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 are my income and expenses for December 2016 and the full year. You can see all my monthly budgets here.
| Dec 2016 | Cum 2016 | |
| Income | ||
| Wages | $10,061.76 | $148,180.63 |
| Dividends | $2,051.67 | $13,391.84 |
| Other Income | $2,816.60 | $16,472.57 |
| Total Income | $14,930.03 | $178,045.04 |
| Expense | ||
| Federal Income Tax | $1,019.16 | $15,473.37 |
| Federal Tax Pmt/(Refund) | $3,609.15 | |
| FICA-SS | $418.22 | $4,755.60 |
| FICA-Medicare | $97.85 | $1,112.20 |
| Rent | $450.00 | $5,400.00 |
| Student loan repayment | $160.47 | $1,919.76 |
| Grocery | $108.35 | $852.37 |
| Gasoline | $79.24 | |
| Car Insurance | $257.65 | |
| Car Reg/Tax/Maint | $20.00 | $79.99 |
| Cell phone | $12.87 | $189.59 |
| Electric | $27.92 | $396.75 |
| Clothing/laundry | $10.81 | $76.31 |
| Donation | $13.00 | |
| Amazon sale costs | $9.01 | |
| Ebay fee | $3.50 | |
| Other Expense | $156.18 | $310.67 |
| Total Expense | $2,481.83 | $34,538.16 |
| Ex-Tax Total Expense | $946.60 | $9,587.84 |
| Surplus/(Deficit) | $12,448.21 | $143,506.88 |
| Before Tax Saving Rate | 83.38% | 80.60% |
| After Tax Saving Rate | 92.93% | 93.74% |
Income
Wages remain my primary source of income by far.
Wages remain my primary source of income by far.
Here is a chart of my dividend income by month for the past 13 months:
Total dividends for the trailing twelve months: $13,391.84, up 13% from $11,888.42 last year.
Expense
Expenses are a bit higher this month due to other expenses of $156.18. I had to pay $100 to maintain my licensure and another $56.18 to replace an old microwave that finally decided to yield its ghost after over 10 years of usage. I also had to pay $20 for annual auto registration. The other expenses are fairly typical.
Total expenses for the trailing twelve months: $9,587.84.
Dividend to expense coverage ratio = 1.40, which is sitting at an all-time high.
Savings
My after tax saving rate was 92.93% for the month of December and 93.74% for the full year of 2016. I have exceeded my 90% savings goal this year.
My after tax saving rate was 92.93% for the month of December and 93.74% for the full year of 2016. I have exceeded my 90% savings goal this year.
Thanks for reading. Happy New Year!
Wow, I am really impressed by your low grocery and cell phone bill. How does your household of two sustain on $108.35? I would love to learn how you did it... Also interested in how you managed to get your cell phone bill to $12.87 per month. Awesome savings rate!
ReplyDeleteFor grocery, I buy mostly oatmeal and dried beans in bulk and produce on sale. Cabbage is pretty cheap at as low as 33 cents per lb. I have 2 phones, one on Republic Wireless plan at $12.87 per month, the other gratis on freedompop. Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tips! I'll have to look into Republic Wireless and freedompop. How long have you been using them? I'm a little nervous switching to a new carrier that I've never heard of.
Delete2 years on RW and 1 year on FP. The RW plan is unlimited talk/text on cellular networks and could use wifi, but no data. It is very reliable. The FP plan has a 1 GB data limit (500MB baseline + 500MB after you add freedompop friends) and can use wifi, and you can get unlimited talk/text after downloading talkatone app. The caveat is that FP uses VOIP which is not very reliable, but it works fine for the most part, and it's free!
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