Quote:
Originally Posted by runLOLArun
Monthly
Meat 25/wk 100
Seafood 30/wk 120
Olive Oil 20/month 20
Beer 8/week 32
Wine 15/week 60
Liquor 50/month 50
Vitamins 30/month 30
Detergent 15/month 15
Shampoo/Conditioner 20/month 20
Toothpaste 6/month 6
Mouthwash 12/month 12
Cologne $70 (35/month) 35
I don't believe you could possibly be going through some of these items at the rate you've indicated, but w/e. You're spending too much on all of this. The total for this reduced list, according to the numbers you provided, is $500 / month.
Middle class people with huge credit card debt can't afford to spend that much on meat, seafood, alcohol, and personal care products. My wife and I have a combined income around $70k in D.C., which isn't quite at the level of NYC in cost of living, but it's much closer than the average city in America. We usually spend maybe $5 a week on seafood (we consider fresh salmon a treat) and rarely more than $15 a week on other meat (we've had steak around four times in the last year). Recently we started trying to save more on proteins by learning to make very good curry cheaply, to stretch chicken (we buy whole chickens and break them down) and big bags of frozen shrimp.
As for the alcohol, if those numbers represent four six-packs, four bottles of wine, and one 750-ml bottle of Scotch (this is how I would tend to spend that amount of money), then you're drinking at too high a quality for your budget. If those numbers represent cheaper alcohol, then you're drinking too much quantity for your budget. Either way, you can find a way to reduce the amount that you spend on alcohol.
The personal care stuff... if you really spend $35 / month on cologne, $20 / month on shampoo/conditioner, and $18 / month on toothpaste / mouthwash and $30 / month on vitamins, is it any mystery where your money is going? I get the sense that you have a taste for expensive things that you can't really afford. Some of these things you could just have less often. Others probably need to be cut out completely.