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, too 😉).

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💰 Income

Monthly Gross Income: $13,750

Monthly Net Income: $7,640

Other Income Sources: $500 (freelance writing)

🏡 Monthly Fixed Expenses

Rent: $750 (my portion, live with partner)

Utilities (Electricity, Water, Gas): $102 (average, includes cell phone bill)

Internet: $65 (covered by work stipend)

Fuel: ~$55

Car Maintenance: ~$130

Car Insurance: $31

Renter’s insurance: $21.67

Student loans: $220

Hulu subscription: $3.20

Spotify subscription: $8.04 (half of a couples membership)

Credit Card membership fees: $14.17

Allowance for crafting and gaming: $75

🛒 Monthly Variable Expenses

Groceries: $300

Eating Out (Restaurants, Bars): $283

Entertainment (Movies, Events, Hobbies): $30

Clothing: $50

Beauty: $72.40

Weekend trips and vacations: $332

Professional: $213

Irregular (gifts, once-in-a-lifetime expenses, etc): $325

💸 Monthly Savings and Investments

Emergency Fund Contributions: $400 (still figuring this out because I’m less than a month into a new job)

Retirement Savings (401(k)/Pension, IRA/Roth IRA): $2,200 (I was out of work for four months, so I’m playing catch up here to max out my contribution)

Investments (Stocks, Bonds, Mutual Funds, Real Estate): $1,000 (still figuring this out)

🎁 Monthly miscellaneous

Gifts and Donations: $334

Pet Care: $675

Health and Wellness (Gym Membership, Therapy, Medical Expenses): $300

⚖️ Final balance

Total income: $8,000

Total expenses: $3,980 (average monthly spending since Nov. 2022)

Final balance: $3,900

💭 Money Reflections

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

Deeply! Before getting laid off on Jan. 3, I had seven months’ worth of emergency savings, but had to dip into that to survive.

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

My partner and I have made a concerted effort to eat out less, so my average restaurant spending for this year is $259. Since we’re more focused on eating at home instead of cooking big one-off meals, my average grocery bill is around $200.

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

Good food, good drinks, and good times. You may forget the purse you bought last week, but you’ll never forget the first truly amazing cocktail you had.

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

Quite a few!

Short-term:

• Refilling and beefing up my emergency fund to cover 8 months’ expenses
• Saving up for half a downpayment on a house
• Saving up a cushion to replace my car, though I’m not expecting to do so for (hopefully) 5-10 years

Long-term:

• Retiring in the next 15 years with plenty saved (my FIRE number is $1.2 million)
• Being able to help my family financially if needed

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

My parents started including me in financial conversations when I was a teen. They have always been frugal, and have been my go-to resource for questions on health insurance (take advantage of your FSA!) and investing (mutual funds).

They also sent me my copy of Your Money or Your Life, which is the basis of a lot of my knowledge. My contribution to their thinking was Ramit Sethi’s I Will Teach You To Be Rich, which is a great how-to guide for younger folks, as well as Quit Like A Millionaire, which is the only personal finance book I’ve run into that has actionable advice on how to finance an early retirement.

Another thing they did well was to give me a small allowance every week. They would allow me to do layaway at home (they’d buy something and then I’d pay them back every week with my allowance) on my Beanie Babies and Pokemon cards.

💡 Ask the community

Beyond using low-cost index funds, what advice do you have for individuals starting out with taxable investment accounts?