Income/Expenses For March 2013

Each month I will post my income/expenses for the previous month. I track every dollar in and out, so what you see is exactly what I earned and spent (rounded to the nearest dollar).

Income from March 2013:

$3,333 – Regular Paycheck
$413 –    Dividend Income
$201 –    Online Income/Bonus

Total Income: $3,947

Expenses from March 2013:

$486 – Rent
$189 – Student Loans
$142 – Groceries
$117 – Restaurants
$60 –   Fast Food/Pizza/Takeout
$53 –   Internet
$82 –   Public Transportation
$30 –   Pharmacy
$40 –   Mobile Phone
$2 –     Fuel
$30 –   Gym
$465 – Everything Else

Total Expenses: $1,696

*The Everything Else category includes expenses I don’t have a regular budget for. This month was much higher than normal, due to gifts and travel. I spent $435 to fly home to Michigan during the last weekend of March to see my uncle/father for his 50th birthday. I also spent $21 on a CD as a present for him. I purchased 2 USA Today newspapers to have a couple physical newspapers for when I was featured in the Money section for my journey to early retirement/financial independence. That was $2. I also had to purchase a couple home goods, and spent $6 on that.

Overall, income was slightly below average for the second month in a row. That was a bit disappointing, as I have been really working hard at work to maximize every opportunity at work. Obviously, I believe in frugal living. However, at some point you can no longer cut expenses. So at that point, it makes sense to maximize the income side of the equation. I’ve been doing my best on this front and, unfortunately, it just didn’t translate as well as I would have liked for the month of March. April is looking much better in this regard. Dividend income was a huge help this month, and was above average.

Expenses were above normal, but only because of the high cost of travel. Factoring out the trip, my expenses were $1,266, which is right about what I target per month. That being said, I am extremely happy I made the trip up for the weekend. It was worth every penny, and it was wonderful to see my family for the weekend. One of the big reasons I’m walking this journey to financial independence is to spend more time with my family. So, I always try to keep perspective and remember why I’m doing this. They say life is a journey, not a destination. Well, I’m trying to enjoy my journey while also striving for a supremely wonderful destination!

Food is one expense I’m monitoring. My food budget has been steadily creeping upward. That’s not simply due to food inflation or anything, but rather my larger focus on eating healthier than I did just a couple years ago and simultaneously becoming less rigid on food costs overall. However, I do need to clamp down on this a bit. I view the $319 I spent on food this month as rather ridiculous. Please do keep in mind, however, that I don’t pay for food for just myself. I do rather try to take my girlfriend out to dinner at least once per month, sometimes twice. I almost always pay for these trips, and so those costs are reflected here. If I were single I’d spend much less on food, but would probably spend more on rent. And I do quite enjoy when we go out to eat, as I try to enjoy the journey as I pointed out above. However, again, this is something I have to clamp down on.

I managed to save 57% of my net income this month. I’m actually quite happy with this figure, seeing as how income was lower than I would have liked, and expenses were higher than normal due to travel. I’m expecting much better results as we enter the summer. I have my girlfriend’s and her son’s birthdays in April and I also plan to travel back to Michigan again in July. I’m going to do my best, however, to minimize all other expenses.

My goal is to average a 60% savings rate of my net income, monthly. So far, I’ve hit rates of:

75.7% – January
48.3% – February
57% – March

I’m now at an average of 60.3% for the year so far. Fantastic! I’ve had a couple of rough months, with below average income, a large tax bill and travel. What these budgets show, however, is that by minimizing regular, recurring expenses one has room in the budget for unforeseen expenditures, or simply experiences, people or things you want in your life.

How are your budgets doing?

Thanks for reading.

Photo Credit: RambergMediaImages

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22 Comments

  1. My budget is holding it’s own. I’m working hard to maintain my 50% savings rate. The only problem is that life keeps popping up in the way. I’ve got some semi-mandatory vacation travel coming up in May which is already eating up some of my budget. I can only roll back my optional expenses (like food) so much to soak the extra cost.

    Summer should be here soon and I will need to start spending money to go out, travel, and otherwise enjoy myself. We don’t have many useable months before winter sets in and it’s back to being a shut in.

  2. MFIJ,

    I hear you about life getting in the way. Of course, nothing wrong with that. After all, life itself is exactly what makes pursuing financial independence so worthwhile.

    It’s funny that you mention getting the most out of summer before the cold weather sets in. One thing I love about living in Florida is that you get wonderful weather most of the year, although summer itself can be a bit uncomfortable with the heat/humidity. The funny thing is, however, that due to having nice weather all the time one doesn’t feel the need to get the most out of it or really plan around the weather. This is a phenomenon I noticed when I first moved down here. When I lived in Michigan, we would plan whole weekends around the weather in the summer. Go to the zoo, or plan a barbeque…maybe go out on the lake. Whereas down here, it’s just another nice day so you take it for granted a bit. Taking the nice weather for granted is an unfortunate side effect of living here.

    Best wishes!

  3. Great job on the 60% savings rate. That should hopefully climb from here now that some of the non-recurring expenses are done with for now. My food budget has been the biggest sticking point in my budget and I’m hoping to get that lowered more throughout the rest of the year. It’s a pain because it could be so much better if I got was already at home all the time thanks to the economies of scale with cooking for two. My wife and I are both cooking for one most of the time so our combined food budget for 2 people is just embarrassing.

    Keep up the good work!

  4. It is nice to see that your dividend income covered 1/3 of your regular expenses. Is the bonus related to your job? If not, your non-employment income is already covering 50% of your expenses.

  5. Great job, finaly over 60% as an avarage i think you will beat your target for the full year.

    We managed to save 73% this month which was in line with last month but since both income (annual bonus) and expenses were higher this month we ended with savings of over 10 000 $ in one month for the first time ever! Will be harder in the second part of the year with no bonus and wife going on maternity but we will try to ge above 70% in the first half and above 60% in the second half…if we make it I will be very happy with that..
    / Oskar

  6. It looks like another good month. You run a pretty tight ship with a healthy balance between “saving like crazy” and “living a good life”

    What are you thinking of doing for reducing food expenditures?

  7. DGI,

    Thanks for stopping by.

    Yeah, the dividend income is already starting to cover a fairly significant portion of my expenses, and I’m only a few years into the journey. That tangible progress is one of the things I love about dividend growth investing. I can actually sit down and make a list of the bills that are now covered completely. A very nice feeling.

    Some of the bonus is online income from the blog, and some was from work. About $110 of that was from online income, the other $90 was from bonus programs we run at work for certain sales drives.

    I hope to increase the online income portion of that budget line over time.

    Hope all is well with your journey!

    Best wishes.

  8. Pursuit,

    I also hope the number climbs from here throughout the summer. I do still have some one-time expenses coming up. I have to fly back up to Michigan in the summer for my sister’s wedding reception. I also have a few birthday’s coming up. But, overall these expenses are relatively minor. I should end the year over 60% at this rate.

    I hear you on food. I was pretty good at keeping food expenses under $200 for quite some time while I ate like a college student. I still eat rather simply, with a lot of sandwiches, cereal and small, easy dinners. It’s my restaurant and takeout bills that hurt me. I’ve got to start lightening up on those.

    Keep up the great work on your end too! You’re killing it on your savings rate. My expenses are pretty comfortable, but not without some room to improve. However, I really wish I could dramatically increase my income. That could really change my trajectory.

    Best regards!

  9. Oskar,

    I’d love to hit over 60% for the full year. That would be my highest ever. As the dividend income increases, it will be easier to hit higher savings rates.

    Great job! You’re doing fantastic over there with that savings rate and congrats on saving so much money in one month! That’s fantastic. I could only dream to save that much money in one month. I think my highest monthly net income ever was just over $6,000, so I doubt I’ll be saving money like that anytime soon but I do hope you keep it up. That’s really inspiring.

    Best of luck for your wife. I hope the maternity leave goes well and you guys enjoy the new addition to the family.

    Take care!

  10. Jeremy,

    It was a pretty solid month. I do run a rather tight ship. Typically, the main reason my monthly savings rates fluctuate so much is because my income is so unpredictable. I’m paid on a 100% commission basis, and sales can be rather erratic. My expenses are fairly static from month to month.

    I do think I have a high quality of life right now. I want for nothing and have everything I need. I live EXTREMELY well if you compare me against most of the global citizens. There’s billions of people who would kill to have a quaint apartment in Florida with food on the table, running water and electricity. I never lose perspective of that.

    As far as food goes, I need to reduce the restaurant bills and takeout bills. As I noted in the post above, the money I spend on food doesn’t just account for what my belly ingests. I take my girlfriend out at least once a month. That’s a bit of a concession to the overall lifestyle we live, and beyond that it’s fun to go out, get out of the house and have a good meal. I do rather enjoy eating out at a nice restaurant and having some good food cooked up by someone. I’m not going to kid anyone on that. However, I still think there is some fairly significant room for improvement here. April won’t be great in this regard, as I’m taking my girlfriend out for her birthday. But, I think I’ll target a rather low food budget for May and see how I do.

    I know you feel me on the enjoyment of going out to eat. Your significant other takes some wonderful pictures of some delicious looking food! I bet it tastes even better than it looks! 🙂

    Best wishes.

  11. I feel you brother, no doubt

    Although besides being a great photographer Winnie is also an amazing cook. I definitely hit the jackpot. Seldom does a meal out compete with a meal at home in terms of flavor, healthfulness, or cost. A lot of the pictures we post are of things she makes at home. We were just talking about adding a series of blog posts about low cost awesome meals. Today we had some wild rice and vegetable chicken soup that is to die for that cost about $1/serving

    That said, we eat out a lot, definitely more now than we did when we weren’t traveling. It’s not practical to stock a kitchen on the road like it is “back home”, rental places usually have pretty crappy pots/pans/knives so cooking isn’t as fun, and eating out in Latin America is a lot less expensive than in the US. Plus its nice to be able to take some time off from doing dishes 🙂

    As an experiment, this past week we set a 50% lower $/day food goal and stuck to it pretty easily by focusing more on produce, eating more meals at home, and cutting out drinks at restaurants. We had a lot of slack to begin with though. If you enjoy cooking even just a little, replacing greasy Thai take-out with something from http://www.poorgirleatswell.com/ would probably go a long way

    Hope that helps, keep up the inspiring work

    Jeremy

  12. Wow, nice work DM! Even with the trip you had a great month! And it goes without saying that seeing your family is generally always worth the expense to do so! Good luck as spring turns into summer!

  13. DM
    Am I the only one not in on the joke? Website designed by Book of ra? with a link to the game?
    Whats the deal?

  14. Jeremy,

    Sounds like you have yourself quite a partner!! Amazing cook who enjoys traveling the world with you. You definitely hit the jackpot! 🙂

    I can only imagine how much cheaper/easier it is to eat out in Latin America. There are a lot of American expats that are in Ecuador and SE Asia that eat out on a regular basis because the food is good and it’s so cheap that the costs involved are often the same as or less than eating at home. What a life!

    Keep up the great work and good luck with your budgets too!

    Best regards.

  15. writing2reality,

    Thanks! I appreciate the support!

    Absolutely. Family is everything to me. One of the main reasons I’m on this journey is to spend more time with my family. One great thing is that my parents will likely also be retiring in about 10 years, right around the same time as me. So, we’ll be able to spend a lot of time together. I’m looking forward to that!

    Good luck to you as well! I hope 2013 continues to treat both of us wonderfully.

    Best wishes!

  16. Scott,

    Actually, no joke. That’s the designer of the template I use. I wasn’t aware it was a game.

    Maybe I’m the one not in on the joke?

    Take care!

  17. Hello DM-
    Have SO many questions for you, don’t know where to start??? One of my big opportunities to tap is MY food bill per month; seems as though it is 65-70 dollars EVERY trip??? Do you wait till you have ONE ROLL of tp left before you buy it again?? Sorry to sound ridiculous, but things like that, paper towels, shampoo/conditioner (I go through ALOT-I’m a girl!), cleaning supplies, etc….this stuff adds up, and it seems like there is always SOMETHING running out??? I can’t cut anything else; I don’t have internet, a smart phone, OR a fancy cable package. No credit card debt, but I DO have a car payment…AND, I live in MICHIGAN. Hmm, that may be my FIRST problem! 🙂 Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated…finally found someone who GETS IT-time and just BEING are greater than STUFF. Thanks!

  18. Anonymous,

    You live in Michigan? What part? I grew up in Detroit as a child, but am familiar with many cities in the lower half.

    It’s hard for me to give you specific advice as I don’t know your income or expense levels. I hear you on the household goods. I usually categorize these under my Pharmacy budget line, but they do add up. The key is to have a small household and use as little as possible.

    What adds up for me is razors. I shave my head almost every day and that gets quite expensive.

    I’m glad that you also get it. There’s a lot more to life than the constant pursuit of the unnecessary.

    Please stay in touch! It was nice talking to you and I’d be happy to try and help if you want to email me some specifics/general ideas:

    [email protected]

    Best wishes!

  19. Wow, you have a fantastic savings rate. You are really taking frugal living to the max which I fully appreciate. I agree with you that the food budget is one that can creep up if you’re not careful. My wife and I budget $200 for groceries and $100 on eating out every month. We’ve found out that this is about as low as we can go.

    Congrats again and good luck in the coming months!

  20. Jake,

    Thanks for stopping by!

    I appreciate the compliment. I do think that I’ve captured the best of both world’s in regards to frugality and quality of life. I think I’m taking frugality to the level where it’s mildly extreme, but still offers a high quality of life.

    Great job on the food budget. I used to target under $200 for all food expenses, and was quite successful for a while there. Then I moved it up to $280 per month after I found my quality of life suffering slightly for the low food budget. It’s now getting a bit out of control, so I do have renewed focus on this budget line and do intend on keeping a lid on the food expenditures.

    Thanks again for the well wishes, and I wish you luck on your goals as well!

    Best regards.

  21. Jason,

    your posts of income/expenses are a motivation for me.
    Until now, I have NEVER checked my saving rate! :-0

    Wau, I have checked now… 🙁

    Ok, the expenses includes a big pay back from the house loan.
    Because of that, the saving rate is very low.

    In the first three month of 2013 I have a saving rate from round about 4% 🙁

    At the end of april, I have to pay the LAST rate for the house loan, yeah, great!!! 🙂
    Than I can push the saving rate a little bit up!

    I try to get 60% like you, but I think with wife and son, that is not possible!
    But, EVERY post from you Jason about your income/expenses will motivate me to give more power.

    I report next month… 😉

    Best regards from Germany

    Onassis

  22. Onassis,

    It’s not all that bad to have a low savings rate if you’re busy paying off your home. I don’t think I’d count overpayments as an “expense” because you’re simply committing capital to equity in your home rather than equity in a business. I don’t count my stock purchases as “expenses”. So, you’re doing better than you think! 🙂

    I’m glad you find inspiration here. That’s the reason I make everything public. It’s to inspire others with a middle class income to do extraordinary things. If it’s possible for me, it’s possible for many, many others.

    Keep up the good work! And I look forward to seeing how your savings rate fares in the future.

    Best wishes!

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