Budget advice?
A few comments on another post I made suggested I post a monthly budget to get some feedback so here it is. My husband and I are 28 and 23 years old and living in Seattle area.
My income (employee): $7,600 - $200 health insurance - $20 life insurance - $608 401k contribution (for 8% employer match) - $1,900 taxes
Husbands income (self employed): $9,500 - $2,850 taxes
Monthly take-home pay: $11,522
Giving (10-15%): $1,150 - Tithe: $1,150
Housing (25-35%): $4,600 - Mortgage: $4,000 - Escrow: $500
Utilities (5-10%): $594 - Trash: $44 - Electricity & gas: $300 - Water: $50 - Sewer: $50 - Phone/internet: $150
Food (5-15%): $750 - Groceries: $600 - Going out: $150
Clothing (2-7%): $200 - My clothing: $100 - Husbands clothing: $100
Transportation (10-15%): $1,132 - Gas: $500 - Car maintenance: $100 - Car payment: $332 - Auto insurance: $200
Personal (5-10%): $486 - Personal care: $100 - Subscriptions: $36 - Pets: $75 - Birthday gifts: $75 - Pocket money (his): $100 - Pocket money (hers) $100
Recreation (5-10%): $400 - Golf: $200 - Camping: $200
This leaves $2,210 at the end of the month to put towards our goals: - Goal 1: pay off my $12,000 car loan - Goal 2: finish funding emergency fund - Goal 3: once completed goals 1 & 2, save for a vacation to Hawaii
I wrote the recommended budget percentages from Dave’s monthly cashflow plan next to each section. For the most part it looks like we are within those recommendations, except for housing which we can’t do much about. Are there any other categories we may be overspending in?