Family of 2 Adults---What are your Budgets for The Following Categories?

[PurpleBunny89]

This is somewhat hard for me to answer because our income varies month to month. For the most part we don't have to sit down and put a set amount for things and I am forever gratefull and hope it stays this way.

Food - I would say generally $400. That would work out to $100 a week for two people. It is coming down slightly because I've got so many things stockpiled now. We never go to resturants. Maybe once a month we get take out?

Transportation - DH's insurance is paid up front for a year ($2000) so if we worked it out to a month it would be $350 for his insurance and then insurance on my car. Gas is hard to say because he uses his van for work soley so I wouldn't count the gas for that. Gas for my little hatchback is about $50 -$75 a month. So could be anywhere from $400-$425. I expect this to go up a bit in the next months or so as DH got a speeding ticket (idiot!!!). I do not count in any repairs to the vehicles as they are both in pretty good shape and rarely need anything major.

Entertainment - Rarely do we spend much. We only go to the movies once a year or so for my birthday and we get free tickets for it. Some months we will rent a few movies but for the most part I would say our entertainment costs lie therein of cable (DH) @ $30ish and internet (me) $42

Clothes and Gifts - Nothing. This would be better calculated on a yearly scale. We don't do gifts for family and admittedly we don't really have friends except for each other. For our birthdays we each get a $250 limit and same thing goes with christmas. I hardly ever buy clothing. I'm the type of person who will wear clothes for years and years until they get really thin (mostly PJ's am talking about). One good thing about being plus size is its extreamly hard to find cheap flattering clothes so I don't buy often. DH maybe gets a few new t-shirts a year and jeans. I would say yearly for the two of us $500 at most. I can't really calculate clothing on a monthly basis since we can go many months without buying anything.

Everything Else - $400? Maybe? Again, really hard to say since luckily we don't have to keep track of everything. This would include DH coffees/ice caps, cat meds and food, splurge items.

I think the bulk of our expense lies in our housing costs. We pay $1142 a month in rent (OUCH!!!) and utilities on top of that which can vary anywhere from $80-$400 every two months. Usually its around the $75-$115 range except for half of May, June, July, August and half of september. Thats when the big bill comes in!

[coupon girl]

oh this is nice reading what others pay out
food -for the 3 of us -my mom lives with us a month i would say 300-350-sometimes more other months as i build my stockpile
transportation-both cars are paid off -so gas-250-300 a month
clothing -well i am not really into buying a lot of clothing-50.00 to 80.00 maybe a month -or even less other months-like i have a wedding to go to in oct -i bought a dress last year for 25.00 reg 49 -so i dont have to lay it out this year
entertainment -we dont go out that much but the odd time with friends 200.00 a month or less other months-dinner in a nice restaurant
everything else-44.00 a month on my hubbys mcdonalds or hortons coffee-we dont smoke or drink that much-so save there

[Jeniana]

My husband and I don't have a formal budget, but this is what we typically spend:

Food: $300 a month - Groceries were $220 a month on average for the first 6 months of the year (plus I use an average of $100 in coupons and $40 in gift cards or points from rebates, surveys, trades, Air Miles, PC credit card, etc) but it isn't just food, it's toiletries, cleaning and paper, cat food and litter - I don't break down my receipts. Plus my husband goes out for lunch about once a week ($40 total) and we go out to dinner roughly once a month ($40).

Transportation:$240 - car insurance is $160 + $60 on gas + $20 in bus tickets. We paid cash for the car when we bought it so no car payment. So far all it's needed is a new battery so we haven't spent much on it in the year and a half we've had it.

Entertainment: $120 - Internet is $70 a month (a lot, I know, but it's our main source of entertainment!), plus an average of $50 a month on video games (mostly my husband!) When we go to the movies (2-4 times a year) it's always with free passes from Web Perspectives and we only get pop or popcorn if we have free coupons (loved that Old El Paso promo!) We both read a lot but we get our books from the library and sometimes get DVDs or video games there too. If I do buy a book it's with Chapters or Amazon money from doing surveys. We don't have cable so I usually watch shows on ctv.ca or . . . acquire them other ways

Clothes and Gifts - maybe $50 a month average? We each spend no more than $100 a year on clothes, so the rest is gifts for family and each other. Sometimes I use gift cards or free passes from surveys to add to gifts. Like for Christmas my two coworkers and my brother each got two Cineplex Admit One passes (from Web Perspectives) and an assortment of snacks to smuggle into the theater For a baby shower where they wanted books I used Chapters e-gift certificates (also from Web Perspectives, or maybe a trade?) to send a bunch of books and some toys. My mom (who is into couponing and mail in rebates too) got a book of stamps and a year subscription to Chatelaine both from trades (I spent money on her too, lol - these were just in her stocking).

Everything Else - $900 or so a month. This is the most expensive category! We have 2 cats so we spend about $400-$500 a year on the vet and medications, but the cat food and litter is in the food budget. Rent and parking is nearly $800 a month including utilities. $25 a month for my husband's cell phone and $12 or so on my pay-as-you-go. $20 a month for tenant's insurance. $15 a month for a prescription (no coverage). I can't think of anything else significant at the moment.

[PurpleBunny89]

I agree with Jeniana, we also do a lot of reading as our entertainement and get lots of stuff for the library including newer DVD's (make sure to get on that wait list right away!!!) With reading you can make it even more entertaining by doing it outdoors somewhere quiet.

I should of also mentioned that both of our vehicles were bought flat out so we don't have car payments either.

Also wanted to adjust something I said previous. I added up what we've spent so far on actual groceries this month (not including timmies, and cat meds) and its only about $150 so far for the month so I'd say $250 for this month total. So it really all depends on the sales and such as to how much our grocery bills are.

[newbiesaver]

I only started tracking our budget about 3 months ago. So far, here's a rundown on the budgeted amounts on a bi-weekly basis:

Groceries - $60
Dining - $60
Fuel - $130
Home - $75
Entertainment - $20

Since we haven't tracked before we now realize our budget wasn't really realistic (but pretty close). Actual is more like:

Groceries - $80
Dining - $80
Fuel - $150

Entertainment/Home I find hard to budget because we may not spend anything in a while and then suddenly go for a concert or have a backyard fence to pay for and go from $0 to $200 or $2000!!

So for me, "budgeting" is more just tracking and having a rough idea where we're at during a month (making sure we don't spend more than our paycheck).