I’m out of control. I need to stop. Lifestyle inflation has come for me. I knew this month’s update was not going to look good but reviewing my budget really hit me in the face just how much I’ve overspent in August.

Earlier this month, I decided to join my friend on a last minute road trip which was a huge money drain. But I must say it was well worth it as this is a friend who is going to be leaving the country soon and not planning to come back.

And as a bonus, another mutual friend of ours gave the best tour I’ve ever had in this city! At first I thought this trip was going to be a waste in the sightseeing department because I had been to that city twice. But wow, I was blown away! I had a lot of fun and it was probably the first YOLO trip I’ve gone on in the past 2 years.

I truly felt young, wild, and free for the first time in a long time.

But all this spending along with losing my per-diem job last month has made me think, am I just getting lazy? Even during the last few months of my per-diem job, I was already reluctant to take on shifts. In fact, I felt a bit of relief when my manager said he would no longer be able to keep me on a per-diem status. It meant I no longer had to feel guilty over rejecting shifts.

Can I no longer escape lifestyle inflation? The past me who used to reject mid-week dinner outings seem like a distant memory replaced by the me who now eats out multiple times a week and is no longer reluctant to buy more expensive products. More and more, this lifestyle creep has become the norm.

While I now have more in savings than I did a year or two ago, I realize that the only reason I was able to save so much in the past was because of my frugality. If I have any hopes of continuing to save as much as I have in the past, I really cannot afford this lifestyle creep.

I guess the general takeaway is that I have to be mindful of what Paula Pant says: you can afford anything but not everything.

I can afford to travel more, but that means I have to be more frugal when I’m home. I can’t just say yes to every dinner outing with my friends when I know I’m going to be going out for every meal when I go on my trips.

Unfortunately, this spending craze may not be quite over yet. I have trips planned for September and October. More on that in my budget section. For now let’s get through some fairly good news on my student debt.

Student Debt

Wohoo! I’m officially out of the $40k’s debt! I’ve been stuck in the $40k’s zone since last year. I can’t believe how long it took to get down by $10k. Definitely a far cry from the $30k+ debt pay-down per year I was making in 2018 and 2019.

Student debt paid this month: $880.77

Student debt remaining: $39,889.79

I haven’t made much progress in paying down my student loans as I’m expecting my mortgage interest rate to be higher than my student loans so I’m not in any rush to pay it off. I’m just continuing my minimum payment of $880.77 to my private loan.

I’m also continuing to take advantage of the COVID-19 forbearance on my federal loans so I have not made any payments there since March of 2020.

I house every month’s debt progress from the very beginning here if you want to check out the progress so far. 

August Budget

Fixed Spending

As noted since February, my parents and I agreed that I would postpone any monthly payments to them while I am in the midst of the home-buying process. I will instead continue to save up and resume payments once the home-buying process is complete.

Other than that, my cell phone bill and Netflix make up the rest of my fixed spending.

Variable Spending

Gas – My gas spending has been creeping up but it has now officially gone back up to pre-COVID level which was when I still had to commute to my job. I can’t believe that even working from home, I’m spending $100+ on gas. I guess I have been going out and about a lot more this month.

Entertainment/dining out – I’m counting my travel in a different category hence why my entertainment budget is $0. My dining out spending is outrageous. My trip this month was to a pretty expensive city and of course we were dining out at nice places hence the overspending.

But I can’t put all the blame on this trip. Even when I was back home, I was dining out for pretty much every meal during the weekends in addition to some dinners during the weekdays. And that is just too much so I will definitely do some self-intervention next month.

Groceries – Cannot believe how low my grocery spending this month is. Obviously this just shows how little I ate at home this month. Not good. At all.

Shopping – Ah! I went crazy. My aunt invited my mom and me to a really good sale and I ended up buying a couple of winter jackets and bought my mom one as well. I also bought new hiking shoes since my travels in September and October are hiking trips. I’m still rethinking if $150 shoes are worth it or if I should return them instead.

Miscellaneous

Travel – This month’s travel spending consists of my August travel expenses as well as flights for both my September and October trip along with most of the hotels for the September trip. So at least the damage for my September trip is mostly taken care of this month already.

My September trip was supposed to just be a mother-daughter trip that I’m fully paying for. I’ve been trying to make up for living rent-free most of this year by covering more of my parents’ expenses.

However, my aunt heard about our trip and wanted to tag along so I might get some money back if she chips in for the hotel and car rental.

Dentist – Apparently with my new dental insurance, I have a copay even for a regular cleaning.

Savings

I’m still automatically allocating $1,000 to my savings account each paycheck. And I finally finished the last $1,000 allocation to my Roth IRA to max it out for the year!

My checking account is definitely in need of some refreshment after the drain I’ve put it through this month.

Goals for Next Month

I’ve gone through with my plan of putting 35% of my pre-tax salary straight to my 401K. My checking account really suffered this month with the lower take home pay, Roth IRA contribution, and high travel spending. 

But at least I will get to keep an extra $1,000 starting next month now that I’m done with my Roth IRA.

The one perk of this high 401K contribution rate is that I’ve gone from being behind in my contribution to being on target to max out my 401K by the end of October.

My main goal for September is just to keep my dining out spending low. That has been the main culprit that is making me way over-budget each month. It is also the one category that I have the most control over so I’m really going to limit myself in that department.