Hey, Guys! If you’ve been following along on our journey over on Instagram for the last year you will know that our finances have had a lot of ups and downs. I have posted some of our budgets there from when we lived on $18,300 for the entire year. Things have stabilized for us with income now as my husband got a job in May so we have a couple months under our belt and have our footing a little better with our finances so I figured it was high time to give a little update!
Each month we make a completely new budget and every month looks different depending on plans, birthdays, etc. but this is an overview of our money that we base each months budget off of and it doesn’t vary much from month to month usually. The changes are typically minor so this gives you a good idea of where our money goes each month!
House payment $215
Homeowner Ins $50
Property Taxes $14
Electric $98
Heat/A.C. $150 (wood pellets for winter heat, extra money for running AC in summer)
Phones $50
Health Ins $135
Car Ins $42
Van Ins $43
Water $45
Food/Household $500 (this includes any consumables like diapers, wipes, napkins, shampoo, cleaners, vitamins, laundry detergent, toilet paper, etc)
Gas $200
Misc/Personal $300
Chores $20
Grand Total $1,862
Some things to mention: This is our monthly basics. I also haven’t listed any giving. We regularly give every month and have no matter what.
Right now we are throwing everything over this budget amount at savings to bring our savings back up to a comfortable level since we drained everything over the last year of living on so little and then being unemployed for a couple months. My husband is also taking on side jobs in addition to his regular job to try to add to our savings faster. We have a lot of big purchases and projects coming up so we are just trying to set aside as much money as possible.
Probably the biggest change in our budget has been our groceries. Last year we budgeted $250-$350 depending on our income that month. We could still do that but we have guests over quite frequently and I wanted to be able to have more fruits and veggies and more variety in our diet. So far, this is more than enough for us and I might even cut it down in the future. It’s something we are trying out to see how it works for us.
Our misc/personal category is basically everything rolled into one for simplicity’s sake. Out of that, my husband and I each get $50 every month to spend on whatever we want. The other $200 in that category must cover everything else right now. It covers clothes, eating out, activities, pet supplies, hair cuts, and anything else that we may need month to month. It is currently our catch all category. Basically all spending that is not bills, gas or grocery/household has to come out of that category.
That’s it for now! Until next time …
Grace