November 2025
Where our money went (and the $110 we'd like to un-spend 🫣)
💰 total spent
$0😬 categories
2 over avg
Scroll for the full breakdown... 👇
🏙️ How We Stack Up vs. Los Angeles
We're DINKs, so no childcare costs skewing the numbers. Here's how we stack up against BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey data for the Los Angeles metro area.
The Los Angeles metro area (Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim MSA) includes Orange County, where we live. Uses 2023-24 data because the 2024 release was delayed three times (data quality issues + appropriations lapse) and finally published Dec 19, 2025. MSA-level data uses 2-year averages for larger sample sizes.
| Category | Ours | Los Angeles Avg | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing | 60% | 30% | yikes 🔥 |
| Groceries | 6% | 8% | slightly under 👍 |
| Dining Out | 4% | 6% | slightly under 👍 |
| Transportation | 6% | 16% | nailed it ✅ |
| Utilities | 2% | 7% | slightly under 👍 |
| Entertainment | 3% | 4% | ~average |
| Shopping | 5% | 3% | a bit over 👀 |
| Health | 2% | 7% | slightly under 👍 |
| Subscriptions | 1% | 3% | slightly under 👍 |
| Other | 11% | 16% | slightly under 👍 |
And now, the moment you've been waiting for...
🤦 Dumbest Purchases
Every month, we each confess our most regrettable spend. Public shame is free therapy.
His
Turkey deep fryer
“A $110 turkey deep fryer for Thanksgiving. The turkey was incredible. The $110 single-use appliance now lives in the garage next to the inflatable kayak.”
We can't even look at this. 🫠
Hers
Black Friday skincare haul
“An $87 Black Friday skincare haul because it was '40% off.' The previous skincare routine was working fine. Now there are 11 steps instead of 4.”
That's a lot of damage. 💸