Anyone reviewing their household budget for the new year??

What is this budget of which you speak? I used to try to budget and it just didn't work, something always happened. I'm going to be semi-retired beginning 2018, I'll only be working about 8 hours a week as opposed to a salaried full time employee. I was lucky/smart/whatever you want to call it, enough to be able to sell my mother's home which I owned and my no good brother was living in for free in July (I had been paying a mortgage on it) I got enough to pay off my car and my credit card so I'm debt free. The only monthly expenses I will have are my cell phone, my car insurance, gas to go into work one or two days a week (I haven't decided if I want to work a day of 8 hours or two 4 hour days) and my monthly wine club. I will have to cut my WDW trips down or start staying in moderate/values more but that's it. I do have an IRA, a ten year annuity, some funds in a fixed account in my 401K and a savings account so I have income if needed. I'll be ready for SS in 5 years.
 
We haven't had a true budget in many years. I've always been good with keeping expenses down and saving but since I am retiring in 2018 things will change. DH loves to shop (online especially) and he'll need to be put on a budget for his "hobby". We haven't carried any debt other than the mortgage in years and only have a few years left on the house. We will be hit pretty hard with the SALT deduction cap in the new tax bill. We're also planning to increase our travelling. So while we will no longer contribute to retirement savings and my work related expenses will be cut, some expenses will go up. I have some planning to do on a retirement account withdrawal strategy for the next few years and to decide when to start taking Social Security for DH and me. I'm also planning to review our insurance, cell phone and cable. We don't eat out much other than breakfast at the diner after church with friends each week but we've already started to cut that back to every other week. I also want to cut our grocery bill by watching sales more and reducing the convenience foods that made working full time a little easier.
 
We haven't had a true budget in many years. I've always been good with keeping expenses down and saving but since I am retiring in 2018 things will change. DH loves to shop (online especially) and he'll need to be put on a budget for his "hobby". We haven't carried any debt other than the mortgage in years and only have a few years left on the house. We will be hit pretty hard with the SALT deduction cap in the new tax bill. We're also planning to increase our travelling. So while we will no longer contribute to retirement savings and my work related expenses will be cut, some expenses will go up. I have some planning to do on a retirement account withdrawal strategy for the next few years and to decide when to start taking Social Security for DH and me. I'm also planning to review our insurance, cell phone and cable. We don't eat out much other than breakfast at the diner after church with friends each week but we've already started to cut that back to every other week. I also want to cut our grocery bill by watching sales more and reducing the convenience foods that made working full time a little easier.

I just did a grocery budget analysis - on the back of an envelop so pretty simple format, lol.
Hoping to stop the convenience foods treadmill that I was on while working. That could cut my spend in half!

What do you budget for 2 people? What is realistic if you are not inclined to use coupons and hunt for sales?
 


I just did a grocery budget analysis - on the back of an envelop so pretty simple format, lol.
Hoping to stop the convenience foods treadmill that I was on while working. That could cut my spend in half!

What do you budget for 2 people? What is realistic if you are not inclined to use coupons and hunt for sales?

My weekly bill is usually around $150. Even though it is just DH and me at home now, our DD visits at least twice a week and manages to stay long enough so that she eats with us. That means we are feeding 4 people twice or more a week (as we always send a plate home for DSIL). I'd like to get the bill down closer to $100.
 
We will be sitting down likely the first week of February to reassess our budget. That will be the first paycheck for DH's promotion to be in effect. We had a baby this month and between that and the promotion we need to move our money all around. I especially want to work on savings goals and figure out what kind of higher education savings we'd like to look at for DS and figure out what kind of vacation we can afford to take each year with our new income and get our retirement savings upped per paycheck.

Around the same time, I'll be getting a weekend job. Plan for this is to put half in emergency savings and half in a vacation fund.

We have very little debt at this point so this year I want to reorganize our budget to pay off DH's car, DH's cell phone (and then downgrade both of our phones to something less expensive when they break- iPhones just aren't worth it anymore for us), and build savings. Our budget was in "tread water" mode from Autumn forward, since I had to leave work earlier than expected in my pregnancy and obviously with having a baby and everything we needed to make sure we accumulated no new debt before we kept building our savings. now that we've gotten through the financial "storm" so to speak, I am looking forward to sitting down and reassessing our financial situation and have it be good news for once!
 
We plan to tackle this this weekend, on our 8hr each way drive for a family wedding. As long as I don't fall asleep too early into it today, as I've been at work since 3am!

We use YNAB, so I pulled up our report for the year and printed everything to take along. I broke down our income into base pay and OT/commissions, and also pulled up what we did this year for reference. This year we paid off our student loans, saved and paid for our wedding/honeymoon, and saved towards a house. We also contributed to our 401ks/HSAs.

We will be figuring out our goals and how to budget for them. It will probably include things like reworking the budget to add in rent/mortgage/utilities to fit in our base pay (currently live with the in-laws), how to deal with OT/commission pay since it varies greatly from month to month, savings goals, and if we want to go all out on a car loan to pay it off. I also want to start a new budget in YNAB to simplify it a bit, now that we are married and will be merging our accounts over the next year.

I'm eyeballing to areas to cut/work on: our slush line, and eating out. Our slush category was abused this year, so we really just need to be better about saying NO when a budgeted category gets low. Dining out was our killer this year... we started the year with well problems so we had bad water we didn't want to use for drinking, cooking, washing too much... By the time it was fixed (almost 6 months!) it was about 3 months before our wedding and I was working 19 days straight at 72 hour weeks, so we just never reapplied ourselves.

I also think when DH realized how much he spent on gas station snacks and drinks, he'll be ready to kick that habit both for money and health reasons!
 


What do you budget for 2 people? What is realistic if you are not inclined to use coupons and hunt for sales?

I budget $65 per week for myself and DD17, and have no problem sticking to that. That's for all meals - we both pack lunches - with only one dinner out a week. I don't coupon, and don't "hunt" for sales but I do shop at a grocery store that is further away and is not as nice as the bigger chains in the area, but it has lower prices in general. I know my prices, and stock up when they have a good price on something I use a lot of and will keep (I have 12 cans of black beans in the pantry from our last shopping trip - and I'm regretting not buying more LOL). I also shop an Asian market for items that I know are cheaper there. I often buy store brands. I buy meat in the larger packs and freeze it in meal-size packets. Fruits and veggies we stick to in-season items. Right now that means lots of citrus and squash, much to DDs dismay. We eat mainly boneless chicken breasts, some mid-priced beef cuts (I love flank steak and use it for all sorts of things), and cheaper fish - and we don't have huge portions of any of that, for example, most beef I keep to quarter pound servings per person in a meal. We don't eat much pre-packaged foods, although there are some we use (spaghetti sauce, etc.) and I use some canned items (tomatoes, corn, beans) and frozen veggies (peas and spinach), since I can get them cheaper that way or they are easier for recipes. And I don't bake my own bread, or make my own pasta, or anything like that - I buy all that stuff :)

Full disclosure: We do not eat organic.
 
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I budget $65 per week for myself and DD17, and have no problem sticking to that. That's for all meals - we both pack lunches - with only one dinner out a week. I don't coupon, and don't "hunt" for sales but I do shop at a grocery store that is further away and is not as nice as the bigger chains in the area, but it has lower prices in general. I know my prices, and stock up when they have a good price on something I use a lot of and will keep (I have 12 cans of black beans in the pantry from our last shopping trip - and I'm regretting not buying more LOL). I also shop an Asian market for items that I know are cheaper there. I often buy store brands. I buy meat in the larger packs and freeze it in meal-size packets. Fruits and veggies we stick to in-season items. Right now that means lots of citrus and squash, much to DDs dismay. We eat mainly boneless chicken breasts, some mid-priced beef cuts (I love flank steak and use it for all sorts of things), and cheaper fish - and we don't have huge portions of any of that, for example, most beef I keep to quarter pound servings per person in a meal. We don't eat much pre-packaged foods, although there are some we use (spaghetti sauce, etc.) and I use some canned items (tomatoes, corn, beans) and frozen veggies (peas and spinach), since I can get them cheaper that way or they are easier for recipes. And I don't bake my own bread, or make my own pasta, or anything like that - I buy all that stuff :)

Full disclosure: We do not eat organic.

Thanks for your reply!

I really need to get a handle on my kitchen. Not so much to save money as to prevent waste.
If I start putting some time into planning, I will also save by default.

Your style of eating and portion sizes for meats would suit me just fine!
 
Thanks for your reply!

I really need to get a handle on my kitchen. Not so much to save money as to prevent waste.
If I start putting some time into planning, I will also save by default.

Your style of eating and portion sizes for meats would suit me just fine!

Sounds like you are on the right track!
 
Yes. Planning on calling the cable company this week and cutting down - if it wasn't for live sports I wouldn't care if we had it at all. But dh would die without it. As for grocery shopping, I just need to keep dh out of the grocery stores and we're good. We do have a budget, and it works...until dh throws a wrench into it with impulse purchases that were "on sale", without realizing I just stocked up on something or realizing the "Sale" isn't really a good one.

We have the lowest cell plans, my dd pays for her own plan with data.

I want to boost up our emergency fund and continue to pay down debt. Need to sit down with dh and go over our budget this upcoming week.
 
My spouse should be switching gyms to the new cheap option this year...he's put in off 6 months, but now he's seen 2 chains spring up which would serve all his current needs, are closer, and would cost 1/2 as much. I'm trying not to be a pain (he's been "planning" to handle the switch for a few months, and this is one of his only household splurges, and it's also good for his health), but I'll probably kick him in the butt if we're in the spring and he still hasn't acted...

I'll be renegotiating cable in the late spring...I have a number I'll stay for, and if not, I'm canceling for real this time and moving to a new package of channels (deciding which I like, since we have all the game systems and devices we can run through) with internet only...

My 2018 financial goal is to pay off the newish car 18 months early and be done with that loan this year. We are 13 months ahead now, so we only need to double a few more payments. I need to pay this off to replace my spouse's 2004 car with a safety-focused, easy-to-learn-to-drive car for all my kids to get to work with as they age into getting licenses over the next decade or so...this car will still be my spouse's, but he drives it 6 miles/week now total, so it will be highly available for the other purpose:)...I can't swing 2 car payments at a time (well, maybe not can't, but I don't want to sacrifice other parts of the budget to do so, so we can't/won't buy until we finish the 1st and then get a certain amount pulled together for a down payment with the old car, so we can again have a short loan payment - I'll want to pay the next off in 24-30 months, so we're ready for the college hit, so there's the 2019/2020 goals, too:)...
 
I use YNAB too (www.ynab.com), although I'll admit that the past year or two has been more of tracking what I spent than actual budgeting. We've had some large expenses right around Christmas, so we're really trying to figure out ways to cut costs and make a bit extra so we can take our 3 girls back to WDW in August... (Plus, our house is 20 years old, so we're just waiting for everything to start failing, now that the warranties are gone.)

We've cancelled our cleaning people ($120/month) and our landscaping people ($175/month?) - which we had started using around when our twins were born in the hopes to keep our sanity. :) I'll miss them (somewhat), but I'll love that "extra" $$ more!
 
-Look to possibly buy new unlocked phones so we don't have to get into another contract
if you're done with your contract on your phones, you can change to another no contract carrier without buying a new phone (it's the law) you just have to find a carrier that will work with your type of phone (gsm,or cdma) prepaid is cheaper than a contract.
 
Dropped our current gym membership (now that the 2 youngest don't need a kid's room) and am looking to just sign my spouse up solo elsewhere...between the child drop and smaller gym, should save $70/month...

Planning on putting that savings towards a cellphone for me (since I don't have one), but I'm waiting til Spring (since we are paid through Feb 28 at the gym, since they need a full month's cancel notice)...
 
I reviewed our budget in December in anticipation of the new year but i'm taking this month to look at what our expenses realistically are. minimum wage here increased by $1.53 an hour in 2017 and that made a big impact on day to day household expenses (groceries, service providers....), it only increased by 50 cents for 2018 but there are new laws requiring even part time employees to receive paid sick leave so I suspect that we'll see further increases that I will need to take into consideration (it will jump another $2 an hour over the next 2 years so that's a consideration for what we put aside for emergency repairs/household improvements). so I've been tracking every penny this month to see how prices compare and i'll work on a budget to put into effect for February.


for those looking at insurance expenses-remember that bundling with one company generaly generates a discount, as does paying annualy (homeowners or renters) or biannualy (auto) vs. monthly (one company we used in the past charged $10 a month more if auto insurance was paid monthly vs. twice a year). we also get discounts b/c we provide verification of college dd's gpa ("good student"), and though i'm not a fan of credit cards I did opt to get the one our insurance company offers. I only use it to pay for that company's premiums 2 times per year (and then turn around and pay in full before I even get the statement-cuz I don't do credit card interest) but since they give a 3% reward for any spending on their products it results in cutting our insurance costs by another 3% per year.
 
We had to as DH lost his job in 2017 and I finished my associate's program and started the bachelors which is so much more money! Thankfully I make just enough to cover most of our bills and my car has been paid off for about 5 years and his will be paid off in March or May, can't remember. We had to replace our water heater over Thanksgiving (went tankless so it was a little more expensive but worth it!). Every time we start getting ahead something happens and up goes the credit card debt. If we want to continue to travel and have a house, we need to nail this budget. Plus, I plan on heading back to WDW w/ my best friend next January and Germany and Ukraine in 2020 (10th wedding anniversary gift to ourselves) so we need to budget!

Everyone has had great ideas. We cut cable over a year ago, best thing we did (we pay for Netflix and Amazon Prime and have two friends who gave us access to their Hulu accounts so we are more than set. Also went back to the old school antenna on the house-we get all network channels!). We tend to switch internet when the promo is up. We also changed cell phone providers and needed new phones (NEVER go with a Windows phone) and we bought unlocked phones so we could be contract free. We go to Costco once a month and buy certain things (mostly non-perishables, there's only 2 of us!). We try not to go out much to save money but this winter has got us restless. I try to find coupons and use any gift cards I already have.

We agreed to sit down once a month (usually at the end) to double check we are sticking to the budget we set and to adjust as needed. We actually forgot about the lawn maintenance we pay for in the warmer months. Usually this is something we do ourselves but with school & work we just can't do it ourselves anymore. Any 'extra' money we have at the end of the month will go into savings. DH's layoff has really screwed us so we decided we'd prefer money go into savings over paying credit cards off. Again, not our usual rule BUT our savings is gone so we need to do this. My car has seen better days BUT I'm driving her til she dies! I bought her new with only 13 miles on her. My car before was pre-owned and did not last as long as she should have (died at ~125,000 miles, current car at 161,550+). I already know tires are in my future so as long as she passes inspection next month, we'll tack that into next year's budget. I'm all for buying pre-owned to save (DH's prius was) but idk, I prefer brand new. My friend leases as she needed a new car for as cheap as possible but I just feel that's the same as renting-throwing my money away and getting nothing in return so I buy. However, I understand people are different. Honestly with how close I am to work now, it might make sense...who knows.
 
Today was a bad day for eating out for us. Last year we spent over $1,200/month just on food and then wound up throwing a bunch of it away. This year, we sat out to eat at home more, cut out quick trips through the drive-thru (which was mostly a biscuit and coffee and McDonald's). I put a $600/month in the food budget just to drop things in half.

This is what we had spent for the month of January (though yesterday) before today..
Budget: $600 ($100/week at the grocery store and $50/week eat out money)
Eating out: $188
Grocery store: $321
Total money spent on food in January: $509 of $600 budgeted. But today, we spent about $50 as DW's brother and girlfriend were in town, and we ate out twice with them.

Also, I've talked to Walmart about switching my cell phone service. I'm no longer under contract and pay $70/month with Verizon. I've talked about switching to straight talk, which would bring the bill down to around $40 for the same exact services I have now. I know it's not much, but it would save about $360/year.

Can't do much with cable/electric/gas bills. I've talked to all 3, and they said there wasn't anything they could do. But we're trying to cut where we can and put money into savings and/or an emergency fund.
 
I need to get DH to cut his magazine subscriptions. I throw out completely unread magazines all the time.
 

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