So I think I'm doing decently with respect to my spending, but I'm wondering what other mustachians think.
Age: 23
Net Income: 3640/month
I list since July for some expenses, because I started trying to be more frugal since then
Monthly Expenses ($2000, $2082 since July):
Fixed (all of these are assessed three times a year, but I've averaged them) ($1300)
- Housing: 980 (I'm looking to move once my housing contract ends in May)
- School fees: 285
- Health Insurance: 34
Variable expenses (705, 782 since July)
- Groceries: 122, 140 since July
- Eating out: 103, but 50 since July
- Travel: 171 (I've projected how much I'll spend in December - I'm thinking I guessed a bit high)
- Bicycle: 113, but 310 since July (I got my bike in July. Almost all of these expenses are one time expenses like headlights, clothes, etc. I definitely could have tried to be more frugal with these purchases...so I expect some facepunches here. My weak excuses is that I also ride recreationally. These expenses should drop to near zero soon though, as I'm almost done with one time start up expenses)
- Leisures/Entertainment: 83, but 13 since July
- General supplies (kitchen/bathroom stuff): 27
- Gifts: 20
- Charity: 17 (this was actually just a one time donation)
- Gasoline: 22 since July (got my car in July)
- Car accessories: 7.50 since July
- Carshare: 14.81 (before July)
- Clothes: 4.50
If I can drop my bike expenses to near zero (which I should be able to starting next month), variable expenses will drop to $472, meaning $1772 in total monthly expenses
Assets:- Taxable account: $42k
- Roth IRA: $11.5k
- Mango Money account (6% interest on first $5k, but has $3/month fee): $3k
Emergency fund: $7k (what do you guys think of this amount? I think it might be a bit excessive)
Checking: $450
Liabilities:None. I used credit cards that I pay in full
Thoughts? I dump the difference of expenses and net income into Vanguard (gotta love their direct deposit service). Now that I break it down to monthly expenses, my grocery spending seems a bit high to me. I eat a lot of meat. I'm open to some meat alternatives, but I don't think I can drop meat entirely from my diet.