Do You Know?

How much do you spend on gas each month?

Groceries?

Entertainment?

Dining out?

Shopping?

Most people know how much they spend on rent (fixed), utilities, cell phones, insurance, loan repayments, tithing, and cable/internet.... but past that, much is not meticulously analyzed.  Unless you're me that is.  Or probably my accountant buddies.  

Gas - $400
Groceries - $400
Entertainment - < $10 (our entertainment is mostly RedBox with exceptions of when people come to visit us or sporting events)
Dining Out - $150
Shopping - $200

And here's the scary part, we're pretty frugal.  Last night, I had an epiphany while I was sitting at the Dodger Game admiring this view.

Los Angeles is an expensive city to live in. As much as local residents boast of all its amazing benefits, the weather, the things to do, and the people to see... it all adds up.  Though I'm deeply saddened by the approaching prospect of moving to Spokane, into the bitter cold where much of my time will be spent in doors, it's not much of a difference from my current lifestyle as as working mom.  Moreover, with my parents living in the suburbs of Los Angeles, every trip back to visit will now include everything fun about LA (which our current budget does not allow nor do my frugal ways).  This means trips to Disneyland, Universal (Harry Potter world will be coming soon!), the westside, hoity toity trips to dine at fancy places read about in magazines and seen on reality television via the cable we will have in Spokane!, lots of shopping at all the major nearby outlets and large outdoor and high-end malls, and a lot of Chinese food crammed into every other meal.  That means LA will be much more fun once we're only coming to visit on vacation versus living here and seeing the tab add up.

I am pretty dang psyched about that.  Having been around the San Gabriel Valley my whole life, gone to college just forty minutes east of LA and having worked in downtown and everywhere from the Valley to the Westside to the South Bay to the Inland Empire, I simply hope I don't forget the freeways and how they all intermingle as we make our way around when we come back to visit in the future.  Oh how fun it will be!