What do you do with you paycheck
 

As the title says, what do you do with your paycheck/income. Essentially how do you allocate it? I have got serious about saving for retirement this year, and I have been upping my contributions here recently to about 20% of my paycheck. I don't know how long I will be able to do 20% because it is difficult to do that with a 9month old, because every other day we need something for her lol.

I give 10% of my income (my wife's and my combined income) to charity, really been trying to focus on Cancer research/St. Judes, a girl who works with my wife has a 1year old with horrific cancer, she has done 46 weeks straight of Chemo, they have been trying to raise 15k dollars, so we are donating to that again. I have spent a few of our monthly donations helping people fix their cars at our shop, and that eats that budget up quickly.

I save about 10% of our money each month. The rest is paid on bills; mortgage, utilities, 1 car payment, car insurance, etc.

inb4hookersandblow

We use Every Dollar to budget. It's fantastic. And it's free.

Spend it all

**** saving

You could die tomorrow and look at all the money you wasted

ROFL

We typically put some in 401K, some goes to savings, the rest as disposable income and bills.

Might have to adjust some; the wife just put in her two weeks notice at work and doesn't have another job. We'll be OK financially, we'll just have to reign in some of the crap spending and take back some of the savings deposits until she gets something new.

I currently have two kids in college. What money?

Why did she put in her notice before she had another job?

She was miserable. As in calling me multiple days in a row in tears (and she's not a big crier). There comes a point where we decided it was better for her to not have a job than continue to put herself under the daily bullshit she was exposed to. Bad enough we've considered talking to employment attorneys and nearly filed an EEOC complaint.

Yep. Happiness should trump income in cases like that. Life is too short to be miserable because of your job. Hopefully she finds something better soon.

That's one way to look at it.

Another way to look at it is do your best to avoid dying now and later in life, when you'll need your savings.

Also saving now can lead to a better life in the future. What are you going to spend it all on? Booze? Strippers? Expensive entertainment? Fleeting pursuits best taken in moderation.

I keep a running track of my finances across several accounts. On the 10th of every month if I'm up enough I reward myself with a little "cash prize" that goes to whatever the **** I want. Not all of what I saved but maybe a couple hundred bucks, give or take.

Find a happy middle ground.

Hopefully. She's currently in "anything is better than nothing" mode, so she's applying everywhere. I'm actually kind of encouraging her to shift gears and try for something she'd enjoy. She's been in retail her whole life, and she's a very talented cake decorator, so I'm trying to get her to focus mainly on that. Bakeries, cupcake places, caterers, etc.

Worth noting that ALL of those flowers are edible and hand-made/colored.

I'm older and no longer have children at home. I am concentrating on retirement, so I am saving more than most. I feel, donating to church or charity is noble, but not at the expense of family. As they say, Charity begins at home. On that point, it is never to early to plan for retirement. You can not save enough for your future.

Hookers and blow.

And Cat Food.