1/2
In the process of actually trying to stick to a budget for once but in case anyone was wondering how someone can make decent money and still always be “broke”.
I make six figures and I barely float each month. Here’s my shameful spending breakdown of how I got here.
So the travel category is an outlier these past few months because i’ve been planning a 5 day trip to vegas with some friends. Over the past few months I’ve been booking the hotels, event tickets, and flights for all of us and they’ve been paying me back.
Now the food and dining is in fact a shit show. The drill down of it shows I need to A.) stop buying everyone a round of shots at some point in the night and B.) stop grabbing my morning coffee and snacks at gas stations
Start making your own :D
Friends?
Shots for everyone!
Why? You could buy a $10 bottle of vodka or have someone serve your 5 friends one round for $15! 😂
where are you getting a round of 5 vodkas for $15?
Maybe $15 each lol
Wisconsin
A couple bars near me do $3 shots. Thats what I was basing my math on.
Bar near me does 25cent/50cent well shots like 4 days a week😅 can't imagine they're any good, but seems to do the trick for the college students.
Coffee.
Coffee.
Like sock puppets?
This. I fucking love Starbucks or just good coffee in general but getting as many as I wanted a day would have sunk someone in a way better financial position than myself if I decided to get it at a nice coffee shop...so I bought an espresso machine. $500 dollars and a few minutes of my time makes me whatever weird coffee I want without any of the cost. I would have paid that much for coffee alone in a couple months going out. Now I just have a giant yeti mug of fancy coffee that I can sip on all damn day for pennies.
Did you just suggest Starbucks is good coffee? I avoid any chain coffee shop like the plague.
Don’t be a snob. Just because something is popular doesn’t mean it can’t be good. In fact, most things are popular because they’re good. If you can’t find a single thing on the menu at Starbucks that you think tastes good, you have fairly unusual taste or are blinded by bias.
Nah, you don’t go to Starbucks for coffee. It’s for their coffee flavored beverages, idk anyone that unironically likes SB coffee more than other specialty coffee shops
As someone who goes to Starbucks every work day (I get a work budget for food, which I usually spend on Starbucks), I can confidently say I am NOT a coffee person, nor do I know good coffee. I love the myriad of sugary options they have to make the drinks taste like desserts, not coffee! I also love me a pink drink! Racking up those points during the week with my company card to use on the weekend for free drinks is nice, too.
You go to starbucks for consistency and, as an iced coffee drinker, value. It’s six bucks a 32oz cup of iced coffee here, and “craft” coffee shops charge the same for half the volume. I’m not saying I can’t taste the difference, but it’s not double the cost difference.
Id have to agree. The only nice thing about it is its everywhere. And its at least consistently shitty.
Read "liquid sugar" lol
Genuinely. The margins on starting with the barista setup without the espresso machine saves money and lasts multiple times longer than store/café ready-to-drink stuff.
I hope you're just going to Dutch Bros, only coffee worth it's price.
I bought a $60 espresso machine on Amazon and it’s been worth every penny so far. Not that expensive if you’re spending $6-$10 on coffee a day anyways.
Honestly my coffee at home tastes much, much better than anything I can buy from a shop. I can make it exactly how I like.
Unfortunately gas station snacks aren't your problem, I get a biscuit, cigs, snacks and energy drink every morning at gas station, but I make 40k a year and it's budgeted in. I don't say this to put you down, but to encourage you to keep budgeting as you can still enjoy the things you like by budgeting.
For me it’s DoorDash! I work like 13 hr shifts and can’t leave and sometimes when I left in a hurry and didn’t pack lunch I order DoorDash…but when I used to make a habit of it the monthly expense gets ridiculous
Ubereats has been sending out 40% off coupons a lot lately
Wow with 40% off it's only a little under 2x the price of going to the restaurant yourself!
If I were making 40k a year I wouldn't be buying food and drinks at a gas station daily
I think his point is moreso, “if you want that you can have it, just budget for it”
I could understand that take, but I'm debt free and invest 25% for retirement in tax advantaged accounts, and I have an emergency fund. Tbh I get to do what I want, within reason, because I've lived responsibly. Bro makes six figures saying he going to have to cut it out even though he likes it, because he's been irresponsible. It's your choice to live how you enjoy.
Why not buy some of that stuff in bulk and save money yet get the same things
Cause he doesn't want to. He wants it at the gas station.
Hard for them to understand huh, I just like talking to the attendant that's been there forever and enjoy it
"excuse me sir why did you buy that hat when you could have constructed one out of the hide of roadkill for free?" - this subreddit
I’m not trying to tell you how to live life, you do you my guy, but there is no financially reasonable budget that includes daily gas station trips, regardless of the effect on your specific budget.
I stop daily on the way home and get a cold 12oz soda for 70 cents. I only drink one soda a day. If I buy the 12 pack I will probably drink more of them on accident. I like stopping at the store. It’s really cold. Way colder than my refrigerator. If I wanted to drink one on the way home, then I’d have to keep them at work where other people would drink them, or bring one to work every morning. 70 cents ain’t going to break my budget.
I agree with your sentiment though. I eat oatmeal for breakfast and tuna fish for lunch. Dinner at home.
Facts, especially in a money forum
I’m in this situation and sometimes the only thing that gets me out of bed is the promise of a coffee on the way to work.
Some people can live off 40K a year. I live off 75K a year with 4 kids.
I'm at 150k+ and purposely avoid the convenience store.
Damn $300 per month on fast food... thats like a $30 meal, 10 times... Yeah I think you need to learn how to meal prep
That’s $10 a day for fast food that’s not unreasonable
Yea but not when you are also somehow spending $700 a month on groceries
Sure it is, buying fast food everyday or 2 days isn’t a reasonable financial decision, it’s mostly a lazy/emotional one.
Large iced Dunks and a pastry is almost $10. I can totally see banging that out almost daily.
C.) Cook your own meals and stop buying expensive pre-cooked frozen meals and going out. Buy rice, chicken, potatoes, and vegetables.
D.) Put any extra money into investments and retirement to prevent yourself from buying stuff you shouldn't.
As someone whose always made ends meet with less than half of your income, I can tell you that trips to vegas are specifically for the over materialistic consumers to go blow away their money. What you value is what needs to change. Your materialism needs to change (if you want to change).
There are people out there with a million+ in the bank who choose to cook all their meals from scratch at home with their families and drive an old rusty car until the wheels fall off. Just about anyone can learn to cook healthier and better tasting food than most restaurants if they would just take the time to develop such skills which are undervalued in today's world. Youll be eating a lot less commercial sanitizer at home too.
How’s it feel up there on that soapbox?
You spent $4000 this month on travel and dining. You make $6500 a month.
The median individual income in the US is only about $4000 a month, so you're spending a typical person's entire income just on travel and eating out.
Maybe stop doing that.
Nah, that’s too simple and obvious. Gonna need another chart to figure this out.
Yeah I think his best bet is adding MORE colors
Maybe a bar graph followed, by perhaps, a pie graph he bought from a bakery for 47$
Yeah the chart does not help in simplifying things.
You're spending 50$ a day on food!!! Man get some cook books and utensils for 50$. You'd save a grand.
I've made $50 stretch an entire week
I've made 50$ last me a whole month living in another country.
I've made 50$ last me a whole year living in another planet.
I made 50 dollars last my entire life, in another reality.
I lent $50 to my next of kin in another continuity
We feed a family of five for less than $1,000 a month
My grocery bill for the entire week is usually around $65! What is this person eating?
What kind of groceries do you get? My grocery bill each week is $150-$250 depending on how well I wanna eat.
Aldi's and Walmart, mix it with almost no frozen food with a lot of chicken, pork and rice
Buy stuff on sale, don't buy everything name brand, buy in bulk. It's very easy. Family of 4 here eat on about 50-100 $ a week in groceries. It's not hard, just have to pay attention
Edit: spelling
For someone living alone in a high col area it’s more expensive because things go bad fast with only one person and groceries have gotten expensive. With that said it’s very doable to live off $250 a month which is still way better than the $1000 he’s averaging on food
I can see the NYC skyline from my backyard and we still have Aldi around. Freezing stuff helps too.
Regular grocery stores are pretty insane but Aldi has maintained its reasonable pricing.
I almost feel like this has to be a troll post
"Mike Tyson is $40M in debt. He has lions. You need to stop having lions, Mike!"
You're spending 50$ a day on food!!! Man get some cook books and utensils for 50$. You'd save a grand.
$4,000 is about what i spend on food in 6 months for two people
Talkin about "barely floating"
That's $6,500 after taxes. The Median would be a pretax number I imagine. So they are spending what a typical person's Gross income would be.
Also nearly $1k shopping in January... If shopping doesn't include groceries, damn...
I'm pretty sure I spent around the same amount shopping for a family of 4, including groceries.
Literally if he just pretends he’s broke as shit, and keeps the same income, he will have near 10k just by doing that for 2 months.
Op has a choice to make.
Either burn 80% of every dollar you make every month for short thrills here and there.
Or
Save it, and start having real money piling up. It’s real simple make the money. Money makes money and he’s already got a good income. He just has to save himself from splurging.
Never by shots for people you don’t know btw. They don’t care about u
Also 900 in a month on entertainment? That’s like 60 trips to the movies, or like 13 full priced video games. There’s gotta be an expensive hobby in there somewhere, or drugs lol
Op might be beyond normal advice. Buddy has more than just bad habits. This befuddles me. People making “financially stable” money should not struggle with financial stability. Genuinely absurd behavior. People like this need to be studied
I see zero savings, learn to grocery shop and cook food, some entertainment and all travel should be saved up for. Just my 2 cents.
See we grocery shop and cook at home 7-6 nights a week pluuus prize compare to find the lowest prices and at still spend 1200 a month a food. Every week is just enough to get us until the next week lol this does include buying a little extra protein of some type every week to put in our deep freezer but I do not even know how to do less than this. lol
Who’s we? How many people you feeding?
Yeah OP sounds like they’re only supporting themselves
He's not, he's buying shots for everyone at the bar
I think you're right. I think there's also a lag where people are remembering food prices from earlier on versus how expensive things are now pretty much everywhere.
$1,200 a month? Do you have kids? If so I can suggest some cheap ideas for food that is cheap and healthy. Hopefully this helps you!
- Spaghetti with meatballs.
- Peanut butter sandwiches with one or two bananas
- Black bean and cheese burritos with salsa
- Mac and cheese with chicken and broccoli
- Chicken fried rice with mixed vegetables
- Greek yogurt with granola and fruit.
Ok so what do I feed them tomorrow?
I jest, but seriously, kids eat so much… and healthy on a budget can be tough!
We are a family of 6. Me, my wife, and four kids (one being a teenager). We eat pretty healthy and my wife is vgean. We still keep it under $200 a week in groceries. Mostly Aldi and Costco. The ocasional runs to Trader Joes and Publix.
Families must utilize Costco / sams club. Idk how anyone feeds kids without the bulk savings. Plus the cash back at the end of the year is great for Christmas spending
My biggest dirty joy financially is BJs club. Im the type of person to calculate how many pennies per wipe I spend on baby wipes, do the same for diapers canned goods, toothpaste, drink packs etc. So far BJs has been winning everytime over the regular foodshop. We spend more in one go but save so much over time. I literally have like a 2 years supply of toothpaste and idk why it brings me so much joy to know the amount of money I saved on that...
God I miss living in Clearwater. Pubsubs I miss you so much 🤤🥹
Yeah, we are heavy Costco and TJ folks with Harris teeter/publix mixed in.
I would guess we are around $150 a week on groceries with a family of 4, but we also will buy premade meals and such which have a higher cost per person just for convenience.
Lol. Your answer reminded me of my teenage appetite.
Two twists that work well for my toddler: Mac n cheese with ham and peas, and refried bean and cheese quesadilla!
"Just my two cents"
More than he's got.
Over $2000 in shopping and food. Need to dial back if ya can.
I don’t even get how this is possible. I eat out a ton and would have a hard time cracking 500
OP says in a previous comment that he needs to stop buying people rounds of shots for people when he goes out.. makes me think hes still in a party phase. Hard to budget anything when food and dining category doesnt really break down how much of that is really just alcoholic beverages.
Mfs really spending $100 on a third of a $50 dollar bottle of tequila.
A fool and his money are soon parted.
Sounds like you’re eating at taco bell and op is having steak and shots for everyone every night.
whatd you use to make this chart ?
Congress needs this tool too.
Remind me! 5 days
What no. The color scheme is horrible. I can't tell the categories apart.
I would also like to know what tool that is.
It’s a built in tool that comes with old national bank. Unfortunately you can’t get access unless you have a mortgage or account with them
You need to find a new way to track and categorize your expenses other than this. You already know how the bank categorizes your purchases is not always correct. You can go in and change where it has designated each purchase.
Yeah i want to know as well
Is that really 50.00 a day on food?
People really are that dumb lol. I see it at work everyday and they all wonder why they can’t save lmao. If you’re making 50 bucks an hour or more then I wouldn’t say it’s crazy but for folks making 25-30… that’s insane
I make over 50/hr and 50$/day per person is insane.
I go out to eat pretty often + eat a lot of meat and don’t really shop around for prices just buy what I want. Typically spend ~200/week for 2 ppl plus regularly feeding friends/family (just on groceries) another 400/month on going out That’s 1200/month for 2+ and we eat good
$15 lunch, $15 dinner, $15 breakfast maybe or snacks in between.
Here I am eating my cheap meat and veggie meal prep every day for lunch . I know it’s not the cheapest but it’s roughly $2 per mean
I’m even worse lol, it’s very possible and not really hard either sadly, 2 restaurants a day is pretty much double that
Uber eats, between the wife and I can do a $40 lunch and a $50 dinner, and thats if she doesnt do a $20 starbucks run in the morning. Uber Eats makes it very, very, easy to overspend on food.
Doesn’t spending all that money get tiring?
For 5 years after college I was extremely frugal. Alls I did was work and go home to my apartment, in the hopes I could buy a house. Well I bought the house with a 20% down payment after hitting that goal my spending got out of control. My spending on lifestyle nd experiences all come from feeling like I was missing out while saving for my house and lack of major goal. I’ve never been good at saving just to save :/
Unless you're married with 4+ kids, you shouldn't be spending that much money on food.
Spending $1,000 or more on shopping and entertainment combined per month is also obscene. I'd get it if you spend a lot one month for like a computer or something, but this is ridiculous. Definitely something that requires a budget.
Everything else seems fine, but I'm also an inexperienced young adult.
Family of 5 here (3 teenagers). We spend that much money on food.
That’s understandable. But for a single person? Not at all. They need to cut back on the outside food.
Some of this confuses me, maybe you need a more detailed budget. Like how is home changing every month? You should make one for just rent. You need a groceries and a restaurant seperate. The first step to a good budget is truly seeing where your money is going to waste. But yea, you need to probably stop traveling so much and eating out, just from what I can see.
I think they are just going by what the bank guesses and assigns the purchase as, and not correcting it.
Bro spending is crazyyyyyy, you need to put things in auto pay and throw away your cards
“I make six figures but spend like I make seven. Follow me to learn my secrets!”
Not the brightest bulb in the shed
Do you think maybe your entertainment bill is a little high?
Yeah I recently bought concert tickets to a 3 day festival but they’re on a payment plan so for the next few months $119 is gonna automatically get added to my entertainment costs. However it still is in fact ridiculous especially when you consider how much of it is weed. (Entertainment drilldown )
Your weed and Phish bill is your entertainment? Have you considered home growing and listening to records?
Blasphemy. Phish is worth it a weekend or two a year. For some of us, that’s the opportunity to escape our mundane reality.
I’d definitely focus on the food/shopping/weed though. That shit is crazy. My guy is making me feel good about how I’m stretching/saving from $60k/year in a HCOL area.
Let me put it simple… you don’t go to Vegas, you don’t go to music festivals, learn to cook, and that’s it.
Yeah, and cut the weed or you will keep taking this decisions, specially related to food
Hollllyyyyy travel and food batman
you need to learn to cook
Wipe your tears with your 100 dollar bills I guess, rest of us have real problems.
Dude said "I barely float by" while spending an average persons salary on unnecessary stuff ☠️ being broke means you can barely pay for your needs, not you've paid for your needs and then bought 10x the wants anyone else could ask for and then not having money left over
need to cutback food man lol
Whatd you use to make this
What the fuck kind of a category is "shopping"?
December $0 on Gifts :(
Bought em all in November ;)
Wish i made six figures im not even in the yearly salary statistics must be nice to know you make that much its your own fault asking for help you obviously need to cut down on wants and use only on needs
Take it from an old guy. You're sweating the small stuff. The lifetime memories that you will have from the travel and entertainment will be worth it. You'll be 6 feet under in a box with a 6 figure 401k that someone else will travel the world with. Just spend it.
Terrible advice lol. IF that’s true, at least you have something to leave someone. If it’s not, goodluck dying homeless or as a Walmart greeter lol. I personally don’t want to work till I die, and with how much he’s making, alittle sacrificing and he could retire in his 50s and still make a lifetime of memories
You need professional help. Not some redditors opinion. You’re in a position with an income that could establish generational wealth & still live very comfortably. Take advantage of that opportunity.
^THIS
It’s obvious that you need to cut down on food, shopping, entertainment and maybe travel.
That gym membership is too high unless you are buying some super food. Do you use it? Chandler, is that you?
Either you don’t know how to cook, or you’re slowly becoming morbidly obese 💀
How long would you survive if you had to stop working due to injury or illness? Questions like this should drive your will to control your spending and make good investments.
So to provide some more info, i do put into my 401k and every paycheck I put $500 into savings automatically so I do save about $1k/month. And as for the vague categories here’s a deeper breakdown
Easy fix. Just stop eating
I make $248k a year and spend $2900 on mortgage for house on a golf course in CA, utilities, food, car insurance on the tesla, with solar i last $340 true up cause i drive 30k a year... the rest is going to investments and money market paying 5%, yall need a basic financial education... this is depressing.
Not a fan of this chart layout
Yeah it’s some data gore for sure
What program did you use to make this?
Just so you know saying that this is barely staying afloat is insane and a bit shitty since people actually do have financial problems on this sub. You’re spending 1k on food, 1k on shopping, and 1k on entertainment. Like what advice do you want? You know where you’re overspending, half your paycheck goes to fun spending.
User deleted comment
4mo
Barely float, shopping budget of over $500 a month. 🤦♂️
I am glad you see this as shameful. What are you doing to correct it? Clearly what you have been doing is not working.
I make significantly less than you and can’t imagine barely getting by if I made six figures.
Delete all fast food apps since my dumbass spends like crazy because “at least I get points”
stop buying rounds for everyone at the bar
meal prep my lunch instead of eating out
limit fancy restaurants to anniversaries and celebrations
quit weed or only buy from friends instead of the absurd dispensary prices we have here
tell my gf we need to cut down the travel
She’s not your girlfriend, she’s enjoying the ride my guy. 2k on food in a month…I know she “looooooves” you so much big guy. But, sincerely, congrats on being in a place you can blow money like that and not be in a terrible spot. You in Illinois, I’m guessing?
Edit: proof from your own mouth she only wants the money. Anyone else would understand bro: https://www.reddit.com/r/relationship_advice/s/mhSTNKQMeo
Facts, dudes getting rinsed. She likes his wallet. He'd be better just dumping 1K on black every month and letting it ride. At least with gambling, you know its a scam going in.
Bro you spend more on your "Food & Dining" than my Mortgage each month. Idk quite what you are doing but stop doing it. Make your own lunches and drinks, stop offering food to others.. stop eating out as often. That's ridiculous.
You're kind of just an asshole. "Here's how people who make money can be broke, poor me traveling and shopping my money away without a care" eat shit dude.
Jesus christ
Are u not happy, looks like u live a fun life
Most people I know who spend this excessively are doing it because they're unhappy and think it'll make them feel better. And by most people I mean me, for years lol.
How are you making 6 figures as those numbers don't add up. Also definitely need to dial it back. Also don't call it a budget. It's called a spending plan as people have given the term budget a negative connotation to it.
No shame in this. You’re doing great! Go out and earn more! Don’t assume your “six figures” is a lot! After taxes you’re living on 6500 a month! Rent where I am is 2000/month. And I’d love to be paying for one of the houses that rents 6500/month! Hell I’d love to spend 3000/month on food and travel! And still save 5k a month in retirement + savings! Don’t limit yourself by thinking that 100k+ before tax is “a lot of money“ and just cuz you earn that you should be happy enough with it that you stop striving. Humans are meant to grow, like anything else in nature
Food shopping and entertainment are out of control.
Learn how to cook! :-)
Is this you asking for advice or just want to say it out loud, hoping something will change? If it's the former, then you need to cancel that trip and stay home or at least local. All the data and advice you need is right there in front of you. Find other (cheap) ways to have fun.
User deleted comment
4mo
I don’t see where you’re getting six figures from. You make about $80k before tax (unless that’s already included).
I do the same thing. I spent 35 years being poor. I'm almost 40 and going to buckle down for my birthday, but the last few years have been cathartic.
Im 35 and have always been poor. What did you do?
Became a hairdresser.
How is making $6500 a month a six figure income?
That’s gross, my net is about $72k/yr after 401k, insurance, and taxes.
Dam I dont even make more than 800 to 1k a month, wife makes about 1500 a month so combined and if we have any air bnb flips we bring in about 2700. Property tax and mortgage is 365 utilities/bills just under 600 every 3 months.. Gas like 160 a month and food around 140 a month.. The rest we just stash away.
We don't go out/eat out much and only buy what we need, once in a while we treat ourselves. Like First big thing we're doing all year is a cruise in April and we even got that on deal under budget.. 1800 for both of us 7 day cruise to Bermuda.
Since 2018 we've saved up around 25k our house doubled in price over those years so we can sell for a decent profit.
What saves us the most money is we cook and bake everything from scratch, during the grow season we grow all our own fruits and vegetables, we trade produce for meat so we have a nice trade going on with friends.
So many ways to stretch a buck!
Dude… this one hurts. You spend $1000 over my income on food. That’s insane.
How’d you figure that $6,500 x 12 = 6 figures? That said the travel and food spending is insane.
Sadly in a state with insane taxes. Six figures before 401k, benefits, and taxes.
If math is mathing, let’s say your income is 7k/month, that’s only 84k/year… Am I missing like an annual bonus and stuff?
Six figures gross income. After taxes, 401k, and benefits it’s closer to 72k (i live in a state with ridiculous taxes).
Ahh I see! Well keep on the grind bro!
so easy to overspend when you feel flush with cash. making memories and experiencing new things is SUPER addicting. its human nature.
To paraphrase Dave Ramsey, why are you buying stuff you don’t need to impress people you don’t like to live a so called “lifestyle”. Get on a zero based budget where every dollar is accounted for, find an accountability partner who will support you in sticking to your spending plan, and cut the crap already! Vegas is for suckers! Either that or you have an addiction problem with your choice of substance or actions and it will eventually put you in the gutter if not dead. Otherwise quit lying to yourself and using Reddit to beatch about your sad little existence. A lot of millionaires died unhappy and downtrodden because they didn’t know what is important in life.
Where's the six figure income? You're averaging $5400/mo or $65K a year. That's not decent money in most places anymore...
If you need one final donation before you make budget cuts I know a guy….
What’s that app called?
Holy shit how much Uber Eats do you order?
$1000-2000 for FOOD AND DINING? Have you no shame?
Brosef, you can cut down that food bill by 500-700 easily, even with buying shots for your pals
As a color blind person, I have no idea what OP spends their money on!!!
You’re not “barely floating”. You’re blowing it all on dining, shopping, and entertainment. There’s a difference in just scraping by and being shit at budgeting.
You spend too much on fun. But as long as youre enjoying life then fuck it lol
Avwrage of 1500 a month on food and dining and 1000 on travel. Living the life