Grocery bill seems quite high for a single person, especially one carrying high interest debt

My grocery budget of $600 is for my wife and I. Also Includes toiletries and food for my dog.

> wife

Sorry, missed that.

Can wife work?

She is not able to work full time at the moment but does side work for small income Monthly. We tend not to budget it since it is sporadic.

Does the haircut happen every month or is that just an example of this month’s?

Well, groceries is the main area you can control. The rest is just small rounding errors effectively. You may be able to cut some of that out but it won't be meaningful. Trimming groceries is likely the only place that you can make meaningful cuts.

try /r/EatCheapAndHealthy

I get it cut once a month. It varies from $50 to $60.

How much debt do you have?

How much dent do you have and what’s the interest rate on it?

Understandable. I plan on having my debt completely paid off by July. That extra money will come in handy. Thanks for the subreddit tip!

The interest rate ranges from 0 to 27% or so. I have about $7000 total and plan on having it paid off completely by July.

About $7000 in debt.

The amounts mostly seem okay, except water. I know this is highly variable by region, but I pay about $50 a quarter in a 2k sq ft home with 3 occupants, nowhere near 75 a month.

Beyond that, I ascribe to the 0 budget mentality. I would recommend adding lines for savings (tax advantaged retirement accounts being the first priority after funding your emergency savings and paying down your high-interest debt) as well as entertainment/travel/leisure/etc.

The entertainment/etc. lines would be rollover. Unused money from one month would go in to an account specific for this/these purposes and any spending on said category should never exceed the rolled over budget. It requires that you pre-fund any trips or leisure activities, avoiding the possibility of funding them at 24.99% annual interest rates.

With this philosophy, your expenditures should equal $3,605. You do lose flexibility, and some will advocate against. You can also create a 'slip' category in there of 5% of your income. This covers overruns in any critical category and any remaining funds here should go in to paying down debt or savings at the close of the month.

Great. That debt should be your #1 priority right now

Thanks. I'll review my water bills and check for any discrepancies.

I'm focused on paying off debt right now so the wife and I have cut out "fun" money until then. I've halted savings contribution until then. Plan on having it paid off completely by July.

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Absolutely. My plan is to have it paid off in full by July.

>focused on paying off debt right now so the wife and I have cut out "fun" money until then

That's fair, but those additional debt payments should added as a line item as well. I would recommend caution in completely removing 'fun' money from your budget as it makes it difficult to follow your budget. One compromise can easily snowball to the point a budget gets ignored outright. Instead of eliminating consider leaving yourself $50 for a date night to allow the flexibility.

There probably isn't a lot that you can cut there. There's a couple of subscriptions, and you can probably get the grocery bill down a little bit. The real killer for your situation is the debt payments. You should have around $700 extra now, based on what you listed. Get the debt paid off, and you'll have $1400-1500 extra each month.

I'd list out your loan/credit card debts from highest interest rate to lowest. Make the minimum payments on all of them except for the one with the highest rate. Put all your extra money towards that debt. Repeat that monthly until it's paid off, then move on to the next highest rate. Do that until the debts are all paid off. That will save you the most money in terms of interest paid.

Thanks for that input. That makes total sense. I would imagine burnout after a month or two. Will look into including this on the budget list.

Oh I know. I felt embarrassed even typing it out. That's almost another rent payment for me. I'm currently in the process of eliminating all of my debt by July. I know this is a killer for me.

That’s great. Is there any expenses you can cut until then to help speed up that process? I’m thinking maybe cut back the haircut to every 2 months, pause the YouTube red? I know it’s small things but every dollar counts with high interest debt

I'm kind of pushing it with the haircut at once a month. I work in a professional setting so I need to stay groomed. As for the subscription, yes I can likely do with holding on for a few months.

Investigate if you can consolidate some of the high interest debt. You may be able to get a lower interest rate which will make paying it down easier.

Currently working the snowball method. I understand this is mathematically incorrect, but it's my habits that got me into debt. So far I've got 2 paid off in January so it's working for me.

Yeah. There's an excitement to creating a budget, the prospect of financial independence from high-interest debt. A honeymoon period if you will. It fades fast and the reality of adhering to it will hit hard. For some people it's a couple of weeks later, for some it's a few months. It almost always hits though.

Knowing it's in the budget makes it a choice not of whether to follow the budget, but how best to allocate that part of the budget.

Making a plan for every dollar and executing it. I appreciate the feedback, truly!

Can wife cut your hair?

Groceries are high. How much is people vs dog?

you should be able to pay for AAA all at once instead of monthly, but i guess it depends on what plan you have. and i would get rid if any streaming service unless youre really passionate about one in particular. you can find almost every single movie and episode online for free by typing in the title of it then adding “watch online free” after it. just download the adblock extension and youll have no problems

I'll be completely honest and apologize for sounding vain, but no. My haircut requires a barber due to the cut and fades.

also regarding the grocery bill, which store do you shop at? because you can save a lot of money by switching to offbrand items or stores like aldi/ruler foods/etc rather than big stores like Trader Joe’s/Target/Kroger etc

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This total also includes out toiletries like toilet paper shampoo washing detergent etc. About $50 is allocated to dog food.

I'm thinking of using my income tax to do this. Pay for my insurance and anything I can yearly to get a discount. As for streaming I can probably cut those out. The only thing I really feel my wife and I use daily is YouTube red as it doubles as music streaming.

Aldi and HEB. I try and go generic as much as I can.

Can you share a BJs or Costco membership w another couple/family? I do! Cheaper for paper products and toiletries.

Just wondering ! Lots of people had spouses cut their hair during the pandemic. But then they were on zoom - don’t know what the back looks like!! 😝

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Oh yes. Lucky a family member let's us use their Sam club card any time

Cancel the lawn service, cut down to 1 streaming service at a time, find a cheaper barber, and eat cheaper foods until you get that debt paid off

I need lawn service as it is part of my lease agreement. I'm not able to cut the grass as I am deathly allergic to pretty much every insect.

A cheaper barber is not possible. I'm already getting a better price as it's family.

I'm shopping Aldi and heb but will try and cut down food if possible.

Streaming, yeah I need to cut that.

Snowball method is a totally valid approach, but you can do both. “Snowball” the lower interest debts but consolidate high interest debts to slow the bleeding.

Family =/= best cost. Plenty of barbers charge less than $60 for a cut.

Hmmm. This is a great hybrid method. Another one I was thinking about is to list the highest payment to the lowest. Pay off debt with the highest payment to free up more money per month to put the next one.

As other has pointed out there may be some areas in which you can squeeze out a few more dollars. Lights is what I would look at depending on the size of your rental. But I just want to tell you good job with your plan of having paid by July. I think $600 a month for 2 people on groceries is pretty good. That is about what my wife and I spend on the two of us. And food can be a good way to enjoy some of the little things.

Any way good job with the budget you outlined, good luck with your endeavor. There may be a few more dollars to squeeze but you already got most of it and this something to recognize and celebrate. You and your wife can achieve this.

Wow. I appreciate your encouraging words!

I'm switching providers when I can to get the best deal on electricity.

We love to make meals at home together so It definitely double as some fun money when we make something new and exciting.

I know most folks are focusing on your debt but do you have any savings? I would set aside a small amount each month for an emergency fund in addition to making (ideally) a bit above your minimum payments so you don’t end up with a surprise expense that ends up putting you back farther in debt.

I have a month's worth of expenses set aside. Any extra money or overtime goes straight to debt payments