Share Your Monthly Budget

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by McLovin

...I don't have a budget, but the biggest differences we would have would be:

Rent/mortgage: 0%
Car payments: 0%
Credit: 0%
....!

I don't have one either, and the above is why I don't preoccupy myself with such things. Financial "freedom" is a wonderful thing regardless of how much you bring home. I simply wouldn't have it any other way, and life is good...

[gprsh924]

25 and live with my gf

Based on take home pay with another 7% taken off the top for 401k

Rent - 20%
Util - 5%
Ins- 3%
Car- 0% (paid by work)
Gas- 0%
Savings -12%
F&E -35%
Travel -25%

At this point every additional dollar I add to my earnings is going straight to savings and investments as I am maxing out my fun budget.

I don't set a budget, but this is roughly how it's boiled down for 2013

[surflvr911sc]

Rough numbers: Retirement, medical, taxes off the top.

Mrtg 25%
Car Pmt 0%
Car Hobby 5%
Insur 5%
Credit 10%
Utilities 5%
Charity 5%
Daughter 5%
Savings 10%
Food 10%
Misc 20%

[on2wheels52]

If I knew how much I spent I'd know how much I make
Not sure I want that answer, just am happy the cash flow is enough every month.
A son in grad school absorbs much of the extra but it's kept him from dipping into his college fund. I'd like him to graduate with it still intact.
Jim

[MMiller]

Mortgage- 15%
Cars- 15% ( includes payment, maintenence, Mods, insurance)
Savings- 20%
Food- 10%
Utilities- 2%
Golf- 2%
Travel-10%
Charity- 1%
Health care-3% ( includes dentist, co-pay, preventive/Gym etc..)



regards,

[cockerpunk]

rent: 12.5%
car payment: 5.7%
insurance: 3.4%
cable/utilities: 3.8%
savings of all types (stock, 401k, cash etc etc): 17.5%

school loans under 10 grand, credit card debt under $1000

wow, i knew i lived cheaply, but wow.

the rest fits into three categories, women, booze, and go-fast car parts.

[BRPORSCHE]

Jeez I don't want to even do the math. 26 year old bachelor that could give a flip as long as I am still saving.

[gacook]

Originally Posted by Head416

Just curious what other people's monthly budget/spending looks like. I'm not in a good financial situation right now (way too much credit card debt). I'm just curious what percentage of other people's spending goes to rent, bills, food, spending money, etc.

I'll throw up my numbers first, my excuses will follow:

Rent 39%
Car Pmt 5%
Insur 5%
Credit 13%
Utilities 14%
Charity 5%
Savings 5%
Food/Ent 15%

I've been meaning to do this for a while, but hadn't taken the time to figure out the percentages. I was a little surprised that rent was 39% of my take home, but I live in Los Angeles so there you go. Car payment is for one car, Insurance includes auto and renter's. That huge 13% going to credit card payments is my punishment for spending like an idiot. The utilities category includes all sorts of things: cell phone, Internet, TV, alarm company, gasoline card. I actually didn't realize our charitable giving had dipped down that far, it used to be around 10%. We try to put a little towards savings, but we pull out from there way too often.

The Food/Ent category is everything else, including haircuts, dry cleaning, clothes, guitar lessons, birthday presents, concert tickets. Pretty much everything that isn't already accounted for. That 15% is the part I feel on a daily basis, and it feels pretty tight.

So do me a favor, take 5 minutes and post up your percentages. I'm looking forward to seeing how your expenses work out. I feel like I make too much money to feel as broke as I do, maybe it will help me out to see how everybody does it. Obviously my credit card debt is a problem, but that isn't something I can fix in the short term.

You realize those numbers come out to 101%, right?

[SeanPizzle]

Fed/State/Property Tax 53%
Mortgage 0%
Car Payments 0%
Insurance (Health, Car, Life, House) 4%
Savings 35%
Food/Dining 3%
Tuition 2%

[Head416]

101%... maybe that's my problem, I'm bad at math! (I put my monthly bills in a spreadsheet, grouped by category, calculated percentages, and rounded off to the nearest decimal. I'm surprised it lasted this long before somebody pointed it out.... you guys are slipping!)

53% tax!?!? That sucks. All my numbers are based on take home, which is about 73% of my gross.

[Head416]

Re: high rent....

I see a couple are close to me, but most are way under. We decided to move out to LA where my wife is getting her Masters paid for, so that's like $37k in our pocket (or what would have been loans). A year from now she'll be working again and her earnings will be used to attack the debt problem.

For where we are, we're renting a roomy house and it's quite comfortable. We could cram into a tiny apartment but it would cost a full 75% of the rent we're paying for this house. (Had to have a garage for the p-car, after all!)

[scottbombedout]

Interesting thread.

Mortgage and council tax: 27%
Car payment: 8%
Food entertainment: 33%
Savings: 7%
Insurance: 2%
Utilities: 6%
Credit cards 0%
Constant upgrades to house: 17%