Budget Project Katie Fitch and Sam Douglas Intermediate Algebra Period 1

Transcription

1 Budget Project Katie Fitch and Sam Douglas Intermediate Algebra Period 1

2 My name is Katie Fitch and I am an Education consultant. I earn $65,500 per year. I pay $12,932 in federal taxes and $5,678 in state taxes every year. This means that I earn $3,907 every month after taxes. I live with my boyfriend s name is Sam. Samis a High School math teacher. He earns $42,500 per year. Sam pays $7,182 in federal taxes and $3,608 in state taxes. This means that Sam earns $2,642 per month after taxes. Sam and I have decided that we are going to split our shared expenses with relation to how much we earn. Since I earn more, I m going to pay 60% of our household expenses. Sam will pay 40%. We split: rent, natural gas, electric and cable/internet. Our apartment includes water, sewage and garbage. Our apartment is located at 2046 NW Flanders. It has one bedroom and one bathroom, with is a fine size for us. The rent is $1,325 per month. We chose this apartment listing because it is in the area of town in which we want to live. We want to live near NW 23rd street because of its easy access to restaurants and shops. Living on NW Flanders allows us to have easy access to the Max line (on NW Lovejoy) and there are buses that run frequently in the area. It was important to was to have a secured front door, which this apartment has, and a sizeable kitchen because I enjoy cooking. Finally, this apartment is well within our budget of $1,400/month.

3 Even though Sam and I live in NW, we decided that we want to have a car. We often take trips to the mountain to go snowboarding and Sam loves to surf so we spend most weekends at the beach during the summer. We decided to purchase a brand new 2014 Honda CR-V. With 4-wheel drive and a roof rack, this fits our needs whether we are running to the grocery store or heading up to Mt Hood with the snowboards strapped to the roof. This car had an MSRP of $29,775 but I was able to talk the dealer down to the true market price of $28,251. With the $9,067 I had saved and a great interest rate, I have a monthly car payment of $ This is very reasonable and definitely worth it. Since I ll be the one primarily driving the car to get to work, Sam has decided that he should also have a way of getting around town. He purchased an adult Tri-Met pass for $100 per month and bought a bike on Craigslist on $450. Between the Tri-Met system and his bike, Sam has no trouble getting to and from work and around town. I love to cook so Sam and I dine at home most of the time. We do occasionally go out to dinner or buy lunch from a food cart. Because most of our food money will go to groceries, we ve allotted a total of $982 per month for groceries and $327 for dining out. This represents 15% of our combined incomes for groceries and 5% for going out. Like our other shared expenses, Sam and I will

4 split these costs 40/60, respectively. I owned a dog, Bowser, prior to meeting Sam, so I am responsible for providing food and toys for my dog. Sam is a great help and walks Bowser, but I pay for all of Bowser's expenses. These usually amount to about $150 per month. I also am a member of a yoga studio near our apartment so I pay $104 per month for that membership. Sam also has some individual expenses. He has a membership to 24 Hour Fitness so he can workout on a regular basis and he loves to collect model cars. He has allotted $150 per month to spend on this hobby. Sam and I are both very reasonable spenders and have managed to create budgets that are reasonable for our individual incomes. We have even manage to both save money each month which is great since we ll most likely want to buy a house in the future.

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