What’s the one area of your budget...

[mommin]

that you know you could/should be better about but can’t bring yourself to care?

Mine is Amazon. It’s not even a category but I don’t care enough to sort it out so it’s become a category all on its own. So far this credit card cycle I’ve spent $355 plus the $129 annual prime membership. Dude! I still have over a week left before the statement comes.

I know there’s nothing super frivolous so I can’t bring myself to sit down and figure out which charge was for which item. Was it DS2’s new backpack to replace his broken one? DS1’s allergy eye drops? Easter dresses for the DD1 & 2? Was it for personal care? A birthday gift? Cleaning supplies? Who knows.

Also, I would really like them to charge me what it says on my order and not charge me for each item or box of items as they’re sent. My brain would appreciate it if my statement matched my receipts.

[seeyalater52]

Food - both groceries and eating out. During the pandemic it’s gotten kind of out of control and over what we budget but we still aren’t going to stores and have been occupied with other aspects of our life so we aren’t cooking from scratch as much as we should be.

[lilypad1126]

Food for sure. My H does most of the shopping, and he shops sales, but we still spend way more than we need to for just the 2 of us. I just can’t bring myself to really buckle down, since it’s not hurting our bottom line.

Cable and internet. It’s so expensive, but every time I’ve looked into lowering it, the math doesn’t make it worth it so I just keep paying the sky high bill. To be sure, it we were struggling this would be a higher priority, but again, it’s not currently hurting our bottom line, so I’m not stressing over it.

[aspentosh]

Food. We both hate to meal plan, grocery shop, and cook. Years ago we would spend $1000+ and most of it was eating out because we just couldn't get it together. We actually found a personal chef that we now use who provides 75% of our meals. Of course there is a convenience cost to that, but we're spending less than $1000 for her meals, groceries and our occasional eating out to support the local economy now and it's worth every penny. Plus it's all from scratch and so much healthier so win-win.

Clothing. Though this is weird because I sell most of the stuff we outgrow (@@@@@ especially DD) and then use that money for most of what I buy, so not a lot out of our regular checking account. But when you look in our closets we definitely have more than we need. But our closets are small so it's not insane so I KOKO.

[dcn]

Groceries for sure. It’s not outrageous but I don’t shop sales and buy what we want and looks good.

My h subscribed to a coffee bean delivery thing for my bday and it’s frivolous but fun. 5 years ago when money was tighter I probably wouldn’t have indulged $40 a month for coffee beans but now, meh.

Running/bike stuff too - we spend plenty on running shoes, clothes etc but I don’t really blink bc we don’t pay for a gym membership or anything.

[Poppy]

Eating out. Especially pre-pandemic when I would buy lunches out at work.

We have other spendy areas but that's the one I kind of stick my head in the sand about.

[tacokick]

Probably streaming. I’ve never had cable but we have a lot of streaming services especially over the last year. We love movies and tv.

I am good at canceling them if we aren’t watching them and pre-paying for discounts but right now we have Sundance (got the year for $25 but probably won’t renew) Hulu with HBO Max (prepaid Hulu for the year for $55, HBO Max is each month), Britbox ($7/month) Acorn ($6), Lifetime Movies ($20 for the year, won’t renew), MHz ($7), and Netflix streaming and DVD. But we aren’t going anywhere and I often have something on while I work. My French has really improved from watching all these French mysteries in Mhz. We are pretty deliberate and ruthless tv watchers so it works for us. We watch a few shows on each channel year round so it’s hard to cut back.

I subscribe to CBS/Paramount when they offer me a free month or to watch specific shows. I wait until the episodes all air and then subscribe for a month and cancel.

[babsbunny]

Groceries. I also stopped bothering with sales and try to get in and out of kroger as fast as possible. For just us 2, our bill went up 1k in 2020.

On the ridiculous other hand, I am haggling over $100 on getting new carpet in my dining room.

[Roc A Bee]

Just one?? I have many that I could button up but I can afford it so I don’t.

Food- we spend $1100+ a month between groceries and eating out and we only have 2 kids 50% of the time. This also doesn’t count what bf spends out of his account - I’m guessing a couple hundred more.

Streaming/tv- we have direct tv plus HBO, Hulu, Netflix, Prime, and Disney+. We watch a little bit of everything though.

Home decor. I don’t buy lots of clothes, shoes, purses. But I love home decor.

[numbers]

Clothing for myself and the kids. It's a fun hobby and we have plenty of wiggle room. I just don't care.

[Pilsy]

Food, without a doubt.

I don't know that we're spending more now than in the before times, but it was out of control then, too.

[simpsongal]

Streaming and subscription services. They’ve crept up and we need to pick and choose but don’t.

[gt7301b]

Groceries - I think I should really just drop our Costco membership because I am not sure it saves us any money at the end of the day.

[heygrey]

Alcohol. where is mofongo to back me up?

We live in canada and beverages are more expensive across the board. In non-COVID times we hosted a lot and liked to have a decent selection even though our friends also brought drinks to share. Now, we like to have a variety to drink when we want, and we're allowed to host outside so we still have friends over occasionally. Still, I look at our budget and realize that is the most obvious place to cut if we wanted to save more.

[heygrey]

Apr 17, 2021 22:24:39 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Apr 17, 2021 22:17:14 GMT -5 heygrey said:

Alcohol. where is mofongo to back me up?

We live in canada and beverages are more expensive across the board. In non-COVID times we hosted a lot and liked to have a decent selection even though our friends also brought drinks to share. Now, we like to have a variety to drink when we want, and we're allowed to host outside so we still have friends over occasionally. Still, I look at our budget and realize that is the most obvious place to cut if we wanted to save more.

Hahaha, I’m here, drinking some wine as I type. I am still shook by my spending categories from last year lol. But yeah, alcohol and food are huge for us. I think I will go back to just not checking 🤣 🥂 

I prefer craft beer, but if you ever find yourself in British Columbia wine region, happy to offer opinions! I can walk to several amazing wineries. My region is a great spot for wine. 

We set our spending/saving categories and then allow our food/drink budget to fill in the rest. I can't bring myself to care. We aren't shortchanging ourselves elsewhere. Our retirement/e-fund/education savings are on point. so... hold my beer? 

[sadlebred]

Eating out, Takeout, Uber Eats, etc. I've been a bit better about eating out for both nights (Friday & Sat.) on the weekends. It's not much, but it helps.

[brooke77]

Coffee. We get lattes and iced coffees from local cafes about 4 times a week. It’s about $40/week. We have a coffee maker at home and are both WFH so it’s totally unnecessary. I’ll feel better about it when we can start using reusable cups again because the environmental impact is what makes me feel worse than the financial.

[flygirl]

TV -we have cable, Netflix, Hulu, Disney +. Every time I mention canceling now that we’re not on lockdown someone claims they are watching it.

Also insurance. I called one place last year (I think) and didn’t find a better deal, but I see that my homeowners insurance is going up $350 this next year and that was after a $275 hike the previous year.

[dexteroni]

Also Amazon, and for the same reason. We buy food, dog supplies, household necessities, clothes, etc. there in addition to shopping for fun. So our total is ...up there, and I know it contains parts of other budget categories. But I don't have the energy to go through every purchase every month and assign it to the correct category.

Next probably is streaming entertainment. We replaced cable with YouTube TV because it was so much cheaper, but we also have Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Disney, Apple TV, so are we still saving? I don't know and apparently I don't care enough to figure it out or I would. Especially this past year when at-home entertainment is all we have. I did cancel Hulu because we weren't using it, and others might follow suit if we ever get to go out and about again. But for now, I'm hoarding my streaming tv.

[sandandsea]

Amazon and food. We don’t do a good job tracking either category and I’m sure we could cut back a lot. I do keep extra Amazon purchases in my cart (like clothes or shoes for me) for a while to decide if I really want it or not. I guess it keeps us out of Target so maybe it’s not all bad.

[Beeps (WOT?*)]

Food and my discretionary income. I get more than enough to spend/save/etc. but end up mostly on the spend part of the equation. On food, shopping for the heck of it, and so forth. I'm a "toss it in the cart" at Costco and "sure, we can get that little item, and that one too, since it's only a couple bucks, why not?" which can add quite a bit each trip, but since COVID I've cut the number of trips way down. DH is good at the saving, knows how I am at the spending and is fine with it, so with what we're still saving I suppose I can be fine with it as well.

The biggest irregular expense is helping my kids when they ask for or need help. My son just moved and needed help covering something since he'd paid for his wedding and the move, my other son had a plumbing issue just after he'd paid for another home renovation, etc. My "discretionary" covers these types of sudden impulses and expenses but then I have to tighten my belt at Costco for a week or so.

[Cappy]

Gifts for Christmas, Easter, and Birthdays. 

[raangoli]

Pretty much the same as others - food and streaming.

Since the pandemic I've switched to 95% of my groceries coming from Whole Foods because of the curbside pickup. But on the other hand, I feel like I've become more conscious of food waste and have really minimized that.

We also have cable, Hulu, Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon (part of Prime). Then I also have my yearly sub to music from Apple. We don't have many other hobbies esp. the past year so we're fine with it. But it is a bit ridiculous.

[wildrice]

I guess I'd say entertainment, which for me includes going out to eat/breweries, at least in non-pandemic times. We usually try to find ways to make it more affordable (example: buying nosebleed seats at sports/concerts) but it is a high priority for me to say yes to doing as many things as possible, even if it means we save less money as a result.

In the last year it's probably been home stuff, which is new for me because I generally bought very little of it before the pandemic. Between buying a new house and being home all the time, I've spent a small fortune on updating decor, adding/replacing old furniture, and getting our yard/deck usable. I don't think I regret any of it but I do recognize I'm going to have to reign it in at some point, especially given that we will have more entertainment expenses again going forward.

[Accountingcat]

Apr 18, 2021 6:41:06 GMT -5 brooke77 said:

Coffee. We get lattes and iced coffees from local cafes about 4 times a week. It’s about $40/week. We have a coffee maker at home and are both WFH so it’s totally unnecessary. I’ll feel better about it when we can start using reusable cups again because the environmental impact is what makes me feel worse than the financial.

Same. Coffee. I have a very nice Nespresso machine but I'd still rather buy. Now that I WFH, buying coffee is usually my only outing of the day. 

I try to tell myself that it's all okay because I am supporting a locally owned shop but in reality they are more expensive than Starbucks.

[mich1]

My Kindle downloads....

Since the pandemic started, my $30/mo habit has easily doubled , if not more (I refuse to check) and I am downloading more expensive books.

[Deleted]

Shoes

[mcsangel2]

Oh god, this is so embarrassing, but in-app purchases for a game I play on my phone. It is completely terrible and I refuse to actually say how much I've been spending on it. But it's a waste of money and I know it.

Other stuff people have mentioned? Kindle (me) and iTunes (DH) downloads? Absolutely not a waste of money IMO.

Netflix/Prime Video/Hulu/Disney+/Criterion/annual VPN subscription- We do go through periods of not watching anything on one or two of those, and in theory it annoys me to pay for something we aren't using. But DH works for our cable provider so we get our cable and internet for free, so it's hard to argue that $55 a month isn't worth it (DH watches tonnnnns more than I do). But I regularly tell him that if we didn't get cable for free, I wouldn't want to pay for it because it's been several years now since either of us watched anything regularly on it.

[ellipses84]

Gifts for people and @stuff for the kids. I’m a deal hunter and it’s hard for me to pass up something that’s a great deal even if we don’t really need it. Gift giving is my extended family’s love language and I enjoy shopping. I refuse to cut people from the list of people I gift to and I don’t spend a crazy amount but if I find the perfect gift for someone, I’ll spend more than my typical amount. I even buy overpriced cards!

For a long time I felt bad for our grocery costs but I think depending on where you live, $800+ /month for a family of 2-4 is reasonable and it’s still way cheaper than eating out. I try to skip non-necessities if they aren’t a great price, but there’s certain things I won’t buy generic of and our grocery costs are high especially if I factor in Amazon.

[brooke77]

Apr 19, 2021 13:37:55 GMT -5 mich1 said:

My Kindle downloads....

Since the pandemic started, my $30/mo habit has easily doubled , if not more (I refuse to check) and I am downloading more expensive books.

Is your library system good at all? I used to have a terrible Kindle habit too and it was my 2020 resolution to stop. I haven’t bought a book since then. There are so many Kindle books available to borrow through my library exchange. I am in a fairly big area though.