How does your budget compare with this one (Income: $196,000)

[catherine]

Tooling around on Mr. Money Mustache, I was reading "Does Peak Happiness Really Come at $75,000 a Year?"

Part of it quotes a budget from a family in Toronto who is just "scraping by" with an income of $196,000.

How does your budget compare with these line items? (My amounts are in brackets)

Mortgage : $2,500. [Same]
Utilities: $500. [Same]
Gas for their Jeep Commander and Ford F-150 truck: $440. [$80 budgeted for gas per month for Prius/Fit]
Street parking and two parking permits: $200. [$0]
Home and car insurance: $300. [Same]
Cleaning lady: $160. [$0]
Groceries: $1,000. [$367 for basic and I allow $70 for "splurge food"]
Baby supplies and toiletries at drugstores: $75. [$0-NA]
Wine: $400–$500. [$50]
Eating out: $400. [$160]
Home phone, cable, Internet and two cellphones: $280. [$400: driven up with two self-employed adults with smartphones)
Dry cleaning: $50. [$20]
Haircuts, nails and waxing: $170. [$25]
Gifts: $200. [same]
Daycare for both kids: $2,500. [$0-NA]
Kids paid activites and lessons: $200. [$0-NA]
House maintenance: $410. [$100 but it should be more]
Clothes: $250 [$50]
Savings: $0 [$400]

Anyone else want to share and compare?

[iris lilies]

I'm trying for a wine bill of $200 monthly. Not kidding, my wine bill is rather out of control. That would include a bottle 1.5 times per month to a party. I am the only drinker in the household, DH won't touch the stuff.

I starting to think about this bill in the context of retirement income, ummm. A bit much.

Otherwise we don't have a budget. We spend what we spend.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Mortgage $2,500. [Same]: a bit over 1k for rent on a 1 bedroom
Utilities $500. [Same]: about $100 a month, includes green power
Gas pay about $160 a month in gas - that's almost ALL commuting to work! The car is *plenty* fuel efficient, just not a super expensive hybrid is the only thing - maybe my next car will be a hybrid
Street parking and two parking permits: zero apartment has parking, work pays for work parking
Home and car insurance: $300. [Same] about $150 a month
Cleaning lady: zero
Groceries: $1,000. [$367 for basic and I allow $70 for "splurge food"] can I combine this with household and personal supplies and just say about $500 Too much being spent on food, do eat more than 50% organic food - sustainable, organic, grass fed
Baby supplies and toiletries at drugstores: $75. [$0-NA] see above
Wine: $400–$500. [$50] lets say $10, not a lot and cheapo stuff, though I could see *not* resorting to two buck chuck which is now $2.50 and buying something a little better .... I'm not that hard up really
Eating out: $400. [$160] about $40 a month
Home phone, cable, Internet and two cellphones: $280. [$400: driven up with two self-employed adults with smartphones) about $35
Dry cleaning: $50. [$20] maybe $5 a month? only occasionally get dry cleaning
Haircuts, nails and waxing: $170. [$25] procrastinate this forever, so none really, though I really should
Gifts: $200. [same] $10
Daycare for both kids: $2,500. [$0-NA] none
Kids paid activites and lessons: $200. [$0-NA] none
House maintenance: $410. [$100 but it should be more] included in rent but I sometimes buy items for the place (furniture, decorations, appliances) so maybe $40 if you mean that (if it happens to be a year I make a BIG furniture purchase - can be even more - maybe $100)
Clothes: $250 [$50] $100
Savings: $0 [$400] $800-$1000 always seems like getting nowhere

[Jilly]

Monthly budget

Mortgage : $2,500. ($600)
Utilities: $500. ($150, average)
Gas for their Jeep Commander and Ford F-150 truck: $440. (Compact car, $60)
Street parking and two parking permits: $200. ($15)
Home and car insurance: $300. ($70)
Cleaning lady: $160. ($0)
Groceries: $1,000. ($200)
Baby supplies and toiletries at drugstores: $75. ($0-NA)
Wine: $400–$500. ($0)
Eating out: $400. ($15, twice monthly breakfast with friends)
Home phone, cable, Internet and two cellphones: $280. ($20 Trakfone, $40 Internet)
Dry cleaning: $50. ($0)
Haircuts, nails and waxing: $170. ($0)
Gifts: $200. (Maybe $20, and I make just about every gift)
Daycare for both kids: $2,500. ($0-NA)
Kids paid activites and lessons: $200. ($0, free stuff with grandchildren)
House maintenance: $410. ($5, cleaning products, does that count?)
Clothes: $250 ($0)
Savings: $0 (Varies by whatever is left at the end of the month)

[reader99]

Mortgage : $2,500. [Same] Zero. Condo fee $200
Utilities: $500. [Same] $194
Gas for their Jeep Commander and Ford F-150 truck: $440. [$80 budgeted for gas per month for Prius/Fit] No vehicles
Street parking and two parking permits: $200. [$0] N/A
Home and car insurance: $300. [Same] N/A
Cleaning lady: $160. [$0] Zero
Groceries: $1,000. [$367 for basic and I allow $70 for "splurge food"] $200 one person
Baby supplies and toiletries at drugstores: $75. [$0-NA] Grooming products $2
Wine: $400–$500. [$50] Zero
Eating out: $400. [$160] $30
Home phone, cable, Internet and two cellphones: $280. [$400: driven up with two self-employed adults with smartphones) $46
Dry cleaning: $50. [$20] zero
Haircuts, nails and waxing: $170. [$25] zero
Gifts: $200. [same] $10
Daycare for both kids: $2,500. [$0-NA] N/A
Kids paid activities and lessons: $200. [$0-NA] N/A
House maintenance: $410. [$100 but it should be more] $20
Clothes: $250 [$50] Zero this year
Savings: $0 [$400] Zero

OTC meds supplements, etc $12
Dental Zero
Vision Zero

[catherine]

This is cool! Very inspiring!

Now the second question should be, if you had to rate your economic quality of life on a 1-10 scale (i.e., not counting non-economic QoL factors like relationship status, etc.), what would it be?

I would say 7--I have everything I need and then some, but debt definitely weighs me down.

[razz]

Tooling around on Mr. Money Mustache, I was reading "Does Peak Happiness Really Come at $75,000 a Year?"

Part of it quotes a budget from a family in Toronto who is just "scraping by" with an income of $196,000.

How does your budget compare with these line items? (My amounts are in brackets)

Mortgage : $2,500. [Same]zero

Utilities: $500. [Same] 100

Gas for their Jeep Commander and Ford F-150 truck: $440. [$80 budgeted for gas per month for Prius/Fit] 200 for Vibe and F150

Street parking and two parking permits: $200. [$0] zero

Home and car insurance: $300. [Same] 250

Cleaning lady: $160. [$0] zero

Groceries: $1,000. [$367 for basic and I allow $70 for "splurge food"] 350


Baby supplies and toiletries at drugstores: $75. [$0-NA] zero

Wine: $400–$500. [$50] zero

Eating out: $400. [$160] 50

Home phone, cable, Internet and two cellphones: $280. [$400: driven up with two self-employed adults with smartphones) 150 for satellite, landline/internet, cellphone

Dry cleaning: $50. [$20] zero

Haircuts, nails and waxing: $170. [$25] 30

Gifts: $200. [same] 20

Daycare for both kids: $2,500. [$0-NA] zero

Kids paid activites and lessons: $200. [$0-NA] DGS events when visiting me spread out monthly 40

House maintenance: $410. [$100 but it should be more]400

Clothes: $250 [$50] 10 maybe

Savings: $0 [$400] retired



Entertainment: theatre, ballet, opera, movies $200

Pet care and food: 60 with 40 budgeted for boarding


Anyone else want to share and compare?

This thread was interesting to read to get an idea of where spending in families is allocated. Scary though if one partner loses their job.

[rodeosweetheart]

Something like this:
Mortgage : $2,500. [Same] Zero.
Utilities: $500. [Same] 200
Gas for their Jeep Commander and Ford F-150 truck: $440. [$80 budgeted for gas per month for Prius/Fit] 300
Street parking and two parking permits: $200. [$0] N/A
Home and car insurance: $300. [Same] 250
Cleaning lady: $160. [$0] Zero
Groceries: $1,000. [$367 for basic and I allow $70 for "splurge food"] $500
Baby supplies and toiletries at drugstores: $75. [$0-NA] Grooming products $10
Wine: $400–$500. [$50] Zero
Eating out: $400. [$160] 125
Home phone, cable, Internet and two cellphones: $280. [$400: driven up with two self-employed adults with smartphones) $200
Dry cleaning: $50. [$20] zero
Haircuts, nails and waxing: $170. [$25] 10
Gifts: $200. [same] $100
Daycare for both kids: $2,500. [$0-NA] N/A
Kids paid activities and lessons: $200. [$0-NA] N/A
House maintenance: $410. [$100 but it should be more] $200
Clothes: $250 [$50] 50
Savings: $0 [$400] 500

OTC meds supplements, copaysetc $150
Dental 50
Vision 50
Pets-- 150

[bae]

Mortgage : $2,500. [$0]
Utilities: $500. [$400]
Gas for their Jeep Commander and Ford F-150 truck: $440. [$100
Street parking and two parking permits: $200. [$0]
Home and car insurance: $300. [$500]
Cleaning lady: $160. [$320]
Groceries: $1,000. [$500]
Baby supplies and toiletries at drugstores: $75. [$0-NA]
Wine: $400–$500. [$0 if you don't count costs of running own vineyard/winery]
Eating out: $400. [$160]
Home phone, cable, Internet and two cellphones: $280. [$220: driven up with two self-employed adults with smartphones)
Dry cleaning: $50. [$0]
Haircuts, nails and waxing: $170. [$25]
Gifts: $200. [$0]
Daycare for both kids: $2,500. [$0-NA]
Kids paid activites and lessons: $200. [$120]
House maintenance: $410. [$500 but it should be more]
Clothes: $250 [$50]
Savings: $0 [$0]

Their chart left out my two biggest-ticket items though - property taxes and health insurance.

[catherine]

Their chart left out my two biggest-ticket items though - property taxes and health insurance.

Yeah, that wasn't in the original article--my health insurance is a biggie, too: $1355.
And not only are my property taxes high, living in the #1 worst state to live in for property taxes--as a self-employed person I also pay significant Federal, State, Self-employment taxes.