Wowow I’m back again 🙂 Posting yet another late blog post. And having a realization that…other people probably review/edit their blogs before they post them. I was doing that before but on these last two I really just went for it because I needed to get something out. But I don’t appreciate sloppiness like that so I’m going to now review this one before I post. (now edited ;))
I’d also like to give you a little something, for the courtesy of even looking at my blog. I’ll tell you a little more about me and something I’ve been thinking about these “finances” posts.
- I can’t believe I spend this much money: Like I really can’t. I grew up lower-middle class as a child (in the SE too, where I still live, and where it is notoriously cheap to live) to solidly middle class by the time I was done with high school and not ONCE do I think my mom spent the amount of money I spend in a month. Like period. We didn’t own our house, our cars were probably cheaper than that (yes, inflation, but still I am anchored to these prices so they impact my mental fiscal wellbeing – would love to talk more about that later), and there was never enough money to put together to buy anything more extravagant than like a few hundred bucks outside of those
- The spending really crept up on me: So let this be a lesson to you all. I’ve been reading personal finance blogs since I was 24, so I’ve been doing A LOT of stuff right in the last ~8 years (like not really going out to eat, being frugal on vacations, going down to one car, and doing home improvement work myself), but still there is this sieve that is “have a need, buy a thing” that I only just recently feel like I really conquered. I even finally cancelled my amazon account (in March 2023) because it was just too easy to buy things when I thought I “needed” something
- Both of those things said, I think there’s a chance I am over-estimating my expenses: By including every dollar that comes out of my account (like YMYL cautions us to do), I’m counting as an expense some investments (like the rental property, principal paydown on my house) and some debt payback (which I feel like maybe shouldn’t be an expense because by that logic, increasing my debt payback negatively impacts my spend each month, but positively increases my net worth…so something is off there), and all in all that’s like ~$4k a month, so not nothing.
As a reminder, my hope is that this blog will accomplish 1 of the following 3 options:
- Be a success and create a community of like-minded people who will engage with me on one of the most taboo of topics: MONEY
- Make me accountable to reducing my spending so that I can retire early regardless of this blog’s success and function as a journal to being really frugal
- Be a creative outlet through which I explore some of the things I would like to do in my retirement, including sharing my ideas and lives in this format
So here goes my monthly spending!
Notes about spending:
- This is my entire household spending (e.g. me and my husband, who is along for the FI train and just starting to really work frugality like me)
- I buy everything on a credit card (which is how I track my spending) and pay off in full every month
| Spending Category | Amount ($) | Notes |
| Rental Property Mortgage & HOA | $1375 | Townhome purchased as a personal property but now functioning as a rental to a family member (paying under-market rent at $1200 to avoid dealing with tenants and for help managing previous renovations): WOW the mortgage company REALLY underestimated my tax payback last year so my mortgage payment shot up ~$300!!! So annoying how that happens |
| Personal Property Mortgage | $2237 | PI – ~$1700 TI – ~$540 Reduced by $120 this month due to getting my home re-appraised and mortgage insurance removed! |
| Phone | $40 | US Mobile OKAY! I checked our app to see if there had been any plan updates and was able to get the same service for nearly half the price!! So worth it to look into these things 🙂 |
| Medical + Health Insurance | $129 | More vitamins plus insurance |
| Utilities (Gas, Electric, Water, Trash, Internet) | $511 | Will write about this in a future post but in Jan ’23 we had an energy audit and learned A LOT about why this bill is always so high – switch gas companies to try and get a lower rate for winter…should have done that when my scheduled time was up because all of the hassle (even though the other company paid me to switch) has just really done a number on my understanding of my finances, including I think that I got hit with the fee in this month so it is too high |
| Car Insurance | $135 | Evenly spread across 12 months but we pay in twice yearly lump sums – increased by ~$55/month because we just added our ’86 4Runner to it – worth it’s own post on whether this is the stupidest/coolest thing we own +Very good chance we will sell this thing in the Spring – it’s just a much more fun summer car so better prices by waiting we think 🙂 |
| Other bills (mostly insurance through work) | $823 | Netflix, WSJ, some other stuff I should probably look into and get rid of…PLUS I’ve now added my ~$180 of insurance here (accidental, additional life, etc.) +Included annual Chase Card fee (which ~$300 in travel credits will get paid back…and I am now convincing myself this card isn’t worth it, time to throw in the towel here!!) |
| Student Loans | $1205 | Paying off student loans, but not too quickly because it’s also been a 0% interest loan like since COVID started. Hoping for that forgiveness to get decided on soon so we can either get it or pay off. I’m trying very hard not to get below that $10k amount before they decide but pay right up to it for my husband’s loans |
| 0% interest loans | $625 | For our AC replacement and a rug for baby’s room – really this is an experiment because logically my mind knows that a 0% interest loan for something which I could buy in cash is a good idea due to the inflation we are dealing with /// at the same time I hate having out an unnecessary loan and it is living rent free in my mind which makes me want to kill it +Finally paid off that freaking rug lol |
| Gas | $42 | We have a Prius! And both WFH so are able to keep this pretty low, even lower without my incessant shopping |
| Events (out to eat, alcohol, stuff to do) | $990 | Wooo guess we really celebrated for the holidays 🙂 don’t know why I’m making a smiley face – it is so stupid! |
| Car repairs | $0 | |
| Miscellaneous | $156 | So good, so low – obvi my new mindset is affecting some areas 🙂 |
| Travel | $0 | I’m only going to have money in this category when we actually go so I can categorize spend here for each vacation |
| Baby | $690 | I went back to work so now there is a $150/week payment to my MIL to watch the baby for a few days, but we had Christmas week off so now I’m unsure why this is so high – but both Nov and Dec are long months so probably an extra week in there |
| Home Repairs | $527 | Freaking pipe burst on the water heater in the townhouse on Christmas day! We had FREAK cold weather |
| Groceries | $556 | Hosting holiday events |
| Dog Expenses | $30 | In-laws dog went home to be with his family 🙂 |
| Amazon / Household | $233 | Getting lower 🙂 |
| Hobby | $2117 | …and out of control again – for the last time I think!!! Luckily this hobby is also not totally accounted for correctly. The items purchased are easy to sell and retain their value, but since he doesn’t invest in them like an investment it’s more like a losing savings account haha, but not just a straight up expense |
| Total | $12,421 | Once again, holy shit!!!!! I feel very un-relatable publishing spending like this. Like never in my life did I think that I would be spending this much money in a month. To be fair ~50% of it is going toward debt payoff (mortgage, student loans, 0% loans), and this savings-ish hobby, but still!! |
| Minus rental | $11,046 | Since the rental is income-producing, it’s a little bit unfair to count this as an expense, at the same time, it’s money going out and YMYL says to count it all! To be fair – it could be less for many reasons (e.g. refinancing, having put down more in the first place, etc.) |
| Minus everything that is not an expense (rental, principal paydown on house, hobby, debt payback, just for my own edification) | $6,412 | If I’m honest, do I feel like this is an appropriate amount of money to spend? No. Is it close to my goal – yes. Which I think helps to clarify for me why my net worth tends to increase more than I’m expecting based on what I call my “expenses” |
So clearly we’ve got a lot of work to do. I would say the top categories I can save money in:
- Husband’s hobby (this month ~$2100); though again this technically isn’t a full money sieve
- Still a lot of juice in events, groceries, dog expenses, utilities and all the other little shit categories (Amazon, Misc., Events) that can be gotten rid of (currently $1400)
- Get rid of that GD credit card!!! We do not need an annual fee card
Some things I’ve already done to reduce spending:
- MVNO for the cell phones
- Remove PMI for both properties (reduced home mortgage by ~$120!)
- Replace AC, started to do a bunch of work around the house based on an energy audit we got in February 2023
- Do repairs at home ourselves when possible
- Called about insurance, but was unable to find a better deal (didn’t dig too deep here because of a recent claim…probably stupid); going to sell the 4Runner though so will reduce this spend
- Aligned with husband (after years of talking about this) on frugality in order to achieve a happier, more skill-free, less distracted, and financially independent lifestyle
- Begun BULK BUYING
Home Ec 
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