Budget worksheet based on percentages of your income?

[cristina47454]

I'm sure it's been posted before, but could someone post a link to one? I was on Dave Ramsey's website and he has me spending $250/month on groceries.(???) Trying to see if other worksheets suggest the same or if we are really THAT badly off! DH makes over $70k a year (I'm not including bonuses for this exercise), so something is wrong somewhere!

[rhiandmoi]

What % of your income goes to food depends on where you live, how many kids, etc. Also are you figuring pre or post taxes?

Most places I see recommend starting around these percentages of your take home pay. If you have certain categories that are fixed (Insurance, housing, transportation) it is important to set those at their true percentage and adjust the others though.

• 33% -- Housing
• 16% -- Food
• 16% -- Transportation
• 5% -- Clothes
• 5% -- Debts
• 5% -- Medical
• 8% -- Entertainment
• 2% -- Gifts
• 5% -- Insurance
• 5% -- Miscellaneous