Dear MMMers,
It is about time I posted a picture of our lifestyle and let you guys take a whack at it. I am scared, but hopefully this will be a positive experience that can drive my family to better living.
Please forgive me if this rambles.
I have been hanging around MMM for a while now… let's see, I started a journal around the beginning of the year. It has been mostly great. I have made some changes and we are starting to work on a budget, like a real budget.
Our income varies, as my husband's pay can swing a lot with bonuses. One of my problems is that, despite using Mint for a while now, I'm still not 100% on top of what we are spending.
Basic Monthly expenses (approx.)
$1,590 -- mortgage w/ taxes
$ 500 -- groceries
$ 350 -- gasoline (Note #1)
$ 280 -- Tae Kwon Do (4 family members)
$ 260 -- doctor / pharma / dentist out of pocket
$ 200 -- "his money" (Note #2)
$ 200 -- "her money"
$ 158 -- cell (Note #3)
$ 150 -- Electric / Gas (Note #4)
$ 150 -- College Savings Kid #1
$ 125 -- College Savings Kid #2
$ 120 -- church donations
$ 100 -- College Savings Kid #3
$ 100 -- Life insurance
$ 100 -- Investing newsletter
$ 70 -- restaurants
$ 60 -- car insurance
$ 50 -- Internet service
$ 40 -- house supplies
$ 35 -- brokerage trading fees
$ 20 -- pet
$ 15 -- Netflix / movies
Assets:
$690,000 (approx.) Investments, including 401k, IRAs, taxable stuff (does not include kids' savings)
Stuff
$220,000 (approx.) home value
$ 13,000 (approx.) two paid-for cars
Liabilities:
$120,800 -- mortgage at 3.5%
Income:
ranges from $4,000 (super-lean base-only pay month) - $7,000+ mo. net of taxes and 401k contributions.
Note #1 -- gasoline -- my husband has a job that requires driving and he is reimbursed for work miles.
Note #2 -- his and her money -- honestly, I don't think we are implementing this that well. My husband wants $200/mo for things like lunches out and his "stuff". I think it is important for him to feel that he still has some freedom. I want to work with him so that he does feel he has something of his own too. I have not really been spending mine or tracking mine well (and he is not really tracking his either), but I have also gone for a few lunches in a month. In reality, if we can afford to have pocket money, I would use mine for a little bit of clothing, buy it for life type "stuff" -- and investments.
Note #3 -- my husband's is reimbursed through work (about 1/2 of the bill). Mine is on his plan but I might like to change to something cheaper. I am almost one year into a 2 year contact and not sure if I can switch and save anything with the exit fees. I want to look into Ting?
Note #4 -- may fluctuate, it's winter and the heat is on!
Note #5 -- these are just our regular expenses. There are other things that come up during the month -- gifts, kids' field trips, school supplies, etc.etc. etc. that get handled on a month-by-month basis.
Thoughts:
-- I need to learn how to use Mint better. It is confusing to me to look up some category totals, and sometimes I think it is in error.
-- We are still working on tracking our budget and our spending. Practice will get us closer to perfect.
I still don't know what our savings rate is. I do not know how much we are saving.
It's an interesting journey to work on living on less. I feel like there is so much more work to do in terms of quality of life.
I am so curious to get your perspective. We are doing OK overall. Our expenses are going up next year for health insurance, dental insurance and eye insurance, although we looked it al over and tried to make the best choices based on our real usage.
I am still struggling over a few choices -- to pay down the mortgage or save/invest instead (right now I am leaning toward bulking up our brokerage account to where we can write a check for the balance of the mortgage at any time). I am also debating over getting started in investment real estate and taking out a loan for that.
I did not put in a clothing number. In November I spent $150 on boots and snow pants for the kids (I got a pair of clearance everyday shoes for me in that budget because the kids' boots were on sale.)
Some things don't work well for this format. For example I did sell some of our used winter boots, mittens and gloves and made a little but the new boots and snow pants cost more. I am not getting that detailed with everything, but I am trying to be conscious and really only put money into the important things.
Thanks for reading,
KBecks
ETA: I just want to add that in practice, we are likely overspending some of our categories, by a little bit -- restaurants -- I need to get a tighter handle on all of it.
Also, I am SO EXCITED about going into Year 2 of flexing my frugality muscles. I feel like I have made some very good progress last year -- things like canceling our cleaning service, trying to buy very few new clothes, shopping our car and life insurance, getting rid of credit cards, and getting more organized / switching banks.
What should our goals for this year be??? Hmmm. Something to ponder. I truly want to reduce our family's TV time. We have a "free" vacation to Flagstaff coming up that is paid for by a relative (our rental car, meals and outings are our responsibility). I would like to take the family for a weekend in Chicago. I want my kids to learn about money, and I want to become a better, more knowledgeable investor and I want to be more organized, a better cook and a better housecleaner. :)