Re: lilac's journal
Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2013 9:38 am
Okay, here's the figures (percentages due to privacy):
Networth change: +17%
Portion of that due to house gaining value: 42%
Portion of net salary saved: 17%
Largest expenses (percentage of net salary):
Renovations/Mtnc: 26.7%
Food: 15.9% (Further broken down: Eating out: 7.1% and Groceries 8.8%)
Childcare: 13.5%
---
75% of the rennovation expense included a new roof, structural repairs and upgrading of our back entrace/untility room (we did some of the work), and landscaping to fix drainage. The other 25% went toward a new A/C system for our upstairs to make it comfortable enough so we don't have to move. My husband is an HVAC guy, so the system was had for cost, and he did the labour himself. I could see us living in that house for another ten years because of that outlay.
Food is obviously a big expense. I buy fresh, out of season fruits and veg anytime we want them, so I don't see our grocery bill going down any time too soon. The dining out bill is down about 15%, which is a good change, but still very very crappy as far as actual dollars go. It's mostly due to my husband working out of a truck and eating out all the time.
Childcare, in dollars, is nearly double what my friends pay. We chose the facility due to proximity to our house and the fact that it had no waiting list. (Too expensive for that!) I can walk our little guy to daycare and then walk to work. If we were to go somewhere cheaper, we would need a second vehicle. Adding up all costs of that, plus the cost of the other daycare, would have us spending the same but instead of a nice walk through our neighbourhood, it would be a shitty commute in a car. (Speaking of car expenses, ours was more than I expected this year. This is due to loss of work vehicle and paid gas, as well as a few tickets/tows and a couple of trips back home.)
Overall, I'm somewhat depressed at our savings rate. At this point, pretty much everything is done in the house that costs a bundle, so our bender on fixing up the house is coming to an end. I predict spending about a quartre of what we spent this year on the house next year, and then after that, just general upkeep. Childcare goes down as our child gets older, so there should be a 10% decrease there too.
This year, we do have some debt because we chose to front load our savings for the year. I'm much better at paying off debt vs saving, so we figured the small interest charge would be worth it. Due to illness, we are breaking even at this point, but mentally, we feel it's better to have it sitting in the savings box then not.
Goals for next year:
Reduce dining out again. Shoot for another 15%
Front load savings again, but three months at a time
Work on 2nd income stream
And finally, I am having troubles feeling good about these successes as they feel like failures when I compaire them to my goals or to others. Something non-monitary to work on this year.
There is also something coming down the pipe job-wise, but I don't want to talk about it until it's official. It's a good thing, but will greatly impact our cashflow. I'm hoping it all works out!
Networth change: +17%
Portion of that due to house gaining value: 42%
Portion of net salary saved: 17%
Largest expenses (percentage of net salary):
Renovations/Mtnc: 26.7%
Food: 15.9% (Further broken down: Eating out: 7.1% and Groceries 8.8%)
Childcare: 13.5%
---
75% of the rennovation expense included a new roof, structural repairs and upgrading of our back entrace/untility room (we did some of the work), and landscaping to fix drainage. The other 25% went toward a new A/C system for our upstairs to make it comfortable enough so we don't have to move. My husband is an HVAC guy, so the system was had for cost, and he did the labour himself. I could see us living in that house for another ten years because of that outlay.
Food is obviously a big expense. I buy fresh, out of season fruits and veg anytime we want them, so I don't see our grocery bill going down any time too soon. The dining out bill is down about 15%, which is a good change, but still very very crappy as far as actual dollars go. It's mostly due to my husband working out of a truck and eating out all the time.
Childcare, in dollars, is nearly double what my friends pay. We chose the facility due to proximity to our house and the fact that it had no waiting list. (Too expensive for that!) I can walk our little guy to daycare and then walk to work. If we were to go somewhere cheaper, we would need a second vehicle. Adding up all costs of that, plus the cost of the other daycare, would have us spending the same but instead of a nice walk through our neighbourhood, it would be a shitty commute in a car. (Speaking of car expenses, ours was more than I expected this year. This is due to loss of work vehicle and paid gas, as well as a few tickets/tows and a couple of trips back home.)
Overall, I'm somewhat depressed at our savings rate. At this point, pretty much everything is done in the house that costs a bundle, so our bender on fixing up the house is coming to an end. I predict spending about a quartre of what we spent this year on the house next year, and then after that, just general upkeep. Childcare goes down as our child gets older, so there should be a 10% decrease there too.
This year, we do have some debt because we chose to front load our savings for the year. I'm much better at paying off debt vs saving, so we figured the small interest charge would be worth it. Due to illness, we are breaking even at this point, but mentally, we feel it's better to have it sitting in the savings box then not.
Goals for next year:
Reduce dining out again. Shoot for another 15%
Front load savings again, but three months at a time
Work on 2nd income stream
And finally, I am having troubles feeling good about these successes as they feel like failures when I compaire them to my goals or to others. Something non-monitary to work on this year.
There is also something coming down the pipe job-wise, but I don't want to talk about it until it's official. It's a good thing, but will greatly impact our cashflow. I'm hoping it all works out!