/r/moneydiariesACTIVE is woman-centric, which I 100% love and appreciate. However, I am married, and all of our income and spending is combined. Hence, I treat everything in this diary as "our" income and "our" spending. I'm combining our retirement accounts in this list as well, and I've rounded to the nearest hundred dollars, just to make the list easier to read.
Section 1: Assets and Debts
Debt: None! We paid off our student loans this year. We use our credit cards for regular expenses so we can earn cash back and have that extra anti-fraud protection, but we pay them off every week.
Equity: None. We rent.
Retirement Accounts (401a, 457b, Roth IRA): $65,000
Brokerage Accounts (individual stock account and ETF account): $1,600
Emergency Fund: $10,300
Other Cash Savings: $13,100. We're saving up for a new car, which is most of what you see here. We also have sinking funds for travel, clothing, petsitting, veterinary care, car maintenance, medical costs, home supplies, beauty products, Christmas gifts, and any other large or irregular purchases.
Checking Account: $3,900
Section 2: Income Progression
We've both been teaching for just over a decade. Unfortunately, we didn't make much the first few years. My husband can't remember his starting salary, but as an adjunct, I started at about 10k per year. I eventually picked up some other part-time jobs, mostly in education, and was able to make 15-20k per year. I was lucky to live in a Medicaid expansion state, and I lived with my parents for free. (Obviously, this was before I was married.) My work was irregular--if they gave me three classes one semester, they'd give me one the next semester--so throughout my 20s, most of my saving was me preparing to supplement a low-income semester.
After a few years, I became disillusioned with higher education. I moved to be with my then-fiance, who had obtained a full-time position in his preferred field, and began the switch to adult education. I started part-time at a local school while also working online, 10-15 hours per week, for a large education company. At the time, we were making about 65k combined. After a year, I left the online company and became a full-time employee at the local school.
Our combined salary is currently 95k per year, though my husband is up for an important promotion, and I think that will push us to 100k in 2021. Including employer contributions to retirement, our monthly gross income is $8,720. After taxes and insurance, the total is $7,319.
As for side hustles, we're so busy with our full-time jobs that we don't have much time for extra work.
I make a few dollars completing online surveys every month, and my husband is sometimes commissioned for various art projects. We also earn cash from our cash back cards and apps. Most of this extra money is put in our brokerage accounts.
Section 3A: Retirement and Savings
Now, retirement and savings is a huge part of our budget, and that really drops what we spend on regular expenses each month. The current breakdown (again, combined) is:
- $1,116/month in to our 401As (including the employer matches)
- $800/month in to our 457Bs
- $1,000/month in to our Roth IRAs
- $0 - $350/month in to our brokerages, depending on the month's variable expenses
- ~$1,700/month in to cash savings, mostly because we're saving for a new car
This means that we have, on average, $2,600 set aside for our monthly expenses.
Section 3B: Fixed Expenses
Rent: $820. We live in a two-bedroom, pet-friendly apartment with a laundry room and a guaranteed parking spot...in a rural area. Yeah, it's cheap, but there's not much here! Also, when we were moving in together, we actively looked for programs that offered reduced rent to service workers, and we found one that applied to us. If you have any sort of public service job, definitely look for these programs!
Renter's Insurance: $13 for a middle-of-the-road policy.
Cellphones: $109. This charge KILLS ME, but we live in a rural area where only one provider works well, so they gouge you.
Internet: $68.59. See above.
Electric: This varies wildly from month to month because we have electric heat and winter is so cold here. I'd say it's about $35/month in summer, $90/month in winter. The average is around $50, so that's what I'll use in my calculations here.
Streaming Services: $58.46 for Hulu, Netflix, Disney+, ESPN+, Adobe Cloud, and YouTube Premium.
Transportation: < $50. We walk to work.
Pet Supplies: This also varies from month to month, since we get our cat's supplies in a Chewy autoshipment roughly every three months. Looking at our year-to-date calculations in our tracking software, however, I can estimate the monthly costs to $60/month. Her veterinary care and petsitting costs come out of the sinking fund as is necessary.
Patreon: $8 for some of our favorite YouTubers.
Donations: $200; this can include actual monetary donations or the cost of supplies for a gift. For example, a local church asked my husband to build something for them, and he gave it to them free of charge. We put the cost of the supplies in our donations column.
Total Fixed Expenses: ~$1,437.05
Section 3C: Variable Expenses
Some of these will obviously appear in the money diary, but I just wanted to list the general categories we have under "variable" in our budget spreadsheet:
- Pharmacy
- Food
- Fun Money
- Annual Fees (for things like car insurance and Quicken)
- Miscellaneous (postage, wedding license, etc.)
Section 4: Additional Questions
Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
It was expected that I get SOME form of education, be that college, trade school, or an apprenticeship. I earned a Master's Degree. Some money came from small inheritances from late loved ones, but with three children in college at the same time, my parents couldn't stretch it far. I earned some scholarships and grants thanks to my high grades, and the rest was funded by student loans, which we just paid off this past summer.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
I think my parents were so stressed about money for most of my childhood that they avoided talking about it as much as possible. They encouraged us to work hard and save money, and they often spoke about my grandparents living through the Great Depression, but it didn't go much further. My parents weren't educated on money in their early adulthood, either, so I'm not shocked. Now that I'm all grown up, I talk to my parents about money all the time. Part of that is me being the "responsible one" who will care for my parents' affairs if they're unable to later in life. My siblings are still willfully ignorant on the topic in general, though one of them has finally started to work on paying off their student loan debt.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
My sibling and I worked at a grocery store when we were 16. We wanted some pocket money, of course, but I also had a weird sense that working would be good for me. My parents emphasized that we'd have to quit if it impacted our grades, but we only worked 15-20 hours per week, so we were totally fine.
Did you worry about money growing up?
Never; my parents were MASTERS at hiding how much they struggled when we were young. Looking back at it, I'm a little flabbergasted by how much they managed to do with very little.
Do you worry about money now?
Sort of. My husband and I are DINKs, and we're good savers now, so I rarely worry about the short-term. But long-term catastrophes like major medical expenses and house fires will always scare me a little.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
Ahahahaha--yeah, I was about 30. It's not that I didn't TRY to be more responsible when I was in my 20s, but I rarely made enough. I'd make a dent in my student loans one semester, and then they'd cut my course load the next semester, forcing me to stop making payments and live off of savings instead. I started taking investing and finance classes both online and in person around my 30th birthday, and that initiated a better-late-than-never change for me.
Thanks to this recent financial education and my husband's conservative nature, we have a solid emergency fund, which definitely helps us feel secure. We're saving and investing a lot so we can have an even bigger safety net when we leave our current location/jobs.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
I received a thousand dollars here or there from loved ones who passed away, which immediately went toward my tuition. If I had to come up with a total, I'd say it's just under 10k. Some of our investments also pay out dividends, which we've set to automatic reinvestment for now.
Section 5: Money Diary
(WARNING: We're really boring, especially during a pandemic. Also, rest assured that we are always wearing masks at work, stores, and restaurants.)
**Friday** 8:00am - I wake up with a long-lasting headache still slamming around in my brain, so I take some ibuprofen and curl up on the couch. My husband wakes up, plays with and feeds the cat, and we head off to work.
12:30pm - After an incredibly difficult week, my half-day at work goes really well! Lots of students are succeeding, and our community appointments are quick and easy. I leave in the afternoon, prepare some lunch, and cash out our credit card cash back, which will go on to our December budget.
2:00pm - My husband finishes his day a little early, so we head out to complete some errands. First, we deposit a $175 reimbursement check from our dental insurance; this will balance out to $0 when our $175 bill arrives in a week or so. Then, we return a (very generous, but not workable) wedding gift from some friends, which nets us an eye-bulging $180 gift card. Finally, we top off our gas tank ($23.63) and pick up our groceries for the coming week, including some goodies for a two-person Thanksgiving ($71.77).
5:00pm - We order out once a week, usually on Friday nights, and my husband picks pizza ($34.00). I bake a boxed cake from the pantry, and we watch the newest episode of Great British Baking Show. Yes, I'm aware of the irony.
8:30pm - I start a Zoom call with a friend of a friend to go through specialty product recommendations. When that's finished, I reserve a few books from the library, as they've been closed to the public since March and are currently doing carryout only. Then I take a shower, settle in for a bit of reading, and am asleep shortly after midnight.
Friday Total: $129.40
**Saturday** 9:30am - Sleeping in feels AMAZING, especially since it's my first day in a week without a headache! This feels less amazing, though, when my boss tells me that several students have tested positive for COVID or may have COVID. Now I'm worried that that's what made me feel sick this past week, so I sign my husband and myself up for a free testing event on Monday. (We like to get tested monthly, anyway.) Then I settle in with a homemade caramel soy cafe au lait made with premium grounds from a small coffee shop and start playing with some spreadsheets.
12:00pm - My husband tells me he isn't crazy about the premium coffee...well, nuts. I make a note to pick up some good ol' Folgers for him this coming week before putting on my makeup. Then I reheat pizza for both of us and spend my afternoon watching YouTube and browsing Reddit. I'm especially interested in French press-related content, since I've always wanted one and that $180 gift card is burning a hole in my pocket. My husband heads out to work on some commissions.
4:00pm - Unfortunately, our town doesn't have a shoe shop, so my husband picks up a pair of boots to replace his current, damaged pair ($151.19); he'll get the damaged pair resoled the next time we travel out of town. I pull $100 from our clothing sinking fund to offset the costs. He feeds our cat and I call my family. Then I cook shakshuka for dinner, which we eat while watching the newest episode of The Mandalorian. After dinner, my husband games with his friends and I browse home listings on Zillow.
10:15pm - I force myself to turn off the computer, take a shower, and crawl in to bed for books and lo-fi music streams. I fall asleep around 1:00am.
Saturday Total: $151.19
**Sunday** 9:30am - Another great day of sleeping in! This weekend has been good to me. I feed our cat, start the laundry, and run through my skincare routine before making my cafe au lait and checking out some of the once-a-year sales that are popping up. I repurchase a few 20% off staples I'm running low on using our beauty sinking fund ($46.40). The other gifts and items I had planned to buy aren't on sale yet, so I move on to my daily financial check-up. I notice my husband's annual XBox Live payment hasn't come out of our account yet; we realize they have combined some of their products and are converting to a monthly payment cycle. With that figured out, I switch over to Zillow and look at condos I'll never be able to afford.
12:00pm - We eat the last of our leftover pizza. My husband leaves to finish more commissions, and I, slug that I am, keep browsing Zillow and watching YouTube for over an hour. Then I force myself to take a walk--it's cold, but dry and sunny. After my walk, I eat a snack and crawl in to bed with a library book.
5:00pm - For dinner, I make spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread, and we watch a few episodes of Schitts Creek. My husband leaves to help someone with an errand. I wash the dishes and watch a short documentary. When he gets back, we spend some time together, shower, then head off to separate rooms to play games (Fortnite for him, Magic: The Gathering for me).
11:00pm - I've been trying out a few different planner layouts and sizes, and I've landed on a planner I've been using at work as the best option. I purchase a similar planner for my "day to day" plans and notes ($36.92). That finished, I get ready for bed with books and therapeutic list-making. I check my alarms, then hit the hay around midnight.
Sunday Total: $83.32
**Monday** 5:45am - Our cat starts chewing a cardboard box as loudly and obnoxiously as possible. I'm afraid she'll wake up my husband, so I spend a few minutes with her before tossing the offending box in to the complex hallway, giving her a treat, and crawling back in to bed.
8:15am - The box fiasco makes me sleep in a half hour past my alarm. Still, I have time to run through my usual morning routine: play with and feed the cat, check our financials, check my email, and relax a little before work. I still haven't heard back about a surprise $200 medical bill that may have been coded wrong, and it's shooting me the evil eye from my desk. I ignore it and leave for work with my husband. Between prep work, classes, and meetings, it's an insanely busy morning.
1:30pm - I finally make it home for lunch, which is an air fried potato with some broccoli in cheese sauce on top. I eat while petting my cat and watching the newest episode of Folding Ideas. Then it's back to work; I spend the afternoon lesson planning and sending emails, taking a five minute break to get a COVID test.
6:00pm - No students come for my evening class, so I leave early. My husband and I eat leftovers while watching Schitts Creek. Afterward, I do some chores and post a few items we don't need on our local "buy nothing" Facebook group. Then I eat ice cream while browsing the internet and playing video games. By eleven, I'm showered and in bed with my book.
Monday Total: $0.00
**Tuesday** 7:45am - It's time for my usual routine--cat, coffee, financials--before I get ready for work. I'm honestly a little exhausted at this point in the semester and can't wait for a four day weekend. I complete a few online surveys for some extra pocket money, and then we're off to work. I spend the rest of the morning prepping for and teaching classes.
1:15pm - I head home and cook a quick lunch. I'm already regretting putting free stuff on the buy nothing group, since I'm getting pinged by half a dozen people asking me to have the items ready at very specific times. In the end, we agree to meet up tomorrow when I'm done working.
5:00pm - The medical office has finally called me back and they inform me that, yes, I owe them $200 after insurance for--get this--having a prescription renewed. Frustrated, I decide to just pull the money from our medical sinking fund and be done with it ($200.00). I also leave work late because one of our students never lines up her transportation correctly. My husband and I treat today as our "takeout night" and get Chinese food, since I'll be home and cooking for the rest of the week ($34.81). We enjoy our food while watching Schitts Creek. I do the dishes, then read articles on the web and watch "morning routine at work" videos for a bit.
10:00pm - Typical night-time routine: play with our cat, shower, crawl in to bed with books and music streams, asleep just after midnight.
Tuesday Total: $234.81
**Wednesday** 7:45am - I don't have to be at work as early as usual, so after caring for our cat and calling in a prescription, I take my time with my coffee. I also purchase my parents their Christmas present, since it's finally $50 off ($208.95), and I buy a small gift for my sibling's new girlfriend as well ($35.00). (All of our Christmas gifts are covered by a sinking fund.) I drop my medical bill in to the outgoing mail box and leave for my assortment of meetings just after 9:00am.
12:30pm - Our early dismissal leaves us plenty of time to run some quick errands. We pick up our library books, then a medication ($17.44), and since we're already in the grocery store, my husband asks if we can get everything on our list now so we don't have to go out for the rest of the month ($39.16). When we get home, we eat some of our leftover Chinese food. My husband leaves to work on some art for an hour, and I wait for responses from the "buy nothing group" folks. I pass the time by eating a slice of the day-old birthday cake we got from the grocery store at half-price--no regrets there. What I *do* regret is the sudden realization that I accidentally dropped my medical bill in to the rent drop box this morning. I call the property manager (who lives upstairs), and she puts it in the correct box for me.
2:45pm - Finally, it's time to mask up and hand off the buy nothing stuff! One party arrives, the other never does, so about 2 hours after their original meet-up time, I tell them I will just donate the items. In the future, I will probably tell people, "This stuff will be available at X time on X day; I will not hold things or arrange another time." I'm too old and cranky for this. Now partially unburdened, I make my husband and I half-caff cafe au laits and get ready for a night of video games, YouTube, books, and Zillow.
5:30pm - I make breakfast-for-dinner, my husband's favorite. After eating, I do a little cleaning, then engross myself in more YouTube and books until bedtime. I fall asleep around 1:00am.
Wednesday Total: $300.55
**Thursday** 9:00am - I wake up and try to let my husband sleep in, but the cat wrestles out of my arms and jumps right on his chest. I play with her and feed her. Then my husband sweeps the floor and I start the first of four loads of laundry. (We go through masks and towels like crazy right now.) We get our coffee, and then I read and he plays video games for about an hour. Around 11:00am, it's time for what is simultaneously the most disgusting and satisfying monthly chore: scrubbing the litterbox and accoutrements. Afterward, I wash up, make myself another coffee, and log on to Goldbelly's 20% off sale to purchase some more Christmas gifts with our sinking fund: gluten-free truffles for our friends down south ($55.20), and some cheesecake to share with our friends here ($82.00).
12:00pm - We have the last of our leftover Chinese food for lunch. Honestly, I'm always a little shocked by how much food that restaurant gives us for the price.
4:00pm - I buy one last Christmas gift from Sephora for my best friend ($26.75). Then it's time to start my Thanksgiving-for-two prep: macaroni and cheese, brussels sprouts in bacon, roasted carrots, and turkey-swiss sliders. (I originally wanted to cook up some turkey legs, but there were none to be found in our local store, just whole turkeys and ducks.) Most of the recipes are brand new to me, so I'm really anxious, but my husband helps a bit and it all turns out pretty good! We mask up and do a "contactless food exchange" with our friends living upstairs. We watch Run on Hulu while we eat, then call my parents and his grandparents to chat.
10:00pm - I finish the laundry, play with and feed our cat, shower up, then crawl in to bed with my water bottle and a book. Just before midnight, my COVID-19 test results arrive via text: NEGATIVE. All in all, this was the perfect start to a long weekend.
Thursday Total: $163.95
Section 5: Discretionary Spending Total: $1,063.22
Food and Drink: $179.74
Home and Health: $217.44
Clothes and Beauty: $197.59
Transportation: $23.63
Gifts: $407.90
Other: $36.92
NOTE: $754.30 came from our sinking funds.
Section 6: Reflection
Frankly, I think every money diary will look a bit "off" for the next month or so due to holiday spending. That said, some of our purchases this week were "unusual" things like new boots for my husband and an absurd bill for a 10-minute visit to the doctor's office. As for the gifts, this was spending we had saved and planned for for an entire year. Expenses like these are what prompt us to maintain sinking funds.
I figured we would spend more on our days off, and that was definitely the case. Is some of this having time to shop and browse? Definitely. I probably would've put off purchasing the planner for another month or so if I'd been busier on Sunday, for instance. That said, we're still on track to stay within our budgeted "pockey money" allowances this month, so I'm not upset about it. And our annual saving and spending trends remain relatively consistent. Living in a rural area with next to nothing to do, especially in COVID times, is helping us keep that spending low!
All in all, I think we do a pretty decent job. I really wish we had larger 457b and taxable brokerage contributions, but saving for a car with four wheel drive takes a lot of cash, even when you're buying used. Once we have said car, however, we're hoping to increase those contributions and up our travel savings.
Submitted by BaristaFIRE2030 | #Specialdealer Special Offer Online Shopping Store 2016
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