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I have a good enough buffer saved up, so as soon as student loans are paid off I will probably get a new car, take on a car payment again, and put the remainder towards long term savings. But I am single, unmarried, no kids, so this will change pretty dramatically when I start a family. I eat out and go out on weekends a lot, so a wife/kids would cause me to live it up a little less, cook more, etc.
You spend $2500 on food and entertainment....a month?!
We make a few hundred over that take home. What are you doing to spend that much.
You spend $2500 on food and entertainment....a month?!
We make a few hundred over that take home. What are you doing to spend that much.
That is all of my spending...I put everything in a month on a single credit card and pay it off in full every month. I wear a full suit every day, so that includes about $250/mo in dry cleaning, I eat out every lunch and get either take out or eat out every dinner. That also includes my monthly parking pass that comes to a few hundred dollars per month. I will typically go out for drinks on weekends, take a weekend trip somewhere, etc... I work longer hours, so I am pretty willing to spend extra money to save time whenever I can.
I save 23% of my gross salary and a little over 36% of my net salary (currently in loan repayments as I have a good buffer of living expenses) so I am fairly comfortable spending a little more on entertainment right now.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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We are a family of 5 - 2 adults; 3 kids. We spend about $1800 per month (more some months, less others) outside of mortgage, utilities, insurance, and our 2 big vacations per year. It breaks out a bit like this:
Supermarket: $500
Restaurants: $100
Gasoline: $500 (husband has a big commute)
Kids' Activities: $200 (soccer fees, gymnastics, scouts, etc)
Weekend Travel/Entertainment: $50 (extras like hotel every 4 months at nearby city or Chuck-E-Cheese)
Clothes: $100 (much is secondhand, hand-me-downs)
Car Maintenance/Repair: $100 (will likely go down if we sell our 11-year old car soon)
Miscellaneous spending: $250 (dry cleaning, hobbies, haircuts, etc.)
When I prepare my monthly budget, I basically know what most of my 'fixed' expenses are - i.e. mortgage, utilities, cell phone, cable, car payments, etc. Some of those aren't necessarily fixed, but I more or less know what to expect each month so I do budget for them but I generally focus more on the non-fixed expenses when I budget.
Everything else (food, gas, entertainment, etc.) I actively budget and try to keep at a reasonable level. My goal each month, which seems realistic to me, is for my wife and I (no kids) to spend less than $1,500 each month on all of these non-fixed expenditures. However, we can never stick to that budget. We generally spend 2,000 - 2,500 per month on thes items. It seems to me we are spending a lot on food (dining out & groceries), and there always seems to be something that comes up each month (car maintenance, weekend travel, etc.) but I don't think we're living extravagantly so I'd like to get a sense for what others spend.
Haha...my wife and I are just like you guys! We want to spend around $1500 per month on the "everything else" category but end up in the $2k-$3k range on average.
Rent: $1000
Car: $250
Insurance: $75
Cable/Internet: $60
Cell: $50
Food: $230
Gas: ~$100 (I live very close to work)
After taxes I don't have that much, but I've managed to save at least 10% of my pretax income a year to make a buffer of expenses and I contribute 15% pretax to a 401k.
I feel "tight" but I feel better that I am saving to my 401k. I'd rather have that than extra cash in the bank. I have a new, functioning car and no immediate need to purchase a home.
$1000/month or so on everything while I'm a grad student. I have a roommate, no pets, no wife, no debt, no eating-out habit,no smartphone, no cable, and no car . Employer pays for health insurance.
I have a good enough buffer saved up, so as soon as student loans are paid off I will probably get a new car, take on a car payment again, and put the remainder towards long term savings. But I am single, unmarried, no kids, so this will change pretty dramatically when I start a family. I eat out and go out on weekends a lot, so a wife/kids would cause me to live it up a little less, cook more, etc.
When you finish the student loans, can't you even wait 10 months before buying a new car? I think $19,020 can buy a good bit of car, so you wouldn't borrow.
$1500 for rent/utilities/cable, $1500 for food/entertainment/movies/going out, $3500 for student loans, $1500 for cars and gas and insurance. We also put away money for gifts, travel, clothes, etc.... probably another $1000 to 1500 there.
I'm over-estimating by several hundred a piece, but you get the picture.
Obviously, no cc debt and the usual fine print, etc. We keep a budget every month and we try to stick to it.
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