How does your Net paycheck break down in terms of percentages?

23% --> Short-Term Savings for House
20% --> Rent
15% --> Debt (Credit Cards, Student Loans)
10% --> Utilities (Water/Cable/Power/Phone)
10% --> Car and Car Insurance
10% --> Food + Gas
12% --> Float/Misc.

(Btw, I haven't been on TWW in a good year or so. If this topic is a duplicate, lock it and point me to the original).

9/18/2008 7:53:54 AM

Whats up Travis, long time no see (virtually at least )


So do you have different accounts set up for these different areas?

9/18/2008 9:14:29 AM

24% Rent/utilities
20% Long term savings
19% Extras/Misc./Fun (this category could also be named "girlfriend" lol)
17% Short term savings
14% Food
6% Fuel

9/18/2008 9:16:00 AM

Mortgage (PITI) = 44%
Electric/Gas/Water = 7%
Roth IRA = 7%
Long Term Savings = 7%
Shopping = 7%
Entertainment = 7%
Groceries = 6%
Eating Out = 6%
Cable/Internet = 4.5%
Gas (Car) = 4%
Health Care Spending = .5%

9/18/2008 10:36:32 AM

where are you guys getting these numbers from?

9/18/2008 10:40:10 AM

28% Debt (credit card, student loans, trying to pay them off quickly)
19% Rent
15% Auto (car loan, insurance)
13% Miscellaneous (going out, gym membership, other car stuff, etc)
12% Food & Gas
7% Utilities (Water/Cable/Power/Phone)
7% Short Term Savings


^ Budget spreadsheet

[Edited on September 18, 2008 at 10:43 AM. Reason : .]

9/18/2008 10:42:30 AM

Mint.com + simple division

9/18/2008 10:48:38 AM

yeah i was thinking mint, quicken/money etc, or spreadsheet

9/18/2008 10:49:30 AM

I mean, some of the #s I know offhand so I just took their averages. I need some more data in mint.com before I can completely rely on it. Right now a few large purchases are skewing the %s.

9/18/2008 10:52:04 AM

my best guess without running the exact #s - mortgage/utilities/car insurance/savings are probably the only ones that don't fluctuate - groceries/gas/fun/incidental all fluctuate a good bit based on the month and if we have ppl in town or go visit ppl

24% mortgage/taxes/insurance
9% utilities + hoa
4% car insurance
7% gas
9% groceries
16% savings/investment
10% fun
21% incidental expenses / shopping / misc - what is left over goes to savings

9/18/2008 11:01:42 AM

my 3 month avg

mortgage & hoa: 38%

savings/investments: 15% (not including roth ira or 401k contributions)

travel: 13% (this number is a little unfair bc it includes plane tickets for a trip to chicago in sept, home for thanksgiving, a ski trip in dec and home for xmas)

shopping: 7%

food & dining: 7% (this includes groceries as well as fast food & restaurants and bars)

utilities: 5%

peronal care: 6% (gym, haircuts, mani pedis, sports equipment)

student loans: 4%

healthcare: 2%

everything else: < 1%

* i dont pay for a car or gas



[Edited on September 18, 2008 at 1:08 PM. Reason : dsjfsdjf]

9/18/2008 1:04:56 PM

25% rent
25% gas
15% bills
10% beer

9/18/2008 1:11:41 PM

House shit alone taps me out pretty badly:
40% - mortgage
15% - Property Taxes
12% - HOA/Water/Gas
6% - Utilities | Electricity/Cable/Phone/Internet

27% - Whatever-else is left, food/drink/clothes/etc


I need a raise =\

9/18/2008 2:38:35 PM

32% rent
23% groceries
11% gas for car
7% Electric/Water/phone
4% Car & Renters insurance
23% on whatever else

9/18/2008 5:37:08 PM

rent - 19%
phone/cable/dsl - 5%
insurance - 4%
gas - 5%
groceries - 6%
saving for eventual house - 32%
miscellaneous fun stuff - 4%
other (eventually into roth, etc) - 25%


boo/hiss for being single and living in the middle of nowhere...

9/18/2008 7:13:19 PM

18% mortgage+insur
15% health insur+dr bills
14% etc
11% household
11% food
8% auto+insur
7% utilities
6% debt
5% gas
5% taxes

[Edited on September 18, 2008 at 9:17 PM. Reason : thus far for 2008]

9/18/2008 9:17:13 PM

after tax income basis
15.7 House, Ins, Tax
3.9 Utilities
4.7 Transportation inc gas, ins, car
4.0 Food
0.9 Health, inc ins
7.5 Misc, inc entertainment
63.3 Savings

9/18/2008 10:56:33 PM

80% entertainment
5% Gas
10% food
3% short term savings (change jar)
2% retirement fund

9/19/2008 12:33:57 AM

50% --> WHATEVER FEELS RIGHT AT THE MOMENT

50% --> EVERYTHING ELSE

9/19/2008 2:44:46 AM

I've tried using mint and while I like it for the most part, I didn't like how it lumped all my purchases made with credit cards and stuff in with my bank accounts. I like to keep track of how much money I actually have separate from money I don't have

9/19/2008 9:52:52 AM

You can disable certain stuff so it doesn't show up.

Anyone ever heard of https://www.greensherpa.com/accounts/login/?next=/dashboard/

12 Promising New Web Sites and Services

GreenSherpa; click for enlarged image. Economy of scale: If a workable budget is your own private Mount Everest, maybe GreenSherpa is the guide you need.
Lots of financial services are good at telling you what you've spent in the past and how much money you have right now. But few online systems so far have attempted to tell you how much you'll have next week or next month, especially if you decide to buy a new iPod after all. Making contingent cash-flow projections is tough, but GreenSherpa's system seems as though it could work. It lets you account for regular bills, but it also simplifies the task of entering one-time expenses or factoring in a bonus check you're expecting.

9/19/2008 9:59:31 AM

it also doesn't connect to all my different accounts I'd like to keep track of.

9/19/2008 10:02:08 AM

That's weird. I was able to connect it to all of mine including my 401k and my stock purchase plan at work.

9/19/2008 10:12:02 AM

with more time I'm sure they'll be added.

9/19/2008 10:18:11 AM

10% to ESPP (actually, thats 10% of gross) .. but estimating
30% to Mortgage
20% to food/gas
15% to utilities
20% to savings
5% to misc

[Edited on September 19, 2008 at 12:27 PM. Reason : .]

9/19/2008 12:24:58 PM

looks kind of weird right now %-wise

Note: I've got a healthy emergency fund and no CC debt

rent and utilities - 40%
gas - 4%
food - 7%
student loans - 13%
insurance - 4%
savings - 5%
cell - 3%
car payment - 14%
spending/misc - 10%

9/19/2008 1:15:03 PM

far too quickly

9/20/2008 11:49:53 AM

I don't track my savings in with expenditures, but for expenses:

31% car/insurace
19% rent
16% food/beer/bars
11% student loans
8% shopping
5% travel
4% entertainment
3% utilities

9/20/2008 7:18:00 PM

40% taxes
12% retirement savings
12% mortgage and HOA
8% student loans
5% car payment/insurance/gas
3% utility bills
20% i have no f#cking clue. crap. lot of bar tabs and dinners, i guess.

9/21/2008 8:02:17 PM

Quote :

"40% taxes"

So you're either doing really well for yourself or getting ass raped by the government.

As for my paycheck...

I think it's about like this:

33% rent
24% utilities
12% gas
12% food
19% whatever/savings/oh noes

I don't have much money at all. College working part time (but making decent money, finally).

9/21/2008 10:23:20 PM

You guys realize he said net?

9/21/2008 10:55:24 PM

^poker. 100%.

9/22/2008 12:57:28 AM

hey jonny, where does the other 25% go?

9/23/2008 10:48:10 AM

how about doing well AND getting ass raped?

anyhow, the math was just easier from a gross standpoint. i really haven't put together a budget, and probably should. especially since i'm pissing away about 20% of what i earn.

9/23/2008 11:02:37 AM

20% mortgage
5% home equity loan
15% car & insurance
15% utilities
15% savings (not including 401k)
5% food + gas

25% debt (majority of rest goes toward debt)

9/24/2008 12:33:08 AM

Hmm.. this is interesting

I have made 4000 this month, here's the break down

960 - rent (3 months) 24.5% - NORMALLY it would be 7.5%
250 - Jeep 6.25%
164 - Jeep insurance (2 months) 4% NORMALLY it would be more like 2%
225 - cell (2 months) 5% NORMALLY it would be more like 3%
400 - CC 10%
600 - tires 15% NORMALLY, this happens every 3 years
480 - gas 12% Holy fuck

the rest on food, panthers, and going to ATL twice and a wedding in VA. I'll probably save a good 15% of this by not going anywhere for wedding activities

9/24/2008 2:51:21 AM

Way too much - Other shit.
Not even close to enough - me.

9/24/2008 8:39:45 AM

100% - Beer.

9/24/2008 10:22:36 AM

^^^ you clear nearly 50k and only pay 320/month in rent? thats impressive!

9/24/2008 10:26:10 AM

mortgage + hoa + property taxes= 38%
groceries, shopping, bars, other random bullshit = 25.5%
savings = 15%
cable/cell/avg. power/other utilities = 9%
miscelaneous membership fees, etc (gym, netflix, other) = 6%
car insurance / homeowners = 4%
gasoline = 2.5%


now if i can just convince msyelf to drop that bar/shopping habits a little bit i plan to trade in the acura and get a 3 series.



[Edited on September 24, 2008 at 11:24 AM. Reason : e]

9/24/2008 11:12:02 AM

does savings include 401k ??

[Edited on September 24, 2008 at 11:33 AM. Reason : brain fart]

9/24/2008 11:32:54 AM

Quote :

"How does your Net paycheck break down in terms of percentages?"

9/24/2008 11:41:13 AM

didn't read net.. srry... i'm like damn i give 20% away before i touch shit...

9/24/2008 11:45:37 AM

Quote :

"does savings include 401k ?? "

i think this has been answered but no.

9/24/2008 2:30:50 PM

last year:

19% mortgage and home related
25% food, gas, clothing
3% insurance
2% memberships
13% charity
10% vacations
5% gifts
17% savings
6% misc

9/25/2008 7:35:22 PM

i make enough money that i don't care what percentage goes to what

dolla dolla bill yall

[Edited on September 25, 2008 at 7:51 PM. Reason : .]

9/25/2008 7:50:41 PM

Month		
Rent	17.2%	
Car	15.9%	
College Loan	7.7%	
Car Insurance	6.1%	
Cell Phone	2.9%	
Gas	5.6%	
Circuit City	3.1%	
Mattress King	4.7%	
Cable	1.3%	
Utilities	1.7%	
Other	33.6%	
		
	66.4%	used

9/25/2008 8:16:12 PM

Mortgage- 50%
Food- 20%
Gas (car)- 20%
Entertainment- 10%-20%

Yes, that is more than 100%, I go into savings frequently. I am not good with the whole crappy pay of a grad student TA in a small department.

9/28/2008 3:40:19 PM

synapse, quit posting last year due to MBA, wedding planning, and fiancee/wife living 3.5 hours from me. MBA done, now married, and wife is living with me in Morrisville, so actually have some time to enjoy life. (And yes TWW, I would like a cookie, thank you).

Yup, as David was saying, I was going for Net, not Gross. You can throw in all sorts of complications (401k, IRA, HSA, IRS, and more fun acronyms) which can change the amount significantly between Net and Gross. I was curious how folks spend their money once it hits their pockets. And, how budgets differed for those with a significant amount of Credit Card / Student loan debt and those without. Interesting breakdowns so far.

And, to answer your question, I track/update a custom spreadsheet as most of my accounts are accessible online. Only account which is different is the short-term savings; put that into a higher-yield account. Monthly regular bills autodraft out of checking for hassle-free. Have a BP Credit Card for gas/groceries/etc. variable expenses. Pay off the card every month ... think I've gained $500+ in gas cards from it since I opened it about a year ago, and not a penny of finance charges.

[Edited on October 4, 2008 at 11:15 AM. Reason : .]

10/4/2008 10:56:24 AM

bump

3/9/2009 9:58:20 AM