Comments on a budget for family of 4

[Joe2929]

Hello-

Living in a high cost area of the US with mom/dad (low 30s) and 2 kids (both under 3).

What do you think is an appropriate range for spending on the following per month?

Clothes?
Food (groceries)?
Entertainment?
Insurance (disability/life/auto/home protection etc)?

I realize there are many individual answers to these questions but hoping someone will care to opine on personal experience or guesses on costs for someone living low, medium, high budget.

Thanks.

[tripods68]

That really depends on your current combined household income (Income - Expenses). It's not appropriate if your monthly expenses exceed monthly income.

It would be helpful if you list the monthly expenses relative to income?

[disneysteve]

There's no way to answer with the information given.

How much do you earn?
How much are your housing costs?
What debts do you have?

Are you just looking for a ballpark figure? If so, I'd go with the 50/30/20 budget. That's 50% for needs, 30% for wants, and 20% for savings. Use that as a starting point and see how close your current spending fits that plan. If it's close, that's great. If it's way off, start focusing on that and figure out how to bring in more in line with the 50/30/20 plan.

[Nutria]

Living in a high cost area

How high is high?

Clothes?

How mandatory is it that the four of you constantly wear the latest fashions?

Food (groceries)?

Walmart or Whole Foods?

Entertainment?

How much of a fit will the family members pitch if they don't go to expensive restaurants twice a month?

Insurance (disability/life/auto/home protection etc)?

Other than "shop around" and "term life insurance is best", that's impossible to answer,

personal experience or guesses on costs for someone living low, medium, high budget.

My high could be your low.

[Joe2929]

ok thank you anyway for the responses.

[disneysteve]

ok thank you anyway for the responses.

I'm sorry but I'm not sure what you expected us to say? How can we possibly tell you a reasonable budget if we don't know your income? How much is appropriate to spend on food or clothing or entertainment is going to be very different if you earn $50,000 than if you earn $250,000.

We'd all be very happy to help you plan out a good budget but we need to know how much you're working with and what other expenses you have.

[Nutria]

I'm sorry but I'm not sure what you expected us to say? How can we possibly tell you a reasonable budget if we don't know your income? How much is appropriate to spend on food or clothing or entertainment is going to be very different if you earn $50,000 than if you earn $250,000.

We'd all be very happy to help you plan out a good budget but we need to know how much you're working with and what other expenses you have.

Perfect example of differing clothing budgets:

1. children go to a public school which mandates uniforms,
2. wife is a secretary, and
3. husband is a mechanic.

1. children go to a private school,
2. wife runs a boutique, and
3. husband is a corporate lawyer.

[snafu]

One standard was outlined by disneysteve, operates on percentages. Here's a breakdown offered in several studies...

Where does the money go?

Housing 30% How much of your income goes to rent/utilities/insurance/ repairs/taxes?

Auto/transportation 15% What percentage of your take home pay do you spend for vehicle loan/insurance/operation/maintenance & parking/tolls?

Food 17% Eating out costs about 5 X cost of food prepared at home when you add in transportation, parking, tips and taxes

Health & Life Insurance 5% [Canada/different system]

Entertainment 7% We all need to have fun

Clothing 4% This presumes you have a closet full of clothes already

Medical 6% OTC or RX copay

Debt Repayment 5% Student loans, credit cards

Savings/Investment 5% [presuming you participate in employer retirement plan]

Misc. 6% Grooming, vacations, gifts

Life happens, I'm forever over in one of the categories and having to scramble to try for better balance.

[Nutria]

I don't like to purely use the percentage system, because some bills (food, utilities, etc) can't be managed as a percentage of your income.

Better, I think, to know where all your money is going now, then compare that to what money is coming in, and lastly see what you can adjust based on need, wants, (metaphorical) pain, etc.

[snafu]

Nutria, I totally agree, I'm smarting from an unanticipated, sharp increase in Municipal tax and a 20 % carbon tax I thought the silly politicians were merely threatening.

It responds to OP's question of high, mid and low income. It can be a worthwhile exercise to identify areas that may be out of whack. We run the numbers annually and it reminds us to review insurance coverage, whether it's prudent to undertake a remodel, buy a newer vehicle or go on an exotic vacation for example.

[scfr]

For budgeting food expenditures, using the USDA Food Plan guidelines are one place to look. They offer plan amounts at 4 different spending levels, based on family size/age/gender.

https://www.cnpp.usda.gov/USDAFoodPlansCostofFood

Joe2929, are you trying to come up with a spending plan for your family?