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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 a combination thereof) works best for you and your needs is the best one for you, since everyone and their budgets are different.
MAY
I’m doing things a bit differently for this post. I am kindaaa behind on the status reports, so instead of doing 2 posts, I decided to put them both into one. I also found in interesting to put the two months side by side to see what changed!
Spending
May was an action packed month of fun! I went to a few baseball games, started dating a new guy, saw a few Marvel movies in theater, it was Bike to Work Day (and week for DC), I left a job, and got to go hang out with friends at Camp FI Mid-Atlantic. It’s no wonder spending was a little higher than I prefer — especially food! I also left the podcast and dropped a bunch of side hustles in an effort to simplify my life.
Housing | A steal of a deal for DC proper. |
Utilities | My half of the utilities for the apartment. |
Food | Hey fun things in DC with friends that revolve around food! |
Phone | I love Project FI! I am paying off my phone and used a bit more data than normal. |
Auto | Gas, some replacement car parts, and Metro replenishments. |
Internet | My share of the internet bill. |
Health | Some health related expenses for health stuff. |
Pet | No food or litter needed thanks to my stock up. |
Shopping | Some new clothes and payments towards the stylist consultations! |
Blog | Blog and podcasting expenses |
Entertainment | Movies and baseball games and video games, oh my! |
Misc | Whatever didn’t fit nicely into another category. |
Food was super high for four reasons: stadium food isn’t cheap, a new partner means eating out more than I do normally, Costco and Camp FI. Costco is rough on my budget. I’m not used to going there yet, so I tend to over spend in excitement of being there. I would work on that, but I don’t intend to keep going there after I move into my own place. It’s good for once a year stockups, but not every day grocery shopping for a single person. Plus I impulsively bought a tent there and while it’s amazing and something I’ve been wanting for a long time, I probably didn’t need to get it then and there.
My total spending for May came in at $4,262 which is significantly less than I spent in April, so I’m happy!
Income
Paychecks: $4,038
Other income: $7
Total: $4,045
I don’t actually know what my pre-tax income is since I no longer have access to the old job’s pay system. Save your paystubs, kids.
Savings
401k: probably not much
HSA: peanuts
Roth: $0
Cash: definitely went negative this month
Total savings: NO IDEA.
So.….…. this is messy. No clue what this actually is. Can you tell I was occupied with other things in May/June?
Net Worth
According to this, my total net worth is $193,350. The markets are super volatile, so I lost money in May between that and spending more cash. Onto June’s details!
JUNE
Spending
After the craziness of May, I tried to keep it slow in June. I kinda succeeded? My spending was lower than May. I went to the Playing with FIRE showing in DC, hung out at a local ChooseFI meetup with friends in Virginia, found some video games to play, started a new job, found a place to live, did a fun 30 mile bike ride around the area and broke up with the new partner.
(side note on that: I’ll be sharing less personal life details in regards to my relationships here on the blog in the future. It’s not fair for me to let you get attached to the idea of a new guy and then be sad when we break up. Maybe I’ll introduce a new partner after they’ve been around for a while. Maybe. It’s also rough on me to have to explain what’s going on and live it at the same time!)
Housing | A steal of a deal for DC proper. |
Utilities | My half of the utilities for the apartment. |
Food | I came in under budget! .……mostly because I bumped up the food budget to a realistic amount instead of an aspirational amount lol |
Phone | I love Project FI! I used a lot of data again this month. My commute pretty much required Google Maps if I didn’t want to spend 2 HOURS getting home every day. |
Auto | Gas, tolls, and Metro card. |
Internet | My share of the internet bill. |
Health | Some health related expenses for health stuff. |
Pet | No food or litter needed thanks to my stock up. |
Shopping | Some new clothes. Updating my wardrobe a bit at a time. Lots of compliments on my new nerdy shirt! |
Blog | Blog and podcasting expenses — last month of super high expenses here!! |
Entertainment | Mostly for different showings of Playing with FIRE lol |
Fees | Annual credit card fee. |
Hobbies | Fabric and patterns for baby quilts! |
House | Fees for my new apartment. It is NOT cheap to find a place around the DC area! |
Food was down, auto expenses were up. So life goes, ebbing and flowing like a river. My new job is going well, but I was a bit mislead in the interview. I thought I was going to be at a location that was closer to me, but I ended up at one that’s 30 miles away. On a good day, I spent less than two hours total in the car. On bad days, it was over 3! I also had to take a toll road that cost $9 a day! YIKES! So I pushed and after 3 weeks got transferred to the office that is closer. Phew! Life is better now that I’m not spending so much time and money on the commute every day.
I also spent a fair amount of time and effort to find a new place to live. My roommate is abandoning me moving in with her partner, so it was a classic case of who is really leaving who? At the end of the day though, she’s off to her new place and I’m off to mine. I’ve got mixed feelings about leaving, but in the end I think it will be good for both of us. I’ll have room to spread out and do crafty things, and she won’t have to deal with the cat trying to kill her and worrying about the thermostat all the time.
I’m a bit apprehensive about moving out. With it comes all sorts of new expenses — moving (again), utilities not being split, and shouldering the cost of rent all by myself. I just realized it’s been almost 2 years since I had to pay a company directly for utilities so that will be a mindset change for me. My rent is going to double, pretty much, and my pay is less with the new job. This is a good exercise for me in controlling my spending like a good FI blogger should, too. I need to get better at that at any rate.
My total spending for June came in at $3,508 which is again lower than May, so I’m pretty pleased. I’ve been consciously saying no to things that require money so I can save up for the expenses to come!
Income
Paychecks: $3,892.71
Other income: $440.81
Total: $4,333.52
Again, after tax income as this is all messed up from me leaving the one job, starting the new one, benefits all messed up, and PTO being taken out of my last paycheck from the old job. Finances can be messy, mkay? The other income comes from things online and maybe my 401k deposit for the new job? I think? Should probably go in the section below but it all ends up in the right place at the end anyways.
Savings
401k: probably not much
HSA: I don’t know if my new one is up yet?
Roth: $0
Cash: $1,573.85
Total savings: Something over $1,573.85
I spent less cash in June so I have money saved up for the Things to Come (moving, deposits, new stuff for the apartment, new to me car, etc etc)
Net Worth
According to this, my total net worth is $206,876. The markets are super volatile, so my net worth is now $13,000 higher from doing almost nothing. It’s interesting to see the swings in my accounts now that I have more in them. It’s a little unsettling to realize you lost more or gained more in the market than you made at your day job that day. It’s only going to get worse/better as time goes on too!
Thanks for reading! What did your month look like? Did you stick to your budget?
Yay for going above $200k again! I always struggled with how to talk about / not talk about partners on my blog. It was a weird balance between talking about how I was spending my money versus keeping that private. You just say “Some health related expenses for health stuff.” for health expenses so it seems totally doable! I feel like I would just camouflage dates as social expenses. I do appreciate Abby’s funny stories about dating though…
I think you gotta give yourself credit for those “pennies” in your retirement accounts. I bet you weren’t actually negative in May (but way better in June!)
I wouldn’t handle that commute well at all, so I totally get moving. Even if you went into DC proper 2–3 days a week it would be fewer hours total by quite a bit.
Ummmmmm you found your new place before I found mine, let’s just be clear about that! So many changes for us, but they’re exciting!
Also your nerd shirt is amazing and everyone should definitely compliment it.
Re: Twitter:
Belated dumbass comment so you can be happy about it!
“Finances are messy, mkay”. “Save your paystubs, kids”. Amen, and Can I get an alleluia? This GenX woman can totally relate. New job in April, differing waiting periods for 401k and HSA deductions and I waited until the last minute to pick my insurance, so I still don’t know what my “regular” paycheck will be. I’m very Impressed with your spreadsheet marking the percentage of necessary and discretionary expenses.
Fantastic that you attended the Playing with FIRE showing in DC and mingled with the local ChooseFI group. I’m hosting Playing with FIRE showing in Hollywood, FL (smack in the middle between Fort Lauderdale and Miami). It’s on TUGG.com for Aug 27th @ 7:30 pm at the Regal Oakwood 18 Cinema. Tickets are $11 bucks. Need 70 out of the 85 b/c 15 tickets have been reserved! Please promote if possible. There’s a post in Facebook ChooseFI South Florida and also on Instagram.
Thank you,
Nevada Smith
Nevada Smith recently posted…There’s a difference between knowing the path & walking the path — Morpheus, MATRIX
Thank you Fiery Millenials (Gwen) for posting the upcoming Playing with Fire screening in Miami. I did see you in the film quite a number of times. Good to see the participation.
All the best,
Nevada
Nevada Smith recently posted…There’s a difference between knowing the path & walking the path — Morpheus, MATRIX