Monthly Expenses: January 2022

These are my Monthly Expenses: January 2022. Why track your monthly expenses? Because budgeting and planning are important for your financial well-being! Learning how to manage your finances and living within and below your means is an essential component to achieving financial independence. The key to building wealth is to spend less than you earn and wisely invest the difference.

Over the past 4 years, I have managed to save over 50% of my income each month. More money saved means more money to invest.  Using the model of dividend growth investing, I am on course to achieving financial independence. Over the years, I have built a six-figure portfolio that generates dividend income each month. The results have been amazing!

I also like to compare my monthly expenses with my dividend income. Once passive income is greater than living expenses, then financial independence is achieved. So here is January 2022’s expenses:

• Rent: $614.34
• Utilities: $54.69
• Internet: $79.99
• Cell Phone: $35.00
• Food & Supplies: $491.20
• Miscellaneous: $60.00
• Amazon: $87.04

All in all, my expenses for January 2022 totaled: $1,422.26

This just may have been my most expensive month in 4 years. Normally, January has always been my least expensive month. However, I had a lot of expenses this past January. I was having some health issues, had to take care of a bed bug problem, and had renovations done to my bathroom.

I spent much more on supplies this past month, especially cleaning supplies after my bed bug problem. In addition, I bought some bathroom accessories and new towels from Amazon to make the renovations even better. Also, since I do all my food shopping on Sunday morning and there were five Sundays in January, I had an extra week of grocery spending to account for.

Thus, I am glad January is over and I will be even happier once this winter is over. Hopefully, February will turn out to be a less expensive month (so far, so good).

Now let’s compare my month expenses to my dividend income. I will compare my expenses to my January 2022 dividends and my average yearly dividend income going forward. As of this post, my portfolio is set to generate $12,479 in dividend income over the next 12 months.

• • • January 2022 dividend income: $779.04 = 54.8% of my expenses covered in January.
    • Yearly dividend income average: $1,039.79 per month = 73.1% of my expenses covered in January.

Thus, this concludes my monthly expenses for January 2022. It is cool that even on a really expensive month, my yearly dividend income average still covers over 73% of my expenses. I am getting closer and closer to covering all my expenses. Financial independence is obtainable in the next 24 months, but I won’t stop there at the bare minimal. I will continue work towards my goals and build my dividend dynasty!

So, how about the rest of you? Do you track your monthly expenses? Also, how close are you to covering expenses via passive income? Let me know in the comments below!