My Cost of Living in the Austin, TX Metro Area-May 2022
It’s that time again for me to look back at my spending, saving and investing from the previous month. I like to use Personal Capital which offers a great dashboard for keeping track of all of your accounts in one place. If you’d like to check out my last monthly budget blog post you can find that here. Now, let’s get started!
Investing $2126 USD
This month I didn’t receive any commission payments so I’m back to my normal investing amount. My job has a 4% 401k match and I am also investing in my Vanguard brokerage account and a new Wealthfront brokerage account.
About $626 is invested into my Roth 401k, $1,000 into my Vanguard brokerage which completely goes into the Total Stock Market ETF, and $500 into Wealthfront that is in an aggressive investing fund mostly made up of stocks.
Savings $0
No extra savings this week. Our housing fund is at the amount that we want it to be at and I already have a healthy emergency fund.
Rent & Utilities $1115
My husband and I split the rent and utilities of a 3 bedroom/2 bathroom apartment in the Austin Texas metro area. This total includes my portion of our rent/sewage/water as well as our electricity bill and apartment insurance. This month’s electric bill was a bit lower because I’ve been actively turning off lights when we aren’t in a room and keeping our thermostat at 74 or 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
Groceries $880
So…my food bill continues to be as high as last month. I’m paying for food for three adults and one hungry toddler. I’ve decided to start splitting my food bill with my husband and might possibly stop ordering food from Hello Fresh. I’ve ordered enough Hello Fresh meals that I’ve been able to save the receipt cards and have enough that I’d be able to buy the ingredients to recreate the meals on my own. Let’s see if I can get this down to closer to $500 dollars next month. I know that there is inflation that has affected food prices but I haven’t been trying to save money on groceries so I know that I can save some extra money in this area if I just try.
Charitable Giving $36
This month I made a monthly donation to a child I’m sponsoring in Kenya. This is something that I’ve been doing for over two years and I write the young girls letters throughout the years.
Subscriptions $67.23
This covers my two YouTube creator subscriptions, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Netflix.
General Merchandise $1108
This spending was much higher than last month. However, some of it was reimbursed by my husband. Our Amazon Prime account is connected to one of my credit cards and we purchased clothes for my mother in law that is helping to take care of our daughter right now. I also bought some swimsuits for my daughter and I along with other household appliances and goods. But, the largest purchase by far was my new Google Pixel 6 phone that replaced my 2 year old phone that was dying and unable to be updated. It was an LG phone which is no longer supported since LG eliminated it’s mobile phone departments. I decided to research for a few months and buy a phone that would support my personal and work life for another 2-3 years.
Restaurants $182
Last month we had more meals out and to go than usual. Maybe we have been fed up with cooking the majority of our meals at home. Some of it came from when we visited a friend in Dallas and didn’t cook.
Debt Payoff $300
This goes toward my low-interest personal loan. I have increased the monthly payment by $60 to chop down this debt much quicker. I’m still considering paying it off completely by the end of this year with my commission money.
Personal/Self Care $110
This is one of my favorite categories because it allows me to take care of myself. I got a $70 massage for one hour with my favorite masseuse in town. She is wonderful and it’s nice to know who is giving me a massage each time.
Dependent $92
This could technically be rolled into general merchandise. It includes the cost of my daughter’s monthly diaper subscription with Coterie Baby. The diapers are amazingly soft, absorbent and gentle on her skin.
Insurance $66
This category isn’t very exciting. It covers our apartment insurance and my term life insurance.
In conclusion…
In the entire month of April, I invested and spent a grand total of….$6082.23 USD. This month was not out of the ordinary because we didn’t make any large purchases (if you don’t count my phone) and our grocery bill was high…again. As long I invest at least $2,000 per month I feel that I’m still working towards my goal of early retirement by 45.
Do you track your spending? If so, tell me how you do so and I’d be happy to hear from you!
Are you new to paying off debt and investing towards retirement? If so, I’d recommend checking out my free Early Retirement Resources Toolkit.
