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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🌎 Location

Suburbs outside of Toronto, Ontario.

💰 Income

Monthly Gross Income: $11,325

Monthly Net Income: $6,985

🏡 Monthly Fixed Expenses

Rent: $730 (living with family, and I pay my parents “rent”)

Utilities (Electricity, Water, Gas): $272

Internet: $55

Transportation: $55 (public transit)

Insurance: $1,281 (whole life insurance and critical illness insurance)

Debt: $0 (I use my credit card and always pay back the full balance. If credit scores weren’t such an important thing, I would prefer to use cash as a default payment method.)

Subscriptions: $90 (family plan for Microsoft Office 365)

Cell phone: $85

🛒 Monthly Variable Expenses

Groceries: $200

Eating Out: $25 (I don’t drink alcohol)

Entertainment (Movies, Events, Hobbies): $117

Clothing: $58

Personal Care: $39 (I don’t wear makeup, and I stock up on skincare products during annual sales)

Travel: $0 (expenses incurred during work travel are reimbursable)

Home: $100

💸 Monthly Savings and Investments

Emergency Fund Contributions: $500

Retirement Savings: $730 (Canadian “equivalent” to 401k)

Investments (Stocks, Bonds, Mutual Funds, Real Estate): $605

🎁 Monthly miscellaneous

Gifts and Donations: $300

Childcare/Education: $99 (professional development–renewing Toastmasters membership, occasional one-off live workshop or digital course)

Health and Wellness: $44 (this is the monthly budget I allocate to expenses like annual eye exam, dental cleaning twice per year, and protein powder. I have a humble “home gym” with basic equipment and follow workouts from free resources, such as YouTube videos.)

⚖️ Final balance

Total income: $6,985

Total expenses: $5,385

Final balance: $1,600

💭 Money Reflections

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

Tracking everything breeds greater self-awareness, which I believe is the key to managing personal finances.

I find tracking spending by category to be integral, as this enables me to identify where I have higher awareness of value-aligned spending and where I might have blindspots (read: spend more mindlessly).

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

Living situation. Homeownership comes with many additional costs, such as unexpected repairs (last year, I had to pay five figures in one shot for replacing windows) and property tax.

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

In no particular order:

• Charity. It’s important to use my privilege to support those who are materially less fortunate than I am.
• Experiences that fulfill me. For me, these are my hobbies, personal development, a delicious meal at a restaurant I’m going to for the first time, or seeing a production of a musical that I love.
• Saving up for rainy days.

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

Short-term:

Develop a system for saving/”putting away” funds for mandatory charity (zakat) on a monthly basis. Learn more about zakat by watching this video.

Long-term:

Invest in medium-to-long-term goals, such as:

• Saving up for Hajj (annual pilgrimage, which is mandatory for all Muslims to complete once in their lifetime, if they have the means to do so). Learn more about Hajj by watching this video.

Feel less guilty about investing in myself, or treating myself every now and then.

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

The age-old advice of “Diversify your investment portfolio,” so up until now, I’ve only invested in exchange-traded funds (ETFs). I want to find alternative options for investing, as I want to be more intentional about which companies I support through my financial investments.

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

My parents did a good job of always making me feel secure, even if our family had different financial situations at different points in time. The only conversations we’ve had about money revolved around debt (always pay down the full balance on my credit card, and never a borrower nor a lender be), starting businesses with friends or family (avoid it if I can), and marriage (maintain my own financial independence).

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

Somewhat. While in university, I was put into the situation of learning the basics of budgeting, to pay for most of my tuition through what I earned from internships. In my early 20s, I read some books.

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

Somewhat–I read these books:

• The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness by Morgan Housel
• I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

Then, I started learning about Islam–and eventually took my Shahada and became Muslim–and realized how much the modern-day financial system runs on debt and interest (usury).

Recently, I read the Shari’ah standards for Islamic financial institutions (not the full text, just the most immediately relevant and actionable sections).

💡 Ask the community

How do you overcome the feelings of guilt for occasionally splurging on yourself, or spending more upfront on a more delightful experience or a longer-lasting product? For example, I used to buy the ~$30 protein powder from Costco. Nowadays, I buy another product that costs $47 that I look forward to consuming.

On a related note, I’m open to suggestions on things I could be reducing spend on.

Do you have any tips on creating your own side hustle while working a 9-5 job? I’m struggling to think of untapped market opportunities that aren’t at risk of being taken over by generative AI over the next 2-3 years and will help me increase my financial independence.

To my sisters who converted/reverted to Islam, how did this experience influence your relationship with money?

Fellow Muslim sisters, what Shari’ah-compliant investment tools do you use? Are there trustworthy financial advisors who specialize in this type of managed portfolio; if so, how do you go about finding them?