The VOT MONTHLY EXPENSES threaD!
 

I'm still in school but will be graduating soon. I did a estimate of how would I spend all my money.

Occupation: Electrical Engineer
Salary: $55,000 (average)
Salary after tax: $42,000
Monthly Pay: $3500

Rent: $1500
Car payment: $400
Car insurance: $250
Gas: $200
Internet/Cellphone: $100
Food: $600
Everyday stuff: $100
Monthly saving: $100
----------------------------
Monthly expense: $3250

Money left over for cloths, toys, entertainment, partying... : $250 (thats not enough)

55grand seems alot but after a quick estimate I will still be pretty poor living on paycheck to paycheck if I want to sustain any kind of ok life style.

How does everyone here spend their salary or will be spending their salary?

$1700-1800/month currently
gas: $80-120/month
food: $50-100/month(including alcohol on weekends)
misc: $50-200/month

still got quite a bit saved. no bills to pay, no car payments, no car insurance, etc.

Rent: 800
car: bought so helped alot
insurance: 180
gas: 120
food: 200-300

yea.... its hard but actually having a gf helps....

Eating your own jizz as a source of protein saves a bundle...

Or so I hear.

Keep this thread clean and jizzm free please.

your food estimate sounds a little high..

if you don't plan to cook at all then maybe.. but if you do cook, probably only half of that

and are you living by yourself?
perhaps you could rent some place that cost a bit less?

if it were up to me.. and i'm living alone, i would rent like a downstairs one bedroom suite of one of those newer to 20 year old vancouver houses.. which is around 700 or 800 bucks a month max at the moment

6 hundo on food is super high, unless you eat like an absolute king (around $400 for me), and are including sport supplements in that number... or your expenses from dining out

what job are you doing and what company?

hm.. i'm doing an electrical engineering degree right now... I do need some tips on what to aim for..

what exactly is this thread for? you want us to post how much we all make and how we spend it? lol.

in that case, i don't' make much. and i spend all of it.

^
I think he wants us to comment on his way of spending his earning..
as in if he is heading in the right direction

Maybe you should cut down on the rent.
1500 a month for rent on that salary is a bit excessive.
You can easily find a nice apartment to rent for 1100 and that 400 you can put away
each month.

Werd.

thats pretty good...
could try to find a new place to stay for lower rent??
everyday stuff.. as in?? dont think ull spend 100bucks a day since work should b keeping you busy
food is about right if you have a GF...
iuno man, kinda hard to cut down sometimes.

$600 for food ? is that groceries and eating out ?

my gf and I spend about $300 a month on groceries and eating out. You must eat ALOT

My expenses

Rent :$300
Groceries :$200
MSP: $54.00
Cell Phone: $55.00
Gas :$100
Car: Paid Off

I have about $1000 a month disposable income and I usally save about $700 of it. I keep a record of all my money expenses/allowances/income on a spreadsheet so I know exactly what I spent my money on :)

how do you know car insurance is going to be $250?
and car payment is $400?

unless you're already financing/leasing a car, you're not a roadstar...

hm.. maybe start off life with a honda or toyota?
insurance won't be $250 for a civic/corolla unless you have a messed up record.

on top of this.. civic and corolla are cheap on gas!

I mean.. if you're getting your life together, I don't think it's a smart idea to buy a really nice and powerful car.. unless you're living with your parents.

Rent and food are a bit high. Even if you live downtown, there's plenty of places you can rent around 1100 a month. At 600 for food, it sounds like you're gonna be eating out every day and never cooking at home.

For me I have the following per month:
Salary $3300

Mortgage $1100
Car & Home Insurance $170
Food $400
Gas $80
Utilities/Strata $220
Medical $54
Phone/Cable/Cell $150
RRSP's $200
Entertainment $150

I'm assuming since you're in school and graduating soon that you haven't started this level of spending yet and are able to adjust your spending..

seriously, your rent and your food are way too high. If you cut your target rent down to 1000 a month, and took your food bill down to 300 a month (which is doable if you do some eating at home)... then you're saving an extra 800 a month, and you can increase your savings by that much more...

100 a month for that level of income really doesn't seem like that much... You should really be trying to save up at LEAST 100 a week...

Take the 800 a month you've saved by cutting rent and food, and maybe add 300 to your entertainment expenses, and add 500 to your savings, and you'll be sitting happy :)

$600 for food is high, unless it includes eating out (and that's a fair bit of eating out).

I would save more - do you want to buy a house some day? What about throwing a little bit of money into your retirement account (I'm dead serious). Try "saving the money first" - say, 10% of your gross, then budgeting beyond that.

As stated, you could probably shave some rent money.

Don't forget:
- heating bill (if applicable)
- home insurance, in case your place gets jacked or burns up
- cable tv if that's your thing

$55k is a pretty damn good salary. You shouldn't be living cheque to cheque on that.

Trim a little from each category:
You're spending 43% of your monthly pay on rent. Cut it down to 34% and save $300.. etc.

Or..

You seem to want a nice place, nice car, log big mileage, and spend $20/day on food right away. Maybe live cheaper until you pay off your car.

But I agree with others about saving money. You have the opportunity to save quite a bit of money that others don't as long as you cut out the fat.

What's "Everyday stuff"?

Salary: $2500
Rent: $0 - live at home..
car/insurance: $1,016
bike: $200
Food: $225
Gas: $200
Debt payment: $500-$800
Cell phone: $40

-toothbrush/toothpaste
-condoms
-pens/papers
-towels
-car detailing products
-etc..

you know what?
I think you forgot to calculate some important variables..

such as electrical bill, and gas bill? unless that is included in the rent..

but with the saving, you won't have enough money when you need it for emergency..
such as vacations, new snow tires, ICBC deductable, tickets, etc. etc..
shits happen all the time, and you need to be prepared to shell out money..

Salary: 2100
Rent: 600
Gas: 250
Ins: 230
Food: live at home
cell: 60
internet: live at home
eat out: 100
random shit: 200

my budget is just coming back around after having to drop 2k on my car to put a new engine in...that fucked me up for a while.

this thread is actually going pretty good. I was a little supprised haha.

ya the amount is just an estimate as I would like to set plans and goals what not before I go out in the real world. and yes I do want a nice place and nice car haha.

$600 for food is including eating out, again, it's estimating.

$1500 rent is assuming a fairly nice one bedroom appartment in downtown including utility bills and what not. I did start researching how paying off a morgage can save me tax and possibily work out better for both investing and living in a nice place. since the housing market is going down right now there is a chance the money saved from my co-op work terms can help me with a down payment of some sort. But owning a home means a good $500 extra a month or so will be added on top for maintainance fee and property tax and etc. I will see how that can fit in to my budget.

btw, orange7 where are you studying EE?