let me start by saying that this is not a rant about the economic stimulus plan or the fact that the US government is now providing car warranties.
laura and i have decided to try actually budgeting some of our expenses. primarily because we ended up owing taxes this year and i decided that we are poor. at this point, i expect anyone who is reading this is probably really offended that laura and i would call ourselves poor (well, really just me). while we do both make a good bit of money, it manages to disappear as fast as we can earn it just like everyone else, mostly because of our habit of eating out way too often.
we've settled on a figure of $600 dollars per month which comes out to between $3 and $4 per meal per person depending on what assumptions you make. originally i had suggested $500 per month or roughly $125 per week, which is less than $3 per meal per person. we tried that for a week an went over by about $5 and cleared out most of our freezer and pantry in the process.
anyway, i've added a new gadget to my blog (over there on the right ->) so you google reader users (a.k.a phil) will have to go to my actual blog page to see it. it's our running tally for the month.
does anyone else budget their expenses? how much do you spend on food?
* for the record, i got a foot-long sub from subway today but i only ate half of it.
5 comments:
$3 and $4 per meal?? Thats really cheap. I can't even eat at a fast food place for $4. What are some sample meals you can pull off for this price?
Not to mention you eat out once or twice you have to eat ramen for a week to balance it out. I'm outraged at this plan!
That's an insane low budget. Unless you brown bag it, and eve then. I can't support this low quality of life approach.
Honestly, I'm guessing it isn't the food expenses that sucks up your money, its the big ones like taxes. I spend only about 10% of my expenses on food (pre-tax). Its those big things (like engagement rings) that cause the problems.
For my wife and I, I counted about 700 in food expenses in march. Not counting entertainment expenses that also included food that was about 600. The breakdown was about 370 for groceries, 130 from ordering out and about 100 from fast food.
I'm surprised you've survived this long without a budget!
Don't listen to Adi... he's a big-spending New Yorker! I once saw him wipe his rear with a $100 bill. We budget $350/month for groceries, and another $150 for restaurants. Then again, we're cheap.
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