Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
"The Rent Eats First" is a reference to a slogan used by some minimum wage protesters.
Dave Ramsey says food should come first, then utilities, then rent or mortgage. He also recommends 38% of a household budget for shelter. (He's basing all of this on NET income, using the average American who is an employee and who never sees in his paycheck the taxes withheld.)
I've always disagreed with that. Pay your housing first.
"The Rent Eats First" is a reference to a slogan used by some minimum wage protesters.
Dave Ramsey says food should come first, then utilities, then rent or mortgage. He also recommends 38% of a household budget for shelter. (He's basing all of this on NET income, using the average American who is an employee and who never sees in his paycheck the taxes withheld.)
That’s crazy. I spend an average of $382 a month on groceries (which isn’t even all food since I buy things like cleaners, soap, etc at the store). Utilities runs about $200 a month for gas, electric and water. My mortgage is $1850 and HOA fees are $95 a month. My house is 40% of my spending budget when you add in maintenance too. There is no way to afford a house on less than $382 a month (maybe I could rent a room in someone else’s house for that).
By the way just over 30% of my money goes to savings. The above is what left. So my house isn’t 40% of my income, it’s 40% of 70%. I really need to figure out the real math, but that’s how Quicken gives me reports (percentage of spending, not of income).
Last edited by BellaLind; 01-31-2018 at 04:25 PM..
Dave Ramsey says food should come first, then utilities, then rent or mortgage.
Apparently he's never been a landlord.
Or spent any time living rough.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RogerMiller
Trailer for sale or rent, rooms to let, fifty cents.
No phone, no pool, no pets, I ain't got no cigarettes
Ah, but, two hours of pushin' broom
Buys an eight by twelve four-bit room
I'm a man of means by no means, king of the road.
Nope. However the rent is getting paid... it eats first. Or at least 3rd.
(He does get a few things right now and then)
First to eat are the taxes etc that get deducted from your wages.
Second to eat are the contributions you have deducted; hopefully to your benefit.
Third? Your housing costs... that's rent (or mortgage) plus utilities.
Everything else comes out of what's left over.
If more people understood this reality fewer would agree to pay such high rent rates.
(Target 12/52's or 23% of your NET income)
I've always been a believer in paying yourself first, the old 10% off the top and into savings.
I've always been a believer in paying yourself first, the old 10% off the top and into savings.
Then food, then shelter.
23%? Wow. Our mortgage is 13% of our monthly net.
My mortgage plus HOA fees works out to 28% for me (if I did the math correctly). I think a lot depends on where you live and how long you’ve had your mortgage. As the years go by that percentage will drop as my income goes up, my mortgage will stay about the same (mine has escrow wrapped in it so that creeps up a little every year). I’m also single so it’s only my income. If there were two of me with two incomes, it would be even less of a percentage.
I think I read before an article on CNBC that 70% of American's can't come up with $1000 for a emergency without borrowing money.
Terrible. I'm not sure whether wealth inequality in the US is caused by people's stupid financial decisions or the tax system.
I know many people like this. But, they can always find money for coffee, eating out, shopping, wasting food, etc.
Most people are 'poor' because of poor choices and wasteful lifestyles. Saving money and turning it into something larger is very easy, if one understands economics and money.
^Really. Somebody comes dashing in here and posts some form of this story every month, as if they've discovered it. Then people hop on and proceed to dislocate their shoulders patting themselves on the back for not being one of those stupid people who have no money.
Lots of people are broke for various reasons. Sometimes it's bad luck, sometimes it's poor choices, sometimes it's simply lack of knowledge of the skills required to manage money.
1/2 the country never has any savings at any point in their lives . the sun still rises and life goes on . been this way for a long long time . but like you said , every day people dredge up how bad the masses are doing articles and skewed studies and polls .
meh , better ways to spend your time than reading this junk. most would be better off digging up articles telling them how to do better themselves than trying to figure out what everyone has or does not have .
I hear you on a lot of this. Having my emergency savings in a very low yield account bugs me. If you don’t mind me asking, where are you getting 4%? My online savings account is a measly 1% and CD rates I’ve seen at the credit union I belong to aren’t much better. I’d love to put the money someplace safe that earns 4%.
As for food going to waste. I hear you on that too. As a single person, so much just goes bad. This week I’m making home made soup which freezes well and will be plenty of food for a while. But the recipe calls for two stalks of celery. Two. You can’t buy just two and I hate eating raw celery. Luckily I had friends over so I chopped up what I didn’t need to go with dip. But usually it would just go bad on me and get tossed. That said, groceries are a lot less than eating out. I keep my eating out budget to no more than $50 a month. That’s about 1-2 meals out with friends and roughly half of a weekly grocery bill. The grocery store and cooking on my own saves me money (it also helps keep my diet healthy).
That's funny about the celery, because I was just thinking the same thing the other day. I needed a little bit of celery, not a whole big thing that's just going to rot in the fridge. Same with carrots. WTF does a single person do with a BAG of carrots.
My supermarket has a salad bar, and so when I wanted to make a small batch of soup, I got a few celery pieces and a few carrot pieces from the salad bar. Sure, costs a bit more for what you get that way, but it isn't as wasteful.
I think single people like myself just find it easier to spend the money to eat decently without a big fuss.
Before someone comes along shrieking that I should make a large batch of something and freeze it, NO. I don't have the space in the freezer, and at my age, I know the value of time. I am not wasting it in the kitchen chopping stuff and then having to clean.
Not saying to eat out all the time, because it's expensive and usually less healthy, but I try to keep food simple, and if that means I have to spend a dollar or two more buying pre-cut butternut squash instead of getting frustrated trying to cut through one and having a mess on the counter and losing the time that it takes besides, I will.
A family with kids might choose differently because the savings will be more, plus someone might enjoy preparing meals for their family.
We keep letting the poor from south of the border stream into the US.
For this reason all the statistics on "The Poor" are pure BS.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
