Happy fall everyone! I haven’t even had a pumpkin spice latte yet this year and already loving the weather, decorating around the house and preparing our favorite fall meals.
If you’re new here, at the end of each month I share my budget and spending in order to be accountable for my financial goals along with tracking my spending overall. I also think it’s fun to look at the way people budget their money so in these types of posts, I try to be an open book. I start off by going over my highs for the month (good things that happened) and then my lows (the bad stuff) as a way to highlight my successes and see what works well for me while still being able to acknowledge my failures or the things that didn’t turn out so well.
September was a low spend month for me overall thanks in large part to the fact that I didn’t have much money to spend to begin with. Last month I shared with my newsletter subscribers how I felt like I was experiencing a budget deficit and feeling very uncomfortable financially since my income at my full-time job temporarily decreased as a result of not receiving my bonus. That’s just one of the many crappy parts of living paycheck to paycheck but thank God for multiple streams of income.
Needless to say, I’m happy the month is over and FinCon also helped the time fly by. Below my official budget spreadsheet, I also included how my FinCon budget panned out for those of you who might be interested or want to attend FinCon next year and get insight on some common expenses associated with traveling and the conference.
My Highs
My Lows
Onto the Budget
Extra Bonus: My FinCon Budget
So obviously my biggest advice for FinCon is to try to budget and prepare for the conference and your trip early because it’s totally worth the investment. I started setting side hustle income aside a few months before the conference and tried to set a realistic budget of how much I expected to spend and what things would cost.
To my surprise, I ended up being under budget at the end of the week and I got to pocket some of the extra money I saved/put it toward bills etc.
Luckily:
-I scored a free flight to Charlotte with my credit card reward points and didn’t have to pay $25 each way to check my bag since I somehow shrunk all my items to fit safely so I traveled for FREEEE!
-Breakfast was covered most of the days and even some lunches were covered as well. Thank you FinCon sponsors!
-The events were included in the price of the conference. So I didn’t have to pay to visit the Mint Museum in Charlotte for Ignite FinCon or the awesome bowling event sponsored by SoFi.
-I’m not a big alcohol drinker and I’m not crazy about beer, but it does help give you liquid courage when at social events as long as you’re being responsible 🙂 I received drink tickets at many of the events so I didn’t have to pay for alcohol and got to try a few new drinks as well.
Here’s how all the expenses broke down:
My half of the hotel room: $345
Transportation from the airport (The Sprinter bus): $2
Emergency internet at the airport: $5
Cash for meals and drinks that weren’t covered along with extra outings and any other expenses: $100
Transportation back to the airport: (Uber w/ Kayla): $0 (thanks to a $20 credit I received)
NC Souvenirs for family: $40
Amount Budgeted for: $670
Total Spent: $492
Leftover: $178
How did your month go?
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DC @ Young Adult Money says
Kudos to you for a great FinCon budget. I bought my ticket to FinCon 2016 last week and I plan on booking the hotel soon. Paying as early as possible makes it a bit less painful. It’s why it was so easy for me NOT to go this year, since I was still considering it just a couple months out when I would have had to foot the bill for all the expenses. Good to hear about all the breakfast/lunches at FinCon. I hope they have a lot next year as well.
Choncé says
Paying early is super beneficial when it comes to conferences. They fed us pretty good so that was wonderful! I don’t know how they will do it next year but this year all I had to do was reserve my hotel room and put a credit card on file and they didn’t charge me until the last day of the conference when I was checking out.
lovetteorleavette says
It looks like your budget is holding up well. I’m still working on mine and found it to be helpful to establish budgets for certain areas, like groceries, eating out, and clothing until I develop a master budget.
Choncé says
Sounds like your on the right track just keep going with it! Budgeting can be a bit tedious at first when you are doing it from scratch.
Tonya @ Budget and the Beach says
That’s awesome you were under budget and fincon! Seems like a pretty good month overall. Those darn car repairs get you every time. I guess it comes with the territory.
Choncé says
Yes tell me about it! Hopefully I will see much less repairs next year *fingers crossed*
My Urban Family says
I love that you were able to be under budget for Fincon (seems very fitting)! And congrats on getting through Sept without a clothes purchase. I did the same thing, but now I’m realizing I REALLY need a long winter coat before the weather gets too much colder and they’re all sold…
Choncé says
I may need a winter coat too. Last year I didn’t get one so that may be on the radar this year.
Charlene Covington says
Hey! Just found you and you sound like such an awesome young lady. I subscribed to the news letter and I will be checking back periodically! Take and I pray much success to you on this journey!
Choncé says
Thanks for the support Charlene and thanks for stopping by!
Kate Dore says
Nice work, Choncé! I was thinking about buying something new to wear to FinCon. But my frugal side won. It was really nice to meet you! And I’m really looking forward to San Diego 🙂
Choncé says
It was so nice meeting you as well! It’s always best win the frugal side wins 🙂
Cat@BudgetBlonde says
Hey girl! It was great to meet you at FinCon and I’m so happy you were able to be under budget for the trip. It seems like quite a few people were and that’s always better than being over budget. I hope you can go a while without car repairs now. Those stink! We’ve had quite a few this year too.
Choncé says
It was so great to finally meet you as well Cat! Love your personality and energy 🙂 Car repairs are the worst. I’m afraid to calculate how much I spent on auto related expenses this year.
Hannah says
The venue is often the most expensive part of the whole wedding, especially if you forgo a lot of things. We didn’t do fancy catering, party favors, or even a traditional cake. My husband wore a tux he had, and my dress was just $120. We had a great DJ and a great venue, and that was important to us.
Choncé says
It feels like such a relief now that we found the venue and I know what those costs are going to be. It sounds you got a good deal on your dress. I would love to find an affordable dress preferably $400 or less. I know it will be a struggle, but I’m u[ for the challenge.
creativebugger1 says
Glad you found a wedding venue! Since we only live about 6 hours from Vegas, that’s where we got married. It was pricey, but all we had to do was pick out a package from the hotel and viola. Wedding was done. We also got a military discount since he was enlisted when we got married. I’m too lazy to plan a wedding. 🙂 Best advice, though, is to do as much of it yourself and/or call in as many of friends as you can to help.
Choncé says
Great advice! And it sounds like your wedding turned out pretty nicely and you were able to put your own spin on things.
femmefrugality says
Woot! Great job on the FinCon budget! I spent almost that much in the hotel because I was dumb and drove…. Overnight parking was not good! Think a plane ticket might have been cheaper, but live and learn. And luckily gas was under $2 in NC, so I loaded up while I was there.
Congrats on securing the venue!!!! So excited to hear more about your big day! And that’s pretty darn impressive on the debt especially in spite of everything.
Choncé says
Thanks Femme! Driving might have been an option for me but I get pretty antsy in the car and I’ve never driven for hours by myself before.