Expenses - January 2019

Total - S$3,424.04

Happy New Year 2019! Massive expenses month to kick off the new year.

Largest expenditure category was Vacations. Spent a little more than a week in Thailand with my entire family this month, and went a bit over the top with the requisite complementary expenses such as alcohol over there and the duty free shop. Speaking of which, the duty free shop at the Airport isn't exactly that cheap... I can find better duty paid prices in local stores, which is surprising actually.

Anyhow, a large majority of the expenses of this category was contributed by a return air ticket to the USA. Will be heading there for a month and a half in the middle part of the year, and I managed to snag a decent airfare with a sweet top tier Asian airline at c. S$1,150. That was a good steal.

Second largest category was "Eating Out". Had some good meals out at certain restaurants this month, but this category wasn't as much as expected, as on other days I began to experiment with cooking in (scrambled eggs with sausages anyone?).

Third largest category was Alcohol. Much of it was duty free expenses at the airport, and I had a bottle of wine with my partner at a local wine bar this month. No regrets here, though on a separate note, I could probably cut back a bit on the imbibing.

So I'm about 14% under budget this year with what is my largest monthly expenditure thus far. All is good, and I'm happy with the balance in my life. In fact, I think I could be spending more, but I don't think that would necessarily increase my level of happiness.

I do think February is going to be a big expense month , given Chinese New Year and several other notable events worth celebrating, and I would be happy to bust the budget if necessary, given the lower than expected incurred expenses since I left the workforce.

Let's see, let's see. Wishing all a Happy Chinese New Year, and may all be happy, healthy, safe and free :)