After tax income is: $3,100/month. Saves $1000/month (accounts, Hawaii, New Jersey)
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Not everyone eats like a bird. My gf and I allocate $150-$200/wk for the grocery store (does include stuff like toilet paper, shampoo, etc) We eat very healthy, but not organic or anything like that. We often go to somewhere like a super wal-mart over the cheap places. Our main foods are like chicken, rice, eggs, oatmeal, etc.
We spend a similar amount weekly for two people and we split it between costco and our main grocery store HEB
I shop at Trader Joes's +Target and a bit of Costco. Between those stores I can find good deals on most everything. Each store has its own deals on certain products, and you need to take advantage of sales. Buy 10 of the item when it's on sale to last you 10 weeks, rather than buying 1 a week. Don't buy fruit that's out of season. You need to use this kind of thinking and you can save a lot.
I'd really be interested to see an actual monthly breakdown for the people that spend $100 or less per month on food. We are at about $1500 a month for four people adults, and that's with two people who almost never eat lunch at home, including some restaurants. Per week, if we don't go to any restaurants we probably spend about $75 per person.
For us we have about $6,300 a month after taxes and spend about $2,350 on mortgage+ all utilities (water, trash, gas, electric, phone, internet), $1,500 on food, $350 on car payment, $550 on student loans, $350 on commute, $100 on pet food and supplies, and about $100 on random things. That leaves us about $400 we set aside for vacation funds and $600 that go towards emergency funds/retirement funds. I know I'm not saving as much as I should, but hey, I work hard and I enjoy date nights at restaurants and yearly vacations.
Being able to save $1,000 a month is great, especially for somebody that young, and even more impressive is the percentage, if I were saving about 33% of my monthly income I'd be putting aside $2,100 each month. Any way you cut it that's an impressive percentage going into savings.
Not everyone eats like a bird. My gf and I allocate $150-$200/wk for the grocery store (does include stuff like toilet paper, shampoo, etc) We eat very healthy, but not organic or anything like that. We often go to somewhere like a super wal-mart over the cheap places. Our main foods are like chicken, rice, eggs, oatmeal, etc.
I have by necessity adopted the Dave Ramsey Rice and Beans (TM) diet. You don't have to eat like a bird as long as you eat really cheaply,
that's great, but he's spending $1300 in other categories. for one person, i'd allocate $400 for food, $400 for misc expenses (like haircuts, gas) so where is the other $500 going?
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Car insurance, cell phone, perhaps they have a dog.
1000$ is great savings for a 22 year old. I would question how long that rent will stay the way it is though, 455$ would be really shady in my area, like bullet holes and drug lord shady.
Sorry, I meant as in we shop at a cheap place (wal-mart) but there are some cheaper places (but they seem pretty run down) We are also FAR from shopping at the expensive places, however.
We eat virtually the same foods for every meal. We cook them differently, but the amounts are the same.
Every morning for breakfast we have:
2 cups egg whites, 1 banana, 1 cup oatmeal, 2 cups almond milk
At 9 a.m. I have 6 hard boiled eggs, one cup oatmeal, 1 piece of bacon
At 12 p.m., 3 p.m., and 8-9 p.m. I have 8 oz of meat (chicken, ground beef, or ground turkey) and 1/2-1 cup of rice or potatoes.
At around 6 p.m. I have 1 protein shake.
If I get hungry in between I'll toss in a PBJ or granola bar here and there.
My gf eats about 1/3 of what I do, all measured and weighed as well.
On weekend mornings we have sweet potato pancakes for breakfast instead of the normal breakfast.
We typically go out one night a week which is around $40-$60 (but that's not included in our grocery bill)
So it's not like we are having $12/lb steaks or salmon every day. We do have a ton of chicken and a ton of eggs, we get the chicken for around $3-$4/lb though.
Car insurance, cell phone, perhaps they have a dog.
1000$ is great savings for a 22 year old. I would question how long that rent will stay the way it is though, 455$ would be really shady in my area, like bullet holes and drug lord shady.
Really depends where he lives and what his living situation is. He could have roommates. I have a 2 bedroom apartment I pay about $650+ utilities for. I could easily rent out a room but we like to live alone.
In fact, when I moved into my apartment, I tried REALLY hard to get the studio they had for like $475/mo. However they said it was rated for 1 tenant so I couldn't live there for my gf and dog. Even though we have a 2 bedroom, we don't even use the 2 bedrooms and keep our bed in the living room with no furniture lol. Our dining room table is a $50 card table from wal-mart. I am thrifty in some places more than others.
I think my rent is pretty good considering my take home is about $9200/mo. My rent all in, is about 1/3 of a weeks paycheck.
Really depends where he lives and what his living situation is. He could have roommates. I have a 2 bedroom apartment I pay about $650+ utilities for. I could easily rent out a room but we like to live alone.
In fact, when I moved into my apartment, I tried REALLY hard to get the studio they had for like $475/mo. However they said it was rated for 1 tenant so I couldn't live there for my gf and dog. Even though we have a 2 bedroom, we don't even use the 2 bedrooms and keep our bed in the living room with no furniture lol. Our dining room table is a $50 card table from wal-mart. I am thrifty in some places more than others.
I think my rent is pretty good considering my take home is about $9200/mo. My rent all in, is about 1/3 of a weeks paycheck.
Is this the houston-dan I PM'd before about Houston? If so, PM me.
Yeah I live on a somewhat similar trend as yourself. I rent out a cheap apartment for my area (galleria) and don't even come close to filling it up, I like to live a minimalistic lifestyle, use what I need, need what I use. BUT DAMN, get a new table...haha. I take it you don't have many guests?
I'd really be interested to see an actual monthly breakdown for the people that spend $100 or less per month on food. We are at about $1500 a month for four people adults, and that's with two people who almost never eat lunch at home, including some restaurants. Per week, if we don't go to any restaurants we probably spend about $75 per person.
For us we have about $6,300 a month after taxes and spend about $2,350 on mortgage+ all utilities (water, trash, gas, electric, phone, internet), $1,500 on food, $350 on car payment, $550 on student loans, $350 on commute, $100 on pet food and supplies, and about $100 on random things. That leaves us about $400 we set aside for vacation funds and $600 that go towards emergency funds/retirement funds. I know I'm not saving as much as I should, but hey, I work hard and I enjoy date nights at restaurants and yearly vacations.
Being able to save $1,000 a month is great, especially for somebody that young, and even more impressive is the percentage, if I were saving about 33% of my monthly income I'd be putting aside $2,100 each month. Any way you cut it that's an impressive percentage going into savings.
$1500 on food / month sounds like a lot but when broken down isn't. $75 pp per week and no restaurants is about right (eating premium healthy foods).
$400 for vacation funds? $4800 for 2-3 weeks a year? $200/day
the student loans and car payment are hurting you. I know it's a NS-Sherlock reply but just had to state the obvious
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