Rebecca Wooldridge wrote:...hould probably be broken down into more categories....
I encourage you to write down your expenses because it probably will shock you how little things add up. When a person tracks things by categories and then sub-categories, they really get a good idea of what they are spending, and just where things can be cut. For instance, at the shipyard I used to buy a coffee and breakfast sandwich for $2.25 every day. That amounted to $11.25 a week, $45 a month, and a staggering $540 per year. A family can do a lot with $540!
I will list how my Person Expenses look listed out in Excel, but keep in mind I do not use all these categories, or sub-categories. For instance, I don't have any loans, nor cell phone or satellite, but I have a category nonetheless. The idea here is to make a template, but a person does not have to use each category, or sub-category.
On most of the categories I have a spot that takes the total cost for the month and divides it by my families size, in my case (6). This gives me a cost per person basis for each category. Some expenses though are very personalized, like clothing (my wife and her love of shoes for instance), or presents for the kids, so these I add up separately for each person.
While it is interesting the trends and exact numbers I can give you regarding our expenses, the real benefit is to make accurate, and aggressively lower monthly budgets so that we spend less money. In other words, as difficult as it is to track where the money is going, it is another thing to actually refrain from spending it, and that of course is what budgets are for.
Charity
Church
Other
Car #1
Registration
Repairs
Insurance
Gasoline
Car #2
Registration
Repairs
Insurance
Gasoline
Loans
House
Personal
Credit Card
(list each one if a person has more than one)
House
Electrical
Plumbing
Heating
Structural
Roofing
Decore
Other
Energy
Propane
Firewood
Coal
Other
Utility
Electricity
Phone
Satelite/Cable
Cell Phone
Other
Insurance
House
Life
Health
Other
Supplies
Food
Groceries
Fast Food
Family Restaurants
Date Nights
Medical
Co-Pays
Medications
Other
Clothing
Husband
Wife
Daughter1
Daughter 2
Daughter 3
Daughter 4
Presents
Husband
Wife
Daughter1
Daughter 2
Daughter 3
Daughter 4
Recreation
Husband
Wife
Daughter1
Daughter 2
Daughter 3
Daughter 4
Legal
Taxes
Property Taxes
Personal Taxes
Other