Expenses - November 2019

Total expenses for November 2019 amounted to S$3,968.98.

The largest was under Self Improvement. This is largely attributed to prepaying for a 12 month yoga class membership, which was selling at a good rate. I predict I'll spend more time in Singapore next year, which makes it worthwhile to plonk down some cash to restart my once fledging yoga practice, that is now yellow and withered.

I got back from Europe towards the end of November. So logically that constitutes the next largest expense category for the month. The third being donations, as I prepared to head out to Malaysia for a short meditation retreat in December.

Also spent some money on Diving, having put down a deposit for a diving trip with a diving buddy that's to be used next year.

Anyhow, I came in just below the S$4,000 mark, which is all good, and where I want to be at this point in time.

Expenses - October 2019

Total - S$1,500

October 2019 total expenses was S$1,500.

The entire month was spent in Italy, Europe. So a large part of it (S$1,418.97) went to topping up my Youtrip debit card account. The EUR/SGD actually declined a little bit since September, and we managed to get some good rates from Youtrip when spending on our debit card, vis a vis credit cards (but you get certain points or rewards in return eh...).

Some fixed expenses such as Netflix, Insurance and Mobile Phone continue to churn along even though as I'm overseas, but it ain't a problem.

S$1,500 represents 37.5% of my monthly S$4,000 budget, and there's quite a bit of surplus left. The benefit of front-loading certain holiday expenses come through here :)

Expenses - First 12M of F.I.R.E

Total - S$46,098.58

One year has gone by since I started by post F.I.R.E life. It's time to measure how much resources I've spent, and how these resources have been allocated, mainly because that which gets measured, can then be managed.

My annual budget at least for the first few years post F.I.R.E has been set at S$48,000. The first 12 months saw a total amount of S$46,098.58, which is 96.0% of the budget, leaving room for 4.0% surplus.

Largest spending category was Diving. Scuba Diving to be exact. I think I mentioned this before, but since December 2018, I've been taking up advanced certification courses, and am in the midst of doing my Divemaster program. I've also purchased a full set of diving equipment given the cost of dive will be lower in the future. All this, together with the spend for diving holidays, have led to Diving expenses coming in at a total of S$9,374.15. That's a pretty hefty amount, but I guess the benefits (mostly non-monetary) are commensurate :)

Second largest spending category was Eating Out at S$7,463.87. I'm not surprised as I do eat out most times, and though I'm not one to go crazy for broke, this all adds up. However, to take things in perspective, this works out to be $20 per meal, assuming I did eat out once every day. So this is probably fine.

Third largest spending category was the one and a half month North America Vacation that I took in the middle of 2019. This came up to S$6,158.62. North America has a really high cost of living, and this is reflected even in the AirBnB prices. Eating out there costs a bomb, and I'm thankful that this figure is what it is, given it could have been even higher if I didn't enjoy the generosity of my friends who hosted me during a good part of my trip.

Of course, coming just below the North America Vacation expenses were my other Vacation and Europe Trip expenses. I did a rough count and reckon I probably spent 30% of the entire first 12 months post F.I.R.E (3.6 months) overseas. The associated total vacation expenses added up to c. 37% of my total spending.

I'm not quite sure whether I'll spend that much time travelling as I grow into this lifestyle, so I gather there's a bit of flex in cutting expenses if really necessary in the future.

Notwithstanding the amount came up to c. 10.5% more than the year ended 31 Aug 2018 when I was still in employment, all in all, I think I really did push the limit on my expenses for the first year post F.I.R.E, in terms of going out there to really do some exploring, living, and learning new skills, while keeping a small budget surplus at the end of it.

I'm pretty satisfied and content - I wouldn't have asked for anything more from the year that has passed.

Expenses - September 2019

Total - S$3,900

Start of brand new post F.I.R.E year.

Month 13 saw the lion's share being contributed by my upcoming Europe trip, as cold hard Euros were exchanged at the money changer, and some SGD was placed in a Youtrip account for use via debit card in Europe.

Eating Out was the next category, and surprisingly Petrol came in third, as I spent some money topping up my family car after some use.

Not quite much to delve into here, and possibly the next couple of months in Europe as expenses will most likely fall into the category of "Europe Trip", which possibly warrants a separate post on how much we spent in Europe over 2+ months.

Anyhow, total spend amount of S$3,900 came in within the budget of S$4,000, with a 2.5% surplus. A decent way to kick off my 2nd year of F.I.R.E.

Expenses - August 2019

Total - S$3,684.98

Total expenses for August 2018 came up to S$3,684.98. Spent a fair bit eating out and catching up with different folks, this being the one of the few whole months that I was based in Singapore.

The 2nd largest category was Technology. Bought a small tablet that will allow me to borrow books through the Libby application (via local National Library online resource), which will hopefully ease the eye strain on reading via the phone. Also plonked down a good S$500 or so on a Secretlab Softwave fabric chair (by the way, this rocks socks), on the pretext on protecting my body health since I'm in front of the computer for a good period of the day.

The 3rd largest category was Insurance. Bought a new annual travel insurance given a sizable amount of foreseeable travel in the next one year.

Expenses for the month came in at 92% or so of budgeted expenses, leaving c.8% of surplus. This ain't too bad. Aug 2019 marks my first full year of F.I.R.E, and perhaps I'll do a detailed breakdown of my realised expenses for this full year in my next post.