Do You Know What Percentages You Spend In Each Category?

OneEyedDiva

OneEyedDiva

SF VIP
Location
New Jersey
I do not want or need to know what your income is. The question is do you know what percentage of your income is spent in the categories shown in or similar to these pie charts? I was curious as to how mine compared to these. As of 2021 mine were:
30% Saving & Investing
30% Charities & Gifts (including monetary..to family members)
22% Housing & Utilities
6% Medical (including Medicare) & RXs
4% Groceries
3% Taxes
5% Everything else

Expense Pie-Chart.jpg

Budget Pie Chart jpg.jpg
 

Alligatorob said:
Very impressive!! I am sure I don't come close to you on either.
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Thank you. As you can see my housing-utility expenses are quite low, as is everything else really. Because of that my income exceeds my expenses, so I have a lot left over to "play" with. More factors are taken into consideration when determining what my obligatory charitable donation will be which is why it's on the high side.
 
We don't track our spending very much. We haven't had any debt in decades, and we live a moderate lifestyle. If we need something, we get it. But, if it's a major purchase, we do some comparison shopping. About our only "waste" is our love of casinos....but with this Covid, our visits have been substantially reduced. The bank/investment accounts continue to grow nicely in case things change in the future.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I do not want or need to know what your income is. The question is do you know what percentage of your income is spent in the categories shown in or similar to these pie charts? I was curious as to how mine compared to these. As of 2021 mine were:
30% Saving & Investing
30% Charities & Gifts (including monetary..to family members)
22% Housing & Utilities
6% Medical (including Medicare) & RXs
4% Groceries
3% Taxes
5% Everything else

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That is an impressive amount being saved or given to charity. I am also impressed by the low amount spent on groceries.
I don’t have a clue as to what my percentages would be.
 
I record my spending in a notebook, but I don't tally my expenses by category.

In the months where my expenses exceed my SS and pension annuity, I instinctively tap the brakes and reduce spending until things level out.

Every few years, I dip into savings and investment income to cover large outlays for things like vehicles, medical, dental, etc...
 
Pecos said:
That is an impressive amount being saved or given to charity. I am also impressed by the low amount spent on groceries.
I don’t have a clue as to what my percentages would be.
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Thank you MDB. I know how to take advantage of grocery bargains. Also, I don't buy red meat and of course, no pork. Plus I am not eating as much as I used to, which wasn't that much to begin with.

@Wren @Aunt Bea @Jules It's easier for me to keep track of the figures because I use a self tallying, categorized spreadsheet. It shows monthly and annual tallies. This spreadsheet has also made it easier for me to figure out what my obligatory charitable donation will be and with some aspects of tax preparation. Here's the template for the spreadsheet I've been using for about 12 years. I just need to tweak the categories a little bit.
https://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/family-budget-planner.html

Don M. said:
We don't track our spending very much. We haven't had any debt in decades, and we live a moderate lifestyle. If we need something, we get it. But, if it's a major purchase, we do some comparison shopping. About our only "waste" is our love of casinos....but with this Covid, our visits have been substantially reduced. The bank/investment accounts continue to grow nicely in case things change in the future.
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Don, the last time you went to a casino were the seats separated more than before COVID and did they have a mask mandate? The only time I go to a casino is when I take the bus to go to my timeshare in Atlantic City. The bus company/casinos give slot credits of between $25 and $30, according to which casino one gets off at. I play that credit , get usually at least half back (once I won $52) and I'm done. I get off at Resorts now because it's just easier to maneuver the casino with luggage. I noticed the last time I was there, they had rescinded the mask mandate, removed the social distancing markers and put the seats back like they were before the pandemic. I wasn't happy about that.
 
Unless everyone lumped their spending into the same categories as you it would be just too much effort to give a comparison. What I can sort of compare is groceries, which for me includes cleaning products and personal care items purchased in grocery stores, yeah and some adult beverages. In our case groceries are closer to 8% of "income".

But if incomes are significantly different your 4% might be the same amount as my 8%. I just don't see the value in comparing percentages, there is no context to it unless you are comparing to people with similar "incomes".
 
Tom52 said:
Unless everyone lumped their spending into the same categories as you it would be just too much effort to give a comparison. What I can sort of compare is groceries, which for me includes cleaning products and personal care items purchased in grocery stores, yeah and some adult beverages. In our case groceries are closer to 8% of "income".

But if incomes are significantly different your 4% might be the same amount as my 8%. I just don't see the value in comparing percentages, there is no context to it unless you are comparing to people with similar "incomes".
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I get your point but the point of this post is not to compare each other's percentages, it's for each individual to have an idea of how their expenditures are divvied up. Some use these pie charts as a guide when making budgets...though not many, I suspect. For instance, I've seen that one shouldn't spend more than 33% of income on mortgage/housing payments. Another "rule of thumb" these days is save 10 - 15% for emergency funds. Again, not many people are doing that (or are able to do that). I never used the pie charts, but when I saw the first chart, since fooling around with numbers is what I like to do, I decided to see what my percentages are like.

@Tish "Yes, I do, thanks to my OCD everything is planned in advance."
I so understand! I never thought of it as being my OCD that causes me to plan my spending in advance (most times 3 months, sometimes up to 6 months) because I've been doing it since I was in my mid 20's, out of necessity. Good for you! :D
 
Our spending is roughly equal to our income (not yet drawing both SS checks or IRA draws). No mortgage, no car loans, no debt and we have a nice cushion. We're conservative in our spending but can buy what we need or want.

At some points in my life I needed to track every penny. Fortunately that's no longer true, nor is it likely to be for the rest of our lives - God willing and the creek don't rise.

What I know about myself is that the more attention I focus on money, the more focused on money I become.
 

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