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Budget- Take Two
We've done a spreadsheet, changed a few things to get them as low as we can or are willing to, and allocated the rest of the categories. We figured out that unless one or both of us misses more than a day or two of work each month we should be bringing in no less than $4200, so that is what we based this budget on. Depending on things like performance bonuses and how busy we both are our combined take home income could be as much as 5500. So I figured that anything over the 4200 we could just split between debt and savings, and once the debt is paid off just put it into savings.
This budget does not include DH's 401K, $20 a pay period into his HSA, life insurance and medical insurance for all three of us, disability insurance and a bus pass for DH. All of those are withheld from his check. Also some categories go up during the summer when my DD is here, but I also don't pay any child support during those months, so it basically evens out.
Rent 960
Cell phones (3) 150
Electric 60
Cable/Internet 100
DD's plane tickets 210 (3 flights a year which range from 700-1100 RT)
Bus/Train Fare 100
Child Support 298
Student Loan #1 60 (minimum is 54, approx 1100 remaining)
Student Loan #2 110 (minimum is about 106, approx 4650 remaining)
Student Loan #3 90 (minimum is 89, approx 7500 remaining)
Massage Studio Rental 135
Professional Liability Insurance 17
Short Term Disability Insurance (me) 38
Required Continuing Ed Classes 20
Professional License Renewal 10
DH's Gym Membership 23
Netflix 9
Rhapsody 17
Science Museum Membership 9
Groceries (includes household, personal care, OTC meds) 400
Laundry (coin op) 20
Pet food and supplies for a small aquarium and two cats 60
Entertainment 50
Medical 100
Gifts 50 (includes Xmas so this might need to go up some)
Haircuts 60
Massage Therapy (medically necessary) 50
Misc 100
Personal Allowances 150
IRA account (mine) 200
Emergency Savings 150
Hospital/Urgent Care Bills 150 (should be no more than 2000, but we haven't gotten all of them yet)
Back Taxes 150 (minimum is 50, approx 700 remaining)
Credit Cards 92 (minimum is 50, approx 650 remaining, and should be paid off by mid June because work is reaaaallly busy until the end of Sept)
DD's College Savings 50
Short Term Savings (for DH's personal trainer certification right now) 50
Unless I messed something up that should add up to 4200.
Re: Budget- Take Two
It sounds like you and DH have really gotten a chance to sit down and examine this- which is a great step. I have to tell you, I would not feel comfortable with our only savings/ extra debt payments being when we make 'extra' money. Is there anything else you can cut from your budget in order to make that a priority, rather than an after-thought?
If this is what is going to work for you, you have no extra wiggle room- make sure when you pay off one debt (like your credit card in June for instance) take that $92 and apply it to another debt monthly- DO NOT add it into your budget as 'fun money' or anything like that. Maybe apply that to your back taxes- once that is paid off, use those two numbers and add them to the next debt. That will help you get a lot more traction on your debt and get them paid off. Once those are gone you will have a lot more room to save for retirement, and help DD with college expenses.
Oh, right I figured out why. This is the budget for the non summer months where we actually have a higher minimum take home because I pick up a couple extra shifts a month. For this version the minimum income would be 4450. The additions to other budget categories during the summer only add up to 200 which is 98 less than the child support. So for this version there would actually be another 252 to put toward savings and debts.
It's kind of complicated to figure out a budget for us because our income can vary so much. The reality is that there are only a couple months per year that DH doesn't make at least a couple hundred with his performance bonuses. And there are only a couple months a year that work is slower for me. And they are not the same months. So the odds of us actually having 4200 and no more to work with are pretty low, but realistically we'd have to keep income data for a full year to have a better idea of what the actual minimum is. What we did to figure out the minimum is take the lowest amount we've gotten in our paychecks/tips round down to the nearest 100, and then add it together. So it's an extremely conservative estimate.
Even during June-August we have about 800 a month for sure going to debt and savings, which seems more than just an afterthought to me.