Want some opinions on my budget

**lve2save** · 03-10-2008, 11:02 AM

I am trying to do a new budget since our money situation has changed recently. I am a stay at home mom, it makes no sense for me to get a job as all of the income would be eaten up in gas and daycare. My son is on SSI so we have to stay below a certain amount of income to get it, if we don't have that then we would lose his Medicaid also and that pays for his medicine.

Monthly Budget

$1636.00--take home pay
$573.00 --SSI

$2209.00----Total Income

Budget

$990.00-Rent
$311.11-Car
$85.00 - Cable
$93.00-Elec
$25.00-Water (due every 3months, $75 total)
$75.00-Gas for house
$35.00-Cell phone
$300.00-Groceries
$140.00-Gas for cars
$80.00-Medicine (DH is diabetic)
$40.00-Blow money for DH

Total--$2174.00

That would leave $35 left over every month. I am pretty sure that once it gets warmer that our gas bill will go back down to its normal $35.00. That is all we pay for it during the summer. I can't lower the cable bill, its for the cable and highspeed internet, I have to have the highspeed because I have Vonage (which is already paid for until 3/09). We have a contract on the cell phone so I can't disconnect those but it is on the lowest plan they have. The groceries I am really going to try and lower, we have a family of 4, Dh, me and 2 boys ages 7 and 4. They eat ALOT so my grocery bill is definatley a challange.

We have $1000.00 in our emergency fund, no balances on our 2 credit cards. We have an extra $45 in our coffee can savings, $40.00 in our savings thru the bank and contributing 4.5% to a 401K monthly. We also have an extra $1100 in our checking account that I am still trying to figure out what to do with.

I guess my big question is "Am I stretching my budget too far?" Any suggestions would be helpful...I am worried that I am setting us up for failure or I am being unrealistic.

**perSue** · 03-10-2008, 11:10 AM

i'm no expert in budgeting, but a couple ideas i see off-hand are...

is the cell really necessary?
can the grocery budget be decreased?
what about dh's "blow money"? (i sure hope that's not REAL blow!)

what about the cable bill? you could call & see if they could lower your rate!

otherwise, everything else is necessary & wouldnt want to touch that.

good luck!

**lve2save** · 03-10-2008, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by perSue

i'm no expert in budgeting, but a couple ideas i see off-hand are...

is the cell really necessary?
can the grocery budget be decreased?
what about dh's "blow money"? (i sure hope that's not REAL blow!)

what about the cable bill? you could call & see if they could lower your rate!

otherwise, everything else is necessary & wouldnt want to touch that.

good luck!

About the cell , grocery and cable bill I explained it in the original post. The blow money is for my husband. He works hard for us so I can stay at home with our boys and attend college full time, never asks for anything and really wanted him to at least have $10 a week for himself incase he wants a drink or go to lunch with the guys. If I had to drop it temp. I would but I really want to be able to budget that in for him. Also, I forgot to mention that my car insurance is also paid up until 8/08.

**LexTysMommy** · 03-10-2008, 11:40 AM

So once insurance needs to be paid you will make less then what is due each month? How much longer on car payment? Can you put extra toward that every month?
Is there budget billing you can put electric and gas on? Everything else seems like you need it or on lowest plan possible.

**Holly** · 03-10-2008, 12:07 PM

I would try to get the groceries down another $100.00
That would help.
Cell contract was up yesterday.
maybe go to trac phone?

**dianne9106** · 03-10-2008, 12:33 PM

The extra in your checking account - is that aside from your $1K in your emergency fund? If so - use it towards making extra on your car payment - get it paid off early.
I know you have high speed internet -but maybe disconnect the cable. I know it's nice to have - but I have a teenager and toddler - my DS16 is into internet more than TV, then with DD2 - we watch PBS for TV for her. DH and I are also more into books and the internet.
If you coupon and stock up on things that are on sale you should be able to lower grocery bill in a month or so. But you will need a little extra to stock up with now.

How many cars do you have? If possible could you sell one car to pay it off and then buy an older car?
It looks like you are doing well - just keep an eye on this board for other great ideas. Maybe you can work from home as well.

Best Wishes! - Dianne

**lve2save** · 03-10-2008, 12:33 PM

Originally Posted by LexTysMommy

So once insurance needs to be paid you will make less then what is due each month? How much longer on car payment? Can you put extra toward that every month?
Is there budget billing you can put electric and gas on? Everything else seems like you need it or on lowest plan possible.

Since I am a college student, I get a living expense check every 3 months or so and that is what I use to pay my car insurance for 6 months at a time. The car won't be paid off until 12/09, the elec is already on budget billing but I never thought to ask the gas company about putting it on there. I will have to call and ask! Thanks for the idea.

**lve2save** · 03-10-2008, 12:44 PM

Originally Posted by dianne9106

The extra in your checking account - is that aside from your $1K in your emergency fund? If so - use it towards making extra on your car payment - get it paid off early.
I know you have high speed internet -but maybe disconnect the cable. I know it's nice to have - but I have a teenager and toddler - my DS16 is into internet more than TV, then with DD2 - we watch PBS for TV for her. DH and I are also more into books and the internet.
If you coupon and stock up on things that are on sale you should be able to lower grocery bill in a month or so. But you will need a little extra to stock up with now.

How many cars do you have? If possible could you sell one car to pay it off and then buy an older car?
It looks like you are doing well - just keep an eye on this board for other great ideas. Maybe you can work from home as well.

Best Wishes! - Dianne

First off I just want to say thanks for all the responses! To answer your questions, yes the extra money in the checking account is just extra, we have $1000 set aside for the EF fund which does NOT include the extra in the checking account. I did call to inquire about disconeccting the cable but they told me that since I have the high speed internet with them that I could not shut the cable off completely just that I could go to the lowest plan they have which is what I already have.
I have already stocked my deep freezer up on meat, I am going to go to Aldis and stock up on nonperishables and I will have a full kitchen, so I am hoping that will give me a jumpstart on saving on the grocery bill. Do you think its possible to only spend $200 a month on a family of 4? If there is a way of doing it, I am going to try and figure it out because that would be $100 extra a month!!

We have 2 cars, one is completely paid off, its a 1998 Ford. My DH uses that to go back and forth to work as its cheaper on gas. Our other car which we are still paying on is a 2000 Blazer. It mostly sits unless we have to travel or the days I go grocery shopping. I wish we could sell it but we owe more than its worth I think so it would probably just be best to keep it and pay it off. I have been trying to find a calculator to figure out what the schedule would be if I paid extra on the loan but I cannot find anything to help me with that.

I did work from home since May of last year but had to quit in Feb. because SS said we were making too much money.

**lve2save** · 03-10-2008, 12:46 PM

Originally Posted by Holly

I would try to get the groceries down another $100.00
That would help.
Cell contract was up yesterday.
maybe go to trac phone?

Kinda confused....my cell contract is not up for another year.

**Holly** · 03-10-2008, 01:04 PM

Sorry my mistake,
(Bifocals) was reading 2 lines at once.
looked like cell phone up 3 09 meaning day not year.
Its heck getting old...lol

**Holly** · 03-10-2008, 01:07 PM

Didn't get an edit button.
We have 2 teenagers ( and they can eat 19 ds and his 17 gf )
we spend about $200 on groceries and $150 on pet food that includes the 800 pound pig and chickens and ducks 6 next week 7 dogs and a mess of barn cats )

**lve2save** · 03-10-2008, 01:11 PM

Originally Posted by Holly

Sorry my mistake,
(Bifocals) was reading 2 lines at once.
looked like cell phone up 3 09 meaning day not year.
Its heck getting old...lol

Lol..its no problem!

**lve2save** · 03-10-2008, 01:12 PM

Originally Posted by Holly

Didn't get an edit button.
We have 2 teenagers ( and they can eat 19 ds and his 17 gf )
we spend about $200 on groceries and $150 on pet food that includes the 800 pound pig and chickens and ducks 6 next week 7 dogs and a mess of barn cats )

That is awesome! I am going to try and get it at $200.00 a month, we don't have any pets, DH takes his lunch to work everyday and DS7 gets reduced lunch at school so its cheaper than me making his lunch everyday.

**dianne9106** · 03-10-2008, 01:21 PM

I forgot about your income limitations.
I don't know what area of the world you are in. Is your rent reasonable for that area? Would it be an option to move after they get out of school? I know that can be a hassle and sometimes costly at first.
You are doing well with your budget and going to college -it's tough.
The grocery issue -we struggle with too. Not until we are broke do we actually keep our grocery bill down. Being able to eat well and healthy on limited funds is tough!
I would def use that extra money on your car payment - that way you can use the regular money to snowball the car until it's paid off.

Also - cut up the credit cards! I know you don't have a balance on them - but in the event things go south you will depend on your smarts and emergency fund first!

Dianne

**lve2save** · 03-10-2008, 01:35 PM

Originally Posted by dianne9106

I forgot about your income limitations.
I don't know what area of the world you are in. Is your rent reasonable for that area? Would it be an option to move after they get out of school? I know that can be a hassle and sometimes costly at first.
You are doing well with your budget and going to college -it's tough.
The grocery issue -we struggle with too. Not until we are broke do we actually keep our grocery bill down. Being able to eat well and healthy on limited funds is tough!
I would def use that extra money on your car payment - that way you can use the regular money to snowball the car until it's paid off.

Also - cut up the credit cards! I know you don't have a balance on them - but in the event things go south you will depend on your smarts and emergency fund first!

Dianne

I live in North Carolina, we are paying a pretty reasonable rent amount for the area. We have a 3/2 brick house on a cul-de-sac with a fenced in yard for the boys. We are trying to stay in the house because within the next few years, after I graduate from college and the youngest is in school we are planning on buying the house we are in. The landlords want to do a owner contract sell right now but we asked them to wait a while longer and they are OK with that.

I was working over my budget somemore and somehow messed up the math, our take home income is actually $2353.00 so there is about $280.00 left over after the bills are paid a month.