July 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 June 2021 budget breakdown you can read that by clicking here. I’m a little late getting this blog out, but better late than never. 🙂
Investing $0 USD
I am sticking with my decision to not invest any money from my monthly salary. I will only invest money that is from my sales commission checks that come quarterly. I’m keeping extra cash on hand to help with the new costs of baby diapers, wipes, pediatrician appointments, and everything else that comes with having a baby.
Savings $500
I set up an automatic $500 monthly savings to go towards creating a separate family savings fund that is separate from my emergency fund. However, I feel that now I have too much cash in savings. This isn’t good because the money is essentially worthless every day due to inflation and not gaining too much interest in my high yield savings accounts because interest rates have gone down. High-interest savings accounts that used to offer 2% are now below 0.2%. It sucks, but it’s the truth.
Rent & Utilities $1484.14
My husband and I split the rent of a 2-bedroom apartment in the San Francisco East Bay Area as well as the sewage, water, and electricity bills. This month came out to be a bit higher than the previous month. That’s due to the daily temperatures being over 80 degrees Fahrenheit almost every day! Since we have a baby, we don’t want the temperature to go over 75 degrees so that she doesn’t overheat.
Groceries $428.78
Our grocery bill was a little bit lower this month than last month by almost $50. I’ve tried to buy more items that allow me to cook big batches of food that can be reheated throughout the week. I’ve also continued to order my fruit and snacks with Imperfect Foods. They help save produce and food from being wasted by selling it at a reduced price. They deliver to your door and I love the service. You can learn more about it by reading here.
Charitable Giving $135
I donate $36 per month and $99 every quarter to sponsor two young girls in Kenya. The money goes toward their school fees as well as providing clean water for their villages.
Subscriptions $26.96
I am subscribed to Netflix, Amazon Prime and pay membership fees to two YouTube creators that I love to watch.
General Merchandise $297.20
I spent much less this month than last month. Again, the majority of the items were purchased on Amazon. When you have a baby, you just don’t have the energy or time to go physically into a store if you don’t have to. I bought a hat for my baby, toilet tissue, cleaning spray, baby wipes, and diaper rash paste. There are other items on here too but I honestly don’t want to bore you.
Restaurants $166.22
Since I didn’t spend any money in this category last month, I was less strict on myself this month. I took my Mom out to lunch twice to show my appreciation since she is helping my husband and I with child care. I also bought some snacks from an online store.
Debt Payoff $240
This goes toward my low-interest personal loan. I plan on paying this off in the next two years. I might even pay it off by the end of this year. But for now, I’m paying slightly more than the monthly payments.
Dependant $177.98
I technically bought some baby stuff under the ‘general merchandise’ category but it was mixed together with other items. Here I specifically only bought diapers and had to order my daughter’s official birth certificate.
Hobbies $32.72
I started taking tennis lessons and bought a new tennis racquet, a visor, and some tennis balls. Definitely, money well spent.
In conclusion…
In the entire month of June, I saved and spent a grand total of….$3917.14 USD. I’m happy with this number and am curious to see what my grand total will look like next month.
Do you track your spending? If so, tell me how you do so and I’d be happy to hear from you!
