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My American Express Spending December to January

Starting last month I decided it was time to get a hold of my family’s expenditures, specifically, those expenditures which are more or less in the discretionary category.  With just two months of data, I don’t think I am going to start looking for trends just yet. Unlike my net worth posts, I am providing real numbers, not percentages.

I should mention that all this spending was done on my American Express Premier Gold Card so it has to be paid off monthly (i.e. I incur no interest charges and I recently got my annual fee waived).

My Monthly Discretionary Expenses

While my sprint bill may not be discretionary, for the most part these expenditures are stuff I could cut down if I chose to:

Date Description Amount
01/21/2012 CROXLEY ALES 60
01/20/2012 TOKU MODERN ASIAN 65.66
01/18/2012 GROUPON INC877-788-7858IL 49
01/17/2012 PHILS PIZZA 25.7
01/16/2012 PETCO 34.71
01/16/2012 SPRINT WIRELESS800-639-6111KS 123.94
01/15/2012 Krav Maga 112
01/15/2012 THE VITAMIN SHOPPEJ 48.46
01/14/2012 BJS FUEL 31.42
01/14/2012 BJS FUEL 51.91
01/14/2012 HUNTINGTON SUPERSTAR 20.14
01/14/2012 JIFFY LUBE 32.58
01/14/2012 DINER 22.81
01/12/2012 Krav Maga 52.12
01/09/2012 BEDBATH&BEYOND# 253.75
01/09/2012 DREAMHOST.COM 0797BREACA 9.95
01/08/2012 SHOPRITE 9.97
01/07/2012 CARUSO’S Pizza 39.22
01/07/2012 WENDYS 9.38
01/06/2012 FINE WINES UNLIMITE 5 20.63
01/06/2012 KING KULLEN 7.54
01/05/2012 MSKCC-BRANDED EVENTS 50
01/04/2012 THE MAIN EVENT 85.67
01/03/2012 THE VITAMIN SHOPPE 52.98
12/31/2011 DOLRTREE 13.04
12/31/2011 LA PARMA II 122.47
12/31/2011 PARTY CITY 22.78
12/31/2011 SIMPLY WINE & LIQUOR 32.48
12/31/2011 TRADER JOE’S 45.4
12/30/2011 ON THE BORDER 58.05
12/30/2011 USPS 23.76
12/29/2011 BAR FRITES 72
12/29/2011 MCDONALD’S 7.48
12/29/2011 VICTORY OYSTER BAR 37.59
12/28/2011 POLAND SPRING WATER BOTTLEDWATER 69.08
12/28/2011 ROYAL BUKHARA GRILL 48.11
12/27/2011 NYS BAR ASSOCIATION ALBANYNY 25
12/27/2011 PHILS PIZZA 36.57
12/23/2011 PAVILION WINE & SPIRT 46.7
12/22/2011 CROXLEY ALES 26.99
12/21/2011 HONU KITCHEN 17
01/20/2012 AMYS HALLMARK 4.01
01/20/2012 CALIFORNIA PIZZA 39.13
01/20/2012 MACY’S 23.46
01/19/2012 ALLIED PEDIATRICS 35
01/19/2012 AMAZON.COMAMZN.COM/BILLWA 11.25
01/19/2012 BEDBATH&BEYOND#0754 32.43
01/18/2012 AMAZON PRIME 79
01/18/2012 THE HOME DEPOT 23.64
01/17/2012 AMAZON MKTPLACE PMTSAMZN.COM/BILLWA 24.49
01/17/2012 BUYBUYBABY 22.22
01/17/2012 BUYBUYBABY 199.86
01/16/2012 STOP & SHOP 108.41
01/14/2012 STAR KITCHEN 14.15
01/12/2012 50 MANETTO HILLMALL 28.62
01/12/2012 PAVILION WINE & SPIRT 22.79
01/12/2012 ROBBINS LANE CAR CAR 30
01/11/2012 STOP & SHOP 50.67
01/11/2012 THE CHILDRENS PLACE 18.8
01/11/2012 THE UPS STORE 14.02
01/10/2012 PETCO 44.22
01/09/2012 SIMPLE CLEANERS 26.79
01/09/2012 TARGET 12.6
01/06/2012 SHOPRITE 15.78
01/06/2012 TRADER JOE’S 34.96
01/05/2012 AMAZON.COMAMZN.COM/BILLWA 33.35
01/05/2012 BUYBUYBABY 50.43
01/03/2012 STOP & SHOP 119.71
01/02/2012 FRIENDLY ICE CREAM 53.88
12/28/2011 ALLIED PEDIATRICS 30
12/23/2011 AMAZON VIDEO ON DEMAND 1.99
Total $3,179.70

 

Spending by Category

Merchandise Spending

Last month I almost had a panic attack when I ran these numbers and found out I spent over $5,400 (Probably closer to $4,400 after being paid back and rebates receives). This month’s $3,100 is still much too high for my tastes and it seems it comes from one main expenditure:

  • FOOD

I eat out way too much and I don’t think our grocery shopping is particularly efficient.  I am going to try and work on this month to maybe bring down the bill below $3,000.  I think the easiest way is to reach this goal is to lower the amount we buy out but I think the most realistic would be to help The Wife with the grocery shopping.

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4 COMMENTS

  1. My wife and I usually “force” ourselves to only eat out once a month and then individually have a meal at another time (like meeting a friend, etc.). This is easy to monitor, although it could be hard for someone who eats out a lot right now… Once you get passed the transition period, you should be golden.

  2. I agree with the above commenter, eating out will not only bulge your stomach but also your credit card bill. It’s a good idea to cut off most of your expenditures.

  3. In the past I’ve looked for such details on credit card balances, and this is exactly what I was looking for!

    Our credit card balances totaled is about $2,500. I keep believing I can get it down to $2,000 but it never happens. Things are cheaper over here where I live though. I think if I live where you lived, our bills would be close…

    This has indirectly helped answer a lot of my questions about how I spend and if I spend to little or too much.

    Thanks for sharing!

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