March 2022 Budget Review
Monthly Review: March 2022 - 76.8% Savings Rate
Let’s quickly hit the notable moments from March:
15-Days in Mexico
Weeklong Bday Ski Trip in Utah
Nascar Race
Multiple Concerts
New Skis!
Giant Luchador Event
Cenotes
****As always, every category depicts what I spent, what I made, and how my net worth changed. Just me, not our household****
Less than a week worth of nights spent in our own home this month.
Why did we buy a home again haha?
It’s hard to pick one highlight of the month when you spend two weeks with friends in Mexico and then a week next door to the slopes for your birthday.
I decided to give the cenote the feature pic because it was one of the coolest natural features I’ve ever seen.
The awesome part about all of this is it was done for dirt cheap.
Disclaimer: This month is the worst I’ve ever done at tracking due to things being spit as a group and calculated later and accidentally using the bank account we use for our property management cash for the ATM in Mexico. Not trying to skew the numbers and if you read any other month, you’ll see I’m normally dialed-in to the penny.
Keep scrolling for the full breakdown.
After-Tax Income: $15,802
It comes as a mix of regular pay, commissions, 401k matching, VA, and restricted stock.
Great to get ~5 months of expenses covered in one month
On to the expenses
Expenses: $3,664
With all the standard expenses I have, this number is actually very hard to achieve.
I never give myself a budget really, I just spend my money on the things that bring me happiness and let the chips fall where they may.
Most of the expense actually came from something that had nothing to do with all the activities that I had.
That expense…. a flight to Saudi Arabia! You’ll have to wait until the April/May updates to learn more about that awesome trip.
Let’s break down the expenses in detail.
Going Out: $148.69
I’ll be honest, I didn’t capture all my expenses this month.
Some of them were totaled up and settled later and will show up next month.
But there was some good food for sure. Free, cheap, and fancy, this month had it all.
On our last night as a group, we went to a “high-end” spot in Merida and one of the dishes was this awesome bone marrow dish.
At the same spot we got one of the tastiest dishes in recent memory which was a truffle risoto.
Not all the food came from a normal restaurant. One stop was actually a food tour where we got to try some traditional food cooked in traditional methods like this pork cooked underground.
Of course to and from Mexico I had to get in my free food fix thanks to the Delta lounge.
As much as I love free food, I’m glad I don’t get access more often because I’d be spending the money I saved on new clothes. Self-control with food isn’t my strong suit haha
The total break-down for eating out this month was:
La Pulquerida: $11.50
Uber Eats: $32.26
Landry’s: $1.65
Zinc: $17.58
Mercado 60: $5.64
Lous: $21.50
Beach Drinks: $16.25
7-Eleven: $5.77
Armadillo Den: $7.00
Offset: $12.54
Mugy’s: $16.50
Groceries: $98.93
This month we spent so little time at home, and the food was so cheap in Mexico, that we didn’t really do a ton of grocery shopping.
Again, there’s also some settling up that happened with money taken from an ATM that was accidentally pulled from my bank account tied to the condo we manage but I do feel confident that the numbers wouldn’t be changed much.
Most of the groceries were actually bought while in Park City where we actually only ate out a couple of times and instead did meal prep for our little getaway.
To some that can sound like a drag when you’re on a vacation, but we found that we’re traveling so much that if we ate in vacation mode at all times that we would feel (and probably look) terrible.
Full grocery cost breakdown:
Super Aki: $30.77
HEB: $8.54
Walmart: $59.62
Bills: $2,263
These have become my new normal for now. I’m sure I’ll pay the truck off before I quit, or sell if we end up not going down the pull-behind camper route.
The odd one is Armor Gym. That’s because we signed up for a two-week gym membership while in Mexico and walked to work out most mornings.
The full set of bills was:
Mortgage: $1,473.29
Internet: $27
Spotify: $10
Utilities: $84.13
Truck: $650
Netflix: $4.50
Armor Gym: $14.77
Travel & Entertainment: $1007.44
Not a ton of line items this month with the only expenses coming from a flight to Saudi Arabia, some Ubers, tickets to a comedy show, tickets to a giant Lucha (wrestling) show in Merida, and our awesome sleigh ride up the mountain in Park City.
While there weren’t a ton of expenses, there were a ton of days on the road.
I think 23 days were spent outside of the state of Texas this month.
Let’s chat about the big group trip to Mexico first.
15 Days in Mexico with Financial Independence Crew
When we wrapped up FinCon back in Sept of ‘21, my buddy James asked if I wanted to do a couple of weeks in Merida. All we knew was the Airbnb location and a possible price depending on how many folks we got.
And that’s all I needed to know to say yes.
That’s what I love about how I’ve constructed my life. Being able to say yes without hesitation to things that bring me joy.
And while the house was a killer price, it was no slouch. It had two huge courtyards, two guest houses, and a big pool.
It was a little further south than where most people go to vacation but the prices were a fraction of the cost.
This to me is a great example of why you just need to focus on the outcome and not the method.
What we wanted was a cool place that could house us all and give us a place to hang out while we took a slow two weeks in Mexico. We didn’t care what the house across the street looked like or if it took an extra 10 minutes to walk somewhere.
But it was still within walking distance to plenty of great spots like the coffee shop in the pic above or the gym we walked to most mornings.
The other reason the specific location wasn’t that important, is because most Ubers or Didis (local version of Uber) cost under $2 for a trip. That split 3-4 ways makes it hard to justify breaking a sweat.
The prices in Merida were incredibly low for sure. Our group of 6 got bottle service for tequila and it cost $30… not per person…total!
While we did keep things somewhat local, we took a few long uber rides out to some beaches and a full-day excursion to see one of the wonders of the world, Chichén Itzá.
It was certainly a place full of tourists but still worth a quick visit. It’s incredible to think about things like this being built with no modern machinery.
We would then go and visit Izamal also known as the Yellow City. But the real star of the show were the Cenotes.
Cenotes are these underground pools of crystal clear water. The transportation to get to the first one was this hilarious horse-drawn cart that ran down train tracks.
These things were hands down the highlight of our trip. I can’t overstate how beautiful and unique they were.
Each one was a little different but they were all worthwhile.
Then there’s a touch of comedy. I wanted to see a luchador event and we really lucked out.
There happened to be a AAA show which is the Mexican equivalent of WWE. So this was a big-time show that even had wrestlers who get featured weekly on television in the United States.
There’s nothing quite like being surrounded by thousands of people yelling “Mesa, Mesa, Mesa!” when a luchador sets up a table to throw his opponent through.
I did my best to do a quick recap of a two-week trip, but the moral of the story for me is to build a flexible life and a friend group you can enjoy that life with.
From Mexico, we took a big change of scenery and headed to the mountains of Utah in Park City.
2nd Annual B-day Ski-a-thon
When the Air Force moved me to Colorado way back in the day, I never imagined I would become a skier honestly.
But in 2015 I really started getting into it and the rest is history.
I’ve never found any activity that brings me more joy than skiing, and I’m doing my best to start a tradition where I’m skiing on my birthday every year from now on.
My buddy Ron’s Parents have a place in walking distance to a lift in Park City and he was nice enough to let me stay there for a week in March.
We ate out for my birthday and went to a few spots but honestly, we really enjoyed just skiing, relaxing in the hot tub, and eating healthy meals in the beautiful home.
A couple of other highlights though included our horse-drawn carriage ride in the mountains and the tour of the High West Distillery.
And if Mexico and Utah weren’t enough for one month, let’s talk about the latest example of my concert addiction.
Live Music Strikes Again
If you keep up with me for long you’ll probably see an insane amount of concerts and even with 23 days of travel in March, I still saw three concerts this month.
The first one up is a band that swings so far above their weight class. They don’t have a massive following but the songwriting and performances are incredible.
If you ever get a chance to see American Aquarium, don’t miss it. Especially if you can catch them at a small venue where they’re the headliner. BJ won’t leave you disappointed.
Next up was a combo of music and merica.
Even though I am as southern as they come, I never had much interest in NASCAR and had never been to an event.
You know me though, I can’t miss a good deal so when I was able to get two free tickets, I had to go check it out.
We actually had amazing seats right down near the track at the start-finish line but I wanted to snag a picture of this unique track which is actually designed to be an F1 track vs your traditional NASCAR oval.
But keeping with the live music theme, the race also included a pre-race concert with a performance by Midland.
Last up in March was a very special moment for me because not only did I get to see one of my favorite artists (Koe Wetzel), but I also got to take my friend who is originally from Saudi Arabia and had never been to a country show.
Although, it’s probably not fair to call it a country show because Koe shows live are much more like a rock shows.
I think I was too excited because it seems that I didn’t even take any pictures.
Yet another example of me being the worst blogger alive.
The full list of expenses for travel and entertainment were:
Lucha Tix: $16.55
Uber: $12.62
Uber: $18.57
Saudi Flight: $900
Comedy Show: $17.20
Sleigh Ride: $27.50
Mexico Ubers: $15
Miscellaneous: $126.41
This category is often the most frustrating, but this month wasn’t too bad.
We just started buying up some things that will eventually be needed to run our house as an Airbnb when we travel.
Not sure how long it’ll be before we’re ready for that but we have all the permitting started and do believe we’ll have a good market for it.
Here’s the complete list of random purchases this month:
Sams: $126.41
Gas: $19.11
Don’t spend a lot on gas when you’re not even in the same state as your cars for over 75% of the month ha.
Big Picture: Net Worth Increased $14,186 to $1,087,102
Last but not least is the always necessary net-worth update.
I saved $12,138 while the market pitched in $2,047 worth of value for a total increase of $14,186.
If you made it this far, all I can say is thank you!
And if this feels like it’s a bit far in the journey to be relatable, don’t forget that I started tracking when I only had $38k!
That was in 2015 and I started blogging about my expenses and net worth in 2017 which you can find here.
Until next time