Personal budgets

Anybody else use one? How do you stick to it?

We use cash envelopes for alot of stuff, like groceries. Since the twins came, with double daipers and baby food, I've struggled to keep the grocery budget under $1000 per month. I managed about $875 last month.

How much do ya'll spend on groceries? I'm a family of 5.

We have budgets for charity, mad money, property tax, utilities, medical expenses, maid service, yardwork, home maintenance, school supplies, activities for the kids ( ouch ), babysitting, clothing, gifts ( xmas for kids and for kids friends ), and all kinds of shit.

We have a set investment budget, but hopefully i earn more than the 'budget' and all of the extra gets added to the investment pool. I've come to consider how much I 'make' as how much I 'keep' in the form of liquid investments, as opposed to how much I collect in paychecks. 'Making' money is hard!

I'd say my expenses, in order of biggest to smallest, are:

Investments ( This includes retirement and non-retirement )
Home ( mortgage, taxes, insurance, upkeep, utilties )
Healthcare ( insurance, visits, meds, etc )
Groceries
Care for the kids (babysitting, education, activities)

Auto is probably up there, but I have no car debt, and probably spend $400 per month total on gas, insurance, taxes, and maintenance. Plus, alot of my auto expenses are deductible through a corporation so I therefore don't categorize them as 'personal'.

Being the breadwinner for 5 really makes me think long term on this stuff.

 

I typcially spend around $300 per month on dining out with the whole family and another $75 or so on lunch while I am at work. My wife will spend maybe $500 on groceries. I feel like we blow too much money on food, especially dining out, but it costs just as much to buy groceries it seems. I have two stepsons who are with us about half the time and a 17 month old toddler.

 

unfortunately, our budgeting takes place sometime after the end of the year when we add everything up and say "wow, we sure did spend a lot".

we have a target number, but can't seem to actually move towards it. part of the problem is that my wife was recently laid-off and now we're both home with the baby so she's going crazy with her free time and wanting to take trips all the time since we've got the time. so not only are we burning her severance package without earning, we're spending extra money on top of it.

that's the beauty of working like a maniac and having no social life because all you do is work -- you make extra money and you don't have the time to spend any of it. it's a double whammy. sadly, i'm getting the double whammy now in the other direction.

i think our grocery budget is somewhere south of $1k a month, but that's for basically 2 people. the kid has his own expense system and we haven't had a whole year yet to examine things.

 

We don't really have a "budget" per say. I pay all the bills and we put my wife's total check in the bank each month. I've always tried to keep it to just one person's paycheck paying the monthly bills. Even with the new house, we've managed to keep this going. As far as groceries, we're a family of 3 and weeky groceries are around $100-$150 and will probably get higher as the baby grows. We don't eat out that often, my wife is a great cook, and don't have fancy toys. Basically, the only debt we have is the mortgage. No car loans and pay off credit cards monthly. It's not a fancy lifestyle but we're comfortable. Most of our "splurges" are on vacations.

 

we're rebudgeting right now -- for the first time in four years.

in charlotte, we were devoted quicken users. we just got it back up and running last week.

we're at about $400/month for groceries -- that's a family of four. we hardly ever eat out.

 

Do y'all eat Ramen Noodles 3 nights a week?

 

like i said, we rarely eat out. we eat leftovers.

 

Yeah that's cheap Larry!

The daipers add to ours, maybe $125-$150 per. Baby food is also expensive, moreso than food you cook.

Janelle also HAS to have organic milk. And we get lots of it, about 8 gallons per month.

Other than that I think we're thrifty. I don't know how you do it!

I didn't even include eating out in the budget.

 

How much is your dog food budget?

 

About $50.

But the monthly is $125 to take into account vet visits, Heartworm and Flea meds ( ouch - 200lbs worth ), and other shit.

I just bought 90# of dog food yesterday.