Cash Confessional: A week of spending on a combined $153,000 salary

To see the other installments of Cash Confessional, click here. If you’re interested in keeping track of your own spending and having it featured, email Kylie at [email protected].

This week, I spoke with a young married couple who makes a combined $153,000 a year. Here’s how they spend their money. -Kylie

The basics:

Industry: We both work at financial services companies.
Yearly salary:
Her – $73,000
Him – $80,000
Extra income: She brings in an annual $10,000-$12,000 bonus.
Who do you bank with and why? We both bank with Wells Fargo because we always banked with Wachovia.
Savings: We both put 11% of our paychecks into our respective Roth 401Ks, and we put 10% to 20% of our post-tax paychecks into regular savings.
Ages: 27

Monthly expenses:

Mortgage: $1,633 (this includes mortgage, property taxes and PMI)
Number of roommates: 0
Neighborhood: Ballantyne
Utilities: ~$340 (this includes electric, gas, water and cable/internet)
Student loans: A combined $320. The actual amount is $220, but we always pay an extra $100.
Car payments: $250 for one car, the other is paid off.
Phone bill: $180 combined (stupid iPhones)
Health insurance & Health Savings Accounts: $260 combined
Compassion International: $76 (we sponsor two children)
Tennis & swim club membership: $70
Gym memberships: $20
Tithing to our church: $650
Transportation costs: Around a combined $300.

Three financial goals:

Build up a decent savings again before we have kids. We spent most of our previous savings on the down payment for our house.

Work up to putting 20% of our paychecks into our Roth 401(k)s.

Finish paying off our student loans and car so that the only debt we’ll have for now is our mortgage.

Money Diary: How we spent our money last week

Day one: Monday

My husband hasn’t been feeling well so he stayed home sick for the day, and I decided to work from home. We didn’t really eat breakfast today, and just had coffee from home. $0

For lunch, we had a leftover Home Chef meal that we cooked. We order either Home Chef or Blue Apron once or twice a month. It’s $60 for 3 meals for 2 people, and all the ingredients and recipe cards are delivered right to your door. Great for working couples on weeks when we have a lot going on and don’t feel like meal planning or grocery shopping! $0

Every other Monday we have a maid that comes to clean the house. We started doing this for a little while because life was getting hectic since we both work and have so many activities after work and are hardly at home. Eventually we will probably quit and save the $140/month but for now it’s worth it. $70

When I stopped working for the day, we walked to Jersey Mikes in a close shopping center nearby and split a giant sub and got two waters. $15.14

After that, I went to a women’s marriage seminar and my husband went to play a tennis match. On the way home from my seminar, I made a spur of the moment decision and stopped by Harris Teeter and picked up strawberries and mini shortcake cups to make dessert. Did I need dessert? No. Why do I do these things? At least it wasn’t super unhealthy. $5.48

Total spent: $90.62

Day two: Tuesday

We rode to work together today, but were running a bit late and didn’t make coffees at home. I dropped my husband off, and when I got to work went to the café to get a coffee. My husband also bought a coffee at his work. I need to get my butt up a few minutes earlier each morning so we quit buying coffees at work so often! $2.83

Since we never got around to going to the grocery store this past weekend, we didn’t have anything to make lunches. I walked down to the work cafeteria and got a turkey flatbread sandwich. It was boring and I wanted to go get something else but decided to suck it up. $5.34

My husband went to his work cafeteria as well and got a Chick-fil-a Grilled Chicken Sandwich and a Coke Zero. He avoided the fries. Willpower! $4.15

In between afternoon meetings, I reapplied lipstick and noticed I was running pretty low, so I went to Amazon and found the same Maybelline lipstick for under $5. When I went to check out, I noticed I had a DSLR wireless shutter remote in my “saved for later” list so I decided to buy it too. I have Amazon Prime, so free two-day shipping. Woo! $15.81

On the way home, we stopped at Trader Joe’s to get some groceries and cheap wine. They didn’t have everything we needed, so we also went to Harris Teeter to get the rest of the groceries, plus some medicine. $108.37 

For dinner, we used some of the groceries we just bought and made a farro risotto with prosciutto and Brussels sprouts (it was awesome, thanks Pinterest). $0

Total spent: $136.50

Day three: Wednesday

This morning we made coffees at home before work. $0

For lunch, my husband brought leftovers from dinner last night and I brought a salad and a side of carrots and edamame hummus from home. $0

Around 3 p.m., I hit a wall and couldn’t mentally function anymore so I went and got a coffee. Once I chugged half the cup, I got back to #workworkworkworkwork again. $1.54

After work, we met at Firehouse Subs to grab a quick dinner and then went to the NoDa run club. And no, I can’t actually run the entire three miles because I’m a terrible runner, but at least I try, right? $11.89

Total spent: $13.43

Day four: Thursday

I woke up late and didn’t make coffee again this morning but made some hot tea that I already had. My husband didn’t have time to grab a coffee at work. $0

We both brought lunches that we made at home – I had the same thing as yesterday plus strawberries, and he had a sandwich and a granola bar. $0

For dinner we met at the house and made turkey meatballs and Asian sweet & spicy rice and veggies. $0

Total spent: $0

Day five: Friday

I had coffee for breakfast, but my husband didn’t. He went into the office, and I worked from home (as I do every Friday). $0

I ate a salad and some carrots for lunch, and he brought a sandwich from home. $0

Just logged off… finally, the weekend! I have “Ignition Remix” by R. Kelly stuck in my head. When my husband got home, we went to Red Clay Ciderworks and each got a sample flight. $21.60

For dinner, I made crockpot salsa chicken and we made fajitas with black beans and avocado. $0

Total spent: $21.60

Day six: Saturday

In the morning, I went shopping. First I went to Ivy & Leo because they were having a customer appreciation sale where the first 50 people in line got a $20 gift card (I was one of them) and the entire store was 20% off. I also had a $45 gift card from a while ago to spend. After gift cards, I spent $13.40.

My next shopping destination was Kendra Scott at SouthPark Mall because they were running a special: 50% off any item if you have a birthday in May. Plus, I had an $85 gift card from returning something that I got for my birthday earlier in the month. I decided to get a $120 bracelet for $60, woot! After tax, I still had just under $20 left on the gift card. Naturally, I had to buy something else and use up the gift card right that moment, so I also purchased a $65 necklace. After the gift card, I spent $48.26.

For lunch, my husband and I went to a sushi restaurant and each got two rolls. $29.61

After lunch, we went to Trader Joe’s to get some groceries. Turns out, TJ’s had free wine tastings that afternoon so we partook, then got a bottle of wine in addition to the other groceries. $38.32

We have needed a bunch of stuff for the house from Bed Bath & Beyond, so we decided to get it over with. We used 20% off coupons for every single item. $121.54

For dinner, we ate at home and made turkey meatballs with a bunch of different dipping sauces that we already had at the house. Then we drank beer on our porch and did some planning for our upcoming vacation. $0

Total spent: $251.13

Day seven: Sunday

We had coffee at home before church. $0

We went to Newk’s for lunch, YUM. $18.12

I got my eyebrows waxed in the afternoon, which is never fun. $21

We stopped by Harris Teeter to get two gas cards (if you have enough points you can buy a $50 gas card for only $40). Then we went and got gas in both of our cars using part of the cards, so we’ll still have some for later. $80

[Author’s note: Here’s how the gas program works.]

For dinner, we made pasta at home, which isn’t healthy but whatever. $0

Total spent: $119.12

Total spent: $632.40
The breakdown:
Food and drink – $262.39
Transportation – $80
Shopping – $199.01
Miscellaneous – $91

What we learned: We have been spending too much in general recently, and we could be saving more than we are. Specifically, more than $260 is entirely too much money to spend on food and drink for two people for just one week. We need to start taking the time to plan meals out for the week so that we can go grocery shopping just once. We also need to eat out a little less (this week wasn’t even as bad as some weeks are).

And a final note: both of us have become much more aware of each time we swipe our cards after doing this exercise.

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