texaslady22
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2009
I switched jobs, we moved out of state, we sent out kids to public school and stopped homeschooling....We've had a lot of changes around here lately!!
We've been living the last few months but I haven't sat down and examined our finances. I've been to afraid to. I finally did it today.
After we pay our mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities, phone, internet, cable, etc, we have $950 left over for the rest of the month. That includes food, gas for the cars, and any shopping we might need. We're a family of 5....none in diapers anymore (woohoo!!)
Is that do-able? Is $950 a month reasonable for a family of 5?
There was a time when we ate at home and stuck to a grocery budget of $100 a week. There was a time when we desperately budgeted everything as we were working to get out of debt. Now, we have no debt except for a mortgage and 50K in the bank and we're just being too....permissive. I really want to pay off the house early, but we've got to get back where we're living within our means! Last month we spent $500 on eating out alone.
I work from home and my husband is a stay-at-home father so our gas costs are quite minimal. Can we live on $950/month for food, fuel, and any misc. expenses? I just need encouragement that we can do this...we've done it before. It's just so easy to go to a nice restaurant instead of cooking at home! :-(
We've been living the last few months but I haven't sat down and examined our finances. I've been to afraid to. I finally did it today.
After we pay our mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities, phone, internet, cable, etc, we have $950 left over for the rest of the month. That includes food, gas for the cars, and any shopping we might need. We're a family of 5....none in diapers anymore (woohoo!!)
Is that do-able? Is $950 a month reasonable for a family of 5?
There was a time when we ate at home and stuck to a grocery budget of $100 a week. There was a time when we desperately budgeted everything as we were working to get out of debt. Now, we have no debt except for a mortgage and 50K in the bank and we're just being too....permissive. I really want to pay off the house early, but we've got to get back where we're living within our means! Last month we spent $500 on eating out alone.
I work from home and my husband is a stay-at-home father so our gas costs are quite minimal. Can we live on $950/month for food, fuel, and any misc. expenses? I just need encouragement that we can do this...we've done it before. It's just so easy to go to a nice restaurant instead of cooking at home! :-(
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