Cash Confessional: A week of spending on a combined $85,000 salary
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Our Cash Confessional series, in partnership with Bank of America, takes a personal and anonymous look into how people of all ages and incomes spend their money in the span of seven days.
To see the other installments of Cash Confessional, click here. This series is completely volunteer-based; 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 married couple in their early 30s; he’s in the finance world and she’s a stay-at-home mom. Here’s how they spend their money.
The basics:
Industry:
Him – Financial Services
Her – N/A
Position:
Him – Financial Analyst
Her – Stay-at-home mom
Salary: $86,000
Savings: $50 per month goes toward Christmas shopping, $260 per month goes into an HSA and $1,588 per month goes toward saving to pay off a 401(k) plan (we’re saving the money until we have all the money to pay it off)
Ages:
Him – 33
Her – 31
Monthly expenses:
Rent: $1,365 for a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom house
Neighborhood: Harwood Lane
Number of roommates: Our 2-year-old and 6-month-old children
Utilities:
Electric – $130
Heating and gas – $20
Water and sewer – $65
Pest control – $92
AT&T cable and internet – $81
Netflix – $9
Student loans: We’re both on income-based repayment plans.
Him – $95.80
Her – $108
Car payments: N/A
Car insurance: $73
Transportation:
Gas – $250
Parking – $75
Phone bill: $95
Insurance:
Life – $52
Renters – $23
Three financial goals
Be debt-free within 3 years.
Increase our emergency fund to $12,000. This is around 3 months’ worth of expenses.
Save $60,000 for a downpayment on a house.
Money Diary: How we spent our money last week
Day one: Sunday
Him –
The two-year-old woke up everyone asking for pancakes for breakfast, so I went downstairs and prepared pancakes for everyone. We had all the ingredients, which never happens.
We stopped by my brother’s house to celebrate his birthday, where we had lunch and cheesecake at no cost. We stayed longer than expected, so on the way home, we stopped at El Burrito Express. Two egg and cheese tortas, a quesadilla and a side of rice came out to $27.33. This was not in the budget, so we’ll have to make it up somewhere.
A quick stop at Wiki Wiki Car Wash. We signed up for their subscription when they were running a special and paid $10 for the first month for unlimited washes, so this didn’t cost anything extra. The special seemed like a good deal until I forgot to cancel (that’s how they get you). Now on the second month ($35), I’m trying to get my money’s worth. We probably have the cleanest 13-year-old SUV in Charlotte.
Total spent: $27.33
Her –
On the way from baby’s swimming class, we stopped at Costco for gas ($35.60) and picked up fruit, pasta and the biggest bag of popcorn ever. $57.57
Total spent: $93.17
Total spent: $120.50
Day two: Monday
Him –
I usually don’t eat breakfast and just grab and apple or a banana and head to work instead.
Car insurance auto-drafted this morning ($73.93). Lunch consisted of leftover enchiladas from Friday, an apple and cranberry and nuts snack bar.
Dinner was tikka masala vegetables with paneer over rice at home.
Total spent: $73.93
Her –
The two-year-old woke up as soon as his Dad closed the garage, so I got up and made him oatmeal with strawberries and blueberries. I just had orange juice and fruit.
After story time, we returned home for lunch where the two-year-old had grilled cheese and fries while I had a meatless chicken sandwich.
Total spent: $0
Total spent: $73.93
Day three: Tuesday
Him –
Didn’t have time to pack lunch this morning, so I went to Harris Teeter uptown and got a half veggie sub for $3.77. I used their website to order ahead. It’s so quick and convenient they send you a text when your sub is ready. You skip the line, just grab it, pay and go.
Got home and cooked dinner. I made sweet potato patties with a recipe from the Plenty cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi. We didn’t have the ingredients for the sauce, so my wife ran to Food Lion to pick up Greek yogurt and sour cream. She also grabbed cookies and a jar of mole sauce. $9.44
Total spent: $9.44
Her –
We had a meet-and-greet with the two-year-old’s pre-school teachers at 9 a.m. I made him French toast squares with strawberries and blueberries for breakfast before we went.
For lunch, we ate quesadillas at home. I try to hide spinach on my two-year-old’s, but he always finds it and picks it out.
My student loans auto drafted today ($107.52).
Total spent: $107.52
Total spent: $116.96
Day four: Wednesday
Him –
Lunch was leftovers, and after driving with my gas light on for two days, I finally got gas on the way home from work. $28.33
AT&T Uverse ($91.89) and Amazon ($56.63) subscriptions charged today. AT&T had a late fee from last month since I forgot to schedule the payment and this month’s Amazon subscription consisted of diapers for the baby and snack pouches for two-year-old.
Total spent: $176.85
Her –
Made oatmeal and fruit for breakfast before taking two-year-old to Little Gym. On the way back, we stopped at Aldi to pick up groceries for the rest of the week. $36.98
Total spent: $36.98
Total spent: $213.83
Day five: Thursday
Him –
I had breakfast at home with two-year-old before taking him to school. Lunch was catered at work!!
The phone bill drafted today ($28.84). It was lower this month because they finally applied a credit I was due for a phone I bought back in February.
Total spent: $28.84
Her –
I ate lunch at home after picking up the two-year-old from school.
For dinner, we had corn chowder – or as my two-year-old calls it, con soup.
Total spent: $0
Total spent: $28.84
Day six: Saturday
Him –
I had my usual fruit for breakfast on the way to work. For lunch, it was leftover corn chowder.
I got a text message from my wife to pick up orange juice on my way home, so I stopped at Food Lion after work. $5.60
Total spent: $5.60
Her –
Breakfast consisted of yogurt with fruit and for lunch, it was a frozen Margherita pizza, at the request of the two-year-old.
Sycamore Brewery had vegetarian food trucks this afternoon, so we decided to head there for dinner. My husband and I had black bean burgers from The Herban Legend and split some fries ($16.34), while our two-year-old got a quesadilla from Tin Kitchen ($6.41). My husband was very excited to see the Herban Legend was back.
Total spent: $22.75
Total spent: $28.35
Day seven: Saturday
Him –
Stopped for gas at Costco on the way back from two-year-old’s little gym session. $32.19
For dinner, I fired up the grill for hot dogs and fries.
Total spent: $32.19
Her –
For breakfast, we all had biscuits with fruit and orange juice. I ordered tickets to an upcoming Children’s Theater play. Four tickets were $61.12.
Total spent: $61.12
Total spent: $93.31
Total spent: $679.49
The breakdown:
Bills – $358.81
Transportation – $96.12
Food and drink – $163.44
Miscellaneous – $61.12
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