Welcome to my monthly budget! Here’s what I spent in March as a middle aged woman living in Athens, Georgia:
- $750 for housing. I live in my friends’ basement apartment which I lovingly call the Lair. This covers rent, utilities and internet.
- $260 for healthcare. This is anything connected to my doctor, dentist, therapist, or medications.
- $79 for transportation – just gas, parking, and a car tag renewal this month
- $222 on my cat, Agent Cooper.
- My groceries came to $177. I had a potluck for my birthday so this was a month of party snacks. Here’s the breakdown:
- Kroger: lemons, asparagus, pear, butter, tofu, pretzel chips, vegan chocolate chips
- Aldi: juice shots for J, bagels, cream cheese, blueberries, cucumber
- Kroger: ginger ale, frozen pizza, onion, carrots, pickles, salsa, quinoa, almond milk, chicken breasts
- Trader Joe’s: dolmas, tin of eggplant and tomatoes, spring rolls, sweet chili sauce, ginger tumeric tea, mochi
- Aldi: bananas, cucumber, 12 eggs, humus, artichoke dip, pita chips, almond milk, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, 2 cans of black beans, 2 cans of chickpeas, 1 can of northern beans, can of tomato paste, cooking oil, sugar, spaghetti, jar of marinara sauce, tin of smoked oysters, flour tortillas, rice cakes, tikka masala pack, frozen momos
- Kroger: corned beef and cabbage (not pictured, but definitely eaten)
- $137 for eating/drinking out. I went out eight times to coffee, drinks, or lunch with friends. Always money well spent.
- $63 for cloud storage and Adobe software.
- $93 on shopping. I picked up some fun second hand stuff and went to my favorite annual event in town, Fluke, where I bought a bunch of cool zines. I wish I could’ve bought more.
- $77 on entertainment. I saw three movies (Paddington in Peru, The Monkey, Mickey 17) and bought a ticket to a show in May.
- $403 on travel. All but $30 of this is for future adventures, but I did go on some awesome day trips to Greenville and Macon.
- $0 for my phone this month because I pay that bill once a year.
- I currently do not have any paid subscriptions and I no longer have student loans.
- I’m thankful for all the fun things I get to enjoy for free. Hiking trails, gardens, movie screenings at my favorite local bar, books/audiobooks/movies from my public library, and catching my boyfriend’s bands play.
My total expenses in March came to -$2,261. I made +$3,770. That’s a three paycheck month at work and a little credit card cash back. Since I spent more than I earned in February, I doubled up on savings contributions in March. I had $1,509 after my expenses this time so I put:
- $200 into my Roth IRA*
- $100 into my high yield savings account
- and lobbed the remaining $1,209 at my credit card.
*A couple thoughts on investing (from someone who’s only been investing for one year): At the time of writing (early April), the US stock market has plummeted and I don’t expect things to improve any time soon. In spite of this, I’m choosing to stay the course and continue investing $100 a month. For me, that’s a comfortable amount and a good habit. If the market doesn’t bounce back in a couple decades, probably something revolutionary has occurred, in which case, my personal finance focus will have shifted dramatically. The second issue is how to participate in investing if you think many of the companies held in index funds fucking suck. Here’s where I’m at there: I’m not as ethical a consumer as I could be, and while I acknowledge issues with with the economic system we live under, I’m trying to do my best under that system. Investing is historically the best longterm savings tool available to normal people. Again, totally get if you just want to fully avoid investing. Only time will tell if it’ll work out!