username7: Alright, I’ll give our approximate annual budget. Hopefully, l’toeles horabim.
Family with 4-6 kids (infant-12), living in Brooklyn, own small house.
Husband works full-time; wife works part-time (both with >or= masters degree).
Total income: approx 100K
Car service (no leased Odessey, no any car)- 1,000
Cleaning help (minimal)- 2,000
Clothing (includes all articles) and shoes- 3,000
Diapers/wipes/cream- 500
Dry cleaners- 800
Electricity- 1,200
Gas (cooking only)- 300
Groceries (includes non-food eg detergent, shampoo)- 12,000
Haircuts (husband & girls’; I do boys’)- 200
Household maint/repairs/heat- 6,000
Medical/dental (gov job includes med & dent ins)- 1,550 (for copays, meds, and portions of bills that ins doesn’t cover)
Metrocard, 1 unlimited- 1,250
Mortgage (including tax & ins)- 22,000
Phones (2 cell, 1 land)- 1,200
Prizes, books, toys- 500
Sholom Bayis (gifts for each other & quality time)- 700
School supplies- 300
Summer vacation (daycamp for some, maybe a family trip)- 5,000
Trips (Chol Hamoed & other- including car service)- 800
Tuition & daycare (including registration & tips)- 35,000
Vitamins (catch the buy-1-get-1-free sales)- 300
Water- 1,500
YeshivaNet (email & requested sites)- 300
Total: $99,400
As you can see, we just break even (after tax refund- tina you were right about us paying very little in taxes).
We tweak our budget annually based on our records from the previous year and our anticipated needs for the coming year. How do we know how much we actually spend? We write everything down. Before unpacking the groceries, I enter the amount spent in my notebook. When we write a check, we enter it in the notebook. Any money spent gets recorded.
Like I said above, we do our very best to live as we should, and Hashem provides for our needs. After all, our needs are from Him, too.