My Cost of Living in the Austin, TX Metro Area-November 2021
I know I haven’t written in awhile. My family and I have been settling into our new town, we’ve been working with a realtor to search for new construction homes, and have been getting onboarded into new jobs. But now, things have settled down a bit and I’m back!
I’ve been in my new town in the Austin, TX metro area long enough that my expenses are set. I’m curious to see the major differences compared to how my spending was in the San Francisco Bay Area. Let’s take a look.
Investing $2026 USD
Now that most of the costs of purchasing items for our daughter have gone down, I’ve gotten back to investing. My new 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 $400 into Wealthfront that is in an aggressive investing fund mostly made up of stocks.1
Savings $0
I no longer add to my short term savings account because I’ve reached my 3-months of expenses. I’ve also completed my savings for my portion of house savings.
Rent & Utilities $1139
My husband and I now split the rent and utilities of a 3 bedroom/2 bathroom apartment in the Austin Texas metro area. Our rent and electricity has gone down significantly even though our new place has 500 more square feet than our previous apartment.
Groceries $44
Sadly, I no longer have access to Impossible Foods. But after moving back to Texas I’m able to shop at my favorite grocery store in the world, H-E-B! The grocery store has their own line of foods, amazing fresh tortillas and guacamole, and has special discounts every week. My grocery bill was so low because of the amount of food left over from the previous month.
Charitable Giving $36
I donate $36 per month sponsor a young girl 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 $736
This spending went up tremendously. It mostly consists of buying n ew kitchen items, cleaning supplies, new car mats for one of our cars, and some new baby items.
Restaurants $162
This month I had family visiting so I bought pizza one weekend and burgers the next weekend for four people. We mostly had been cooking our own meals so they were a welcome treat.
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.
Dependent $179
This cost is for diapers alone. I order a specific brand of diapers that is scent free, has no additives, and is much softer than other common diapers and therefore gentler on her skin. They are pricy but she also doesn’t have any irritation or rashes since I’ve switched.
Healthcare $1500
I’ve had some hip and back aches for a few years. But after I gave birth in May 2021, I noticed that they got even worse. Throughout my pregnancymy back and hips hurt and my daughter was a big baby so it just got worse. I decided to finally go to a chiropractor and I paid up front for 4 months of treatment so save about 30% on the cost of care since it wasn’t covered by my insurance.
Home Buying Costs $3,000
We found a community and house plan that we liked the will be a new construction home. In order to reserve the plot of land and the house for us, we had to put down $3,000 as Earnest Money and that came fully from my account.
Personal Care $46
I ran out of my favorite body wash and deodorant and bought three body washes with three matching deodorants that are all the same scent.
In conclusion…
In the entire month of November, I invested and spent a grand total of….$9134.96USD. I’m happy with this number because a third of the money went towards purchasing our own house.
Do you track your spending? If so, tell me how you do so and I’d be happy to hear from you!
