Ask:
Goes towards the following?
Groceries:
Housing:
Bills:
Clothing:
Entertainment:
Debt:
Etc... does anyone know if there's any 'guidelines' as to what percentage of your income should be going towards these?
I watch a show called 'Till Debt Do Us Part' (not sure if you get it in the U.S, i'm in Canada and it's on LIFE network) and have picked up bits and peices of percentages.. ie: Housing expenseses 30-35%, Savings 10%, Debt 15%, life 25%, but that's all i've been able to catch so far.
Answer:
Dave Ramsey has percentages to follow. Check his books out, I returned my copy so I can't look it up.
Answer:
Originally Posted by stacia
Dave Ramsey has percentages to follow. Check his books out, I returned my copy so I can't look it up.
Thank-you very much for your reply! Hope I can find this out!
Answer:
ok i looked it up. This is from Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace. These are ranges to live within, obviously you would have to figure out a way to have them meet 100%
Charitable Gifts 10-15%
Saving 5- 10% (although I think this should be more and since he also says you should save 15% of your income for retirement I don't know why these are his savings %)
Housing 25-35% includes a 15 yr mortgage, insurance, taxes, maintenance. (we are way above this, but our next house will be right on target)
Food 5-15%
Transportation 10-15% includes payments, gas and maintenance
Clothing 2-7%
Medical/Health 5-10%
Personal 5-10%
Recreation 5-10%
Debts 5-10% (obviously his goal is 0%)
Answer:
Thank-you SO much!! I couldn't find this anywhere.. I went searching after but had no luck! Exactly what I wanted...
I can't believe food is only 5-15%!! We're a family of 5, soon to be 6, and i've figured out our weekly bill to be about 33% of dh's weekly income! Which isn't much.. $120/week. Which I think is great for a family of 5.. maybe not?? I'm in Canada too... so there's no coupon doubling, or stuff like that...
Our savings is at the 10% mark.. we can't go higher right now.. hmm... well this definitely gives me something to think about!
Thanks again for looking this up for me! Very much appreciated!! " class="inlineimg" />
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Our housing and auto numbers are actually low - however our utility bills and grocery bills tend to be a little higher. It's tough when I make something like tenderloin sandwiches and my eight year old eats three. The teenage years are going to be murder on the budget!!!!
Answer:
Originally Posted by chatsalot
I can't believe food is only 5-15%!! We're a family of 5, soon to be 6, and i've figured out our weekly bill to be about 33% of dh's weekly income! Which isn't much.. $120/week.
We're a family of 5, as well, and our weekly grocery bill is about $170 without coupons or anything, so it sounds like you are doing well on groceries. I wish I could find a way to pare it down a bit more, but my boys are bottomless pits usually.
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I've recalculated our income, including government supplements for the kids we get here in Canada for being "working poor".. lol! And for food we come in at 20% of our monthly net income. But I also add on $25/week per cleaning supplies, personal supplies, etc.. and that doesn't include pull-ups and diapers that i'll be buying in a bit..
So I guess we're not *too* bad... can't imagine 5% though!!
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You have a point. My bill total included everything that I buy when I'm there....shampoo, vitamins, cold meds, pull-ups, paper towels.... But it is still spending, so I'm going to keep counting it.
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I think it also really depends on how much you make. For example, if we only spend 5% of our income on food, that would only be around $20 a week. That wouldn't go very far for three adults and two kids.(My college age sister in law lives with us right now).