One of the advantages to keeping a written budget is that you get to see exactly where your money is going. So, while I’m not going to bore you with the numbers, I thought I would share where our money is going, from most spent on a category, to least spent. It’s enlightening, to be sure!
- Childcare
- Groceries
- Rent (that’s right, we spend more on childcare and groceries than rent)
- Student loans
- Utilities (electricity, water, internet and phone)
- Home / car insurance (bundled together)
- Fixed rate loan to pay off the American credit cards
- Gas
- Car payment
- Eating out
- Miscellaneous stuff
Where does your money go?
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{ 13 comments }
Tithing
Mortgage
Utilities
Food
Entertainment (dinner, movies, etc)
The following are all about the same in cost:
homeowners/condo fees
husband’s golf membership & fees (this should be listed on the 1st list!)
transportation costs (insurance/gas)
miscellaneous expenses
Childcare is also our top expense. It is incredibly insane how much it factors into a family’s expense. I read an article on MSN on the cost of daycare and commented a little on it on my blog:
http://gracehester.typepad.com/weblog/2009/03/average-cost-of-child-care-in-the-us-ohio.html
I have 2 colleagues at work who have 4 kids and send them to daycare and I have no idea how they make it work.
Grace Hester´s last blog post..Mommy Wars – Work-Life Balance and Can it Be Taught? [NPR Podcast]
According to my budget:
Rent (including utilities)
Food
Misc. (could be clothes, entertainment, whatever doesn’t fit elsewhere)
Cable TV
Home/family insurance
The rest of the posts are miniscule so I won’t bother including them here.
Most of our money goes to:
– Mortgage
– Groceries
– Church (Tithe, Missions, Offerings)
– Electric Bill
– Truck Payment
Amanda @ Mommy’s Idea Book´s last blog post..7 Things You Don’t Know About Me
Where does our money go????? Hmmmmm…. Lets see!
-Rent
-Auto Insurance (bi-yearly)
-Utilities (water/gas/electric)
-Internet
-Phones (landline and cellular)
-Groceries/Pet supplies
-Gas for cars
-We are paying a balance on one credit card now (due to car repairs and unplanned trips to the dentist)
-Preschool (Fall 2009)
-Misc. (entertainment, lattes, special snacks for the kids). Our entertainment here is usually $1 rental movies at Red Box. We drink a ton of coffee at home, but will go to a coffee shop once in awhile. Sometimes I will use some of our "misc. money" and get a friend a coffee drink if she is having a bad day.)
-Last but not least, I canceled our $70.00 cable. Out of all the channels we had, we'd only watch 2-3 of them. What a waste of money!!!
I used to do some very detailed tracking of my finances but I have cut down the categories now. My money goes to (almost in order of greatest to least):
Rent
Car (loan, insurance, gas, maintenance)
Food
Household (personal and cat)
Credit Cards
Other bills (personal loan, utilities)
Church
Savings
Fun (tiny little amount so I don’t lose my mind.)
In order (for this month)
1. Mortgage
2. Travel
3. Groceries
4. Condo Fees
5. Student Loans
6. Restaurants
Rent
car insurance
cable
phone(s)
groceries
eating out
gas
rent is very much in the lead by about 700 dollars. We live in the beautiful (and expensive) New Jersey so that makes sense. Groceries used to be number 2 until I realized the power of sales and coupons :o)
Amiyrah´s last blog post..Deep thoughts…..
1. Child Support (2 kids live with and 2 live parttime only)
2. Food (family of 6)
3. Utilities: cable/phone/internet/natural gas/electricity/water
4. Property Tax
5. Mortgage (we owe about 20% of the value of our house)
Own all vehicles and stuff outright. The only balance we carry is our mortgage (done as a line of credit).
Cheapchick´s last blog post..Spring is Here!
Here’s my list:
1-Rent
2-Car payment
3-Debt repayments
4-Food
5-Clothes
6-Savings
7-Fun/Misc.
I’m really trying to focus on #3 on that list, but since I started a new job this week that requires me to somewhat overhaul my wardrobe (I now work in a bank, which means dressing up), I’m going to have to rejig my budget to account for the overhaul. *sigh*
Jb´s last blog post..New Budgeting Plan In Place
Rent
Doctor bills-a few months, otherwise second generally is
Food
cell phone, utilities (even with 100% wind!), and gas for the car/car stuff-is pretty much the same amount
I also generally try to save 40% of my income, but I’m single so it’s easier to do than if I had kids.
LOL….Well, I think I’m a pretty poor example lately so I’m almost afraid to share, but here goes.
– Rent
– Car (almost paid off!)
– Savings
– DVDs/Eating out
– Utilities
– Groceries
– Misc expenses
Yeah, the entertainment category has taken on a mind of it’s own recently. I’m in the process of cutting that back, but I really like DVDs. Eating out has simply been a matter of convenience lately as my schedule has been somewhat hectic, but it’s coming to a more normal pace, so I’ll go grocery shopping and cut that out, too.
Kristy @ Master Your Card´s last blog post..Who Do You Trust With Your Debit/Credit Card?
funny thing about frugality, everyone used to always looks down on it. I have had my wife and wife’s sister calling me cheap for years. Now with the economy swirling the bowl, frugal is the new black.