Got a reality check this week

Husband and I realized this week that we are basically spending $1000 each month more than we are bringing in
We earn around $7000 in pay but after itemizing what we spent in January, we spent over $8000. We were both shocked because our bank account is always between $15000-$19000 depending on what bills are still due and whose payckeck will be deposited.

We itemized where we spent our money last month and realized we need to curb our spending in some areas. Can't really change food, electric, water, etc as those are in the normal range. But I need to curb my Amazon addiction. No more buying because I want something because those frequent small purchases added up to quite a bit. That shouldn't be a problem because it was just "wants" and I can obviously do without those items.

What really shocked me was how much I spent on cat food. I knew that I fed my cats a more expensive brand of food than Fancy Feast or Blue Buffalo but didn't realize how much a month's worth of food cost because I would buy it in small amounts as we ran out of a certain flavor. I was spening over $300 a month on cat food!!!! Holy crap!! So like it or not, my cats are no longer getting that brand and I will be switching them to a much cheaper one as soon as my stock runs out.

Hopefully when we go through February's expenses, we won't be spending nearly as much and will have bring home more money than what was going out.

Good for you for doing this work--I am working on this, too, to try to live within my retirement income, only, rather than counting on my work, which keeps dwindling. It's hard, with groceries going up so much, and everything else.

My husband makes our dog food and only supplements with salmon kibble because they are prone to allergies. Could you make your own catfood? I found this site with recipe:

10 Homemade Cat Food Recipes Every Cat Will Love | Hepper

I am in your camp, Klunick!! We are trying to minimize expenses because eventually I want to retire, and I'm shooting for living off SS only. But, like you, we tend to overrun our budget by $1000/month! Our landmine tends to be on "entertainment"--when kids come up, we go out and buy stuff that they like; when birthdays come around, we are probably more generous than we need to be; DH is an entertainer at heart. If the neighbors come over, where the neighborhood culture is to just bring what you want to drink and no one eats anything, DH has to be Host with the Most, making sure our liquor cabinet is stocked, and he always has one "presentation" food that he usually makes, and if he doesn't he buys homemade desserts from town, which tend to be expensive--like $20 for a pie.

My "gazing us pins" are the same as yours: Amazon--I usually treat myself to a book once a week. Then of course there are the other random purchases that one-click can magically manifest for you... I also tend to subscribe to reading matter than I don't read much but I forget to unsubscribe.

I am determined not to overrun our budget in 2023. Because I'm self-employed, and every financial splurge or misstep means I have to take on another project before I retire, "your money or your life" is taking on greater relevance for me.

I could try to make it but honestly, I am not that type of person. Haha!! Retirement is part of the reason we wanted to get serious about our finances. Granted, when the kids are gone and we won't be paying for their tuition, car insurance, etc we will have more money staying put in our bank account. But that is a few years away. We need to start trimming the excess where we can now.

Yes, the price of everything is ridiculous.Weekly grocery bill was $200. Same food but now costs $300. Also didn't help that we added a car payment to the mix but that was unavoidable. We are making double payments to get that expense out of the way quicker. It was interesting to see how all those small purchases were killing us though.

My budget is $1542 per month and I will allow myself to go over that three months out of the year due to large expenses like when I pay my auto insurance for the whole year, which gets me a discount. Last year I wanted to stay on budget 8 months and I did it, so this year I am aiming a little higher.

$1542 is my projected retirement benefit at age 62 so if I can get to the point where I stay on budget every month of the year theoretically I could retire then, medical insurance being the big unknown.

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Originally Posted by Yppej

My budget is $1542 per month and I will allow myself to go over that three months out of the year due to large expenses like when I pay my auto insurance for the whole year, which gets me a discount. Last year I wanted to stay on budget 8 months and I did it, so this year I am aiming a little higher.

$1542 is my projected retirement benefit at age 62 so if I can get to the point where I stay on budget every month of the year theoretically I could retire then, medical insurance being the big unknown.

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That's great!!!

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Originally Posted by Klunick

That's great!!!

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I agree!

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Originally Posted by Yppej

My budget is $1542 per month and I will allow myself to go over that three months out of the year due to large expenses like when I pay my auto insurance for the whole year, which gets me a discount. Last year I wanted to stay on budget 8 months and I did it, so this year I am aiming a little higher.

$1542 is my projected retirement benefit at age 62 so if I can get to the point where I stay on budget every month of the year theoretically I could retire then, medical insurance being the big unknown.

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I pay right around 400 a month for Medicare B, a supplement Plan G, and a bare bones cheap prescription drug plan.

Between my retirement and age 65, at which time I could access medicare, I paid around $400 a month for a bare-bones high deductible health care plan. Now that I on Medicare, I pay $163.00 per month for an advantage plan with Aetna. That made a huge difference in our budget.

Even Fancy Feast cat food has gone up .20 a can. I have a finicky cat who prefers fresh meat so I buy chicken when it is on sale, boil it up, and freeze small portions to supplement his canned food. At 1.27 lb, the chicken is actually cheaper than the canned food. I keep monthly logs of category expenses and see that our average monthly cost for two cats last year was $36. They are getting old so I will be adding more vet bills to that line item no doubt.