

The average person spends $60 per month on personal grooming expenditures.

The average monthly cost for personal care products and services ranges by individual, but haircuts, soap, toothpaste and other essential items all add up and should be included in your monthly expense budget. Department of Labor, and you’ll probably want to include personal grooming costs as well as any dry cleaning in this budget category. household spends $120 per month on clothing, according to the U.S. If you opt for insurance, be sure to build your monthly pet insurance cost into your monthly expense list. For $14 to $98 a month in premiums, you may be able to head off a big vet bill. The average monthly cost of pet insurance is $48.78 for dogs and $29.16 for cats. You might also want to include something for pet grooming expenses and other care costs, like treats. It costs $20 to $60 per month to feed a dog, but you may need to spend more if your pet requires a special diet. Adding room in your monthly expense tracker for school and childcare expenses is key to a successful and realistic budget. But even if you send your children to public school, you’ll need money for various fees, school supplies, and occasional school trips. Once your children are of school age, you may need to account for private-school tuition. Check your local childcare options to decide how you might need to adjust your plan. That’s a huge range, and these are just averages. Monthly childcare costs range from $401 per month in Mississippi to $1,886 in Washington, D.C. The average cell phone bill runs from $35 to $140 for a family plan, but you could spend as little as $9.99 a month if you only need basic service with no data. You might be able to lower the average monthly cost of your utilities by foregoing cable and opting for streaming services with basic internet instead. Hawaiians pay the most for their utilities, at $731 per month.

Idaho residents pay the least for their utility costs-heat, gas, water, electric, cable, and internet-at $344 per month, according to. Be sure to calculate your household’s weekly grocery trip costs and restaurant expenses to create an achievable monthly food and grocery budget for you and your family. If you’re planning something big like a week-long vacation, cross-country drive, or overseas trip, consider creating a separate budget for that expense and saving up for it in advance.Įveryone has to eat-and most households spend an average of $610 on monthly groceries and eating out. Travel expenses include things like weekend getaways, visiting family, traveling for work, or anything that goes beyond your usual expenses with things like plane tickets, hotel stays, and rental car costs. If you build that option into your monthly expense spreadsheet, saving enough each month to pay for your insurance up front, you’ll come out ahead in the long run. On the other hand, an older car might need a higher budget to cover the costs of maintenance.Īlso, most car insurance plans let you save money if you pay for a full six months in advance. If you don’t have a car payment, you might include less for transportation in your monthly expense budget. This should include all your regular expenses of commuting and just getting around town. Transportation is the second-largest budget item for most people, with average monthly expenses of about $819, including car payments, gasoline, and insurance. (The numbers that follow in this article are based on Department of Labor data unless another source is cited.) 2. Move to California, and that one-bedroom apartment will set you back $2,670. In 2021, the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Kansas was reported at $1,065. Rent varies in a similar way based on where you live geographically. A 15-year loan for the same amount at 2.79% interest would cost $2,296 per month. Assuming a national average loan size of just over $245,000, a 30-year loan at 3.29% interest would cost $1,700 per month. When it comes to a home loan, interest rates and the length of the mortgage also have a powerful effect on your monthly mortgage payments. Cost-of-living calculators can help you adjust your budget estimates based on your location. For example, the median home value in 2018 was $328,200 in New Jersey, but $140,100 in Ohio. Housing and rental costs will vary significantly depending on where you live. 20 Common Monthly Expenses to Include in Your Budget 1. To help you get started, we’ve assembled a list of 20 common things to include in a monthly budget, along with an average amount for each one that you can use as an initial benchmark. Underestimating or missing an expense can throw your whole spending strategy off balance, so it’s a good idea to explore some budgeting norms. Whether you’re creating a new monthly budget or refreshing an old one, you’ve probably noticed how important (and difficult) it is to get your monthly expenses right.
