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Forum -> Household Management -> Finances
How much for a family of three per month?
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amother
Chocolate


 

Post Wed, Nov 07 2018, 9:01 am
I wrote everything little expense o had this past month and here are the numbers-

$2,500 fixed expensises (rent, bills, insurance playgroup, car payment ect...)

$2,243 others (food, household items, clothing ect)

Seems so high! Last year our monthly expenses were $4000 this year it’s that much higher and I can’t figure out why?


How much do you spend a month?
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pesek zman




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 07 2018, 9:17 am
Your “others” are way too high
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chatz




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 07 2018, 9:21 am
$2243 seems like a lot for food, clothing, and household for a family of 3. Are there any major one time purchases in there? Major food stock ups? Can you break it up into more specific categories?

Keep in mind that how much to spend is relative to your income, values, location, and long term financial goals.
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amother
Chocolate


 

Post Wed, Nov 07 2018, 10:29 am
chatz wrote:
$2243 seems like a lot for food, clothing, and household for a family of 3. Are there any major one time purchases in there? Major food stock ups? Can you break it up into more specific categories?

Keep in mind that how much to spend is relative to your income, values, location, and long term financial goals.


Just redid the chesbon-

Food $632
Takeout $55
Gifts $78
Personal and pharmacy $152
Clothing $443 (needed coat, shoes for me and baby winter clothes ect)
Amazon and Target $203
Big expenses $360 (oil change for two cars plus paid for a course I’m taking now)
Gas for two cars $143

Total: $2090
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amother
Aquamarine


 

Post Wed, Nov 07 2018, 10:34 am
amother wrote:
Just redid the chesbon-

Food $632
Takeout $55
Gifts $78
Personal and pharmacy $152
Clothing $443 (needed coat, shoes for me and baby winter clothes ect)
Amazon and Target $203
Big expenses $360 (oil change for two cars plus paid for a course I’m taking now)
Gas for two cars $143

Total: $2090


For me, clothing expenses are about twice a year. New wardrobes for your kids can really add up, but is it usually every month? Budgets are not always the same each month. New seasons, yom tov, etc. can make your expenses vary. Maybe you should budget a yearly clothing allowance.
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amother
Pearl


 

Post Wed, Nov 07 2018, 11:17 am
If you take the clothing and big expenses out of the budget, you are just below $4,000 a month. It makes sense that this month feels like you spent a lot in comparison to the past, since you had some extra expenses all at the same time, such as oil changes, the course and clothing. These may be necessary expenses that are unavoidable, but if you know that they will all be happening at the same time, it helps to lower the food, take-out, Target and Amazon to make up the difference. You can then stock up on household items in a different month which does not have the extra expenses.
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Ruchel




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Nov 07 2018, 11:26 am
OOOF. This is huge. BH you can afford... I would save like crazy.
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amother
Chocolate


 

Post Wed, Nov 07 2018, 7:03 pm
amother wrote:
For me, clothing expenses are about twice a year. New wardrobes for your kids can really add up, but is it usually every month? Budgets are not always the same each month. New seasons, yom tov, etc. can make your expenses vary. Maybe you should budget a yearly clothing allowance.



You shop for clothing twice a year???

Just last month my baby outgrew his first pair of shoes, needed a coat and a few winter tops. I needed winter shoes and two new weekday outfits.

This month I need to restock on my skincare products- there’s a yearly sale in December so I stock got the year.

Next month I need to buy DH some clothing items.

I’m sure my toddler will need new leggings and pajamas further into the winter.

Before you know it I’ll start shopping for the summer... (I tend to stager purchases so it’s not all at one).
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amother
Chocolate


 

Post Wed, Nov 07 2018, 7:03 pm
Ruchel wrote:
OOOF. This is huge. BH you can afford... I would save like crazy.


Can you explain?
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amother
Bronze


 

Post Wed, Nov 07 2018, 7:14 pm
We spend much more for same size family
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Ruchel




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Nov 08 2018, 5:19 am
amother wrote:
Can you explain?


SAVE. Don't spend this money on all this.
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amother
Ivory


 

Post Thu, Nov 08 2018, 5:38 am
Oh wow that's a lot. Bh our rent is cheap because the renovation of the building was subsidized by the government. Also I should add we shop almost everything on sale or coupons. So I hardly ever pay full price on food. I usually buy Thursday evening, Friday right before shabbos, that's when it's cheapest. Or motzei shabbos depending when it ends. You can save a lot from the sales.
So we spend:
760 euros rent including electricity, internet, phone, water and heat
450 food
40 other things like detergent, shampoo, cleaning products
10 pharmacy/medicine (kids medicine is paid for by insurance and so this is for my pill (8 euros) and dh's medicine which costs 5 euros (insurance pays the rest)
We don't have a monthly budget for clothes. I have so many .. I usually add a few shirts or skirts a year. So maybe 100 a year for me and 100 a year for Dh and let's say 100 for DD even though we get a lot of clothes from Grandma. If we have to buy shoes then it's more.
And then we have 70 euros a month spending money each, so if we eat out during lunch break or I buy a new plant or something. Everything we don't spend from that goes into a box and we use that for food for chagim because then we usually need more money.
We live very simply but I wouldn't say we miss out on anything. We buy all our favorite products but we always wait for them to go on sale. So for example I buy an expensive detergent because it's my favorite .. but when it's on sale it costs as much as the cheap one.

I assume your course that you took added up. When I was studying there were added costs aswell and you suddenly don't know where all the money went. I'm glad that my employer pays for my courses now.. I can do a few courses a year that are paid for. So that really helps!

We also don't need cars.. that would be a big expense for us.
Gifts isn't a monthly expense because most people in our family have birthdays in the summer.. so the whole family agreed on 30 Euros per gift and my husband and me usually spend 70 on each other and DD.

We save most of our income for a deposit on a house and we're paying back student loans. So we try to only spend 1/4 of our income every month.
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amother
Peach


 

Post Thu, Nov 08 2018, 6:23 am
We spend $20,000 a month. Sometimes more. 3 kids. These numbers people manage on always amaze me.
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Ruchel




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Nov 08 2018, 6:34 am
It's not necessarily about managing. I do not SEE what I would spend on that would reach quite that number.
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amother
Ivory


 

Post Thu, Nov 08 2018, 6:41 am
amother wrote:
We spend $20,000 a month. Sometimes more. 3 kids. These numbers people manage on always amaze me.


Well then you're a family of 5. But that's tons of money.. we wouldn't be able to spend that much because that's my annual income!!!
I think once you have a certain income and spending habit it becomes normal to you. Also you probably pay tuition.. we don't have to. My child (only one child) goes to kindergarten which is paid for by my employer (that's why I chose this job). So until we have school age kids we won't be paying a penny for kindergarten.
I think if we made triple of what we make we would also spend on things that we don't consider necessary now. I'd buy a Cary my husband would also have a car... We would go on holidays , buy food that's not on sale, buy more expensive clothing. But those are things I'd want.. I don't need them.
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amother
Peach


 

Post Thu, Nov 08 2018, 6:53 am
amother wrote:
Well then you're a family of 5. But that's tons of money.. we wouldn't be able to spend that much because that's my annual income!!!
I think once you have a certain income and spending habit it becomes normal to you. Also you probably pay tuition.. we don't have to. My child (only one child) goes to kindergarten which is paid for by my employer (that's why I chose this job). So until we have school age kids we won't be paying a penny for kindergarten.
I think if we made triple of what we make we would also spend on things that we don't consider necessary now. I'd buy a Cary my husband would also have a car... We would go on holidays , buy food that's not on sale, buy more expensive clothing. But those are things I'd want.. I don't need them.


Well definitely my expenses are high. Fixed expenses like tuition, mortgage, insurance, etc... are about $12,000+ Per month.

I admire that people make it work, I just don’t see how.
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Ruchel




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Nov 08 2018, 7:05 am
And I don't see how people can pay this lol. I am not familiar with that range of price.
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amother
Chocolate


 

Post Thu, Nov 08 2018, 8:20 am
amother wrote:
We spend much more for same size family

How much more?

What are your other expenses?
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amother
Chocolate


 

Post Thu, Nov 08 2018, 8:23 am
amother wrote:
Oh wow that's a lot. Bh our rent is cheap because the renovation of the building was subsidized by the government. Also I should add we shop almost everything on sale or coupons. So I hardly ever pay full price on food. I usually buy Thursday evening, Friday right before shabbos, that's when it's cheapest. Or motzei shabbos depending when it ends. You can save a lot from the sales.
So we spend:
760 euros rent including electricity, internet, phone, water and heat
450 food
40 other things like detergent, shampoo, cleaning products
10 pharmacy/medicine (kids medicine is paid for by insurance and so this is for my pill (8 euros) and dh's medicine which costs 5 euros (insurance pays the rest)
We don't have a monthly budget for clothes. I have so many .. I usually add a few shirts or skirts a year. So maybe 100 a year for me and 100 a year for Dh and let's say 100 for DD even though we get a lot of clothes from Grandma. If we have to buy shoes then it's more.
And then we have 70 euros a month spending money each, so if we eat out during lunch break or I buy a new plant or something. Everything we don't spend from that goes into a box and we use that for food for chagim because then we usually need more money.
We live very simply but I wouldn't say we miss out on anything. We buy all our favorite products but we always wait for them to go on sale. So for example I buy an expensive detergent because it's my favorite .. but when it's on sale it costs as much as the cheap one.

I assume your course that you took added up. When I was studying there were added costs aswell and you suddenly don't know where all the money went. I'm glad that my employer pays for my courses now.. I can do a few courses a year that are paid for. So that really helps!

We also don't need cars.. that would be a big expense for us.
Gifts isn't a monthly expense because most people in our family have birthdays in the summer.. so the whole family agreed on 30 Euros per gift and my husband and me usually spend 70 on each other and DD.

We save most of our income for a deposit on a house and we're paying back student loans. So we try to only spend 1/4 of our income every month.


I must say I am impressed with your resourcefulness!

Buy obviously we live in different places where things are priced differently. Also we pay about $850 alone a month for our cars...

What would you say your total monthly spending is? I can’t seem to get a clear picture.
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amother
Chocolate


 

Post Thu, Nov 08 2018, 8:25 am
Ruchel wrote:
SAVE. Don't spend this money on all this.


What should I cut out?

BH I just got a new cleaning lady so that’s another $100 a month.
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