https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 18 May 2026 16:58:43 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1474196 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 14:19:22 +0000 RsMom 1474196@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Mortgage + Utilities: 27%<br /> Insurances: 5%<br /> Debt: 30%<br /> Child care: 12%<br /> Gas: 10%<br /> Groceries: 12% </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1474069 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 14:02:46 +0000 Ash 1474069@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I can't answer this... We have separate accounts and pay separate bills. So I don't know how much dh brings home and he doesn't know what I bring home. As long as the bills are paid we're both happy. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1473999 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 13:56:17 +0000 Rainbow Sprinkles 1473999@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>All i know is that our mortgage is 29.5 %. I don't budget well enough to figure out the other percentages. I really need to get better about it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1473978 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 13:53:58 +0000 ShootingStar 1473978@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So this is how I break down my budget. I've got my set bills that come out the checking account like housing, daycare, car payments. I also have several bills auto-paid to a credit card, and then we put everything else on another credit card. Both credit cards are paid off each month. We are working on getting our extraneous spending down. </p> <p>Mortgage + Condo Fees = 21%<br /> Daycare = 14%<br /> Car payment = 6%<br /> Grad school loan = 4%<br /> Random Bills (utilities, dog walker, cleaning svc, cable etc) = 8%<br /> Miscellaneous non-bills (groceries, gas for cars, spending money, etc.) = 25% </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1473852 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 13:36:15 +0000 Arden 1473852@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thanks all! That was really helpful! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1472674 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 11:02:27 +0000 BadgerMom 1472674@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Fun, I love numbers!</p> <p>Our health insurance comes out pretax, so I am not including that, these numbers are all after tax based on take home pay.</p> <p>17% Housing (Mort, Tax, Ins)<br /> 15% Debt (Auto, Student)<br /> 15% Retirement<br /> 4% Utilities<br /> 2% TV/Internet<br /> 2% Phone<br /> 1% Cleaning<br /> 1% Life Insurance<br /> 1% Car Insurance</p> <p>42% Life's non-fixed expenses (spending money, groceries, gas, etc.) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1472597 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 10:50:08 +0000 808love 1472597@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>36 home<br /> 10 church<br /> 10 retirement<br /> 8 food<br /> 5 auto<br /> 5 utilities<br /> 5 personal money for DH and I<br /> 5 reserves<br /> 3 health and life insurance<br /> 3 travel<br /> 2 college svngs<br /> 1entertainment<br /> 1 gifts<br /> 1 education<br /> 1 clothes<br /> 1 household </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1472580 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 10:47:03 +0000 Beebug 1472580@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Very simple percentages. and I make sure our totals for each fit within each category and we go from there!</p> <p>Housing 35%<br /> Transportation 15%<br /> Life 25%<br /> Debt 15%<br /> Savings 10%</p> <p>From <a href="http://www.gailvazoxlade.com/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.gailvazoxlade.com/index.html</a></p> <p>For us, we don't have enough debt to warrant 15%, and DH has a big commute, so we push percentages around a bit, biggest thing is not living beyond this/not spending more than we make. Also doesn't take into consideration the savings we do that is taken off our pay before it even goes into our main/working accounts! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1472522 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 10:38:44 +0000 Mrs. Blue 1472522@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Interesting question. I'm going to figure our percentages out tonight and come back to this thread. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1472438 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 10:30:20 +0000 Anagram 1472438@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This is % of our take home pay:</p> <p>Mortgage + utilities = 25%<br /> Child Care= 15.45 % (this is a killer right now)<br /> Food/home products= 4.2%<br /> Commuting costs = 5%<br /> College loan = 1%<br /> Cable/phones= 2%<br /> Savings = 15%<br /> Baby care= 1%<br /> Eating/drinking out= 2%</p> <p>The remaining 25(ish)% going into savings, BUT will almost always be spent on things that come up--Like, we just had to buy a new washer AND dryer, because our old washer broke and it's a stackable, so we have to replace both. Goodbye $1200. The month before, my garage door opener in my Texas house broke and I had to replace it. Next month, we're traveling and will have to get a hotel, flights, rent a car (total probably $2000). It's basically always spent, but on a GOOD month it's extra savings.</p> <p>Edit: I forgot car insurance! But we have no car payments. House insurance is included in mortgage payment. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1472358 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 10:18:14 +0000 Mrs. Oatmeal 1472358@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Just looking at last month's numbers (we went on vacation, so it was a little skewed). It'll change when I'm not on maternity leave anymore.<br /> 30% on mortgage/home<br /> 12% on utilities/bills<br /> 18% on car/fuel<br /> 10% to the church<br /> 15% entertainment (including eating out)<br /> 5% to RRSP/savings<br /> 10% on personal/baby stuff </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1472298 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 10:07:40 +0000 loveisstrange 1472298@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Rent- 32%<br /> Savings- 20%<br /> Groceries/diaper/household supplies- 15%<br /> Gas- 8%<br /> Utilities- 6%<br /> Insurance- 4%<br /> Lunches at work- 4%<br /> Cell phones/internet- 2%</p> <p>The remaining 12% is misc/discretionary spending, eating out, date nights, entertainment, and overage if another area goes over. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1472280 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 10:05:20 +0000 Mae 1472280@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This is pre-kid, bc ours is not due until May. I plan to CD and BF so if all that works out the main expense for her will be childcare starting this fall. </p> <p>Mortgage/taxes/insurance - 20%<br /> Student Loans - 15%<br /> Retirement savings - 10%<br /> Savings for next car - 9%<br /> Short term savings - 8%<br /> Long term savings - 7%<br /> Cable/cell/house utilities - 6%<br /> Groceries - 6%<br /> Eating out + Entertainment - 6%<br /> Gas for car - 4%</p> <p>The last 9% is split up among gifts, pets, extras, and spending money. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1472216 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 09:54:04 +0000 cmomma17 1472216@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My budget is very specific and detailed so I lumped things together and left a few things out. Overall it's very depressing :) </p> <p>Rent 20%<br /> Child Support 14.7%<br /> Groceries and Household items 14.1%<br /> Debt Payments (tax, credit, dental, student loans) 14.02%<br /> Car Payment 6.3%<br /> Cell Phones (for three people) 4.69%<br /> Utilities (gas and electric) 4.36%<br /> Entertainment (cable, internet, subscriptions) 4%<br /> Gasoline 3.77%<br /> Insurance (car, rental, and I threw car taxes in here too) 3.3%<br /> Fun money (allowance for DH and I, eating out) 2.35%<br /> Health/Beauty (makeup, haircuts, prescriptions, toiletries) 2.35%<br /> Baby stuff (clothes, toys, diapers) 1.3%<br /> Misc. 1.27% (renting a storage unit, and a lot of other little categories)<br /> Gym Memberships 1.17%<br /> Holidays and gifts 0.9%<br /> Clothing (for DH and I) 0.6%<br /> Savings 0.589% :(</p> <p>Also, this is my budget on paper. Stuff happens month to month that changes everything. We may spend a ton on car repairs and $0 on fun money for example. Or utilities might come in a little low and we go out to eat, etc. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1472213 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 09:53:17 +0000 swurlygurl 1472213@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>21% Mortgage &amp; Home Insurance<br /> 12% Childcare<br /> 8% Groceries<br /> 5% Utilities<br /> 3% Gas<br /> 3% Car Insurance<br /> 2% Phone &amp; Internet<br /> 2% Toiletries/Household</p> <p>The rest gets invested into savings, retirement, ROTH, stocks. Every once in a while we put a big sum towards our Mortgage. We need to start up a fund for our kids and start contributing towards that.</p> <p>We spend very little on 'fun'. We rarely eat out (only occasionally with work peers), hardly spend any money on clothes/toys, and never go out to movies/dates. Any 'fun' money we spend is on home remodeling. We do a couple big projects a year, but those are mostly paid for with cash back and other investment income.</p> <p>Our childcare is about to double though, and that is going to HURT</p> <p>I think it's all about priorities. You work hard to earn your money - do what makes you happy! As long as you're responsible and pay your bills first and have some savings, there's no reason you shouldn't spend your money on what *you* want! :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1472017 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 08:58:22 +0000 immabeetoo 1472017@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sunny: exact same here! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1471997 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 08:51:02 +0000 looch 1471997@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Arden: I think it looks reasonable. Do you think you're missing categories or that the percentages aren't correct? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1471780 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 01:20:36 +0000 googly-eyes 1471780@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ok, so we are moving and I'm starting a new job in a couple weeks, so ours isn't totally finalized yet, but here it goes...It won't add up because I rounded.</p> <p>Rent 25%<br /> Daycare 15%<br /> Groceries/HH Items 14.5% (Includes lo's diapers, wipes)<br /> Travel 12%- This is a necessity for dh's job and just an odd situation that we are in...this has absolutely nothing to do with traveling for fun.<br /> Savings 8% (plan to increase this)<br /> Utilities (electric, cable, internet) 4%<br /> Fuel/Car Maintenance 7%<br /> Insurances (medical, dental, auto, payroll/disability, life) 4%<br /> Cell phones 2% </p> <p>Leftover we have about 8% but that will likely get eaten up by changes to the above when we actually move (very soon!) Then later this year dh will have a change in income, and we hope to have kid #2 by next year. :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1471776 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 01:17:10 +0000 mrskc 1471776@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Here is a rough estimate. Percentages based on take home pay. We live on DH's income and he also takes in an overtime paycheck every month. </p> <p>mortgage - 28%<br /> cell phone - 3%<br /> cable - 3%<br /> utilities - 4%<br /> auto insurance - 3%<br /> food - 17%<br /> fuel - 2%<br /> misc spending - 8%<br /> medical - 1% (prepaying w/ monthly payments for my pregnancy and birth)</p> <p>The rest goes to me budgeting yearly expenses like car registration and to savings. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1471769 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 01:03:31 +0000 StbHisMrs 1471769@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>~ 18% Rent<br /> ~ 9% Groceries/Household<br /> ~ 5% Utilities<br /> ~ 9% Gas<br /> ~ 2% Car Maintenance and Insurance<br /> ~ 2% Cell Phones<br /> ~ 11% Child Support<br /> ~ 11% Car payments<br /> ~ 6.5% Debt</p> <p>This is pretty rough, I need to pencil it out. We're going to be meeting with a personal finance advisor this month so this has been on my mind a lot. I think I'm going to split our main acct into sub accounts for bills and go to cash/envelopes for food, gas and personal. Our health insurance isn't included nor are my husbands union dues because they're taken out of his check before we see them. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1471759 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 00:49:31 +0000 gingerbebe 1471759@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>All of our pension and health insurance comes out of payroll deduction, so I did not include that, since we don't see it in our take home pay. Our income fluctuates a bit because part DH's income is from his private practice.</p> <p>You'll see our budget is a little unusual. We basically live close to the bone and throw every spare dollar at our student loans.</p> <p>Rent + utilities = 15%<br /> Tithe = approx. 15% post-tax (we tithe on gross income)<br /> Gas + parking = 5%<br /> Insurance (renter's, car, disability, life) = 2%<br /> Food + groceries = 8%<br /> Personal = 5%<br /> Debt (student loans) = 50% </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1471750 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 00:34:43 +0000 PurplePumps 1471750@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Retirement: 20% of pretax<br /> Then after taxes<br /> Mortgage: 40%<br /> Roth IRA: 13%<br /> Long term Savings: 16%<br /> Car payment: 7%<br /> Gas: 4%<br /> Utilities: 8%<br /> Groceries: 6%<br /> Short term savings/spending money: 6% </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1471741 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 00:23:53 +0000 sunny 1471741@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Gosh I have been trying to figure out the answer to this and I have no idea and it is bugging me! </p> <p>Our finances are kind of complicated because we "pay ourselves first", meaning all the money gets divvied up into various accounts for short and long term savings, retirement and investments and then the rest gets put into our checking account to "run our lives". So I don't actually know how much our after tax income is nor do I know how much we actually save... :-P</p> <p>For someone who obsessively tracks net worth, this should be right up my alley to answer but apparently I have no idea! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1471733 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 00:09:14 +0000 IRunForFun 1471733@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This is a rough estimate but: </p> <p>Rent: 27% (Includes utilities)<br /> Groceries: 12%<br /> Household items/Toiletries: 2%<br /> Cell phones: 4%<br /> Internet: 2%<br /> Car insurance: 2.5%<br /> Gas: 7.5%<br /> DH's insurance (grad school plan): 2.5%<br /> Pet food: 1%<br /> Pet care: 2%<br /> Personal spending: 5%<br /> Miscellaneous: 5%<br /> Savings: ~ 25%</p> <p>Of course, we don't always end up spending or saving according to the budget. We end up spending more on emergencies and miscellaneous than we end up putting into savings. For example, our dog had tons of health problems recently so we have already way exceeded our pet care budget and it's only March!</p> <p>This is just what we strive for, and we're lucky not to have any debt right now. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1471726 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 00:03:06 +0000 HLK208 1471726@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ahhh. Our mortgage percentage makes me cringe.</p> <p>Mortgage - 30%<br /> Cars/maintenance - 6%<br /> Gas - 2%<br /> Food - 5%<br /> Utilities - 3%<br /> Phone - 1%<br /> Car insurance - 1%<br /> Preschool - 2%<br /> Debt - 2%<br /> Personal/fun - 4%<br /> LO's diapers, clothes, toys, etc - 2%</p> <p>The rest goes into savings or we let checking accumulate and pay off a chunk of debt. Also, there are times I don't stick to the budget and spend 8% on food per month (especially while pregnant...DH calls our pantry a convenience store). Emergencies aren't factored in too. Oh and our retirement/health insurance comes out before so I didn't include it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1471671 Wed, 05 Mar 2014 23:32:30 +0000 Mrs.Panda 1471671@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>... We need to make a budget. We kind of fly by the seat of ours pants! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1471669 Wed, 05 Mar 2014 23:31:24 +0000 Mrs. Pen 1471669@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>interesting question... had to do some math for this one. This is very general and mostly off the top of my head. </p> <p>rent - 25%<br /> food - 17%<br /> PT child care - 10%<br /> Debt payments - 10%<br /> car payment - 8%<br /> savings - 7%<br /> utilities - 7%<br /> gas for the car - 7%<br /> diapers/clothes/toys for J - 2%</p> <p>The rest would be any extras like our gym membership, gifts, medical, extra babysitting (which has happened a lot lately with illnesses going around), my school expenses, and any fun extras like coffee or date night.</p> <p>ETA - I forgot phones and car insurance! Phone is 3%, car insurance is 2.5%.</p> <p>Medical insurance comes out of DH's paycheck but I guess that would be 12% - but it's pre-tax and I went off of net income. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1471668 Wed, 05 Mar 2014 23:30:04 +0000 Arden 1471668@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This is ours, but I'm questioning it.</p> <p>~ 25% Rent<br /> ~ 20% Groceries/Household<br /> ~ 7% Utilities<br /> ~ 7% Gas<br /> ~ 10% Personal (split between the three of us)<br /> ~ 15% Savings<br /> ~ 7% Car Maintenance and Insurance<br /> ~ 9% Cell Phones</p> <p>That's all approximated of course, but does that seem right? We don't have debt to pay towards. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/what-does-your-monthly-budget-look-like#post-1471653 Wed, 05 Mar 2014 23:20:59 +0000 Arden 1471653@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>A spin-off to my other question about prioritizing money... </p> <p>I'm trying to figure out if our budget reasonable. If you break your finances into percentages, what percentage do you spend in what areas? </p> <p>I'm interested more in percentages rather than actual numbers because people make such vastly different amounts... </p> <p>Sorry if this is too personal, I can't figure out how to do a poll for this because there are so many options. </p>