So my boyfriend (24M) and I (24F) have been together for six years now, and we have never had financial issues until this year. The BF is a construction supervisor and makes a little under $40,000 yearly, for the last six years I've been a retail store manager making $45,000 yearly. Even though it doesn't feel like it because cost of living is so high here, we've always made decent money and have been lucky enough to not have to worry about the paycheck to paycheck life.
Recently, I finally got the courage to quit my job and pursue a college education again. I put up with retail for so long because I was getting paid well enough to always have gas in my tank, to get my $6 Starbucks coffee everyday, and to constantly be spending money at the malls where I worked or have $$ to do things all the time. But retail wasn't what I wanted to do long term, so here we are. When we sat down to discuss life without a second income, on paper it looked doable, and it is doable, but we are struggling with the adjustment (it's been almost two months since I quit my job). Because of my mental health - anxiety, PTSD and more - I know I won't be able to handle a job and school while still putting school first and not dropping out. I tried once when I was 20 and it didn't go well.
So anyways, that leads us to our current quest towards perfecting our frugality. I will be going to school for minimum two years, but I am hoping that the next four years of my life will be focused on school so I can get a better job in the future. We are determined to make this work, so I wanted to lay out our monthly costs and hopefully you guys can give me some much needed advice on FOOD. Food seems to be the expense we are struggling the most with, trying to shrink our monthly food budget to make room for other things and potentially have/find some "fun" money in our budget like we used to. The list of things we pay for monthly is something we currently cannot change - once our lease is up we are looking into moving to reduce the amount we spend on rent, but that option and the option to cut our bills won't come until October.
Here it is:
Rent - $1450
Electric - $120
Internet - $95
Renter's Insurance - $15
Phone Bill - $250
Gas - $100
Medication - $400
Outgoing monthly costs - $2450 approx
Monthly income on one paycheck - $3100 approx
Total leftover - $650
That being said, how much should we be spending on groceries?? We have been trying to manage with $200 a month for groceries but I feel like we always end up spending more and it costs around $300 a month for food. We cook at home every night, I cook M-F and boyfriend cooks on his days off, Saturday and Sunday. We try to stick to cheap meals - tacos, stir fry, lots of rice, etc.
Any advice is greatly appreciated!! Seattle is expensive.
March 17, 2019 at 02:22AM
