Household expenses

[Minami]

Hi all,

i think our household expenses are getting too high (after budgeting) with the arrival of our bundle of joy next month.

Would like to check what is the normal total household expenses that others are budgeting for every month.

We stay alone with a car and a maid and including the coming of baby, if we maintain our current lifestyle, our total household expenses including our personal monthly spendings and annual payment items will come up to $6,000 per month.

This amount covers every single thing including parents' allowance, annual insurance premiums, income tax..etc etc....no savings though.

Thanks for your input.

 

[stonston]

er, wot car u buy? how come ur monthly expenses so exp?

ours is less than $3k/mth....rest is savings....
3k/mth include rental of our temporary plc (waiting for our BTO flat to be ready), maid, car, groceries, insurance, internet, cable TV, handphone bill, utilities, my boi's infant classes, my shopping, etc etc....

for shared items like car, house, baby, maid related expenses, me n hb got a joint acct tt we each contribute equalli every mth then everything giro or nets from tt acct....then e balance of our pay is up to us to save or spend we also have several joint savings plans/accts meant for my son's future

 

[Minami]

Small Jap Car, my monthly expenses also includes car maintenance / change of tyres, insurance, road tax....etc basically as i say, i budget EVERYTHING in including our allowances for spending/entertainments/parents/income tax/annual insurance premiums and even tv license/property tax...etc etc...:001_302:

 

[stonston]

wah...mine also includes everything....for spending....nvr more than $3k/mth...some months (eg CNY n christmas) might be slightly higher....but other than tt is definitely less than $3k/mth....

save when u can, buy wotever is onli necessary, buy in bulk for more savings, stock up during sales, rent movies or get DVDs on whole family watch together, plan ur route well to save on fuel...

tt is how we get abt spending less than 3k a mth

 

[Minami]

stonston,
you and hubby must be very disciplined. My hubby has expensive hobbies, that's why spending a lot of money on his hobbies, on top of that, he doesn't believe in squeezing our budget as he feels that making more money (he is a businessman) is more important then scrimping and savings. I on the other hand, seldom spend on myself.

 

[stonston]

Minami, erm, tink probably tt is e diff...cos my hb believes in saving if possible....then splurge on himself occasionalli (eg crab fest, buy some latest gadget)...

n to splurge on himself, he will use his food money to save...he wont use any of e savings....then bonus is usualli all saved...sometimes he will use part of e money to bring family for holiday or big seafood feast then save e rest....

i'm not very disciplined my hb is
he used to have a very expensive hobby, but after i nag n show him how much $$ he waste, he stopped already....after having baby he realli learn to save alot...partialli cos of his family upbringing...he wants to be able to give his children everything, esp a proper education cos he himself was not entitled to a proper education though his parents could afford it...they keep telling him they got no $$ so cannot let him study...but actualli, they told me they got e money, but dun wanna give to him to study...

btw, my hb is venturing into his own business soon...but he said tt more money earned = more savings for e future...we onli need to spend on wot we need now...
n when he see his frens who earn lesser than him splurge all their pay on fanciful cars n stuff, he will jus luff at them....cos he always tell me, 20-30 years down e road, those pple gotta slog like siao to maintain their expensive lifestyle, which will nvr change cos become habit already....while he can enjoy more time with his family cos he already noe he got adequate savings for the kids....

 

[shopaholic]

Think mine is abt $5k per mth.

Includes car, petrol, season parking (home + offc)
parents' allowances
kids' enrichment classes
Hubby and my daily expenses for lunches, groceries, little things here and there
Mobile phone, utilities, internet and misc bills
Wkend helper's salary
kindergarten school fees + school bus
Outings and eating out with the kids.

The rest are savings.

 

[Minami]

Stonston,

Maybe hubby will change his thinking after baby arrives :001_302: but not hoping too much on that. I do see a little bit of change in mindset recently, positively.

Shopaholic,
Yours is quite on the prudent side too, i must really start to watch our spending closer :shyxxx:

 

[wee_ly]

hmm..... care to share what are considered as expensive hobbies? how expensive is expensive?

thanks

 

[stonston]

hmm..... care to share what are considered as expensive hobbies? how expensive is expensive?

thanks

my husband's one is MOTORCYCLES....when i first knew him, he had 3 motocycles...there is onli 1 of him, y does he need 3? if he was 1 for transport, ok la...so i made him sell of all 3 n downgrade to a cheaper n less maintenance bike....

then, came PHOTOGRAPHY....1 stupid camera already cost $2k+++!!! then still need to buy accesories like lense, flash, tripod, memory card, etc etc...each item can cost anything from $400 to $10k!!!! u say expensive or not?
so i onli allow him to buy the camera, plus 1 set of very essential lense and 1 set of flash....tt's all....if he wants anything more, he gotta save up for it on his own my saving on his own expenses....which he is able to do as long as i keep tight watch on his money....

then came VIDEOGRAPHY....alamak....i onli allowed him to buy a normal home camcorder ($600, i claim $400 from work since i also use e cam for work)...nothing more...if he want professional one, he gotta brush up his skills n be able to generate income from there b4 he can buy the professional one (which costs more than $5k for a very basic model)....

imagine if i let him indulge in his hobbies, how much he would have spent!!!
n hor, i got colleague tt likes photography, every month must buy some new accesory....u noe his photography bag is worth more than $50k (camera plus accesories)....50k is like 1/4 the price of my HDB flat already!!! so my hb also noe his limits la...he noes saving for our future is more impt than all these hobbies...so when he itchy fingers, i will hook him up with my colleague n they will go for photoshoots together n share ideas....tt is more than enough for him la lucky my hb is easy to satisfy

onli this way we will have more savings for the future i calculated, if we keep this up, we should be able to send our son to uni comfortably n retire when we are 62....based on our current pay la...plus inflation...so if we have more kids, we must make sure we get promoted n pay increase alot alot....else, my hb's business venture must churn alot of money to save up for more kids!!

 

[Angelmum]

my husband's one is MOTORCYCLES....
then, came PHOTOGRAPHY....1 stupid camera already cost $2k+++!!! then still need to buy accesories like lense, flash, tripod, memory card, etc .....

HB also loves motor - GOLD WING but cant afford.
He also indulged in cameras - claimed his bro sell 2nd hand cheaply to him (still need $1000 call cheap!!)
After having a girl with special needs, he's more 'tied' cos we needed $$ since we r facing a gloomy future with only one breadwinner.

Right now, we r living with no maid nor car (all along no) and 'surviving' with a take home pay lower den any of u .... cant say how much lah.... Minami's household expenses can let me live very long and comfortably.

 

[stonston]

Angelmum, u r SAHM? I'll repy ur email in a while jus saw it

 

[Angelmum]

Angelmum, u r SAHM? I'll repy ur email in a while jus saw it

Yes! ok no hurry

 

[stonston]

HB also loves motor - GOLD WING but cant afford.
He also indulged in cameras - claimed his bro sell 2nd hand cheaply to him (still need $1000 call cheap!!)
After having a girl with special needs, he's more 'tied' cos we needed $$ since we r facing a gloomy future with only one breadwinner.

Right now, we r living with no maid nor car (all along no) and 'surviving' with a take home pay lower den any of u .... cant say how much lah.... Minami's household expenses can let me live very long and comfortably.

my hb wanted goldwing also...i told him he can buy it if he can afford to pay cash for it...so now he is saving hard!!!

2nd hand cam $1k still very exp!!!

btw, i've emailed u le...with a business proposal to help u earn some income while u r looking after ur kids at home....see if it interests u then u reply me, ya?

if i'm spending like minami's household expenses....then savings will be very very very little....maybe almost none....
businessman got their own tinking...my dad is also like tt...hahah...savings not impt, impt is tt can generate even more income nxt month!

 

[Minami]

That's why! Coz of the huge household expenses, we have no savings! I'm only glad that i managed to stash away some savings of my own, still very pathetic. I told my hubby that if we tell others we have no savings, nobody will believe.

What's with men and their expensive hobbies, my hubby does not only indulge in photography, he also indulge in marine fishes which eats alot into our electrical bills, imagine air con that ons 24 hrs a day for the corals.

 

[Angelmum]

.....he also indulge in marine fishes which eats alot into our electrical bills, imagine air con that ons 24 hrs a day for the corals.

Coral, must be very nice!! Got seahorse?
My gf's HB rent a place just to keep/rear fish.
My HB emptied all the fishes at home 1 yr ago, in case my DD hit hello to fishes too HARD!

 

[Minami]

Coral, must be very nice!! Got seahorse?
My gf's HB rent a place just to keep/rear fish.
My HB emptied all the fishes at home 1 yr ago, in case my DD hit hello to fishes too HARD!

Angelmum,
yes the corals are indeed nice, no sea horses as corals needs wave and seahorses cannot survive with too much waves. Your gf's HB rented a plc just to keep fishes?? Faint!

 

[shopaholic]

Shopaholic,
Yours is quite on the prudent side too, i must really start to watch our spending closer :shyxxx:

Yeah, stimes I dun see myself spending much (though I love shopping) but the monthly expenses still come to that amount.

Put it this way, each family's exps is different as there's a lot of factors affecting it.
Eg. comparing a family of 1 kid to another with 3? If both my kids attend childcare/kindergarten plus enrichment classes, my exps is likely to be higher than another family with 1 kid.
Eg. Family A gives parents $1k/mth while another Family B gives $300 or even lesser?
Eg. Family A chooses a shorter car loan say 6-7 yrs, hence, the monthly repayments seems higher while Family B chooses to repay their car loan over 10 yrs.

For us, no really expensive hobbies. As much as I love to shop, I must watch my budget too. I just buy kdramas to watch if that's an indulgance. Other once-off indulgance in branded bags or gadgets are not included in "household exps".

 

[wee_ly]

ha ha ha.... ok, i have nothing to say about those hobbies of your hubbies. i am a camera freak too!

 

[Angelmum]

Angelmum,
yes the corals are indeed nice, no sea horses as corals needs wave and seahorses cannot survive with too much waves. Your gf's HB rented a plc just to keep fishes?? Faint!

oh no wave, I didnt know ley.