Nearly year end financial roundup

Another quiet weekend at home. I did some tax estimates and also getting caught up on my financial tracking. I started tracking spending on Jan 1 2019 and have logged every penny since. As of this evening my YTD spend is at 80.6% of my full 2019 spend. I still have a few November bills to pay and the full month of December ahead but look safely on track to be 10% or more below last year's spend.

10% would be a significant savings but I was actually hoping for more at the start of the year. 2019 had unexpected high spend on an auto insurance deductible and I had both paid off my the last of student loans and refinanced my mortgage for a significantly smaller payment. 2020 had a significant one off medical spend which more or less balanced the savings.

A portion of my 10% came from gas and food savings from the move to WFH, construction on my building led to several optional socially distanced office days so savings were not what they could have been. I also reshopped my insurance midyear, both home and auto had premium reductions due to changes in coverage. I probably should have done this earlier but WFH made me more comfortable with the increased risk.

Increased costs came from more groceries and I gave in and signed up for Netflix for some low thinking entertainment. I also surprisingly owed on both my federal and state returns. I do not track payroll tax withholding as an expense, only the settle up payments in the spring so this unbalanced the numbers. This surprise will work out to about 2% of my total 2020 spend.

Travel spending stayed more of less level. I had a winter getaway in February and had purchased several flights that I did not take, and am now holding Delta travel credit. Hopefully this is a more significant category in 2021.