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On the quest for financial freedom, many people focus solely on net income.
If that’s the only number you are looking at, you are missing out on a liberating opportunity to accelerate your goals.
Join our Free Wealthy Women Daily Net Worth Challenge to get the accountability you need to increase your assets and decrease your liabilities.
In this expense report, I will be looking at all purchases and charges from Sunday, June 28th to Saturday, July 4th.
Make sure you subscribe to Wealthy Women Weekly to get more juicy money + net worth tips that will help you invest in your dream life.
Decrease Your Expenses and Increase Your Net Worth
Here’s an important statement you need to understand on your money journey: Some people don’t have an income problem; they have an expense problem.
Reread that sentence.
Because of high expenses, many people are not able to allocate money towards assets that increase their net worth.
Do you fall into that category?
Once you rethink your expenses and determine if the way you allocate your money aligns with what matters most to you, then you can make better decisions.
A simple life of happiness, health, and wealth comes when you don’t have a long list of expenses weighing you down.
So the best way to see where you stand in the expense game is to track your expenses. Do this as often as possible so you can see where most of your money is going.
Here is my expense report.
Fitness Coach – $120
My health is a top priority. It’s at the core of what I do. I am willing to invest my financial resources into my health.
Why?
Because having good health will allow me to do the things on my vision board. Without my health, my vision board desires will only be a dream.
This week I got a chance to workout virtually with my fitness coach on Monday, June 29th and Wednesday, July 1st. I felt AMAZING afterwards. If it wasn’t for her, I definitely wouldn’t have worked out or had the desire to push myself like she does during our sessions.
Chase Sapphire Annual Credit Card Membership Fee – $95
Time to pay that annual credit card membership fee!
This was the best credit card for me to use while I was traveling around the world. If travel plans are in your future, this is a great card to have by your side.
In June 2019, I traveled to Toronto, Canada and Montego Bay, Jamaica. I absolutely loved it! I did it all with a small backpack and purse and was free to do whatever I wanted.
So of course I wanted more travel freedom!
I decided to book a one-way flight to London and then traveled around Europe! I explored London, Berlin (Germany), Luxembourg, Malta, and Barcelona (Spain).
It was a dream come true! I traveled to those countries in August and September and then had to return home to release my first book, Dividends Are a Queen’s Best Friend.
But while I was traveling around the world, I was happy to have my Chase Sapphire Credit Card to avoid foreign transaction fees.
Those fees add up and can make you “mad mad” while you’re supposed to be living your best life.
So was the $95 Chase Sapphire Annual Credit Card Membership Fee worth it? Heck yeah! I avoided additional fees and received hundreds of dollars in rewards points over the year. This was a great “investment” since I’m a travel lover.
Use my referral link here to apply for a Chase Sapphire Annual Credit Card. You’ll qualify for bonus points and have what you need to increase your net worth, live your best life when you travel, and collect rewards points to purchase your favorite items while you’re at home.
Capital One SavorOne Rewards Card – $24.49
Credit cards can either increase or decrease net worth. I use my credit cards to boost my net worth.
As soon as I accumulate charges on my credit card, I try to pay it off. I hardly ever wait until the end of the month or when the payment is due to pay my credit card bills.
One habit of people with an 800+ credit score is that they typically pay off their credit card bills in full every month. This allows them to fully enjoy all the rewards points that credit cards offer.
I’m typically paying credit card bills every week so that my balance can be zero on Friday or Monday of the following week. Debt free! I love not owing anyone anything. I emphasize setting up your own payment schedule so you can see more zero balances on your credit card.
Here is my grocery allocation:
Mariano’s – $11.46
Whole Foods – $13.43
Mariano’s – $3.34 (2.5 lbs of Kale) I used my Capital One Rewards to pay for this purchase.
I put the $24.49 on my Capital One SavorOne rewards card and earned more points.
Using Technology To Decrease My Credit Card Bill
Ok, you’re probably wondering how did I get enough food for the week with only $24.49? Let’s address that. I don’t want you to think I’m starving myself out here.
I used my gift card I receive from Fetch Rewards to pay for the majority of my purchases. Have you heard of Fetch Rewards?
When you download the Fetch Rewards app using this link, you’ll receive 2,000 points when you scan your first grocery receipt. Use referral code “WVWBW”.
The more receipts you scan, the more points you earn. So make sure you scan your receipt every time you leave the grocery store. You can also keep a collection of your receipts and scan them all when you have free time. I absolutely love it!
So the money that I had to spend after using my gift card was $24.49. I used to spend $25 a day for food and now I can leverage my resources to only spend $25 a week. YES!!
Here is why I love my Capital One SavorOne rewards card:
- New cardmembers earn a one-time $150 cash bonus once you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening
- 0% intro APR for 15 months
- No Annual Free
- Earn unlimited 3% cash back on dining and entertainment, 2% at grocery stores and 1% on all other purchases
- Rewards points can be used to get gift cards, cover your purchases, or get cash.
This credit card is for customers with excellent credit.
Before getting a credit card, check your credit report and credit score. You can get free credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com.
What I should have did was use my capital one credit card to pay for my fitness instead of using my cash. I need to check to see if payment with credit card is a possibility. Then I may get points back for my investment in health.
Total Personal Expenses for the Week of June 29th: $239.49
- Fitness Coach – $120
- Chase Sapphire Annual Membership – $95
- Capital One SavorOne Rewards Card – $24.49
Did I spend more than I expected to spend? Yes! I completely forgot about the annual credit card membership fee that I had to pay.
Were the expenses worth it? Yes!
Living and business expenses (QuickBooks, Google Gsuite, Professional Dues, and Annual Report Fee) are excluded from this calculation.
What will I do better to monitor my net worth?
Set money aside in advance to pay my $95 annual card fee that will be due on July 1, 2021.
The money I put aside can be saved in an account that will allow me to get interest.
Maybe I can invest a portion of the $95 into a taxable brokerage account or save enough rewards points to pay off the $95 annual card fee.
I like the idea of using rewards points to pay the $95 card fee. That means I get all the benefits from the card without using my personal funds.
I’ll also look for ways to offset my fitness expense since health is my priority. Stay tuned for what I find!
What lessons did you learn this week? What will you do differently? Comment below.
I spent money on necessary expenses this week but I can definitely say I did do a small bit of online shopping that probably was not necessary. Ive learned this week to continue monitoring my expenses and to use my expenses to increase my networth.
Yes! You got this. Awareness is the first step and as we progress on this journey we can take actions that get us closer to our goals. As we monitor our expenses frequently, our mindset will also shift. It’s amazing how it all works.
Geez, you did amazingly well this week, I’ve gone out an ate out a fair bit this week so probably a couple of hundred bucks alone just on dining!
Wow! Yeah dining out definitely increases your expenses. When I used to work outside my home full-time, I spent the same amount. I was always wondering where my money was going LOL. Cooking my own food every day helps to decrease food expenses.
I have learnt that I only need to spend the amount relevant to the physical cash I have for the month. Also learning to keep to a budget for sure.
Yes!! That’s good when you limit spending to the amount of physical cash you have. I give myself an allowance and try to not spend more than half of the physical cash I have on me for my “food emergencies”.
I love that you include using credit cards and rewards. So many financial blogs tell you to cut them all up, but they can be useful when used correctly!
Yes! We just have to learn how to use credit cards wisely and it can help us in our financial freedom journey.
So informative!
Glad you enjoyed it! I try to do weekly updates.
I’ve done pretty well this week with my spending. Trying to really think before I buy and only get the things that my family really needs.
That’s awesome! Thinking before we buy saves a lot of money.
I really like this article it definitely made me take a look into my own spending habits.
This is so awesome! Yes! Let’s decrease those expenses and increase our income. We are all about building our net worth in this season.