Why is it that we can only barely manage to get by on our salary no matter what it is? I am making double what I was ten years ago, yet I am no better off financially than I was back then.
I drive a nicer car than I did back then, but my payment is only $60 more a month. I bought a house, but my mortgage is less than what I used to pay for rent. I had two kids, but they’re still so young their “needs” really aren’t that great yet. So where does it all go?
Looking at my bank’s handy online budget tool, it would appear most of our budget is spent on “food and dining”, which even beats out the “home” category factoring in our mortgage payment.
YIKES!!! Can that really be? I feel like we’ve pretty much stopped going out to eat. And granted we like to have some beer or wine after work, but it’s not like we’re chugging $50 bottles of wine every night (or even $20, or let’s get real even $10… okay fine, fine, I buy it by the box).
So in the coming days, weeks, and months, I’m going to start figuring out our budget, and posting how much I’m spending on groceries. I can’t wait to hear your feedback to see if I’m excessive, or have money leaking from somewhere else.
Here’s an update on the spending:
Starting in January 2016, I started giving a breakdown of our expenses and blog income. You can follow the journey from the very beginning.
And if you want to get deep into our crazy finances, here’s a closer look into our Financial Road to Recovery.
I think I may have changed my tune a bit though. Now that we can breathe a little better, I realize it’s not always that we just blow our money when we fall into more… it’s that we’re finally able to get all those little necessities in life that we would hold off on before.
I seriously had holes in my socks, and terrible stretched out bras, because it seemed there were always more important things to buy (like food and gas). So when the paycheck was a little larger, or it was bonus time of year, of course we spent more money. We could finally splurge on that new pair of socks we’d been eyeing at the store.
