Rent: | $1550 | (Small 1Br + 1 walking distance from my work and convenient for the fiancée's school and work) |
Utilities: | $160 | (Electricity, internet, and phone bill) |
Work lunches out: | $90 | (I pack a lunch most days, but eat out with co-workers every Friday) |
Restaurants: | $350 | (My fiancée is a foodie and eating out at nice places in Toronto's awesome restaurant scene is something we thoroughly enjoy. Almost all of this is planned nights out or brunches. Very little fast food or eating out because we were too lazy to cook.) |
Household: | $160 | (Furniture, dishes, decorations, odds and ends.) |
Public transportation: | $70 | |
Entertainment: | $100 | (Video games, movies, theatre, Netflix, museums, etc) |
Clothes: | $40 | |
Alcohol: | $50 | |
Gifts: | $20 | |
Charity: | $20 | |
Misc: | $40 | |
Vacation and traveling: | $220 | (The bulk of this gets spent in one or two months, but this would be the cost averaged over 12 months.) |
Over the last year (I've recently set myself more strict targets, with a move to a different town).
Per month:
Rent = $340
Groceries = $210
Transport = $170 (public transport + new bike last week)
Social = $140
Medical = $20
Sport = $10
Hair = $30
Phone = $15
Uni = $180
Clothes = $65
Travel = $90
Total = $1270
Are these all for single people?
Our average monthly (couple living in SF Bay Area):
Rent - $1775
Car & Renter's Insurance - $75
Utilities & Internet - $125
Car Registration & Maintenance - $50
Gas - $250
Gifts - $200
Groceries/Household Stuff - $250
Eating Out - $400
Public Transit - $100
Clothes/misc. shopping - $50
___
$3275/month
Our eating out had gone up $200 since we paid off all our SL debts and DW got a FT job...I realize it's not pretty, but it's hard to resist all the food options. Our rent is on the high side (we actually downsized recently too).
At the risk of getting kicked off the forum for anti-Mustachianism...
Mortgage (interest, tax & insurance) 1250
Childcare 1000
Groceries 1300 (yes, it's high)
utilities - water, gas, electricity, garbage 300 (yes, it's high)
House cleaner 160 (down from 300, go me!)
Car payments 230
car insurance 100
Gas 200
internet/tv/phone 85
Kids activites 200
Clothes, misc shopping 150
FUNd 200
Total 5150
The good news is that there is a lot of fat to cut. If I lose my job (or more optimistically, when I retire), I can take care of the smaller kids myself, lose some fancy food, sell one car, clean the house ourselves, lose the FUNd. Which brings it down to $2700.
Are these all for single people?
I'm married. My entry is what I spend every month because we haven't joined finances yet.
Feel free to give me face punches. I know there are areas that need to be cut.
How in the blazes are you able to eat $1300/month? I really must know how that's possible. Do you have 20 people in your house?6 people. It also includes cleaning supplies or other things from the store , the occasional fast food or restaurant. I admit it's high.
I'm a bit embarrassed, because I'm single and all that money is just for me. I don't have a journal, but for the coming year, I'm basing my budget around what I'd have if I was surviving on Centrelink's payments (aka the dole) ($315/week).Over the last year (I've recently set myself more strict targets, with a move to a different town).Do you have a journal on here! This is amazing, I would love to read more about how you do it!
Per month:
Rent = $340
Groceries = $210
Transport = $170 (public transport + new bike last week)
Social = $140
Medical = $20
Sport = $10
Hair = $30
Phone = $15
Uni = $180
Clothes = $65
Travel = $90
Total = $1270
Hair seems kinda high, but I guess it's a priority for you.
Are these all for single people?
I'm married. My entry is what I spend every month because we haven't joined finances yet.
Feel free to give me face punches. I know there are areas that need to be cut.
Since you want feedback, probably Crossfit and lunches out need to go.
I spend double what you spend :( and my uni costs are 100% covered by my employer!I bought a $1200 bike last week, so that's why my 10 month average is a bit high. There's no public transport in my new town - boooo. My rent is also low because I moved back in with my parents for 2 months, and now I'm in teacher housing paying $35/week (!!)b(It's subsidized because I moved out bush). I was paying $170/week in inner-city-ish Brisbane, with 3 other housemates. And my phone is an old dumb flip phone - Optus pre-paid $30 lasts 60 days. I never go through all of my credit since I have free calls to my Mum, and free texts to all of my frequent-texting-friends. And you should definitely keep the travel!! I plan on doing a bit more travel now that I'm a real teacher & not a student, so I might up my travel budget too.
Interestingly my car, bike, public transport costs were only 180 a month this year - including a speeding fine, new tires and service for the car, long distance relationship (SO lives 3 hours away by car) and we spent the same on hair and groceries. International travel, clothes and entertainment are clearly killing me. Looking to address the last two next year, but keep the travel, although I do plan to do it frugally. (Rent is also double, but Perth rents are insane and I've got a good deal for the area I am in which I love and living with only one friend, so I don't think I could cut this without cutting back my quality of life - either dealing with bathroom rushhour and kitchen chaos by inviting a 3rd person into this tiny place, or moving further out.)
How do you get your phone bill to $15 a month? Do you use Skype?
If I posted my budget, I'd probably start a riot. LOL. However, we save around 50%...
If I posted my budget, I'd probably start a riot. LOL. However, we save around 50%...
Same here, similar savings rate...
There are a lot of useful threads in community and plenty of good advice, but I have a feeling that more than a few discussions have degenerated into "keeping up with Joneses" only in reverse. See how cool I'm in spending less than you or saving more than you!!! I think it's only slightly more healthy than the original thing... And then some people almost desperately seek validation of their life choices. Seems kind of insecure to me. We all have to reconcile our wants with our financial targets and actual income, but there is more than one or two ways to do it.
Taxable investment $500
Living $500
Compassion $38
Car expenses $500
Phone, spotify, amazon $50
Entertainment/dating/eating out/misc $150
Cash savings $500
If I posted my budget, I'd probably start a riot. LOL. However, we save around 50%...
If I posted my budget, I'd probably start a riot. LOL. However, we save around 50%...
Us, too. We don't really have a budget anymore. We are happy with our ~50% savings rate, and as long as we save that amount, I don't really care (too) much what we spend the extra money on.
If I posted my budget, I'd probably start a riot. LOL. However, we save around 50%...
Us, too. We don't really have a budget anymore. We are happy with our ~50% savings rate, and as long as we save that amount, I don't really care (too) much what we spend the extra money on.
With you on this one, Not going to post the full breakdown however spending is ~$5000CAD or $4100USD per month. It's much more boglehead territory than MMM but slowly working on it. We still have a 64.4% savings rate and about 75% is fixed expenses (mortgage, taxes, utilities,etc) so there is not a huge pressure to drop the 25% by a massive amount.
Facepunches expected....
Wow. You guys are amazing! I'll post and screw up the curve. :)
Housing = $770
Vehicle Gas/tolls, Ins, Maint + Reg = $634 (don't ask....)
Car payment = $323
Utilities = $400
Groceries = $450
Dining + Entertainment = $200
Medical = $100
Vacations = $100
Life/Umb Ins =$83
Gifts = $80
Allowances = $100 ($50 each "blow" money)
Clothing/hair/personal = $50
Misc = $50
Grand total = $3340
If it helps me not get flamed, we are at least under budget in most categories. And we are over budget for income! (Also this does not include our retirement and savings categories, not does it include the kid's college which we are cash flowing.)
ETA: This is for two people living in the New England area.