How much do you save?

amother

Beige

Fri, Jul 02 2021, 4:10 pm

amother [ Dahlia ] wrote:

Sure- there are some things that even 8f my parents or inlaws don't support us, we still benefit from
So like we are on my parents phone plan
I'm still on my parents insurance, my husband we pay for and my son gets Medicaid
Car insurance also we are on my inlaws plan still
We own our car, so it's gas, like 100 a month, we only have one car and the occasional oil change, repair etc
260 a month for childcare
950 rent + around 100-140 utilities depending on the month
I budget around $250 a week on groceries but that includes things like paper towels, cleaning stuff etc so sometimes it's less, sometimes it's more
(What really made the difference for us is actually planning our meals and buying what we need instead of just a general shopping and then figuring it out from there... so by the end of the week my fridge is empty and nothing is going to the trash)
What am I missing? Feel like I didn't include everything but that's probably because it's right before shabbos and not thinking straight...

First of all, that's amazing that you're able to be on the same medical/car insurance plan. That definitely helps! Ok, so that's $2410 so far. Doing some rough math gets you to net salary of $28,816, which is roughly $2401 per month. You had mentioned a kollel paycheck but still that's amazing that you are saving that much per month! Just trying to figure this out as this can help bring awareness to others how they can budget better and save even if don't have support or a six-figure salary...

As far as expenses, what about cleaners, pharmacy, baby clothes/diapers etc, activities/shiurim, clothing/shoes, internet, and some pleasure spending such as an ice coffee/manicure, etc. ?

amother

Strawberry

Fri, Jul 02 2021, 4:30 pm

We save around 4-5k a month. We have around $150k saved across all our accounts. About $80k in an investment account, $20k in our 401ks, $10k in Roths and $40k in a HYSA we plan to use for a house. We also have $8k in a separate account we add to weekly that I'm hoping will grow to give to my kids for a downpayment when they buy houses. We don't count that as its not for us. I'm 27 my husband is 28. Our income is apprx. $210k before taxes. We make a lot but we also spend a lot. We both work hard so we splurge on groceries (a lot of precut/prechecked stuff) and we work long hours so we have a nanny which is expensive. Our rent is $1,400 which is inexpensive for where we live. We plan to stay in our apt. for another 2-3 years and then buy a "forever" house. We anticipate having $200k in our HYSA for the house and one of our parents will likely contribute another $100k-200k. After we buy our house we're hoping to direct most of our savings towards retirement/kids investment accounts.

amother

Dahlia

Sat, Jul 03 2021, 7:24 pm

amother [ Beige ] wrote:

My husband brings in $1500 for all his kollel checks, bH, I know that's not common but we are lucky.
I make around $1200 every 2 weeks (I get paid hourly so it's not exact)

We have a checking account that we put my husband's whole check minus maaser into and that is called bills. I also transfer $100 off each of my paychecks into bills I order to create a cushion there. We pay our rent utilities,, and our playgroup from there and my husband's insurance comes from there, as well as our internet filter, internet, etc. So we know that our bills are covered (obviously as mentioned we have less bills since we aren't paying our phone bill, etc)
My pay check is what we take all the savings off from and are left after all that with about about $600 for the 2 weeks, so that's our groceries and gas.
The bills account does build up a little cushion though and so thats where extras come out from, like a pair of shoes, or just something you don't have every month but is also not like a major expense.

Dry cleaning ends up not so frequent, like every other month, so we try to have our regular cash flow from what's left of my paycheck cover that.
Toiletries and cleaning stuff, diapers, etc comes from our grocery budget, but also it's not a weekly purchase so that's why sometimes we spend less, sometimes more, the $250 is an estimate.
And the occasional ice coffee, etc also would come from there (or from our bills account depending on where there is more extra) (and I wish I got manicures more, it's not because of the money, it's more the time, so unfortunately that doesn't need to go into our budget lol)

We are very on top of all our accounts and are on the same page about our spending. We aren't major cheapskates, we buy flowers every week for shabbos, I don't mind splurging on something extra here and there for a supper, etc. But we also rarely go out to eat (think birthdays, anniversary, that's it)
Big clothing expenses usually are for a yuntif and that's why we created an account that we save up for those things so this way we have where to take it from...

amother

Tulip

Wed, Jul 07 2021, 8:08 am

Married <5 years, a few kids, kollel.
SAVING PATTERNS:
From our regular income, we now save a few hundred dollars per month. It differs by month because of expenses, but generally under $1K. (By "regular income" I mean the amounts we can count on be"H. We have some things we do on the side that depend on other factors and can give another couple of hundred in any month, plus my work bonus, tax refunds, gifts, etc, we've been able to add to savings.) As soon as I need to return to working in-office, which will happen soon, our expenses will unavoidably go up a lot, and we will have $100-200 per month to save (or just provide "wiggle room" after our usual expenses, plus what I exclude from "regular income". This is only possible because b"H DH was recently able to get a new source of income, which is relatively small as an income, but will mean the difference between saving more and having to spend hundreds from our savings every month.
SAVINGS:
Our kids each have an investment account. We put in gifts that they get and sometimes gifts that we give them. I don't include that in our savings.
Retirement funds are maybe $40K? I'm not sure, and I don't include that in our savings.
Between our investment accounts, savings accounts, and checking account, I estimate that we have $125K. There have been a number of times that we thought we would need to use savings to pay our regular expenses, but so far Hashem has always sent us more income or a decrease in expenses right on time.
We own our home, but obviously have many years of mortgage payments remaining.
EXPENSES:
I get paid twice a month. The amount I get is after insurance (me and DH), retirement contributions, taxes, etc
We aren't officially getting any support, but our parents do cover some expenses because we are still on their plans. (Phones, car insurance)
We recently reached the milestone that one of my paychecks covers our housing expense, which is very exciting. The other paycheck is half for childcare, with the remainder going to maaser, food, and any other expenses. (kid insurance, utilities, treats, gifts, gas... all the usual stuff.)
Also, other than mortgage/tuition type expenses, I make sure to see it as an average per month. When I say we expect to save $100 per month, that doesn't mean that we will be short on the month that we need to pay a yearly expense (I can't think of an example at the moment). it means that 11 months of the year we will have an extra $10 after the month's expenses, and one month we will pay $120. B"H we can do this because we aren't living paycheck to paycheck.