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Home > 2012 Monthly budget...kind of an eye opener...

2012 Monthly budget...kind of an eye opener...

February 8th, 2012 at 05:33 pm

I decided to organize my budget into a nice format like I have seen others do. I guess I am kind of amazed at how much money some people can put into retirement savings. So, I was surprised when I started working on this......seems Uncle Sam takes quite a bit... $896.00 in taxes from paycheck and also $170.00 each month for real estate taxes is included in the monthly bill catagory.


Monthly Gross Income $4480.00

Federal, State, Local Taxes $896.00
Tithe $500.00
Medical Insurance $504.00
Monthly Bills $880.00
Food/Household $400.00
Gasoline $200.00
Cash spending allowance $220.00


Saving for new truck $500.00
Regular savings $380.00

TOTAL $4480.00

Hubby does work overtime some so I use the overtime and the regular savings to save in ROTH IRA's.

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “2012 Monthly budget...kind of an eye opener...”

  1. Petunia 100 Says:
    February 8th, 2012 at 05:54 pm 1328723645
    1328723645

    I think you're saving at a very respectable clip. Your monthly bills are only $880? Your mortgage must be paid in full?

  2. Mary Ann Says:
    February 8th, 2012 at 07:14 pm 1328728456
    1328728456

    Yes, we paid our home off a long time ago! We live in a very modest priced area of the U.S. (LOL, even though we think our bills seem high sometimes!)

  3. MonkeyMama Says:
    February 8th, 2012 at 07:17 pm 1328728628
    1328728628

    It's all kind of relative. My income is about 50% higher, but my taxes are significantly lower. I think everyone's finances are so unique. OF course, on a percentage basis, seems like you are saving quite a lot!

  4. ceejay74 Says:
    February 8th, 2012 at 10:07 pm 1328738859
    1328738859

    Do you tend to come out about even on your tax return, or do you owe or get a big refund? We try to come out even (though our finances have changed dramatically most of the past few years, making it hard to predict), for one reason so that my taxes being taken out of my monthly budget are the actual number, not inflated because of a big refund.

    Also, wondering if your husband works for a company and has retirement taken out pretax, or if your retirement is contained in the "regular" category above?

    Even if you don't have additional retirement savings, you're saving nearly 20%, which is great!

  5. Mary Ann Says:
    February 8th, 2012 at 10:16 pm 1328739402
    1328739402

    ceejay74....no, we do not have any retirement taken out of Hubby's check. The IRA ROTH comes out of the regular savings and overtime that he may earn. Usually we would have to owe more taxes then what we had paid. Last year I did adjust that a little so we wouldn't have to pay.

  6. EarlyRetirementJoy Says:
    February 9th, 2012 at 02:48 pm 1328798894
    1328798894

    Fantastic savings percentage! I just did a quick Google search and the current savings average for USA families appears to be @ 5% - considerably less than you are saving.

    How do feel about tracking your in and outflows this way? I ask because we just started doing same last May, and I am finding it very, very eyeopening to see how our spend and expenses trend month over month.

    As an example, I can now see specifically when our water and electric bills begin to spike due to hotter weather, and can then play with small adjustments in the thermostat and sprinkler settings to see how it impacts the overall bill compared to year prior.

    It might be interesting for you to track your Cash Spending Allowance on an item by item basis, just to make sure you like how those funds are currently being spent as well.

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