What I Spent In 2023

Happy New Year – 2023 is in the books and it’s time for my annual spending post.   I did my first spending post for the year 2020 and it was almost entirely done out of curiosity due to covid.  I wanted to see how much going into monk-mode in 2020 brought down my spending, and once I ran the numbers I’ve now been addicted to comparing year to year.  

If you don’t want to go back and check my other spending posts, here are my numbers:

• 2020 – $34,763
• 2021 – $36,478
• 2022 – $38,683

Well…  things have been trending up.  Heck I’m becoming a full-on baller, haha. 

In actuality since I’m single my $38k last year is kinda in line with what Motley Fool claims the average household spends, which is $72,967.  Assuming an average household is 2 or more people then I’m actually over the average.  But that’s not a fair comparison because a mortgage is a mortgage – regardless of how many people live in the house.  Food and some other items would expect to be more costly as a household for each person added, but not so much for heat and air conditioning and some other things. 

Either way, my trend has been up but at about the same rate as inflation.  So how about 2023?

 

The Books

Virtually all my spending goes on two credit cards so calculating my total isn’t very hard.  The two cards do categorize things differently and being that I buy some food items from Amazon which do not get put in a “grocery” category on the card report this did take a bit of work. 

Another annoyance is gas and gas stations.  I did quite a few road trips in 2023 and any purchase from a gas station gets put in the “gas” category – when in truth many of those were a quick stop to get a twinkie, a ho-ho, a little debbie, or some funyons.  Everyone knows I eat lots of that stuff 🙂  Seriously though, the gas costs were my best estimate based on my mileage for the year.

I keep my spending reports concise.  Here’s my main categories of spending and the damage for 2023:

 

My total of $39,283 is exactly $600 higher than my total for 2022 for an increase of only 1.5%.  That’s way less than inflation, so I think I’m winning. 

 

Breakin’ It Down

As in the past few years my 3 biggest expenses were housing, health insurance, and food.  Food passed health insurance for the second year in a row but by a measly $3.  And to be honest since some of those “gas” categorized credit card amounts might have been inaccurate it might be a wash.  Either way it’s clear that food and health insurance are about equal expenses for me and 2 of my top 3 only behind my mortgage.  

In other categories my utilities only went up $15 and my car insurance went up $35.  My internet fees however, went down $413 to $594 annually, a decrease of 41%.  I got tired of Comcast raising rates every year and made the dreaded call to complain.  They reduced my monthy bill from $84 to $45, and that reduced rate started in March of last year. 

Better yet I’m on that reduced rate for two years.  It was near impossible to get a human being on the phone from Comcast (literally), but it paid off.  I do, however, have reservations about staying with a company that purposely makes it that hard to speak to someone, that’s just shady shit.  So when this two year reduced rate expires I’m going to consider other options.

My gas expenses went up from $672 to $735, and that’s a deceptive number.  I actually drove quite a bit more than I did in 2022 but gas was also cheaper on average.  It’s a pittance compared to what most Americans spend on gas annually, but it’s a lot for me. 

My mortgage appears to have gone up but that increased amount is all property taxes.  The value of my home continues to go up, and thusly my property taxes do as well.

 

That ‘Other’ Category

In the chart above there’s a big “other” category that totaled $5918.  I put miscellaneous expenses and one time special things in that bucket since I do not care to take the time to do a microscopic breakdown of everything I spent.  I just don’t have the desire or time to do that and I’m pretty sure no one wants to see a chart with 95 lines. 

What’s in that category? 

Well the biggest single thing by far was my new eyeglasses.  I’m nearsighted and wear both contacts and glasses, but over the past 2 years my close-up vision has been degrading (this is called presbyopia).  I’m the guy in the grocery store holding the product far away from my face to try to read the damn ingredient list.  So in December I went to the eye doc and got glasses with progressive lenses.  Holy shit they’re expensive, and of course my insurance barely helps with eye and dental.  So they set me back a good $800.

Car maintenance was minimal in 2023, I just needed a new battery and and oil change – about $400.  I probably spent more on bike parts and maintenance than I did on my car, but I also rode my bikes 5400 miles last year.

Other things in that potpourri category are my Amazon Prime subscription, my annual pass to the National Parks, my membership fee for the American Alpine club, vitamin supplements, and my charity donations. 

 

Loosening Up

I’ve been trying to loosen up the purse strings a bit and start spending more on the things I love.  If you’ve been keeping up with the FIRE community the “new thing” has been discussions about spending and why we should spend more.  For folks like me I think it’s a valid point – I’m almost a decade past my FIRE number and doing well.  But for those in earlier stages of their journey I’d be careful, frugality is still a massive tool in the FIRE toolbox, arguably the best. 

I upgraded quite a few bike parts, bought a new bike repair stand, and even got my first few race-fit jerseys.  I also replaced some aging rock climbing gear.

In early Fall I dropped quite a bit on new gear for car camping and did 5 or 6 really cool trips, usually paired with paddling, cycling, and climbing.  A sweet new camping cot was my best purchase, only $82 and super comfortable.  Oh and I bought an inflatable kayak, but it was a $250 model that Walmart had for $80 on sale at Christmas.  I couldn’t pass it up for $80, and after a few trips with it I already feel like I’ve gotten my money’s worth.

I also did two big bike races in 2022 that totaled $257 in entry fees.  Yes us cyclists are weird, we pay good money to experience extreme pain and suffering.  I won my age category in one of them though, so go me!. 

Overall this spending, while more than usual for me, is still way way way below so many other folks in my area who do the same activities.  

 

Is $39k A Lot?

Overall I’m pleased with my total for 2023.  I feel that I live a full and exciting life, and the price tag comes in under $40k.  I’m sure some will consider that extreme frugality while others will think it’s exuberant.  Something to consider is that I live in the Washington D.C. metro area which is one of the most expensive in America.  I’m sure my same expenses would be more like $30k in Tennessee or North Carolina, perhaps even less.   

I did a lot of awesome road trips in 2023 and even flew to Michigan to hang out with a buddy for a week on his lake cabin.  I paid $12 for the plane ticket – the joy of credit card miles!  

As I mentioned in last years report after 25+ years of frequent travel and visiting over 40 countries I’m still focused on seeing more of the hidden gems of America.  I did car camping trips to a bunch of state parks in the mid-Atlantic last year and discovered some amazingly beautiful and under-visited places, some only a few hours drive from my house. 

As regular readers are surely sick of hearing my graphic arts business covers a good chunk of my annual expenses.  To find out how that went in 2023 you’ll have to stay tuned for that post.