YABT: Does this budget breakdown look right?

[dxkj]

Budget


I understand we could cut it slightly by eating out less and by dropping cable and Internet, but we decided not to do that.


17% for Car costs (payments, gas, insurance)

We shopped around for a while and got the best deal we could on Rent. It includes everything except electricity. Hence Utilities is a small part of the budget now.


Not looking for cost cutting ideas so much as asking if the break-down looks about right. This is for two people. My wife is working a full time secretary job (taking a year off before going to grad school), and I am working part-full time while taking classes in the computer lab on campus (not a high paying job for this area).

10% savings is about the best we can do at the moment, but Im glad we are putting some in rather than taking some out to stay even.

 

[CPA]

Whether it breaks-down right is a difficult question to ask because we all have different lifestyles and priorities.

For instance, food is my second highest expense behind housing. As long as you have everything then you should be good to go.

 

[dxkj]

Originally posted by: CPA
Whether it breaks-down right is a difficult question to ask because we all have different lifestyles and priorities.

For instance, food is my second highest expense behind housing. As long as you have everything then you should be good to go.

We shop at aldi's so usualy we can do 150 a month for groceries, and $50 a month for going out to eat once or twice.


The car cost percentage of the budget is pretty high, but we decided we wanted to have at least one reliable car without having to worry about 500-1k repairs randomly springing up.

 

[se7en]

health insurance seems high to me but since im employed by a hospital maybe thats just b/c mine isn't quite as high.For a family of 3-4 i can see 10% going towards that but my cell phone bill is always higher than what I pay in medical costs.

 

[radioouman]

It looks OK, but everyone's budget will be different. Even when I sat down and tried to figure everything out to the penny, it never stayed that way. In some areas, I pay less than expected (food, for example) and in other areas I pay more. I also have a tendancy to pay a little more toward loans than I have to just to get them paid off quickly.

I guess hte best advice is just to make sure that there is a buffer in there. You will be tempted to buy something from Best Buy every once in a while, or your wife/gf will be tempted to buy something from a mail order catalog, or you will have to renew the plates on your car, pay car insurance, repair your car.................

There are always unexpected expenses, but it seems like that is reasonable.

 

[Kyteland]

Awww, they let you back in already? The Mods promised me that it was a 2 month vacation....



1 = 0.9999......

 

[dxkj]

My apologies for that immature act kyteland. Every once in a while I get it in my head to do something stupid and that day happened to coincide with seeing that thread bumped up with jabber unrelated to the topic

It was obvious I didn't think things through, and Im sorry about any mailboxes that may have exploded.



Thanks for the bump!

 

[Beattie]

Man, you guys would love to see my budget. I save about 90% of my income.

 

[Kyteland]

Originally posted by: dxkj
My apologies for that immature act kyteland. Every once in a while I get it in my head to do something stupid and that day happened to coincide with seeing that thread bumped up with jabber unrelated to the topic

It was obvious I didn't think things through, and Im sorry about any mailboxes that may have exploded.

Thanks for the bump!

No problem. I still have permission from the mods (I think) to restart that thread sometime, so when the time is right....

I've been meaning to make a summary of all the arguments presented and put in in the first post, so I'll wait until I get that done, a minimum of 6 months before I have any time. Besides, this gives people a chance to change their votes in the poll.

 

[dxkj]

Originally posted by: Kyteland

Originally posted by: dxkj
My apologies for that immature act kyteland. Every once in a while I get it in my head to do something stupid and that day happened to coincide with seeing that thread bumped up with jabber unrelated to the topic

It was obvious I didn't think things through, and Im sorry about any mailboxes that may have exploded.

Thanks for the bump!

No problem. I still have permission from the mods (I think) to restart that thread sometime, so when the time is right....

I've been meaning to make a summary of all the arguments presented and put in in the first post, so I'll wait until I get that done, a minimum of 6 months before I have any time. Besides, this gives people a chance to change their votes in the poll.

I think MR Pizza re-made the thread a while back...

 

[dxkj]

Originally posted by: Beattie
Man, you guys would love to see my budget. I save about 90% of my income.

That is cool. If I lived with friends (ie was not married) and had a good job out of college I could see doing that..