The Budget Breakdown aims to broaden the conversation on money and offer insights into various approaches to spending, saving, and investing.

✨ Want to share your monthly budget breakdown with us? Please fill out this form here and we will get back to you (can be posted anonymously like this one 😉).

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💰 Income

Monthly Gross Income: $10,500

Monthly Net Income: $6,200

Other Income Sources: $900/mo in extra income when we have a renter in our backyard tiny house (An ADU we rent to friends/acquaintances), but it’s not always rented out.

Dependents: 0 children, but my partner is in school and only working very part-time, so I’m the breadwinner in the household right now. When they graduate in a few months, we will be back to a household with 2 full-time incomes.

🏡 Monthly Fixed Expenses

Mortgage: We pay $1,500/mo toward our 15-year mortgage ($1,250 is the actual mortgage bill, and we pay an extra $250 toward the principal).

For additional context (since I always want to know these details when I read other Elpha budget breakdowns), we got so super lucky in the Boise real estate market and bought a minuscule little bungalow before real estate prices skyrocketed in the 2010s, which is why our mortgage might look affordable depending what you’re used to in your area. If we purchased our exact same house today, the mortgage would probably be close to double that monthly payment.

Utilities (Electricity, Water, Gas): $195

Internet: $80

Car fuel: $100 in gas costs (for our 2-car household). I work from home, and my partner rides their bike to school/work, so most of our gas costs are when we take trips out of town or run errands outside of a bikeable radius from our house.

Car Insurance: $40 on average.

Life Insurance: $30 on average.

Health Insurance: My employer pays for my health insurance, which is a high-deductible health plan, so I pay $0 in monthly premiums.

Debt: No debt except mortgage.

Subscriptions: ~$75/mo (Spotify, Hulu, Netflix, upgraded iCloud storage, a few paid Substacks, a local news subscription, club membership dues).

Cell phone: $45, but it’s only this affordable because I’ve recruited four other members of my family into my family plan so we could get a bundle deal.

🛒 Monthly Variable Expenses

Groceries: ~$900 on average, but this is for 2 people. We shop at the most affordable grocery store but we do buy some organic food and lots of fresh produce.

Eating Out (Restaurants, Bars): Usually around $300, but fancy dinners a couple of times per year bring the average up to $400 (2-person household).

Entertainment: ~$200 for concerts, outdoor recreation, and events (2-person household).

Clothing: ~$50 (just my expenses, not my spouse).

Personal Care: highlights/haircuts every couple of months plus a pedicure a couple of times per year averages out to about $75/month (this is for just me and doesn’t include partner expenses).

Travel: ~$800 in personal travel, ~$2,700 in work travel (paid by employer) over the last 12 months. It averages out to $67/mo for personal and $225/mo for work.

Other: ~$400/month average on home improvement/maintenance stuff aside from mortgage and utilities – repairing an appliance, fixing a broken gate, upgrading our patio, buying a new mattress, etc.

💸 Monthly Savings and Investments

Emergency Fund Contributions: I don’t make specific emergency fund contributions - my regular savings account is my emergency fund, but I always keep about 6 months' worth of expenses in it. Each time I build up a couple of grand in my checking/savings, I shunt it off to a high-yield savings acct.

Retirement Savings: I’m trying to save aggressively in retirement accounts because 1) I know my generation isn’t going to get much in Social Security (I live in the US) and 2) I’m not a very savvy investor with stocks/bonds, but I know how to do retirement savings :)

401k: I contribute ~$840/month

IRA: I contribute $525/month

Investments: I don’t make any monthly contributions to any investment accounts besides retirement ones, but I think I probably should!

🎁 Monthly Miscellaneous

Gifts and Donations: ~$100/mo average on charitable giving (spread out across several local causes), $50/mo average on gifts for people in my life.

Pet Care: $75/mo average

Health and Wellness: ~$80/mo for a 2-person YMCA gym membership, avg $25/mo on medical expenses

⚖️ Final Balance

Total income: $7500 (monthly avg last 12 months)

Total expenses: $6000 (monthly avg last 12 months)

Final balance: $1,500 (avg last 12 months)

💭 Money Reflections

1. How much does tracking your personal finances influence your spending, saving, and investing habits?

If anything, tracking my finances helps me let go a little bit and feel better about spending a little bit more money. I grew up without much money, so my instinct is still to hoard it for the next lean time. I’m still learning the lesson of not having too much in savings accounts because the interest on those doesn’t even keep up with inflation.

2. Is there anything you wish you would spend less money on?

I kinda wish I spent less money on restaurants since they are soooo much more expensive than eating at home. But I’ve relaxed on this a bit over the last couple of years and now feel less guilty about letting myself enjoy a night out.

3. What do you consider important to spend money on?

Health/wellness (gym, regular wellness exams, etc.) and healthy groceries.

4. Do you have any short-term or long-term financial goals?

• Short-term: put more of my liquid cash into investments and figure out the best way to do it.
• Long-term: retire early with no financial stress.

5. Are there any specific saving or investment strategies you follow?

Not really. I’m a natural “save everything, spend as little as possible” saver, but I’d call that more of an anxiety than a strategy, lol.

6. What was your relationship with money like growing up? Did you talk about it with your parents/caregivers?

Growing up, my family didn’t have much money at all. We always had enough to eat, but sometimes my mom was paying for that food via food stamps. So my relationship to it was mostly always striving to get/make/save money.

7. Did you receive any formal or informal financial education growing up? If yes, where did you learn to manage your personal finances?

Money got talked about a LOT in the context that money was very tight, so we had to be super smart about our spending, which has made me a cautious and practical spender. The informal education I got was mostly about how not to be frivolous with the small amount of personal money I possessed as a kid. As an example, if I wanted a $5 toy at the store and also a $5 sugary special treat, my mom would explain that as soon as the sugary treat was gone, it was gone forever, but I could play with the $5 toy for years and years. I still think this was a pretty good lesson.

I got my first checking account at around 10 years old so I could start saving any money I got from relatives for birthdays/holidays and pet-sitting or babysitting jobs.

8. Do you feel well-versed in personal finance? What resources have you used to educate yourself?

Nope, not well-versed, but I would say I’m not totally clueless. I’ve used most of the resources I read online, mixed in with discussions with friends and a bit of free retirement planning consultations from my various employers.

I also absolutely love online budget/spending breakdowns from people around the internet - like this series from Elpha that you’re reading right now!

💡 Ask the community

For anyone who has overcome money anxiety: how did you do it? Are there any mantras or ways of thinking that can help me relax so I can see money more as a neutral tool and less as something to hoard for the next lean time?