Since 2014, I have been tracking my monthly income and expenses. You can see a breakdown of every penny I earn and spend. For perspective, this budget is for a household of two in a small US city. By documenting my journey, I aim to demonstrate the feasibility of saving a significant portion of your income and provide some ideas and inspirations for your own budget.
Below is my income and expenses for December and all of 2014. You can see all my monthly budgets here.
Below is my income and expenses for December and all of 2014. You can see all my monthly budgets here.
| Dec 2014 | Total 2014 | |
| Income | ||
| Wages | $8,337.24 | $138,248.64 |
| Dividends | $1,390.67 | $9,843.75 |
| Other Income | $70.94 | $510.28 |
| Amazon sale | $59.73 | $331.94 |
| Ebay sale | $62.51 | $381.05 |
| Total Income | $9,921.09 | $149,315.66 |
| Expense | ||
| Federal Tax | $724.91 | $14,336.09 |
| Federal Tax Pmt/(Refund) | $1,134.78 | |
| FICA-SS | $352.60 | $4,197.50 |
| FICA-Medicare | $82.46 | $981.64 |
| Rent | $450.00 | $7,261.99 |
| Student loan repayment | $157.49 | $1,919.37 |
| Grocery | $52.33 | $1,177.93 |
| Gasoline | $285.98 | |
| Car Insurance | $596.03 | |
| Car Reg/Tax | $273.97 | $585.94 |
| Cell phone | $134.55 | $806.04 |
| Electric | $40.59 | $460.23 |
| Clothing/laundry | $15.50 | $157.00 |
| Donation | $10.00 | $47.00 |
| Amazon sale costs | $11.62 | $117.93 |
| Ebay fee | $4.36 | $47.37 |
| Everything else | $409.90 | |
| Total Expense | $2,310.38 | $34,522.72 |
| Ex-Tax Total Expense | $1,150.41 | $13,872.71 |
| Surplus/(Deficit) | $7,610.71 | $114,792.94 |
| Before Tax Saving Rate | 76.71% | 76.88% |
| After Tax Saving Rate | 86.87% | 89.22% |
Income
Dividend income on the high side this month, as most of my stocks pay dividends on the Mar/Jun/Sep/Dec cycle. Here is a chart of my dividend income by month in 2014:
December's dividends were enough to cover all my after tax expenses. If I could do this consistently, I would be able to quit my day job. That will probably be another few years away.
Expense
Expenses were slightly higher than usual this month, due to higher cell phone costs and car tax, partially offset by lower grocery expenditures. I incurred one time cost to buy a moto E when switching to a lower cell phone service provider, which I wrote about previously. This move will position me to spend only $17.92/month for 2 lines from now on.
Savings
My after tax saving rate was 87.87% for the month of December and 89.22% for the full year of 2014, which is pretty good. My monthly savings rate for 2014 is shown below. My goal is to save 90% of my after-tax income, which I came close to meeting. I will give that goal another shot in 2015.
Dividend income on the high side this month, as most of my stocks pay dividends on the Mar/Jun/Sep/Dec cycle. Here is a chart of my dividend income by month in 2014:
December's dividends were enough to cover all my after tax expenses. If I could do this consistently, I would be able to quit my day job. That will probably be another few years away.
Expense
Expenses were slightly higher than usual this month, due to higher cell phone costs and car tax, partially offset by lower grocery expenditures. I incurred one time cost to buy a moto E when switching to a lower cell phone service provider, which I wrote about previously. This move will position me to spend only $17.92/month for 2 lines from now on.
Savings
My after tax saving rate was 87.87% for the month of December and 89.22% for the full year of 2014, which is pretty good. My monthly savings rate for 2014 is shown below. My goal is to save 90% of my after-tax income, which I came close to meeting. I will give that goal another shot in 2015.
How's your budget? Did you save as much as you wanted to? On track to meet your savings goals for the year?
Thanks for reading.
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