Anonymous wrote:10k take home after retirement, taxes, and health. Includes $9k in salary plus $1k net after expenses in rental property.

3100 Mortgage PITA
1200 Food (groceries, lunches, coffee)
1000 Savings
800 Entertainment (restaurants, theater, pool, parties)
600 Home Expenses (cleaning, maintenance, improvements)
600 Auto for 2 old cars (gas, parking, insurance, repairs)
600 Bills (cable, Internet, tv, utilities)
400 Education (tutoring, camps, books)
400 Enrichment (sports, activities, lessons)
300 Gifts (Xmas, birthdays, charities)
300 Shopping (clothes, housewares, extras)
200 Health and Fitness (copays, yoga, sports equipment)
200 Vacation (2 modest trips with family, camping)
100 Personal (haircuts, grooming, dry cleaning)
100 Pets (food, vet, sitting)
100 Personal

Anonymous wrote:$170k gross
2 adults and 2 school age kids

$9175/mo net

$2455 mortgage/PITI
$338 truck payment
$150 car ins
$100 gas (vehicle)
$228 cell
$40 Internet tv
$69 pool guy (chemicals)
$1,000 food (groceries + eating out)
$200 housekeeper
$100 trash/water
$200 electric
$15-40 gas
$268 karate for kids
$79 gym
$833 — one time per year costs. Certain costs are only once per year and that adds up to $10k per year. This includes Christmas, kid’s birthday, summer care costs, back to school shopping, dues for Disney timeshare, expensive anniversary dinner, boat insurance, flood insurance, etc.
$100 entertainment
$100 clothes
$100 home decor, repair, small reno
$100 life ins
$82 kids lunch costs
$100 healthcare and prescriptions
$100 gifts

Anonymous wrote:Educational consultant here:

Your strategy with private schools leading to scholarships is so mistaken!! Are you actually sending your kids to private school because you think it will help them get scholarships? I cringed when I read that! Send them to public school and bank the tuition costs to help with college!

Anonymous wrote:LMAO. "Poor." We make $141K pre-tax. DH puts 11% of his $101K salary into his 401K and I don't save anything out of my $40K salary because I only work to pay for private school and groceries.

Mortgage is $950/month.
Healthcare, I think is about $400/month.
Childcare is $200/month.
Tuition for private school is $1600/month.
Groceries are $1200/month.
Phones (all mobile) are $180/month.
Internet $60/month
Gas is $400/month (we commute)
No gym, no car payments (both cars are luxury cars but are ten years old, bought new back then), no credit card debt or student loans. We're not saving for college; that's why they go to private school, so they can earn scholarships. We'd be comfortable paying the same tuition we do now or even a bit more when the time comes, but if they want to go to a $50K/yr school, they're going to have to help pay for it.

We shop and go out some but don't really keep track. We haven't taken a real vacation in 7 years but will be taking one this summer. We're not rich or anything but I think we're doing okay.

Anonymous wrote:We have a HHI between $150k and $180K depending on the annual bonus. Our budget is based on the $150k.

We donate 5%
We save 10% off the top and whatever is left (5-10% more).

Our Mortgage is low at $900 per month, but we pre-pay $700 and pay our taxes twice a year which equates to ~$700 per month. $2,250 total.

We spend around $1200 per month on food (groceries and eating out).
We spend around $500 per month on therapies for children, insurance covers some too. It used to be more, but we have graduated from a few.
Utilities are around $500 per month (water, sewer, electricity, gas, phone....)
Cars: gas and maintenance is around $300 per month and growing as our cars are aging. We may be adding a new car soon. I expect this to grow to $500 per month soon.

We have ~$1.5 million in 401ks/IRAs which will help supplement the pension
We have ~$250k in college savings (DCs are teens)
We have $70k in cash reserves

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:175K HHI, DINKs

We average 8500/month after taxes, health insurance (~250/month), retirement contributions (~1700/month), union dues (honestly, don't know my guess is 30-40/month), and the office gym (~35/month)

mortgage: 2300 PITI
student loans: 840
home decor: 750
groceries: 500 (vegetarian, mostly organic and local food, cook most meals at home from scratch, pack lunch)
transportation: 290 (MARC, metro, gas, parking)
utilities: 200 (does not include internet, which is provided by my husband's work, or cable, which we don't pay for beyond netflix/Amazon Prime)
home supplies: 200 (the toilet paper, paper towels, Amazon Prime etc.)
personal care: 200 (Mostly my monthly massage, but also includes makeup and skin care.)
insurance: 150 (life, car)
clothing: 140 (capped at 2500/year)
gym: 130 (yoga studio, LA Fitness)
entertainment: 100 (includes Netflix)
cell phones: 90
cat: 75
dining out: 65

So far this year, our expenditures have averaged 6K/month. The savings go to irregular expenses (medical, gifts, charity, car and home maintenence and travel) as they come up. We make our charitable donations in November. We give large donations ($500+) to local charities that provide essential services to those in need (think Capital Area Food Bank, Legal Aid, etc); smaller donations ($100 or so) to neighborhood charities, arts organizations, and charities our friends run; and nominal donations($10-$50) to our alma maters and friends who ask us for donations.

We begin each year with a meeting on our financial priorities for the upcoming year and develop a monthly budget accordingly. This year, we're prioritizing decorating the home we bought last year. In previous years we've prioritized international travel (spent 6K), saving for a down payment (around 30-35K, as we only put 5% down because we were rushing to buy while we could still afford the neighborhood we wanted to be in), building professional wardrobes after grad school, and saving for furniture (spent 10k) after renting a furnished apartment.

We track our spending pretty closely as that's the only way I've found that we know where our money is going. And it's so easy to spend more money on certain categories (clothing, eating out, groceries, entertainment) than we're okay with. The one area I want to spend less in is groceries - I think we should spend closer to 400, but it's so easy to stock up on pantry items that just sit there. But we do consider healthy food (and gyms and massages) an investment in our health.

Can I have your life?

Anonymous wrote:HHI $180k, two working parents and one toddler. Monthly take home (after maxing 401ks, health insurance, life insurance, and FSA for childcare) is $8k.

Rent and utilities: $2700
Childcare: $1850
Student loans: $1100
Groceries: $800 (we make and bring all breakfasts and lunches; try to stay organic for meat and dairy)
Internet: $50
Phones: $150
Gas/car repairs (car is 12 year old and kind if terrible but paid off at least): $100
Dry cleaning: $80 (husband wears a suit every day)
Diapers/wipes/other paper products: $80
Miscellaneous shopping (mostly clothes/shoes for us and baby): $200
Date night (once a month): $300 (babysitter is $120 of that)
Savings: $500 (we have $30k emergency fund and $15k saved for a down payment but we want to have a second kid and saving is taking forever even with only one kid in daycare...)

Anonymous wrote:Our annual income is about $160K (one earner for family of 5)

Our take-home is $8500 (after 401K, health ins., FLEX, fed and state taxes)
Mortgage (PIMI): $2850
Utilities (elec, gas, water): $300
Phone/cable/Internet: $150
Car + umbrella ins: $150
Gasoline: $250
Food: $700
Entertainment/Eating Out: $250
Kids' Activities/Camps: $300
Vacations: $600
Clothes: $100 (some secondhand)
Gifts: $150
Charity: $300
House/Auto Maintenance: $200
College Savings: $500
IRA: $1000
Misc./Overage: $700