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Forum
-> Household Management
-> Finances
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amother
OP
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 Sun, Sep 01 2024, 12:28 am
Our money is always disappearing 5 days after getting paid and all we bought was food and diapers.
How and where do we learn to budget?
I feel like we only do basics, I got rid of all cleaning help, paid close to nothing for summer camps/entertainment/ babysitting, we haven't gone on vacation, we haven't gotten any new clothes, haven't hosted guests, shabbos has been basic. And still there's no money. We net $4500 month after rent, tuition, health insurance, 401k, 4 kids ages 7 and down, in Midwestern United States.
Any wise ladies have advice for us?
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amother
Mintcream
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Sun, Sep 01 2024, 12:31 am
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Can you break down for us what your spending is ?
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amother
Skyblue
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Sun, Sep 01 2024, 12:34 am
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Inflation. Money is worth very little.
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amother
Anemone
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Sun, Sep 01 2024, 12:38 am
We have 5 kids, OOT community. I hear you loud and clear. After rent and tuition we're left with 3000k a month to spend
Health insurance, car insurance, food, utilities and anything else we need.
It's impossible to live on that. We're dipping into savings by the thousands each month
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amother
Maize
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Sun, Sep 01 2024, 2:05 am
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Look at every penny. What kind of food do you buy? Can you cut anything back? Buy cheaper diapers?
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amother
Daisy
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Sun, Sep 01 2024, 2:09 am
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I use credit cards and pay for the you need a budget app. It helps me to see where all my money goes.
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mandr
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Sun, Sep 01 2024, 2:13 am
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If you’re left with 4500 a month after your main expenses what’s the problem?
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amother
Mint
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Sun, Sep 01 2024, 7:30 am
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That's a lot of money to not know where it's going. You're saying it was all for foos and diapers? That is quite a lot of food and diapers for a family of your size. Track all your expenses for a month.
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imasinger
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Sun, Sep 01 2024, 7:40 am
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There are good apps for easy tracking.
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Moonlight
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Sun, Sep 01 2024, 8:34 am
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If you are dipping into savings, why are you putting into 401k?
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amother
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Sun, Sep 01 2024, 9:04 am
| Moonlight wrote: | | If you are dipping into savings, why are you putting into 401k? |
I would guess that their employer is matching their contribution.
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HavaNagila
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Sun, Sep 01 2024, 9:28 am
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Which app do you suggest for tracking expenses?
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amother
Feverfew
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Sun, Sep 01 2024, 9:31 am
| amother OP wrote: | Our money is always disappearing 5 days after getting paid and all we bought was food and diapers.
How and where do we learn to budget?
I feel like we only do basics, I got rid of all cleaning help, paid close to nothing for summer camps/entertainment/ babysitting, we haven't gone on vacation, we haven't gotten any new clothes, haven't hosted guests, shabbos has been basic. And still there's no money. We net $4500 month after rent, tuition, health insurance, 401k, 4 kids ages 7 and down, in Midwestern United States.
Any wise ladies have advice for us? |
Is some of it going to gas for the cars?
Are you buying ready coffee and bottled drinks here and there?
Are you being paid weekly and there is one day a week where there is nothing left?
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amother
NeonOrange
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Sun, Sep 01 2024, 9:32 am
Living smarter jewish.
They helped us tremendously.
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mommygirlx2
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Sun, Sep 01 2024, 9:35 am
| amother OP wrote: | Our money is always disappearing 5 days after getting paid and all we bought was food and diapers.
How and where do we learn to budget?
I feel like we only do basics, I got rid of all cleaning help, paid close to nothing for summer camps/entertainment/ babysitting, we haven't gone on vacation, we haven't gotten any new clothes, haven't hosted guests, shabbos has been basic. And still there's no money. We net $4500 month after rent, tuition, health insurance, 401k, 4 kids ages 7 and down, in Midwestern United States.
Any wise ladies have advice for us? |
make an excel sheet with all spending categories and how much you spend on that per month- eg- rent/ mortgage, car payments, tuition, food, clothing, ...literally everything.
you'll see how much youre really spending and where you can cut back or if you really need more income.
I have a great spreadsheet id be happy to share with you if you want to message me.
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Amarante
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Sun, Sep 01 2024, 9:46 am
There is no magic trick or App because they all require - as a first step - that you are track every small amount of money you spend down to the $1.
You do this for at least two weeks in order to get a sense of exactly how your money is disappearing.
Once you do that you can a least start looking at where you can cut spending because they are discretionary item.
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amother
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Sun, Sep 01 2024, 10:44 am
| Amarante wrote: | There is no magic trick or App because they all require - as a first step - that you are track every small amount of money you spend down to the $1.
You do this for at least two weeks in order to get a sense of exactly how your money is disappearing.
Once you do that you can a least start looking at where you can cut spending because they are discretionary item. |
I use the rocket money app for free - I connected my bank accounts to it and all of the charges are automatically filtered into the app and put in categories so you can see how much you spent on groceries, shopping etc in a given month.
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Amarante
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Sun, Sep 01 2024, 10:51 am
| amother Yellow wrote: | | I use the rocket money app for free - I connected my bank accounts to it and all of the charges are automatically filtered into the app and put in categories so you can see how much you spent on groceries, shopping etc in a given month. |
How does it work for cash or checks?
Is this for credit card purchases?
Credit cards are the easiest to track because you have all of the purchases on-line for tracking.
I used Quicken years ago to track tax deductible stuff but for the most part I still had to categorize it when I entered the item in the ledger.
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amother
Calendula
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Sun, Sep 01 2024, 11:21 am
| amother OP wrote: | Our money is always disappearing 5 days after getting paid and all we bought was food and diapers.
How and where do we learn to budget?
I feel like we only do basics, I got rid of all cleaning help, paid close to nothing for summer camps/entertainment/ babysitting, we haven't gone on vacation, we haven't gotten any new clothes, haven't hosted guests, shabbos has been basic. And still there's no money. We net $4500 month after rent, tuition, health insurance, 401k, 4 kids ages 7 and down, in Midwestern United States.
Any wise ladies have advice for us? |
Food, electric/oil/water bills, car insurance, gas, cell phone bill....
Just a few of the many monthly bills that are the norm. Its so so hard.
We use quicken to review and project our budget. So many things come up unexpectedly all the time.
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amother
Hydrangea
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Sun, Sep 01 2024, 11:25 am
| HavaNagila wrote: | | Which app do you suggest for tracking expenses? |
Rocket Money is great.
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