Ooooof, this month was a scary one in terms of spending.  The good news is that most of it was on current and future travel plans.  The bad news is that I still spent a *#$@ ton of money.  But somehow my bank account isn’t completely empty, so let’s go with that.

For memory’s sake, here is the budget that I created for myself way back in October.

I was pretty lenient with my restaurant and clothes allowances, knowing that these things are part of my life, but as you can see, I didn’t make any sort of limit when it comes to travel spending.  Travel is important to me and I try to find the best flight/ accommodation deals, and then be frugal during the actually traveling.  Somehow, I still spend a ton of money, but hey!  I love it…

Groceries:  Went over budget a little bit.  I need to stop shopping for random things throughout the week and get back into my one day shop stop.  Those little purchases add up…

Restaurants and Bars:  It looks like I didn’t eat out much this month, and I feel like I curbed it back a little, but what this graphic doesn’t show is that a lot of the money in “January travel” is food.

Coffee and Snacks:  This one is never high, but I’m pleased at how low it is!  I did a good job of keeping snacks with me this month.

Clothes:  Only went shopping ONCE this month!  Mostly because I haven’t been in Madrid much, but also because I keep reminding myself that new clothes bring momentary happiness, but soon enough I will want new things and only be poorer.  Instead, when I have the urge to get something shiny and new, I get something like nail polish or a cool new ingredient to cook.

Toiletries:  I didn’t keep track of this during January and just lumped it into groceries, but pretty sure it was under 10.  I’m actually running low on many things, so it will be higher next month.

Future travel:  Can’t stop, won’t stop!  I have a trip planned for March that I am so, so looking forward to, so that’s where that $$$ went.

January travel:  Between Christmas break and a billion other trips, I traveled so much in January and loved every single one of them.  (Amsterdam, Berlin, Geneva and Chamonix, Barcelona)

So, while January was a heavy month of spending, most of it went towards rent, travel and more travel.  The travel is something I love and it won’t stop, but I can and should be a little more mindful of spending less in the actual destinations.