My Budget is officially increasing in 2023

 This might be the earliest I've ever drafted a budget for the next year since I began my early retirement journey, but this has been a strange year of sorts. 

Last year my budget was pretty wonky, thanks to COVID. This year it was all over the place thanks to life post-vaccination.

And next year, I don't know what I'm doing. I will say, if memory serves me correctly, I don't remember the first four years being as complicated. I just tried to stay within that $30k or below for target spending. I probably did hem and haw over whether to call it a goal or an aim or a target, I do remember that.  Mostly I was trying to figure out what the most I could squeeze out to save!

But the numbers were easy. My pay was pretty consistent, bonus never needed factoring, and my life was much simpler in the apartment. I knew exactly what my payment would be. 

Then I got a fancier job, with weird stress, some mental distress, the biggest loss of emotional support, and some aggressive savings to cope. 

That brings us to the last quarter of 2022 where for many months of 2022 I considered completely abandoning my death house. 

But that didn't sit well.

Because I had so much fun spending some of this money, I thought why wait for some big impetus to make the move to Seattle. I could technically afford it and still max out my 401k. But I haven't lost my mind completely. Even with this spendy year as a buffer, I found it difficult to swallow a budget where I'd spend $60k and have just $9k of wiggle room. It felt stifling. 

Even thought it was technically just mental math, my brain wouldn't let me do it.

So I did some more magic math and settled on a more reasonable budget for my still very frugal mindset.

Here we are:

The Summary

2023 Projections
GROSS SALARY:	$132,000 / YR
PPRE-TAX 401K: (YR)	$22,500
NET SALARY: (YR)	$69,000
BASIC NC EXPENSES: (YR)	$32,000
SEATTLE SUPPLEMENT: (up to 6 MONS)	$17,100
FUN / ADVENTURE SUPPLEMENT: (YR)	$10,000
REMAINDER:	$9,900
ESTIMATED POTENTIAL TOTAL SPEND:	$59,100
ESTIMATED POTENTIAL TOTAL SAVE:	$32,400

Whoops, that was the old one that wasn't setting right with me... aren't the colors pretty??!!

Here's where we landed a few days later (can and may change in a few days, who knows!):

2023 Projections
GROSS SALARY:	$132,000 / YR
PPRE-TAX 401K: (YR)	$22,500
NET SALARY: (YR)	$69,000
BASIC NC EXPENSES: (YR)	$35,000
"SEATTLE" SUPPLEMENT: (up to 6 MONS)	$15,000
REMAINDER:	$19,000
ESTIMATED POTENTIAL TOTAL SPEND:	$50,000
ESTIMATED POTENTIAL TOTAL SAVE:	$41,500

I was also in a tizzy about replenishing emergency funds. So with this updated budget, I feel loads better. Like I can still save the extra $10k after the 401k max, but I have even more room for catastrophic events. That just feels better.

And with that, where I was panicking about not having enough money flowing through my bank account, I'm actually more comfortable having a little less cash on hand. Strange right? I just wanted some flexibility between what I was spending and what I was saving.

So before in Plan A, I was getting nervous having $8k in Emergency Fund CDs and 3 months expenses in my checking/savings account. Because I just didn't know what I would do if that ran out somehow.

Now I'm happy just keeping that $8k (about 3 months expenses) around and just having the 1.5 months expenses in my checking account. I have less cash on hand, but I have a lever to pull if I need to replenish it. And just like that... woosa!

And I built in an extra month's headstart in my annual budget, the $3k roundup from $32k to $35k. 

As long as I don't focus on that too much, I can be comfortable with a cool 3 mons expenses in Savings and not feel too strapped for cash or that I have too much cash on hand. 

This is the first year I also itemized more expenses, especially large 1 time expenses as monthly expenses. I've been seeing it more and more and decided to try it. It's therapeutic to see exactly where it goes.

Before I just estimated a modest cushion and figured it would cover it and it did. But now I know this is exactly what I need each month to cover my expected expenses for the year. That's pretty cool.

Here they are.. I took the time to make it...why not share it!

BASIC MONTHLY EXPENSES	$2,920
Student Loans	$800
Housing/ Utilities	$842
Mortgage	$521
Utilities	$135
Internet	$60
(recurring monthly subtotal)	$716
1% maintenance fund (as monthly expense)	$67
Annual HOA fee (as monthly expense)	$59
Everyday Expenses	$450
Food	250
Every Day Expenses	200
Tithe	$500
Other Known Annual Expenses	$78
Professional Licensing Fee	$4
Free CE	$11
Car Insurance	$52
Vehicle Registration	$11
MENTAL CUSHION	$250

So there you have it folks. No huge difference. I did up my food/grocery budget from $200 to $250. I officially added Tithing to my budget. Realistically, for three of the first 4 years of my journey, I'd been coming in around $30k anyway, so I know that's my default spending. But I'd always aim to spend a little less. This time I'm including all the things, essential and non-essential and going in expecting to spend a little more than I have in the past.

Knowing what comes next is my biggest joy!

Recent Accomplishments, lest I forget:

- Tidying up the apartment

- Laundry

- I cooked today!

- I walked the loop!

- I socialized!!!

Okay back to what we were talking about. Making a budget makes me happy. Old Me is still nervous that of course being so presumptuous as to make a budget means I'm automatically going to lose my job and end up poor and destitute, with  no friends, and planning to go to Seattle next year means I automatically will lose all my money, loss of my legs, and anything that would make returning fun. 

Millions of people make plans and vacation plans every year, but obviously my making a plan means it automatically won't happen! I'll "jinx" it!  People buy vacation homes, but my making a budget is the thing that would bring me unspeakable horror! Oh, brain!

It's weird to plan to be happy. That's never happened before, at least not in the recent past.