My Cost of Living in the Austin, TX Metro Area-January 2023
It’s 2023…so this is going to be the first cost of living post for the year. At this point, I don’t look as closely at my budget the way I did a few years ago. 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 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 $2000
I decided to bump up my emergency savings account to $20,000 for more peace of mind. I also restarted the automatic savings of $200 a month. I’ll slowly let my savings build up in the background without saving a lump sum amount again for the foreseeable future.
Mortgage & Utilities $2392
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 an extra $500 per month towards the principal loan of the mortgage. In our house, we have a separate bill for water/trash, electricity and natural gas. Our utility bills have gone up a bit since we moved into our house which is a little less than double the square footage of our old apartment.
Groceries $197
This amount is much lower than what I usually spend on groceries. It’s because I was traveling for work for about 4 days, and the majority of the meals that I cook last for 2-3 servings. I doubt my grocery bill will stay this low but we will see.
Food Subscriptions $337
This is a new category for me. I came across a craft beer subscription that I wanted to try and a monthly Japanese snack box subscription from a YouTuber that I love to watch. The first one is paid monthly, and the second one is paid out every 6 months. I might not keep both subscriptions for very long (especially the latter).
Dependent $906.86
I have a toddler that I’m raising with my husband and this is my half of her child care costs and the costs of two large packs of diapers.
Charitable Giving $135
This month I made a monthly donation and a quarterly donation to a child I’m sponsoring in Kenya.
Online Subscriptions + Entertainment $453
My annual subscription for BlueHost and WordPress (which allows me to host this blog Myfidiary.com) was due so this cost is much higher than usual. This also includes my YouTube Premium, Amazon Prime, and Netflix subscriptions. I’ll be switching to the annual Amazon plan next month to save a bit of money. About half of this cost is a ticket to see an upcoming Austin Broadway show in the Spring. I went to my first Broadway show in New York City last month and was ecstatic to find out that Austin has their own ‘Broadway.
General Merchandise $1283
This spending is kind of on average what I tend to spend on genera merchandise which is a bucket that I use for non essential spending. Here I bought some new long sleeved t-shirts and a bigger coat for my daughter, home essentials, a pair of pants, new sweaters to handle the colder weather, two pair of winter shoes and some high quality toiletries from Malin + Goetz. I did get $25 back from American Express when I purchased the toiletries. Within here are also some new books that I purchased for my daughter and myself. One of the books that I got were Financial Feminist by one of my favorite finance content creators, Tori Dunlap from HerFirst100k.com
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 $30
This is how much I paid to my chiropractor, which I get $100 reimbursed by my company which is a nice benefit.
Gasoline $37.12
I filled the gas tank on our Toyota Camry before driving to the airport for a business trip. I thought that this cost was pretty reasonable.
Insurance $97.46
This category isn’t very exciting. It covers our my life insurance premium.
In conclusion…
In the entire month of January, I invested and spent a grand total of….$10,039.98 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.
