Mr. Money Mustache was right when he said it’s difficult to expose yourself financially to the entire internet. I’ve already done so on the MMM forum so it’s a little easier now, but still nerve wracking. This post will list the details of our financial situation. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Hint: There is very little “good”.
It is important to note that this is our “starting” expense report. This does not include the changes we are making in our budget to become a frugal family. We are drastically cutting our food related expenses which currently come out to around $1,700 per month. Our goal is to get it down to around $700 per month. A $1,000 savings.
Other expenses, such as the car loan, only have 9 months remaining before it is paid off completely. Once this is paid off we will have an extra $393 per month to put toward bills.
We have also applied for New York State’s STAR program which should give us approximately $750 in tax rebate next year. A savings of $62 per month.
It’s easy to see how these things add up. Simply reducing our groceries, paying off our car, and applying for STAR will net us an additional $1,455 per month that can be spent on paying back debt.
Our monthly expenses
With that being said, here is it is. All of our financials, listed below. I will cross items off on this chart as we pay them off, but will keep the original balances in place – for reference purposes later on.
Breakdown of mortgage payment: Principal and interest $908.86 Assets: Primary home – Owe $164,717, worth $175k Liabilities: Income tax – $40k NET WORTH: $0 |
Looking forward to the progress you will be making here. Groceries and eating out are two very obvious categories that can be easily cut dramatically. We are not frugal and spend on quality food, and I think we end up around $500-600/month on groceries for a family of three. Good luck!