COLD hard facts about our budget

[cbmeeks]

Well, I have complete accurate numbers for May 2006. I started the DR plan on April 25 but since I was basically at the end of April, I couldn't get accurate numbers.

But for all of May, I have literally tracked every FREAKING PENNY.

We've been complaining that gas is really high (and it is) but we spent 9% of our outgoing money on gas. Which includes a mini-van and my car. Plus, we run the girls to their friends' house a lot.

Mortgage was 20% of outgoing money.

Living Expense (food, diapers, medicine, etc) was 14%.

Savings: 9%

Electric, phones, cable, water, etc: 11%

Now, hold on to your hats, but debt (including mortgage) is a WHOPPING 37%

AARRRGGG!!!

The remaining are things like daycare.

37 freaking percent. Granted, that is "only" 17% above our mortgage but jeesh.

Anyone else as anal as me with this stuff? lol

[jmjj215]

Oh, I may have you beat with the anal thing. I could tell you how much money my wife and I have spent on groceries since we married in February of 2003.

Hmm, I just dug it up: $5,806.54. That's a monthly average of $152.52

We've also paid $16,211.56 in rent. It helped to live in a basement for the first year that cost us $350 (including utilities).

It sure is interesting to look at this stuff. Even more interesting is trend analysis

[cbmeeks]

Originally Posted by jmjj215

Oh, I may have you beat with the anal thing. I could tell you how much money my wife and I have spent on groceries since we married in February of 2003.

Hmm, I just dug it up: $5,806.54. That's a monthly average of $152.52

We've also paid $16,211.56 in rent. It helped to live in a basement for the first year that cost us $350 (including utilities).

It sure is interesting to look at this stuff. Even more interesting is trend analysis

Well, you only have me beat because you started doing it sooner. :-P

Seriously, I have out-grown Excel in my tracking. I think I will go out and get MS Money or something because I love the trend analysis it has...and all the pretty pie charts on our spending.

[b4freedom]

Don't use MS Money. Quicken is a better alternative.

[boefixepa]

I didn't like either Money nor quicken. I used quicken for years and I hated having to rebuy it when my bank no longer supported the only version. I also learned....of course after.... that is really didn't do what I needed it to. When the computer took a dive once I wanted to cry, so if you do it....backup...backup....backup.

Personally, I would look for something like mvelopes or another such program that allows you too look at all your accounts at all your banks, cc, mortgages at once. It shows you how much you have 'left' in you budget in an instant, you don't have to go run a report to see if 'actual' matches 'budget.' I could never go back to quicken after using mvelopes.

[cbmeeks]

well, I actually own Quicken 2003 and I thought it was too buggy at the time. Every time I downloaded transactions from the bank, it never meshed into what I had. So I constantly had to go in an edit transactions.

I might check out mvelopes. I just want something that is like a check register and also helps track my investments.

[debtdude]

The more you track (every penny) then the more effective your budget will be. I can't stress this enough. Therefore, I'll say it again... the more you can track every penny, the more you will see where the money is leaking out...where the money ISN'T goes towards paying off your debt.

[wwjdmsl]

I have my payment percentages at the following at this time:

Housing/Mortgage 29.9%
Utilities 10.3%
Transportation 14% (includes vehicle payments until paid off)
Food 15.2% (including school lunches)
Medical / Health 2.8%
Debts (11.3%)
Entertainment / Dining Out 3.2%
Miscellaneous 3.2%
Savings 10.1%

I want to get more granular with this...breaking down categories to see where I can squeeze out more to finish paying down debt and add to savings

[cbmeeks]

yeah, I just wished I could get my wife as fired up as I am. I could tell her that I am going to bury the money in a mayo jar in the middle of Nevada and she would agree. Then, keep spending the money on the kids. lol

[lrjohnson]

I've been using Quicken since 4/98. I was depositing biweekly checks of $300 to $350; it's funny to see. I can run a report and know I have spent $2489.99 on books. It works out to $26 a month. Last year though, I only spent 224.89, so I was down to $18.74 a month. I too love being able to see trands, and examine habits in order to reduce spending.

I can't wait until I have ten years worth.

[boefixepa]

Mvelopes has a registar for every account, so in that regards it is not all that different from quicken. I reconcile all my accounts once a month. Everyday they pull all the transactions from all your checking, cc, savings accounts etc. then you drop the transaction into the envelope (budget category) it belongs. So you know day to day how much you have have left until the next funding (paycheck). There are all kinds of reports you can make, but honestly I don't use them...what I want to know is right there in that tree of envelopes.

[jmjj215]

cbmeeks - if you buy money, get it off eBay for dirt cheap.

To the mvelopes idea - I just don't like the monthly subscription. I think they charge way too much for their service. It ends up being more expensive than Quicken (whose budgeting features are lacking).

You can trend your heart out with Excel, by the way

[boefixepa]

Yeah, you do I have to pay....bummer on that, but it saves me much more in the long run. And I don't have to worry about losing it all if the computer take a dive, or about buying updates. So for me the 6-8 bucks a month is more than worth it. If someone knows of something better, for cheeper, with free bill pay, let me know.

[PrincessPerky]

Sigh, I wish my debt was only 37% of my income....it is 50%...mortgage, all mortgage.....

[Broken Arrow]

I'm not as anal as jmjj but I do track every penny. Every last one of them. I'm proud of that too.

[tgavin71]

Seeing as though we are talking stats here are ours for our updated budget.

Mortgage 26.9%
Car loan 6.1%
Utilities 5.1%
Groceries 7.7%
Car costs (fuel, insurance, rego, maintenace) 5.6%
Managed fund 2.5%
House costs (rates, insurance, furniture etc) 5.1%
Husband 7.7% (inc clothes, entertainment, medical expenses and food while at work)
Me and the kids 7.7% ( same as above but we don't need as much money for food as we can get it at the supermarket)
Holiday adn gifts 7.7%
Other transport (taxis, trains) 2.5%
Education 1.5%
Emergency fund for budget blowouts and unexpected events 13.8%

Have just started this budget after tracking spending for past 4 months so I know exactly how much we spend in each category.