[geojen]

Originally Posted by Brokemofo

Ok, I sat down this morning with my Wife to go over our expenses. I must admit I had no idea what we spent on what and how much. My Wife pays all the bills and does all the shopping, so I'm basically clueless. I enjoyed going over the last 6 months bank statements to learn what we spend. I feel better now knowing kind of where we stand. If I don't get a job right away I believe we can continue on the same pace we've been on for at least the end of the year or maybe longer. Things will be better if we stop spending or at least cut back in any category. I am taking this time to basically change the way we live and have lived for the last 15 years since we got together. Some things I am considering:
1. Drop Netflix, actually I just did this morning.
2. Stop or drastically reduce eating out at restaurants.
3. Drastically reduce what we have been spending on Niece's, Nephews, Siblings, etc.
4. Reduce expenses on Gifts.
5. Look for ways to reduce grocery bill bye buying smarter.
6. Make less frequent trips to grocery store and buy what we need all at once thereby saving gas and trips.
7. Do Grocery shopping on the way home from work since She drives right past the store instead of coming home, and then going back out to a different one later.
8. We have a truck, car and mortorcycle all financed. I am evaluating keeping or selling any or all of them to try to get cheaper vehicles that are maybe paid for or at least much smaller payments. We've been guilty of buying many new cars over the years. Boy what a waist of money that has been.
Anyway, These are my initial thoughs on what we are trying to do, and here is a list of our average expenses over the last 7 months.
Mortgages 2100
Truck 546
Car 380
Motorcycle 300
insurance 285
Cell Phones 75
Electricity 100
Natural Gas 150
Water 30
Sprinklers 40
Property Tax 85
Groceries 630
Veterinarian 100
Golds Gym 40
Personal Care (Haircuts, makeup, etc.) 90
Gifts 10
Satellite 143
Phone/Internet 100
Car Maintenance 150
HOA Fee 17
Netflix 10
lawn Care 16
Sewer 15
Trash 17
Medical 50
5479 Total
This does not include Gifts for each other, Parents, friends, or Siblings. It also does not count expenses on stuff we don't need like golf, poker, dvd rentals, large purchases I would normally make like tv's, funiture, ipods, etc.

I hope this helps you all give us some more insight into our life changing budget.

Do you have kids at home? 630 bucks for groceries a month is totally nuts if it is just you and your wife. You should look into the advice in the Groceries section of the forum for tips on how to reduce your grocery bill. Using coupons and coupon stacking is a great way--specially if your local stores double coupons. At first it may seem like a drag, but I have found it to be fun once you get going--a challenge, if you will, to keep saving more and more money every time I go to the grocery store.