My Cost of Living in the Austin, TX Metro Area-February 2023
It’s already March, where did the time go? If you’re new to my blog, I write these posts mainly for fun and to recognize any trends over time. However, I still want to continue writing these posts for the benefit of being conscious of every dollar that I save, invest and spend.
I like to use Empower (formerly Personal Capital) which offers a great dashboard for keeping track of all of your accounts in one place. 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 $0
I’ve decided to stop contributing to my savings account after reaching $20,000 USD in my emergency savings. I also keep $1,000 in my savings account that is at the same bank as my checking account and have a separate house account for all home repairs.
Mortgage & Utilities $2087
Last month’s utility bills were a bit lower because I started turning off our thermostat on days that were mild and under 75 degrees Fahrenheit. It brought our electricity bill from around $100 to only $75. My husband and I split the mortgage and utilities of a 4 bedroom/3 bathroom house in the Austin Texas metro area. We also contribute a couple hundred extra dollars towards the principal loan of the mortgage. Sometimes it’s $200, sometimes it’s $500. In our house, we have a separate bill for water/trash, electricity and natural gas.
Groceries $514
This amount is a bit higher than last time. However, it includes not only our groceries but also our filtered water costs. My daughter also almost ran out of her organic toddler snacks and we had to replenish our supply.
Dependent $1173
I have a toddler that I’m raising with my husband and this is my half of her child care costs, the costs of two large packs of diapers, the cost of getting her some baby lotion and body wash and an extra car seat for our second car. We found ourselves inconvenienced by only being able to use one car to pick her up and drop her off. So in order to make life easier in case of an emergency, we purchases another car seat so we can safely have her in both of our cars.
Charitable Giving $36
This month I made a monthly donation and a quarterly donation to a child I’m sponsoring in Kenya.
Telephone $203
I use Mint Mobile for my cell phone service and pay for my service yearly in order to get a discount. I currently have a 4GB data plan that works wonderfully for me since I often use my home WiFi and only need data when I’m driving or on a trip far away from home. The price comes to about $16 per month. I’d highly recommend Mint Mobile to save you money on your cell phone service, you can even check it out for yourself here.
Online Subscriptions + Entertainment $818
This was much higher than usual because I purchased tickets to Beyonce’s Renaissance tour this Fall. I also purchased some wine and spirits. Other than that, it includes my YouTube Premium family plan, Amazon Prime, and Netflix subscriptions.
General Merchandise $586
This came down significantly from last month. It’s a mixture of new clothing, house supplies and random items from Amazon that we always need more of (i.e. dish detergent, trash bags, etc). I also bought some new age appropriate toys for my daughter who is almost two years old and has outgrown the majority of her baby toys.
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.
Random $73
This includes some medicine for my daughter and the cost of getting her pictures taken for a passport.
Clothing/Shoes $425
This was the purchase of a second hand luxury purse and a second hand travel purse for some upcoming travel plans that I have.
Insurance $97.46
This category isn’t very exciting. It covers our my life insurance premium.
Travel $300
This is a payment towards an upcoming trip that I have for a retreat in Central America.
In conclusion…
In the entire month of January, I invested and spent a grand total of….$8438.46 USD. There are areas where I can definitely spend less but I follow the anti-budget budget that I learned from Paula Pant from Afford Anything. As long I invest and save around $2,000 per month I feel that I’m still working towards my goal of early retirement around 45 years old depending on my returns in the stock market.
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.
