More than 25% of your income is spent on housing can really affect your financial well-being.

all of it needs to fit into the 25% you set aside for housing expenses. Rent, mortgage, renovation, buying a new couch for the living room,…. If you want to try a few of my savings tips to help you lower your spending, hop on over to this post that includes some of the best ways to save.

I also include cable, internet and phone bills in my utilities category personally and I suggest you do too. Utilities include electricity, water, gas, etc. This really changes your money mindset as well helping you understand that a lot you spend on is unnecessary. No matter what your financial situation is like, someone else’s is probably worse which is why Dave recommends giving 10% to your local charity or church. The budget percentage can help with this because you know when you are coming close to the end of your budget making it easier for you to keep yourself on track. This can be a hard category to keep a tab on for most people since it is pretty easy to add a bar of chocolate or two into your grocery basket when you go to the supermarket. Foodįood budgeting will include any money you spend on takeouts, groceries or going to a restaurant- everything is included. I would suggest putting some energy, time, and money into both. There is a difference between saving (putting aside money bit by bit to see small returns in the long run) and investing (trying to grow your money with conscious and daily efforts with the risk involved). This would mean you could have 5% of your income dedicated to investing instead of simply saving (putting it into a 401(k)). However, I would suggest having a completely separate category for your investments to keep you more on track. You could also include investments in this category which would include things like investing in index funds, dividend investing, value or growth stock investing, etc. The most common savings account you should send your money towards would be an IRA or a 401(k) Saving at least 10% of your income for the future you is a pretty simple one to understand. Now that we know what the recommended budget percentages are let us get into what the categories mean and what they should ideally include: Savings If you are a little more visual with the way you like things, here is a handy pie chart I created. Here is the list of categories you are going to need to budget for according to his system: You can read my full disclosure here.įirst off to get you started, you can use this free budget planner here: Budget Percentage Categoriesĭave has created some of the most common and well-known categories and made a list out of them. Some of the links below are affiliate links. How you can change these percentages to work well for your own financial situation (if needed).Dave Ramsey’s recommended budget percentages.Budget categories you need to attribute your income towards.This is extremely helpful since you are giving yourself a wake-up call if your spending habits for a certain category go well beyond what is necessary. The concept is simple- you set aside a certain percentage of your income (after tax) to every expense category. One of his most well-known financial tips comes in the form of his recommended household budget percentages that serve as a clear outline for families to follow to keep their budget in check. His guidelines work well because they are clear, concise, and can be followed by pretty much anyone. Breaking down the Dave Ramsey Budget Percentagesĭave Ramsey is known online as a personal finance guru whose unparalleled budgeting tips can get anybody’s finances into a better place.

Monthly household budget percentages