How much do you and DH spend monthly if you have no kids?

shmosmom

Mon, Aug 12 2019, 1:09 pm

amother [ Lavender ] wrote:

$800? For 2 people?
We aim for $300 for 2 people. If we're being splurgy then we can spend closer to $400, but that rarely happens. It's usually around $350.
Even $500 seems high to me

I don't have a food goal or 'AIM' I didn't realize this was a budgeting thread, just a general how much we spend. At this point we're 2 adults plus a toddler, but toddler basically eats in school/at grandma. I think $800 a month ($200 a week) is reasonable, it would mean about $20 per weeknight dinner, $75 for Shabbos (3 meals plus shabbos afternoon treat) and $25 for cheap breakfast and lunch items. I never analyzed my receipts, but if I had to break it down offhand I think it would summarize about as such.

amother

Lavender

Mon, Aug 12 2019, 1:35 pm

shmosmom wrote:

Not a budgeting thread at all.
I edited my post.

naturalmom5

Mon, Aug 12 2019, 1:46 pm

amother [ Slateblue ] wrote:

We spend about 3k a month
Rent and Utilities $1100
Food $500
Car Payments and Insurance (2 cars, a necessity with our schedule and jobs) $500
Gas $200
Heath Insurance $250 (only for dh, I’m on my parents)
Student Loans $100
Household Stuff, Misc, Clothes $300
Tzedaka $100 minimum depending on month...

We live very simply and both of us are working but not making a lot because we are starting out in our fields. I’m due in a few months and no idea how we are gonna add daycare to our budget Sad

500 ,for food Confused

Do you eat in restaurants daily
We spent 200 a month and a lot of food goes to waste and Waist

amother

Slateblue

Mon, Aug 12 2019, 1:47 pm

shmosmom wrote:

Sounds like you're doing a good job. 2 cars insurance included for $500 is great. Food $500 is pretty good too, do you go away most shabbosim? I'm spending closer to $800.
Not bad for health insurance either, DH quote was a lot higher.
Wondering where you guys live.

Regarding upcoming baby...basha'ah tovah! I was super worried about this too but somehow it worked itself out. Probably faith more than budget on this end.

We are actually home most Shabbosim and have guests often too but we don't buy anything fancy (no meat besides for cholent...) I don't make fancy salads with expensive nuts etc. Gefilta fish instead of salmon.
One of our cars is paid off, so it's really 1 car payment plus insurance for 2 cars. And Health insurance is through the marketplace, bh we got a good plan for him.
I live in Lakewood.

Daycare will be complicated cuz we both work pretty much full time but make too much to qualify for CHS...it's gonna be close to 1k a month I think. I'm giving myself until September to look into my options and stress about it lol

amother

Rose

Mon, Aug 12 2019, 2:32 pm

amother [ Cerulean ] wrote:

If you feel comfortable answering - what level is your DH at? I also work at a CRA and always wondered how my salary compared to others.

He's an Associate- he started at $105k + $10k bonus in 2017. He came in with a CPA from when he was in public accounting, so we think that helped him be able to be hired straight as an Associate (though he's also working on Level II CFA). A drunk co-worker casually mentioned at a company event to DH that new associates were making $115k with no experience, so DH pushed his AM hard for a 10% raise this year. Hopefully Associate Director next year.

amother

Brunette

Mon, Aug 12 2019, 4:08 pm

naturalmom5 wrote:

500 ,for food Confused

Do you eat in restaurants daily
We spent 200 a month and a lot of food goes to waste and Waist

im not the one you were adressing.

im also just 2 of us. I havent calcualted it and I dont spend evenly (stock up a lot on a big order one month, then wont order again for a while)

id guess my food budget is also around 500 a month. we almost never eat out or buy take out.

I dont think overly big spender and try to get things on sale. at the same time - I always want food to be plentiful and I do buy products that save time- prechecked lettuce, veggies, thinned chicken cutlets, etc.

this includes shabbos and often guests.

500 really doesnt sound like a lot for food.

if you only spend 200- is one or both of you getting meals at work/ yeshiva. it sound really low to me. I spend close to that amount on just shabbos.

amother

Floralwhite

Mon, Aug 12 2019, 4:56 pm

$2250 rent
$110 utilities
$250 transportation
$250 food
$100 entertainment
$200 other
$36 mikvah

These are the unchanging costs every month. We do buy clothes and go out to restaurants but it really varies wildly so it's hard to guess how much I spend monthly. I just spent $180 on three dresses last week but other times I'll go two months without buying any new clothes for myself. We go out to eat maybe 3 times a month but it ranges from pizza to steakhouses so again it's hard to estimate. I put $200 for "other" as an average estimate for restaurants and clothing throughout the year.

I really spend very little on food and I'm not quite sure how, haha, but adding it all up, it definitely comes out to less than $250ish. I guess we make big portions and have a lot of leftovers.

amother

Lavender

Mon, Aug 12 2019, 7:19 pm

amother [ Brunette ] wrote:

I'm not either sure how. It sounds really low to me. Definitely possible.

Im really curious to go.through my cc statements and get a more accurate amount...

Haha I'm the previous poster who spends ~$350. seeing your post definitely helped me see how $500 makes sense though.. thin chicken cutlets, checked lettuce, etc definitely easily costs that much. There u have it!
(Again, I hope this doesn't come across as a I spend less than u post. I think everyone should do what works for them)

amother

Floralwhite

Mon, Aug 12 2019, 8:40 pm

Haha, now I'm really curious too so I did some math. The following is my breakdown for the week based on what I made so far and what I'm anticipating making for the rest of it. I guess part of it is factoring in a pantry that's already stocked with a lot of spices and seasonings. Obviously each time I use one, some cost is theoretically priced into how much I spent on a meal, but seasoning comes out to essentially pennies for each serving; the real cost is the meat and stuff.

Ab goosht (Persian chicken soup over rice)
-Whole chicken = $12
-Potatoes = 50 cents worth, let's say
-Onion = 20 cents
-Chickpeas = 79 cents can
-Rice = not sure exactly but let's say $1
-Turmeric powder, salt, pepper = <$1
This is enough for dinner for us 3-4 days

Sesame pasta
-Pasta = $1
-A little Sesame seeds, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, sugar = $1
This is enough lunch for me for 4 days

Salmon
-Fish = $6.99/lb x 2
-Sadaf spice = <$1
-Couscous = <$2
This would be 4-5 days of lunch for my husband

Roast chicken
-5 legs = $8.50
-Trader Joes Poultry Rub = <$1
-Rice = <$1
-Salad = $3.50
This would fill in the couple of lunches/dinners that didn't get covered before

So that comes out to less than $50 for this week. We get dinner once a week from a social thing that we go to. Shabbats are really varied depending if we get invited out or if we're hosting or if it's just us two, but this week we were invited and I'm bringing a pie that'll cost less than $5 to make. Breakfast we both get granola bars/cereal etc at work, and on Sunday we'd make a bagel or toast or something. I don't know. I'm sure someone is going to come in here telling me I'm obviously forgetting [something crucial] and it's extremely possible I am but looking over this week, this seems pretty accurate to me. If we're missing dinner for 1 day we'd probably make something easy like waffles where the cost is negligible. And this is a week filled with meat, if we stuck to dairy stuff it'd be even less.

shmosmom

Mon, Aug 12 2019, 8:48 pm

amother [ Floralwhite ] wrote:

I don't know, what about fresh fruits n veggies n yogurts n things like that? You don't buy it? Also your meals would be one meal around here, you divide and freeze for a few meals? Also all the other than food items I get in the grocery like dish soap, detergent, occasional plastic goods/ containers, shampoo etc.

amother

Floralwhite

Mon, Aug 12 2019, 8:53 pm

We live in the city and usually use fruit carts for fruits and veggies. Anything we'd want to get is just $1-3. That's a few dollars a week but nothing to drive the budget up an insane amount. I don't freeze anything, I just put it in the fridge and reheat the next day. Or if my husband is bringing leftovers to work he'll eat the chicken or salmon cold. I don't find myself buying household goods that often, we usually buy bulk stuff and it lasts a long time. You're right, these are little things that drive up the cost here and there, but even with my $250 guesstimate there is wiggle room for that.

edit - I'm only speaking for me and my husband, not trying to insist that this budget is typical for everyone. I know that I don't spend so much money on food but I've never sat down and added it up until my attempt right here right now. If I'm missing things I'm very open to adjusting. Challah, for example, I don't have on there but I make it myself in advance (cheaper than buying) and when I think about how 5lbs flour cost $1.99 here, 4 lbs sugar is $1.99, a dozen eggs are $1.25, etc, I know it isn't that much. Whatever I'm forgetting, I don't think it's enough to raise my $250 to $600 or anything drastic like that.

amother

Slateblue

Mon, Aug 12 2019, 9:07 pm

amother [ Floralwhite ] wrote:

You didn’t factor in Shabbos here how much do you spend on a typical shabbos?

amother

Floralwhite

Mon, Aug 12 2019, 9:22 pm

Yes I did mention shabbat. I said it really varies depending if we're invited out, hosting others, or just the two of us. If you want the math on all the scenarios, here: when we're invited out, we're asked to bring something like dessert, a starchy side dish, or a veggie side dish. Any of these things would cost about $5. If it's just the two of us: to go back to the example, 5 chicken legs is $8.50 (plus it'll give us leftovers). I'd make that with some spices, some veggies/salad, and some rice/couscous/quinoa, which is a few bucks. Challah is just a few dollars to bake a lot of it. Dessert is just a few dollars to make. Wine let's say $10-12 and then we have it for the week. Hosting isn't too bad either. To go back to the chicken legs, let's say we'd have $20 worth of that, I'd make a side like Moroccan carrots ($2), Persian rice ($2), challah (the few dollars), dessert (the few dollars), and people would usually bring wine, salad, or whatever's missing. My friends and I always go to kiddush for lunch on Saturdays!

I mentioned breakfast we usually take granola bars or snacks from work. Fruit is a few dollars from the cart. Snacks, I don't know, a bag of something is like $1.99 to $4.99? I'm not saying it isn't easy for some to hit $500 a month, but I never have gotten close to that. I'm going over the math here and not seeing what I'm missing.

amother

Brunette

Mon, Aug 12 2019, 11:38 pm

[quote="amother [ Floralwhite ]" I'm not saying it isn't easy for some to hit $500 a month, but I never have gotten close to that. I'm going over the math here and not seeing what I'm missing.[/quote]

its possible you have everything- some people also just eat less.

one thing I noticed- you cook exactly as you need. I like having at least a little extra- I woul feel like there is not enough if I would have exactly enough. this was a concsious decision I made. and is amongst several reasons- I konw my food budget is a bit high.

I often stock up when things are on sale, buy family packs and devide up - I wonder if in the long run it really saves money - or would be more econcomical to just buy exactly as we need.

naturalmom5

Tue, Aug 13 2019, 1:07 am

amother [ Slateblue ] wrote:

Do you mean you spend $50 a week on food, 3 meals a day for you and DH plus a full Shabbos? How is that possible?

weekday breakfast is eggs or oatmeal or toast and margarine with coffee

lunch is rice or pasta or soup/salad

dinner is fish or chicken or chopped meat and potatoes.

I had bariatric surgery two years ago.
So I eat very little or I'll throw up.

Most of my Shabbos food is half price or free various places and stores nearby.
I guess its easier for an older couple post=children to be thrifty than a young couple pre-children

-

amother

Emerald

Tue, Aug 13 2019, 9:20 am

Those who seem to spend extremely low amounts of food seem to have extremely unusual eating habits.

Especially there seems to be very minimal amounts of produce. I always have lots of fruit in the refrigerator as well as nice amounts of vegetables. I probably spend more than $50 per week just on produce. Especially in the summer when I can't help be bring home all the wonderful fruits of summer - and the good quality fruit tends to be expensive even in the summer.

Granted I do love food and can afford it but the posted menus reflect a very austere diet -no bagels, cheese, not even a little lox, no crackers - anything that brings a bit of excitement to the diet doesn't seem to be purchased.

This is not a criticism of those with an austere inexpensive diet but merely that I don't think it is realistic or necessarily positive to eat in this manner if one can afford not to. If one has a tight budget that's a different issue. Of course this probably reflects the manner in which my family lived - no matter how tight finances were, food was something my parents didn't scrimp on - there was always fruit and fresh vegetables, cheese and one of my fond memories was accompanying my father on Sunday morning to the teeny appetizer store for lox, whitefish, herring and bagels.