🦪 Monthly Living Expenses | How Much To Budget
Happy April!! The full quarter one is completed. I want to reflect on how I did overall financially between January 2022 and March 2022 and share my monthly living expenses in March and my overall net worth. As we headed to 2022 at the beginning of the year, it is crazy that we passed through the quarter.
Here is the overall breakdown of my net income for January — March 2022.
I am happy to say that our spending habit is heading on the right track. We have positive cash flows each month, which means we spend less than we make! I had a decent financial month, but I also spent more money than expected.
Let’s dive in, shall we!
💰General Updates
I got a raise this year! I have been working toward getting a raise in my current job as a manager. I got serious about it in the Summer of 2021. I was able to get another job offer and negotiated with a paid raise of $25K, a whopping 20% raise. I did it. It wasn’t easy.
Monthly Budget vs. Actual Expenses
💸Spending
Some main things to point out about my spending in March:
Dining Out: I went over budget by almost $88. I paid for dinner at a couple of Mexican restaurants and Korean restaurants dining out. At another time, my husband paid for dinner when we ordered UberEats. We treat each other on different things. We are still trying to cook more at home and want to spend less on this category.
Groceries: I love groceries shopping. Sometimes, I get a little crazy about all the sales items on Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. I love trying out new products and am always on the scout, patiently waiting on my favorite brands to be on sale. I went over $11 on Groceries. This does not include the amount my husband spends.
Business: I spent an extra $186 each month paying toward my Apple Ipad Air. I got interested in the illustration on ProCreate, and to invest in my business and my creative self this year, I splurged on getting Ipad Air!
Cleaning Services: My dream comes true this year! One of my dreams is to hire a housekeeper one day. For now, I was able to hire house cleaning services on a biweekly basis. Every Wednesday, my whole house is cleaned and smells fresh. It is an amazing feeling. When your house is clean and tidy, I can spend my energy focusing on the good energy and generating good content.
Home Improvement: I love working in the yard and gardening. I went over my budget by $126 if I allocated my spending at Home Depot as nurseries. I ended up allocating it toward Home Improvement instead. I both a Japanese Crimson Maple tree and planted a couple of flowering bushes.
Income
Extra Income
I got a bonus payout at the beginning of the day in January. In Mint, I split out the transaction of $500 per month. It gives me extra motivation when starting a new month; I already have an income of $500 in my transaction.
- Discover Cashback: $63.24
- Post-Tax Incomes: $10,364
- Post-Tax Bonus: $500
Net Worth
As of March 31, my net worth is $249,101. Up 29% compared to last month!
🏡Total Assets = $666,339
- Cash $16,779
- HSA 15,475
- Investment $104,685
- Real Estate $529,400
💳Total Liability (Debts) = -$417,238
I started the month of December 2021 with my official debt of $423,440 and ended with $417,238. Two years ago, I bought my first house; I went in-depth into a step-by-step guide to buying my first home in one month.
- Mortgage Loans $400,054
- Auto Loans $17,106
- Credit Cards $1,102
Net Worth = $249,101
Get Xin Philosophy’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Robinhood: $15,273.85 (up 15.3% compared to last month)
Coinbase: $586.09 (up 14.3% compared to last month)
If you are interested in investing in crypto, Coinbase is my favorite! You’ll get $10 in free Bitcoin when you buy or sell $100 or more in crypto. If you are interested in investing in stock, Robinhood is my husband’s favorite! You can claim your free stock when you sign up!
Credit Score
My credit score is back up again to 782!
The two primary credit cards I have is Venture Capital One and Discover.
Venture Rewards from Capital One
I have been using this card since 2015. There are unlimited rewards. You can earn unlimited 2 miles per dollar on every purchase, plus 5 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. Currently, I earned 41,312 rewards miles (=$413).
2X miles with Capital One’s Venture travel rewards credit card. You can redeem anytime with no seat restrictions and no foreign transaction fees. You can sign up here with my referral code if you are interested.
With my referral code, you can earn 60,000 bonus miles once you spend $3,000 on purchases from account opening within the first three months. That is $600 straight to your pocket!
Discover it® Cash Back
Every three months, I use my Discover Credit Card based on the cashback programs! I earned $63.24 in 5% cashback from January through March. This is the first credit card I opened when I was a college student when I needed to start to build up my credit score and only wanted a credit card with $0 annual fees. You can receive a $100 Statement Credit after you apply here!
2021 Goals Update
I paid off $18,250 (Original Amount) of my student loans in August 2021! Woohoo! My strategy for paying off early without getting overwhelmed is to tackle one loan type at a time, from the principal of the loan with the highest interest rate to the lowest!
