Budget Porn, a Look at 2017, and a Free, Simple Path to Wealth

We're told never to bury the lede, so here it is. We are giving away two audio copies of Jim Collins' excellent book, The Simple Path to Wealth. This is my favorite personal finance book, by far, and you can read why here. 

But if you haven't read Jim's book, let me tell you, friend: you are tempting fate. I know people who haven't read The Simple Path to Wealth, and they are universally unhappy people: unlucky in board games and in love, terrible dressers with ill-fitting clothes hanging off their slumped shoulders, and while I do not have any firm proof, I'm fairly certain that they are all underwhelming in the sack.

But with a little luck, by next week they could be listening to Jim's book, fixing both their finances and their bedroom shortcomings in one fell swoop.

Plus, you don't have to follow me on Twitter or Facebook to win a copy, either. All you have to do is make me laugh.

One copy will be given to the commenter with funniest reason they should get a copy. Plan on playing the audio book to your dog, laying treats on paper plates with different stock symbols written on them, and then seeing which ones he picks? Sounds like fun to me. Are you going to host a party where, instead of music, Jim Collins' dulcet tones will be played for your guests for three hours straight, with no explanation whatsoever? Awesome.

The other copy, because I suppose things like merit count, will be given to the person who has a legitimately good reason. Like if you or someone you know wants to, I don't know, learn how to be better with their money or something.

But enough about that. You didn't come here to actually learn or improve your situation. You came here to peek behind the curtains at our annual spending. So here it is, you dirty little voyeur, you.

2017 Spend

Non-Mortgage Spend: $35,164
2017 Annual Spend: $48,392

For some context, here is a multi-year snapshot of what we've spent in the prior three years.

What are the big takeaways?

• Spending shot way up in 2017: over $6k in additional spending, and there's a trend of the same going back to 2014. The simple analysis points to the fact that we had no mortgage at all in those early years (and only the last couple months of 2016). Then, we went from having a very small mortgage of $600 on our old house, to a new, big-ass mortgage of nearly $1,500 now. 

• Speaking of housing, we spent over $7,000 on appliances, furniture, and other related stuff getting settled in the new home. Let's hope this doesn't repeat every year.

• Travel costs were way down last year, going from over $11k in 2016 to just over $4k in 2017. Considering we traveled to pricey Northern Europe and Asia last year, I'm pleasantly surprised. Maybe we're getting better at travel hacking.

• The pups costs us $2,500 last year, and that somehow was over $2,000 less than we'd spent on them in 2016. I think we're just being overly cautious since Pepper died, paying for every possible test and treatment any time something seems wrong with the pups. 

• We spent $2,600 on gifts, but gave under $800 to charities. Something is wrong here...which if I'm being honest, is probably why I combined the two categories in prior years.  I know it's a problem, and one we'll have to correct in 2018.

Enough with the past. How is 2018 looking?

So we have a new goal of getting our spending back to $40,000 annually this year, despite more than doubling our mortgage and adding a little one to our family. But we have a secret weapon: jars of cash. Now that we're a month in, how are we doing?

January Total Spend: $4,964

Non-Mortgage Spend: $3,489

Projected 2018 Spend: $59,568

So we're only trending to miss our goal by 50%. #winning

The big outlier in January was my surgery. If we take that out, our spending is a much more manageable $3,578. Still: when we're aiming for an annual target, you can't take anything out, not even the one-offs. If we're going to hit our goal, we'll have to find a way to come in under the $3,333 monthly average for much of the year.

Maybe Jim Collins can write another book, showing me the simple path to keeping my spending in budget.

Or maybe I just need to re-read that first book.

Well, that's enough for today. Let's hear it in the comments: why should you get a copy of The Simple Path to Wealth? Make with the funny, people.