Our Typical Monthly Budget

One topic that I don’t see shared frequently regarding budgets is more specifics with real-life numbers.  Many of the templates I see online give vague category suggestions like rent/mortgage, groceries, utilities, and the like.  However, when my wife and I started budgeting together, so much of what we were doing felt like a stab in the dark.  $300 for groceries?  Maybe!  But probably not with a family of 3.

Thanks to You Need A Budget (aka YNAB), I can easily look at category averages over any selected time period.  This has been my preferred budgeting solution over the past year.  I appreciate that it doesn’t attempt to shame anything at all.  Want to budget for coffee and avocado toast to the chagrin of mainstream personal finance advice?  Certainly can, just need to account for it.  Is there something in life happening right now that’s more important than paying off debt (e.g. my wife is pregnant and I’d rather have a big emergency fund just in case)?  No problem, just make sure to keep paying the regular monthly payment minimums.

(YNAB referral link - Full disclosure, I get a free month if someone signs up with this link.)

What does our situation look like?  I have a wife and a 2.5-year-old, with another kid on the way.  We own our house in an area with high property taxes.  We share one car - a 2016 Honda Accord that is 9 years old with 77,000 miles as of the writing of this article.  I am the primary income earner, though my wife picks up occasional work.  We generally are trying to live a more minimalist life since we’ve found that less stuff is beneficial to managing our ADHD.

Without further ado, here are the specifics of our monthly budget:

Bills

• Electric/Water/Sewer - $170.23 average ($143.68 low, $213.57 high)

• Natural Gas - $45.15 average ($26.55 low, $97.65 high)

• Trash Collection - $21.87

• Internet - $62.90 for 100Mb fiber service

• Cell Phone - $55.55 for 2 lines

Car

• Gas - $136.44

• Maintenance - $137.54

• Insurance - $73.25

• Registration - $12.58

House

• Insurance - $107.00

• Maintenance - $193.66

• Mortgage - $1025.90

• Property Taxes - $505.05

Needs

• Clothing - $24.97

• Groceries - $820.42

• Life Insurance on me - $32.92

• Medical Expenses - $788.78

• Health Insurance - $418.47

• Household - $451.30

• Preschool - $1462.50

Wants

• Dog Food, Flea/Tick Medicine, and Nail Trims - $85.47

• Dog Vet Visits and Heartworm Medicine - $30.22

• Eating Out - $479.20

• Family Activities - $87.77 (includes things like swim lessons, trips to the zoo, etc.)

• Gifts - $160.42

• Spending Cash - $150

• YouTube Premium Family - $22.99

For a grand total monthly spend of $7562.55 in 2024.  I make approximately $10,000 each month after taxes for a savings rate of ~25%.  My wife and I are targeting a few categories in the upcoming year to increase our savings rate.  I discussed this in the previous article titled Our 2025 Low Buy Year, but generally speaking we’re focusing on these four: household, eating out, family activities, and spending cash.  I’m also reviewing the recurring bills to see if there are any savings to be had there too.

Where does that last 25% go beyond the listed dollar amounts above?  Well, last year we focused on paying off the last of our student loan debt.  Other than that, my 401k and my wife’s IRA received some money last year too.  This upcoming year, I expect to max out my 401k, my wife’s IRA, and then put the remainder into a taxable brokerage account.  Oh and the birth costs related to my second daughter. :)