Oh man, your kid activity budget is about to get SO MUCH BIGGER.

Is anyone posting that post really truly that clueless?

Anonymous wrote:My 2 cents - personal care is low; my highlights are $300/month add botox, fillers, skincare etc. Clothes $ super high; food about right. House cleaning about right. Cars high but I HATE spending $ on cars and cars in general.

Anonymous wrote:

Learn to clip virtual coupons and stick to a grocery list.

Why should she clip coupons? It is so humiliating. Why should she artificially impose inconvenience on herself, just to comply with some imaginary moral standard?

Anonymous wrote:Did OP say anything about wanting to change?

Yes, she says she wanted to know if any of the care categories seemed "absurd."

Did OP say anything about wanting to change?

You don't need to be spending $2,500/mo on home goods and adult clothing. That is insane.

Why is your phone/cable bill so high? Research the company websites for a better deal. They will give you one because they don't want to lose your business to a competitor.

Peloton is a big waste of money, IMHO. Ditch it.

Learn to clip virtual coupons and stick to a grocery list.

Set an entertainment budget. You spend no more than $150/month. No, really. It will make you figure out what is worth your dollars. The kids can learn delayed gratification. Bonus.

I can keep going, but I have a feeling that OP won't change a thing. Just a hunch.

Only 4K a month on travel and 3K on shopping for clothes and other? You are fine.

OP I did the same exercise this week, with the same question- how did our expenses get this high? Popped everything in Mint and I'm working to retool some of the line items.

We have two kids, don't carry loans and the below excepts private school. Our largest savings goals (retirement, college, small legacy for each) are completed. Curious why you didn't include travel? Some of my categories are high, but these are spikes averaged out over 12 months. Like Shopping-Other is relatively low all year, but spikes in December. Clearly Entertainment dropped off a cliff this year.

Travel $4,000
Food & Dining (non-Grocery): $1,843
Food & Dining: Groceries $1,480
Health, Fitness, Self-care $1,437
Kids $789
Auto & Transport $708
Bills & Utilities $595
Home (incl. furniture purchases, pool membership) $2,416
Shopping- Clothing $570
Shopping- Other $2,327
Pets $108
Gifts & Donations $928
Entertainment $201
Education (non-tuition) $200

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Waging a war against aging is futile. I'm glad I have no interest. But we digress...

OP - you are spending a lot, but it seems within your means. If everything you are spending money on brings you joy, then there is nothing wrong with it. You could clearly cut $2-5k/mo, but you seem to understand that as well. As long as you aren't sacrificing anything (e.g. earlier retirement) then carry on

Exactly. OP says they spend tons and they know it do what is the point of this thread?

I guess OP needs something to do for amusement during all that sitting at the salon for this or that.

Your spending is really similar to ours... 2400 less on house but 1300 more on cars and 1100 more on food (we have a cook come in twice a week and make meals and otherwise we eat out). Difference is I wouldn't throw money away on private school or charity

I think you have a spending addiction. We also have 3 kids and make multiple millions a year in wage income (more if you count investments). I just cannot fathom spending this much on stuff like clothes and other things where you have nothing at the end of it. And why are you paying a car loan? We just buy cars with cash.
Am I understanding correctly that only one of you works? If seems like the other just spends all day shopping and indulging!
Some to your categories seem low—like gifts. Everything else seems pretty high. I’m wondering what your average week looks like but from this it looks like you do no cooking or cleaning (buying expensive prepared food and having the cleaner 2x a week) and that your kids are in a lot of expensive activities. Is the babysitter money so you can go to the salon or mall a few hours a week? I’m just having trouble wrapping my head around all this.
If you’re happy with this, that’s all fine. But maybe sit down and think about whether, in 30 years, you’ll be glad to have spent all that money on clothes, salon, home decor and prepared food at Whole Foods. Or whether you’d rather have something else to show for it, like maybe a vacation home, a life of fabulous travel, money set aside for your kids, donations to a charity that you love, etc....
I’ll also say, as someone who has older kids—there will come a time when they care about the clothes and sneaker brands and when the activities they love come with notable price tags. Will you wish you saved more when they were little and happy to wear clothes from Costco and play in the dirt outside or go to the library or a playground for free?
That’s my two cents. Just make sure you are spending consciously-if that’s the life you want, then proceed.

Anonymous wrote:Waging a war against aging is futile. I'm glad I have no interest. But we digress...

OP - you are spending a lot, but it seems within your means. If everything you are spending money on brings you joy, then there is nothing wrong with it. You could clearly cut $2-5k/mo, but you seem to understand that as well. As long as you aren't sacrificing anything (e.g. earlier retirement) then carry on

Exactly. OP says they spend tons and they know it do what is the point of this thread?

My first question. What is your HHI. Is this your actual budget or just you trying to estimate numbers? If these are estimates, your spending is probably higher (at least in some categories). I also agree with a PP that you are helping keep America financially afloat with your spending. Thank you for your service, especially during pandemic times! We have to figure out how to transfer wealth somehow folks, and this is how we do it in this country.

Auto- At your income level, why even have a loan?

Children- If your kids are young prepare for the activities budget to just increase. $500 a month on kids clothing does seem like a lot.

Entertainment-This is one of those categories that I could see being even bigger during non-covid times. It actually seems potentially low period, just based on your other spending.

Food and Dining: I agree with others that your grocery bill seems very high for a family of 5. Do you really only spend $1,000 on eating out? That actually seems low to me for a family of 5 who like to go out, travel, have kids in lots of activities.

Gifts: You and husband like to shop. I don't think this is crazy, it is another place where you might be underestimating.

Health and fitness: I bet it is a lot more in non-covid times

Home and property: This is your big spend with a large mortgage and housekeeper. Big house means bigger bills for home maintenance. You don't really have any home maintenance budget listed here. You haven't included water here either.

Insurance: Insanely low. What about home insurance? I would call in a broker to get some advice on your life insurance/disability insurance situation

Personal care: This is more than I spend, but doesn't seem that high, if you are high maintenance.

Shopping: Your shopping seems high, this is probably a category that you could easily cut by 25% and not notice a change at all.

Utilities: This seems slightly high since it doesn't include cable, but, I doubt this is where you are "overspending"

Waging a war against aging is futile. I'm glad I have no interest. But we digress...

OP - you are spending a lot, but it seems within your means. If everything you are spending money on brings you joy, then there is nothing wrong with it. You could clearly cut $2-5k/mo, but you seem to understand that as well. As long as you aren't sacrificing anything (e.g. earlier retirement) then carry on