Is my budget reasonable?

amother

Thu, Feb 21 2013, 12:17 pm

I've been really lax about tracking my spending the last quite a few months, and now I'm trying to project a budget for the next year or so with not much to go on. I'm sure I'm forgetting or mis-estimating some things.

I am starting with the expenses as opposed to income because my objective is to see how much income we should aim to make over the next year (we're going through some career transitions and want to see how much of some jobs we can afford to cut out and how much of other jobs we need to add)

We live in an expensive NY neighborhood (necessary for now) and are a couple with 2 young children.

Here's what I came up with pretty much off the cuff - Monthly:
Rent about 2000 (we're looking to move so no definite figure yet, but that's what we can expect based on what I've seen so far) including utilities
Preschool for one child 500
Groceries 400 (that's my big question mark; does it sound right? I'm a medium-frugal shopper - I buy on sale and make a lot from scratch but we eat fleishigs during the week sometimes and buy pre-checked greens, use some disposables, etc)
Health insurance plus copays et al 1000 (We are currently on FHP, I'm told that our children will be able to stay on but DH and I will soon disqualify. I based this estimate on HealthyNY website. Sound rightish?)
Phone - cell for each of us 90 (again, we're looking to switch, I based this number on MetroPCS but we're still undecided) no landline
Other - Diapers, pharmacy, occasional purchases such as books or accessories, evening babysitter, about 250 all together
We don't spend much on clothes because I have a lot of hand-me-downs for the kids, the occasional things we need to buy can fit in our "other" for that month
Babysitting during work I currently have free by a family member. Depending on career choices I may or may not need to add to it.
Life insurance for me and DH - we got a quote but I don't remember exactly - somewhere under 100 for both together.

So far that totals $4240 per month.
Is that reasonable?

How much should a family of our constitution aim to put into savings each month?

amother

Thu, Feb 21 2013, 12:39 pm

TwinsMommy wrote:

internet?
car payments?
car insurance?
credit card payments?
student loan payments?
gas bill?
electric?
sewer? water?

add any of those you've missed, and up your grocery allotment. Just my opinion!

I live in Cleveland so I HAVE to add.... $2000 for RENT? oy vey.

Well, yes it is a lot for rent but you missed the line about how it includes half the other things on your list: gas, electric, sewer, water, etc.
We don't do a ton of traveling so I included car gas with "other" and we don't own a car (we borrow my parents' when really needed) - another advantage of NY where everything is right there on top of you.
No student loan or credit card debt. Monthly credit card bills are just to cover the expenses from other categories (e.g. if we're using the credit card to buy food, I counted that as 'food" not "credit card")

Thanks for the input, keep it coming! I'd especially like to hear what others of our family size pay for food/groceries (2 adults, 1 preschooler, 1 baby-soon-to-be-toddler)

lmc91

Thu, Feb 21 2013, 12:48 pm

You might want to double check the grocery bill. We never spend under $650, usually more like $750-$800 and we're just a couple with a baby. We eat meat every night so I know that contributes a lot to the expense, but we buy mean in bulk for about $200 a month. So that still means we're spending at least $450 on everything BESIDES meat - and we don't buy anything really processed or packaged. We also don't buy dairy. So for us that $450 just covers vegetables, fruit, baking supplies, things like mayo, oil, margarine, eggs, wine, household supplies. (I still don't get how this makes sense but this is all we buy and it still ends up costing that much!)

Maya

Thu, Feb 21 2013, 1:10 pm

I agree about the groceries; we're a couple with one kid and a baby and our grocery bills have been over $1,000 a month, So even if you shop somewhat frugally, I'd estimate it to be at least $600.

NY area rent including utilities is only $2,000? I'd double check that.

Lastly, $250 a month for everything else, especially if you include diapers and pharmacy items, seems to be very low.

Maya

Thu, Feb 21 2013, 1:12 pm

I made a budget for my spending at the end of December for the new year. I made it based on what I had tracked for the entire previous year. I tried to stick to it, but at the end of the month, I was close to a thousand dollars over.

It's always more than you think it will be. That's why it's important to overestimate instead of underestimate. Unless you're willing to make changes in your lifestyle to ensure that you only stick to the predetermined budget no matter what.

Barbara

Thu, Feb 21 2013, 1:32 pm

amother wrote:

TwinsMommy wrote:

If you don't own a car, what about public transportation? An unlimited Metrocard is $104/month, so that's another $200 for the two of you.

I think your grocery estimate is low for two adults and two kids. That's $100 per week, or an average of $4.76 per meal for three people. Especially as you say that you use pre-checked greens and some disposables, I don't see how you can do it for this sum UNLESS you are uber-frugal, which you say you're not.

Shul membership. Insurance. Medical co-pays. Toiletries. (I think your $250 per month is low given that you use diapers.) Hair cuts. Gifts. Costs for chagim.

I know that you say that you get a lot of hand me downs, but that doesn't include shoes. Or it shouldn't, as shoes should not be passed down.

shirtsandskirts

Thu, Feb 21 2013, 2:21 pm

lmc91 wrote:

I don't know, we are also a couple with just one baby (who now eats only real food), live in NY and spend between 60-100 a week on groceries. So we spend about $400 a month. On household goods we spend somewhere between 50-100 a month. So the most total per month including all household goods, diapers, etc. is $500.

TranquilityAndPeace

Thu, Feb 21 2013, 3:38 pm

DunkinLover wrote:

Wow, just 60-100 a week? Are you never home for Shabbos meals? What do you two eat for a normal breakfast, lunch, supper and Shabbos meal?

Peanut2

Thu, Feb 21 2013, 3:57 pm

Can you track how much you actually pay for groceries? Because I doubt that's correct.

Are you basing this on what you actually pay, or just randomly guessing? You need to track expenses to get an idea. Either write everything down, or keep all receipts. I use my card for almost all purchases and we track things that way, but the ladies on this site don't like that and it really depends how you view a card. I can see the money draining from our account, and occasional cash use doesn't throw us off too badly.

Diapers and regular expenses should be in a separate category from misce. expenses. How much do you spend on diapers and wipes and deodorant and detergent, etc every month? I include that with food groceries in my head, but you can't dip into your diaper fund to buy shoes. You need the diapers.

Where do haircuts, mikveh fees, shul fees, tzedakah, transportation, an occasional night out, or in? I would not put that with the diapers and can you really cap that at $250? Renters insurance, also.
And with health insurance, if you a making job decisions this could be a big one. A job that pays a bit less but has health insurance for your whole family can save you a ton of money.

shirtsandskirts

Thu, Feb 21 2013, 4:23 pm

TranquilityAndPeace wrote:

DunkinLover wrote:

Wow, just 60-100 a week? Are you never home for Shabbos meals? What do you two eat for a normal breakfast, lunch, supper and Shabbos meal?

Ya. We eat really frugal. We are always home for shabbos. I buy a whole chicken in quarters about eevery two weeks. We share one piece of chicken friday nights, I also make kugel and chulent (potatoes, beans, no meat). I use on piece of the shnitzel for chicken lo-mein for a supper (mostly noodles, a bit of chicken). I make my own bread so we have that and eggs for supper. I make my own pizza dough,and we usually have the chicken lo-mein to last for two meals. I also make lots of soups. For breakfast we have cereal and milk or omlettes. for lunch we take tuna or cream cheese or eggs or pasta. Interestingly about 1/3 of my grocery bill weekly is fruits/vegetables.

lmc91

Thu, Feb 21 2013, 4:23 pm

TranquilityAndPeace wrote:

DunkinLover wrote:

Wow, just 60-100 a week? Are you never home for Shabbos meals? What do you two eat for a normal breakfast, lunch, supper and Shabbos meal?

That's a good point, Shabbos makes a HUGE difference in how much you spend on groceries. Our first year of marriage even though we were just a couple we had lots of meals with 6-8 people for night and day meals, so it adds up.

little_mage

Fri, Feb 22 2013, 11:35 am

So I wrote a lovely reply this morning, and stupid kindle fire logged me out and didn't let me post it.
While you've implied that you don't use credit or debit cards, if you do, I find it can be much easier to track spending. We were using mint.com for a while-if you link your accounts it will automatically import and even categorize them for you, although you have to monitor. It'll also do fancy graphing and stuff.
I don't live in NY, but our grocery budget is under $400 a month for two adults and a toddler. We do keep CY, but we almost never have guests. Our prices are probably a little different, though.