees. Plus, having some small amount of money come in really helps with the numbers a lot!

      And Mrs. Done by Forty is just finishing her PhD in the next year or so, and very well may just WANT to work.

      I suppose before I turn off the faucet of "good money" that we've got going right now, I want to be reasonably sure that we're totally FI. But maybe easing in to it, as you suggested, would be a nicer way to transition.

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  6. "I love you, pups, but yinz need to find jobs in 2018.

    HA HA. Maybe they can be doggie models? I know someone who has a cat with freaky eyebrows and she gets paid $500-$1000 for the cat to be used in Japanese commercials.

    Looking forward your FI announcement in 2020! (Even with some overspending here and there, when you get to the home stretch you'll make it work. That's just how the human brain works. )

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    1. I do actually have an idea for the pups in 2018 but, just like our blog, the potential to actually make money is, um, muted.

      Yeah, I do think FI in 2020 is probably in reach. And if Mrs. Done by Forty finishes her PhD and goes to work, almost any job, then we might attain FI even sooner.

      Just got to get those costs down. Have a new, exciting plan for that, too. :)

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  7. I really feel your spendy month. For me I find that now I've committed to the "world" I want to aim for FI, I'm actually spending more money than ever. This Christmas thing is real expensive! As Tonya commented above, how do you wrap frugality?
    My family are all materialistic so to give them anything less than the £40 item they each ask for would really rock the boat!

    Little Miss Fire
    https://littlemissfireblog.wordpress.com

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    1. Little Miss Fire,

      We ended up giving donations in our family members' names one year(things like chickens, ducks, and mosquito nets to families abroad), told everyone ahead of time, and asked that they please not give us gifts.

      Please, do not follow our plan. It was a disaster.

      Give the people what they want. There are far better places to save money. :)

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  8. Ooohhh... Is that toaster oven a Brevel by chance? Let me know how that thing works out for you. We need (want) a new one.
    Don't beat yourself up, Spicey. Our budget is circling the bowl in 2017 too. Still, a new year is around the corner and we can always seek to improve right?
    PS - I think I'm winning our little side contest on ER target. Yours still Feb 2020?

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    1. It is a Brevel, and we really dig it so far. Even heating, good controls. One nit: it's hard to get a really light toast. Even on the lowest setting it goes a bit too long.

      And yes, you're definitely winning since our target is actually August 2020 now!

      But I have a secret weapon for 2018. We're coming for you, Cubert.

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