So I took the first step in moving towards the discipleship experiment that I blogged about a bit ago here. As soon as I wrote it all down, I felt really overwhelmed at the herculean task I had committed to. As a result, I didn’t do anything. Yesterday, I made a baby step, and one that affects some of the others. I took a look at my budget. The following is both enlightening and disheartening.
Mortgage: 29%
Bills: 20% (Electric, insurance (home and auto), health coverage, water)
Groceries: 16%
Eating out: 10.6%
Misc: 9.3% (Book fair, uniforms, registration, etc…)
Auto gas: 5.5%
Fun: 4.5%
Cable/internet: 2.6%
Doctor/health: 2.5%
I offered up in my last post that I could not afford any longer to keep cable. It looks as if I was misleading. While I thought that this was the case, it turns out that the culprit of our financial woes is not cable or internet, but the combined forces of groceries and eating out. When last my wife and I talked about it, we figured that to feed our family, it would require only about 10% of our budget. Instead, due to various habits (Starbucks, fast food lunch instead of making lunch, ordering pizza, purchasing too many superhero themed snack foods, etc…), we have been spending almost 27% of our budget on food items. Perhaps abandoning cable is not my first order of business, but a disciplined approach meals.
More on this journey to come.
Food is always a big part of the budget. Thats why I like having big home dinners. It usually will give you a couple of days of leftovers for lunch. And most times it is as good or better!
Rod,
See if there is a Financial Peace University class starting up near you. My wife and I have both been through it and it has really helped. It’s 13 weeks, but well worth it for budget/money matters.
Err…make that Chad. Didn’t see who wrote the post until after…
So embarrassed.
See, imagine how much more we would be spending if we didn’t eat with you guys every Monday!
Yup, Chad, you are right on the money. Food, especially eating out can be expensive. I think I may have to join you in this disciplines endeavor in the near future.
Don’t want to enable anyone, but if ever you organize a conference around a Starbucks, I’ll buy.