As a true spreadsheet psychopath, our 2023 budget has been in the works for weeks months now, eagerly anticipating the turning of the calendar to January. In last year’s budget post, I hoped that 2022 would finally be the year we stick our budget. Lo and behold, we came pretty damn close! What lessons were learned and implemented for 2023? Read on to find out!
A note about our budgeting process: yes, I really did start compiling our 2023 budget months ago. When you’ve been tracking your spending as long as I have, it’s really not as monumental of a task as you might think. With a baseline of our 2022 budget, I looked at our actual spending throughout last year – where did we overspend? Was it justified by a true emphasis on the lifestyle we want to live, or was it some frivolous one-off spending during a weak moment? Once that has been sorted out, I adjust the proposed 2023 budget for any known or anticipated changes (plenty of those again this year). After a couple brief budget parties with Mrs. FIby35, the 2023 budget is approved!
2023 Budget Breakdown
As you may recall, our 2022 budget was set at $55,000, which we overspent by just $370. How would we respond in 2023? By decreasing the budget by $2,500, of course!
Here are the details by category:
| CATEGORY | MONTHLY TOTAL | YEARLY TOTAL |
|---|---|---|
| Home | $1,128.25 | $13,539.00 |
| Utilities | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Automotive | $449.75 | $5,397.00 |
| Groceries | $308.33 | $3,700.00 |
| Dining Out | $135.42 | $1,625.00 |
| Health & Beauty | $568.33 | $6,820.00 |
| Cell Phones | $33.33 | $400.00 |
| Travel & Entertainment | $1,235.00 | $14,820.00 |
| Pets | $87.50 | $1,050.00 |
| Merchandise | $135.67 | $1,628.00 |
| Other | $293.42 | $3,521.00 |
| TOTAL EXPENSES | $4,375.00 | $52,500.00 |
The obvious question: what’s different from 2022?
Home/Utilities
This is comparable to our 2022 budget, as we again anticipate globetrotting for about half of the year before heading back to the workforce and most likely some sort of residence of our own. I lumped utilities in with Home costs, as those would depend significantly on the type/size of home and I’m not familiar with those costs in Florida yet. For reference, we spent just under $11,000 on these two categories in 2022.
Automotive
Continuing the one-car-life into this year and beyond, though our current vehicle isn’t getting any younger. The 2022 budget was about $4,200 and we spent $4,400, so the increase for this year includes a full year of pricey Florida insurance and conservative estimates for gas and maintenance.
Groceries, Dining Out
This may be a bit of wishful thinking on my part to return to a more stable lifestyle of grocery buying and eating at home. Last year we spent a whopping $2,400 eating out and only $2,800 on groceries. In reality, I’m not too concerned about the split as long as we come in relatively close to budget between the two categories combined.
Health & Beauty
With a full year of ACA health insurance planned at about $435 per month, this category was due for an increase. Last year, we budgeted a shade over $4,000 and spent closer to $4,800, so this is the largest increase for 2023. If we join workplace insurance plans later in the year, I would expect some savings here but there are too many unknowns in that area to be able to accurately predict them at this time.
Cell Phones
No anticipated changes in this area other than not receiving reimbursement through work as I did for the first few months of 2022. We’re still satisfied with our Mint Mobile plans, which cost about $200 each for 12 months of 4GB of 4G LTE data and unlimited talk + text. Mint Mobile seems to always be running some sort of deal to switch to their plans – here’s a referral link if you’re interested. Don’t forget to stack your savings by using Rakuten or Mr. Rebates!
Travel & Entertainment
Though we still have plenty of travel on the docket for 2023, it’s not quite to the level of our 3-month traipse around Europe last fall. Last year’s budget was $16,620 and we spent a whopping $20,000. Generally, any savings in other categories gets filtered towards future travel so I anticipate actual spending to exceed this year’s relatively modest budget of $14,820.
Pets
A slight decrease from 2022, as we’ve pretty well dialed in our dog’s needs for food, supplies, and vet care.
Merchandise
The 2023 budget is pretty consistent with 2022, though we overspent by $450 last year. As we don’t have much in the way of material possessions these days, the spending here mostly consists of replacing our wardrobe. Hopefully the spending in that area will dwindle a bit the longer we settle into Florida life.
*One caveat: Given that we sold much of our stuff in 2022, we would have to replenish some larger items to furnish a new home, whenever that occurs. Therefore, I wouldn’t be surprised for us to spend a couple thousand dollars more than budget this year.
Other Expenses
The main culprits in this category are income taxes, credit card annual fees, and a contingency buffer. Given that the bill when filing our 2021 taxes last year was over $4,000 and we anticipate actually getting a refund for 2022, this category drops significantly. Our credit card annual fees should drop slightly as well, though I increased the contingency from $1,500 to $2,500 since we don’t have jobs yet. Any other one-off expenses that don’t fit into another category should be minimal.
The Kitty
A knockoff of a budgeting trick of some good friends of ours, the Kitty is essentially a series of slush funds that are increased by income that wasn’t anticipated and reduced by expenses that weren’t budgeted. There’s a Kitty for Mr., a Kitty for Mrs., and a shared Kitty for the most dire of circumstances. Basically, it’s a way to encourage additional income generation to allow for splurges on things that weren’t budgeted for in the first place. Cash from selling a piece of furniture? To the shared Kitty. Fantasy football entry fees? Out of Mr. FIby35’s Kitty. You get the idea.
The kitty netted over $8,700 in unanticipated revenue last year, in large part to selling off lots of our possessions before moving. I do not expect to generate as much random income in 2023, though I certainly won’t turn it down if it comes our way. Every little bit helps!
Conclusion
There you have it. There’s still plenty of uncertainty in our lives when it comes to our living situation in particular, though every day brings more information and clarity. All we can do budget-wise is plan for what we know and make our best guess at what we don’t. At any rate, the FIby35 family is looking forward to another fun and exciting year!
How does your 2023 budget look?
