Source: I tracked every penny earned and every penny spent during 2022. My spreadsheet of choice is Google Sheets.

Tool: I made this diagram with SankeyMATIC

Background: I live in Orange County, CA and I split the rent with my partner. The two of us live in a 1-bedroom condo. I work full time technical support in a retail environment. Outside of work I buy and resell items found in my local thrift stores.

Congrats on the engagement :)

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Wow. If I ever had to describe a budget of someone who “had their house in order” then yours would be it.
Excellent savings rate once you add up the 401k and stocks. Feels like you’re on your way to FIRE if you do this for ~20 years

damn i make 40k more a year than you and amassed half of the savings you did... I need to budget better

Thanks, that’s the goal

Without changing your spending habits try to keep track of every penny spent for a couple months. Then take a look at the results and see where you can reduce your spending, stretch every dollar spent, etc.

How on earth was your electricity cost so low? Do you have solar?

No solar. We live in a 1-bedroom condo. Not as many lights or appliances as a house. And it’s a lot cheaper to heat or cool a smaller space

Love including the Credit Card and Savings Interest Income! Very detailed and disciplined.

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Do you eat your receipts? How the hell did you eat for a full year on $600 -ish?

Do you buy rice and grow your own vegetables? Do you scavenge road kill? What is your secret?

I spent ~$5,065 on groceries (unprepared food and household supplies) and ~$635 on prepared food (restaurants and fast food)

Nevermind the fact that I casually glanced right past that tid bit haha. That's quite a bit more reasonable.

Congratulations!

Just a question: Are the "savings" all just cash in a HYSA, and are the "Stocks" in a regular brokerage account? Maybe diverting part of that to a Roth IRA could be useful as an additional long-run bucket besides the 401k (once you feel like you have an adequate emergency fund in cash). Unless of course if you're saving for a down payment on a house or something. In any case, very solid budget.

Thank you. And yes, my savings are primarily in a HYSA and stocks are split between an employee stock purchase plan in E-Trade and a regular brokerage account in Schwab. We are currently saving towards a down payment on a house

I need to know what that $42.13 in "Miscellaneous" is.

Disney pins, lotto tickets, swim goggles

Still… it’s January 23rd, I’ve been keeping what I thought was a tight hold on my finances and I’ve spent $140 on meals out. Which isn’t counting 3 meals that my mom treated me to 🙈.

So that’s pretty impressive.

Excellent saving and investing this year. Well done. Also congrats on getting engaged! (I think?)

Noted Engagement Ring. Did you propose?

Thankfully she said yes haha

I did. It went well

Finally, someone who makes one of these that can budget their money well

Are some of these expenses split with your partner, or are they the full cost for the year?

This diagram displays my portion of the expenses. For example, our total WiFi cost for 2023 was ~$640 and my share was ~$320

633 on eating out. That may cover a month for me 😅

Noice. You are not a reddiot anymore.

Congratulations on engagement! Hope it went well!

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