Saturday, April 18, 2009

Budget Fun!

Some friends have been asking what our budget looks like, so I thought I would post it! We have been so blessed so I want to thank the Lord for all He has given us! This obviously doesn't work for everyone, but it works for us.

This is the budget we will be living off of in Muskegon, it is a combination of amounts that we spend currently, amounts we have spent in the past, amounts we know we will owe in the future, and a little wiggle room to have fun everynow and then. Hope this helps the people who have asked, but like I always say, you have to find something that works for your family, no family is alike!

Groceries $200
House Taxes $138.40
Mortgage $ 250.88
Home Insurance $95
Car Insurance $120
Fuel $150
Electricity $110
Gas $120
Water $70
Cell Phone $76
Sewer/Garbage $15
MOPS $6
Fun $40
Medical/Dental $95
Tithe $312
Maintenance $100
Life Insurance $20
Vacation Fund $10
Health Insurance $360
Gift Fund $20
Student Loans $200
Clothes/supplies $30
(the balance goes all to savings now, but part will probably start going toward extra mortgage payments, med school loans, and home improvements)

8 comments:

  1. Awesome job, girl! You are my hero!

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  2. All I can say is WOW! $200 a month on groceries? Only $95 for health insurance? And only $20 for life insurance! I want what you have.

    Our food budget is 3 times that (I try to cut it down but to no avail). Prior to the military, we paid $394 a month to Blue Cross for health insurance. And life insurance for the two of us is $49 a month.

    You give frugal a new name!!

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  3. Oops, I just realize the insurance I saw was for you house. $360 for health sounds more like it.

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  4. Great job - thank you for sharing! You're my hero, too! I like that you have really thought of everything.

    And I wanted to ask - wow, is water that high in Michigan? (They do have great lakes, lol, it's not like they're running short you know). We lived in a "big house" (by current standards) in Shawnee and water / sewer / trash was $30 a month (except the month the toilet ran after moved - then it was $360... :( and now in the apartment it is $16-17... $70 sounds high, so you might have room for more vacation savings!

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  5. oh goodness. $200/month for groceries? Can you please tell us how you do that?

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  6. Yes, the water allocation might be a little high, but we were given estimates so I'm going off of that for the new house. I also factored in a little extra on all utilities as we've been told that gas and fuel costs are super high, especially in the winter, so I wanted to overestimate rather than be surprised!

    Don't forget Wal-mart will price match any product in other stores sales fliers, so don't waste gas on driving to each store to get the good bargains!

    Also, most of you have more than one child so remember it's just the 3 of us, but we do really work hard to keep that bill in check and don't eat convenience foods that often. We also don't eat out unless we have a free coupon or it's a really, really special occasion. Now don't get me wrong we love our 1 glass of soda a day(Sam's cola) and we still buy things we love to eat (ie. Grant and I are addicted to brown sugar cinnamon poptarts) but we use coupons alot. We do get a lot of free things from Walgreens and I cannot wait to start shopping at CVS once we get to Muskegon.

    I'm really hoping that our health insurance costs lower a little once residency starts paying for some of it. The $95 is what I factored for co-pays and dental things, just in case they pop up, on top of the insurance cost. Then things like fun, clothes, gifts, and other non-needs can be taken from, if we go over in other areas so there is some cushion in that too, but we never touch the amount we have budgeted for savings unless a huge emergency comes around.

    Also, if there is something we really want that doesn't factor into the budget, we have to take from other catagories and save up over months to be able to get it, that way we really think about it and work hard to scrimp in other ways to cover the cost of item. (ie. we had factored $500 a month for our mortgage payment earlier, but since we found a cheaper home, that extra $250/month will go towards home improvements for a couple months then will go toward savings or if we wanted a big screen tv,hahahah, we would have to cut back in other areas and save towards the TV not just take the money out of savings)

    Please don't take any of this as a brag, I only posted this to try and be helpful to others, and know that we have been really blessed by those around us, jobs we have had in the past, and that the Lord has given us all we need and we only are trying to live as good stewards so we can give to others.

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  7. Your tips are great. I read post about frugal living all over the internet. I've often thought, are they for real?

    But, it's fun to see someone I know personally living it out! I'm inspired.

    Great job!

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  8. So we totally have to get together and you have to TEACH me how to do this! After MOPS the other day I was really excited to get started, but I am overwhelmed as to how. I am planning to do cloth diapers with Kate and have some other saving tips in mind, but really I would love to learn from you!

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