As most of you know, our goal right now is to increase our monthly income by another $1,000. This makes bill paying much easier and paying our debt much more possible. With this extra money, all of our budgeting percentages here, have gone down.
Anyways, this is what our monthly household budget looks like:
- Mortgage: $1,100
- Car Payment: $400
- Gas (car): $350
- Electricity: Anywhere from $50 to $250
- Gas (house, heat, stove): $30
- Cable: $60
- Internet: $60
- Car Insurance: $100 for all cars
- Groceries: $300 a month
- Eating out: We really need to cut down on this, but this can be anywhere from $300 to $700 a month.
- Cellphones: $110
- Sewer: $30
- Trash: $17
- Water: Around $21 a month
And then whatever is left over gets split up among debt and emergency savings right now. This is usually anywhere from $500 to $2,000, it just depends on the month. It fluctuates so much because I didn’t have a vacation fund before, and I’ve gone on lots of vacations this past summer.
Luckily, my work has a great retirement plan and I have a Schwab account set up through them. My goal right now is to pay off debt, and then to start contributing to my retirement account as well. I know this is not the way others would do it, but I hate my debt, so this is my plan first.
How is your budget going? Any tips or insight on my budget?
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Rafiki says
Your budget looks pretty good. I also understand and respect your decisions on taking care of your family and debt first then retirement.
Becca. says
your budget looks good, wish i could budget!and yes the dress is a gorgeous pattern isn't it :)Thanks for the comment on my blog :)XOXO, BECC Ahttp://www.fashion-train.co.uk
Live Simply- Live We says
your budget looks good. do you coupon or anyting? you could save some bucks there–if not on food then HBA and stuff like that.As for helping out your mom–i love it! i think when families dont help each other out it is so sad. keep helping your mama!
ND Chic says
I'm amazed that your food budget is only $300. That is very good. Do you have a regular student loan payment?
Material Girl Green says
Cutting back on your debt is so smart. That's how my hubs has set up our accounts. What we have after bills goes to savings and debt. Luckily we don't have a ton of debt but he really wants to be debt free. I read lots of finance articles and they say the best thing to do is cut back on debt first. So it seems like you're heading in the right direction!
Michelle P says
Thanks everyone! And I coupon, but mainly only for household items.And thanks for everyone who said it's good that I help my mom. A lot of people think I'm crazy surprisingly.And my grocery budget is only $300 because we eat out nearly everyday (whether this is just a run to McDonalds or a sit down restaurant).And no I don't have a regular student loan payment yet, everything is in deferment since I'm still in school getting my MBA. The interest is paid for on all of them except 1 while I'm in school. So I pay the one loan every month and this amount varies. The minimum amount every month is around $38. I at least try to pay $100, but sometimes it's as much as $500 a month.And thanks Material Girl Green! I hate debt, I just want it gone so that I don't have to think about it.
Frugal Student says
I understand the want to help your mom, but you do not want to need your (future) kids to need to support you. I think you need to help your mom make a budget and then put the amount you are able to help her with, in your budget. I really think retirement should be included as important as helping your mom.
Michelle P says
Thanks for your input. I'm not going to lie, some months I'm mad that I have to help her. My mom is actually unable to work due to extreme arthritis and other medical issues, so she doesn't have a large income (so therefore she can't really make a budget). She's cut nearly everything out and is living off her inheritance from my dad right now. By the way, this might not make sense to people since I have told many of you that my parents divorced when I was little. Right before my dad passed away, they remarried so that she could take care of him for the last 2 months (her work wouldn't give her paid FMLA unless they remarried).The reason why I get upset is that I gave her my whole inheritance (well almost, I kept $20,000 and used it as the down payment on my house), but yet she still can't budget. I probably shouldn't have given it to her, as obviously she can't watch her spending.But anyways, sorry with another long comment, but I do need to help her budget. She gets upset when I ask her what's going on, and I guess I feel bad for her so I just give up.
Serendipity says
I was going to say something and then I read your above comment regarding your mom which made me rethink what I was going to say. I think I'm going to say a little bit of both though. I'm Hispanic and in Hispanic culture, a lot of times we take care of our parents and in turn they take care of the children. A lot of cultures are set up this way. But because I loved my mother so stinking much, if she were still a live you best believe I'd be taking care of her. No lie, she'd be living with me and Rambo, lol. If not with me, next door at least.That was an honorable thing your father and your mother did before he died. That's a very hard thing on a family. I also understand your mom is under budget constraints due to illnesses and it's probably none of my business, but are you working with her to budget a bit more or does that not matter since she will still come up a bit short?I don't want to say your going to need your children to take care of you but I want to make sure your not being used as well. Not that you are or anything, but I don't want your hard work to go to waste, since you just noted she cant watch her spending.Again, sorry if I come off rude, I hate rude commenters. I just want the best for you and everybody else. 🙂
Michelle P says
No you're not rude I promise! Thanks for your comment. I try to help her budget, but she gets upset and I don't want to upset her, so I often change the subject. No matter what, she will come up short, so that's why I give her money. I know that I need to help her budget, she can't depend on me forever. She has a lot of unnecessary spending, so I'm obviously just enabling her.