If your HHI is around $150k and you have 1-2 kids....

[Anonymous]

You only spend $600/mo on food?

[Anonymous]

This is us. Ugh starting #2 on daycare in a month.

I'm probably going to have to take a breather on paying my student loans until 2014.

I plan to take 2014 401k contributions and plow down some of that student loan debt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You only spend $600/mo on food?

I know, right? I am curious as to how this covers groceries, eating out, coffee, booze etc.

[Anonymous]

Yes, we take our lunches about 4x/week to work, eating out once a week with our friends at about $10/wk, so that's ~$80/mo. Our grocery bills only include FOOD - all other "household items" (paper towels, dish soap, etc) are covered under "household" expenses.

We shop the sales, eat a lot of chicken breast and lean porkchop - we don't like red meat really, it's not good for us either - and LOTS of fresh fruit & veggies from farmers markets and local grocery. We cut down on processed items like soda, boxed food, etc. Most of the things we eat, we make from scratch. But we don't spend a ton of time cooking either, we have simple tastes and dinner is made in about 20 mins per evening, usually with enough for leftovers in a lunchbox the next day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, we take our lunches about 4x/week to work, eating out once a week with our friends at about $10/wk, so that's ~$80/mo. Our grocery bills only include FOOD - all other "household items" (paper towels, dish soap, etc) are covered under "household" expenses.

We shop the sales, eat a lot of chicken breast and lean porkchop - we don't like red meat really, it's not good for us either - and LOTS of fresh fruit & veggies from farmers markets and local grocery. We cut down on processed items like soda, boxed food, etc. Most of the things we eat, we make from scratch. But we don't spend a ton of time cooking either, we have simple tastes and dinner is made in about 20 mins per evening, usually with enough for leftovers in a lunchbox the next day.

See, this is where I find it hard to imagine your grocery bill being so low. Because when I have trips where I only need a few fresh things + crap like cookies and Easy Mac and cereal, my bill is cheap. But the week I go when I have to load up on produce? $$$$$. A head of cauliflower is $3.99 at my VA Wegmans right now. CAULIFLOWER. Not even organic. Just a regular old lowly head of cauliflower. Four bucks. A bag of apples- easily $8 and will last us a couple days. Grapes are like $3.50/lb. The better I eat, the more I spend, which is sad, but true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, we take our lunches about 4x/week to work, eating out once a week with our friends at about $10/wk, so that's ~$80/mo. Our grocery bills only include FOOD - all other "household items" (paper towels, dish soap, etc) are covered under "household" expenses.

We shop the sales, eat a lot of chicken breast and lean porkchop - we don't like red meat really, it's not good for us either - and LOTS of fresh fruit & veggies from farmers markets and local grocery. We cut down on processed items like soda, boxed food, etc. Most of the things we eat, we make from scratch. But we don't spend a ton of time cooking either, we have simple tastes and dinner is made in about 20 mins per evening, usually with enough for leftovers in a lunchbox the next day.

See, this is where I find it hard to imagine your grocery bill being so low. Because when I have trips where I only need a few fresh things + crap like cookies and Easy Mac and cereal, my bill is cheap. But the week I go when I have to load up on produce? $$$$$. A head of cauliflower is $3.99 at my VA Wegmans right now. CAULIFLOWER. Not even organic. Just a regular old lowly head of cauliflower. Four bucks. A bag of apples- easily $8 and will last us a couple days. Grapes are like $3.50/lb. The better I eat, the more I spend, which is sad, but true.

THis is my experience too. Farmer's Market prices are steep. Love the produce, but they are not money saving.

[Anonymous]

HHI ~$140k, 1 kid in daycare.

1800 PITI
600 car payments and insurance
150 phones
150 cable and internet
1400 daycare (over 2, this feels like a break compared to infant rates)
300 student loan
150 average pepco bill

14.5% into my Roth retirement account (including employer match)
5% into DH Roth retirement account (including employer match)
$100 auto deposits into savings and 529.

food is about 500-600/month for 2 adults, 1 toddler. This is WF, farmers markets, South Mountain food (just not much steak, lol) and includes the occasional meal out or takeout (rare).

We have about 1k in credit card debt, which is way down from where it used to be, and about 2-3 mos of living expenses in the bank.

I do feel like we just about break even every month - there's never much left over and DH and I are on pretty restricted "discretionary spending" think $50/week including any work lunches purchased instead of brought from home.

I'm still working out the math, but it looks like there should only be 6-12 mos where DC1 is still in daycare and DC2 would be in infant care. That's gonna suck.

[Anonymous]

$120K, 2 kids

Mortgage - $2450
Daycare - none, I stay at home
Cable/Internet - $130
Gas - $200-$250
2 Smartphones - $166
Insurance - $250/6 months
Retirement (DH only) - 10%
Electricity - $200
Preschool - $250 (not in summer)
Costco/Groceries - $1000 (we rarely go out to eat, so we spend a lot on groceries, plus, in the summer we always have people over so that adds up.)

I don't spend too much on clothes. Kids wear lots of hand-me-downs, and I only buy new clothes when I have a big event. DH has holes in a lot of his clothes, but he doesn't seem to mind. =) I know there are a lot of things on here that I've missed, there are probably another $500-$1000 that we spend in misc things, gifts, entertainment, etc. I would guess the months that we spend on the $1000 end we don't save any money. We usually do manage to put a few thousand in our savings account every few months though.

The place we are not saving enough is the kids' college. We are not saving on a monthly basis, so they have hardly any money in their accounts. My thinking is that I gave up a well paying job to stay at home...if I manage to find a job that even just pays 50% of my former salary , that will help pay for college when I finally go back to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$120K, 2 kids

Mortgage - $2450
Daycare - none, I stay at home
Cable/Internet - $130
Gas - $200-$250
2 Smartphones - $166
Insurance - $250/6 months
Retirement (DH only) - 10%
Electricity - $200
Preschool - $250 (not in summer)
Costco/Groceries - $1000 (we rarely go out to eat, so we spend a lot on groceries, plus, in the summer we always have people over so that adds up.)

I don't spend too much on clothes. Kids wear lots of hand-me-downs, and I only buy new clothes when I have a big event. DH has holes in a lot of his clothes, but he doesn't seem to mind. =) I know there are a lot of things on here that I've missed, there are probably another $500-$1000 that we spend in misc things, gifts, entertainment, etc. I would guess the months that we spend on the $1000 end we don't save any money. We usually do manage to put a few thousand in our savings account every few months though.

The place we are not saving enough is the kids' college. We are not saving on a monthly basis, so they have hardly any money in their accounts. My thinking is that I gave up a well paying job to stay at home...if I manage to find a job that even just pays 50% of my former salary , that will help pay for college when I finally go back to work.

We're in a similar boat. HHI is $160k on DH's salary alone. One preschooler, one on the way. I SAH right now and plan to return to work full-time when DC #2 is probably two years old or so. Since we know we can easily live on DH's salary, mine will go entirely toward savings once I go back to work. So we're not saving much right now, but I figure I will make it up pretty quickly once I go back to work. I'm not even 30 yet, so I'm really not terribly stressed about that at the moment.

[Anonymous]

I think what i'm hearing is that 1 kid on ~$150/yr is totally fine, it's 2 kids that makes it a real challenge...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think what i'm hearing is that 1 kid on ~$150/yr is totally fine, it's 2 kids that makes it a real challenge...

Nailed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, we take our lunches about 4x/week to work, eating out once a week with our friends at about $10/wk, so that's ~$80/mo. Our grocery bills only include FOOD - all other "household items" (paper towels, dish soap, etc) are covered under "household" expenses.

We shop the sales, eat a lot of chicken breast and lean porkchop - we don't like red meat really, it's not good for us either - and LOTS of fresh fruit & veggies from farmers markets and local grocery. We cut down on processed items like soda, boxed food, etc. Most of the things we eat, we make from scratch. But we don't spend a ton of time cooking either, we have simple tastes and dinner is made in about 20 mins per evening, usually with enough for leftovers in a lunchbox the next day.

See, this is where I find it hard to imagine your grocery bill being so low. Because when I have trips where I only need a few fresh things + crap like cookies and Easy Mac and cereal, my bill is cheap. But the week I go when I have to load up on produce? $$$$$. A head of cauliflower is $3.99 at my VA Wegmans right now. CAULIFLOWER. Not even organic. Just a regular old lowly head of cauliflower. Four bucks. A bag of apples- easily $8 and will last us a couple days. Grapes are like $3.50/lb. The better I eat, the more I spend, which is sad, but true.

I guess my best advice is to just shop the sales. If you buy grapes every week, they may be on sale for $2/lb one week and back up to regular price $4/lb the next 3 weeks. If plums are 99c/lb and strawberries are $4/lb, guess which one I'm going to buy? Be flexible. Eat what's in season. Cucumbers were 2/$1 at the store this week. So I bought 4 and plan to make yummy cucumber salads and cucumber veggie snacks for our lunchboxes.

In the winter, potatoes, onions, squash, etc is in season so base your menu off of that. There are deals to be had at almost EVERY farmers Market i've been to in the area. For example - the Thursday DC/Navy Memorial farmers market, there are a few vendors that have "scratch & dent" bins of fruit - peaches for 99c/lb, when everyone else is selling them for $3/lb. They may have one small bruise or an apple may be "ugly" but it's totally edible. Have a few meat-less evenings, or do "breakfast for dinner" once a week - egg burritos are a cheap and tasty, protein-filled meal.

We do not eat all organic - I have found the prices are very expensive and I can't tell that much of a difference (unsophisticated tastebuds I guess?) - so of course factor that in. Sure, noone likes to eat sandwiches, pasta and rice all the time - and we don't!!! There are tons of meals online made with a budget in mind. Google is a wonderful thing!