It’s time to tally up the damage. If you remember back to 2021’s spending recap, we obliterated that year’s budget of $57,000 by over $16,000(!). This year we established a total annual budget of $55,000. So how did our 2022 spending compare to that goal? You’re about to find out with our 2022 spending revealed!
Drumroll, please…
| CATEGORY | BUDGET | TOTAL SPENT | OVER/(UNDER) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home | $13,371 | $9,285 | ($4,086) |
| Utilities | $1,470 | $1,710 | $240 |
| Automotive | $4,209 | $4,402 | $193 |
| Groceries | $3,600 | $2,818 | ($782) |
| Dining Out | $1,400 | $2,399 | $999 |
| Health & Beauty | $4,050 | $4,777 | $727 |
| Cell Phones | $500 | $302 | ($198) |
| Travel & Entertainment | $16,640 | $20,175 | $3,535 |
| Pets | $1,330 | $1,261 | ($69) |
| Merchandise | $1,694 | $2,146 | $452 |
| Other | $6,736 | $6,095 | ($641) |
| TOTAL | $55,000 | $55,370 | $370 |
In stunning contrast to the previous year, our 2022 spending was almost dead on the budgeted amount. Nobody is more shocked (and thrilled) than I am.
How did we manage that? In short, we were significantly more budget-conscious after quitting our jobs, as we had no income to use as a cushion. Let’s review the details:
2022 Spending Analysis
Home & Utilities
At first glance, this appears to be a big win. Actually, it was a big win, as we sold our home in May 2022 near the top of the housing market boom before prices cooled slightly. The effect on the budget was that we sold earlier than originally planned – I had calculated 6 months of mortgage, insurance, utilities, etc. and only ended up paying for 4+ months.
Utilities were higher than anticipated due to rising energy costs and a seemingly interminable Minnesota winter, but the difference in the grand scheme of our housing budget was negligible.
Automotive
A relatively uneventful year for car expenses, as we underwent just some routine maintenance. The cost of gas was higher than expected nationwide, which perfectly coincided with our summer road trips to and from Florida.
Groceries & Dining Out
While significantly under budget on groceries, we were nearly $1,000 over budget dining out for the second year in a row! (Hey, at least we’re consistent). This year was heavy on food & drinks with friends before leaving Minnesota, plenty of outings with friends and family in Wisconsin, and exploring the culinary options near our new home in Florida. Not altogether unexpected in hindsight, even though all that spending wasn’t included in the original budget.
When combining the two categories, our spending on food and drink was pretty reasonable.
Health & Beauty
The majority of this overage is due to the timing of joining an ACA health insurance plan. Since we set the original budget (more for ease of calculation than anything) based on selling our house mid-year, we assumed we would leave our workplace insurance plans and buy it off the marketplace starting in July. It actually began in June, an extra $415 that wasn’t anticipated.
Cell Phones
A few months of my cell phone plan were reimbursed while working. Also, the international data costs during our Europe trip were originally budgeted here but I ended up lumping the actual expenses into the Travel category.
All in all, owning unlocked cell phones with Mint Mobile data plans continues to be a source of significant savings compared to the average consumer with little to no difference in service.
Travel & Entertainment
This is where most of the difference in house savings comes into play. The corollary to our newfound homelessness was, naturally, to travel!
2022 spending included the following trips:
- 1 week in Cancun, Mexico last January
- a 2-week winter getaway for Mrs. FIby35 to Florida in January/February
- (only) 1 trip to Las Vegas with friends in July
- back and forth between Minnesota, Florida, and Wisconsin as we spent the summer with friends and family
- our 3-month jaunt around Europe
- a 1-week cruise of the Caribbean in December
That doesn’t even include expenses for 2023 travel plans: 5 weeks in the Middle East and Asia, another weeklong Caribbean cruise, a month in Hawaii, and a brief trip to cross Alaska off everyone’s bucket list.
So did we overspend the budget again? Yup. We made last year’s total of $10,200 look paltry in 2022. But we consider travel a true necessity for our happiness and sanity. That also doesn’t consider how much money we saved by travel hacking – our 2022 spending could have been so much worse!
Pets
At least one of us in this family can stay under budget consistently…
Merchandise
The majority of this overage came during our return from Europe in November as we contemplated what we needed for upcoming travel. Given our mostly warm-weather plans, Mrs. FIby35 went on a clothes-buying binge of epic proportions (at least for us) in search of useful pieces.
We didn’t buy much other “stuff” since we don’t have anywhere to put it at the moment.
Other Expenses
This category includes credit card annual fees, income taxes, and a contingency buffer of $1,500. That contingency bent but didn’t break, as we had a few hundred dollars remaining at year end.
Here’s a running tally of how we’ve fared compared to budget over the years:
| YEAR | BUDGET | ACTUAL | OVER/(UNDER) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $60,000 | $67,119 | $7,119 |
| 2021 | $57,000 | $73,108 | $16,108 |
| 2022 | $55,000 | $55,370 | $370 |
Conclusion
Even though I lived through it and tracked expenses in excruciating detail throughout the year, I still find it pleasantly surprising that we came within 1% of our budget after having completely destroying it the previous 2 years (at least). It certainly provides hope that we can stick to it again in the future when our income remains fixed.
Interestingly, even as our budget has decreased over the past 3 years, so has our spending. Despite that trend, I certainly don’t feel as if we’re limiting our happiness by not spending more. We visited 23 countries, had countless worldly experiences, and spent the interim enjoying priceless time with family and friends in 2022.
All in all, we prioritized what was important to us instead of what was expected of us by society. We quit our well-paying jobs, sold our nice house in a nice neighborhood (and most of the possessions inside), and traveled the world. It’s not a lifestyle everyone would enjoy, and there are things to fine-tune for us as well.
Unfortunately, the stock market didn’t cooperate with our plans and we’ve missed out on about 7 months of discount sales by choosing not to work since May. While that fact hurts my Spreadsheet-saturated brain, would I trade it for all that we experienced in 2022? Not a chance.
How did your 2022 spending end up?
