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

[supersaver22]

My Fiance and I live together and we are trying to compile a monthly and weekly budget based on Gail Vaz Oxlade's Categories:

Food
Transportation
Entertainment
Clothes and Gifts
Everything Else

Do any of you have set budgets for these categories? What are the amounts that you allocate and why? I am interested because I would like to see what other 2-member families are living on in order to give some insight into how we should be dividing up the money.

Thanks for any and all suggestions!

[aemi]

Roughly:

1 - 400$
2 - 126$ bus pass + Zipcar for groceries (20$-30$ per month) + tickets for the other one about 20$-30$ (in the winter, it's another bus pass) Total 186$.
3 - none
4 - 100$ month or 1200$ per year (includes some specified household items too, if we didn't spent the 100$ that month it carries forward) I am trying to make my own laundry soap so it will cut down a lot. Sometimes we don't stay within 100$, so we will have to adjust this soon.

5 - no tv, no home phone

cellphones for two = 56.60$ tax incl
internet 40$ = I am really working on this, I find it too expensive (suggestions anyone?)
and life insurance.

[supersaver22]

Internet for $40 isn't really that bad...and the great thing is, you can use websites like surfthechannel.com and torrentz.eu to watch free tv shows and movies. I've been trying to get my fiance to cut the cable, as the whole bundle costs us way too much, but he seems to think that we "need" tv...but if we can get it for free online, why do we "need" it?

I know some universities offer dial up service for $100-$200/year. Since you don't have a home phone line, you'd have to install one to host the dial up...it would probably be worth it to stick with the $40/month. What you could do is shop around with different internet providers, and if any one company even matches the company you're currently with, you can give your company a call and let them know that their competitor is willing to match their price...they will often times negotiate a lower price to keep your business. You do need to be quite aggressive with them, I hear.

[Slaney]

Oooh tough one. It depends on alot of variables like your income, where you live, what you drive, your hobbies & if you coupon
We don't have a budget but we also have a pretty high income. We don't go out alot but when we do it's usually far away lol. I bet none of this will help you but I'll tell you anyways....

Food- we spend approx $100 every second week. but it depends what we have coupons for. We also eat out alot because we work so much. Probably another $60 a week eating out

Transportation- We have an SUV & a truck. Gas (just get around the city) we spend maybe $100 a month total It's hard to tell because my hubby's day job is a delivery driver so he actualy spends about $1000 a month gas. Oil changes we only need on Truck is more because that's the work vehicle. And I believe vehicle payments are supposed to be included in this but I haven't watched the show for awhile

Entertainment- We go out for supper about every 3/4 Monday's (we don't drink). Usually just to Montana's which is around $30-$50, if we go to our other favourite resturaunt that's around $100 but we only go there once every few months. Movies we don't go to very often, maybe once every 2 or 3 months & they are chep here so both of us & munchies is only $30.
BUT...
We have travelled to Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary & Denver to see Kevin Smith. We go to alot of concerts which are usually in Saskatoon so that's about $60 gas plus a $30 meal & $40-$200 for shirts. Plus the cost of the tickets can be $40-$200 each ticket. Also we went to Calgary for comic con. We don't take "real" vacations so I classify these things as entertainment.

Clothes and Gifts- Like I said concert shirts. Other than that unless we see a cool Star Wars t-shirt we don't really buy clothes. A couple times a year I buy a few new work shirts but they're always cheap $10 shirts. My hubby used to go through a pair of work & everyday shoes every month or two but we stopped buying the cheap $30 shoes & started buying him $80 shoes & they last 6 months! so it's a better investment in the long run.
Gifts I never set a budget for. I know what I want to buy someone & I buy it. It might be something more expensive or I might find a good deal on something. Like my father in law's Xmas present for this year we bought last year on Boxing day, it's a nice leather winter jacket, Reg $100 but we got it $25

Everything Else- Now here's the awesome part. I don't have to buy shampoo, soap, toothpaste, dish soap, razors, shaving cream, laundry detergent, toilet paper, kleenex, deoderant, etc. When I do it's very cheap if not free. If I see an awesome deal on toilet paper I might go spend $40 but now I won't have to buy any for 2 years. Everything else I use my coupons & have a huge stockpile of that only cost me a few dollars. Same with cleaning supplies.
We have 2 dogs ( a pug & a bug) & a cat. We have to buy treats & toys which is maybe $10 a month. We buy the dogs Purina One dry food & Beneful cups. The Beneful cups we stocked up on last year for about 50c each (Reg over $2) so at the time we spent around $30 but haven't bought any since. For the dry food I know we can buy cheaper food but I won't feed them crap & again we usually stock up so I might spend $60 but that will last 6 months.
Cat food I bought 3 biggest size bags last Sept on sale & wiith coupons. Spent just under $40 & just ran out this week.

[freefreefree]

Food=$200
Transportation=$500
Entertainment=$100
Clothes and Gifts=$50
Everything Else=$800

[aemi]

Internet for $40 isn't really that bad...and the great thing is, you can use websites like surfthechannel.com and torrentz.eu to watch free tv shows and movies. I've been trying to get my fiance to cut the cable, as the whole bundle costs us way too much, but he seems to think that we "need" tv...but if we can get it for free online, why do we "need" it?

I know some universities offer dial up service for $100-$200/year. Since you don't have a home phone line, you'd have to install one to host the dial up...it would probably be worth it to stick with the $40/month. What you could do is shop around with different internet providers, and if any one company even matches the company you're currently with, you can give your company a call and let them know that their competitor is willing to match their price...they will often times negotiate a lower price to keep your business. You do need to be quite aggressive with them, I hear.

I used to live in BC. There you get internet for 32$ tax incl. I was trying to match that here. Can't yet!

[alicia]

We are a two person, one car family so far.

Food - $320 (but usually less around $270)
Transportation - $350 ($220 gas, $80 for insurance, $50 misc - owned outright so no car payment.)
Entertainment - $80 (we really only go to the movie like once a month and we have loads of free passes from points so this generally lasts for a month or two)
Clothes - $50 which is a carry over right now unless we really need socks/undies. We (I) have a clothes hoarding problem that I need to work on. Need to pare down with a donation bag.
Cell phones - $145 for two smart phones. Ick!
cable/Internet - $140, again, ick! Thinking about cutting down to just Internet.
Gifts - don't budget for these because I use my points programs for PayPal to transfer to my bank account.

[aemi]

We are a two person, one car family so far.

Food - $320 (but usually less around $270)
Transportation - $350 ($220 gas, $80 for insurance, $50 misc - owned outright so no car payment.)
Entertainment - $80 (we really only go to the movie like once a month and we have loads of free passes from points so this generally lasts for a month or two)
Clothes - $50 which is a carry over right now unless we really need socks/undies. We (I) have a clothes hoarding problem that I need to work on. Need to pare down with a donation bag.
Cell phones - $145 for two smart phones. Ick!
cable/Internet - $140, again, ick! Thinking about cutting down to just Internet.
Gifts - don't budget for these because I use my points programs for PayPal to transfer to my bank account.

I like the food budget, I feel like I have to reduce mine from 400$ too, it's just without a car and in Toronto, I cannot always go out of my way to buy on sale...

will think about this one, thanks for sharing.

//later, insurance in Halifax is so neat... im moving there...

[lecale]

.

[alicia]

I like the food budget, I feel like I have to reduce mine from 400$ too, it's just without a car and in Toronto, I cannot always go out of my way to buy on sale...

will think about this one, thanks for sharing.

//later, insurance in Halifax is so neat... im moving there...

I started at $400 for the two of us because I used to budget $200 for just me so I figured double it for two... but a lot of things don't necessarily fully double. So I slowly eased it down from $100/week to $90, to $80 and now I'm working on getting to $70 for the two of us. I'd loved to keep going but honestly since we eat mostly whole foods it'd be really tight ($12/week in milk and at least $20/week in produce... that's basically half the budget without meat/bread/random things that run out). It's easy to cut $10 off at a time but to jump from $100 to $70 I would have found so difficult. I know my food budget probably isn't nearly as impressive as lots of peoples on SC, but I think I'm doing pretty good.

Also, I forgot my miscellaneous payments (hot water heater rental $17, life insurance, $30, tenant insurance $10) but I figure those are mostly wrapped up in our condo so it's all housing expenses (minus the life insurance).

We give ourselves $60/month each for misc spending - for his gaming subscriptions (boys and their toys, ugh), my road race registration fees, coffees here and there. It's not a whole lot but it's enough so that we're not constantly at each other over tiny purchases. We also have a threshold that we can spend without discussing it with the other person and currently it's pretty low because I'm still a student so we're kind of strapped financially.

[lecale]

.

[Zonny]

//later, insurance in Halifax is so neat... im moving there...

I don't get what you mean. If you mean it's inexpensive, that all depends on what coverage you have, what you're driving, and how long you've been insured. I've never had insurance in NS, so despite the fact that I've had a drivers license for 25+ years, I'm considered a 'new driver' and would have to pay insane insurance rates if I had a car. The last time I looked into it, it was more like $300 a month than $80.

[alicia]

I don't get what you mean. If you mean it's inexpensive, that all depends on what coverage you have, what you're driving, and how long you've been insured. I've never had insurance in NS, so despite the fact that I've had a drivers license for 25+ years, I'm considered a 'new driver' and would have to pay insane insurance rates if I had a car. The last time I looked into it, it was more like $300 a month than $80.

I might be an anomaly but I don't think so. I'm 26, had my licence and insurance for 10 years. No accidents on my six year old hatchback (have had accidents but not my fault) and my previous insurance was $1400/year, so about $120/month. I have since switched to a provider that gave me an alumni discount down to about $950/year ($80/month) and then a bit more by bundling my home insurance into it. My coverage is actually better now than it was at previously with Intact. I don't remember the specifics off the top of my head but I think it's collision, $500 deductible and $2 million in liabilities.

As Zonny said it'll vary. For example my SIL was late to the driving game and got her licence around 30 - about 4 years ago. She has since had accidents and so she pays close to $300/month. I guess I'm just lucky to have reached the point where I'm not a new driver and have had a clear driving record.

[sweet sparrow]

So far, for the first six months this year:

Food: $228/month (wish I didn't eat constantly , includes eating out once in awhile, and we still toss out food often )
Transportation: ~$1,000/month (DH's travel to and from work, including maintenance, family visits)
Entertainment: $0 (until transportation costs come down, but could be included with internet bills and transportation costs - our families are pretty entertaining! Ha ha!)
Clothing & Gifts: $22/month (but will go up astronomically as wedding season/baby showers/birthdays are coming)
Other: $725 (includes medical, DH's non-reimbursed work expenses which make up about half , home repairs, etc.)

I'm seriously going to beg lecale to negotiate my phone/internet bills for me.

[NuCoupon]

we budget a little differently. We try to stick to $900 a month in variable expenses. Variable expenses do not include mortgage, condo fees, cel phones, property tax, car insurance, home insurance, eye care, medical,dental, trips, electronics, repairs.We're two adults in downtown Toronto who bike,walk to work.

Our variable expenses include food, entertainment, ttc tokens, gas, clothes, gifts, haircuts, makeup, personal care. We don't have specific budgets, we just try to stay under $900/month