What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Non-investing personal finance issues including insurance, credit, real estate, taxes, employment and legal issues such as trusts and wills.
User avatar
riverant
Posts: 1068
Joined: Tue May 04, 2021 6:51 am

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by riverant »

2023 should be very similar to 2022, albiet with an uptick in travel spending due to a large planned vacation and elimination of daycare. The 'Shopping' category is dominated by Amazon purchases, which would be the area I'd look to curb if needed. Food is high for a family of 4, but I'm not sure the opportunity is worth the effort. At the end of the day, this is more my "expense forecast" rather than a "budget" as I prioritize maximizing all tax advantaged savings first and I'm not overly worried about how the remainder is allocated.

Code: Select all

Auto & Transport	 6,700  50% gas, Insurance, Service, Other  
Bills & Utilities	 5,000  Internet, Phones, Oil, Water, etc. 
Cash & ATM	           900 
Entertainment	         2,356  Concerts, Shows, Amusement Parks 
Food & Dining	        22,275  75% groceries, 15% restaurants, rest is fast food/bars, etc. 
Gifts & Donations	 3,843 
Health & Fitness	10,168  Even split between medicine and sports 
Home	                31,318  Mortgage Interest, Home Improvement, Lawn, 0% Boiler loan)  
Insurance	         7,626  All xAuto 
Kids	                 6,000  Camps and Activities, clothing. Big drop here now that Daycare is done 
Shopping	        13,163  Clothing, Electronics, most of this is random amazon :( 
Tax	               112,915 
Travel	                20,000 
Total	               242,264 
Total xTax	       129,349 
User avatar
GerryL
Posts: 3902
Joined: Fri Sep 20, 2013 11:40 pm

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by GerryL »

AlohaBill wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 11:26 am Retiree here. Our yearly spending is between $33,000 (2016) to $75,000 (2021). We don’t budget anymore because of Covid and entering my slow go years. We just don’t spend that much anymore. Last year, we bought a new car. Our social security and pensions cover our yearly needs (with cola). My wife will let me know if we overspend. That’s happened once in 44 years of wedded bliss! Besides the car, any extra spending is for Roth conversions. So we are averaging around $45,000 a year. (If necessary we could spend over $140,000 each year.) :beer
Also a retiree. I've never budgeted in the detail many are documenting here, but I do after-the-fact budgeting. That is, I keep track of my expenses in Quicken. My "budget" is the annual allowance I've given myself based on what I can spend to make my portfolio last until I reach 100 y/o. (Actually, well past that target year.) It's a very generous allowance, and I have yet to spend it all in any given year.
User avatar
turtlebug
Posts: 202
Joined: Sun May 15, 2022 10:46 am

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by turtlebug »

Retired. We live in a MCOL area and we spend approx 28K-45K/yr unless an unusual house expense pops up, like the year we put on a new roof (+17K) or the year we updated the plumbing (+14K) or if we plan additional travel. This year we expect to have approximately 36K in expenses because, although we're keeping close to home, we'll have dental expenses we don't normally have and the youngest kid is getting her doctoral degree this May, so we'll spend more on gifts. House & cars are long paid off. Kids are grown & on their own (budget used to be A LOT higher when they were growing up (approx 60K-85K/yr). No grand-kids yet (fully expect budget to increase at that time...) -


Expected 2023 Budget

Auto, Homeowners, Umbrella & Life insurance $4,517
Health Insurance $3,064
Dental/Periodontal $5,000
Utilities (electric, water, sewage, natural gas, cell, cable, internet, trash) $5,500
Groceries, restaurants, cleaning supplies, toiletries, alcohol, etc $7,850
Property Tax $1,354
Home maintenance $900
Auto tag renewals $193
Gifts $2,750
Costco and AAA+ memberships $158
HOA $595
Vehicle maintenance & repairs $350
Gasoline $825
Misc $3,300 (pets, travel, clothes, charity, etc)
User avatar
papermario
Posts: 66
Joined: Fri Apr 16, 2021 10:19 pm

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by papermario »

I just unexpectedly had to get a new furnace installed and now looking to get a new roof installed asap. Not how I was planning my 2023 budget. How do people book keep these large emergency expenses for annual budgeting? Pros/cons.
san1
Posts: 88
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2019 7:17 am

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by san1 »

Hello Forum,
Family of 4 (Couple + 2 kids - 1 high-school, 1 elementary school) living in TX (DFW), mid-40s, HHI 2022~$185k, NW $1M (barely-includes properties value).
I did not have a budget until 2022 and trusted myself to do the right thing. This thread is making me rethink.
When I calculated 2022, it seems we ended up having below:
Annual 2022 Spend:

Savings- $59k (401K=20500, Roth for both=13 K, Taxable=25.5K)=31% of gross

Taxes- $24k (Fed+SS+MedCare Tax)

Mortgage- $28K (Principle+Interest+PropertyTax+HomeOwners Ins)
Insurance- $6.5k (Health, Dental, Term Life, ADD)
Car- $5k (Insurance, Gas, Maint etc)
Vacation- $12k
Education- $6k (extra classes, books etc)
Gas+Electric=4.2K
Water+Sewer=2K
Medical= 3K (Copays, dental procedure etc)
2 Phone lines/Internet/Streaming=1.2K
Others=35.1K (Grocery, food, cloths, cleaning supplies and all else- haven't been able to classify yet)
Total Spending (including tax, mortgage principle)=127K
Total Spending excluding income taxes and mortgage principle- $94.2k

I feel like we are spending too much can save more, will budgeting help? How much should I target for 2023?
Just Trying to stay the course!
gwanghoops
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2023 6:17 pm

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by gwanghoops »

My actual expenses in 2022 at roughly $5500/mo.
Retirement budget is $8700/mo which includes $2000/mo travel which we haven't done.
SS @ 70 & pension should cover this conservatively.

Retired and wife will retire this year.

Costco & Sams Club $906
Household $748
Leisure $546
Property Tax $470
Vacation $467
LTC Insurance $355
Healthcare (out of pocket) $281
Food + Dining Out $244
Electronics $156
TV & Internet $136
Homeowners Insurance $127
Car Insurance $117
Life Insurance $115
Car Maintenance $114
Guns / Shooting $98
Exercise $95
Cell Phones $80
Natural Gas $79
Water $68
DMV $56
Trash $39
Macy's $30
Computer / Software / Internet $29
Umbrella Policy $20
Alarm $20

Total $5400/mo
Maverick3320
Posts: 1102
Joined: Tue May 12, 2015 2:59 pm

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by Maverick3320 »

Our budget:

1. Daycare: $3000/month

My stomach now hurts, so I'll finish the rest of the list later
CletusCaddy
Posts: 2678
Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2021 4:23 am

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by CletusCaddy »

Maverick3320 wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 1:16 am Our budget:

1. Daycare: $3000/month

My stomach now hurts, so I'll finish the rest of the list later
Better than $4340/month!
UpperNwGuy
Posts: 9446
Joined: Sun Oct 08, 2017 7:16 pm

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by UpperNwGuy »

papermario wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 3:22 pm I just unexpectedly had to get a new furnace installed and now looking to get a new roof installed asap. Not how I was planning my 2023 budget. How do people book keep these large emergency expenses for annual budgeting? Pros/cons.
You need a home maintenance fund to which you contribute each month. I have never considered a new furnace or a new roof to be an emergency because such costs are inevitable. You just have to plan for them.

I also make monthly contributions to an auto fund to cover auto repairs and replacement autos. Those costs are also inevitable and should not be considered an emergency.
Robdac
Posts: 154
Joined: Tue Aug 06, 2019 3:23 pm

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by Robdac »

Save half.

Probably won't quite make it this year but we'll come pretty close.
bradinsky
Posts: 2267
Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2018 6:32 am
Location: Ohio

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by bradinsky »

runner3081 wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 6:29 am Utilities/Housing
Natural Gas $420.00
Water/Sewer/Gbg $960.00
Electric $1,200.00
Property Tax $2,091.90
HOA $1,032.00
Utilities/Housing Total: $,5703.90

Insurance (Non-Auto)
Term Life M $435.00
Term Life F $215.00
Homeowners Insurance $672.00
Flood Ins $326.00
Umbrella $230.00
Insurance Total $1,878.00

Services/Memberships
Work Certification $56.33
Cell Phones 3 plans $136.80
Internet $659.88
Roadside Assistance $59.99
Services/Memberships Total $913.00

Automotive
Gasoline $1,320.00
Auto Insurance $1,008.00
Vehicle Licensing/Emissions $91.84
Auto Maintenance $1,440.00
Automotive Total $3,859.84

Miscellaneous
Gifts $660.00
Clothes $420.00
Misc/All Other $ 7,524.00 (this is everything house, household supplies, toiletries, OOP medical costs, etc.)
Food $3,420.00
Miscellaneous Total $12,024.00

GRAND TOTAL: $24,378.74

**W/Medical and Dental = $25,561.74

**Side Note, medical/dental premiums are not above, but those are $1,183 per year, deducted from paychecks.
For this breakdown, your expenditures for cellular service is $11.40 per month total for 3 lines, $35/month for natural gas, $66/week food & $100/month electric? Certainly sounds cheap for cellular
mw1739
Posts: 1146
Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2011 5:44 pm

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by mw1739 »

We don't keep a formal budget but generally spend $8-12,000 per month. Family of 4 in a MCOL area. Saving 25-30% of gross income and honestly plenty of expenses we could cut from the budget to boost that number higher if we needed to.

Mortgage PITI: 24,000
Utilities: 7,200
Groceries/Eating Out: 15,000
Auto Insurance/Gas: 5,000
Private School Tuition: 14,000
Family Travel: 12,000
Kids Activities/Sports: 15,000
Life Insurance: 2,500
Miscellaneous: 12,000
Total: 106,700
runner3081
Posts: 5978
Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2016 3:22 pm

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by runner3081 »

bradinsky wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 5:46 am
runner3081 wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 6:29 am Utilities/Housing
Natural Gas $420.00
Water/Sewer/Gbg $960.00
Electric $1,200.00
Property Tax $2,091.90
HOA $1,032.00
Utilities/Housing Total: $,5703.90

Insurance (Non-Auto)
Term Life M $435.00
Term Life F $215.00
Homeowners Insurance $672.00
Flood Ins $326.00
Umbrella $230.00
Insurance Total $1,878.00

Services/Memberships
Work Certification $56.33
Cell Phones 3 plans $136.80
Internet $659.88
Roadside Assistance $59.99
Services/Memberships Total $913.00

Automotive
Gasoline $1,320.00
Auto Insurance $1,008.00
Vehicle Licensing/Emissions $91.84
Auto Maintenance $1,440.00
Automotive Total $3,859.84

Miscellaneous
Gifts $660.00
Clothes $420.00
Misc/All Other $ 7,524.00 (this is everything house, household supplies, toiletries, OOP medical costs, etc.)
Food $3,420.00
Miscellaneous Total $12,024.00

GRAND TOTAL: $24,378.74

**W/Medical and Dental = $25,561.74

**Side Note, medical/dental premiums are not above, but those are $1,183 per year, deducted from paychecks.
For this breakdown, your expenditures for cellular service is $11.40 per month total for 3 lines, $35/month for natural gas, $66/week food & $100/month electric? Certainly sounds cheap for cellular
Yes, all correct.
-Natural gas is heating and hot water heater only (we live in AZ, minimal heating)
-Food is correct - Reference here: viewtopic.php?p=7066502#p7066502
-Cell Phone is correct.
Tello - $6 per month (1gb + Unlimited texts - Number is w/Google Voice)
Red Pocket - $2.70 per month (200 minutes, 1000 texts, 200mb data)
Red Pocket - $2.70 per month (200 minutes, 1000 texts, 200mb data)
Jags4186
Posts: 8198
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2014 7:12 pm

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by Jags4186 »

UpperNwGuy wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 4:44 am
papermario wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 3:22 pm I just unexpectedly had to get a new furnace installed and now looking to get a new roof installed asap. Not how I was planning my 2023 budget. How do people book keep these large emergency expenses for annual budgeting? Pros/cons.
You need a home maintenance fund to which you contribute each month. I have never considered a new furnace or a new roof to be an emergency because such costs are inevitable. You just have to plan for them.

I also make monthly contributions to an auto fund to cover auto repairs and replacement autos. Those costs are also inevitable and should not be considered an emergency.
Yes, this is one option but not one I’m a huge fan of because you end up with a very large cash position. But obviously planning for the stuff is better than not planning at all.

Typically what we do, for something like a roof or a furnace we would pay for it out of our emergency fund and then refill the emergency fund by not making taxable contributions for a few months. Also, my experience tells me that roofs and furnaces don’t just stop working all of a sudden. Usually there’s a series of issues that leads one to seek a replacement. If you have enough excess cash flow you can begin saving once issues start to arise and then pay cash if you’re uncomfortable depleting your EFund.

For a car we’re probably getting the lowest interest rate loan and just cash flowing it.
Pinacoladapopsicle
Posts: 31
Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2023 6:51 pm

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by Pinacoladapopsicle »

Eesh, this thread is confirming what I already suspected about myself... we bleed money. Ha! We live in a HCOL city and have a fairly active social and travel life. Here we go:
(note: the monthly figures are averages. Obviously some categories, such as childcare which is largely summer camps, vary wildly month to month)

Expenditures Monthly Annual
Mortgage, utilities, biweekly cleaning -$3,500 -$42,000
Vacations, weekends out of town, etc. -$3,000 -$36,000
Childcare (2 kids in elementary) -$1,250 -$15,000
Restaurants -$1,250 -$15,000
Groceries -$1,250 -$15,000
Shopping and household goods -$850 -$10,200
Recreation (concert tix, festivals) -$700 -$8,400
Healthcare (premium + OOP) -$383 -$8,200
Transit (gas, insurance, Ubers, bus pass) -$400 -$4,800
Wifi, cell phone, subscriptions -$400 -$4,800
Kid's extracurriculars -$250 -$3,000
Self-care (haircuts, Peloton, etc.) -$200 -$2,400
Charity -$250 -$3,000
Misc + gifts -$500 -$6,000
Emergency expenses -$250 -$3,000
Total -$14,733 -$176,800

HHI will be approximately $660k (not including investment returns, just W2 salaries), assuming neither of us gets impacted by the tech layoffs. If we do, obviously these figures will change. So, that said, my overall targets are:
  • HHI: 660k
    Tax: 215k
    Spending: 177k
    Saved: 268k (40%)
Realistically we will probably have some emergency expenses, or go over budget in some areas, and won't hit these targets. My "real" goal is to save 33% of our income, which means we're basically living off of one salary since we make approximately the same amount. This budget gives us a lot of wiggle room.
User avatar
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95466
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by LadyGeek »

I clarified the thread title - removed "Thread:" from the title.
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
User avatar
Topic Author
TinyHouse
Posts: 423
Joined: Mon May 30, 2022 9:05 pm

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by TinyHouse »

san1 wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 5:28 pm Hello Forum,
Family of 4 (Couple + 2 kids - 1 high-school, 1 elementary school) living in TX (DFW), mid-40s, HHI 2022~$185k, NW $1M (barely-includes properties value).
I did not have a budget until 2022 and trusted myself to do the right thing. This thread is making me rethink.
When I calculated 2022, it seems we ended up having below:
Annual 2022 Spend:

Savings- $59k (401K=20500, Roth for both=13 K, Taxable=25.5K)=31% of gross

Taxes- $24k (Fed+SS+MedCare Tax)

Mortgage- $28K (Principle+Interest+PropertyTax+HomeOwners Ins)
Insurance- $6.5k (Health, Dental, Term Life, ADD)
Car- $5k (Insurance, Gas, Maint etc)
Vacation- $12k
Education- $6k (extra classes, books etc)
Gas+Electric=4.2K
Water+Sewer=2K
Medical= 3K (Copays, dental procedure etc)
2 Phone lines/Internet/Streaming=1.2K
Others=35.1K (Grocery, food, cloths, cleaning supplies and all else- haven't been able to classify yet)
Total Spending (including tax, mortgage principle)=127K
Total Spending excluding income taxes and mortgage principle- $94.2k

I feel like we are spending too much can save more, will budgeting help? How much should I target for 2023?
Your housing/utilities/property taxes costs a lot, and so does your “others” category. Saving 30% of your gross isn’t shabby, but if you can be a little smarter or careful in a couple of the categories, I think you could get up to 50% investing rate fairly easily as you have strong HHI. Spending $12,000 a year on vacation is a lot, can you switch to camping or visiting friends? Or just do cheaper vacation or local vacation options for a couple years?
CletusCaddy
Posts: 2678
Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2021 4:23 am

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by CletusCaddy »

Pinacoladapopsicle wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 7:51 am Eesh, this thread is confirming what I already suspected about myself... we bleed money. Ha! We live in a HCOL city and have a fairly active social and travel life. Here we go:
(note: the monthly figures are averages. Obviously some categories, such as childcare which is largely summer camps, vary wildly month to month)

Expenditures Monthly Annual
Mortgage, utilities, biweekly cleaning -$3,500 -$42,000
Vacations, weekends out of town, etc. -$3,000 -$36,000
Childcare (2 kids in elementary) -$1,250 -$15,000
Restaurants -$1,250 -$15,000
Groceries -$1,250 -$15,000
Shopping and household goods -$850 -$10,200
Recreation (concert tix, festivals) -$700 -$8,400
Healthcare (premium + OOP) -$383 -$8,200
Transit (gas, insurance, Ubers, bus pass) -$400 -$4,800
Wifi, cell phone, subscriptions -$400 -$4,800
Kid's extracurriculars -$250 -$3,000
Self-care (haircuts, Peloton, etc.) -$200 -$2,400
Charity -$250 -$3,000
Misc + gifts -$500 -$6,000
Emergency expenses -$250 -$3,000
Total -$14,733 -$176,800

HHI will be approximately $660k (not including investment returns, just W2 salaries), assuming neither of us gets impacted by the tech layoffs. If we do, obviously these figures will change. So, that said, my overall targets are:
  • HHI: 660k
    Tax: 215k
    Spending: 177k
    Saved: 268k (40%)
Realistically we will probably have some emergency expenses, or go over budget in some areas, and won't hit these targets. My "real" goal is to save 33% of our income, which means we're basically living off of one salary since we make approximately the same amount. This budget gives us a lot of wiggle room.
Nice to meet a twin

How much have you accumulated thus far and when do you plan on pulling the plug?
Pinacoladapopsicle
Posts: 31
Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2023 6:51 pm

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by Pinacoladapopsicle »

CletusCaddy wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 9:58 am
Pinacoladapopsicle wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 7:51 am Eesh, this thread is confirming what I already suspected about myself... we bleed money. Ha! We live in a HCOL city and have a fairly active social and travel life. Here we go:
(note: the monthly figures are averages. Obviously some categories, such as childcare which is largely summer camps, vary wildly month to month)

Expenditures Monthly Annual
Mortgage, utilities, biweekly cleaning -$3,500 -$42,000
Vacations, weekends out of town, etc. -$3,000 -$36,000
Childcare (2 kids in elementary) -$1,250 -$15,000
Restaurants -$1,250 -$15,000
Groceries -$1,250 -$15,000
Shopping and household goods -$850 -$10,200
Recreation (concert tix, festivals) -$700 -$8,400
Healthcare (premium + OOP) -$383 -$8,200
Transit (gas, insurance, Ubers, bus pass) -$400 -$4,800
Wifi, cell phone, subscriptions -$400 -$4,800
Kid's extracurriculars -$250 -$3,000
Self-care (haircuts, Peloton, etc.) -$200 -$2,400
Charity -$250 -$3,000
Misc + gifts -$500 -$6,000
Emergency expenses -$250 -$3,000
Total -$14,733 -$176,800

HHI will be approximately $660k (not including investment returns, just W2 salaries), assuming neither of us gets impacted by the tech layoffs. If we do, obviously these figures will change. So, that said, my overall targets are:
  • HHI: 660k
    Tax: 215k
    Spending: 177k
    Saved: 268k (40%)
Realistically we will probably have some emergency expenses, or go over budget in some areas, and won't hit these targets. My "real" goal is to save 33% of our income, which means we're basically living off of one salary since we make approximately the same amount. This budget gives us a lot of wiggle room.
Nice to meet a twin

How much have you accumulated thus far and when do you plan on pulling the plug?
We only got to this HHI level recently - both switched into tech during the hiring boom of the last couple of years. And up until 2020 we were paying grad school loans. So our NW doesn't really reflect this level of savings. We have about $1M saved, and another $500k in house equity.

Honestly, I am not sure. I would really like to upgrade our house in the next few years, and I know that's going to set us back a lot. I don't really expect to retire super early - I'll feel happy if I can retire before 60 (currently late 30s). You?
Last edited by Pinacoladapopsicle on Tue Jan 17, 2023 10:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
JoeRetire
Posts: 15381
Joined: Tue Jan 16, 2018 1:44 pm

Re: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by JoeRetire »

TinyHouse wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 12:01 am What’s your budget for this year?
We don't do budgets. Never have.
We spend what we want/need. Recently, that's ended up being about $65 - 85k per year.
This isn't just my wallet. It's an organizer, a memory and an old friend.
dadjunk
Posts: 45
Joined: Sat Aug 20, 2022 12:24 am
Location: Tucson

Re: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by dadjunk »

Retired couple (80 and 78) with no debt..... plan to spend ~ $6K/mo
CletusCaddy
Posts: 2678
Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2021 4:23 am

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by CletusCaddy »

Pinacoladapopsicle wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 10:54 am
CletusCaddy wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 9:58 am
Pinacoladapopsicle wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 7:51 am Eesh, this thread is confirming what I already suspected about myself... we bleed money. Ha! We live in a HCOL city and have a fairly active social and travel life. Here we go:
(note: the monthly figures are averages. Obviously some categories, such as childcare which is largely summer camps, vary wildly month to month)

Expenditures Monthly Annual
Mortgage, utilities, biweekly cleaning -$3,500 -$42,000
Vacations, weekends out of town, etc. -$3,000 -$36,000
Childcare (2 kids in elementary) -$1,250 -$15,000
Restaurants -$1,250 -$15,000
Groceries -$1,250 -$15,000
Shopping and household goods -$850 -$10,200
Recreation (concert tix, festivals) -$700 -$8,400
Healthcare (premium + OOP) -$383 -$8,200
Transit (gas, insurance, Ubers, bus pass) -$400 -$4,800
Wifi, cell phone, subscriptions -$400 -$4,800
Kid's extracurriculars -$250 -$3,000
Self-care (haircuts, Peloton, etc.) -$200 -$2,400
Charity -$250 -$3,000
Misc + gifts -$500 -$6,000
Emergency expenses -$250 -$3,000
Total -$14,733 -$176,800

HHI will be approximately $660k (not including investment returns, just W2 salaries), assuming neither of us gets impacted by the tech layoffs. If we do, obviously these figures will change. So, that said, my overall targets are:
  • HHI: 660k
    Tax: 215k
    Spending: 177k
    Saved: 268k (40%)
Realistically we will probably have some emergency expenses, or go over budget in some areas, and won't hit these targets. My "real" goal is to save 33% of our income, which means we're basically living off of one salary since we make approximately the same amount. This budget gives us a lot of wiggle room.
Nice to meet a twin

How much have you accumulated thus far and when do you plan on pulling the plug?
We only got to this HHI level recently - both switched into tech during the hiring boom of the last couple of years. And up until 2020 we were paying grad school loans. So our NW doesn't really reflect this level of savings. We have about $1M saved, and another $500k in house equity.

Honestly, I am not sure. I would really like to upgrade our house in the next few years, and I know that's going to set us back a lot. I don't really expect to retire super early - I'll feel happy if I can retire before 60 (currently late 30s). You?
If you keep going the way you are you will certainly be able to retire by 50, maybe even 45.

We are 37, same income, savings and expense profile as you, with $1.8M portfolio and $500k home equity. Looking to retire by 45.
Mattsdad
Posts: 84
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2022 8:17 pm

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by Mattsdad »

UpperNwGuy wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 4:44 am
papermario wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 3:22 pm I just unexpectedly had to get a new furnace installed and now looking to get a new roof installed asap. Not how I was planning my 2023 budget. How do people book keep these large emergency expenses for annual budgeting? Pros/cons.
Last edited by Mattsdad on Sat Jan 21, 2023 6:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
jjj_22
Posts: 314
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2019 2:07 pm

Re: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by jjj_22 »

$60k

I'm not sure where it all goes, honestly.

I just keep track of the last 12 months' total spending on a rolling basis. I check it ~quarterly to see if I'm on track or not. My spending patterns seem to be pretty stable -- yearly expenses have been 55-60k each year for the last 4 years, ticking up recently, I assume due to inflation.
san1
Posts: 88
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2019 7:17 am

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by san1 »

TinyHouse wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 9:47 am Your housing/utilities/property taxes costs a lot, and so does your “others” category.
Saving 30% of your gross isn’t shabby, but if you can be a little smarter or careful in a couple of the categories, I think you could get up to 50% investing rate fairly easily as you have strong HHI. Spending $12,000 a year on vacation is a lot, can you switch to camping or visiting friends? Or just do cheaper vacation or local vacation options for a couple years?
1.Utilities,I agree can possibly be reduced
2. Others is frankly sum of everything that I could not classify properly or track.
3. I agree on vacation- $12K this year is once in 4 years vacation, hope to not repeat :).

Thank you for your input
Just Trying to stay the course!
User avatar
Topic Author
TinyHouse
Posts: 423
Joined: Mon May 30, 2022 9:05 pm

Re: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by TinyHouse »

JoeRetire wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 10:57 am
TinyHouse wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 12:01 am What’s your budget for this year?
We don't do budgets. Never have.
We spend what we want/need. Recently, that's ended up being about $65 - 85k per year.
“Planned spending” is really what I mean by budget, because we don’t really budget either, we just typically don’t spend anything that we don’t need to or planned to. But one never knows what the future holds.
zie
Posts: 1080
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2020 4:35 pm

Re: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by zie »

JoeRetire wrote: Tue Jan 17, 2023 10:57 am
TinyHouse wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 12:01 am What’s your budget for this year?
We don't do budgets. Never have.
We spend what we want/need. Recently, that's ended up being about $65 - 85k per year.
I tried doing budgets for a while, realized it wasn't doing anything for me. Why am I spending all this time tracking all these expenses, when I never get actionable information out of it? What good does it do to know I spent $1,000 on entertainment last year? I have no idea.

I do download my transactions every year, because I do have actionable needs to figure out when I bought something or how much something cost.

So I do track total expenses(by month) and my Personal Inflation Rate(PIR). I hope to spend the same as last year and keep my PIR around 1% in 2023. It was 3.8% in 2022 and I didn't like it much.
Whether rich or poor, a young woman should know how a bank account works, understand the composition of mortgages and bonds, and know the value of interest and how it accumulates. -Hetty Green
User avatar
AnnetteLouisan
Posts: 7239
Joined: Sat Sep 18, 2021 10:16 pm
Location: New York, NY

Re: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by AnnetteLouisan »

Item…monthly…annual (2022) - 2023 will be higher

Health: ($14k)
Food…600…7200
Docs/tests etc…250…3000 (out of pocket)
Toiletries…50…600
Insurance (all)…320…3660

Home: ($22k)
Co-op…1500…18000
Repairs…100…1200
Gas/electric…50…600
Tips…75…900
Appliances…50…600
Laundry…40…480
Netflix…13…160

Misc: ($5k)
Clothes/shoes…100…1200
Transportation..50…600
WSJ…20…240
Gifts…50…600
Memberships…25…300
Tax prep…20…110
Phones…130…1460

=$41k/annual

Taxes
43.9k fedl
8.8k ss
3.9k Medicare
13k state
8k city

Investments 2023
7.5k IRA
30k 401K
10k I bonds
35k taxable -VTI
24k match
43k HYSAs, CDs and t-bills

Gross income:330
One person in a VHCOLA
Last edited by AnnetteLouisan on Sun Jan 22, 2023 9:12 am, edited 3 times in total.
Wannaretireearly
Posts: 4847
Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2010 4:39 pm

Re: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by Wannaretireearly »

AnnetteLouisan wrote: Wed Jan 18, 2023 8:22 pm Item…monthly…annual (2022) - 2023 will be higher

Health: (-$14k)
Food…600…7200
Docs/tests etc…250…3000
Toiletries…50…600
Insurance (all)…320…3660

Home: (-$22k)
Co-op…1500…18000
Repairs…100…1200
Gas/electric…50…600
Tips…75…900
Appliances…50…600
Laundry…40…480
Netflix…13…160

Misc: (-$5k)
Clothes/shoes…100…1200
Transportation..50…600
WSJ…20…240
Gifts…50…600
Memberships…25…300
Tax prep…20…110
Phones…130…1460

=$41k/annual

Taxes
43.9k fedl
8.8k ss
3.9k Medicare
13k state
8k city

Investments 2023
7.5k IRA
30k 401K
10k I bonds
35k taxable -VTI
24k match
43k HYSAs, CDs and t-bills

Gross income:330
Very impressive savings rate (50% of gross income) and breakdown above.
80k in taxes, almost twice your annual spend! Wow.
“At some point you are trading time you will never get back for money you will never spend.“ | “How do you want to spend the best remaining year of your life?“
CletusCaddy
Posts: 2678
Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2021 4:23 am

Re: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by CletusCaddy »

Wannaretireearly wrote: Thu Jan 19, 2023 6:13 pm
AnnetteLouisan wrote: Wed Jan 18, 2023 8:22 pm Item…monthly…annual (2022) - 2023 will be higher

Health: (-$14k)
Food…600…7200
Docs/tests etc…250…3000
Toiletries…50…600
Insurance (all)…320…3660

Home: (-$22k)
Co-op…1500…18000
Repairs…100…1200
Gas/electric…50…600
Tips…75…900
Appliances…50…600
Laundry…40…480
Netflix…13…160

Misc: (-$5k)
Clothes/shoes…100…1200
Transportation..50…600
WSJ…20…240
Gifts…50…600
Memberships…25…300
Tax prep…20…110
Phones…130…1460

=$41k/annual

Taxes
43.9k fedl
8.8k ss
3.9k Medicare
13k state
8k city

Investments 2023
7.5k IRA
30k 401K
10k I bonds
35k taxable -VTI
24k match
43k HYSAs, CDs and t-bills

Gross income:330
Very impressive savings rate (50% of gross income) and breakdown above.
80k in taxes, almost twice your annual spend! Wow.
Honestly, I would spend more. Why let the government have all the fun?
User avatar
AnnetteLouisan
Posts: 7239
Joined: Sat Sep 18, 2021 10:16 pm
Location: New York, NY

Re: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by AnnetteLouisan »

Wannaretireearly wrote: Thu Jan 19, 2023 6:13 pm
AnnetteLouisan wrote: Wed Jan 18, 2023 8:22 pm Item…monthly…annual (2022) - 2023 will be higher

Health: (-$14k)
Food…600…7200
Docs/tests etc…250…3000
Toiletries…50…600
Insurance (all)…320…3660

Home: (-$22k)
Co-op…1500…18000
Repairs…100…1200
Gas/electric…50…600
Tips…75…900
Appliances…50…600
Laundry…40…480
Netflix…13…160

Misc: (-$5k)
Clothes/shoes…100…1200
Transportation..50…600
WSJ…20…240
Gifts…50…600
Memberships…25…300
Tax prep…20…110
Phones…130…1460

=$41k/annual

Taxes
43.9k fedl
8.8k ss
3.9k Medicare
13k state
8k city

Investments 2023
7.5k IRA
30k 401K
10k I bonds
35k taxable -VTI
24k match
43k HYSAs, CDs and t-bills

Gross income:330
Very impressive savings rate (50% of gross income) and breakdown above.
80k in taxes, almost twice your annual spend! Wow.
120 spend including taxes is closer to saving 2/3 of gross income than 1/2. I don’t count taxes in spend so I consider my spend to be about 13 percent of my gross 41k/330k.

And yes I’m going to spend more. The above was actually overstated for 2022, believe it or not, for various reasons (I leave room in my spending plan. 2023 will include more spending. I already started with some good January buys.
Grt2bOutdoors
Posts: 25617
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2007 8:20 pm
Location: New York

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

JimmyD wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 9:54 am
Jags4186 wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 9:44 am
JimmyD wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 9:17 am
Jags4186 wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 8:39 am

Code: Select all

Category				Amount Yrly
PITI					$28,445.00
Day Care				$15,600.00
Groceries				$12,000.00
OOP Medical				$6,000.00
Home Maintenance			$4,800.00
Cleaning Service (every 2 wks)		$3,780.00
Utilities (PSEG, Verizon, Water)	$3,096.00
Gifts					$3,000.00
Shopping				$3,000.00
Restaurants/Eating Out			$3,000.00
Life Insurance				$2,964.00
Car Insurance				$2,520.00
Auto Maintenance			$2,000.00
Misc					$2,000.00
Lawn Care				$2,000.00
Entertainment				$1,800.00
Gas					$1,800.00
Travel					$1,200.00
Alcohol					$600.00
Streaming				$300.00
Jewelry Insurance			$276.00
Cell Phone				$196.20
Total					$100,377
Groceries includes everything we buy at the grocery store including all sundries like diapers, soaps, detergents, paper products etc.

Personally, I feel we spend *a lot* without much to show for it.
Whew. I thought we were the only ones spending this much.
Nope. I don't understand how families do it on signficantly less, TBH. We don't go anywhere. We don't do anything.
We're in the same boat. After all necessary expenses and savings are accounted for, there's really nothing left over. We're just about able to eek out a decent vacation once a year, but definitely nothing extravagant. Inflation has obliterated our spending power and our wages aren't even close to keeping pace.
A budget means you allotted some sum for a particular category. Do you actually spend that allotted amount each and every year? For instance, you have Jags - $4800 for home maintenance, $2K for lawn, $3K for shopping and $3K for gifts. Of the 12.8K, how much are you really spending? The $6K OOP for health, are you really spending it or is that what you are budgeting? Unlike a government zero based budgeting scheme where they actually do spend to the penny what has been budgeted and then start anew the following fiscal year, people have the option to save what is not spent. Those saved dollars could be used in future budgets or not.

As for what families do for less, it's a function of reality - if you earn less then it is not sustainable to spend above what flows in the household for an extended period of time. Cash flow and earnings matter and hence, they are forced to make choices that may or may not be appealing to you. Your budget is not that far out of whack, though $3K for gifts is generous as is $3K for shopping unless you are meaning new clothes for the kids, shoes, etc. Some do their own lawn and save the difference even if their lawn isn't the nicest looking in the neighborhood. Some don't eat out or order out often. I don't use a cleaning service, though it seems to be very popular with at least 3 of my closest neighbors. That's another $4K there.
Last edited by Grt2bOutdoors on Thu Jan 19, 2023 7:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"One should invest based on their need, ability and willingness to take risk - Larry Swedroe" Asking Portfolio Questions
Grt2bOutdoors
Posts: 25617
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2007 8:20 pm
Location: New York

Re: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by Grt2bOutdoors »

We haven't run a budget nor did I run one when single.
I save first, then spend what is necessary. The objective is to keep out of red ink.
"One should invest based on their need, ability and willingness to take risk - Larry Swedroe" Asking Portfolio Questions
nanosour
Posts: 184
Joined: Tue May 28, 2013 9:21 am

Re: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by nanosour »

Family of 5 MCOL city. 2 in college, 1 finished college trying to launch but still at home.

College 12,350
Mortgage 13,193
RE Tax 7,313
Electric/Gas 2,124
Water/Trash 1,740
Phone (5 iphones) 1,500
Internet 696
Everything Else 54,000 (if it's not in above categories, it goes in Quicken as Household expense $4,500/month)

Total for 2023 95,180
User avatar
Metsfan91
Posts: 975
Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2020 11:33 am
Location: Rust Belt

Re: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by Metsfan91 »

2023 budget = (2022 Total - cost of foreign trip) * 125%.
"Know what you own, and know why you own it." — Peter Lynch
mudd
Posts: 152
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2016 2:06 pm

Re: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by mudd »

Last year we spent around 44K ... about 3700/mo.
Retired couple ..House paid off.

Hope to do the same or thereabouts this year.
mudd
Posts: 152
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2016 2:06 pm

Re: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by mudd »

btw. split out categories for tracking this year. These are what I came up with...

Grocery
Utilities
Housing
Medical
Transportation
Insurance
Clothing
Entertainment
Her Discretionary
His Discretionary
Misc-Household Discretionary
Gift

1st time doing this.... seem good?!
MN CA IA Geo
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2022 4:01 pm

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by MN CA IA Geo »

Grt2bOutdoors wrote: Thu Jan 19, 2023 6:48 pm
JimmyD wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 9:54 am
Jags4186 wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 9:44 am
JimmyD wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 9:17 am
Jags4186 wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 8:39 am

Code: Select all

Category				Amount Yrly
PITI					$28,445.00
Day Care				$15,600.00
Groceries				$12,000.00
OOP Medical				$6,000.00
Home Maintenance			$4,800.00
Cleaning Service (every 2 wks)		$3,780.00
Utilities (PSEG, Verizon, Water)	$3,096.00
Gifts					$3,000.00
Shopping				$3,000.00
Restaurants/Eating Out			$3,000.00
Life Insurance				$2,964.00
Car Insurance				$2,520.00
Auto Maintenance			$2,000.00
Misc					$2,000.00
Lawn Care				$2,000.00
Entertainment				$1,800.00
Gas					$1,800.00
Travel					$1,200.00
Alcohol					$600.00
Streaming				$300.00
Jewelry Insurance			$276.00
Cell Phone				$196.20
Total					$100,377
Groceries includes everything we buy at the grocery store including all sundries like diapers, soaps, detergents, paper products etc.

Personally, I feel we spend *a lot* without much to show for it.
Whew. I thought we were the only ones spending this much.
Nope. I don't understand how families do it on signficantly less, TBH. We don't go anywhere. We don't do anything.
We're in the same boat. After all necessary expenses and savings are accounted for, there's really nothing left over. We're just about able to eek out a decent vacation once a year, but definitely nothing extravagant. Inflation has obliterated our spending power and our wages aren't even close to keeping pace.
A budget means you allotted some sum for a particular category. Do you actually spend that allotted amount each and every year? For instance, you have Jags - $4800 for home maintenance, $2K for lawn, $3K for shopping and $3K for gifts. Of the 12.8K, how much are you really spending? The $6K OOP for health, are you really spending it or is that what you are budgeting? Unlike a government zero based budgeting scheme where they actually do spend to the penny what has been budgeted and then start anew the following fiscal year, people have the option to save what is not spent. Those saved dollars could be used in future budgets or not.

As for what families do for less, it's a function of reality - if you earn less then it is not sustainable to spend above what flows in the household for an extended period of time. Cash flow and earnings matter and hence, they are forced to make choices that may or may not be appealing to you. Your budget is not that far out of whack, though $3K for gifts is generous as is $3K for shopping unless you are meaning new clothes for the kids, shoes, etc. Some do their own lawn and save the difference even if their lawn isn't the nicest looking in the neighborhood. Some don't eat out or order out often. I don't use a cleaning service, though it seems to be very popular with at least 3 of my closest neighbors. That's another $4K there.
Grt2bOutdoors - This is an interesting thought. I redid my 2023 budget to try and get closer to a net zero and account for the average monthly surplus we normally had in the last couple of years. I used our budget as a general guideline and would be over some categories in some months and under in others. We were generally over our home maintenance budget every year and under in medical expanses.

I had moved money to taxable investments the 25th of every month when our checking was over the target value. This helped us to invest bonuses or other items that weren't included in our normal budget process.

Wife got a promotion in late 2022, moved from a metro area to out-state for the new job, and had a third kid in early January so we'll see how these numbers stack up in 2023. So far the only line item that has decreased is childcare (don't miss $20k per kid).

I break up categories based on the time period that I normally track/think about them. Fun-money is a catch all for entertainment, eating out, alcohol, and anything else.

Household Income Used for Budget - 282k (No bonuses assumed)
Her 401k - $22.5k
His TSP - $15k
Fed. Pension - $800
HSA - $5k
DCFSA - $5k
Employer Insurance (Family Health, Dental, Vision, Her LTD and Life) - $5k

Fed Taxes - $36.5k
State Taxes - $13.5k

Monthly Annualized
15yr Mortgage, Taxes, Insurance 3241 38892
Auto and College Loans 0 0
Utilities (Gas/elec, Trash, HOA) 383.375 4600.5
Cell Phone 100 1200
Life Insurance and Disability 40 480
State Farm (Auto, Boat, Umb) 200 2400
Cable/Internet/Netflix/Prime 150 1800
Medication 35 420
Gym 5 60
Pets/Vet 50 600
Vacation 400 4800
Home Improvement 400 4800
House Cleaning 250 3000
Medical Expenses 350 4200
Church/Charity Don 410 4920
Childcare (after DCFSA) 1533.33 18400
Financial Advisor 25.00 300
Taxable Investments 2000 24000
529 Plans 415 4980
Weekly Expenses 3476 41714
Total Monthly Expenses 13463 161566
Monthly Essential Expenses 9401 112814
Net Left-over 77.50 930.04

Weekly Monthly Annualized
Groceries 250 1086.31 13035.71
Fun-Money 250 1086.31 13035.71
Gas/Maint 100 434.52 5214.29
Clothing/shopping 200 869.05 10428.57
MDfan
Posts: 1112
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2016 7:32 am

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by MDfan »

8301 wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 7:33 am My wallet is my budget. I trust me.
Same. Have never had a budget. We just spend what we want within reason.
CletusCaddy
Posts: 2678
Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2021 4:23 am

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by CletusCaddy »

MN CA IA Geo wrote: Thu Jan 19, 2023 10:27 pm
Household Income Used for Budget - 282k (No bonuses assumed)
Her 401k - $22.5k
His TSP - $15k
Fed. Pension - $800
HSA - $5k
DCFSA - $5k
Employer Insurance (Family Health, Dental, Vision, Her LTD and Life) - $5k

Fed Taxes - $36.5k
State Taxes - $13.5k
Your Fed tax seems really low.

Your taxable income appears to be $202k.

Which puts your Fed tax at $35k.

What about FICA for two people?
MN CA IA Geo
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2022 4:01 pm

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by MN CA IA Geo »

CletusCaddy wrote: Thu Jan 19, 2023 10:52 pm
MN CA IA Geo wrote: Thu Jan 19, 2023 10:27 pm
Household Income Used for Budget - 282k (No bonuses assumed)
Her 401k - $22.5k
His TSP - $15k
Fed. Pension - $800
HSA - $5k
DCFSA - $5k
Employer Insurance (Family Health, Dental, Vision, Her LTD and Life) - $5k

Fed Taxes - $36.5k
State Taxes - $13.5k
Your Fed tax seems really low.

Your taxable income appears to be $202k.

Which puts your Fed tax at $35k.

What about FICA for two people?
Hard to get the zero sum to work out if I omitted a line item!

FICA for 2 is $20.5k in my budget spreadsheet.

I think I'm missing something with the federal taxes part of your comment. You say they seem really low then come up with a lower amount with the quick calc. Do they still seem off?

It's been a few years since I've updated anything except for the tax brackets in my spreadsheet or compared to one of our pay stubs. We've always been pretty close to our actual tax amount at the end of the year so I haven't checked those comps in my spreadsheet.
CletusCaddy
Posts: 2678
Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2021 4:23 am

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by CletusCaddy »

MN CA IA Geo wrote: Fri Jan 20, 2023 7:17 am
CletusCaddy wrote: Thu Jan 19, 2023 10:52 pm
MN CA IA Geo wrote: Thu Jan 19, 2023 10:27 pm
Household Income Used for Budget - 282k (No bonuses assumed)
Her 401k - $22.5k
His TSP - $15k
Fed. Pension - $800
HSA - $5k
DCFSA - $5k
Employer Insurance (Family Health, Dental, Vision, Her LTD and Life) - $5k

Fed Taxes - $36.5k
State Taxes - $13.5k
Your Fed tax seems really low.

Your taxable income appears to be $202k.

Which puts your Fed tax at $35k.

What about FICA for two people?
Hard to get the zero sum to work out if I omitted a line item!

FICA for 2 is $20.5k in my budget spreadsheet.

I think I'm missing something with the federal taxes part of your comment. You say they seem really low then come up with a lower amount with the quick calc. Do they still seem off?

It's been a few years since I've updated anything except for the tax brackets in my spreadsheet or compared to one of our pay stubs. We've always been pretty close to our actual tax amount at the end of the year so I haven't checked those comps in my spreadsheet.
Let me rephrase, your Fed tax looks spot on but you were missing your FICA completely.

So if your FICA is 20.5k then you’re not leftover with 930 but rather in the hole by quite a bit, right?
BogleKev
Posts: 52
Joined: Sat Nov 30, 2019 9:40 am

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by BogleKev »

Mattsdad wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 6:40 am

When kids fully launch and when officially retired in a couple of years, we anticipate a $24k reduction (2k per month), primarily driven by reduction in the categories of “Kids,” “Cell,” “Auto,” and “Insurance.” This may be reduced even further if we move from HCOL area….

Analysis / critiques here are welcome, as that previously helped me reduce expenses for 2022 :beer
As someone who is a few years ahead of you on the "launched kid" timeline, I can say that you may find that the "Cell" category persists a few years into their true post-college adulthood. And we had to add a one-time "Wedding" item (not trivial!) into our 2022 budget, and we hope to have upcoming grandchild expenses , God willing, so we anticipate adding in "529" category and similar. But that's all 'next phase ' stuff.

I like the comprehensiveness of your budget categories and it gave me a couple to consider adding to my list that I had not considered breaking out (e.g., we have "Household" as a category but do not break out "Housekeeping".. but I can see that doing so would allow us to parse it out if we ever needed to).

PS -- We are dedicated Quicken users and find that it really helps to quickly view usage and to follow trends, although I do not like their Budget implementation -- I find it cumbersome -- so I export the data into an Excel spreadsheet for budgeting.
jpelder
Posts: 1106
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 2:56 pm
Location: Concord, NC

Re: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by jpelder »

These are monthly amounts, roughly categorized and estimated. We have more detailed categories in our tracking spreadsheet and on Mint

Married couple, no kids
  • Total take-home income: $6000-$7000 per month
    Life Insurance, Various Subscriptions, Home Internet, Cell Phones, Car Maintenance Sinking Fund, and other Fixed Bills: $450
    Mortgage and escrowed property tax and homeowner's insurance: $850
    Food (Groceries, restaurants, and general home cleaning goods): $1000
    Utilities: $225
    Pharmacy (if not covered by FSA) and personal care: $100
    Gifts (Christmas, birthdays, anniversary, random things): $100
    Home Maintenance and Improvement: $240
    Charity and School Supplies (we're both teachers): $200
    Entertainment: $100
    His and her clothing, fun, and whatever money: $100 each
    Pet care: $140
    Gas: $200
    Vacations: $200
    Miscellaneous: $125
    Retirement savings: $1000 (we also pay into state pensions)
    Savings for cars, big vacations, and big-ticket home projects: $1000
We both have very consistent paychecks (usually within a few cents), so we do pretty tight zero-dollar budgeting.
nextmilenium
Posts: 142
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2023 1:57 pm

Re: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by nextmilenium »

I don't have a budget as I pay what's required and out of my control (property tax, phone bills, utilities, etc). I'm newly retired and have about $15K net income per month. I'll spend what's left after I pay my bills. :happy
Marjimmy
Posts: 218
Joined: Tue Nov 13, 2012 10:14 pm

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by Marjimmy »

Jags4186 wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 8:39 am

Code: Select all

Category				Amount Yrly
PITI					$28,445.00
Day Care				$15,600.00
Groceries				$12,000.00
OOP Medical				$6,000.00
Home Maintenance			$4,800.00
Cleaning Service (every 2 wks)		$3,780.00
Utilities (PSEG, Verizon, Water)	$3,096.00
Gifts					$3,000.00
Shopping				$3,000.00
Restaurants/Eating Out			$3,000.00
Life Insurance				$2,964.00
Car Insurance				$2,520.00
Auto Maintenance			$2,000.00
Misc					$2,000.00
Lawn Care				$2,000.00
Entertainment				$1,800.00
Gas					$1,800.00
Travel					$1,200.00
Alcohol					$600.00
Streaming				$300.00
Jewelry Insurance			$276.00
Cell Phone				$196.20
Total					$100,377
Groceries includes everything we buy at the grocery store including all sundries like diapers, soaps, detergents, paper products etc.

Personally, I feel we spend *a lot* without much to show for it.
How are you keeping track of all this. What software?
Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking. -Marcus Aurelius
Marjimmy
Posts: 218
Joined: Tue Nov 13, 2012 10:14 pm

Re: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by Marjimmy »

Take out Food - $50
Dates - $200
Groceries - $500
Caffeine - $10
Alcohol - $0
Housing - N/A
Other $500
Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking. -Marcus Aurelius
Jags4186
Posts: 8198
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2014 7:12 pm

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by Jags4186 »

Marjimmy wrote: Fri Jan 20, 2023 1:54 pm
Jags4186 wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 8:39 am

Code: Select all

Category				Amount Yrly
PITI					$28,445.00
Day Care				$15,600.00
Groceries				$12,000.00
OOP Medical				$6,000.00
Home Maintenance			$4,800.00
Cleaning Service (every 2 wks)		$3,780.00
Utilities (PSEG, Verizon, Water)	$3,096.00
Gifts					$3,000.00
Shopping				$3,000.00
Restaurants/Eating Out			$3,000.00
Life Insurance				$2,964.00
Car Insurance				$2,520.00
Auto Maintenance			$2,000.00
Misc					$2,000.00
Lawn Care				$2,000.00
Entertainment				$1,800.00
Gas					$1,800.00
Travel					$1,200.00
Alcohol					$600.00
Streaming				$300.00
Jewelry Insurance			$276.00
Cell Phone				$196.20
Total					$100,377
Groceries includes everything we buy at the grocery store including all sundries like diapers, soaps, detergents, paper products etc.

Personally, I feel we spend *a lot* without much to show for it.
How are you keeping track of all this. What software?
I use Mint.com. I have custom categories and log in pretty much daily to keep all transactions categorized correctly.
Carson
Posts: 854
Joined: Fri May 09, 2014 3:26 pm

Re: Thread: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by Carson »

Family of 4 H-ish COL area. I've always kept track of our finances and am frugal by nature. I guess I would say our spend is pretty self restricting. We certainly could spend more but I don't know it would enhance our quality of life. But then I look at the list and think we manage to spend plenty!

50% of our salary goes to retirement, insurance and taxes. From the remainder, on a annual basis:

Code: Select all

Mortgage 			$14,900
Property tax			$5,500
Car operating exp		$7,600
Home operating exp		$10,200
Car future svgs  		$6,000
Food 				$8,800
Personal allowance/misc		$8,450
Travel*               		$2,400
Savings 			$32,000
Unallocated**			$5,000
*We built up some funds for travel during covid, so I haven't been setting as much aside here lately. A week long driving spring break is about $3-4k, depending on where we stay and what we do. Our travel fund will be empty after this year and have to reallocate.

** unallocated. We usually end up spending about half of this on randomness/kids sports, overages. Then I squirrel the rest away in my cache.
Last edited by Carson on Sat Jan 21, 2023 9:37 am, edited 4 times in total.
stoaX
Posts: 77
Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2021 9:37 am

Re: What’s Your 2023 Budget?

Post by stoaX »

I expect to spend about $53k in 2023. That's more than I spent in 2022 and 2021 by a few percentage points, mostly due to inflation. This is for a retired household of 2 in an mcol suburb of Charlotte NC.

Of course the caveat of "man plans, God laughs" applies here.
Post Reply