what % of your $ is spent on your home?

Me and my nerdy self finally sat down to do something I've wanted to accomplish for a while. And since the internet provides a to share personal information without feeling like it's crossing any boundaries AND because it might help someone else out, ya'll get to see my figures. :-)

This provides a break down of our continueally evolving budget catagories and the percentage of monthly income we delegate (notice I said "delegate" not actually "spend") in each. Give yours a whirl and see what you get!

The math is pretty straight forward. Take how much you pay each month for mortgage, let's say... $850 divide it by your total monthly take home let's say... $3000. Then multiply that figure by 100 to make it a percentage. So for my example here:
850/3000*100
this couple spends 28.3% of their monthly budget on their mortgage.

Here's what I discovered today:
tithing/fast offering/charities                                                     13.4
mortgage/home insurance/taxes                                               24.4
extra to pay off principle                                                           1.6

phones                                                                                     2.5
health ins.                                                                                 8.8
AAA membership                                                                     0.4
Car ins.                                                                                    2.1
Spending money                                                                       3.6
(clothing, fast food, anything extra for the individual)
Internet                                                                                     1.6
(currently less since I called about changing to another company)
Home gas                                                                                 2.1
Utilities                                                                                     4.6
(we aren’t that extravagant, Salem City has high utility charges)
Preschool                                                                                 2.3
Car registration                                                                         0.6
Christmas gifts                                                                          0.4
Date night (when it happens)                                                   1.4
Gas for cars                                                                              5.3
Food                                                                                        8.5
Other                                                                                      14.5
(toiletries, car repairs, redbox, art supplies[Aaron])
Savings                                                                                    1.9       

"AAA membership," you laugh. But let me tell you, not budgeting that in makes for a great big surprise every May! A friend of mine makes a yearly budget. I thought she was crazy, but now I get it. Think about Christmas and birthday gifts. Do you save for those? If you don't and if you are on a tight budget, you either go without giving, scrimp by the rest of that month or go over budget! So this year - it is my first year doing it - I budgeted for Christmas. Not much (obviously) about the same I budget for AAA membership apparently. :-) So, um, don't be surprised if they are homemade again this year. :-) 


Breaking things down this way puts your budget into a different perspective than just using dollar figures. Take my above example of a $850 mortgage payment on a $3000/month take home. Telling yourself that $850 for the chance to live in a nice home, safe neighborhood and 2-car garage isn't so bad is probably true. But if you only bring home $3000/month you are spending nearly one-third of your expendable income on your home! Living is likely to be a large expense but think of it like this: if you lose your income or it becomes reduced, your ability to make those house payments each month become more and more jeapordized with each percentage increase. It looks like 25% is suggested as a comfortable number. 


Notice what isn't in my list up there? Retirement. Notice what is barely peaking its tiny head through? Savings. I think about this a lot, but at the moment, what you see is about as well as we can do. Here's to praying that we have no major catastrophe before my hubby graduates and is able to find meaningful employment.

Now I am by no means an expert. I know some of you know far more than I do. So please, feel free to comment below.

Thank you and have a nice day. :-)