What do you do with you paycheck

[El Jefe]

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.

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!

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.

Sounds like an employee I'd like to hire

[Dave Lane]

Anyone that uses budgets is a nitwit. Simply eliminate all expenses possible. Be a compete cheap ass whenever and where ever you can. Don't blow money on anything that normally depreciates.

[Canofbier]

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!

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.

Her work really is lovely! I hope you're successful in convincing her to give it a shot.

[loochy]

Contributions for IRA that I never even see or think about anymore.
Health/dental/vision/life insurance that I never even see or think about anymore.
Taxes that I never even see or think about anymore.

Those 3 things take up about 42% of my income.

My actual take home pay gets split in half - half goes to our joint savings account and half goes to my personal savings account. Mortgage, electric, internet gets paid out of joint. Only things that we agree upon get paid for out of joint. Our personal accounts are free for whatever we want to do, no questions asked. I save most of mine, and my wife saves most of hers too.

[KC_Lee]

I have a monthly budget template that I use for every pay period of every month. Set amounts get pulled via ATM for individual envelopes and monthly savings into EFT account of about 10% per month.

Other than that I know how much I am going to spend and where before the pay period starts. Works out well for me and my family.

[Fire Me Boy!]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

Sounds like an employee I'd like to hire

She was in a really bad position. Thankfully, we're in a financial position that meant I didn't have to tell her to suck it up longer than she already has. We didn't end up going to the attorney, and the EEOC issue is kind of a moot point now that she's leaving anyway.

[ChiTown]

I have never operated on a real budget. We have always lived within our means, so we never saw the need to have a budget. It's worked pretty well thus far in our 23-year Marriage.

As to how I allocate - I don't. I don't have any car payments, I pay off credit cards monthly, we have very manageable mortgage's (two homes), and we don't have expensive habits. I don't save and put away money monthly. I'm self employed, so I max out my SEP IRA once a year, and invest a couple times per year. The rest goes back into my businesses (which has been my best investment).

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Was she salaried FMB? I could see where that would be rough working retail.

[Fire Me Boy!]

Originally Posted by Pasta Giant Meatball

Was she salaried FMB? I could see where that would be rough working retail.

No, hourly.

It really wasn't the retail aspect. She had a direct coworker physically threaten her and management tell her she needed to get along. In another instance, her HR person told her it didn't matter what someone else said to her, it only mattered what she said to him. Her most recent department manager continually dresses her down to the point of demeaning her, once led her (by the ****ing hand) to show her something he didn't like.

And let me be clear before someone suggests she's a bad employee: She's never had anything below a 4 (out of 5) on her performance reviews.

[scho63]

I thought we just had this discussion?

http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=300589

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Yeah tough situation to be in when HR blows it off.

[BigBeauford]

Besides savings and bill paying,I set aside physical money every week I don't eat from our company kitchen cafeteria. It's fun to see it grow, and it's something that society has been trending away from.

[KCUnited]

It gets deposited into my individual checking account after 401k, insurance, and taxes withheld. Same with my wife. We keep a joint savings account at roughly 6 months of monthly expenditures and we split the mortgage each month. After that, I definitely lean spend it within your means on life experiences while you still can. Whatever I have left after hobbies and entertainment, I throw extra at the mortgage and/or home upgrades.

[Jewish Rabbi]

Originally Posted by scho63

I thought we just had this discussion?

http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=300589

Jefe can't resist starting a few humble-brag threads every couple of months and then disappearing.

[BWillie]

I never know how much money I will have each month, but I find myself saving about 20% of it. 30% leisure. The rest I throw 150% extra to my latest house payment. I despise paying interest. I'm sure there are better ways to invest, but paying houses off early has saved me hundreds of thousands.