My categories may not have been completely accurate, because I can't always tell what a debit is for, and I also may have debits that fit more than one category. I also left out transfers to savings and two one-time debits that didn't really fit anywhere.
Here's what I found out.
Bills: 21.99%
These are our regular bills that we will arguably always have, like rent, phone, internet, power, websites, etc.
Food: 19.67%
Eating out and ordering in.
Car Payments: 14.91%
My Yaris. Sean likes to make double payments each month. Should be paid off soon.
Health: 14.88%
Various bills related to my congestive heart failure. Nice.
Entertainment: 8.47%
This is mostly the purchase of DVDs and books from Amazon.com, though it also includes a few webcomic-related purchases (t-shirts, books, subscriptions).
Furniture: 7.26%
The dining room table, my desk and filing cabinet, and the decorative stuff I recently bought at Target.
Groceries: 3.89%
Anything I buy for home use, including toiletries and cleaning stuff and, of course, food.
Beauty: 2.47%
My salon visits and Sean's haircuts.
Gas: 1.92%
I really thought this would be higher in the list.
Clothes: 1.87%
This isn't accurate, as I usually use my Cato card to buy my clothes, so this percentage only includes the stuff I recently bought Sean from Lands End.
Family: 1.58%
Basically if we spent money on family, like presents or cards.
To put that in perspective, here's a nifty pie chart:
I knew
I'm not sure what to make of all this yet. It's definitely given me something to think about.
4 comments:
Americans spend about 50% of their food dollars on eating out, I've heard many times. Which is higher than the rest of the developed world.
Your food bill does seem a little excessive compared to your must have bills (rent, utilities etc). Our grocery spend is about 1/3 of our bills. And food here is more expensive, though we probably have slightly higher bills with a mortgage. Did you count eating out at lunch in that amount?
Yes; every time there was a restaurant or 2go-Box debit, I included it.
I've known for awhile that I need to cook dinner and pack lunches more, but knowing and doing are two separate things. I think I was hoping that this breakdown would be a kick in the pants.
We'll see :>
If over a three month period, eating out came in slightly under your major expenditures like rent and utilities, it seems to me that you could save up really easily for two international flights. You two could probably travel in first class if you wanted, even.
Maybe THAT can be a friendly kick in the pants for you? ;)
Woweeee a pir chart.. You are so cool
M
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