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PUBLISHED: | By Hilary Erickson
Let’s talk about the average monthly expenses for a family of five. This sample budget for family fun will share the average spending for clothing, groceries, etc.
Average Monthly Expenses for Family of Five
I did my original budget post in 2014. I would encourage you to check that post out first as it tells a lot of the history about how budgeting worked (and didn’t work) for us. I was going to re-do the graphic for that post, but then realized the whole post needs updating. So, without further adieu, this is our revised budget as of late.
It is stillfairly similar to the old one, but it is SO important to keep the budgeting discussion open in a marriage. I want my husband happy with the money in each category, and I don’t want us feel “constrained” by the budget, but rather supported so it helps us evaluate wants vs. needs. WE do evaluate the budget once a quarter together, usually over food. 🙂
As an aside, my husband has quit his job and is looking for one. At this point it hasn’t affected our budget all that much. In the areas where it has affected it I will note it.
Bills Budget
Keep in mind that many bills are an average, and our budget has to have some flexibility in the "bill" department -- a big flex is our electricity bill that is about 3X's the amount in the summer, and obviously less in the winter.
- Cell phone 125 (we recently upgraded to Verizon due to a lack of coverage when traveling, and I have been pleased — we do split a Verizon plan with my parents)
- Water/trash 80(on average)
- Internet65 (we have a nice high speed plan and it is necessary for the blog work that I do — also a partial write-off)
- Netflix 10
- Car insurance 85 (we save this monthly and pay the bill every 6 months)
- Electricity 150 (average — I would say it varies between 80-200)
- HOA 38
- Life Insurance 50 (we each pay quarterly, I just took our payment and devided it by 3, we each use different carriers because it was cheaper that way)
- Lunch Money 45(luxury, it could be cut if necessary)
- Health insurance650(this will be the price for all 5 of us on one plan {sigh}— we have a 5.5k deductible HSA plan — I really WISH we could have better coverage, but we really can’t)
Household Money Budget
- Weekly money 360 — we get 80/week. Check out that post, great info on there! In brief, this money pays for all groceries and anything else we need beyond the Costco and other things listed below. Seriously, check out the post about this. This weekly money cateogry is what SAVED us!
- Costco200 (up from 150 — I gave myself a Costco raise after graduation, mostly because we were ALWAYS going over budget there, even when we just bought necessities)
- Gas200 (this went up when Drew was working 1/2 hour away, but it will probably go WAY down if he doesn’t get another job, in the summer it should be pretty low as well as I am the only one working)
- Dating 100
- Clothing/Household 100
- Personal Money 100 — this is money we each get out at the beginnig of the month that the other has no say in how we spend it. The 200 bucks between this and dating is WAY cheaper than a lawyer!
If you add all these numbers up plus our mortgage payment our budget is just under $3,600
We also pay 10% of our income in tithing, and we stow a lot of money in savings and in our HSA. In a perfect month I like to make at least 5k. Drew’s salary is really constant, and mine fluctuates quite a lot. For that reason, and because it is safest, we pre-fund each month’s budget with the prior month’s salary. Be sure to check that post out also!
I should also add that I am extremely debt-adverse. While I disagree with Dave Ramsey on a few things, I do agree that it is not our best choice to carry a debt balance and investing that money instead. We have paid off debts and invested thereafter. Our only current debt right now is our mortgage payment. Our cars are losers, and we are getting to the point that the mechanic bill will be more than a car payment, but we’re not there yet. We are EXTREMELY lucky to be this way. I am well aware it’s not possible in many situations.
We also have other savings accounts that pay for family fun (vacations) and any home/car improvements. You can read about those and how we use our “extra” money in this post.
Anyway, that’s our budget. Every family is different. Everyone prioritizes differently. We have a fairly large date budget as compared to the rest of my budget, and that’s a choice we’ve made. You’ll make choices too. 🙂
If you want to take away the “mistique” of family budgeting, be sure to sign up for my newsletter for very DOABLE tips to keep your family in the black!
I also have a post with an example on how to budget right here!
FYI, this post was written in 2015, but has been updated
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