Little Black Guidebook

March was the single most expensive month of my life, but that’s ok and here’s why. We weren’t planning on purchasing a car, a piano or a PlayStation this month, but we were planning on purchasing them and we had saved for them by putting money aside to pay cash.  We saved and then watched for the right deal.

Car: The 2010 Subaru Forester we bought was used. Rather than buying new we purchased a 3 month old vehicle for $7k less and we still have 33 months of warranty left. The owner drove it up to Alaska and then decided he wanted a big truck. His poor planning is our gain.

Piano: I have been taking lessons again for 4 months by driving to the University and borrowing one of their pianos, but now I have my own. Estate sale sold me a Grandma’s barely used piano which was worth $4,500 for $1,500 after a little negotiation. I had my piano tuner’s jaw on the floor when I told him what I paid.

So despite the fact that I spent more money this month than I did when I got married I would consider it a success. Planned spending after saving is ok. The main spending I wanted to control was the frivolous and discretionary spending.

Here’s how we did on the frivolous and discretionary fronts:

Food/dining = $1,155 went to $630.83 for a savings of $524.00 a month. Wow that category was out of control.

Entertainment = $225 went to $128.97 for a savings of $96.03.

I think we’ll try again to work on those two categories and start making transfers into our goal savings account for our next trip. Its looking pretty empty at the moment and its good to have a goal to save for.