2023 Annual Family Budget

Wow, this is SHOCKINGLY similar to our family's set up! We have a two year old and one due in December, we highly prioritize our tithing/giving, and I get paid twice monthly while my husband gets three paychecks twice a year - this is the first budget breakdown I have found that speaks to the nuances of two different pay structures and how to prepared for those extra fun triple paycheck months. Thank you so much! Even our total monthly incomes are within a couple hundred of yours. Now I just need to figure out how to work our numbers so that we also save $26k by the end of the year...haha. Thank you again!

How did you get your groceries so low??? i can’t get under 300 for family of 5 for about 10 days

Thanks. I was going to use a paper tracking, but I like your template, so I'm going to give that a try.

What about groceries? Do you eat organic? I also don’t see anything about health expenses such as supplements, doctor’s visits, etc. Those things are hogging our budget so bad!

Thanks for sharing.

Our goals are to save 15% to retirement and increase our emergency fund from 3 months to 6 months

Hi Marissa! Love your videos! They've helped me so much as I've started to budget more seriously the last couple of months and into the new year.

Quick Q for you. How do you handle refunds and reimbursements? (For example, shopping returns office reimbursements from work each month?) Do you subtract them from the same expense line item? Or do you log the expense like you would any other, and then consider the refund/reimbursements as "earnings" that then cancel out?

Do you use a spreadsheet to calculate how much you spend in each category, or do you use an app that classifies your purchases for you? 😊 your videos have been so helpful for our family!

Just changed to spectrum mobile 30 a line and they use Verizon towers. He works out of town in smalle towns so we decided to use that one but I will definitely have to look into mint!

Have you gotten confirmation on your property taxes? We pay into our escrow as well and got hit with a huge bill and increase in our monthly payment to accommodate a 2k per year increase in our property taxes.

Do you have separate savings accounts for each of your sinking funds? Im always curious about the actual logistics of sinking funds. Thanks!

I'm going to do a budget video with the spreadsheet entirely blacked out.

I started doing an annual budget in 2019 and have LOVED it since then!! Now I do it every year. Best decision

Awesome video Marissa! I have been doing a running balance 12 month budget for over a year now and it's great to see what things look like months down the line. Thanks for sharing.

Such a good video! I need to do this!

Happy New Year!

Hi Marissa! Do you have any tips for creating a 2023 budget when we know we will have a major change in income part of the way through the year but I’m not sure how that will impact our expenses?

Hello! Can you talk more about your dining our expense? $150/month for a fam of 4 seems low, so just wondering how you all manage that

Do you update this after each month ends? I do because I like to see at a glance how much I spend in groceries, utilities, eating out, etc without having to look through each monthly tab. And then at the end of the year, I can see how much I spent in all categories over 12 months. If a new line item is added into monthly budget, then I just add the line into the yearly budget.

Have you shared what percentage you use for retirement?

Consider Mint Mobile for your cell phone. $15 per month, $180 for the year. Unlimited call/text/4G of data/5G if your phone is compatible/hot spot/international calls. It is the EXACT thing I had with Verizon but for $15 a month. Between my husband and I we saved $2,000 on the year JUST from cell phone. Neither of us have noticed a difference and it's been 3 months.

Happy New Year Marissa and family! Best of luck to you on achieving your goals. Here in Idaho we have a first time home buyer savings account that we get a state tax deduction on contributions up to a max. So my goal is to max that out this year again and put anything extra towards down payment savings into my high yield savings account. Hoping to buy probably in 2024.

Aren't you planning to travel for your sister's wedding? Do you already have that saved in your vacation and gifts fund?

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