I am not one of those people who thinks it is tacky to talk about money. So when Mrs. Bee suggested a week or month long spending and budget post, I thought it was a great idea. I tracked our spending during a typical week and also added in our monthly budget. I love seeing how other families budget, and I follow a lot of money advice bloggers on Instagram. I’ve also done quite a bit of freelance writing about finances, and it really is fun for me. This is a week of spending and the monthly budget for a family of four living in the Phoenix, Arizona suburbs.
Saturday
- Festival $22
- Book Club $32
My husband took Ace to an outdoor street fair, where they spent $22 on… stuff. Not exactly sure what. I had book club that night, and it was a restaurant month. We rotate between restaurants, member’s homes, and a community center. This night I spent $32 on a shared appetizer, a veggie burger and fries, a cocktail, and tip.
Book Club Burger
Sunday
- IKEA $20 (shelves)
- IKEA food court $14 (lunch)
- IKEA food stand $3 (ice cream)
We spent most of the day at home, but headed to IKEA mid morning to pick up a shelf I’ve been meaning to buy. The whole family came so that we could get lunch too. IKEA has great vegetarian options! We bought the shelf and a set of bag clips. We also got two frozen yogurt cones on the way out. For lunch we ordered two kids meals, a plate of vegan meatballs, a coffee, a drink, and a piece of cake (my lunch!).
Monday
- Nursery $30.33 (worms and ladybugs)
- Pet food $81 (two month supply)
- Target $16 (gifts)
On Monday and Friday I have both kids while my husband is at work, and I tend to spend more than I would like to keep them entertained. We used to have memberships to local museums and the zoo, but I let them expire when Lou was born, as I was just too overwhelmed to take two kids out alone. Now that she is bigger, we will probably renew them when the summer heat hits. On this day, I needed to get some ladybugs for our preschool garden, and I picked up some worms as well. We had a lot of fun following the outdoor cats around at the nursery. I count that trip as their entertainment! On the way home we stopped at Target so I could browse for some gifts, and we ended up with some cute spring stuff.
Clearance toys for the gift closet, from Target.
The dog food that ships automatically to our house every other month was also charged this day. Our dogs are on a special prescription diet, so we order online to save a bit of money.
Free fun at the nursery!
Tuesday
- Preschool tuition $575
- Yearbook $35
- Tank of gas $49
Preschool tuition is paid automatically and came out this day. I also pre-purchased a yearbook that we will receive in May. On the way home from school pickup I had to fill up the minivan, always so expensive to fill that huge tank!
Wednesday
- Coffee $1.40 (had a gift card for $1.80)
I really needed a coffee on the way home from preschool drop off. I had just under $2 left on my Starbucks card, so I stopped there, and only had to pay $1.40 cash for my giant iced coffee. After school we met friends at the park for a few hours.
Free fun at the park!
Thursday
- Costco $135
- Trader Joe’s $39
- Costco food court $3
- Gas bill $33
- Oil change $37
Thursday is my grocery day. I go to Costco and Trader Joe’s one week, and Fry’s, Sprouts, and Whole Foods the next. I try to shop sales, and will do Target if there are good deals there as well. The food court charge was for a fizzy water and a slice of pizza for Lou and I to share. At Costco, we bought organic sliced cheese, frozen veggie burgers, broccoli, organic carrots, celery, organic blueberries, organic blackberries, applesauce pouches, organic marinara sauce, organic tomato sauce, vegetarian refried beans, frozen root veggies, Noosa yogurt, organic string cheese (to bring to preschool on our snack day), veggie sticks (also for preschool), cherry juice, garlic and jalapeno stuffed olives, and oats. At Trader Joe’s we bought fizzy water, snack foods, dog treats, and fresh flowers for the dining tab
Friday
- Coffee and smoothie $6.50
I heard that the salad place by us now sells organic coffee for $1, so we stopped in on our way home from a park date. Of course, I had to also buy the kids a peanut butter, banana, and oat smoothie to split. Our only money spent this day!
$1 large organic cold brew with cream!
. . . . .
Total for the week is just about $1078, which is about average if you compare it to our monthly budget (below).
Monthly Budget
This is our monthly spending budget. We try to stick within these numbers, and most months we do. But then things happen like last month, when we had a $3200 minivan repair. An extra expense like that comes out of savings, and we have an account just for car expenses. In fact we have ten or so savings accounts so we can see how close we are to our goals (new laptop, vacation, down payment, and so on). Anything left over after this budget goes into one of those savings accounts, or into our “fun money” pool.
I used to be very, very diligent about our spending. We did the Dave Ramsey plan for several years before we had kids, and we tracked every single penny that was spent. Once we moved to the suburbs and could afford to be a bit more lazy about things, I definitely loosened up. At times I wish I hadn’t. Often I consider going back on the Ramsey plan so we can get rid of our student loans as soon as possible. There are definitely places where we could cut spending (like food, even though our spending falls well within the USDA plan for a family of four), but overall, I don’t think we are extravagant in any way.
Housing – $1800 (Rent $1440, Gas Co $30~, Electric $168~, Gardener (varies month to month), Garbage/Water/Sewer $68~, Internet $50~)
Gas – $200
Groceries – $1000 (includes food, eating out, vitamins, supplements, medicines)
Pets – $100 (food, litter, nail trimming, various)
Debts – $500 (student loans, credit card)
Preschool $650 (tuition, extras)
Car Insurance – $92
Health/Life/Disability Insurance – $503
Renter’s Insurance – $29
Household – $500 (cell phones, gym membership, babysitting, dog sitting, gifts, house supplies, clothing, medical co-pays, allowances, and so on)
That adds up to about $5400 per month USD, for a family of four in Gilbert, Arizona. We are a mostly one income family, although I do some freelance work here and there when I have time. I can see all of this changing drastically when I go back to work, probably this fall. Right now our childcare costs are fairly low, but they will likely be four times as much starting in August. I will also likely spend money on things like housecleaning (a twice a year luxury right now) and other services to save time. I will try to come back and do another post on how our budget changes once we are a two income home with two parents working outside of the house!
What kind of budgeter are you? Do you track your weekly or monthly spending using an app or chart, or not at all?
pear / 1565 posts
I love that this is now a series!! I do love budgeting, as we don’t make a ton but live in a very high cost of living area. We are comfortable in our daily lives but have go save up for vacations, etc. I have been using YNAB religiously and it’s been amazing. I obsessively budget daily and love that I can see where every $ goes and more!
nectarine / 2400 posts
What Instagram accounts do you recommend? We’re always trying to tighten up our budget – but having the kids all day makes it hard! I always feel like I need/deserve a coffee then the kids ask for a cake pop etc. on the one hand it adds up – on the other hand it’s a nice treat for everyone
eggplant / 11716 posts
I love budget diaries!
persimmon / 1381 posts
This is really helpful to see, thank you! We are a one income family right now and managing well in my opinion but we want to move in the next year to a bigger house and our mortgage will likely increase by a lot. We definitely need to get better about budgeting before this happens.
clementine / 874 posts
Yes, I think this is a great series. Seeing the spend for a week really helps to put everything in perspective. Some weeks we’re tightfisted and other weeks we go out to eat twice or go to IKEA/Target and spend money we weren’t necessarily intending to. I’ve found that our passes have actually been very helpful to save money because we already have a place to go that is free. Definitely hard to adjust to taking two kids somewhere by yourself though. I’d recommend a carrier for the youngest to make it easier.
grapefruit / 4361 posts
We are a 4 person, two-income WOHM family in a Phoenix suburb, as well
We budget and track every penny, with multiple savings accounts like you (right now we have 5: main, student loans, 10th anniversary, Christmas, and emergency fund). We use Mint.com and an Excel spreadsheet. Budgeting has allowed us to make ends meet and accomplish most of our financial goals.
We are both teachers.
Before the 10% teacher raise, my husband and I took home about $3600 monthly total, together, after tax, pension, and insurance. We spent about $2500-2800 monthly before kids, and used the extra each month to pay student loan debt, save for a house, and travel (National Parks and Motel 6, baby).
Now, after the raise AND plus my husband’s side job, we make about $4600 a month and spend about $3500 a month. The rest goes to savings goals.
Our in-laws babysit the kids for a very low rate. Without them, we’d be much more financially restricted.
Between college for both of us and grad school for me, we had 98,657 in school debt. We’ve paid off 79,728 in principal (not including interest) in 9 years (uuugggghhhhh). We have 18,929 left to go.
nectarine / 2288 posts
We live in Chandler
If you renew your zoo membership during the summer you get 3 months free. We did it last year in July on a rainy day and our membership this year is good through September. You can really only take advantage once but it’s an excellent free 3 months
persimmon / 1345 posts
The real question is how did you only spend $16 at Target?
blogger / grape / 99 posts
@DesertDreams88: those are some impressive payoff numbers!! We are making a verrrrry small dent in our loans right now, but if I go back to teaching in the fall we will dramatically increase this. I have interviewed at several schools, and some provide free preschool, some don’t. If we have to pay for childcare it will be harder. I’m glad you have grandparents around to help!
blogger / grape / 99 posts
@MamaBear87: I will have to try this! Two summers ago we took advantage of the early morning opening hours in the summer. Ace was waking up at 5 each day, and we would be there when the zoo opened at six, home for nap by 9:30. It was great! I’ll definitely renew this summer! And hi, neighbor! We’re on the border of chandler and Gilbert.
blogger / grape / 99 posts
@misolee:
I was only shopping the dollar section clearance, a small miracle!