I interrupt the “Destructive Relationships to Avoid” series to bring you– October 2019 Spending Report! Alrighty, it’s the first month of the second year of budgeting and there’s some cool stuff happening but some big stuff I’m still working on! The numbers are in for the October 2019 Spending Report and…. I was three dollars over budget.
I know, I should just give up, right?
But ACTUALLY, even though it seems like I didn’t go over by much, there are a few things I still need to improve on. Because, correct, I stayed within budget basically however when you compare what I spent this month to my yearly budgeting goals… I didn’t do so hot.
So let’s dive in. We’ll start with the good things from this budget period.

October 2019 Budgeting Wins
- I only went over budget by $3. Not terrible.
- I paid almost $2k on student loans (I’M ALMOST UNDER $50K IN DEBT)
- This pay period I made a little more money than normal (thank you overtime and the refund from Spirit Airlines).
- After paying down debt, I lived off of 37% of my income this month. 29% of my income went to debt, and 33% of my income went into savings.
- Oh yeah– I saved $2k this month too! That’s pretty dope.
A few wins, and that’s pretty cool. I love saving and I love dropping money on that big old debt number. I also LOVE knowing that I lived off of 37% of my income. That’s pretty damn cool, although it’s helpful that I brought in almost $1k more than I usually do.
Now let’s dive into some of the fuck up’s and in order to get there, let’s talk about categories.
October 2019 Spending Categories & Budget Actuals
Planned | Actuals | Difference | |
Groceries | $175.00 | $175.00 | $0.00 |
Clo Bare | $35.00 | $31.00 | $4.00 |
Health/medical | $128.00 | $128.00 | $0.00 |
Home | $850.00 | $850.00 | $0.00 |
Transportation/Car Insurance | $200.00 | $195.00 | $5.00 |
Personal | $181.00 | $190.00 | -$9.00 |
Entertainment | $315.00 | $333.00 | -$18.00 |
Utilities/Cell Phone | $300.00 | $293.00 | $7.00 |
Travel | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
Debt | $1,806.00 | $1,806.00 | $0.00 |
CBBB | $150.00 | $142.00 | $8.00 |
Totals: | $4,140.00 | $4,143.00 | -$3.00 |
The Fuck-Up’s Explained
Alright. This is where things get a little complicated.
To the untrained eye– this budgeting period doesn’t look too bad. I saved money, I put money on debt, and I made more money.
But this is where I got myself in trouble last year.
You see, even though I’ve done a good job at staying within my monthly budget, I also now have a yearly budget that I use to keep myself in check and remind myself of the bigger picture.
For example, I have a fluid monthly budget. I create it according to my plans and the big events in my life that I know are coming up and so my planned category spend changes every month. That’s good– that’s how your budget should be created so that your life and your budget work together.
Where I mess up is constantly increasing my category spend based on my month, without having a month where I spend less in that category in order to balance it out.
Let me show you what I mean.
My Yearly Budgeting Goals
Now the dates are a little off because I started budgeting in October 2018 so now my fiscal year is a little odd. I’ll probably revamp it next year to follow the calendar year, but I didn’t want to wait this year to start my budgeting period so I said fuck it– let’s do October to September and base it off of my pay periods. Also, “pp” is per pay period.
Groceries ($115 pp) | $3,000/year |
Clo Bare ($38 pp) | $1,000/year |
Health/medical ($57 pp) | $1,500/year |
Home ($557.69 pp) | $14,500/year |
Transportation ($88 pp) | $2,500/year |
Personal ($88 pp) | $2,300/year |
Entertainment ($100 pp) | $2,600/year |
Utilities/Cell Phone ($126 pp) | $3,300/year |
Travel ($192 pp) | $5,000/year |
Debt ($846 pp) | $22,000/year |
CBBB ($19 pp) | $500/year |
What this Means
When we compare my October 2019 Spending Categories to my yearly budgeting goals, I went over budget in Health/Medical ($14), Transportation/Car Insurance ($19), Personal ($14), Entertainment ($133) and Chicago Boss Babes ($104).
That’s not great.
Think about it long term.
I went over my yearly goals this month by $284. There was nothing extraordinary that made this happen and it’s incredibly easy to do. BUT if I continue to go over my yearly goals by $284 a month without readjusting my budget the following pay period to make up for what I spent, I’d go over budget by $3,408 this year. $3k over budget! That’s insane just from tiny little purchases that add up!
I don’t want to end up doing that. Cause this bitch got goals.
October 2019 Spending Report
Now, let’s check out where all that money went.
Date | Amount | Description | Category |
9/27/2019 | $5.00 | Coffee | Entertainment |
9/27/2019 | $26.50 | Groceries | Groceries |
9/27/2019 | $48.00 | Trike Thai Food | Entertainment |
9/27/2019 | $805.00 | Student loans | Debt |
9/28/2019 | $20.00 | aquarium | Personal |
9/28 | $13.00 | uber | Transportation/Car Insurance |
9/28/2019 | $25.00 | clothes | Personal |
9/28/2019 | $61.00 | drinks and food | Personal |
9/28/2019 | $20.00 | ventra | Personal |
9/28 | $40.00 | Money fell out of purse at Lizzo concert | Entertainment |
9/30/2019 | $8.00 | snack | Groceries |
10/1 | $850.00 | Rent | Home |
9/30/2019 | $28.00 | Foodsmart | Groceries |
10/2/2019 | $88.00 | Farrells | Health/medical |
10/2/2019 | $7.00 | dinner | Groceries |
10/3/2019 | $22.00 | chocolate | Personal |
10/3/2019 | $75.00 | comed | Utilities/Cell Phone |
10/4/2019 | $13.00 | wine | Entertainment |
10/5 | $99.00 | dinner | Entertainment |
10/6/2019 | $46.00 | aldi | CBBB |
10/6/2019 | $68.00 | marianos | CBBB |
10/6/2019 | $30.00 | aldi | Groceries |
10/6/2019 | $44.17 | comcast | Utilities/Cell Phone |
10/7/2019 | $10.00 | Clo Bare | |
10/10/2019 | $14.00 | panera | Entertainment |
10/11/2019 | $1,000.00 | Student Loans (Extra Payment) | Debt |
10/11/2019 | $11.00 | CBBB PARTY: paper towels | Groceries |
10/12/2019 | $24.00 | gas | Transportation/Car Insurance |
10/12/2019 | $40.00 | therapy | Health/medical |
10/12/2019 | $3.00 | CBBB parking | CBBB |
10/12 | $25.00 | brunch | CBBB |
10/14/2019 | $9.00 | Dinner | Groceries |
10/15/2019 | $10.00 | Facebook ad | Clo Bare |
10/16/2019 | $22.00 | Groceries | Groceries |
10/16 | $148.00 | Esurance | Transportation/Car Insurance |
10/17/2019 | $23.00 | date | Personal |
10/11 | $124.00 | Cell Phone | Utilities/Cell Phone |
10/18/2019 | $40.00 | drinks with mom | Entertainment |
10/18 | $12.00 | groceries for party | Entertainment |
10/18/2019 | $33.00 | aldi | Groceries |
10/18/2019 | $8.00 | car wash | Personal |
10/19/2019 | $30.00 | pizza | Entertainment |
10/21/2019 | $11.00 | Clo Bare Business Cards | Clo Bare |
10/22 | $32.00 | Halloween Movie | Entertainment |
10/23/2019 | $49.20 | peoples gas | Utilities/Cell Phone |
10/24/2019 | $11.00 | prosecco | Personal |
Total Spent: $4,143
Total Debt: $50,348
I went over a lot in entertainment because I had my sister visit for a weekend and we did all the things and all the drinking and all the eating and it was wonderful and magical. And the following weekend I went to a Chicago Ghost Convention with my mom (yes, you read that correctly, a GHOST CONVENTION), which cost money but was also magical and wonderful and amazing and I’m not mad about it. I also hosted a Chicago Boss Babes party which cost money, but again, not mad about it.
But NOW I need to balance this out by having a period where I don’t spend as much money. Like much at all on entertainment, personal, and Chicago Boss Babes (which shouldn’t be a problem since I won’t be hosting a party).
And I plan to take two weeks to stop spending and introvert/hermit for a bit. I even marked it in my calendar. We’ll call it “Low Spend November” or “No Spend November.”

Budgeting Goals: November 2019
My budgeting goals for November are pretty simple– I want to re-balance the yearly goals and make sure that I spend less in this pay period so that I can get on track to my yearly goals.
Goals by the numbers:
- Put another $1.8k on debt
- Save $1k
- Put an extreme limit on my Entertainment and Personal Spending
- Hermit a bit for the month
- Budget for Thanksgiving dinner cooking

Budgeting in Your Life
How’s your budget going now that you’re headed into the end of the year? Any plans on how to plan for Holiday spending and other fun? Leave your tips and tricks and thoughts and questions in the comments below!
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4 Comments
Emily
November 6, 2019 at 12:31 pmOkay so I know you said you went over your yearly budget, but girl I am so impressed! I need to get my act together so I can throw that much at my debt and savings!
-Emily
thoroughlycontemporary.com
Chloe Daniels
November 6, 2019 at 1:20 pmThank you! I so appreciate that. I know, I need to not be so strict about it but I’m working on it! lol
Erika @ In Search of Better
November 13, 2019 at 7:46 pmIt is so brave of you to share your monthly budget and spending so honestly! I finally created a budget for myself last month, and it honestly has changed so much already how I see and treat my money.
The biggest thing for me is having sink funds where I put small monthly amounts for bigger expenses throughout the year like the dogs’ yearly shots, gifts, and the quarterly water bill. Now it won’t be “shit, that’s $80…” — I can just transfer the money over from that sink fund.
This way I also get to see exactly the “extra” money I have left over from that month’s income, and can put it towards my emergency fund or throw some extra into a sink fund, just like you could put some extra on your student loan this month! I’m so excited to start the new year so financially organized. 🙂
Chloe Daniels
November 25, 2019 at 1:50 pmThank you so much! I like it a lot and it helps keep me honest 🙂 That’s a great idea! I decided in November to start doing “special occasions” and “dating categories” so hopefully that will help.