January 2021 Budget Breakdown
Hello everyone! If you’re new to my blog, at the beginning of each month I take a look at the previous month to see what I saved, invested, and spent. I’m in the beginning stages of my journey to reach early retirement and reach financial independence. A great way to do this is by tracking your expenses, which I do with a great platform called Personal Capital which is completely free to use. I have all of my checking accounts, credit cards, Roth IRA, and brokerage account linked to it which makes it easy to get a birds-eye view of my spending and saving habits.
If you missed my December 2020 budget breakdown you can read that by clicking here. This month my spending was a bit higher because it’s the first month of paying rent in my new apartment that I share with my partner. We were lucky to get free rent in January due to a promotion.
Investing $1,000 USD
This month I invested $1,000 into my Vanguard brokerage account which is done automatically at the end of the month. I setup recurring monthly transfers so there wouldn’t be any urge to not invest one month. I want to make my investing is easy as possible to not create any friction. I normaly want to keep my balance at 90% in the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) and about 10% goes into the Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND). But this month I put the full $1,000 into the total stock market because I am planning for the longterm and as of now want to retire from full time work in 15-20 years.
Clothing/Personal Gifts $47.99
Following the history-making event of Vice President Kamala Harris became the first female, Black and Asian-American VP, I bought a very cute sweater from My Pride Apparel that says ‘My VP Looks Like Me’ and it cheers me up every time I wear it.
Rent & Utilities $151.58
Since we got a free month of Rent for January, and my husband and I somehow can’t pay our February rent until February 1st, this total includes my half of our PG&E electricity bill as well as our sewage, trash, and water bill.
Groceries $246.02
I’m shocked by this total! It’s been awhile since my grocery bill has been so ‘low’. It usually hovers around $400 per month for both my husband and I. Two months ago we started shopping at a lower priced grocery store that is close to our new apartment. We have been shopping almost exclusively the store name brand for all of our groceries and we are starting to see the savings roll in! We’ve also been batch cooking our weekly meals on Sunday, and I tend to eat the same food for breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday.
Charitable Giving $135
I always give $36 per month to Save the Children which helps sponsor a smart, adorable girl in Kenya. This money goes towards providing her and her family with clean water, school fees, and school supplies. This month I also had my quarterly charitable giving to Childfund International which supports another young girl in Kenya to assist with school fees and clean water in her village.
Subscriptions $40.45
This category includes my Amazon prime membership, Netflix subscription, and monthly payments to two YouTube creators that I love. I’m thinking of switching over to paying my Amazon subscription annually in order to save a few extra bucks.
General Merchandise $362.76
Well…once again this is made up of mostly purchases on Amazon.com. Sprinkled with a few gifts for my mother when she comes to visit me this summer. Half of this went towards purchasing baby registry gifts for friends that recently had a baby, as well as paper towels, cables for electronics, chapstick, and a mouse for my husband’s laptop.
Restaurants $27
I got some yummy green curry and coconut water from a local Thai restaurant for a virtual lunch interview with a potential new colleague at my current company. I was able to expense this meal.
Debt Payoff $240
This goes toward my low-interest personal loan. I plan on paying this off in under two years. But for now, I’m paying slightly more than the monthly payments. I brought down the amount a bit because I expect to pay this off as a lump sum towards the end of 2022.
Web Hosting Services $209.15
I use Blue Host for my web hosting and domain name for MyFIDiary.com. I choose to pay this annually to save extra money and it was that time to pay up.
Personal Care Items $19.68
I almost ran out of my organic body wash and ordered extra just in time. I love Native, which is a natural, residue-free, and paraben-free soap that I’ve fallen in love with for the past year and a half. I bought a three-pack so that I wouldn’t be running out again anytime soon.
In conclusion…
January was a good month for me. In total, my investing, saving, and spending this month came to a grand total of….$2479.63 USD.
Do you track your spending? If so, tell me how you do so and I’d be happy to hear from you!
