Credit card spending needs to be controlled. Otherwise, you may end up with revolving credit card debt at a VERY high interest rate.
In my mind, credit card debt is on of the worst debt types to own. Therefore, nobody should have revolving credit card debt.
Let me share some credit card spending thoughts from back in early 2012. It’s pretty interesting to see how my thoughts have evolved.
Credit Card Spending Out Of Control
Shoot, I’ve spent too much on my credit card at a time when I shouldn’t because I got less of a 2011 bonus than expected. In fact, my 2011 bonus was $0! And because it was $0, I got motivated to negotiate my severance and leave just a few moths later. January’s statement reminds me how easy it is for people to spend freely only to feel regret one month later.
January saw the first huge storm that dumped 2.5 foot of powder in Lake Tahoe. As a storm chaser, I just had to go last minute because there’s nothing quite like riding on 2+ feet of powder. You’re floating on a cloud as you barrel down the shoot without a fear of crashing because everything is so soft. I stayed at my vacation place and spent around $150 on gas and another $100 on food for a couple nights.
I also took full advantage of a ridiculously low airfare by Hawaiian Airlines and booked a round-trip ticket for only $360 after taxes and fees just 7 days before departure! Originally, I was going to go from Saturday to Saturday. But, due to the storm up in Lake Tahoe, I decided to go from Tuesday to Saturday (Tahoe Sunday Monday). It was quite surreal going from powder to the beach the very next day.
Of course, once in Hawaii, I met up with friends every other night for dinner and drinks. he Korean BBQ and Hawaiian food are incredible there! I guess things could have been worse since I didn’t have to pay for lodging for a week.
Related: Where Are My Credit Card Rights?
January Credit Card Spending Statement
| JANUARY 2012 CREDIT CARD STATEMENT | ||
| Category | Description | Cost |
| Alcohol | Wine for a house party | $32.54 |
| Banking | Refundable application fee for home refi | $765 |
| Dentist | Deductible for work at Dentist | $168 |
| Dinner | Dinner at Duke’s in Waikiki. Great venue, but food sucks | $57 |
| Dinner | Dinner at 12 Ave Grill, Honolulu (overpriced!) | $93 |
| Dinner | Vietnamese food | $23 |
| Farmer’s Market | Pumelos, vegan crepes, dried cherries | $33 |
| Gas | Premium unleaded | $62.90 |
| Gas | Premium unleaded | $76 |
| Groceries | Don’t remember | $8.38 |
| Groceries | Safeway | $136.00 |
| Haircut | Haircut | $18 |
| Hardware | Metal fences for trees to avoid dog poop | $13 |
| Hobby | Tennis club | $228 |
| Insurance | Home, auto, life, personal prop | $228 |
| iTunes | iPhone Game, Sentinel 3! | $1.99 |
| Lunch | Cambodian | $9 |
| Lunch | Indonesian food for two | $30 |
| Lunch | Vietnamese food | $10.04 |
| Lunch | Old world Italian seafood for three (reimbursable client lunch) | $199.98 |
| Lunch | Chinese food takeout for two | $19.53 |
| Lunch | Assortment of sushi and veggies | $8.83 |
| Lunch | French bakery | $20.40 |
| Lunch | Cambodian food | $8.63 |
| Lunch | Mexican food | $10.53 |
| Lunch | In N’ Out Burger | $3.45 |
| Lunch | Vacation lunch in Lake Tahoe | $22 |
| Lunch | Filipino food for three in Honolulu | $35 |
| Lunch | Korean BBQ for three in Honolulu | $39.88 |
| Snack | French bakery | $2.75 |
| Software | Tax software | $70 |
| Taxi | Taxi home | $50 |
| Tennis | Can of balls | $3.91 |
| Tennis | Client tennis (reimbursable) | $85 |
| Travel | Rountrip ticket to Hawaii | $361 |
| Travel | Taxi to airport | $54 |
| Unknown | Unknown, but probably lunch or taxi fare | $51 |
| Total | $3,038.74 |
Observations From My Credit Card Spending
Typing up my credit card report makes me realize how much I love to eat all sorts of food! I love South East Asian food and could eat Indonesian and Malaysian food every day, all day. Cambodian/Thai food is also quite tasty. And, a number of new such restaurants have popped up.
I can’t believe I’m refinancing just 4 months after I refinanced already! It’s just that I couldn’t pass up a 2.625% 5/1 rate with costs fully baked in. I just had to pay the up front $765 application fee.
My SUV’s gas bill is expensive due to my trip to Lake Tahoe. Usually I spend about $50 a month, so this January I spent triple.
Finally, my minimum monthly recurring cost for tennis is around $200 due to club dues, food, tennis balls, and strings. Things add up if I’m not careful. So, I plan to demo a lot more new racquets to increase the longevity of my strings, and also have fun with new technology.
Control Your Credit Cad Spending
My January credit card spending makes me a little ill. I realize I will get credited back about $1,000. But, there always seems to be SOME “one-off” that keeps popping up. I need to get my CC bill down to about $1,200-$1,500 for me to feel comfortable again. Spending $3,000 feels like too much.
I will pay the bill in full as I have always done. But, it’s time to ratchet down my spending and live more frugally. I will still save 100% of every other paycheck. Although, it looks like for this year, the maximum after tax income I can save is around 60%, and not the 70-75% that I was shooting for.
Related: The Average Credit Card Interest Rate Will Keep You Poor Forever
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How did you find such a good refi?
Shoot, I would’ve recommended staying away from 12th ave grill and hitting up Town instead (down the street). I’m just not a fan of it.
I’m actually surprised you spent so little on food and cocktails considering you were on vacation! Maybe it’s just because we eat out a ton. And drink a lot. But maybe that’s just us…
January spending was pretty low; February a bit higher than I wanted with renewals of web hosting and stuff like that!
You are correct – credit card spending can quickly spiral out of control if you aren’t careful. Back when I had issues with my spending, I would be in shock when the statement came. I would always question how I spent that much money. I’ve since tracked my spending and as a result know when I need to cool off for a bit.
Ugh man, I started following my CC because of your initial post and while it is obviously good, I can’t seem to get it below $3200/month (this month was $3,600). RIDICULOUS. So to answer your question, my spending was terrible.
$3,600 is huge Evan!
Control yourself!! But maybe it’s because like Kris, you too are Malig the big bucks!!
Good job on the $18 haircut. I’m way overdue for a haircut but find myself unwilling to spend $50 for it and have yet to find a reliable cheap cut!
No $20 haircut available where you are? I live in SF and there are tons of $18 haircuts! :)
I figure, to look good is really about fitness, and then what God gave us in terms of looks. Hence, why spend so much on a haircut?
That is some serious spending :D Although we didn’t get to hang out in Hawaii, I noticed we’ve gotten a little looser with our spending lately too – mostly dining out, due to a little extra income. We need to tighten up and get back on course too, good luck to you!
Wow. Impressive spending! ;)
I could have told you that you spend too much on dining out just based on your tweets! :)
In your defense, it sounds like you have a pretty fun month. Tahoe and Hawaii?! Nice. Hawaii is one of my favorite places, but when you have to buy tickets for 3 it gets expensive fast. I’m looking forward to when our son is a bit older so we can travel more! We used to travel a lot before he arrived.
According to Mint, we spent $1845 in January for a family of 3. That includes:
– $289 flight to Reno for the man (annual male-bonding snowboarding trip)
– $353 for home/car insurance 6-month renewal
– $388 for groceries
– $144 for car registration and emissions testing
– $275 of tuition for our son’s school (last year of paying tuition!!)
– $120 crossfit membership for me (this is my big luxury)
– $60 on doctor visits
– $216 of misc stuff (utilities, netflix, etc).
Looks like we didn’t eat out at all in the month of January.
Not dining out for an entire month is a Herculean feat! Temptations are all around us here in San Francisco. We, along with New York City are seriously spoiled with every time of food imaginable!
I’m sure if I didn’t go out to eat once, I’d probably shed some more pounds quickly too! Hope Reno was fun! It’s dumping here in Tahoe!
Ugh, January was awful for me too! My fiance and I decided that we’d go to a music festival in May, and the deal was that I’d pay for hotel if he’d pay for everything else. Due to crazy inflated prices, my hotel for 3 nights came to $800. THEN, in order to get the “good” ticket price, we both simultaneously waited in the online ticket queue and agreed that whoever got “in” first would buy. Well, that turned out to be me! So I ended up paying $1200 for this trip. It’s not all bad, because he paid me back for the tickets, and he’ll be paying for all expenses while we’re there, but looking at my credit card bill was not fun!
I really believe that the cost will be worth it though, so I’m not too stressed out :)
Big bucks! $800 for 3 nights hotel ain’t cheap, however, hope you guys take lots of pictures and have priceless memories!
January was similar to every other month for me, although February turned out to be a bit higher than usual thanks to our booking a trip to Krabi over Songkran. Still not bad though, 5 nights and airfare just north of $600. Will still have the food bills while we are there of course, but breakfast is included, we’ll eat Thai for lunch (maybe $3 per person) so it is just dinner we’ll have to contend with.
I love to eat too and the first thing I noticed about your list Sam was the number of times you had some sort of SE Asian food for lunch. You eat it almost as much as me and I live here for crying out loud! When you gonna make the jump?
We are foodies too! We live in an Australian city and there are some fabulous restaurants in our neighborhood. Since we’re snowballing $25,000 of debt this year (ouch!), we’ve had to indulge in other ways. First, we scout out lunch specials. We can often split a $7 Thai dish and have a weekday date. Second, we visit new food markets, both for our produce and for a meal. And third, we bought a foodie guide to our city and regularly visit new butchers, bakers, spice shops, and the like.
I spend a lot of money on food on my credit card too. Cambodian food sounds good even though I’ve never tried it before. I’m doing better on my spending this year although I did spend several hundred dollars for my parents last month that I didn’t anticipate. At least the money went to a good cause!
If you look at my statement, the majority is food as well! I love eating out and trying out new things! Love the In N Out!
I’m glad to see that you’re sticking with posting the monthly credit card statement. I know you weren’t certain if it was doing you any good, but I personally love the little peak into other people’s lives.
Our statements run from the 20th-20th, but this last statement wasn’t bad. It’s the next one that will be high, with $1,800 in adoption agency fees.
I like using the credit card for the big one time expenses, even if we have the money in savings for it, because it lets me pay the expense right away but then plan for the actual payment when it makes the most sense based on that month’s cash flow. I try to do one transfer out of savings and one into savings each month.
You are making me hungry!!
It sounds like you are having a great time. I think that sometimes (but not with a lot of regularity) you have to just do spontaneous things like you did in January.
We hold credit down because we like to pay as we go, so we use cash more than credit. Also, we plan out big trips and other expenses so that they are in the budget for the year – when we can, which is most of the time. Our normal credit card bills are less than $150 a month – usually less.
It all boils down to your life choices – living within your desired budget or taking advantage of life’s opportunities. Moderation can be the key.
Wow. This is quite high even for a spender like me. But you had me at $18 haircut. Mine was $120 last month. Of course it is much more complex than yours and involves color. :)
Hmmmm… $120 HAIRCUT! WOW!!!! I assume you just cut it around once every 6 months or so?
That’s right, $15 haircuts and $3 tips! That’s how I roll.
It’s easy to run up the credit card if you’re not careful. That’s why so many people are in debt. Our January bill is not great either. I got a ticket for my mom’s flight to Thailand. It’s only fair because she helped us so much with the baby.
I really like Heavenly too. It’s surreal to see that lake down there. We really miss in-n-out.
Can’t believe you aren’t coming out to Hawaii in May! When you coming to SF?
It seems like every month for me there’s a “one-off” as well, which makes me think that it’s not a 1 off, it’s just something that I’m continuously failing to account for. As far as the food spending, I find it funny that you can get a seafood dinner for 3 for $200, and have Indonesian for 2 people for $30, and lunch for 1 a 3.50 from in-n-out. Nice to have work cover the big ticket items, eh?
Glad that you were able to go to tahoe during the powder -i’ve done it once at it was “heavenly”
Indeed! Got to treat the clients to what they want right? The seafood cioppino is the best at this one place called Taddich Grill.
But, if the clients want to eat In N Out burger, I’m game too! ;)
Yeah, when the mortgage officer called me just four months later, I was shocked!
I get to use my place whenever I want and it’s in a rental program. Just got to call and book. Pretty easy!
Indian food is my weakness… I could go to an indian buffet every day. The solution is to get more creative in the kitchen and make our own!
Hmmm, if you go to an Indian buffet everyday, I fear something else might happen! Stay away from the ghee!
Amen to the Staying away from the ghee! It can have bad effects on your insies here in the US and/or in India!!!!
January is not the problem for me, it’s this month. My misc expenses have been going through the roof. (My roof being much lower than yours.) Time to be more disciplined about my lunch and spending habits. Books are a killer. I saw In N Out on your list. It made me homesick…and hungry. None of my expenses will go my credit card beacuse I’m still working on paying those off.
Good for you for not using the CC and paying it off! Is it possible to just actually pay it off when the next bill comes? Or, are you keeping your liquid savings for a rainy day?
Oh how I wish that was possible. Unfortunately my hole is quite a bit deeper. I’ll be paying off 2 cards this month, leaving me with 5 to go. I am the perfect example of what happens when financial ignorance meets good credit lol.
Gotcha. The flip side is, you got something out of that spending right? Feels good to spend, and it feels good to get out of debt! Enjoy this article! https://www.financialsamurai.com/2010/10/25/best-way-to-lose-weight-and-become-debt-free/
I was pleasantly surprised, my January bill was half of what it usually is. My December was a bit higher thanks to a car repair. A large part of your bill was lunches/dinners and vacation. My dining out is $150-200 per month and I can not go out for lunch. Around April, I have to pay for my July cruise. I have been planning that for 4 months already.
In my case, the credit card bill is the result of careful planning and control of my expenses. All the effort goes on behind the scenes to keep the expenses in check.
How much is this July cruise going to cost and where you guys going?
The easiest and most direct way to reduce your spending is to not use your credit cat. There is plenty of science showing that people who spend with plastic spend more in general and spend more on specific purchases compared to cash spenders. An internal study conducted by McDonalds proved this to be true at their own restaurants. Per check charges were higher for plastic vs. cash.
Everyone who pays their credit card bills in full each month thinks they are the exception to the rule. It’s like living in Lake Wobegon where everyone is above average. Not the case. Plastic delays the discomfort of excess spending which makes the discomfort much easier to ignore. Time for a plastic fast to experiment for yourself?
I loved the McDonald’s study. Very true. I think I will keep the plastic at home and just take out $1,000 in cash for the month of March and see what happens. If I can stick to that, then I will get to below $1,500 discretionary spending.
I would love a month where my credit card bill was 3k! :)
Each month, I think I will be able to keep spending down. Then, something comes up. For instance, this month my mom’s car broke down and I had to cover an 800 dollar repair. Things like that happen all the time. Even dumb things like two of my kids outgrew their basketball shoes this month- there goes $150.
It sounds like you had a fabulous January- the experiences would be worth every penny of that $3000!!
That’s because you guys make the big bucks Kris!
Going from two feet of powder to the sun and beach the very next day was truly amazing! I’m just frustrated with the persistent one-offs!
Have kids and the one-offs will be endless!
I love going to Florida during the winter. Leaving the snow of Michigan and walking into sunshine and 80 degrees 2.5 hours later is fabulous.
Yes, we do make the big bucks. This is why I am wearing my very best shirt from Target right now.
Being the under dog, I like it!
That spending was a little high mister.
My spending will be picking up as I’m doing a big trip back to the West Coast and have loaded the boat up with tons of online shopping- more than $3K worth for sure!
-Mike
When I want to cut spending drastically, I typically just make myself really busy. I never have time to want for anything when I’m busy, haha!
We’ve been spending a little more lately. We bought a car and my night classes prevent me from eating super healthy so I tend to buy things on the go.
My Jan spending was okay…There’s always a nice drop-off after December X-mas time. I will say this, beware the lifestyle creep. If your Jan was a one month anomaly, no biggie because you’re enjoying life. If you’re going to Tahoe and Hawaii every month…well first, take me with you! Second, that could be a costly indulgence!
My credit card spending was high in January, about the same as your $3,000. However, Ineeded to spend $3,000 in 3 months to get 50,000 bonus points on a credit card – thus I’m not concerned about this amount.
It includes – $800 for deep scaling and this was needed and I will take the $ from my Health Savings account. I donated $500 to charity. I purchased $300 in gift cards to 2 food stores that I will use now that I have gotten the bonus. Subtract these items and I’m at a comfortable $1,500.
A the food of South East Asia! I just came back from Indonesia and Malaysia and have been to Thailand about 10 times and have been to Cambodia as well. The flights are expensive (about $1,500-$2,000 from the East Coast) but the cost of the food is about 10%-30% of what you would spend in Amercia. Maybe 40% if you eat at the real upscale hotels – money well spent.
The best upscale meal I have ever had was last December as the Mandarin Oriental in Kuala Lumpa – the dinner buffet for 2 with tax and tip was about $120. However, the atmosphere, food and service was world class.
Best non-upscale meal in the world would be sindot (hot pot barbacue) in Udomxai Laos. The cost with 2 large Beer Lao (best beer in the world IMHO) and a large amount of delicious food – $10!!!!
I LOVE KL and will have to pay a visit to the Mandarin next time I’m there! Malaysia simply has some of the best and cheapest food in the whole wide world! Boleh!