I knew that August was going to be an expensive month with a rafting trip, food and booze farewell parties, and spending too much time with friends on a patio.
Income: $3,766.17
Spending: $1,532.16
Just a normal 2 pay cheque month. I also included the $100 I got from ING for opening up a Thrive checking account! Love free money – take that, TD Bank!
Click on any image to enlarge.
Here’s where the money went in August:
On or under budget
Clothes: Shopping ban – check!
Cell Phone: New plan kicked in. Saving me $10 a month 
Gifts: For birthdays and goodbye gifts & cards.
Medical: No massage this month. But I did see my dermatologist. So that should be $18. Oops. I’ll add it now but not fixing the picture.
Over budget
Clearly, I did not anticipate all this spending! 
Eating Out: Socializing is expensive. I also took out my family for dinner. And I’ve been going for drinks and food after volleyball. Grrr…
Toiletries/Grooming: My acne flared up A LOT. I panicked and went out to buy some new products. I also got a foundation – I don’t count this as a cheat on my shopping ban. But, whatever. I didn’t have a good foundation for covering up my acne. I also stocked up on blotting powder and dry shampoo. *tear*
Entertainment and Recreation: This includes only the car rental and gas for rafting trip. I also bought food and booze for a party and attended a friend’s party.
Transportation: Gas is expensive. I bought more tokens. I also signed up for Zipcar with a Groupon. $29 for 1-year membership and $30 driving credit!
Groceries: No biggie. There is some good wine and cheese in there.
Here is my net worth update:
I managed to eek out with a 1% gain and I am happy with that – considering the market and the drop in my portfolio. Ouch. Everything went down and the only reason my RRSP is positive is because of automatic payments.
I’ve also got a lot of cash on hand. I’ve finally topped up my Emergency Fund to $10,000 (yay, me!). My “General Savings” includes my travel fund, as well. Ideally, I would like $10,000 in Emergency Fund (done), $15,000 cash savings, and $4,000 in travel fund.
Time to re-balance my portfolio, do some research and buy some stocks
Summary:
Overall, I am happy with this month’s outcome. Nothing I can do about the markets, c’est la vie
How was your spending in August? Did you meet your budget goals?
Yay to the $10k EF and the NW increase!
We have £10k in our ef, and now we’re aiming for £10k in general savings (at £7,700) and £5k in travel savings (I keep spending the last one, but I’d love to get ahead with it!)
Ditto, about the travel fund! I just had it almost up to my goal and then BF and I went on our trip and I booked flights for the fall! I guess that’s what it’s for, right?
Love the round number for your savings! Keep up the wonderful work.
Thanks, Momma Star. I love round numbers, too! Something about them…