My Expenses - First checkup

It's time to take a look at my expenses. This is from RBC's very useful myFinanceTracker. I can't recommend it enough to people. Your bank probably has something similar.

A few things to note:
1. Everything is included here except for rent.
2. I lump groceries in with Restaurants/Dining to make one big food category.
3. I buy almost everything on my credit card to accumulate points.
4. Automotive Expenses also includes the rare times I paid for parking.
5. I love numbers and calculating things.

Aug 24, 2011 - Sep 24, 2011

This was actually somewhat of a thrifty month for me as I've started to cut back on eating out. Because of this, as you can see from above, Gasoline/Fuel is easily in first place this month.

$85/400km, what a deal! 

Gasoline/Fuel seems to be locked in a battle with Restaurants/Dining almost every month.

Sep 1, 2010 - Sep 24, 2011

Seeing this last year at a glance is frustrating because Electronics is number one and skews the overall picture. If you subtract my one-off large camera purchase of $1,737.58, it goes to where it should be in a normal year.

What I am most surprised about is how much my car costs me and I don't even have car payments. After adding up Gasoline/Fuel, Insurance, and Automotive Expenses you get $3,633.29 or $302.77/month, or 28.6% of my total expenses. That's what I get for having an old gas-guzzler I suppose. Though it would cost me even more to buy a new fuel-efficient car.

The ATM/Cash Withdrawals also skew the numbers as they should have been divided into the other categories. I didn't change the categories for the withdrawals right away and now I've forgotten what they were for. No one to blame but myself... and the annoying stores and restaurants that don't take credit cards.

If you're also curious as to what went into the Other Categories then here you go. 

The Loans were actually to Kiva.org.

That's all for now.