We have rent, food, play money, petrol, nappies, cigarettes , etc
Electricity, telstra, and pay our rego and insurance once a year and bundled to get it cheaper.
Our rent is $390.00 so $1560 a month
We spend $450.00- $500 a month on food, $30a week on petrol so $120 a month $200 on smokes a month ( Hubby) and about 1 or 2 packs of nappys for $15 for 50 ( DS is ttraining ATM)
$2410 approximate a month. We always have extra food and money leftover to save, we travel to bali at least once a year for a month at a time
And I pay bills as we get them, usually elect is $450 for three months and telstra is $100 a month.
We have no debt and are still waiting for our second child though....
Also will need to add $150 a month for childcare as of feb this year
Might be able to give you a better reply if you break the costs down more. ie, individual costs for your mortgage, food, fuel, dog groomer, etc.
For our family of 5 we generally have:
Mortgage #1 (OUR house) - $1000 p/f
Car (including fuel, servicing etc - salary packaged) - $300-400 p/f (not sure of exact amount as some of that is paid 'pre-tax', some post-tax).
Food (including nappies, dog food for two dogs, cat food for two cats, kitty litter, etc) - $300-400 p/f
Electricity - $30-40p/f (have solar hot water, so this may be different to what others spend)
Gas - $10 p/f
Mobile (only have one, and no home phone, never exceed plan) - $35 p/m - approx $17.50 p/f
Internet (prepaid wireless) - $130 p/a - approx $5p/f
Motorbike (including rego, fuel, servicing, etc) - $20 p/f
So approx $2000 p/f or $4000 per month.
Obviously if you have a bigger mortgage, or more vehicles, etc your figure will be different.
[Note: I didn't include Mortgage #2 or the investment costs, because they didn't seem relevant to your question, but they are extra costs we also have]
If you have all the individuals items budgeted - the next step is to go through them and figure out which are needs and which are wants. Sometimes this is obvious: Food - need. Foxtel - want. Othertimes not so much: is the second car a need or a want??? (It is OK to have wants, just be honest about what they are).
Once you have figured out your needs and wants go through them and see where you can and cann't or aren't willing to cut costs. Ie, food is a need, but do you really need hienz tomatoe sauce?? (I do ). Is the dog groomer a need or a want? Do you need to spend that much every month or could it be scaled back to every other month or you do it yourself?
There are no right or wrong answers to this - but if you are trying to save money somewhere, that means cutting back or forgoing some of the things you usually have.
You might notice I didn't have alot of the expenses you have - ie health insurance - because we don't have it (personal choice). I also didn't include things like presents - because that varies depending on the money situation at the time and the item we are buying. Also our personal spending money isn't itemised because we decide that on a week to week basis. When we were struggling financially we did budget all these things, now we don't - we just ensure we have put at least $1000 in savings each fortnight (ie, extra repayments onto our mortgage - ontop of the $1000 repayment).
We only have 3 members, but are expecting number 4:
Per month:
Rent - $1000
Nappies (daycare wont use cloth) - ??
Petrol - ?? (only one car and it is DH's - so he know all that stuff. I don't drive)
Phone/Net package - $80ish by memory
Phone calls - $2.50 this month, 50c last month (ha, losers)
Daycare - $280 a week, so, 1120 for a 4 week month
Food - Recently went up...about $75 a week for fresh produce and $6 a week for bread flour = $324
Electricity - way too high, but this is a rental and EVERYTHING (water, power, cooking etc) is Electric = $215 for 60 days = $107.50
Water - not sure, but pretty good. Can't find a bill atm.
Mobile Phone = $30 a month
So that's minus the all car costs, pet food and water as I am not sure about them. Internet is high coz DH needs the high speed and high dl limit when he's working from home.
Reply With Quote
). Is the dog groomer a need or a want? Do you need to spend that much every month or could it be scaled back to every other month or you do it yourself? 
Bookmarks