Put Together Your Own Case-Study

A case study is, in this instance, a full financial picture of yourself or your household that includes line items for all your income, bills, expenses, debts, interest rate on those debts, category break downs, your thoughts, comments, questions and unique situations that aren't represented in the numbers and your current plans. Just by putting one of these together you get a much better understanding of where your finances are.

When I started out, I couldn't build a simple snapshot of my finances like this. I had no clue what was actually going on. This is why tracking expenses is the most important first step there is. You can't fix what you can't measure.

I am going to share the first case-study I put together for myself and posted for public critique. I put this together in May 2013, 4 months after beginning work on being frugal. Honestly, it took me that long to get a good financial hold of myself that I could actually build one of these and thus it doesn't show where I was at the beginning of all this, but it's close. Remember that 4 months prior to this snapshot, I had $0 savings and well over 10,000 in debt.

I challenge you to work through and build a case study yourself to better understand your finances and see where your money is going. For those who don't want to build one from scratch you can download a template here (Google Drive). Once you are comfortable, I'd suggest heading over to the "Ask A Mustachian" Forum and post it for critique and feedback. They are truly helpful!

Below is my case study. If you are interested in seeing how people responded to it and provided great feedback the link is here

I am 25 years old and work as a Sr. Systems Administrator for a University.  I am currently supporting my SO while she works through some internships to get a better position in her industry and pay for about everything sans her car and car insurance. (She's 23, fresh grad in Graphic Design) Below is my current financial snapshot: 

Monthly Income:
Pre-Tax                      - $7,243.74
Post-Tax                    - $4,628.6
Paycheck Withdrawals (per month):
Parking                       - $47.40
Retirement                  - $434.62
Federal Tax                 - $1142.82
Medicare                     - $104.34
Social Security             - $446.18
State Tax                    - $444.00
Total                            - $2,619.36 (ARGH!!!) 

Monthly Bills:
Rent                           - $650
Car Payment              - $281
Car Insurance            - $90
Phone                         - $157 (!!!!)
Electric                        - $107
Water                         - $8
Internet                      - $25
Banfield Veterinary     - $25
Total                           - $1,343 

Monthly Expenses:
Groceries                   -  $350
Dining                         - $350
Fuel                            - $135
Misc. Purchases          - ~$200
Total                          - $1,035

Investment Funds:
Tiaa-Cref Retirement Fund (Current Company)   - $1,439
Fidelity Investment (Old Company's 401K)          - $1,641 

Current savings                                      - $5,249.59
Monthly contribution to savings account - $2,000 

Car Loans                 - $9,916.08 @ 4.5%
Car's "worth"            - $12,500
Credit Card               - $0.00

My current plans to reduce my expenditure are: 

• Start Riding my Bike to work and sell the car, cancel parking pass at work. (~580/mo in savings)
• Move over to Virgin Mobile plan for both our phones, reducing cost in half to 80/mo. (~80/mo in savings)
• Stop eating out! Invest more in my kitchen (pots/pans, etc...) to make cooking easier and more enjoyable. (~350/mo in savings)
• Reduce electricity consumption with optimizing heating/cooling, more efficient laundry loads, etc... (~25/mo in savings)
• The SO and I car pool everywhere /except/ when going to work, so getting rid of the car shouldn't be difficult once I ride my bike to work every day (7.8 mile ride).

Any advice, is welcome! Thanks!