How "doable" is this budget amount?

[KayleeZoo]

DH and I had the big budget talk this morning (I fully admit to being the one who always overspends, so it's a good thing for me to adhere to a budget) and I have $1640 per month for groceries (incl. pet food- an English Mastiff who eats A LOT, a terrier and 2 indoor cats) and household goods (tp, laundry detergent, toothpaste, etc) and gas (I drive a Yukon XL and it runs me about $280/mo) plus clothes, shoes, etc. for all of us (2 adults and 4 kids)

This seems reallly low to me, compared to what I've been spending. Those of you who are money-conscious, what do you think? We are in a pretty low COL area, so groceries, etc. are usually very reasonable.

Would meal planning be a good first step? I've never even saved receipts, let alone tracked spending, so this is all realllly new. Just wondering where to start, etc.

[MissinNYC]

I spend about 400 per month for groceries, 150 for gas (one car only), ~100 for clothing and shoes, and maybe another couple hundred for things like cleaning stuff, household stuff, paper goods, etc. I think you have plenty!

[yeahwhat]

Sounds like plenty to me. Subtracting your gas $, you have $1360.

For 6 of us (dh, me, and kids 11, 8, 6, 3) I budget $600 for groceries, cat food and litter, cleaning stuff, and hbas, $100 for eating out, $100 for clothing. It's tight but do-able in a place with fairly high food costs. We spend $100-$200 for gas per month (one or 2 fillups).

[mbhf]

That sounds very doable to me. I live in a fairly high COL area and I spend about $1200 a month on groceries, gas, and whatever we need around the house. We live very comfortably and I have a ridiculous latte habit. I have absolutey no idea how much pet food costs, but even if it's very expensive I can't see $1640 a month not covering your expenses.

[OkiMom]

Sounds doable to me as well. We only have one car but DH spends about 150 per month on gas, we spend another 300-400 a month on food/household supplies/pet supplies -two tanks of fish and a bearded dragon so they don't cost as much. Oh and it includes the disposibles Ive been using with my DD because I can't bring myself to use cloth right now, washing it causing me to get ill. Weve been spending close to 400 lately since I haven't been cooking from scratch as much as normal. Clothing I rarely spend anything but when I do I shop thrift stores and swap clothes with other people who have kids older/younger than mine. Most I might spend a month is 40ish. I live in a high COL area by the way. There are four of us, DH (who eats like two people IMO- he eats at least twice as much as me at every meal), myself (pregnant and nursing), my 3 year old (who eats as much as I do most meals) and my 1 1/2 year old who eats a good amount for her age.

[bobandjess99]

$1640 per month is our ENTIRE income, for 2 adults and 5 kids.

[Drummer's Wife]

I could do $1300 a month for food and household (no pets), but the clothes thing might be a stretch some months b/c I love buying cute kid clothes (wanna meet at gymboree? ). No, but I think if I knew there was a couple times a year - maybe spring and then before school starts - where we could budget in a bigger amount to shop with, then I'd be okay with that. In all honesty, I need to cut what I spend, (have to cover my youngest's tuition payments starting next month), so I hope to only buy clothes when they truly need them, rather than just to feed my addiction. If you can do that, I think even with four growing kids, you should be fine. Especially if you can pass things down (including shoes) and don't need much as far as new clothes for yourself.

[happysmileylady]

Mrs

For ALL of those catagories, I think it's way more than doable.

For six people, plus pets, all the groceries, paper goods, cleaning supplies, pet supplies etc etc, I would think $600 would cover that. Gas, if you only have the Yukon, round your number up, and you are still just sitting at $900, which leaves like $700 for clothing/shoes each month.

Or, are you talking $1640 for everything that's not housing and bills? You said clothing, shoes, ETC, I am wondering what that ETC is actually covering.

[akwifeandmomma]

Hmmm... I tend to buy clothes as needed, and we budget around $100-150/mo. for clothing "savings", I don't buy clothes/shoes every month.

I spend between $650-800/mo. on groceries, including household goods, for 2 adults and 3 kids, 2 kittens.
We spend around $250-300/mo. for gas and carwashes/oil/etc., for two vehicles. (I'm a SAHM, he works less than 2 miles away.)

I'm really liking E-Mealz for meal planning and grocery shopping.
I shop at Costco for household stuff/cat litter, etc.

I think your budget sounds more than reasonable, and with a bit of forethought, you won't even feel like you're being pinched.

[KayleeZoo]

Or, are you talking $1640 for everything that's not housing and bills? You said clothing, shoes, ETC, I am wondering what that ETC is actually covering

.

No, the housing and bills, etc. doesn't come out of the $1640- that's just food, gas for my truck, pet food/supplies, clothing/shoes for the kids and me (DH buys what he needs when he needs it and it won't affect my budget, he added as an afterthought last night) and household supplies, misc.

I do tend to buy a lot of kids' clothes waaayyy more than they need, so this will be a good way to start curtailing that (DW, I'm with ya on Gymbo ) but when I do need to buy stuff for school starting, etc. I'll need more than a couple hundred dollars- BUT if I can not spend the full $1640 every month till then, I'll have extra for back to school expenses- that runs us several hundred $$ each year.

Thank you all SO much for the input- it does seem like a more than reasonable amount of money to work with, because we are fairly simple people (none of DD's competitive gymnastics costs are included in that amount- it's over $350/mo and DS's preschool tuition will be $155 when school starts, but we don't have many expensive hobbies, etc. Except for me and my car seat addiction, lol, but I'm working on it ) I keep telling myself that I just have to look at every single purchase- especially at Target and clothes/shoes for the kids- and remind myself that it's coming out of my budget. I'm a decent shopper in general, but don't do much scratch cooking, so that will help out a lot if I can get better at it.

[Shakti77]

That sounds like a very doable budget. I want to suggest a financial tracker like Quicken to track down your expenses very easily.
I use MS Money right now and that has been discontinued.. so we are looking at Quicken and other options. there are many free planners too.

Check this out.
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/20...ance-programs/

Tracking our spending helped us figure out where exactly our money went, when we thought we were doing quite good.

[Pepper44]

I choked on my lunch. $1640 a month??

We live in a low COL area. 2 kids (one an infant) and 2 adults, plus 4 cats, 2 large dogs, bearded dragon, 35 chickens, and 2 fat ducks. I have $50 a week to spend on groceries and household items. $80 a month for pet food and cat litter. (Chickens pay for their own feed by selling eggs.) We spend about $200 in gas per month because DH works an hour away and we can't afford to move there yet.

So we budget around $500 a month for expenses and we use only cash. The rest goes to bills and mortgage. No extra money for clothes or other things in the budget. We save birthday money to cover extra expenses and to buy clothes, or if it's an emergency we use a credit card and pay it off ASAP with DH's money from working overtime if he gets any. There's a huge consignment sale every fall and spring where I buy kids clothes. DD has a bunch of cute dresses that all cost $2-$5 each...I also save a few extra dollars to buy fabric to sew for her.

It's not that bad to spend so little money. I kind of enjoy the challenge of cooking meals for $50 a week. We always have plenty to eat between our garden and buying only whole food instead of expensive processed stuff.

[doubledutch]

Originally Posted by KayleeZoo

.
I do tend to buy a lot of kids' clothes waaayyy more than they need, so this will be a good way to start curtailing that (DW, I'm with ya on Gymbo ) but when I do need to buy stuff for school starting, etc. I'll need more than a couple hundred dollars- BUT if I can not spend the full $1640 every month till then, I'll have extra for back to school expenses- that runs us several hundred $$ each year.

how about if you buy no clothes for the next two months? then you'll definitely have enough for back to school shopping, and it doesn't sound like there is any immediate need for clothes/shoes. just don't even go to the mall. at target, stick to the paper/plastic/health/food areas - stay out of clothes and household junk.

eta: i can't imagine why you'd need more than a couple hundred dollars for three kids for whom you've already bought way more clothes than needed. bigger sizes i understand, but why so much money? distinguish between need and want.

[KayleeZoo]

going to check it out now, shakti, thanks!

[Pepper44]

To add to my post...

Meal planning can be very easy and that's how we are able to eat for so little.

I go through recipes and pick 7-10 meals we'll have to eat for the next week or so. Then I check my pantry to see what we have and write down the ingredients we'll need to buy to make each meal. I take that list and organize it by section in the store. Write down what we need to buy from the produce section, canned section, frozen section, etc. I add in a few snacks for the week also.

That way when you go to the store you can just walk into each section and grab exactly what you need. No browsing and accidentally buying things on impulse, and it makes shopping quick and easy with small children in tow.

We have a list of the meals we can make that week and a list of snacks to eat hanging on the fridge so we can select something instead of getting overwhelmed and just getting fast food or something.

[KayleeZoo]

doubledutch, that's great advice. nobody has a need for anything right now, and i can't see where anyone will need clothes or shoes before school starts (and honestly, if the girls' stuff still looks good- no stains, holes, fits, etc- then i don't think they need a whole new "wardrobe" for 2nd and 4th grade, and ds certainly doesn't need new clothes to ruin at preschool!)

i was panicking thinking about back to school expenses- supplies mandated by our school (elem. and preschool) ran over $150 last year- but if i save as much as possible before then, i should be okay.

i do need to stop buying just because i happen to be at the store. every time i go into target for 3 things, i come out with 3 bags full and it's just not necessary. staying out of the clearance areas will help a lot!

[Drummer's Wife]

Definitely stay out of Target. I can't leave there w/o spending at least a $100 - even when I go in just for shampoo, toilet paper, and laundry soap. Maybe order non-grocery items from Amazon? I don't know where you shop for food - but that would make it so you didn't have to go into stores besides for groceries.

My problem is food - not sure how much you spend, but we go over $1k every month. I don't know how people spend so little, to be honest, unless they have a garden and chickens or whatever. I am recently GF, so I need to find cheaper sources - but I paid $16 for 1 lb of almond flour, for example. Even w/o buying organic, - and yes, cooking mostly everything from scratch - I can't get our food spending down much. So that is why I am imagining $300 something left over for everything else, including household goods. I'm not sure if that would include things like trips to the zoo or pool (the pool is $20 every time we go). Even dishsoap/shampoo/etc. can be pricey, b/c I won't use the toxic stuff and I have to have unscented products. I guess I'm just explaining why I can see how $1300 for food, clothes, pet stuff, and such can be a stretch for some. Anyhow, I do think you can do it.

[KayleeZoo]

Pepper, thanks for the meal planning tips. I have tried to do it before, but have always gotten overwhelmed at the thought of all that planning and menu-writing. But I can do it for simple meals like breakfast for dinner- I don't have to have elaborate meals, right?

[happysmileylady]

Mrs

Originally Posted by KayleeZoo

.

No, the housing and bills, etc. doesn't come out of the $1640- that's just food, gas for my truck, pet food/supplies, clothing/shoes for the kids and me (DH buys what he needs when he needs it and it won't affect my budget, he added as an afterthought last night) and household supplies, misc.

I do tend to buy a lot of kids' clothes waaayyy more than they need, so this will be a good way to start curtailing that (DW, I'm with ya on Gymbo ) but when I do need to buy stuff for school starting, etc. I'll need more than a couple hundred dollars- BUT if I can not spend the full $1640 every month till then, I'll have extra for back to school expenses- that runs us several hundred $$ each year.

Thank you all SO much for the input- it does seem like a more than reasonable amount of money to work with, because we are fairly simple people (none of DD's competitive gymnastics costs are included in that amount- it's over $350/mo and DS's preschool tuition will be $155 when school starts, but we don't have many expensive hobbies, etc. Except for me and my car seat addiction, lol, but I'm working on it ) I keep telling myself that I just have to look at every single purchase- especially at Target and clothes/shoes for the kids- and remind myself that it's coming out of my budget. I'm a decent shopper in general, but don't do much scratch cooking, so that will help out a lot if I can get better at it.

I am still somewhat confused...So the $1640 is specifically to cover exactly what you said (food, pet supplies, household necessities, clothing) or is it to cover EVERYTHING not a bill or rent/mortgage? Like does your $1640 include entertainment? What about savings? Money for car maintence? School fees? (book fees, field trips, lunches etc) Household maintence? Personal money for yourself and your DH to "blow off"? If your $1640 total includes EVERYTHING NOT housing or bills, then I think it's a good number. But if you have seperate catagories in your budget for the other things I mentioned, above that $1640 is more than enough and if your goal is to save some money/pay off debts, I am thinking you could probably tighten your budget even more. $700 is a LOT for clothes each month. That's like my entire clothing budget for the YEAR.

ETA: if your $1640 is including all that I mentioned above, then I suggest breaking out seperate catagories for each of those from that amount. It is much easier to keep control of your money if (to borrow a quote from Dave Ramsey) every single dollar has a name. If so much of it starts falling into a "misc" catagory, rather than giving it a specific name, it's way to easy to lose track of where it's going again.

[KayleeZoo]

happysmileylady, it doesn't include savings, mortgage, but will include incidentals that occur like field trips, oil changes for my truck, doctor office co-pays ($15, and we hardly ever go) etc. if i need brakes or tires, maintenace on the house, etc. that will come out of another part of the budget.

some months are hairy, but others shouldn't come close to $1640. the trick is going to be saving what i can each month for those unexpected spendy months (we do big birthdays, for example, and i won't be able to spend $300 on a party plus $300 in presents for one child in one month without some planning ahead, which i've never done before)