My Cost of Living in the Austin, TX Metro Area-August 2022
It’s that time again for me to look back at my spending, saving and investing from the previous month. This month I spent more money than usual because I had to buy home appliances and spend extra money in preparation for purchasing a home. So, keep in mind that this month isn’t a ‘normal’ 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 $1826 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 $200 into Wealthfront that is in an aggressive investing fund mostly made up of stocks.
Savings $200
Now that I got my emergency savings account up to $16,000, I’m saving $200 a month automatically into the account. I feel that the amount I have now makes me feel safe enough to comfortably cover 4 months of monthly costs. I’ll slowly let it continue to build up.
Rent & Utilities $1155
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. Our electric bill tends to be around $115-$120 each month. I’m curious to see how this will change after we move into our home.
Groceries $485.28
I’m so proud that this amount is nearly 50% less than the previous month! I’ve tried hard to eat what I already have in my fridge and rely heavily on cooking Hello Fresh meals and eating that during the work week. Outside of that, I grocery shop at H-E-B which is a Texas grocery store that I absolutely LOVE.
Charitable Giving $135
This month I made a monthly donation and a quarterly donation to a child I’m sponsoring in Kenya.
Subscriptions $79
This covers my three YouTube creator subscriptions, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Netflix. It’s worth having access to TV shows for my entire family. I also went to see a movie theater at 2 o’clock in the afternoon which only costs about $6.
General Merchandise $5477
This spending was wayyyy over my usual amount because I used savings to buy a refrigerator and a washer/dryer set for my new home. Thankfully, I saved about 25% on the appliances due to a Labor Day sale. I also bought insurance as well.
Restaurants $190
This tends to stay about the same for me each month. I tend to buy some BBQ and other local food from around my area each month. Although I like to cook the majority of my meals, my husband and I like to be able to eat out at least once every weekend.
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 $120
This is from getting a massage. It’s extremely important to my self care routine and I go back to the same masseuse that knows me by name.
Dependent $284
This could technically be rolled into general merchandise. It includes the cost of my daughter’s monthly diaper subscription with Coterie Baby. I always buy an extra box of diapers to have enough at home and at her daycare. I also bought her two pairs of closed toe shoes so that she can have three pairs of shoes to rotate so they don’t get as dirty.
Healthcare/Medical $224
I use Betterhelp for a weekly therapy session. My employer paid for my first 20 sessions, and now gives me a discount for my weekly sessions. I have a great therapist but think that I may be at the point where I don’t need them as often or may end it.
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 August, I invested and spent a grand total of….$10,541.28 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 around $2,000 per month I feel that I’m still working towards my goal of early retirement around 45-47 years old depending on my returns. 🙂
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.
