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Budget Advice Please
Hey ladies, I haven't been on this board in a really long time. I am a SAHM to two amazing children.
I try to be really smart savy and try to stay on budget as much as I can but with two children and now with one that is so sick its hard to...
DH take home pay 3308 per month.
905 - Mortgage includes taxes and insurance
100 - Car Insurance
135 - Phone / Internet / TV (Phone is really cheap part of the bundle like 10)
85 - Cell Phones
170 - Electric (We are always home and the using the electric)
120 - Water (The water is really high and one of the reason is because in my town it includes trash/recycle pick up)
600 - Food, Diapers, Wipes, stuff for bathroom, house etc (I still have 2 in diapers and my dd uses the cheap target ones but my son has to have the pure and natural ones from huggies because of his sensitive skin and those are min 25 every two weeks)
200 - Gas (its 40 miles one way to work for DH and we have a fuel efficient car)
That is a total of 2315, leaving about a 1000 bucks or so left.
We have about 20k in savings, 800 in cc debt but I pay no interest on it because I use it to pay with everything and pay more than the balance every month.
I want to be more sensible with my food but don't know how...I price match at Walmart, buy their great value products....
Re: Budget Advice Please
The thing that stands out to me is the water. H and I live in an apartment, and there are only two of us, but we pay about $35/mo total for water/sewer/trash. I'm sure in a house the trash portion is significantly higher, but $120 still seems really high. Have you tried cutting back on the water you use?
The food seems pretty reasonable to me for a family of 4, especially including diapering two kids. You didn't mention - do you use coupons when you can? That can make a difference.
If you shop around, you may be able to get a better deal on car insurance. Or, pay it every 6 months rather than monthly if you're not already. DH and I pay $450 for probably a lot more coverage than we really need on our two cars for a 6-month term ($75/mo), but it would be $550 if we made monthly payments (!!).
What kind of cable package do you have? You may consider removing some premium or sports channels to lower that bill.
"You know you're in love when you don't want to fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." - Dr. SeussYes, I agree I too think the water is pretty high, we both take showers but give the kids a bath every night and its 2 per night as I think they should not be together because one is a girl and the other is a boy.
I even brought a difference washer and dryer to keep my water lower but that did not seem to help.
I have tried coupons but seem that I always buy more than I need because I have a coupon....that didn't work for me...although I try....
Car insurance, I have actually changed last year to lower our rates. We have pretty good coverage, 100/300, 500 deductible, car rental, road side assistance, and we do pay every 6 months to keep it lower.
Just curious, why do you pay more than the full amount due each month on the CC? Are you paying ahead? So, if I'm understanding this correctly based on what you wrote, if $500 is the total in-full balane due, you pay more than the $500?
If you are paying ahead - stop. As long as you are paying off the balance in-full each month your credit will remain good. Don't give away your money to the CC company.
Also, if you have a great habit of paying in-full on time each month on your one CC, and if you have a Super Target nearby, you might consider getting their Red Card. You get 5% cash back on ALL purchases, which is taken right off at the register. Plus, you always get free shipping on all online purchases in addition to the 5% cash back. This is ONLY worth doing if you pay it off in full each month (the interest rate to carry a balance is 20-some percent which nixes the 5% cash back if you carry a balance).
DH and I switched to this for all of our groceries. So far this year, we have gotten over $200 in savings - just from the Red Card (this doesn't even include coupons I use too).
You might also consider cutting the cable TV altogether and using Internet only. Or, opt out of premium channels.
I guess I should explain the whole cc thing....I put all our purchases on it... so like if I go to walmart and spend 260 bucks then I go home and make a payment for that exact amount....this way my balance doesn't go up.... and I get the points and I use those points for Christmas...last year I got a check back for 200 bucks... Our everyday expenses are more than the 800 balance that is co pays etc for my son. I make an additional payments to lower the 800 at the end of the month.
I am just new to this board, so the other ladies might have better advice then me but here are my thoughts.
Your only deis $800 on the cc? Why not just pay that off with your extra $1000 so that can stop hanging over your head?
Do you have life insurance? Retirement savings? Education funds for your kids? I would start thinking about all of that as well.
As for new cars you start saving your extra money you could save for some newer used cars and pay cash. Dave Ramsey talks about this in his books and it seems to make sense.
I am the exact same way with coupons. I have just recently stopped looking at the flyers unless we need specific items because I find I look at them and then buy things we don't need because it is such a good sale. Same with coupons. But with a family of 4 you would need more groceries then me so looking at flyers and price matching saves a ton of money. Make sure when you are buying the store brand it actually is cheaper then the name brand. Sometimes they are actually more expensive if the name brand is on sale.
Oh and I agree, baths use up SO much water! i was bathed with my brother while I was small, there are pictures of us but I don't remember it at all. When they are so little I don't see any harm in it, they would probably have a ton of fun. We also only give baths every other night with a small amount of water, quick showers on other days he needs it and one big bubble bath once a week. It is hopefully saving on water (I will see on my next bill) and he isn't dirty or anything. Just something to think about. We also make sure we turn off the water whike brushing our teeth and have quicker showers.
Do you have netflix or amazon prime? You could cut back on your cable package and still watch good tv shows by having one of these. We just switched to basic cable and got rid of our pvr and Idon't miss it at all because we have netflix. Do you need a home phone and cell phone?
Okay thats all I can think of.
What is your plan for the extra $1,000 a month?
If I were you, I would start saving for a new to you car right now. Also, there doesn't seem to be any entertainment/misc/gifts in your budget either. You might want to consider adding a small amount for those items into your budget.
How are you on retirement savings? Does your husband have a plan through work that he contributes to?
All of this. Your kids will be fine taking baths together, every other night (plus on days they get muddy or whatever).
for coupons, you can avoid buying more than you need. Try this: clip coupons when you need them for items you buy often. Keep them in a folder or coupon organizer (we just use an envelope). Take the envelope with you when you go shopping, but don't use the coupons to shop; stick to a list of things you need. Before you go to the register, check your coupons for anything you bought. Surely, you'll use some that way, and you won't be buying things just because you have coupons. Ideally, you'll also get better at shopping with coupons so you can plan ahead and use more coupons eventually: where name brands are cheaper with coupon than the store brand, where you have to buy 3 of something non-perishable to use a coupon when you only really needed one, etc.
"You know you're in love when you don't want to fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." - Dr. SeussOne thing to add to this- if you want to try couponing again and you live in the south there is a really good website that will help you get started. Southernsavers.com - I am signed up for her email list and I get grocery ad matchups and Sunday ad matchups. This has really helped me save money in the past couple months on both groceries and baby stuff. I have stocked up on baby wipes for instance because with a coupon and current sale they were 50 cents for a package of Pampers wipes at the local grocery store. She has a LOT of helpful advice. You can make your list for groceries by going off her website.
Are you actually saving the extra $1000/month? If so, that's 30% of your income, and I would say it's sufficient (though probably some of it should be allocated to retirement). If not, you need to find out where it is going.
Also, you should check your credit card statement. With what you are describing, I think you probably are paying interest, even if you don't realize it. You need to pay whatever is shown as the full statement balance (not just new charges) each month to avoid paying interest. If you need to, you should be pulling money out of saving to do this. Though according to your budget, it looks like you should not need to touch savings to do this.