2019 Income and Expense Review

The picture above shows what I made in and what I spent my money on in 2019. Feel free to click on it to make it bigger. I'll breakdown how I define each category and why my spending is pretty sporadic throughout the months.

Gross Pay
My gross pay is the amount of income I make my accounting job before taxes and other deductions. From my job, I made $72,350 in 2019. This is a $6,828 increase from 2018.

Take Home Pay
My take home pay is the amount of money that gets deposited into my checking account after taxes and other deductions. This amount includes my paycheck from my job, mileage reimbursements for using my car to travel for work, the interest I earn from checking and savings accounts, money I receive as gifts, and money earned from cash back or mystery shopping. I don't factor in dividend income as I don't allow myself to spend that cash. I have a strict rule for myself that dividend income must be reinvested to earn more dividends - the power of compounding interest. I took home $47,431 this year, a $5,478 increase from last year.

401(k) + HSA
This column includes the amount I contribute to my 401(k) and HSA, as well as the amount my employer contributes to my 401(k). The total contributions for both accounts were $23,953, which was a $590 increase from 2018.

Housing
I currently live with my parents. That is why you'll typically see $0 spent for each month on housing, unless I purchase something for myself. We have a great relationship and they are kind enough to not charge me rent. I do the majority of the cleaning of the house and yard to help out or run errands for them. My parents typically travel to other states or countries for more than half the year and so do I for my job. A lot of the time, I have their house to myself. With our busy schedules and current situation it works out well for us as I can house sit for them while I look to purchase my first home.

Food
My food category includes groceries, vending machines, and dining out. My food expense of $1,577 is really low for the average person. This is a perk of my job. My employer pays for my breakfast and dinners when I travel or work longer hours, which is typically the case from August through April. Most times, I will have leftovers from dinners and eat it the following day for lunch. When my meals aren't paid for, I shop at Walmart and Sam's Club for groceries. I typically don't eat out, unless my employer pays for it or I'm with friends. When I do, it's most likely at Chick-fil-a. Another perk of my job is that I earn a lot of rewards from restaurants, which I use to get free or discounted meals. This increased by $856 from last year mostly because I didn't travel this summer for work. 

Car
My car expenses include anything related to transportation (gas, oil changes, tires, parking, etc.). I spent $1,673 this year, a $244 decrease from last year. I didn't buy any new tires this year, which is the reason for the decrease. You'll see my car expenses were higher in January and February as those are the two months I usually travel for work using my car. Most of the other months, I'll fly.

Shopping
My shopping category is for money that I spent on material items for myself, such as clothes, accessories, and skincare. I spent $950 this year, which was a $720 decrease from last year. I only added a handful of clothing pieces to my wardrobe as I'm becoming more selective and already have enough clothes. My largest purchase was a Barbour coat for $220.

Entertainment
My entertainment expenses include anything I spend on myself or others that are not physical items, such as Spotify, movies, concerts, etc. or electronic items I spent a total of $545 this year, an increase of $202 from last year. My largest purchase was a new iPad for $233. I had been using my iPad from 2012 with a shattered screen and this deal was a great opportunity to treat myself.

Dog
This category is for anything related to my dog. In 2019, I spent $2,404, a $42 increase from last year. The majority of this is related to food, flea & tick/heart worm medicine, pet health insurance and grooming. I need to do a better job going forward on brushing my dog's fur. Hopefully this can extend the time between groomings.

Giving
My giving category includes cash spent on gifts for loved ones, as well as monetary donations to organizations throughout the year. I spent $904 of cash this year, a $303 decrease from 2018. I actually spent more than $904, because I had received quite a bit of  gift cards from work and various jobs. I don't factor that in as an expense, because I don't count the gift cards as income to me.

This is lower than what some may expect for me to give, but at this stage in my life, I am giving more of my time to charitable organizations than money. 

CPA
I spent $2,941 this year, a $2,588 increase from last year. This year, I purchased a CPA exam review course to use as my study tool and paid for a couple CPA exams to take in early 2020. This should decrease significantly in 2020.

Miscellaneous
My miscellaneous expenses include any item that doesn't fit into the categories listed above. The majority of the $2,792 was related to a medical bill from a hospital stay towards the end of 2018. Other things that fell into this category included service fees, renewal fees for my passport and driver's license, and federal and state income taxes due each April. 

What was your largest category for expenses this year and what are you hoping to reduce next year? My plan is to reduce my CPA and dog expenses in 2020. My hope is to increase my housing expenses, since this will be I have purchased my first house.

Cheers to a new year and a new decade of wealth building!