Midpoint in Temporary Assignment Expenses

Amazing as it is to me, I am already halfway through my temporary assignment at work. NY has been nice (especially the cooler evenings), but being the tightwad I am it also been tough getting use to the higher prices on just about everything.

Before I left, I spent sometime trying to figure out how much it was going to cost me to go on this temporary assignment. Here are the monthly costs I anticipated:

Additional Monthly Expenses	Best Case	Most Likely	Worst Case
NY Rent	$ 400.00	$ 700.00	$ 1,200.00
NY Utilities	$ -	$ 150.00	$ 250.00
Additional Dining Out	$ -	$ 75.00	$ 200.00
Travel Costs to Home	$ 222.00	$ 250.00	$ 444.00
Total Extra Monthly Expenses	$ 622.00	$ 1,175.00	$ 2,094.00

6 Months Total Extra Expenses	$3,732.00	$ 7,050.00	$12,564.00

With careful planning I made arrangements to rent a furnished room (including utilities) for a net $500/month after a small subsidy kicked in by my employer. This has certainly helped me keep my costs under control.

Heres my monthly expenses so far:

Additional Monthly Expenses	July	August	September
NY Rent	$293.55	$500.00	$500.00
NY Utilities	$ -	$ -	$ -
Additional Dining Out	$ -	$ -	$ -
Travel Costs*	$179.35	$307.10	$320.60
Total Extra Monthly Expenses	$472.90	$807.10	$820.60

*Travel Costs - While my planning estimate was primarily airfare, I have included tolls, parking, train/subway tickets, and airfare.

What have I done to keep my expenses down?

I rented a furnished room (including utilities) to minimize my fixed expenses.
I am eating out a lot less than I expected. Since I didn't have a kitchen I anticipated eating out regularly. However, I have learned how to survive on a microwave and my food expenses have been kept in check.
I have started brown bagging lunch 4 days a week. Back at home I would go out to eat lunch everyday while at work. Since I don't know as many people at my temporary assignment location, I find it much easier to bring my lunch several days a week.

Transportation has cost me more than I anticipated. As a result I now plan on only buying 4 flights during my assignment and either driving back home or not traveling back as often.

As happy as I am that my temporary assignment expenses are on the lower side of what I planned I am still sweating it. I am cash poor and these monthly expenses are coming straight out of my income I would be using to rebuild my cash position and make additional investments with. I just need to hang for a few more months.

Tags: budget, expenses,

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Comments (3)

Just stay with it.. I hope this improves your job duties when you get home.

Posted by garrett | October 11, 2006 2:14 PM

For awhile I thought you were getting these costs in NYC! Now that I see it's Poughkeepsie, I can see how it's possible. It's outstanding that you've been able to make due on a microwave. I tried that on my trip from the East to West coast and I had a lot of trouble with it.

Posted by Lazy Man and Money | October 12, 2006 12:07 PM

Yup the microwave has been tough for me - but frozen dinners have come a long way! My main concern is my sodium intake - its almost impossible to keep it at reasonable levels.

Posted by 2 million | October 12, 2006 12:41 PM