What I Spent in April 2021

MAY DAY, MAY DAY! It's time to get into my April monthly recap and overview. I had the highest income for 2021 this April. Although I am so grateful for it, I wish it were because of happier circumstances. I also had a very shoppy month as I’m on the hunt for the perfect high cut black bikini for summer. I’m excited to share with you a look behind the scenes of my April spending.

Context About My Situation

I know you're probably not new here, but in case you somehow landed on this article and you are, hey, what's up!? Go subscribe to my Youtube channel 🙃. Here’s a bit about me so you have a better understanding of my financial situation:

• Live at home with my parents, so no rent, utilities, or groceries (I buy dinner when Mom doesn’t feel like cooking.)

• Have 6 figure salary as a visual designer in tech with 8 years of experience

• No debt, parents helped pay for my undergraduate education

• Parents saved for their own retirement

Income

Let's dive a little bit deeper into my actual April numbers.

💰 Paycheck: $6,222.69

I had an average paycheck this month.

👗 Resale: $37.56

I sold a few items on Poshmark this month. I don’t add new items very actively because it’s a lot of work, but it’s fun when I get a few sales to throw into my investments!

🎨 Freelance: $0

I did $0 this month. I’m still on that one job that I'm slowly wrapping up from 2020. It’s been dragging on. I've been building a client’s Squarespace website, which is what I use to power this blog.

💵 Cash back: $0

📈 Interest: $4.57

I keep my 6 month emergency fund in Ally high yield savings account and I also have a high yield checking account at Wealthfront. Collect all the interest!!!

🤑 Dividends: $19.54

Definitely a big drop from the $200 in dividends I got last month since it was the end of Q1.

🍯 Millennial Money Honey: $151.94

THIS was a hugeee month for MMH! After a year of running this blog, I finally got my very first Google Adsense payout! You need $100 to be able to cash out and it took over a year to reach that threshold.

I also got my first $10 from Anchor. I publish the audio from my Youtube videos there and when people listen it via podcast I earn a few cents every time it gets played.

Finally a little bit came from my Etsy shop.

🌟 Other: $5,219.20

I was supposed to go to Taylor Swift’s Lovers Fest West concert last year. However that finally got cancelled and I got a refund back. 😢 I will have to console myself with Fearless (Taylor’s Version) in the meantime.

The majority of this, $5,000 came from a windfall that I received from my late grandmother, my Popo. She passed away last year at the age of 94 and gave all the grandchildren a little bit of money. I really wish I would’ve been able to see her before she passed, but unfortunately due to the travel restrictions, I wasn’t able to see her. I am so sad, but so blessed to have gotten to know her for the 29 years I did.

🤝 Affiliate: $230

I use the Dosh app to earn passive income. All you do is download the app, link your credit card and go about your merry way! They partner with places like Popeyes, Sephora, Adidas, and more stores to give you cash back. It is kind of like Rakuten in that sense BUT you don’t have to remember to click a browser extension or anything, which is why I like it better. One day you open it up and you have money you can cash out!

I promoted it on my Instagram the other day, so I received some affiliate money. Thanks to all those who used my link! If you haven’t had a chance to check it out feel free to use my link for the Dosh app and get your first $10 free! 🤑

Expenses

🏡 House: $0

⚡️ Utilities: $0

🚖 Transportation: $0

Not going anywhere!

🥦 Groceries: $0

🍽 Food: $141.35

We ate out quite a bit this month!

🍹 Drinks: $0

👩‍💻 Work: $174.02
I bought a Squarespace subscription for a client whose website I’m working on. However I will be reimbursed for the $115 I paid when I invoice them through the Bonsai app at the end of the project.

Bonsai is the best freelancing software. It puts together contracts, has templates for project proposals, and makes invoice for clients very easy to pay. Bonsai makes me look so professional (read: EXPENSIVE). I highly recommend checking it out if you're a freelancer or solo entrepreneur.

🍿 Entertainment: $32.10

I spent a little bit on my crafting hobbies this month! I put those expenses under entertainment. I made a rainbow catcher, fixed up an ornate gold mirror, and spruced up a Mid Century Modern desk that I got for free.

I am planning on flipping the desk, since I got it in decent

✈️ Travel: $0

🚙 Car: $0

🏥 Health: $36

I made the mistake of picking up scissors that were sitting on the bathroom counter and attempting to give myself face framing layers 💇‍♀️ . LOL. As a result of the predictably horrendous results, I ended up going to a hairdresser to even everything out.

I wish I would have just gone to her in the first place, because although she did what she could to fix it, the end result is much shorter than I would have liked thanks to my poor handiwork. I have only myself to blame.

🛍 Shopping: $198.66

I went with my sister to drop off her car at the shop. What was supposed to be a short wait turned into 5 hours, so we went to the mall to kill time. Of course, you know what the means…

She was going on quite the shopping spree and me being me, I couldn’t resist browsing. It’s been so long since I’ve truly shopped at a mall. Plus I’ve been on the hunt for a high cut bikini for summer and started buying up ones to try on since I couldn’t at the store.

I am going to be returning a lot of the things I bought, but in the meantime, this is the damage.

💝 Gifts: $86.45

It’s my sister’s birthday this month so we split the cordless vacuum she wanted. Hopefully she’s not reading this, but if so, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SARAH! (She knows we got it for her.)

❓Miscellaneous: $0

Savings

👵 401K: $0

I maxed all $19,500 of this out! So no more 401K contributions for 2021.

💰IRA: $0

Also maxed all $6K of this out.

🏦 Savings: $0

I basically invested everything this month and then some, so I didn’t really save.

📈 Brokerage: $11,610

I decided to put $2,000 of the money my Popo gave me into SCHD (Schwab’s Dividend ETF) since she was a huge fan of dividend stocks. Although I normally don’t invest in this fund, I decided to do it in her memory.

I bit the bullet and without much research, decided to invest $100 into cryptocurrency. I opened a Coinbase account and put $100 into BTC. I am also planning on buying a little Ethereum. This is 0.01% of my entire portfolio.

This is not financial advice, just what I’m doing. If you are in high interest debt, don’t have an emergency fund, and haven’t started investing into more traditional methods, I personally would not look at crypto as the place to start. Again, this is an extremely small FRACTION of my overall portfolio.

I also opened a brokerage account with Public. A friend recommended it to me and Graham Stephan and a lot of other financial influencers are on there as well so I wanted to see what it was all about! The verdict is still out but the UI is nice and easy to use. I will probably only put fun money in here. If you’re interested in checking it out my Public link earns you up to $50 in free stock!

💵 SEP IRA: $0

I had a chat with a CPA and applied to open a SEP IRA account with Schwab. It is still pending approval, but will hopefully be open soon so I can transfer funds here before the May 17th tax deadline.

💸 Checking: $425

Checking is my income minus the rest of my savings accounts. I don’t have a separate category for that under my savings column in my money tracking spreadsheet.

Monthly Totals

🤑 Income: $11,884.50

💸Expenses: $668.58

🏦 Savings: $11,215.91

📊 Savings Rate: 94.37%

Again this is the most income I’ve had this year thanks to my Popo and as a result of that I was able to save and invest over 5 figures into the market.

I am so, so, so grateful to her and my family for setting me up for financial success and happiness. Go watch the video up top to hear some wisdom from my grandma.

If you’re on your own journey to early retirement be sure to check out my Youtube and subscribe below!

Let’s retire early together!

p.s. I am still on the search for the perfect black bikini though so if you have any recs drop a comment below.

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Disclosure: Some links are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may earn some compensation. All opinions are 100% my own! I truly appreciate you and your support. :)

Q1 Recap and Q2 Goals: I failed at my Q1 Goals!

I failed at half of my goals for Q1, so thanks to your input and suggestions on how to improve, I made better goals for Q2! Financial and money goals have always come more easily to me. The ones I tend to fail at are more related to health and personal development. This video goes over my first quarter goals and improvements for Q2.

LINKS

• My giant a$$ water bottle

• The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel

• The Vanishing Half by Brit Brennett
  

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Disclosure: Some links are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may earn some compensation. All opinions are 100% my own! I truly appreciate you and your support. :)

What I Spent in March 2021

It's that time of month again! It's time to get into my monthly recap and overview. It's not only the end of the month of March but it's also the end of Q1 which is a big finance month—dividend payouts, lots of good stuff. I’m excited to share with you a look behind the scenes of my March spending.

March Money Wins

Let’s start off with some money wins in March. First, I had my contract extended! I'm a contractor. I've been at a company for a year now and I really, really love this job. I love my boss. I love my team that I'm on. I have a really great work-life balance and it’s a six-figure contract. I really wanted it to be extended for another year. You can be extended for up to a two-year cycle when you contract.

I had two weeks left and I wasn’t sure if I was going to be extended or not and you can't talk to your boss about it. They have to talk to the agency who talks to another agency who talks to your agency about extending you. So I couldn't ask her directly, but I was like, hey it's coming up on a year. I know you can't talk to me about extending, but let me know if I should take a 3 month vacation. *wink, wink*

She was like take PTO if you need, but don’t go anywhere! So that's how I knew I was getting extended. Then, I finally got the official confirmation a week before it was over. So that was super exciting, which brings me to my next point.

I maxed out my 401k! Since I got this extension I could finish contributing $19,500 to my 401k for 2021. I was concerned that potentially this contract would be over and I would not have a 401k at all until I found my next job, which who knows how long that would take. That’s why I front loaded it as much as possible in the case that I did not get this extension. However, I got it and was able to max it out in March. Big money wins!

Income

Let's dive a little bit deeper into my actual March numbers.

💰 Paycheck: $8,409.08

I had a high paycheck this month due to an extra paycheck with the way the calendar and pay period fell. Therefore, I had a little bit more than I usually do at my regular nine-to-five job.

👗 Resale: $25

I sold two items on Poshmark this month, but I really don't do that much “poshing” as they call it. You're supposed to actively re-share stuff, constantly post new items, and like and engage with other members. 

I don’t know how people do it as their full-time job. Frankly, I don't see how it's worth it hourly because it's so time intensive. For that amount of effort and that low of return, it's not worth my time. Plus, I don’t find it fun. 

I leave things up and periodically I'll send out offers if I see there's been a bunch of new likes on an item. I try to sell it by dropping my price to the likers and offering discounted shipping. Overally, my Poshmark sales are pretty sporadic.

🎨 Freelance: $0

I did $0 this month. I have one more job that I'm still slowly wrapping up from 2020. It has been dragging on. I've been building a company’s Squarespace website. For freelance stuff I’m only taking on jobs over $3,000.

If you know of anybody who wants me to put together their Squarespace website at that rate, I’m happy to do it! It's very time intensive to go back and forth and deal with clients when I do design work all day at my day job, so I’m only taking extra projects worth my time.

💵 Cash back: $52.28

I randomly checked my Dosh App (link for your first $5) and I had over $30 sitting in it. I like it SO much more than Rakuten, Fetch, or Ibotta because it’s so passive. No browser extensions to click or receipts to scan. All you have to do is link your credit card and shop as normal, and eventually you’ll build up cash in there. Might as well take advantage of free money! The minimum cash out is $25 and it goes directly to your Venmo.

I like that they have a lot of local restaurants that give you 5% cash back. When you order directly from the restaurant it helps them more than ordering from Postmates, Uber Eats, or that type of app. I heard it’s best to order directly and if it’s on the Dosh list, you can get some money back too. Win, win!

The Drop app is also good for this. It’s very passive and has some big name brands you can shop at and earn cash back though card linking.

📈 Interest: $4.71

I keep my 6 month emergency fund in Ally high yield savings account and I also have a high yield checking account at Wealthfront. Collect all the interest!!!

🤑 Dividends: $229.82

Big dividend payouts typically happen at the end of quarters. So dividends were extremely high this month!

🍯 Millennial Money Honey: $16.34

The majority of this was from my my Etsy shop. But also this month someone bout me a coffee on Buy Me A Coffee, which goes to support all the free content I put out. I’ve love Phils Coffee and recently tried this rose latte, which was amazing. I love floral tasting things. (Lavender Salt & Straw ice cream ::drools:: IYKYK) I so appreciate everyone who has supported my work AND fueled my caffeine addiction!

🌟 Other: $5

My uncle sent red pocket money for Chinese New Year last month and I just got the money now. Gong Hay Fat Choi!

Expenses

For some context, I know you're probably not new here, but in case you somehow landed on this article and you are, hey, what's up!? Go subscribe to my Youtube channel 🙃. I live at home with my parents. Mom and Dad don’t make me pay rent or utilities. I love and appreciate them SO much! It's been really great and I 💯 recommend living at home if you get along with your parents. Not like we can go anywhere anyway right now, so might as well hang out with fam.

So that being said, yeah, I don't pay anything in housing or utilities. 

🏡 Rent: $0

⚡️ Utilities: $0

🚖 Transportation: $0

Not going anywhere!

🥦 Groceries: $40.07

🍽 Food: $175.45

I was still down in Los Angeles this first week or so in March. It was there that I learned about my contract extension and splurged on taking myself and a friend out to sushi dinner to celebrate. It was so worth spending on!

🍹 Drinks: $0

👩‍💻 Work: $36.98
TubeBuddy to help grow my YouTube channel made my work expense pretty steep last month, but this month it was just my usual cloud storage and Bonsai.

Bonsai is the best freelancing software. It puts together contracts, has templates for project proposals, and makes invoice for clients very easy to pay. Bonsai makes me look so professional (read: EXPENSIVE). I highly recommend checking it out if you're a freelancer or solo entrepreneur.

🍿 Entertainment: $58

I almost forgot about this expense! I went to the Huntington Botanical Gardens over in Pasadena and paid for a ticket for me and my friend. Not only was it beautiful to walk around the Japanese and Chinese gardens, my friend also took a bunch of pics of me that I’ve been using excessively as thumbnails for Youtube and on my Instagram. He’s a great photographer!

✈️ Travel: $0

🚙 Car: $0

🏥 Health: $0

🛍 Shopping: $45.26

I went thrifting and got myself two tops, a black crop button up and a white silk button up, and a pair of black strappy heels that I’ve been looking for. They miraculously fit my wide duck feet, so I had to get them.

I also somehow ended up paying for all of my little sister’s stuff. If you saw what I Spent in a Week in LA, you’ll know my sister finesses me to pay for stuff. She’s doing a no spend year for clothes, but it doesn’t count if others buy stuff for her…so I did. She’s a smart cookie!

💝 Gifts: $20

I donated some money to my girl, Cinneah, over at @fly.nanced and Gigi, of @firstgenmoneymusings for putting on an Instagram Live about black creators in the personal finance space. It was extremely informative and kind of them to take the time and energy to educate other on this, so I supported them monetarily.

❓Miscellaneous: $0

Savings

👵 401K: $4,189.18

I maxed all $19,500 of this out, so it will drop to $0 next month!

🏦 Savings: $3,300

I’m saving up a little fund to pay my taxes, which I still haven’t paid yet. Fortunately they got extended. I am definitely going to owe because I did not pay anything on the $20,000 I made doing freelance design work last year. 💰IRA: $0

📈 Brokerage: $0

💵 SEP IRA: $0

I’m working with a CPA to help me file my taxes for 2020 since I had some complicated things I messed up on. He said I’ll be able to still contribute to a SEP IRA for the freelance work I did. We shall see. In April I’m going to really get it together!

🏥 HSA: $0

I don't actually have an HSA this year 😭. I don't qualify for one, which really sucks.

💸 Checking: $425

Checking is my income minus the rest of my savings accounts. I don’t have a separate category for that under my savings column in my money tracking spreadsheet.

Monthly Totals

🤑 Income: $8,742.23

💸Expenses: $365.78

🏦 Savings: $8,376.45

📊 Savings Rate: 96%

This is the highest rate I've ever saved. It's insane. Again living at home and being in a pandemic, I'm saving so much money. Bless my parents. I really truly could not do this without them. 

The whole no rent was never really discussed when I moved in. I asked my mom the other day if she felt comfortable with that. Her response was, “If you were to pay me rent I’d save it all for you so that you could put it towards buying your own house.”

I really think that is a reflection of my parents values. They want to set us up for even more success than they had. I feel the same way about the future I’m creating for my unborn children. They know the housing market is insane in California and they're really trying to help me. I'm so appreciative of that.

This was such a fire month for me. I really owe it all to my parents, truly. All of my saving is really only made possible thanks to them. Overall, Q1 was good to me. I achieved all my financial goals (although I failed at my non-financial ones)…more on that next week!

I hope you guys found this March Money Recap useful, insightful, interesting or at least pleasantly voyeuristic. If you haven’t already subscribe to my channel below so we can all get rich and retire early together!

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Disclosure: Some links are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may earn some compensation. All opinions are 100% my own! I truly appreciate you and your support. :)

8 Things I Still Spend My Money On as a Millennial Girl on FIRE

The FI/RE community honestly gets a bad rap for being ultra-frugal, extremely thrifty, and a bit miserly for their spending habits, whether it's living out of a van or eating oatmeal for breakfast every single day. I'm here as a girl on FI/RE to show you that you don't have to live a life like that. There's a balance.

During this journey to financial independence, you should enjoy your life and live a life that is beautiful and meaningful to you. Spend on things that you truly believe in spending on. You can spend almost lavishly on things that bring you a lot of joy and you find meaningful to yourself.

So I wanted to talk to you guys today about the eight things that I still spend money on, even though I'm on my journey to early retirement and planning on retiring early at 35. I don't live a life of deprivation. I feel they don't, Brisbane who believes in being financially well and a part of that means spending money on things you truly love and care about.

1. I splurge a fancy gym membership

Something I prioritize is my health. The very first thing I spend money on is the gym. And not just any gym, I actually have an Equinox membership. Although since we're not able to work out in person, I put my membership on pause because what's the point of paying $200+ a month if I'm not able to go to the gym.

Under normal circumstances, I very much value spending on a nice luxury gym. The one I went to in Los Angeles has a saltwater lap pool. I love doing 30 minute swimming sessions. Plus they have great yoga classes and most importantly why I actually signed up, they have ballet classes at this gym.

I did ballet growing up and doing ballet now is something that gets me to move my body, but doesn't feel like exercise. It's great cardio when you're moving and jumping across the room, but you don’t think it’s a work out, it’s just dancing. I love that mind-trickery!

Not only that, but they have great yoga classes, sound baths, and meditations. Honestly, the steam rooms and saunas alone are worth it. And yes, those eucalyptus towels live up to the hype. 

Again, it was about $200 a month—a slight discount through my work. Ultimately it keeps you in good shape and better health. Spending on things that will get me to move my body is worth it.  

If you love running, I cannot stand it, but if you like those activities that are free, like, basketball or soccer or just do an at home Pilates workout, that is great for you. However, it's not what works for me. Spending money on a gym membership is 100% worth it. 

2. I splurge on going out to eat

The next thing I always will spend money on is when a friend hangs out and asks to go out to eat. I'm always so down. I LOVE good food. LA has some of the best, most diverse, authentic food in a 10 mile radius.  I'm always willing to go out to dinner with friends.

If I’m alone, I really try to not eat out. I don't typically pick up food for myself. Eating and dining out is more of an experience that I'm able to share with friends, share a meal with friends and try the delicious food in the city.

It's important to recognize if dining out is a crutch because you don't want to cook your food at home or is it an experience? Is it a meaningful time you are getting together with friends or is there an underlying issue with eating food at home?

Coffee also falls under this same category. I don't usually get coffee on myself unless I have a gift card or if a friend wants to meet up. Honestly, my cold brew and Oatly are as delicious as a latte out! However, hanging out with friends and having a shared experience over a meal is always worth it to me.

3. I still splurge on a new car

Something that is a shocker and goes against so many FIRE “rules” is getting a brand new car, straight from the dealership car.

I have had 3 cars in my life. Two were used CR-Vs—one was my dad's and the second was my uncle's. When it was finally time for me to buy a car on my own and hand down my old CR-V to my little sister, I got a brand new one.

I've had friends who have bought second hand and it turned out that their cars were lemons. They had undisclosed accidents and missing parts even though it was certified pre-owned. Because of that, I'm hesitant to get a car from people I don’t know directly. I'm not opposed to getting second hand cars, but for me personally, when buying a car for myself, I chose to buy a new.

4. I splurge on brand name clothing

The next thing that I'm willing to spend money on is brand name clothing. The association with people on FIRE is that they dress poorly and don’t buy nice designer pieces. No, it’s not that I don't buy designer, I just don’t pay the full marked up price. I wear a lot of designer clothes and brand name clothes, I just get them secondhand. That’s the difference!

I'm willing to spend on quality secondhand pieces which is good from a financial perspective, but also from a minimalist and sustainability perspective. I want to reduce my carbon footprint and that is something that aligns with my values.

It's not that I'm not willing to spend money, I'm just not willing to spend money on new things that are perfectly fine secondhand. And I actually love going thrifting—it’s the thrill of the hunt. I got a Chloe jacket for $80 and I've gotten some other really good funds for much, much less than what they're worth.

5. I splurge on nice vacations

The next thing that I loved spending on is travel. It's been a year of being stuck inside, so I haven't done any major traveling lately. But the last trip I went on was to Japan and my gosh, we balled out. We ate lavishly, dropped hundreds on nice omakase style dinners and tried cocktails at every town we stayed in. We stayed at a really nice ryokan in Hakone. It was a magical experience. It was so serene, so beautiful. 

The ryokan (Yamanochaya) we stayed at was in the woods. From areas around the lake you could see Mount Fuji in the background. (Although it was cloudy then when we went, so we actually didn't see it, but theoretically, you could.) And we had our own private, hot spring onsen inside our room. They served kaiseki meals, which is like omakase, but with more seasonal dishes. It was so beautiful and delicious. I loved the whole experience. 

When it comes to travel, it's like, when are you going back to this place next? Those experiences are worth paying for in that moment. When I travel, I try to not think about the expenses and just enjoy those moments. It’s important to build those memories, take those photos and have those experiences that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. 

6. I splurge on my hobbies

The next thing that I spend money on is this hobby of mine. This is truly a passion project and hobby of mine that I have so much fun doing, and I want to grow it and make it bigger and better.

So far, I’ve spent about $500, between my website, SEO optimization tools, and my YouTube gear. I use my iPhone 12 Pro to film, but I have a microphone, LED light, and things like that. It's definitely something I'm willing to spend money on because I love doing it. 

I'm always willing to spend money on my hobbies that I truly enjoy. Whether it's hair bow making at the time or doing this YouTube. 

7. I splurge on books

This goes hand in hand with spending on my hobbies. I'm very willing to spend money on books and education. In some sense, it's an investment in myself. Reading truly takes you to a new world! It's almost like a cheap vacation. It allows you to experience and empathize with characters or people who are outside of your little world. 

Fiction books are great for that, but non-fiction expands your mind too. I love reading books about personal finance (obviously) and psychology. It all relates back to becoming a better person and that is absolutely always worth spending on. 

For some reason, this does not translate for me to e-courses as much. Between Google and YouTube, those are such great resources for learning how to do basically anything. I haven't ever spent any money on e-courses, but let me know in the comments below, if you have and if you thought it was worth it.

For me, it's really hard to trust whether or not paying a person thousands of dollars is really going to teach me how to grow my YouTube channel better than just watching videos on the subject for free. This is why I put out all of my educational content for free and don’t have people buy any of this FI/RE finance information. I learned from the internet and you can too. That's my philosophy. Books, I'm a 100% willing to spend on. “Educational” e-courses I'm on the fence about—not going to lie. That's my personal opinion. 

8. I splurge on celebrations

Lastly, I always spend money on celebrating the wins. I'm a huge believer in,  making life a party. I took myself out to an omakase dinner last night because my contract got extended and I wasn’t sure if it was going to be. Last minute they were like, yeah, you got extended. You're doing such a great job!

That was such a big win for me. It means I can max out my 401k for the year. So I went out to celebrate and for me, celebrating can be something as simple as that. Honestly I think those wins are not celebrated enough, but when it's my birthday, I always celebrate another year of life! I will spend lavishly on hosting a party for my friends and the people that I care about because they are on this exciting journey of life with me. 

When I retire early, I'm going to throw a giant party and YOU are invited. I want to have an awesome retirement party because that will be such a huge accomplishment to be financially independent! I’m so excited to celebrate this milestone.

Getting married I don't think is really a huge accomplishment anymore, but I do want to celebrate moments in life that are really meaningful. That will probably mean me spending on a wedding because it’s in line with who I am and what I value.

Even if other finance people say, well, that $30,000 could turn into $1 million dollars by the time you're 85, I’ll still probably do it. Yes, it could. But also it’s important to spend on things that align with your values now. It’s important not to look at it as a tradeoff if it’s something you truly love and care about and if it's something you can afford.

Thoughts & Reflections

These are the 8 things I'm willing to spend money on. It’s important to start thinking about how what you spend on aligns to your own values. That is the key to becoming really intentional with your spending. Check out my blog on value-based spending if you need more clarity into what you find meaningful to spend money on.

If you are also on your journey to FI/RE, let me know what you still splurge on in the comments below! I think it’s important to talk about and show others that it's okay to spend money on things you love and care about. And if you’re not already subscribed, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel below so we can spread the FIRE.

Let's retire early together!

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Disclosure: Some links are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may earn some compensation. All opinions are 100% my own! I truly appreciate you and your support. :)

What I Spent In February 2021

I wanted to give you a peek inside my actual spending. I love looking at other people’s budgets, but I've always felt I can't do that because if you haven't seen my article yet, I do not budget.

Instead, I’m very precise about tracking all of my cash flow. I don't have actual dollar amounts that I allocate to categories or give every dollar a job like many others usually do. So I’m testing out showing you what I spent in a month and all of the totals, instead of doing a budget with me at the beginning of the month.

We’ll see how this goes…

Income

Let's dive a little bit deeper into my actual February numbers.

💰 Paycheck: $7061.76

This is my regular nine to five job. I work as a visual designer in tech making over six figures. It was a long, long journey to make six figures. I've been working for eight years now and you can check out my salary timeline to see how much I earned straight out of college. I’ve negotiated my way up, up, up. I take home about $7,000 a month.

This month is a little bit weird and it will be weird into March because I'm front loading my 401k. I’m putting 75% of each paycheck towards contributing the maximum $19,500 you can put in a 401k. I personally prefer to spend more time in the market rather than timing the market or dollar cost averaging. Personal finance is personal and this is how I’m doing it.

Note: Check with your HR benefits specialists to understand how they match your 401k, if you get a 401k match. I get a one time annual true up, so at the end of the year I’ll be matched the entire 1% in contributions even though I front loaded it. If you get matched per paycheck, you may miss out on some money and I don’t recommend that.

What’s nice is that even though I’m just a contractor at a tech company, my temp agency, Aquent, provides great benefits. I have healthcare, a 401k, and a small itty-bitty 1% match. (Hey, a match is still a match!) They're awesome if you're trying to get into tech. I’ll happily to refer you if you’re trying to break into tech because they really do take care of you. Just send me an email!

My first paycheck in February, I was getting ~$100 into my direct deposit. Then for the last three (I get paid weekly), my tax withholdings went way up. With my 401k contributions at 75%, I got $0 in my checking account. I emailed HR to ask about that, so we’ll see what’s up 🤨.

Another note: I count my 401k and my 401k match as income even though it's pre-tax because it's still money that I will use to FIRE. My income in my money tracker is a little bit of pre-tax and post-tax AND I don’t count my taxes as an “expense.” I don't know if that's right or not…probably not, but it’s what I do and it works for me. (Leave a comment below if you think I should be doing something else. and why!) 

Anyway, so that my income $7061.76 for my paycheck. 

👗 Resale: $0

I didn’t sell anything on Poshmark this month…actually I shipped something, but the direct deposit hasn't hit.

🎨 Freelance: $0

I'm not doing any freelance work in 2021 because it was too stress-inducing last year. I'm just wrapping up one job. It's hard to turn down money when you're trying to pursue financial independence. To be honest, if something comes along that I really can't say no to because they're going to pay me a lot of money, the door is still cracked open for that.

💵 Cash back: $158.49

This money was from my quarterly Rakuten check. (If you don’t have Rakuten, you HAVE TO sign up. Basically it’s free money if you’re already shopping. Here’s my link for a free $20.) Plus somehow I overpaid on my car insurance, so I got a rebate check in the mail. I also have the Citi double cash back card and had $31 from there. Lots of cash back this month. 

📈 Interest: $3.81

I keep my 6 month emergency fund in Ally high yield savings account because I like how they have the buckets to compartmentalize your savings even though it's one account. I don't churn high yield savings accounts chasing after the best APY or rewards. It's so much effort and just another form I have to file during tax time. It’s not worth the hassle to me.

🎁 Gifts: $0

🤑 Dividends: $0

🍯 Millennial Money Honey: $19

Those earnings are all from my Etsy shop. It’s baby side hustle money for MMH, but big things are coming in the future! I have some cool collabs in the pipeline.

Expenses

For some context, I know you're probably not new here, but in case you somehow landed on this article and you are, hey, what's up!? Go subscribe to my Youtube channel 🙃. I live at home with my parents. Mom and Dad don’t make me pay rent or utilities. I love and appreciate them SO much! It's been really great and I 💯 recommend living at home if you get along with your parents. Plus we couldn't go anywhere anyway right now, so might as well hang out with fam.

So that being said, yeah, I don't pay anything in housing or utilities. 

🏡 Rent: $0

⚡️ Utilities: $0

🚖 Transportation: $16.50

I paid for a lot more parking since I was down in LA this month. I also put Uber type expenses in this category, but there’s been none of that.

🥦 Groceries: $145.54

Again since I was in LA, I've been spending a bit more on groceries. It’s not a crazy amount, but definitely higher than when I’m at home with parents.

🍽 Food: $206.39

I also don’t really spend that kind of money on food at home…not that you’d have any gauge of what is relatively normal 😜 since this is new. Coffee also falls under the food category. I keep my category general because I don't want to be too granular. Eating out is eating out, whether it's coffee or food.

🍹 Drinks: $0

👩‍💻 Work: $80.18
Hmmm not sure what I spent on that made this category so high. Cloud storage was normal. Bonsai, the best freelancing software, was normal. It puts together contracts, has templates for project proposals, and makes invoice for clients very easy to pay. Bonsai makes me look so professional (read: EXPENSIVE). I highly recommend checking out Bonsai if you're a designer or any type of solo entrepreneur.

Ohhhhh, my b. I forgot about this expense. TubeBuddy, which I talked about in my money diary, What I Spent in a Week in LA, was a big expense. TubeBuddy helps optimize YouTube SEO, write better titles, and figure out what people are searching for on YouTube. I'm hoping it pays off and drives growth to my channel and even this blog.

TubeBuddy was $43.20, making it the majority of my work spending. It typically usually that high. If you have under 1,000 subscribers it’s 50% off instead of the regular $80.40, so check it out TubeBuddy if you’re a small Youtuber interested in growing your channel too.

🍿 Entertainment: $0

✈️ Travel: $0

🚙 Car: $59.19

That's all gas ⛽️. So expensive in California!

🏥 Health: $0

🛍 Shopping: $26.97

I also breakdown this shopping in my money diary, What I Spent in a Week in LA. Although I returned one of the eyeshadows I bought, so there’s a small discrepancy.

💝 Gifts: $39.30

Again check out my money diary from this month. I bought my friend a plant 🪴 and some other stuff as presents. I spend generously on people I love and don't think about it too much. Presents, donating, and meeting up with friends over food/coffee are things I don’t eye too closely.

❓Miscellaneous: $0

Savings

You can see basically all of my money went into savings.

👵 401K: $6,818.12

I will max my 401k out towards the end of March and as a result I did not contribute to anything else.

🏦 Savings: $0

💰IRA: $0

📈 Brokerage: $0

💵 SEP IRA: $0

🏥 HSA: $0

I don't actually have an HSA this year 😭. I don't qualify for one, which really sucks.

💸 Checking: $425

Checking is my income minus the rest of my savings accounts. I don’t have a separate category for that under my savings column in my money tracking spreadsheet.

Monthly Totals

🤑 Income: $7,1243.14

💸Expenses: $574.07

📊 Savings Rate: 92%

My savings rate this year, I'm going to be transparent, will probably be in the 90% range since I’m living at home and my expenses are so low.

I want to give you a true look at my spending, not to brag, but to show you what I’m honestly doing. There are so many other people who are on FI/RE too, I’m just one data point, so don’t let comparison be the thief of joy. You can check out other people’s FI/RE diaries on my blog to read about what other people are doing to achieve FIRE. There are many levels of income, locations and FI/RE numbers!

But being honest, 2021 is going to be a little bit of crazy savings rate for me. It won’t will always be this way. I’m not living at home forever! I'm retiring at 35, so we’ve got another five years to go. This journey is not over yet and I hope you stick around for it!

Let me know if you like this type of content—what I spent in a month series. I love seeing them myself! And if you're on your journey to retire early, leave a comment below and tell me what your savings rate was for February.

Don’t forget to subscribe to my Youtube channel below, it would means so much to me, plus it’s FREE and easy to do.

Let's retire early together!

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