Home Economics No. 42: Single mom living in Boise, Idaho, on $120k a year

But she met the love of her life (post baby!), and everything is about to change!

Hello! We have a lot of new subscribers today because last week’s essay on the $140k poverty line was featured in the Substack Post. Welcome! Today’s newsletter is a new edition of our signature series Home Economics, where women from across the country share an inside peek at their finances.

Not gonna lie: It was a little overwhelming to see last week’s essay go Substack viral. (FWIW, Substack viral is very different from the virality we used to enjoy at Refinery29. When a post went viral at R29, a million people would read it. When a post goes viral on Substack, 25,000 people read it.) Still, a lot of people who are not typical Purse readers weighed in on last week’s essay, and a few times I felt like I did here, in the photo below, when I attended my high school reunion and was subject to some pretty annoying mansplaining.

But a few people called out one issue with this essay that I wholeheartedly agreed with. The editions of Home Economics I shared weren’t necessarily the best examples to illustrate my point. Michael Green’s argument is that the $140k poverty line should apply to families of four, and the two Home Ecs I wrote about are both families of three. Others pointed out that I should have shared a Home Ec from families earning less $100k a year, and the truth is, we haven’t published any like that yet.

I regularly write that we need more editions of Home Ec, but I find that I often get the best responses when I make specific requests. So here I am, once again asking you to submit your stories! You can fill out the form here.

Alicia recently did a deep dive into past editions, and we still need entries from 27 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

We also realized that all our New York City editions are based in Brooklyn! We’d love to publish some from the other four boroughs! (Never intended to be a Brooklyn snob!)

If you have any questions about the process, feel free to reach out by simply replying to this email.

I’m excited for today’s edition, which is our first entry from Idaho! It’s a good one! I’ll let the writer take it from here.

Age: 34
Location: Boise, Idaho
Relationship status: I’m engaged, but we don’t share finances or live together (though that’s changing soon)
Age of partner: 38

About me: I am a recently engaged solo mom of one! I went to college in Boise, and after moving around some in my 20s for work, I decided to settle here. I am proud of where I am at financially, solely supporting myself and my daughter. I am also excited to have found the love of my life (post child!), who is equally if not more financially savvy.

All expenses are monthly unless otherwise noted!

Income:

1. Your job title/salary: Procurement manager; $120,000 + ~20% bonus dependent on company performance

2. Your monthly take-home pay (paycheck amount after taxes and other deductions): $4,356.71

3. Total monthly income: $4,356.71

Account balances:

4. Checking account balance: $2,137.24

5. High-yield savings account balance: $131,440.16 (2.96% APY)

6. Monthly contribution to savings account: I’m not adding to my savings account right now because I’m focused on building up my investment account.

7. Retirement account(s) balance: $285,652 total split across two accounts

   • Employer 1: $104,474

   • Employer 2: $187,594, split between a Roth IRA ($23,930) and a traditional 401(k) ($163,664)

8. Monthly contribution to retirement accounts: I contribute $1,211.29 (out of my paycheck). I do a 50/50 split between Roth IRA and 401(k). My employer matches about half of my 401(k) contribution.

9. Investment account balance: $17,758 in company stock. My company offers an employee stock program, where we can buy stock at a 30% discount. This is my first year contributing to hit my investing goals, and I have been happy with it!

10. Monthly contribution to investment accounts: $1,734 to my employee stock program (12 bi-weekly payments total; comes out of my paycheck)

11. 529 account balance: $6,000

12. Monthly contribution to 529 account: I just made a lump sum contribution of $6,000 so I could take full advantage of the Idaho tax benefits. Next year I might make a monthly contribution instead.

13. Emergency fund balance: It’s lumped in with my high-yield savings account.

14. Sinking fund: $449.74. I used to get stressed out about spending money from my savings account. A couple of years ago I decided to open a sinking fund account and deposited ~$10,000 in there as a way to encourage myself to feel better about spending my money on things like travel. This fund really helped me change my mindset, and it has stuck with me. Now, since I am earning more interest from my HYS, I have diverted my fun money there but have kept the mindset developed from my sinking fund, which allows me to be more relaxed and enjoy the bigger purchases. I would love to have a bank account that allows me to bucket out my savings account into different goals, but I am too loyal to my bank that doesn’t currently offer that feature. Next year, I will try to do this in a manual tracker.

Total in checking, savings, and investment accounts: $452,439.14

Housing:

15. Size of your home: I live in a three-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bath house. My mom and stepdad recently built an ADU in our backyard.

16. Mortgage: $1,465

17. Current home value: $527,500 (not including ADU)

18. Current mortgage balance: $219,559

19. Year you bought your home: 2018

20. Price you paid for your home: $273,000

21. Mortgage interest rate: 3.38%

22. How much was your down payment? I put down $54,600 (20%).

23. How long did it take you to save for the down payment? I had money in my savings at the time, but I wasn’t saving specifically for a home. When I moved back to Boise everyone was in a frenzy to buy homes, as prices were increasing rapidly. I jumped on the bandwagon, and although homeownership was a hard adjustment at first, I feel grateful that I did it at that time.

24. Did you have any family help buying your home? Yes! My dad gifted me $30,000. I wasn’t expecting this, and my original plan was to put down less than 20% and pay mortgage insurance as a first-time home buyer. He said that he wanted to do something good with the money, and that if I took it, he may not have money for a wedding later on. I took it and am grateful I was able to save on the PMI.

25. Home taxes: ~$290

26. Home insurance: $88

27. Electricity: $68.52

28. Water: $88.81

29. Natural gas: $13 in the summer months, $50 in the winter months

30. Cell phone: $82.52 ($75 of that is reimbursed by my employer)

31. Internet: $76

32. Housekeeper: $150 for one cleaning a month

33. Gardener: My stepdad does all the landscaping.

34. Sewer and trash: $101.62

Transportation:

35. Monthly car payment: N/A. I paid $20,000 in cash in 2019 for my 2014 car, and I’m still enjoying it.

36. Car insurance payment: $40.26

37. Gas: ~$65. I work from home, so I don’t drive much. My fiancé gave me and my daughter an e-bike this summer that we love. I try to ride it everywhere we go in the warmer months. Boise is a very bike-friendly city.

38. Car maintenance: ~$500 a year. Luckily no major issues so far!

39. Parking: ~$10

40. Monthly public transportation: N/A

41. Ride shares (Uber, taxi, etc.): ~$20. I rarely use this service. Hooray for e-bikes! Maybe in the winter, it will pick up.

Children:

42. Number of children and their ages: I have a three-year-old.

43. Preschool tuition: $673. She goes to preschool from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. five days a week.

44. Nanny: N/A. I’m so lucky that my retired mom moved here and built a house in my backyard and helps out with child care! It is truly a gift.

45. After school: My mom and I switch off picking her up depending on my meeting schedule, etc.

46. Babysitter: On days when she doesn’t have preschool, she goes to her old daycare, where I pay a $40-per-day drop-in fee. She has gone four times this year. Otherwise my mom and stepdad cover it all—I truly hit the jackpot!

47. Extracurricular activities: We did swimming lessons this summer, which was about $120 a month for two months. We will likely sign up for soccer in the spring.

48. Other: We do lots of fun activities like going to the pool, the pumpkin patch, indoor playgrounds, etc. We spend about $100 a month on these entertainment activities.

Debts:

49. Student loan total balance: My mom saved $20,000 for both me and my brother. I was valedictorian of my (very small) high school, but this benefitted me hugely in scholarships. I was able to pay tuition at a public college with the $20k my mom gave me, and I waitressed to cover my living expenses through college.

50. Credit card balance (if you carry a balance month to month): I don’t carry a balance.

Food:

51. Groceries: $400. This amount varies from month to month depending on how much we eat out. We eat dinner at my mom’s at least two nights a week. Sometimes I will go to her house for a snack or lunch in the middle of the workday. :)

52. Dining out: $250. This also varies month to month depending on social events. If my fiancé and I go on a date, he pays. I work from a coffee shop at least two times a week, and I always buy something. It’s usually an average of $10 per visit.

Socializing and Entertainment:

53. Subscriptions (streaming services, magazines, etc.): $46, which includes YouTube Premium, some Substack newsletters, Hulu/Disney +, The New York Times, and Spotify. I use my mom’s Netflix account.

54. Memberships (museums, etc.): N/A

55. Movies, concerts, other events: It depends on the month, but I usually take this out of my savings account versus budget for it monthly. I’d estimate I spend around $200 if I am buying tickets for me and my fiancé, and I would say we go to four concerts a year.

56. Entertaining and socializing other: This is included in dining out and groceries budget. We threw a big backyard engagement taco party recently, and my mom covered all those expenses. When we threw a party in May, I spent ~$500 on food and alcohol.

57. Travel: At this point in my financial journey, I try my best not to think about finances when traveling and just enjoy :) I took a few big trips this year, and I’m taking a few more big ones in 2026, including:

    • My fiancé and I went to Ireland last September. When we travel, we split the expenses. On this trip, he paid for the flights, and I paid for the hotels. I spent around $3,000.

    • The HQ for my company is based in New York, and I try to schedule at least a night of personal time to enjoy the city when I travel for work. In February, my fiancé joined me for a three-day weekend prior to meetings. He paid the hotel, work paid for the flight, and I paid ~$500 for dining/fun. In the summer, I visited NYC again and spent one night on my own in the city. In total, I spent around $500 for dining, hotel room, and shopping.

    • I traveled to Chicago for a conference in July and similarly flew in the morning before the convention and spent ~$200 on dining/activities during my personal time. The hotel was covered since I had meetings in the morning.

    • For my bachelorette party, we are going to Scottsdale, and I anticipate spending around $2,000.

    • We are getting married in Hawaii in February, and we’ll be spending about $12,000. It’s just the two of us eloping, and we’re going to take my daughter on a special Disney cruise in early April, which will be around $5,000 for the three of us.

Miscellaneous:

58. Clothing: This year I did an (almost) no-buy year. I didn’t do it for financial reasons but for minimalist/keeping clothes out of landfill reasons. I’ve only shopped twice this year—once on a trip to New York City, and once to pick up a couple of things from Anthropologie for a work conference. I have been intentional over the last three to five years and focused on buying just a few high-quality pieces. In a normal year, I would say I spend $2,000 on clothes, but I feel like I’m pretty set with the basics right now. I do Nuuly roughly five times a year ($100 a month), which keeps my wardrobe feeling fun and fresh.

59. Home supplies: $25. I try to be minimal here.

60. Exercise: $96 for Orange Theory. I have been going for six years straight! I have a founding membership. I am so happy I have built this habit. I also go to hot yoga every now and then. I pay $85 for a five class pack. Sometimes this class pack lasts me two to three months; sometimes I use all five classes in one month (especially in colder winter months).

61. Personal and self-care (haircuts, manicures, massages, etc.):

    • Dip manicure: $55

    • Pedicure: $55 (once every three months)

    • Botox: $162 (twice a year)

    • Skin care: ~$400 a year

    • Facial: $120 (once a quarter)

    • Hair cut and color: $180 (twice a year)

62. Donations: $76 monthly to an abortion access fund (I live in Idaho—these are scary times, y’all) and Jesse Tree, which is a local organization helping to prevent eviction. I donate to other causes when they pop up on social media, and I feel drawn to them. I would say about $50 a month. I have a goal to increase donations next year.

63. Tithing: N/A

64. Gifts: $1,000 for Christmas presents, $200 per month for other gifts. I also try to buy my mom and stepdad dinner gift cards as a thank-you for all their help ($150 roughly four times a year). This year I bought them season tickets to the university basketball team, which was $550.

Insurance:

65. Life insurance: N/A. I have coverage through my employer.

66. Health insurance: $286. This comes out of my paycheck each month.

67. HSA contribution: $416. This also comes out of my paycheck.

68. HSA balance: $9,002

Total monthly spending (includes annual expenses divided by 12): $5,419.39

Tell us more:

69. What are your top financial priorities?
    I would like to divert more of my savings to investment portfolios to grow my money further. I started learning about investing outside of 401(k) and Roth from reading this newsletter, and I made the jump to join my company’s employee stock program. I am so happy I did, as that money has grown at a rate so much faster than my high-yield savings account.
    
    I also just learned about high-yield savings through this newsletter. I moved my savings over at the beginning of last year. My savings are large now because I was saving for a kitchen reno, but life happens—I met the love of my life, and we will be moving into his home and renting out mine. So now we have options for what to do with that money. Eventually, I want a pool, and there are some miscellaneous house renovations we want to do, but that is a few years out.
    
    I also want to have enough money that could hold me over if I need to find another remote job. My company has stopped hiring remote employees, and although there are no rumblings about making us return to an office (which would require us to move, since they closed our local office), I know that sometimes it only takes a leadership change at the top to make that decision. I love my job, and I hope I can hang on as long as possible.

70. How do you feel about your current financial situation?
    I feel super proud. Things are going to be changing when I get married, and I’m excited to share finances with a partner who does well for himself and shares similar financial values. Part of the reason I wanted to write this Home Economics is to document how far I have come on my own.
    
    My pregnancy was unexpected, and the father requested to not be involved (and does not provide any financial support). While I knew I wanted to keep the baby, the later months of my pregnancy led me into a deep depression. A few friends and I refer to it as the “Dark Ages.”
    
    But I didn’t want to be a depressed mom to my baby. I started watching a lot of YouTube videos on goal-setting and vision-boarding. (Shout-out to muchelleb!) While I have always been ambitious, I was never someone who wrote down my goals before. I was a good saver and a good worker, but I was never clear about what I was doing with my money and my career.
    
    Getting pregnant and hitting rock bottom, it rewired me. It gave me the motivation I needed to get clear on what I wanted and the person I wanted to be. Having a child on my own was nerve-wracking, but ultimately, it was the best decision I ever made. Becoming a mom has made me a better worker and person—I am more focused and intentional with my goals and it has paid off.

71. What are your money stressors?
    None at the moment. I’m feeling really grateful and secure.

72. Do you expect to receive (or have you received) an inheritance from a family member?
    Maybe my mom, but that is a long way off. She is young, thriving, and my best friend. I’m not looking for anything there.

73. Do you receive any financial support from your family?
    My mom pays for Netflix and groceries for the meals she cooks, and she provides immeasurable support in helping me raise my daughter. She also paid for my college tuition, and my dad gifted me money for my down payment.

74. Do you financially support any family members beyond yourself and your nuclear family?
    My mom built an ADU in my backyard three years ago. I pay all the property taxes, water, and trash/sewer bills that cover both houses.

75. How do you and your partner split your finances? How did you decide to go that route?
    My fiancé and I are not sharing finances, but we intend to fully combine once we get married and move in together. Right now, he pays for all our dates, and we split who pays for what on vacations. We don’t count pennies here.
    
    We plan to have a prenup. We will keep everything we had before our marriage separate, but going forward everything will be shared. Since I’m moving into the house he owns, and we’ll both be investing in this home, I want to make sure that it feels like ours, and that we are investing and growing our money as a team.

76. What is one financial goal(s) you still want to achieve?
    Donating more! My partner and I need to sit down next year and carve out a bigger chunk to give and what organizations we want to prioritize. I want to add an immigration support fund to the list next year, if not sooner.

77. What do you regret spending your money on the most?
    I have been pretty intentional with my spending over the years. If anything, it might have been being a little stingy with friends and family in my 20s. I try now to prioritize being generous.
    

78. Tell us about one financial accomplishment you’re proud of.
    I’m proud of growing my net worth slowly but surely and financially supporting my daughter on my own. I’m grateful that I grew up in a household where we lived below our means and never took on debt. I have been able to take this into my adulthood. I am also proud of living below my means—for example, I could afford a beautiful new car, but nothing is wrong with my car, so I continue to drive it.

79. What is one thing you spend money on that makes your life better?
    My housekeeper! I love that service. I also love getting my nails done, Orange Theory, and Nuuly.

80. What is one thing you spend money on that drives you crazy?
    I tried to come up with something, and I even asked my fiancé if he could think of anything. I track my spending, and if there’s ever an expense that pops up that I don’t like, I make a note to cancel it.
    
    If I had to think of one thing, it is that WiFi has increased $15 a month since I signed up three years ago, but it feels like too big of a hassle to sit on hold on the phone in order to change companies. There are some small charges like this.

81. Is there anything else you would like to add?
    I think I have shared a lot of my situation/learnings throughout this story. Thank you for what you do and for sharing our stories! <3

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