My Budget

**Wendy99** · 08-03-2008, 05:23 PM

Just wanted to put my figures out there as well. DH & I have 2 young children, 1 dog and 2 cats. We are starting this budget in September once the summer vacation is done with.

Income:

Monthly Income $2900.00

Expenses:

mortgage $872
home & car insurance $182
Groceries $450
Telephone $40
Cell (for 2 cells) $26
Cable TV $33 (just basic cable)
Internet $21 (dial up with accelerator)
Hydro $120 (need to conserve a bit more to get to this amount - more hanging clothes to dry & being conscious about turning off lights etc)
Heat $80 (this may increase, but this amt is what the local company gave me that we would start paying in Sept for equal billing, but I heard on the news awhile back that gas prices are going up!)
Hot water heater rental $21 (hope sometime in the future we can put in our own and eliminate this cost)
Gas $230
Bus pass $50 (includes 2 taxi rides a month when my husband leaves for work too early to catch the bus, when it's not snowing or raining he rides his bike, so this won't always cost as much and is nearly eliminated in the spring & summer)
Dental $7
Medicine $12
Pet: Food & Supplies $80 (dog is on special $$ food or she gets sick all the time, includes cat food & cat litter)
Pets: Vet $25 (3 pets figure $100/yr divided by 12)
Entertainment/Take Out $80 (thinking about putting this money in an envelope and 'if' we don't use it up, we can save it for the next month - will be fun to think of 'cheap' things we can do and still have fun or be able to enjoy eating out as a family and know its budgeted for)
Children: Sports & Activities $56 (soccer, swimming, gymnastics)
Clothing $27 (we shop mostly at goodwill so $324 should do for the year for the family, my dd gets a lot of hand me downs as well)
Gifts $72 (includes Christmas, birthdays, mother & father's day, easter, halloween costumes, parties our children attend & need to bring a gift & an extra $50 for food at Christmas)
School Expenses (includes hot lunch treats, pictures, trips, donations etc) $30
Vacation $100 (includes approx 14 nights at a campground, gas, supplies, groceries, ice, wood and $100 extra - this will be spread out throughout the summer - prob 2-3 trips)
Car Maintenance (not repairs) & Licensing $26
Blow Money $50
Emergency Fund Savings $210

So each month $210 will go into the emergency fund & $503 will go into the sinking fund for expenses that aren't always monthly. I don't have enough money to spare right now to save for car repairs or house maintenance, but if need be I will use the sinking fund or emergency fund and pray!! Not sure how high I can get the EF at $210 a month it will take awhile ugh I like things instantly!! But I'm happy knowing that we have sat down and tried to figure out each little detail as to why the amounts are what they are etc.

**ladykemma2** · 08-03-2008, 05:31 PM

wow that's thorough! wow!

how about 50 each for blow money?

**EmilyD** · 08-03-2008, 05:43 PM

Entertainment/Take Out $80 (thinking about putting this money in an envelope and 'if' we don't use it up, we can save it for the next month - will be fun to think of 'cheap' things we can do and still have fun or be able to enjoy eating out as a family and know its budgeted for)

Great idea!!

**Wendy99** · 08-03-2008, 05:43 PM

Originally Posted by ladykemma2

wow that's thorough! wow!

how about 50 each for blow money?

$50 each would be awesome!! It's just not something we can afford right now

We are doing a $20 dh & $30 me split ... he says he doesn't need much for that.

**Greebo** · 08-03-2008, 05:49 PM

$450/groceries - how large of a household?

I like the envelope fund for entertainment. Good plan!

**Wendy99** · 08-03-2008, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by Greebo

$450/groceries - how large of a household?

I like the envelope fund for entertainment. Good plan!

We have 2 adults (dh and myself) and twin 7 year olds. I live in Ontario Canada and groceries are expensive!! That $450 is going to be a challenge to keep below. I've also included cleaning products, toiletries etc in there (something I've never done before). My future stockpile and loss leaders will help me lol

**3tomboys** · 08-03-2008, 06:13 PM

The budget looks great. It looks like you were pretty good at listing all of your expenses.

**jas** · 08-04-2008, 09:04 AM

Way to go!

**Buckeye5** · 08-04-2008, 09:34 AM

Great job, lookslike you are set up and organized for your future.

**Wendy99** · 08-04-2008, 07:11 PM

Thanks. Really hoping this works for us now that we have included everything (that we can think of anyways) and I was really careful about the amounts ie. gifts, child sports, pets, vacation, to ensure that everything was covered. I really wish there was a way to put in home repairs & car repairs, but I guess just focusing on getting EF as high as I can to cover stuff will have to do for now. My biggest thing is that I really dont want to go in debt again, so the faster that EF grows the better.