Okay I rechecked and noticed that mint double counts certain categories when you have the main category and sub categories in the budget tracker. I think my actual expenses per month is actually $2700ish. I thought that 3200 didn't make much sense...
Housing $740
Transportation $768
Utilities $164
Groceries $700
Debt payments $120
Gym $33
Sports $60
Personal Care $100
Total expenses $2,685
So the debt payments are from Card 2. A laptop I bought for side work and such, should be fully paid in 4 months or I could just pay it off and be done with it. So that would bring my expenses down to $2565. the above budget does not include any entertainment or misc shopping. On average Ill spend less than $40 a month on entertainment and misc can vary based on need.
Food and phone are probably the two biggest areas to try to cut costs. My phone has to work for work, which is why I switched to a plan that was more expensive because the cheaper one wasn't working in all areas. Personal care could possibly come down by 40%. Theres no way I can cut my own hair... I play hockey and golf, like the two most expensive sports around, so that gets tricky to even keep it on budget.
koshtra-
thanks for the link. I saw some good ideas about alternative banks. And Im still reading through it.
slappy-
The $700-750 is dining out and food in general. I am going to be heavily looking at cutting that cost. I am slightly attached to the car, although I understand the points behind the concept of used and payments. I think fixing cost spent on food is a bigger benefit to me right now than changing the car. I can't not have a car, and this one has already had so much paid into it Im not sure it would be worth swapping for just a smaller payment. The above budget for transportation includes $354 car payment, 236 insurance and 170 on gas\tolls. In a typical month I will be reimbursed at least $100 extra for travel expenses.
acroy-
I found out today my max employer match and I'm going to increase my 401k contributions to be at that limit. They will only match $236 monthly if I did the calculations correctly. So I will increase to match that. Also see above about the expenses.