February 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 January 2021 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 $5,207 USD
This month I invested $5,207 into my Vanguard Roth IRA and Vanguard brokerage account. $1,000 is automatically deducted into my brokerage account, i invested $2,207 into my Roth IRA, and an extra $2,000 into my Vanguard brokerage.
Both my Roth IRA and Vanguard brokerage go to buy total stock market ETFs and total bond market ETF’s. Right now it’s weighed heavily into stocks that tend to have higher growth because I am investing with the intent to not need to use the interest for another 15-20 years in the future.
Next month I don’t plan to invest as heavily to free some money up to go towards an upcoming large expense, and to also save some money in a house fund with the plans of purchasing a home with my husband in the next five years.
Rent & Utilities $1483.42
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. We plan on moving out of California in the next two years which will drastically reduce our housing costs but for now, this is what it is.
Groceries $302
This month I went $2 above my goal of only spending $300 on groceries. But that’s okay! I have been buying much more produce for healthy snacks and have started to buy some organic produce as well. We are still shopping at a great, low-cost grocery store called Smart and Final which has helped us save around $100 a month compared to a grocery store that we used to shop at before we moved to our new apartment.
Charitable Giving $36
This month I donated $36 per month through an organization called ‘Save The Children’. That money goes to the sponsorship of a young girl in Kenya. It helps to pay for her school fees as well as providing clean water for her village.
Subscriptions $36.22
This category includes my Amazon prime membership, Netflix subscription, and monthly payments to two YouTube creators that I love.
General Merchandise $279.09
Once again, Amazon is the main culprit here. This total came from buying items that included: shampoo, conditioner, hair styling products, tea, vitamins, a bra, and a lot of natural cleaning products. I didn’t want to continue using the cleaning products that we had due to the chemical smells being too harsh.
Restaurants $72
For Valentine’s Day, my husband and I wanted to order take-out and eat it outside for a cute picnic. However, the weather ended up being cold and wet. So…we ended up taking out picnic inside. We also splurged on some pizza last weekend which ended up providing meals with us for three days.
Debt Payoff $300
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.
Taxes $110
We filed our taxes early and since we both have a side hustle that requires a 1099, we couldn’t simply fill out the free and simple tax form. We use TurboTax, the ‘self employed’ version to be able to fill out our taxes and we have used it for multiple years.
Personal Care Items $32.39
I decided to start guided meditation at night, and sometimes in the afternoon. I began using free meditations and then came across a Black-owned, daily self-care app called ‘Shine’ that has a wonderful library of meditations and other great features. I got a promotional price and this lasts me for 1-year. So far I am loving the app and have created a new habit of meditating every night before bed which has helped me improve my quality of sleep.
In conclusion…
February was another good month. In total, my investing, saving, and spending this month came to a grand total of….$7858.12 USD.
Do you track your spending? If so, tell me how you do so and I’d be happy to hear from you!
