What Are My Basic Monthly Expenses?

The road to financial independence always comes down to two factors: income and expenses. One side of the equation is how much money I earn every month and the other is how much I spend.

Although I am a firm believer that I am the creator of my reality, the truth is that increasing one’s income takes time and a lot of effort. There is only a limited amount of promotions. There is only a limited amount of opportunities in a given company/field. The competition is tough. I might get the yearly bonus but my efforts might as well go unnoticed.

And this is the employee’s world. Being a business owner or a freelancer is even tougher.

We don’t have so much control over our income. And the most annoying thing – it takes an awful lot of time!

What we really have control over is our expenses. My goal is having my basic expenses covered. I first have to know what that amount is. Here is how typically a financial month looks like for me:

Home & Utilities

• Rent: €468 (includes electricity, water, internet, heating)
• Hosting & Domain: €5

Food & Drinks

• Groceries: €220
• Lunch: €0-50
• Eating out: €0-25
• Snacking: €0-30
• Drinks: €0-16

Sports

• Kickboxing: €70

Health & Personal care

• Dental insurance: €8
• Medical supplies: €15
• Waxing: €36
• Haircut: €45 (every 3 months)
• Cosmetics: €30

I don’t include taxes and health insurance here. They are automatically deducted from my salary. This is the money I spend after I get my paycheck. It depends on the month but on average I need €1000 a month to cover my basic expenses.

My expenses for October 2016

Additionally, I spend every month on:

Education

• Books: €0-42
• Audible: €9,9
• Courses, coaching: €0-500

Gifts & Donations

• Gifts: €0-150 (birthdays, Christmas, etc.)
• Donation: €25 (to Room to Read – because the world change starts with educated children)

Leisure

• Spa: €0-50
• Entertainment: €0-30
• Vacation: €0-2000 (flight tickets, accommodation, etc)
• Massage: €0-45
• Joy: €0-50 (something just for the pure joy of it: bubble baths, aromatic candles, flowers, etc.)

Clothing & Footwear

• Clothing: €0-60
• Shoes: €0-120

The additional expenses can be anything from €200 to €1000.

My expenses from the last 3 months

Sept: €1,872 – I splurged quite a bit; I bought tickets back home for Christmas; I had personal coaching; I went on a two days masterclass;

Oct: €1,015 – very good month, no additional expenses;

Nov: €1,783 – very good month for basic expenses; I bought flight tickets to South Africa;

Before I started diligently noting down my expenses and having a monthly overview I always wondered where all my money goes. This is the first and most important step – find out where all your money goes!

The second step is to reduce your spending – find out here how I cut my expenses in half!