Disclaimer: some links may be affiliate links. They help offset the cost of keeping this blog running!
Before we get to the juicy details of last month’s expenditures and adventures, I want to take a second to ask for a few things. Next week is Fiery Millennials’ 3rd blogiversary! For the blogiversary post, I would like to do an AMA, or Ask Me Anything. Please, submit a question in the comments below or shoot me an email at gwen [at] fierymillennials dot com. If you’ve had a burning question to ask me lately, now is the time!
Secondly, I’d like to ask for feedback. This I would prefer to get in an email or private message via some social media account. What am I doing well? What posts/subjects do you like the best? What doesn’t tickle your fancy? What irritates you about me/this blog? I want to make this the best blog possible and I don’t know what is going well unless you, my wonderful readers, tell me what you’re thinking!
Now that we’ve got all that stuff out of the way.….….. on to our regularly scheduled post 🙂
Why do I do a monthly status report?
I find it best to do a monthly status report for a few reasons.
- It helps me evaluate how I did the previous month. Did I hit a target reduction in spending or did I go way over budget for a particular category? Did I earn more? What was my overall savings rate?
- It helps keep me accountable. How can I make an extra purchase knowing I’ll have to explain myself to all of you? Talk about awkward when the blogger can’t walk the walk and talk the talk.
- I want to prove this crazy thing called financial independence works!
- It provides an example of real world budgeting and expenses. Some of the people I talk to haven’t ever seen a proper budget or seen one put into action, and part of the purpose of this blog is to lead by example!
I use Mint to help me track my spending and keep an eye on my accounts. I also use a really awesome and super in-depth spreadsheet. So many formulas….. Some people use Personal Capital and others use You Need a Budget (YNAB). Whatever tool (or combination thereof) works best for you and your needs is the best one for you, since everyone and their budgets are different.
Spending
Wow. February is gone and good riddance! It was not my favorite month in recent memory. A lot of stressful things got dumped on my plate at once and it’s really quite a miracle I haven’t pulled my hair out. A small sampling of things going on:
-100 hours of work in 2 weeks as VERY IMPORTANT MEETINGS were happening
‑Finding a tenant to take over my unit, kicking out the newest tenant, and prepping that unit to rent out again
‑The soffit and gutter fell off one side of the house
‑My mother was in a bad car accident and is now looking at a hospital stay of months as she fights to recover to full health
‑Managing this blog
‑Managing the podcast
‑Spinning up our Mastermind group
‑The market fluctuating between bad and not great
So yeah.….. I’m very glad to see February in my rearview mirror and I’m happy my spending wasn’t any higher in this short month.
Check out below for my total spending in February.
| Mortgage | Not including principal, which is accounted elsewhere on my spreadsheet. A bit of good news, my payment will go down next month! |
| Utilities | Super cold + leaky old house = high utility bills |
| Food | What is meal planning? |
| Phone | Actually have a credit this month thanks to awesome Project FI! A combo of referrals and credits 🙂 |
| Auto | Lots of gas to see my long-distance boyfriend 😍 |
| Internet | The new normal internet bill. |
| Insurance | Health insurance is paid directly from my paycheck. |
| Pet | The normal litter and food costs. |
| Support | Monthly support for my sister. |
| Blog | Extra high this month thanks to a years’ worth of hosting fees. |
| Entertainment | MLB.tv subscription & one Black Panther ticket. SO GOOD. |
| Fees | 401(k) fees |
| Misc | A book, a board game, and some other random stuff |
| Gifts | Flowers for my Mom and a gift for my man 🙂 |
| House | House inspection fee. Best money I’ve ever spent! |
Sigh. Expenses were back up this month. Utilities really cramped my style with a high water bill and very high house utility bill. Keeping a big ol house with very little insulation (if any at all) gets pricey quick when temps drop below freezing and/or zero for days on end. I also had higher side hustle costs and didn’t watch food as closely as I could have. Long, stressful work days are the worst. Expenses clocked in at $4,741 for February. I’m just glad they weren’t worse!
Income
Paychecks: $6,462.00
Rental income: $600
Affiliate income: $15
Federal refund: $1,471
Total: $8,479.69
I am soaking up these last few highly compensated months. This month is even better than normal thanks to the return of my money from Uncle Sam and my first real affiliate income! This is the start of something great 🙂
Savings
401k: $1,033
HSA: $0
Roth: $0
Cash: $2,704
Total savings: $3,707
Despite higher expenses, I still managed to put away a hefty amount of cash this month. My savings rate for February came in at a respectable 45% which makes me happy. I thought it would be lower than that for sure.
Net Worth
If I were going to keep on my current trajectory, my FI date according to the Lab over on Mad Fientist’s site would be 5 years and 2 months away, which is April 2023! However, since I am quitting my W2 job in March, I will no longer be using this as any sort of useful benchmark. I plan to continue inputting my numbers until then, though.
My total net worth ended the month at $208,888, a loss of 1.00% and $3k. Given how February started in the markets, I think a loss of only 1% is pretty darn good. Plus, I picked up some more shares in my 401(k) than I otherwise would have so that’s good. I don’t plan on touching that money for a long time so grow money, grow!
Thanks for reading! What did your month look like? Did you stick to your budget?
Ugh, 100 hours in 2 weeks sounds miserable. But you’re so close to freedom!
Can I ask why you pay the utilities on the house rather than the renters?
P.S. I was amazed that despite my flat net worth (thanks to the markets), Mad Fientist’s spreadsheet said my FI date was getting closer?! I guess his model has more to do with saving and spending than net worth.
It was super miserable. I am incredibly grateful I didn’t have to put those kind of hours in on the regular. (no idea about MF’s spreadsheet, although I was interested to see it didn’t go backwards for me)
Where do you find such cheap health insurance? What’s this ” cold” that you keep referring to?Much love from warm and sunny California
Not so cold lately! It’s been in the 40s!! Heatwave!
Well done. A 1% drop isn’t bad, we took a bigger hit than that!! Again, just trucking along, making things happen and ignoring it.
Sorry to hear about all your troubles, and I hope your mom is alright! That is not fun, and now you have to deal with Satan (health insurance companies).
All in all, it looks like a decent month, just keep trucking… 45% is nothing to be ashamed of!
I think it would’ve been worse had I not been stockpiling so much in cash. I was a bit surprised to see it only drop 1% too.
Crappy months are never fun so I’m glad that February has moved on and for the most part you cane out unscathed. March will be better and April will be even better ! Woot woot! I’m excited!!
A bit battered and bruised but still standing!
I’m so sorry about your mom! I hope she gets to feeling better and can stay in good spirits.
One quick suggestion! We could send over AMA questions/kudos to you through something like a Google form, so you’d have it all in one place, instead of in email?
She’s in a hospital close to home now and has been blowing past her milestones for healing. Maybe she’s where I get all my tenacity from.……
As for a form, here ya go! https://goo.gl/forms/SAaCh2PkBnCC5YP72
You’re such an inspiration given your age. All the best as you transition from W2 to entrepreneurship and a healthy, closer relationship to the ones you love.
All the best,
Nevada
Thank you Nevada <3
Hey, I hope your mom recovers quickly! So sorry!
Dying to know more re: tenants- whom did you evict, and why? Who are the lucky replacements?
Life happens 🙁 I will have a post on RE update soon!
Very sorry to hear about your Mom. Best wishes for her swift recovery
Thanks Accidental FIRE. She’s a tough cookie and has been kicking butt at PT/OT.
Sorry to hear about your mom’s accident, Gwen. I hope she’s on the mend real soon.
As for blog feedback, well, I kind of look to yours as one of the best out there, so I can’t really offer anything I’d change. Keep writing from the heart and your voice will do the rest.
Let’s chat about starting up a home inspection outfit after your move up here. I have a few ideas on that — having done my inspections on the last two rentals. Best, and hang in there!!!
Yes! 20 days and then I’ll be done down here and on the move up!
Happy Blogiversary!!! My burning question would be:
What is one thing people can do right now to bring them closer to financial independence?
Added to the list. Thanks for the question!
I really, really wish you would make the FIRE Drill binge list chronological, not topic-based. It’s very frustrating and hard to follow.
I’ll pass it along. Thanks for the feedback!
Sorry, that sounded harsh! I love the podcast, it’s just hard to find which episodes i have and haven’t listened to.
I used to work in design- people are so used to either alphabetical or chronological indices that it’s really hard to improve on either one and hard for people to adapt. What you find fits in one category others may find useful elsewhere. People may look at one category and think that it doesn’t apply to them and skim over it and miss something salient.
Anyhow, enjoying the episodes very much!