So that is where the money goes - an observation

[imagine]

I was looking at what our money went to

Aside from Taxes and insurance and the roof over our head(mortgage/rent)

Most of our family money goes to

Energy

food/water for Human energy
gasoline to power the vehicle
electric and natural gas to power the house and its items (especially love the heater)

Repair and Replacements

to repair broken items ( shoes, mend clothes, repair car, repair house etc) and replacements for non repairable and non useable items ( the shoes the could not get fixed, outgrown clothing, change in prescription glasses or broken not repairable glasses, microwave etc)

That is basically it.

very little of our income goes to new thing ( actually new or used "new to us") that is not a replacement for something

very little goes to entertainment
very little goes to services

Found it interesting that so much goes to Energy and repair or replacement

[MaryCarney]

Interesting observation.

[mombottoo]

I agree with you...most of our money that goes would definitely fit into one of those two categories.

Every time I shop for groceries I think of how much more money wed have if we didn't have to eat.

[nuisance26]

very little of our income goes to new thing ( actually new or used "new to us") that is not a replacement for something

very little goes to entertainment
very little goes to services

~Yeah, I'm with you on that. We spend about $20 a month on those things and they come out my own personal pocket money. I guess $50 a month if you include internet in "services". But anything new-to-our-house for 2011 came out of pocket money or gift money at birthdays.~

[dancemommy]

Most of our money goes to energy too- food/gas/heat/electricity. Not so much to repair/replace- at least not right now. We really are trying to watch this year where we spend- mostly because I we haven't looked closely at it for several years. I was surprised at how much we spent in that area. We don't buy much aside from food/gas/etc. But we spend a lot on our kids activities- not sure what category that is. I'm scared to see how much it really ends up being, but whatever it is, it is.

[imagine]

~Yeah, I'm with you on that. We spend about $20 a month on those things and they come out my own personal pocket money. I guess $50 a month if you include internet in "services". But anything new-to-our-house for 2011 came out of pocket money or gift money at birthdays.~

I included internet in entertainment lol

I would include in service: haircuts, eating out above the price it would have cost at home.

[imagine]

Most of our money goes to energy too- food/gas/heat/electricity. Not so much to repair/replace- at least not right now. We really are trying to watch this year where we spend- mostly because I we haven't looked closely at it for several years. I was surprised at how much we spent in that area. We don't buy much aside from food/gas/etc. But we spend a lot on our kids activities- not sure what category that is. I'm scared to see how much it really ends up being, but whatever it is, it is.

Repair and replace is a wide category

I count replacement clothing as replacement Little Miss has no shorts for summer as all hers are outgrown that would be replacement) More than your four needed then that would not be a replacement.

Buddy needs new Cello string repair (maybe a replacement)

Shoe Goo to fix broken sole on Hubby's good shoes - repair

Color catcher sheets to try and get the pink out of the cream bath towels from when a red thing ended up in the hot wash with them - repair

Car in shop to keep in running repair.

Even all of Buddy's birthday presents from us would fit into energy or replacements for the most part

a gift card to mc donald's ( energy plus a bit for service because the extra over what it would have cost at home is the service price for them cooking it for us)
a hoodie -replacement as he outgrew one he had.