Monthly Budget in US

Discussion in 'Money Matters' started by uma321, Jan 28, 2013.

  1. uma321

    uma321 Platinum IL'ite

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    Ladies,

    How about we share our monthly budget and understand where we can improve? Let me share mine. I try to stick to my budget max and I do in most of the categories.

    Groceries: $300
    Rent: $1100
    Restaurants: $150
    Entertainment: $50
    Shopping (for both of us): $100
    General Shopping: $100 (including gift, home shopping etc)
    Travel: $300
    Auto: $120
    Bills and Utilities (electricity bill, gas, phone, internet): $500 (We travel a lot for work; So, our gas bill is pretty high when comparing normal household)

    Everything covers in the above budget except sending money to parents.
     
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  2. GSAnusha

    GSAnusha Gold IL'ite

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    Uma.. ur budget seems pretty good
    For us, budget varies every month.. we may plan for some trips once in 3-4 months
    All the basic mandatory needs - rent +bills and utilities + entertainment + commute expenses - all this sums up for 2000$ we have buffer 300$ for personal/home shopping since we are pretty new to US..
    rest we use it for loans and savings.. or planning for next trips..

    still am cracking my head to find an optimal budget..
    and areas to save and improve
    I use budgetin apps at times, and it helps..

    this thread can be moved to US forum I guess, so we can expect lot of replies..
     
  3. 2012

    2012 Senior IL'ite

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    Uma ji ,same case for me also houserent+utilites+bills+expense itself $2000........
    weekly groceries is reaching $100 ......am planning to cut it down ....
    remaining for paying loans .......

    Previously we were spending more on restaurants and dress ........
    later i minimized it........

    May i know where u folks are shopping ? i did it in Macy's couple of time a big hole in my wallet .........
     
  4. helpmeangel

    helpmeangel Platinum IL'ite

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    ladies,

    Monthly rent will vary from state to state. So we cannot do much on that. Here is my budget in the current state we are staying.

    Rent: 1200$
    Groceries: 100+$ per week (we are a family of two)
    Utilities: 500$ (cable+internet-130$,Phone-160$,water/electricity/gas/trash etc-300$)
    Gas for Car: 150$ ( this varies based on trips. We use premium gas for our sports car and hence low mileage/more cost since this is a guzzler)
    Entertainment:250$
    Eating out: Again this varies. 100$ (approximate)
    Misc (like shopping,gifts): 150$

    Please let me know where we can try to reduce our expenses.
     
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  5. k11

    k11 Silver IL'ite

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    Guy here.

    Interesting thread, we should have in US section.

    Budgeting depends on income level, lifestyle, kids and most importantly location.

    Most of the numbers posted here are reasonable. I used to spend bit more than some posted here. I am single by the way.

    Most of my married friends clock much higher numbers, with a majority (close to 60%) going to housing.
    Mine is a bigger city so it is higher than Texas, etc but much lower than California or East Coast.

    I have got buddies who are older, most of them are higher incomes however. Here are some number I gathered.
    Many of them spend a lot for housing.

    80K Single Income Smaller Midwest City - Around 2K, with Infant.
    200K-250K HH Income in Bay Area - Around 4-5K, with Infant.
    175K-200K HH Chicago Downtown - 3-4K
    150K Single Income Chicago Suburb - 2.5-3K, with Infant
    300K-350K HH DC Area - 7-7.5K (With 2 Kids)
    400K-450K HH NYC - 10K (with 1 Kid)
     
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  6. uma321

    uma321 Platinum IL'ite

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    Thanks k11! that's a great info. How come your friends share their income and monthly budget? I'm just curious ;)

    I think we shouldn't consider house expenses as they differ by location. I'm looking to improve the budget in other categories.

    thanks Anusha, 2012, and Helpmeanger! :)
     
  7. k11

    k11 Silver IL'ite

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    Yes we were disscusing some investment ideas in RE. Money leftover every month is how we got to the numbers.
    Of course this is not strict, approximates.

    Seems guys do not mind sharing.
     
  8. uma321

    uma321 Platinum IL'ite

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    K11,

    That's true. Women don't discuss financial matters unless thay're really close friends.

    Thanks for your info!
     
  9. SreeSri

    SreeSri Gold IL'ite

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    I use Quicken for my personal finance. I can budget well for my income with this SW. My HH expenses are roughly $10K/Month (including house +Tax(on our income) etc..) with 3 adults+kid
     
  10. sweetshreya

    sweetshreya IL Hall of Fame

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    OP, can you give some tips to reduce the budget? Mine is more or less similar to yours, except for rent, its $ 800.
    We tried to reduce it by changing the cable to basic one. We use more internet. We are family of two, still our grocery goes to around $800 per month. I'm very much worried on that front. Just don't know how to reduce it :-(
     

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