Average monthly expenditure on each category

[scabs]

Hey All,

I'm busy working my budget and wanted to find out what the average monthly expenditure on each category people spend.

An example of this would be:

Food at home 12.0%
Alcoholic beverages 1.0%
Total food and drink 13.0%
Housing 32.9%
Clothing and services 4.0%
Vehicles 13.0%
Petrol and motor oil 8.0%
TotalTransportation 21.0%
Healthcare 5.9%
Entertainment 6.1%
Personal care products and services 2%
Reading .3%
Miscellaneous 1.5%
Cash contributions 3.4%
Personal insurance and pensions 9.9%

Please can any financial gurus comment on the above model and add any improvements where possible
It would be interesting to see what other people are spending on average per month.

Thanks,
Scabs

 

[scabs]

You want a guru to tell you that you're spending quite a bit more than you make?

Not sure what you mean here...

 

[Scooby_Doo]

The total of all you % is 140% of your salary...

 

[TJ99]

I come to 134%.

So is it 134% of your salary or 134% of expenses because it makes no sense if the second.

 

[Scooby_Doo]

I come to 134%.

So is it 134% of your salary or 134% of expenses because it makes no sense if the second.

Close enough for a Friday morning

 

[Beachless]

You guys are missing the totals...

Edit: or more correctly you are adding "Total food and drink" and "TotalTransportation" to your calculations

 

[TJ99]

You guys are missing the totals...

Edit: or more correctly you are adding "Total food and drink" and "TotalTransportation" to your calculations

Ah so those are totals. Well spotted.

 

[scabs]

Its difficult to give any input without knowing more about your circumstances.

If you are 21 single vs 55 married children etc the answers will be totally different. Stage of life makes a huge difference and there is no right answer as each person's circumstances will be unique

I would say, determine what your financial goals are eg house paid off by age of XX or you want to go overseas every year or you saving for a new car/bigger house etc

Then when you know what you want financially short/medium/longer term start looking if how you currently apply your 100% will assist in achieving those, where are you prepared to cut back

Hope it helps a bit

Thanks for the reply danlr.

I'm 32, have a wife and baby. At the moment I’m just trying to get my "house work" in order before I start adjusting for luxuries, holidays etc. I'm interested in what the users here spend on average for each category.

My budgeting as it stands is, pay mortgage, cars, bills then spend the rest...

EDIT: Sorry i should have mentioned the totals.

 

[Fudzy]

Have you seen this site: https://moneysmart.co.za/

Imports flatfiles from most internet banking sites.

 

[scabs]

Have you seen this site: https://moneysmart.co.za/

Imports flatfiles from most internet banking sites.

Thanks Fudzy, are these guys safe to use?

 

[AniV]

Or try 22Seven. They're pretty awesome too. Very good UI.

 

[Fudzy]

Thanks Fudzy, are these guys safe to use?

Well they don't access your account just import and parse statement exports. Unless you have some really dodgy cash sources I think you're safe

 

[Chevron]

With 22seven you can create a read only banking professional for them to use. So safe.

 

[lucifir]

if you have an android phone, then you can try using the expenza app .... it reads ur smses and allows you to categorise them ... I find it quite handy .... but its still a work in progress

 

[Freaksta]

if you have an android phone, then you can try using the expenza app .... it reads ur smses and allows you to categorise them ... I find it quite handy .... but its still a work in progress

Yea, very good! Also use it!