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Old 05-04-2013, 09:53 PM
 
392 posts, read 806,978 times
Reputation: 132

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I would like to hear advice for some specific personal finance.

About us

First we are (me and my wife) new in country. We came in 2012. We have only one salary in house since I am not working (just my wife). We are in mid-30's

Our spending (for last month).
http://www.basepic.com/upload/images/U3QF.jpg

Expanses

Total expanse for April in SJ was $3200
(usually is about $2500 per month but we had some shooping and tax advisory in this month)
Food and Car alone cost us $1800 and rest was bills etc.
Income

Our total income (one salary) is about $5500 net.
We save about $2500-$3000 each month.

We have car loan about $18.000 that we plan to pay off sometime.
(That is why transportation cost us about $700 each month).

Any idea what else we can do to make it better and how is this compering with others?
I don't know what to think.
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Old 05-04-2013, 09:56 PM
 
Location: State of Transition
102,212 posts, read 107,931,771 times
Reputation: 116160
It's too late now, but you should have bought a less expensive car. Did you get a used car? What about car insurance, how much is that costing you?
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Old 05-04-2013, 10:01 PM
 
392 posts, read 806,978 times
Reputation: 132
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth View Post
It's too late now, but you should have bought a less expensive car. Did you get a used car? What about car insurance, how much is that costing you?
New car. Since I am foreigner I thought It will be better to have less issues with car in start.
Full coverage - $101

Those are my Car expenses.
http://www.basepic.com/upload/images/GBAL.jpg
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Old 05-05-2013, 12:40 AM
 
Location: San Francisco
2,279 posts, read 4,745,007 times
Reputation: 4026
If its just the 2 of you (no kids?) you should be able to trim your food budget. You're spending almost $1200 a month on food, I'm sure you can trim a few hundred dollars off that.
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Old 05-05-2013, 12:48 AM
 
392 posts, read 806,978 times
Reputation: 132
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wry_Martini View Post
If its just the 2 of you (no kids?) you should be able to trim your food budget. You're spending almost $1200 a month on food, I'm sure you can trim a few hundred dollars off that.
Thank You for your replay!
Yes just 2 of us. (for now)

This is our total food buying in April:
http://www.basepic.com/upload/images/ZWFF.jpg
http://www.basepic.com/upload/images/TT2S.jpg
http://www.basepic.com/upload/images/T4AZ.jpg

Definitely we can trim down something. Maybe on $800-$900 but I really can't see lower than that.
Also I am walking to the SafeWay so I can save on gas and because I have a lot of time to do that.
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Old 05-05-2013, 01:36 AM
 
30,896 posts, read 36,965,098 times
Reputation: 34526
You should be able to get your food budget down to $800 easily. I am single and I am pretty sure I never spend $400 a month on food, and that would include going out to eat 1 or 2x per week at low cost places (not fast food).

Get used to stocking up on things when they go on sale. Just one example...I have whole wheat pasta I bought at Safeway when they had it on sale for $1 a box....and it was that price for quite a while (and like I said, this is the good quality, whole wheat stuff). I now have about 30 boxes of $1 pasta in my cabinets. I did the same thing with lentils over 1 year ago when they had them on sale for $1 a pound...at one point they were .89 per pound. I still haven't run out of lentils and I probably cook with them at least once a week, on average.
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Old 05-05-2013, 01:50 PM
 
392 posts, read 806,978 times
Reputation: 132
Yes. You are right but anything less then $800 would be really poor on food. Is there anything else and how different this is from 'average' people in this area?
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Old 05-05-2013, 04:33 PM
 
Location: San Francisco
2,279 posts, read 4,745,007 times
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I see about $80 spent at Starbucks; that's a luxury, not a necessity. You could either cut that completely or cut it by 50% and still enjoy an occasional coffee treat.

Without knowing what you are buying when you go grocery shopping, it's ard to make recommendations.
Take a closer look at the types of groceries you are buying - it may be you're buying convenience foods (prepared foods, pre-chopped vegetables, etc), and could save some, there. If you're buying all name brand or gourmet ingredients, there's also room for adjustment, there.
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Old 05-05-2013, 04:46 PM
 
392 posts, read 806,978 times
Reputation: 132
Well that is true (for Starbucks) I will try that in May
I am wondering are my finance good or bad for this area in general. I mean how is this compering with some other average people.
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Old 05-05-2013, 05:54 PM
 
30,896 posts, read 36,965,098 times
Reputation: 34526
Quote:
Originally Posted by vrhunski View Post
Yes. You are right but anything less then $800 would be really poor on food. Is there anything else and how different this is from 'average' people in this area?
I really don't think it takes $800 to feed 2 people nutritiously in the Bay Area. It depends on what you eat.

Cheap and Healthy: 15 Nutritious Foods for About $2

In any case, you can start by saving at least $200 on the grocery budget.
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