How much do you spend?

amother

Wine

Thu, Jun 02 2016, 11:57 am

To those who had questions on my budget, Jade, yes it is all pretax. The rest is stolen from our paycheck by the government : (.
You asked about manicures, I don't get. Not bec I cant afford. I just don't like them.
Cleaners, yes my husband sends his stuff to the cleaners. I just didnt include it but it gets done.
I think you asked about clothes, I buy clothes but nowhere on the scale that you spend. I personally cant stand over paying for clothing. I like my kids to look nice but I shop online alot. Next direct, zappos, shirts stop for some shabbas clothes, marshals for little boys t shirts. Sale room of jewish stores...etc. I also only buy as needed.

amother

Wine

Thu, Jun 02 2016, 12:01 pm

amother wrote:

I really don't understand this. And I don't mean this in a rude way, I honestly don't judge others as I know my finances are down in the dumps but this total adds up to a little over $10k a month. Let's say it is $11K exact expenses, why do you think you are living month to month?
YOu don't save? You have a HOUSE! In NY that is quite a big deal. Are you in NY city or NY upstate (monroe, monsey, new square etc)?

We have a combined income of approx $5,700 a month. That is assuming dh doesn't get extra night jobs which he usually does because otherwise we can't make rent.
We pay health insurance, NY City rent, babysitter (I also work full time) plus tuition (2 kids).

We are still paying off credit card debt from last year Tishrei when I didn't get paid because I was in work maybe two days out of the whole month and we had two family weddings the week after!
Most months at this point we go over our budget by a few dollars and we use little incomes (odd jobs that I do and freelance my dh does) to cover. But THAT is called living month to month/paycheck to paycheck.

Maybe I am naive but if you own a house and you make $15,000 W/O paying health insurance, I really really don't understand how you are living month to month. And no savings?

Im not sure I follow your question. Expenses come out to around $11,000 a month. The rest is taken off from taxes. The amount I quoted was gross. Also there is clearly no extra money or I would have health insurance for me and my husband! And I wouldn't be paying credit card debt of $650 a month.

amother

Blonde

Thu, Jun 02 2016, 12:03 pm

amother wrote:

Oh!! Ok this makes more sense.

It just didn't add up for me. Yes the government takes so much it is annoying.
But BH you are comfortable to cover the month. It's tough.

amother

Royalblue

Thu, Jun 02 2016, 12:09 pm

Total income before taxes arnd 200,000
3 kids
monthy expenses
mortgage-3400
babysitter-12000
student loans 1000
tuition -500 for on child and 1000 something for the second
car-373
internet -180
water
electric
food -700
I dont even know the rest. we live paycheck to paycheck
I hardly get manicures.
we don't live off the government so with 2 working parents its not easy

The Happy Wife

Thu, Jun 02 2016, 12:16 pm

amother wrote:

Is that a typo? 12,000 for babysitting a month?

amother

Mint

Thu, Jun 02 2016, 1:08 pm

Roughly 125k. 2 kids. 3rd on way
Mortgage-3500 (gonna go down to 3300)
Rental income: 1700
Food...about 900 a month
Tuition...375 for preschool dc and I paid other one upfront was 5500 for year (nwxt year going up)
Insurance...dh and I 550 a month. Kids. 60
Cars...one 250, one 310
Gas...probably 100 a month (dh job reimburses his gas and insurance and covers my insurance too)
Cleaners....not sure probably like 100
Landscaping...45 a week.(1 acre grass to cut)
Odds and ends probably 500 a month.
Clothes I buy when I need.
Utilities. I have solar so electric is a flat 100 and water is about 50 and gas about 100
Phine and Internet 100
Cell phone on family plan and make payments when I can. Our phonea are 80 a month

amother

Blush

Thu, Jun 02 2016, 1:16 pm

amother wrote:

What about clothing, toys, manicures, cleaners, pizza?

to me manicures and pizza are big extras. So is going out to ice cream. We do a $10 pie maybe 3x per year. Ice cream for big events.
I'm always surprised when I see people saying food stamps should be for pizza and ice cream. I don't think most middle class people just splurge like that.

pesek zman

Thu, Jun 02 2016, 1:21 pm

amother wrote:

Morgages play a huge role - just looking at poster above who is paying 3500 a month.

Our mortgage is 1500 per month. Our house is really small and crowded with our growing family.

We make about 100,000 per year. Pay 5 tuitions (approx 4800 - 6500 each) and spend frugally.

But we also save $50 - 150 per child per month toward later expenses (bar mitzva, braces, wedding, etc) and contribute to our 401Ks monthly.

to me manicures and pizza are big extras. So is going out to ice cream. We do a $10 pie maybe 3x per year. Ice cream for big events.
I'm always surprised when I see people saying food stamps should be for pizza and ice cream. I don't think most middle class people just splurge like that.

Completely agree. I personally think that a $3500/ month mortgage payment is way too high and signifies either not putting enough down (I see 20% down as a bare minimum!) or buying too expensive a house. That's just me. My mortgage is around $900/month (small home with large down pavement make for very comfortable monthly payments)

amother

Rose

Thu, Jun 02 2016, 2:45 pm

Ok here goes:
Net income each month (after taxes) = 4520 = dh, + 1700 = me. Total available income = 6220 approx.

fixed monthly expenses (approx):
mortgage = 1300
utilities = 300
car insurance = 160
tuition = 1800 (very reduced rate, we have 5 kids in school)
medical insurance = 570 (just dh and me, kids have medical assistance)
gas for car = 120 (thank G-d for low prices atm)
phone, cell phones and internet = 145
international calling = 20 (we live in a different country to family)
dental insurance = 75
medical copays, typically = 180
food = 1500 (big family bH)
tzedaka =90 (not maaser, cant afford that)
cleaning help =120 (cant afford more than 2.5 hrs /week)
dry cleaning = 25 (dh insists that I dont do a good job of his shirts Sad

)
clothing (typically averages out to approx) = 200 (teenagers clothes are expensive!)
money going to pension fund = 100
allowance for the kids = 40
diapers, wipes, toiletries, tissues etc = 100
miscellaneous, eg siyumim, parties, bowling, sefer/book needed for school, school trips, etc = approx 90

what did I miss out?
anyway, total expenses = 6935.
As you can see, even with reduced tuition adn medical assistance, we cant manage - our expenses are at least 715 over our income. That is why, when we get tax refunds of 6-8000 each year, it just goes into our bank account and gets swallowed up, we really rely on it like it is income. Sad

And then yomtov time, expenses are even higher. No money available if we need new appliances, furniture, things fixing, or for simchas. Not easy. this is called living from paycheck to paycheck...

amother

Apricot

Thu, Jun 02 2016, 3:00 pm

Combined monthly income: approximately $19,000 (my income varies as I have my own business)

Rent: $4,900 (mortgage and insurance on our new home will total $5200 a month)
Tuition: $4,600 (we do get reduced tuition already)
Babysitter: $2,000
Utilities: $1,000
Cleaning: $720
Student Loans: $1800

We have 4 children, three are school age and one baby. Cost of living in our area is astronomical, but we need to live here for work.

Those are fixed expenses that don't include food, clothing, and other items. So our pre-tax monthly income is $19,000, which is a huge amount of money, but our fixed expenses total $14,000 in after-tax income. We end up living paycheck to paycheck. I realize that cleaning is a luxury, but my DH has some medical and anxiety issues that require a very very clean house, which we can't manage when we both have demanding jobs and often work long hours.

We make loads of money but feel like we are barely making it. We're considering taking the kids out of school and going public because tuition is such an enormous strain. If all of our kids were school age and in public schools, we'd have an extra $6,600 a month. Finances are a big source of stress and I fear this is starting to break down our marriage. But we just aren't ready to pull the kids out of school and put them in public schools yet.

Finding cheaper housing is just not possible, but we are happy to finally almost own a home so we won't be paying rent each month. At least we'll be building up equity each month.

amother

cornflower

Thu, Jun 02 2016, 4:03 pm

WOW- I am impressed with all that you wrote! I am not at the same stage as you, but certainly struggling none the less. My husband and I are "middle age" with only a few unmarrieds left. Here is our "budget:

income=$5600 monthly (after taxes)

tuitions-$1500 (3 kids-HS and Post HS)
Rent- $1450
Utilities:~$100
Car pymnt-$215
loans/debt: $1000 (just married off some kids so have alot of debt now)
food: ~$1000
car ins: ~$150
cell phones: ~$140 (5 phones for us and kids)

and whatever is left goes towards incidentals (medicines, tutoring, gas, etc). We live pay check to paycheck.

amother

Mint

Thu, Jun 02 2016, 4:29 pm

pesek zman wrote:

I am poatwr with 3500 mortgage. I have rwntal income of 1700 so I rwally only pay 1700 out of pocket.
I also am bh in a house that I wont need to add on or grow out of for a vwry long time if ever. I believe I did an wxtremely smaet move with my house.
In another year my house will be worth 150k more than I paid for it.

amother

Apricot

Thu, Jun 02 2016, 5:04 pm

amother wrote:

Apricot amother where do you live?

I'd rather not say, as I gave a lot of personal info and I live OOT in a smaller frum community. With the info I gave, the few women on here where I live would guess my identity easily.

Suffice it to say that it's one of the most expensive housing markets in the country.

amother

Tan

Thu, Jun 02 2016, 8:44 pm

Monthly Expenses:
$3600 mortgage
$1300 income rental
$700 tuition
$1000 put in savings
$0 health insurance (company benefits)
$1000 grocery
$279 car financing (other car paid in full)
$160 car insurance
$300 Utilities
$70 phone + Internet
$140 cell phone bills
$1000 cleaning help
$100 shaitel
$150 cleaners
$500 fast food 😳
Plus probably $500 for the occasional manicures, home purchases, prizes, copays, car repair, gifts, dates, vacations...

Since we started being able to live without penny pinching (first 5 years of marriage) I never really sat down to figure this all out so thanks! embarrassed

amother

Indigo

Thu, Jun 02 2016, 8:53 pm

Income: 20,000/month
Expenses : ( family of 7)
5500 taxes
2500 tuition
1800 health insurance
3000 credit card
(food + household + clothing )
600 babysitter
300 cleaning help
1750 rent
300 utilities
100 phone
Total expenses 16,750
We save a few thousand a month, toward a down payment.

amother

Amethyst

Fri, Jun 03 2016, 10:50 am

Total income after taxes: 7200 (including a rental income of 1850)

Mortgage: $2850
Tuition and child care: $700
Cleaning help: $500
2 leased Cars+insurance: $1000 (very high insurance due to a few accidents)
Utilities:$150
Phones:$200
Tzdaka:$250
Gas & tolls: $400 (husband commutes)
Health: $200
Food:$1200
Other (such as cleaners,tickets,diapers, clothing etc.) approximately $500

Technically this should be enough but there are always extra expenses that come up such as yom tov, summer, booted car so we constantly pressured.

Plus: 20k in debt for: buying a house, having a baby, 4 months of unemployed husband and moving twice.

We are super tight and can get very nervous at times. Although I Bh have more or less what I need.

Forgot to mention we are a family of 5