I know people are shocked by how much I say we spend in a month (even in a low-spend month) so below I’m sharing our March expenses to explain where the money is going…
While we certainly can cut from the budget below, this is a realistic ‘tight’ budget for a month. It would be more comfortable to plan for $16k a month expenses. I don’t think we can easily spend a lot more than $16k a month either. While that’s a lot of money to spend per month, I also want to share how it would be difficult for us to need more than this, especially once we have superfunded the 529s and completed funding our retirement account, so savings is no longer needed.
TOTAL *EXPENSES* (Non Savings): $14,668
LIFE: $2928.69
- Kids – $521.16
- Home Products – $298.66
- Hobbies (Photography) – $100
- Personal Care – $0 (*covid times = no hair cuts etc, normally would be ~$300)
- Shopping etc, Her – $781.09 (*includes gifts for kids)
- Shopping etc, Him – $583.89
- Snacks & Drinks – $168.71
- Entertainment – $54.98
- Vacation – $200 (set aside for a future month)
- Gifts – $141.11
- Subscriptions – $78.99
FOOD: $2049.34
- Dining Out – $659.96
- Groceries – $1389.38
MEDICAL: $449.76
- Life Insurance $200 (*Her’s only, He still needs to get it)
- Medical, Other: $249.76
TRANSPORTATION: $840.61
- Gas $140.61
- Insurance $100
- Maintain $100
- Future Car: $500
HOME – $8400
- Mortgage – $5000 (*our family renter is contributing to this total, but including without his contribution here as this is our true expense should he no longer be able to live with us)
- Taxes – $2200
- Insurance – $100
- Electric/Gas – $330
- Water – $150
- Gardener – $150
- Internet/Phone- $470
The $5k in mortgage is not all expense. At least $1k of that is principal pay down which counts as savings.
Also, $1900/month in “shopping” for you, husband, and kids.
Seems high