MONEY DIARIES: September 2020
Our total expenses for September stand at AED 11,143. It’s been a relatively quiet month. Out of the ordinary expenses include hosting charges for this blog and some taxi bills. Here’s the detailed breakdown:
Fixed Expenses:
Rent AED 5000: Our biggest spend is the rent paid for our modest 1 bed apartment. We pay AED 15,000 x 4 cheques which works out to be AED 5000 per month
Car loan EMI AED 2690: We took on a 3 year car loan in August 2018, we are set to finish paying this by August 2021
Postpaid mobile phone plan AED 126: I use a postpaid mobile phone plan from Du. D’s company pays for his
Home wifi/tv/telephone AED 377: We have subscribed to the elife unlimited starter which takes care of our home broadband + basic tv channels + landline
Variable Expenses:
Water & Electricity AED 1,030: This is our biggest spend. Our water and electricity bill is somewhat high considering that both of us do not spend the whole day at home. I have been meaning to get our meter/air conditioning system checked out ever since we started noticing the increasing bills
Groceries AED 709: On average we spend around AED 800 – AED 1000 on groceries shopped from either Carrefour, Lulu or Nesto. But there are always ways to bring that further down
Food and Drinks AED 211: The month’s take-outs and me indulging my coffee/tea addiction while at work. We did not dine out during September, being Covid-19 and all that, we haven’t been meeting our friends or family as often as we used to before
Shopping AED 108: Bath and body works had an online sale, so I stocked up on my favorite body sprays. Managed to get my favourites like Forever Red and Japanese Cherry Blossom for as low as AED 19 and AED 25 respectively
Healthcare AED 91.5: My insurance covers 90% of the cost while I end up paying 10% co-payment on medical and pharmacy bills
Transportation AED 65: Taxi bills for our trips to the car dealer’s service center and back. Our car was due for its 20k service, which is pretty good given that we’ve had the car for over 2 years J Neither of us take public transport or taxis. We stay adjacent to Mr.D’s work place which means he can just walk over and I usually drive to work. We do not mind paying a little extra on our apartment lease if it means we can cut down on commute time.
Miscellaneous AED 585: This was mainly for the blog domain and hosting annual charges (AED 485). Again another out of the ordinary expense. But then again every month has an expense of this nature.
