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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.
After the more fixed bills (rent, car insurance, electric, internet, phones) we probably spend an average of $1000 a month. Just an average, sometimes more, sometimes less.
Around $600 of that is grocery related (including toilet paper, cat and dog food, dish soap, etc). About $160 of that is gas (I commute out of town 2x a week for school) and we are a one car family. The rest of the driving is local and less than 5 miles a day.
We try very hard to keep eating out to less than once a month and no more than $50 (for five of us, it adds up quickly) and we don't drink alcohol or spend much on entertainment, we tend to do free things or low cost things for entertainment; dollar theater movies, visiting friends, having friends over, museums and libraries, Netflix, etc.
We also have to spend on coin-op laundry (no washer/dryer in the apartment) and my parking costs at school, some medication costs for our older dog, etc.
It's pretty tight but we aren't miserable. I didn't include things like big car repairs (they aren't frequent) into that calculation though, we normally have funds put back for that sort of thing to come out of.
Eating out and getting coffee out (Starbucks!) have been, in the past, our WORST budget killers. If you get it in your mind that you will ONLY eat out on such and such days, it makes it easier to control it without feeling like you never get to do it.
Things like Car Maintenance, W/E vacation trips are 'not' things that just come up. You car(s) will need maintenance, and should be in your budget. W/E trips, should be planned for. Figure out how much you are going to spend in a year, work your budget.
Plan an extra 10% of your non fixed cost in the budget as a long term contingency fund, for thing that can't be planned for but, are going to happen at some point.
If you both work, I can see higher dinning out bills, who want to come home after work, and cook a dinner, so dinning out, and quick cook food (costs more) from the supermarket can add up. One thing you can do is so a once every few weeks cooking day cook enough (mostly meats) that you can freeze and microwave to make quick, fast dinner at night.
We both work and rarely eat out.
Bogus excuse.
And usually,an unhealthy habit.
Op, $2k a month in "fun" variable expenses is perfectly fine provided all your bills are paid, debt gone, and you've paid into all your retirement and Pay Yourself First accounts.
I know that expenses do tend to correlate to income, but that's one of the things I'm trying to avoid. My wife and I make pretty good money, but we want to be smart about saving and we want to live below our means so that we buy our starter house outright then start saving up for a downpayment on a new house (and rent our first house). We want to keep our expenses reasonable even though we could afford to spend more.
Our current savings level is healthy, but I think that we spend more than is necessary month to month on non-fixed items. The government keeps statistics on average monthly expenditures, but the statistics aren't that helpful as they're very granular and many categories seem to be skewed (i.e. medical costs). So I just wanted to get an idea of what others spend on these items.
Things like Car Maintenance, W/E vacation trips are 'not' things that just come up. You car(s) will need maintenance, and should be in your budget. W/E trips, should be planned for. Figure out how much you are going to spend in a year, work your budget.
Plan an extra 10% of your non fixed cost in the budget as a long term contingency fund, for thing that can't be planned for but, are going to happen at some point.
If you both work, I can see higher dinning out bills, who want to come home after work, and cook a dinner, so dinning out, and quick cook food (costs more) from the supermarket can add up. One thing you can do is so a once every few weeks cooking day cook enough (mostly meats) that you can freeze and microwave to make quick, fast dinner at night.
Agree that they are things that don't just come up, but I have a pretty simplistic budget that is easy to maintain and more or less works without carving out budgets for events that occur sporadically.
After the more fixed bills (rent, car insurance, electric, internet, phones) we probably spend an average of $1000 a month. Just an average, sometimes more, sometimes less.
Around $600 of that is grocery related (including toilet paper, cat and dog food, dish soap, etc). About $160 of that is gas (I commute out of town 2x a week for school) and we are a one car family. The rest of the driving is local and less than 5 miles a day.
We try very hard to keep eating out to less than once a month and no more than $50 (for five of us, it adds up quickly) and we don't drink alcohol or spend much on entertainment, we tend to do free things or low cost things for entertainment; dollar theater movies, visiting friends, having friends over, museums and libraries, Netflix, etc.
We also have to spend on coin-op laundry (no washer/dryer in the apartment) and my parking costs at school, some medication costs for our older dog, etc.
It's pretty tight but we aren't miserable. I didn't include things like big car repairs (they aren't frequent) into that calculation though, we normally have funds put back for that sort of thing to come out of.
Eating out and getting coffee out (Starbucks!) have been, in the past, our WORST budget killers. If you get it in your mind that you will ONLY eat out on such and such days, it makes it easier to control it without feeling like you never get to do it.
Your gas and grocery expenses are fairly similar to mine. What tends to push us overbudget is eating out 3/4 times per week. Also, how do you keep your non-routine spending so low? For instance, it seems like every month one of us decides we need new clothes or need a new gadget or something along those lines. I know part of the solution is better self-discipline, but it seems like a huge success to limit all of these type expenditures to a couple hundred dollars per month (especially with kids). Can you please elaborate on how you are able to do this?
We don't have a budget. We get our pay, write out the bills, sock away a pre-set amount for the future and the rest is available for whatever. We both work and dine out maybe once every two months; never in the warm weather as we grill and eat outside. It's less expensive to eat at home and there's too much sodium and crap in restaurant foods.
Stan is right; it totally depends on income. If you think you are not saving enough, crank up the amount you put away and lower the available fun money.
Your gas and grocery expenses are fairly similar to mine. What tends to push us overbudget is eating out 3/4 times per week. Also, how do you keep your non-routine spending so low? For instance, it seems like every month one of us decides we need new clothes or need a new gadget or something along those lines. I know part of the solution is better self-discipline, but it seems like a huge success to limit all of these type expenditures to a couple hundred dollars per month (especially with kids). Can you please elaborate on how you are able to do this?
We thrift store shop and use Craigslist as another option, sometimes eBay. For clothes, we only buy things new like socks and undies. Everything else is second hand. We all dress pretty nice,it just takes some time.... and there is a happy medium to be found with more upscale consignment stores that are way cheaper than brand new but don't require all the time and "digging" like a thrift store does. Sometimes we will go that route if we are shopping for something more special.
We do save a bit all year long for Christmas and birthdays and that's when the kids get cool, new stuff, gadgets, computer accessories, phone upgrades, new/expensive footwear (I mean, we buy them shoes in between when needed but if they want pricey boots or something then it has to wait)...
For example, we decided we were sick of our plain jane coffee maker that "burned" the coffee and had no programmable features so I started researching, and really wanted this Cuisinart Grind & Brew thermal coffee maker that retails between $150 and $200. Ha! No way in hell is that going to happen, paying that much for a coffee maker..
But we really wanted it...
The self discipline, for us, came in the waiting. We didn't NOT get the maker, we just kept looking on Craigslist until someone local had one for sale. It took about 2 months. We'd looked on eBay too but there were always problems with those. The one we found on Craigslist was $45 and the person had received it as a gift and used it 2 or 3 times, it looked like a brand new machine and it's been great.
Also, and I know this doesn't work for everyone, but we sell things we get tired of too, if we want something else. Like if I get it in my head that we need a new comforter set for the bed or I have just fallen in love with something, I will sell the old one right away (on eBay or Craigslist) and it usually means I get 50% of whatever I am wanting to spend so it's much less of an excessive expenditure that way.
A lot of it is just staying out of stores if possible. We are trying to get better about planning out our grocery shopping so that we aren't in there every other day getting just enough for a couple of days (and always finding something we don't need), we stay out of places like Walmart and Target for the most part, staying home means less chances to spend.
If you have the freezer space, you might look in to cooking ahead, once or twice a month. I know it must be hard to get motivated to cook every night for just two people. We don't want to do it for five people! We try to cook double batches of things so we can have another meal frozen for a later date, and have some nights where it's just sandwiches and soups, or something equally simple yet filling (a big salad with some grilled chicken for example) so that every night is not a daunting task of cooking a complicated meal.
I also agree with simply putting more away for savings before you ever even see it. If it is there, and you have it re-directed via your bank to a savings account, pretty soon you won't miss it. I had a friend who was just amazed at how simple this is, when I suggested it to her. She and her husband were making really good money but never seemed to have any. Once she split her direct deposit and her husband's to have a decent chunk of each paycheck go into savings right away, she was shocked at how fast it added up and they just naturally adjusted their spending accordingly. If it isn't easily available, chances are you will leave it alone.
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