How much do you make and spend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make around $300,000 a year; bring home about $15,000 per month after taxes and pre-tax retirement savings (which we max out).

We pay $5,000 to our mortgage every month.

We spend $5,000 on food, utilities, gas, bills, living expenses, student loans repayment, etc.

We try to save the remaining $5,000.

Our 401(k), insurance and other pretax items must be killing us. We bring home $16,400 a month and make $400,000.

Do you get paid biweekly? If so, then 2 paychecks does not equal monthly take home amount.

Also, that last $100,000 is taxed at a higher rate so that could be eating up a good chunk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make $220K per year or about 11,000 per month after taxes etc.

Mortgage 2500
Childcare/kids activity 2500
Utilities/phone etc 500
Food 1500
gas, shopping etc. 1-2K
try to save 3K but at average we save about 2K per month

Guess we are spending too much on food??

1500 on food is a lot, that's about how much I earn every month (graduate student here lol). How many people in your family?

Buying coffee every morning, lunch everyday, eating out for dinner, drinking bottled water, etc can really wrack up your food expenses. It's much cheaper bring coffee, to pack leftovers for lunch, used filtered water in reusable water bottles etc. You can try it for a couple of weeks and figure how much your saving.

Do you have kids?

I agree with PP--most people don't really track all of their food spending. I thought we were spending around $115/week for a family of 3--and we were, on our weekly grocery trip. Once I started adding in all of the mid-week trips to pick up this or that, and the 1-2 times/week we eat out, plus the 1-2/week we each eat lunch out, I realized we were spending a lot more than that. Including everything, we spend $1000-1200/month on food. I almost never buy coffee out, and need to keep eating lunch out 1-2/week to maintain my professional network. I buy the "dirty dozen," dairy, and eggs all organic, but not a lot else. I don't think we're particularly extreme in our food spending. Maybe I'm totally out of touch.

1000 seems expensive to me, but if your income is agreeable it's probably fair for a family of 3-5 depending, especially if your eating out up to 4 times a week (that could add a couple hundred a month or more). That's why I asked how many in her family.

I think your right though, Little trips add up. I fell into that trap a while ago where I needed cheese so I'd run to the store, then walk out with 40 dollars of crap I really didn't need.

My parents were minimalists with food shopping, and with the two of them plus three kids we spent maybe 300-400 a month on food? We had a garden with fresh tomatoes and herbs and only bought name brands. We never ate boxed foods, only foods from scratch and my Mom knew how to make one meal into 3 or 4 using leftovers. This was a while ago and granted food costs have been going up since then.

I'm a family of two, and we spend about 300 a month on food. I grocery shop about twice a month and average about 130-140 or so a shop (but that includes things like toilet paper and shampoo, cleaning supplies when needed so sometimes it's a little more). But we're on a very strict budget and there was a learning curve. For example prepackaged snacks (like mini bags of goldfish) are very expensive, it's cheaper to buy a bigger bag and put into containers. It's amazing how you buy things without recognizing how much they're adding to your grocery bill, like snacks, instant frozen meals, and soda. I buy snacks (who doesn't), but recognize it as a treat rather than a need and try to keep it at a minimum. Frozen veggies as well as fresh fruits and veggies can be cheap, so we cook from scratch a lot and use leftovers for lunches. If meat's on sale I'll stock up and throw it in the freezer but I also try to use cheaper options for protein. I mostly drink water, so I don't buy juice or soda so that saves a lot of money. I also clip coupons and buy in bulk when possible. We eat out maybe once a month.

Maybe I'm crazy, lol. But eating on the cheap is kind of a necessary evil right now. I learned a lot from my parents on how to be frugal and get by with next to nothing, so despite the ups and downs of my childhood I still have a lot to be thankful for.

I admire people who can organize their lives well enough to cook mostly from scratch. We get home at 6:30 and my kids go to bed at 7:30. Even using the slow cooker a couple times a week, there's just no way we can avoid using some convenience foods or eating out occasionally.

I'm lucky enough to be like many PPs on this thread though--with an HHI of about $290k including bonuses, we can easily afford to do our grocery shopping without focusing too much on cost.

Our monthly take-home is just over $10k, with a variable yearly bonus.

We spend about $2k on student loans, $2500 on rent, $1000 on food, $300 or so on utilities, $100 on gas, $1500 on daycare, and $300 to cover the extra expenses on the condo we own in another city. We save just about $2500/month.

[Anonymous]

I just realized how seriously poor we are. Ugh.

[Anonymous]

I'm a single mom with a 130K salary, a small child support payment, and a really tiny profit from a rental condo. All in all, about $7K a month after taxes, insurance and retirement savings. My main expenses are $1900 in mortgage and utilities, $600 for food, $600 for my son's extracurricular activities, and $400 for afterschool care. In addition to fully funding my retirement account, I end up saving about $1500 a month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make around $300,000 a year; bring home about $15,000 per month after taxes and pre-tax retirement savings (which we max out).

We pay $5,000 to our mortgage every month.

We spend $5,000 on food, utilities, gas, bills, living expenses, student loans repayment, etc.

We try to save the remaining $5,000.

Our 401(k), insurance and other pretax items must be killing us. We bring home $16,400 a month and make $400,000.

NP here. We're in exactly same boat. Paid $8,200 2x/mo on $400K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make $220K per year or about 11,000 per month after taxes etc.

Mortgage 2500
Childcare/kids activity 2500
Utilities/phone etc 500
Food 1500
gas, shopping etc. 1-2K
try to save 3K but at average we save about 2K per month

Guess we are spending too much on food??

1500 on food is a lot, that's about how much I earn every month (graduate student here lol). How many people in your family?

Buying coffee every morning, lunch everyday, eating out for dinner, drinking bottled water, etc can really wrack up your food expenses. It's much cheaper bring coffee, to pack leftovers for lunch, used filtered water in reusable water bottles etc. You can try it for a couple of weeks and figure how much your saving.

Do you have kids?

I agree with PP--most people don't really track all of their food spending. I thought we were spending around $115/week for a family of 3--and we were, on our weekly grocery trip. Once I started adding in all of the mid-week trips to pick up this or that, and the 1-2 times/week we eat out, plus the 1-2/week we each eat lunch out, I realized we were spending a lot more than that. Including everything, we spend $1000-1200/month on food. I almost never buy coffee out, and need to keep eating lunch out 1-2/week to maintain my professional network. I buy the "dirty dozen," dairy, and eggs all organic, but not a lot else. I don't think we're particularly extreme in our food spending. Maybe I'm totally out of touch.

1000 seems expensive to me, but if your income is agreeable it's probably fair for a family of 3-5 depending, especially if your eating out up to 4 times a week (that could add a couple hundred a month or more). That's why I asked how many in her family.

I think your right though, Little trips add up. I fell into that trap a while ago where I needed cheese so I'd run to the store, then walk out with 40 dollars of crap I really didn't need.

My parents were minimalists with food shopping, and with the two of them plus three kids we spent maybe 300-400 a month on food? We had a garden with fresh tomatoes and herbs and only bought name brands. We never ate boxed foods, only foods from scratch and my Mom knew how to make one meal into 3 or 4 using leftovers. This was a while ago and granted food costs have been going up since then.

I'm a family of two, and we spend about 300 a month on food. I grocery shop about twice a month and average about 130-140 or so a shop (but that includes things like toilet paper and shampoo, cleaning supplies when needed so sometimes it's a little more). But we're on a very strict budget and there was a learning curve. For example prepackaged snacks (like mini bags of goldfish) are very expensive, it's cheaper to buy a bigger bag and put into containers. It's amazing how you buy things without recognizing how much they're adding to your grocery bill, like snacks, instant frozen meals, and soda. I buy snacks (who doesn't), but recognize it as a treat rather than a need and try to keep it at a minimum. Frozen veggies as well as fresh fruits and veggies can be cheap, so we cook from scratch a lot and use leftovers for lunches. If meat's on sale I'll stock up and throw it in the freezer but I also try to use cheaper options for protein. I mostly drink water, so I don't buy juice or soda so that saves a lot of money. I also clip coupons and buy in bulk when possible. We eat out maybe once a month.

Maybe I'm crazy, lol. But eating on the cheap is kind of a necessary evil right now. I learned a lot from my parents on how to be frugal and get by with next to nothing, so despite the ups and downs of my childhood I still have a lot to be thankful for.

I admire people who can organize their lives well enough to cook mostly from scratch. We get home at 6:30 and my kids go to bed at 7:30. Even using the slow cooker a couple times a week, there's just no way we can avoid using some convenience foods or eating out occasionally.

I'm lucky enough to be like many PPs on this thread though--with an HHI of about $290k including bonuses, we can easily afford to do our grocery shopping without focusing too much on cost.

Our monthly take-home is just over $10k, with a variable yearly bonus.

We spend about $2k on student loans, $2500 on rent, $1000 on food, $300 or so on utilities, $100 on gas, $1500 on daycare, and $300 to cover the extra expenses on the condo we own in another city. We save just about $2500/month.

I feel like I grew up in an extreme cheapskate home or something when I read these threads. I grew up with my mom and aunt, and they were both full time professionals, and we never so much as ordered a pizza. The key was not making dinner after work, although they do that sometimes, it is preparing meals in big sizes over the weekend. So on a weekend you would prepare some beef to add to veggies, or meat sauce for spaghetti, or meat loaves or whatever the analogous foods to our ethnic meals were. In a couple hours you can do 2-3 different related things and put them in the freezer. And then you'd freeze it and take it out during the week, and sometimes you make fried chicken or something to mix it up. It's very healthy and extremely cheap and if you don't mind cooking it's not much of a chore either. DH and I used to occasionally order a pizza but I felt it was expensive and gross and have reverted to what my parents did lol. We spend $300 max on food a month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make around $300,000 a year; bring home about $15,000 per month after taxes and pre-tax retirement savings (which we max out).

We pay $5,000 to our mortgage every month.

We spend $5,000 on food, utilities, gas, bills, living expenses, student loans repayment, etc.

We try to save the remaining $5,000.

Our 401(k), insurance and other pretax items must be killing us. We bring home $16,400 a month and make $400,000.

Do you get paid biweekly? If so, then 2 paychecks does not equal monthly take home amount.

Also, that last $100,000 is taxed at a higher rate so that could be eating up a good chunk.

We each get paid biweekly, yes. And we have no mortgage, so our itemized deductions are limited to state and property taxes and charitable deductions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Do you get paid biweekly? If so, then 2 paychecks does not equal monthly take home amount.

Also, that last $100,000 is taxed at a higher rate so that could be eating up a good chunk.

Isn't getting paid on the 15th and 30th of every month (28/29th for some months), mean 2 paychecks = monthly amount?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Do you get paid biweekly? If so, then 2 paychecks does not equal monthly take home amount.

Also, that last $100,000 is taxed at a higher rate so that could be eating up a good chunk.

Isn't getting paid on the 15th and 30th of every month (28/29th for some months), mean 2 paychecks = monthly amount?

Isn't getting paid on the 15th and 30th of every month (28/29th for some months), mean 2 paychecks = monthly amount?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Do you get paid biweekly? If so, then 2 paychecks does not equal monthly take home amount.

Also, that last $100,000 is taxed at a higher rate so that could be eating up a good chunk.

Isn't getting paid on the 15th and 30th of every month (28/29th for some months), mean 2 paychecks = monthly amount?

Isn't getting paid on the 15th and 30th of every month (28/29th for some months), mean 2 paychecks = monthly amount?

Yes, that would mean 2 paychecks a month. But some people get paid every two weeks. Some months can then have 3 paychecks (e.g. 1st of the month, 15th of the month, and 29th of the month). Overally that makes for more than 24 paychecks a year.

[Anonymous]

Yes, in my federal agency, we are paid biweekly. 26 paychecks per year. I wish we got paid monthly, though. I find it much easier to budget.

[Anonymous]

We make $153,000 gross per year (dual income). Family of 4. Kids are elementary aged. DH and I are both in nonprofits, different ones. I make $85K, he makes $68K. Live in MD, a few miles outside DC border.

Take-home pay (monthly): $8,300

Mortgage: $1650 per month (includes taxes and PMI)
Groceries: $1,000 per month
Part-time nanny (cooks & cleans, also): $1,600 per month
Gas/Electric/Water: $300-$500 per month
Kids' sports: $300/month
Piano lessons: $100/month
Housekeeper (1x per month deep clean): $100/month
Life insurance: $150/month (two policies included in this)
Vacation fund: $500/month (this is VERY important to us)
Car insurance: $150/month
Phones: $200/month (two smart phones)
Fuel for cars: $150/month
Clothes and related: $200/month

We do not have any car payments at the moment (two cars paid off).

Cash-wise, we've got about $30K available in the bank.

Around $60K in my 401(k) and $32K in my DH's 401(k).

I've probably forgotten some line items, but generally we have a cushion of $2,000 per month. Sometimes we spend it all, because I am one of those "you only live once!" people.

[Anonymous]

PP, what do you save monthly for retirement and kids' college funds?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haha, I'm shocked at everyone's incomes here's mine:

Income: 2000/month
Rent: 920/month
Food: Variable, as little as possible. I don't eat out all, cook from scratch.
Vacations: n/a
Car and Rental Insurance: 90
Car: 280
Other expenses ie gas, phone, internet: About 200
Electric: About 50
Student loans: In deferment until I finish graduate school

Granted, I'm in graduate school full time (6 credits/semester). I work full time on top of that but I don't make much. To sum it up, I don't make much and end up spending what I make on bills. I'm kind of jealous of everyone making 9000 or more a month. Some people's "random" spending is almost equal to my monthly income

I keep telling myself things will get better, I'll graduate, get a good job, and not have to scrape by each month. I'll be able to pay down my credit card that I wracked up trying to keep my head afloat and get health/dental insurance so I don't have to take out a line of credit for essential procedures. Granted I will be working in the education field, so I won't get anywhere close to 100k a year but even 40-50k is better than now.

Not to hijack the thread--but does anyone have any encouraging stories if at one point they were in my position and things got better? Just asking, lol

Yes, I used to live like that. Now I dont. You would be amazed at how much you will be making in a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make $320,000 per year or about 16,000 per month after taxes and healthcare
Mortgage is 4500.
Private school is 6500.
Car: 600
Club: 700
Utilities/phone etc 800.
Food 1200.
Vacation fund: 1000
Gas, parking, dr co-pay, savings etc eat up the rest.
Hmm, that adds up to more than we make -- problem.

Kid's college fund? Retirement savings? Clothing?

College fund. paid. Retirement: paid by month x 25 years, doing fine. Clothing: $500. We dont care much what we wear. Expecting payment at end 2012. Miscalculated the income. +bonus + other