The Current Budget $1200

The Current Budget. This is my family's current budget...the total amount we have left to spend on things after all other expenses have been paid is $1200. As I mentioned before, I do need to tweak this a little bit- probably making a more realistic budget of $1500 a month. This will happen within the next couple of months, after we refill our savings account.


Groceries/Household Items $600
Gas $290
Dinner Out $100
Clothing $80
Doctor Visits/Prescriptions $40
Car Repairs/Maintenance $20
Babysitter $20
Movies/videos/games $20
Gifts $20
Hobbies $10
Misc. $0

To look at these items line by line:
Groceries/Household Items- $600 for 3 people for the month. This is pretty much on target, we sometimes go over when we have expensive toiletries to buy, or if we host a dinner or cookout...but, $150 a week is where we stand. I search for sales in the weekly ads, and write a menu and a list, and pretty much stick to the list. (I'm planning to keep my budget at $600.)

Gas- $290 a month. Depending on the cost of gas, this can be over or under budget. My husband commutes 50 miles a day round trip to work and I commute 25 miles a day round trip to work. I try to combine other outings on the weekend, but if we do go on a day trip anywhere, it obviously costs more money for gas that month. (I may bring this category up to $300/mo)

Dinner Out- $100 a month. This is definitely where we go overbudget- $100 a month will give our family 4 cheap meals out, 3 good meals out, or 6 trips to fast food places. We usually mix it up throughout the month- but I think I need to raise our budget. Last month, we spent $297- but we were on vacation one week. My husband and daughter go out to breakfast once a week (spending $10-15 a week), and then there are times when we don't feel like cooking. We're trying to limit our eating out to the weekends only...but it is hard. When we have friends that want to go out to lunch or dinner with us, it really brings us overbudget...and we don't want to kill the little social life that we have. (I plan to raise this category to $150/mo.)

Clothing- $80 a month. That is basically one or two new articles of clothing per month per person...and if we need shoes...uh-oh! If we limit our trips to the mall and don't buy much online, we should be able to stay within the $100 limit. My daughter's clothes all come from Target or Old Navy...and sometimes they have great sales. Old Navy is a favorite of me and my husband as well. (I plan to raise this category to $100/mo).

I however do enjoy more expensive clothing such as American Eagle, NY and Co, and The Gap...it is good quality and stylish...but it costs more. I will admit that I have a lingerie addiction, and there have been months where I've spent hundreds on lingerie alone...I am working hard to control that addiction and avoiding Victoria's Secret and other stores and websites where I used to throw my money. We recently found an outlet mall that has The Gap and Banana Republic outlets, so if we go there a couple of times a year, maybe I can find nice clothing at a more reasonable price.

-Note: I have tried Target clothing for myself, but it only seems to last a few washes before things start falling apart. My daughter does better with the Target clothes, since she grows out of it in one season. As for cheap, nice looking clothes that last about a year- Old Navy wins my vote.

Doctor Visits/Prescriptions $40 a month. Sometimes we're on target, sometimes we're over or under...this is a tough one. I have $20 co-pays, so this leaves room for 2 doctor visits or 1 doctor visit and 1 or 2 prescriptions a month. There are deductibles and other things, so sometimes I get bills to pay more than my co-payment...it depends on what time of year it is. My insurance year re-starts in July, so we seem to spend more on this during the summer months. (I plan to keep this category at $40 a month for the time being).

Car repairs/Maintenance $20 a month. With oil changes, car washes, and any other general repair on our 8 year old and 12 year old cars...we need all the money we can in this category. Last month, I think we went $2500 overbudget on this category and had to resort to credit cards. (I plan to raise this category to $40 a month, and hopefully have enough savings in place to handle major repairs).

Babysitter $20 a month. Sometimes we spend nothing on sitters, but if we want to go out alone for more than 3 hours a month, I'll need to raise this category. We have family members that babysit for free...but we don't want to ask too much or take advantage of their kindness. A babysitter charges anywhere from $7 to $12 an hour to watch our child...and we usually go out after she's asleep. It is hard to pay someone that much just to sit in your house and watch a movie. But, she is watching the most important person in our lives, so it is worth it. We're going to avoid getting a sitter for a couple of months and see how things go...that will save in this category. (I plan to keep this category at $20 a month for the time being).

FYI for non-parents- a typical night out for us- let's say 6 hours: $50 for the sitter, $30 for the dinner, $20 for the movie....that's $100 out the door in one evening (and that's for a simple outing!)... we're going to try to watch DVDs at home, and just stay in more for the time being. Going out is fun, but our wallets can't handle it!

Movies/games/videos: $20 a month. We've been staying under budget with this. My husband has stopped buying new computer games and he gets used X-box games occasionally for a low price. If we don't go out to see a movie in a month, we can stay under budget. We can rent 4 movies at Blockbuster for this price...that works out well for us. (and no, we don't use NetFlix or Blockbuster online...sometimes there's only 1 movie a month that we want to rent, so it doesn't make sense for us to pay for a service like that). ( I plan to keep this category at $20 a month).

Gifts: $20 a month. This works if only 1 person has a birthday each month. When you factor in a card, wrapping paper, and a small gift- it is a minimum of $20 per person per occassion. And this isn't factoring in the holiday season, which is coming soon! (I plan to raise this category to $60 a month...not sure what to do about the holidays yet).

Hobbies: $10 a month. We've actually been under budget lately- that's because my husband has stopped his more costly hobbies a while ago. This $10 will buy us 1 book a month, that's about it. For now, we're sticking with inexpensive hobbies (if you don't include the monthly class fees...which are factored into our monthly expenses). Our current hobbies are: Dancing and cheerleading for my daughter, dancing and writing for me, and volleyball and reading for my husband. (I'm going to keep this at $10 a month for now)

Miscellaneous expenses: $0 a month. Things always come up...we have a house and yard to care for and maintain...and sometimes we end up buying other things that don't fall into the above categories. (I plan to put $200 a month into this category)

There's our $1200 budget- which we've been trying to live on for the past 2 years...most months are unsuccessful. I plan to tweak those numbers and give us a $1500 a month budget, while using all remaining funds to pay back debt. This will continue to be difficult. We do want to have money to enjoy life- but to do that we need to get out of debt!