what are some good rules of thumb when it comes to budgeting? pertcentage of net for housing, car, debt, etc?

Question

for instance 2300 a month what should go where?

Answer 1

Pay yourself first! At least 10% of your new income. Put it in your savings account for a rainy day.

Savings = $230 (minimum 10%)
Housing = $920 (up to or about 40%)
Car -ins., payments, DMV, etc. = $460 (up to or about 20%)
Food -groceries = $253 (up to or about 11%)
Debt -bills, credit cards, misc., etc. = $322 (up to or about 15%)
Max personal cash = $92 (up to or about 4%)

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Answer 2

Real estate 1 1/2 years of your gross salary. If you make $30,000 a year you can afford a $45,000 house.

Rent: 25% of your monthly take home gross. So you could rent for $575 a month.

You should have $6900-$13,800 in emergency savings (aka the bank) to tied you over when you get fired or another disaster hits.

10-15% should go to retirement (aka a Roth Ira or 401K plan).

I think a car is 6 months gross. Get a good car that will last you 10-20 years.

Groceries: $50-$100 a week per person

Utilities: $150 a month if you pay all utilities (some renters just pay phone and electric for instance). Add another $100 a month for cable TV, $30 for DSL and $50 for satellite tv.

Car insurance: $1,500 a year or less.

Clothes: 10% of the gross or less at any one time. Wear them out.

Debt: less than 5% of gross on credit cards. You should try to buy the car outright. Buying it used with less than a year on it is about a 25% savings.

Answer 3

Your housing should be no more than 25% of your take home pay. You cars shouldn't be worth more than 50% of your gross.

As far as your debts goes, you should put everything you can towards paying them off.

The best thing you can do is list everything you spend money on and set a budget for those things, and stick to the budget.

Answer 4

Depends on where you live. I can help you out majorly in you live in CA on the central coast or silicon valley. In general, start with your major expenses and go down. Use Quicken, that changed my life seriously. Check with your parents or people you know in your area for how much they spend on electricity, gas, water, garbage, food, etc.

Once you make your first budget, track all your expenses by category and modify the budget as you go to include expenses you forgot to include.

$2300 for a single person

Housing - $1000
Car - $300
Food -$300
Fuel - $100
Auto Insurance - $100
Auto Registration - Varies depending on your car
Auto Service - "
Utilities - $300 (Gas, Water, Garbage, Electricity, Phone, Cell, DSL- Find out exact amounts these will be)
Gifts Given - ?
Entertainment - ?
Spending - ?

Answer 5

Your budget should be based upon your gross income for one, because you are going to pay taxes first before you even get that pay check. 1/3 of your pay should be for housing.