Help creating a budget

amother

Slateblue

Tue, Feb 14 2017, 12:38 am

I am part of a family of 4. My family income after taxes and health insurance is $38,000. Rent is $1,500, car is $500 with insurance, food is $500 (I love oot and it's more expensive here), electricity is around $50 depending on the season, cell phones $100, $100 date nights, beauty such as wig or nails is $75. Please help me create a realistic plan to save based on my income

amother

Honeydew

Tue, Feb 14 2017, 1:26 am

38,000 / 12 = $3166 per month.

Your current monthly expenses = $2825.

You did not include tuition, diapers (if applicable), tzedakah, Yomim Tovim, etc. That all needs to be part of your "flexible" money = $341 per month. Which means you are probably using all of it.

If you are looking for ways to save, you can get your cell phones down significantly most probably. There are many plans that are $30 per line. You may be eligible for subsidized health insurance (I don't know where you live).

If you are talking about saving $$ for the future, I'd start with putting away $20 where you can't reach it, and pretending you have less. But this is assuming that you are not putting $$$ on credit cards, because then it will backfire. It is unlikely that you will be able to save a major amount with your current income. You may want to sell on ebay occasionally or something and put all of that income into savings.