My spending was so high in December. Here's the recap, since I do not plan to spend anything today:

Gifts/Charity: 1,300
Housing: 775
Car Repair/Maintenance: 749
Insurance: 685
Utilities: 210
Groceries: 185
Fees/Services: 132
Vacation/Travel: 98
Eating Out: 62
Phone: 52
Medical/Health: 46
Gas: 39
Personal: 35
Vet/Pet Supplies: 25
Laundry: 20
Entertainment: 16
Furnishings/Equipment/Decor: 15
Household Supplies: 12
Clothing: 8
Fares/Parking: 4

Grand Total: 4,468

Yeah, wow to the gift total. Part of that is donations to grandchildren's college funds, but it is mostly Christmas. I have to do better next year. I blame gap year to some degree -- until September, my income was too low to even think about buying ahead. Then from October to November I was slammed (literally) with car costs, so everything fell on December's budget. I did not find many bargains.

The car repair was the cost of my 30K service. In hindsight, I should have deferred this till January, but, oh well. Didn't know it would be so high.

Insurance (auto)-- paid it early, since I put it on a credit card to avoid withdrawal from my checking account, thus easing the January budget a little. The semi-annual premium is just a little higher than it used to be, which is a reflection of the newer car and not a punishment for the two claims I made this fall.

Groceries -- higher than usual, mostly due to hosting a party.

Fees/Services -- wheel tax, a parking ticket, replenishment of I-Pass.

Everything else is pretty much in line, business as usual.

______________________________

My annual spending was $34,090, just a little bit lower than 2018's $34,752.

Housing: 10,189
Furnishings/Equipment/Decor: 5,520
Car Repair/Maintenance: 2,216
Insurance: 2,182
Utilities: 2,174
Medical/Health: 2,040
Gifts/Charity: 2,004
Groceries: 1,339
Taxes: 1087
Vet/Pet Supplies: 825
Eating Out: 717
Phone: 623
Vacation/Travel: 538
Fees/Services: 522
Clothing: 519
Gas: 430
Household Supplies: 268
Personal: 255
Entertainment: 219
Laundry: 175
Home Repair/Maintenance: 170
Fares/Parking: 78

The unusual expenses here are:

The new car (under Equipment), which was about $5,000 more than what I got from insurance after the wreck.

The new hip (under Medical), which was about $1,000 out of pocket.

Car repair -- two months with bills over $500 and two months with bills over $200.

Just a note -- the mystery about the prescription cost doubling is solved. When I looked at the bottle, I saw that I had twice the the usual amount of pills. Duh!

I had terrible sleep last night but I'm going to the gym this morning before I fall apart for the day.

Tomorrow I'll have a few words about how I will try to cut costs in the coming year.