I’m hoping to save for a house in the next year or so, I will be utilizing some grants in my state and have fantastic credit so I realistically want to save an additional 15k by December of next year. I want some insight into my spending habits and maybe be smacked around a bit so I can feel guilty and save more. My math puts me at only saving 12k by January with my current budget so I want either reassurance I’m not crazy, or to be put in my place. I drive 20k miles a year for work so that is the reasoning for the large gas cost
Below is my current spending.
Car - $586
Car insurance - $230
Phone - $90
Gas - $230
Rent - $1460
Down Payment Savings - $500
Emergency fund - $550 (once emergency fund is back to 10k in January, this will go towards savings for down payment)
Eating out - $500 (I don’t spend much money on myself, outside of replacing a shirt here or there, I usually spend any personal spend category money on eating out with my girlfriend once or twice a week)
Utilities $300
Groceries - $400
Various subscriptions - $150 (includes streaming, programs I use for work, gym, life insurance, EZ pass tolls)
$4950~ a month
Total income - $5000 (after tax, healthcare, 401k contributions)
Change your phone plan. I spend $80 on two phones. Cut back on your weekly or even monthly eating out to once a week. Get rid of every subscription. To save on petrol, schedule all of your shopping excursions to and from work. Don’t buy processed meals to save money on groceries. In California, my monthly grocery bill is $200 for two people. Despite all of this, I am still able to save $1,000 per month.
Verizon here costs $30 a month, however I pay only $25 through Spectrum for my phone. I don’t eat out and spend roughly $300 or less per month on food. I shop at places like Aldi where you can get great deals and use coupons from the Walmart app. I don’t really need to consume fast food, so I rarely do.
Anyway to lower your insurance or car payment , I can not imagine paying $1046 a month for a car , gas, insurance but could just be inflation nowadays I guess
Your expenditure seems reasonable to me. More than anything, I’m curious about the size of the house you plan to purchase and whether you plan to start a family soon (to fill said house). Rent payment is still seen by a large number of people as “throwing away money instead of building equity.” However, if your mortgage balance exceeds $277k, you will have to pay the bank that amount in interest until, ideally, interest rates drop and you are able to refinance. Make sure you enter the figures into a buy vs. rent calculator if you haven’t already. A decent one was developed earlier this year by the NYT.