Quarterly Spending Update Q2 2018 – where does my money go?

So where does my money go each month? It is a question that bloggers often answer each month with their expense reports, however until late last year, I never considered tracking every dollar. I was quite comfortable with putting aside an average of 60% of my paycheck each fortnight and then allowing myself to spend the rest on anything I desired. While this approach has worked for me as an easy money strategy for a long time, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to see exactly where I was choosing to spend that money. Enter these Quarterly Updates.

Give us the figures!

Ok, Ok – here is what I’ve spent in quarter 2 broken down to an average spend per month. I have also added in a few expenses that would be paid yearly and have split them down monthly, such as Registration for Soccer and my car. Hopefully, this will give you a good indication of how your expenses compare month to month.

I’ve also added in a ‘difference from Q1’ column to keep track of where my spending has changed.

Note: I have removed all the costs associated with my upcoming trip to Alice Springs in July/August even though some expenses were incurred during Q2. This money has already been budgeted as ‘spending’ when it was saved last year in a holiday fund. Now I can spend that money guilt-free.

Q2 Overview

Unfortunately, a lot of the categories have gone up! I seem to have spent an extra $133.85 per month – eep. Petrol is the only one that can easily be explained by prices going up recently. Let’s take a deeper look at some other differences.

Groceries – this is a classic case of forgetting to cancel a meal subscription. Frugal fail.

Meals out unplanned – while planned meals were down, impromptu eating out has increased. I’ll keep an eye on this in Q3 and ensure I am planning meals out based around events I value rather than just random occasions. This will make it more special and meaningful spending.

Celebrations & gifts – I seem to be getting more generous as the year goes on. This spending is because there was a great sale on some baby items. I had 2 new babies welcomed with a small gift, as well as a baby shower to attend too. I now have a few gifts up my sleeve for the near future as well so hopefully, this is reflected later in the year as a lower spend even when I am still gifting.

Charity Donations – end of financial year gave me an opportunity to give a little more and lower my reportable income. Obviously, tax benefits are not the sole reason I give (that wouldn’t really make financial sense) but I enjoy giving and like to give extra when I can.

Overall my yearly projections still seem to be on track with my 2017 spending and within my acceptable spending limits for 2018. I am happy with the balance of

Do you track your expenses? Do you think it helps to keep your spending on track?