Is this a reasonable amount of spending money per month based on our income?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$1200/mo for one person is a lot to use as funny money when one is trying to save for a house and have kids soon.

I have two kids and a sfh. Both are expensive. You should save more so you won't have a huge mortgage. That's what we did, and our PITI is $2500/mo on a house we bought at $730K; we put close to $530K down.

We will be putting about 40% down on our next house and are on track (have about 350k cash and aim to buy next year). I agree $1200 sounds like a lot, based on this thread I will reevaluate. I do have hobbies as well that cost money so it would be hard to cut 50% and still be able to do them. Obviously once we have kids this will probably change.

[Anonymous]

We make multiple of you and each spend less than 1k on things that are not necessities. This amount is insane

[Anonymous]

That seems high to me, but I have a lower HHI ($290) and three kids. I say enjoy it while you can, as long as you’re maxing retirement & operating intelligently otherwise.

[Anonymous]

$1200 doesn't sound so bad to me. I make less and probably spend. I think it depends on what you define as non-necessities. I just spent $200 on flower bulbs. $100 on another pair of shoes (I have plenty of shoes). $35 on a new salt grinder. That's in a few days, so it's very easy to get to $1200 for a month.

Sounds like you are saving plenty. So long as you are meeting your savings goals, go ahead and have some fun.

[Anonymous]

There is so much money to be made in the market. Why would you miss out on it all and go shopping instead?
That's, folks, how you stay middle class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's way too much. I think $600 a month would even be a bit much.

Maybe. She told me she just spent $200 at Sephora. I don’t mind her purchase at all but just wanted to point out that $1200/mo doesn't go far if you have certain tastes. The inflation has made everything so expensive and things like a basic meal for two at a sit down restaurant cost about $100 give or take.

You’re looking no for reasons to justify that amount so you really don’t care what’s reasonable. Our income is almost double yours and we spend probably less than a quarter of what you’re suggesting and feel really satisfied. You do you but trying to act
Like it’s reasonable on your income is not reasonable.

[Anonymous]

We make $380k, two kids, and our number is $400 a month each. I would start with a lower number than $1200 because it’s hard to cut back.

[Anonymous]

How much of your HHI is her income? Is there a possibility she’ll want to stay home or cut back once you have kids? You guys have champagne tastes. Hope the HHI keeps growing because daycare’s not cheap.

[Anonymous]

OP here this is our current monthly budget

$2200 PITI
$575 groceries & consumables
$500 car & house maintenance
$300 subscriptions (incl gym membership)
$350 utilities
$450 transportation cost (mostly insurance & VA car tax)
$1000 vacation saving
$2400 personal spending

Total is $7775. Our take home is over $17k so it leaves us with almost 10k going into savings every month (more like 11-12k if you count pre tax 401k contributions and match + paying down mortgage principal).

Are we really going wrong here? Seems crazy how you could make double or more our income and barely enjoy any of it for yourself.

[Anonymous]

I hear you, but these are my thoughts as a 40-something year old with 3 kids.

- Your PITI is really low. Is this your forever house? How’s the school district?

- Do you have a fund set aside for new car costs?

- Do you have life insurance? You’ll need it when you have kids.

- You guys seem like you like expensive hobbies/things. Are you going to want the same for your kids? Our kids are in sports now, and between that and summer camps, etc., we’re spending around $20k/year. And our neighborhood is firmly UMC, not wealthy.

- Private colleges cost ~$90-100K/year now. Even state schools can be $60K. Are you budgeting for that?

I’m not saying to not enjoy yourself. But $24k/year is a lot to burn on stupid stuff every year.

[Anonymous]

Also, how much do you have set aside in your emergency fund?

I think your budget is leaving out a lot of things you should be saving more for.

[Anonymous]

Damn, no. I make twice that and we spend that or less on everything not including mortgage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here this is our current monthly budget

$2200 PITI
$575 groceries & consumables
$500 car & house maintenance
$300 subscriptions (incl gym membership)
$350 utilities
$450 transportation cost (mostly insurance & VA car tax)
$1000 vacation saving
$2400 personal spending

Total is $7775. Our take home is over $17k so it leaves us with almost 10k going into savings every month (more like 11-12k if you count pre tax 401k contributions and match + paying down mortgage principal).

Are we really going wrong here? Seems crazy how you could make double or more our income and barely enjoy any of it for yourself.

Your budget is fine. People on this board are ridiculous. You can easily afford to do what you're proposing. It's important to enjoy life when you can.

[Anonymous]

I would spend that much on that stuff. We didn’t and now with two teens house is paid off and plenty saved

[Anonymous]

How old are you?

Our HHI is $650,000 and we definitely don’t spend $1200 a piece on personal stuff. But we also have 3 kids and probably don’t have time to spend money on ourselves like that.