We met about 15k after 401k, insurance, taxes,etc...

$2500 mortgage
$1000 extra on mortgage
$600 school after care
$400 misc kid activities
$100 gym
$400 Verizon
$200 lifd/house/auto insurance
$300 utilities
$1000 groceriez

Everything else goes into saving- we don't really budget for vacations but take two nice trips a year (one international)

3080 mortgage
2000 loans, student, cc's
480 car payment
100 HOA
350 utilities- recently cut cable
230 car insurance one teen driving
170 car gas
100 kids cell phones ( ours are pd by work)
400 fun money
200 kids sports
1200 groceries, its $300 per week for teen boys
90 gym memberships

about $8500

16,500 net, 3 kids

4,500 - Mortgage (paying a little extra on HELOC)
2,500 - Debt payments (Student Loans & CCs & Snowball)
2,000 - Food (groceries & dining out)
2,000 - Pre-K & after school programs
950 - Auto loans & Transportation Costs (current & future)
850 - Kid's Activities & Allowance (music, art, sports, future summer camps)
600 - Utilities
550 - Insurance (life, auto, umbrella)
500 - Home costs (cleaning, decor, future maintenance)
500 - Gym & Personal Care (gym, pool fee, hair cuts)
450 - Gifts & Giving (Charity, Bdays, Christmas budget)
400 - Misc Shopping (subscriptions, etc.)
200 - Pets (current and future costs)
150 - Fun Money (family entertainment, date night)
100 - Toxic interest

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're around there. We net about $13k after taxes, insurance, and 401k

Last year we averaged this budget:
-- $6k taxes
-- $2700 PITI
-- $3k 401k savings (plus match)
-- $2k brokerage savings
-- $1600 daycare (1 toddler)
-- $1200 entertainment and miscellaneous
-- $1200 utilities, home maintenance, cable, phone
-- $1100 travel
-- $900 restaurants
-- $800 groceries
-- $500 student loans
-- $500 529 savings
-- $500 clothing and merchandise
-- $500 insurance and medical!

We pay $2700 per month in healthcare insurance (self-employed) I don't how on earth do you get away with paying so little!!!

You're self employed. You answered your own question.

$1500 401k contribution
$390 Before and After School
$706 Rental Property related expenses
$800 groceries
$666 529 savings
$2150 Rent
$250 husband fun money
$250 my fun money
$700 help with parent's expenses
$100-200 Electricity
$16 water
$440 Minivan Loan
$1000 vehicle replacement savings
$100 brokerage investments
$240 restaurants
$500 maid weekly
$89 gym membership
$3000 prioritize paying down minivan loan

Roughly, based on $12k take-home (take-home is after maxing two retirement accounts and employer health insurance):

$3000 mortgage
$2500 college funds (2 kids)
$1500 grocery/restaurants
$700 aftercare
$500 summer camp fund
$500 entertainment/travel
$500 misc home maintenance
$400 internet, phones, utilities
$200 kid activities
$200 clothes, grooming
$100 life insurance
$100 car insurance and gas

Total spending is about $10k - our fixed expenses are pretty low, so we've got a good amount of slush even within the above spending categories.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're around there. We net about $13k after taxes, insurance, and 401k

Last year we averaged this budget:
-- $6k taxes
-- $2700 PITI
-- $3k 401k savings (plus match)
-- $2k brokerage savings
-- $1600 daycare (1 toddler)
-- $1200 entertainment and miscellaneous
-- $1200 utilities, home maintenance, cable, phone
-- $1100 travel
-- $900 restaurants
-- $800 groceries
-- $500 student loans
-- $500 529 savings
-- $500 clothing and merchandise
-- $500 insurance and medical

If the met is after taxes and insurance, why did you include taxes and insurance?

I just included all of our expenses, because that's how I have them tracked. But, yeah, if you ignore taxes, insurance, and 401k, it's about $13k per month.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're around there. We net about $13k after taxes, insurance, and 401k

Last year we averaged this budget:
-- $6k taxes
-- $2700 PITI
-- $3k 401k savings (plus match)
-- $2k brokerage savings
-- $1600 daycare (1 toddler)
-- $1200 entertainment and miscellaneous
-- $1200 utilities, home maintenance, cable, phone
-- $1100 travel
-- $900 restaurants
-- $800 groceries
-- $500 student loans
-- $500 529 savings
-- $500 clothing and merchandise
-- $500 insurance and medical!

We pay $2700 per month in healthcare insurance (self-employed) I don't how on earth do you get away with paying so little!!!

As someone else mentioned, I think you probably pay more because you're self-employed. But, honestly, I have no idea what is "normal." We pay about $250/mo. on medical insurance for a family of 3 -- it is a CareFirst BlueChoice plan through my wife's employer. The other $250/mo. includes other insurance (dental, vision, and life) as well as our co-pays etc. averaged out through the year.

Anonymous wrote:We're around there. We net about $13k after taxes, insurance, and 401k

Last year we averaged this budget:
-- $6k taxes
-- $2700 PITI
-- $3k 401k savings (plus match)
-- $2k brokerage savings
-- $1600 daycare (1 toddler)
-- $1200 entertainment and miscellaneous
-- $1200 utilities, home maintenance, cable, phone
-- $1100 travel
-- $900 restaurants
-- $800 groceries
-- $500 student loans
-- $500 529 savings
-- $500 clothing and merchandise
-- $500 insurance and medical

If the met is after taxes and insurance, why did you include taxes and insurance?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're around there. We net about $13k after taxes, insurance, and 401k

Last year we averaged this budget:
-- $6k taxes
-- $2700 PITI
-- $3k 401k savings (plus match)
-- $2k brokerage savings
-- $1600 daycare (1 toddler)
-- $1200 entertainment and miscellaneous
-- $1200 utilities, home maintenance, cable, phone
-- $1100 travel
-- $900 restaurants
-- $800 groceries
-- $500 student loans
-- $500 529 savings
-- $500 clothing and merchandise
-- $500 insurance and medical!

We pay $2700 per month in healthcare insurance (self-employed) I don't how on earth do you get away with paying so little!!!

The issue is you are self employed so you aren't getting a group rate. We have tricare/military and pay under $500 a year plus a few co-pays if we go off base. We have separate dental and vision through work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're around there. We net about $13k after taxes, insurance, and 401k

Last year we averaged this budget:
-- $6k taxes
-- $2700 PITI
-- $3k 401k savings (plus match)
-- $2k brokerage savings
-- $1600 daycare (1 toddler)
-- $1200 entertainment and miscellaneous
-- $1200 utilities, home maintenance, cable, phone
-- $1100 travel
-- $900 restaurants
-- $800 groceries
-- $500 student loans
-- $500 529 savings
-- $500 clothing and merchandise
-- $500 insurance and medical!

We pay $2700 per month in healthcare insurance (self-employed) I don't how on earth do you get away with paying so little!!!

We pay 1k but it's just 2 of us

Anonymous wrote:We're around there. We net about $13k after taxes, insurance, and 401k

Last year we averaged this budget:
-- $6k taxes
-- $2700 PITI
-- $3k 401k savings (plus match)
-- $2k brokerage savings
-- $1600 daycare (1 toddler)
-- $1200 entertainment and miscellaneous
-- $1200 utilities, home maintenance, cable, phone
-- $1100 travel
-- $900 restaurants
-- $800 groceries
-- $500 student loans
-- $500 529 savings
-- $500 clothing and merchandise
-- $500 insurance and medical!

We pay $2700 per month in healthcare insurance (self-employed) I don't how on earth do you get away with paying so little!!!

We're around there. We net about $13k after taxes, insurance, and 401k

Last year we averaged this budget:
-- $6k taxes
-- $2700 PITI
-- $3k 401k savings (plus match)
-- $2k brokerage savings
-- $1600 daycare (1 toddler)
-- $1200 entertainment and miscellaneous
-- $1200 utilities, home maintenance, cable, phone
-- $1100 travel
-- $900 restaurants
-- $800 groceries
-- $500 student loans
-- $500 529 savings
-- $500 clothing and merchandise
-- $500 insurance and medical

$3k mortgage
$1k student loans
$4k infant care/au pair
$1k utilities/cable/cell phones/heating oil/cooking propane

And from there just try not to spend it.

Even better if you have kids expenses, daycare, etc. thank you!