17.02.2025

Which articles of the family budget should stop saving

Recently, all kinds of research, both economic and sociological, have become frequent, the goal of which is to find out what kind of salary people consider worthy of their lives. One of the last such works was carried out by scientists of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, who obtained the following result: the average value of sufficient wages was 65.9 thousand rubles.

And here is another figure: according to official statistics, the average salary in Moscow in 2018 was 81,840 rubles. Much or little; how much money do you need to live in peace?

Periodically, clients come to me, as a psychotherapist and a coach, with something like this: “I am fine, I have enough money, I want to, I don’t know. But they tell me that we should strive for more. Help me to understand”. In this case, they have a completely different level of income. But everyone has enough!

Life is quite interesting: you can earn about 10,000 in the region, you can earn 200,000 in Moscow and be about equally happy. And it often happens that at the end of the month the money runs out regardless of the salary. I am sure that many people have come across this phenomenon: they began to earn more, there was no qualitative leap in life, money also did not start to accumulate.

Our heroes are residents of the capital, an ordinary couple, without children, in a formal marriage, the budget is common. Let’s see what they spend on one person. The task is to understand how much money is needed in order to live at a basic level of comfort, without indulging in anything without luxury. Long-term spending is not considered. And then we will look at what and how to save money. In contrast, it becomes clear whether there is a difference in the level of comfort or not.

Which articles of the family budget should stop saving

Housing – a removable dvushka within the ring, at the subway, repair decent, but no more. We find thousands for 70 what we need. More expensive, we will consider it as a luxury, it is cheaper to search, and repair is usually not very. So, 35,000 housing per person + 2500 standard utilities.

Food. It is difficult to calculate, so I will go the easy way. We are looking at food delivery services – our heroes do not want to cook, – there are about 15–20 thousand at the moment, girls usually eat less… Well, let it be 15. Another dock 5,000 for food outside the house. It is quite modest, once a week to go to a cafe and a couple of times a month to drink coffee. Total 20 000 for food.

Fitness. Let the gym cost 3000 per month, you still have to pay for the coach, this significantly increases the effectiveness of training. Let the coach 2 times a week and 1,500 per lesson, plus the gym itself – a total of 16,500. You can change fitness for any other sport.

Clothing. It is difficult to count, I will trust third-party sources. Stylists say that an average of 60,000 a year comes out, if you don’t take anything particularly expensive. Girls have more clothes, men have more expensive shoes and suits… Let it be, I will believe the professionals. Our calculation is 5,000 per month per person.

Internet and phone 1500.

Medicine – 4000. You can buy insurance, you can pay out of pocket, on average it will be about as insurance.

Entertainment – 10,000. Play the quest, go to the cinema, to the exhibition, to the club. Eat in a restaurant, buy a gift for a visit (and holidays are quite common), alcohol. Since we believe that the heroes do not chic, but do not save at all, we put 10,000.

Transportation – 4000. This is a metro card and a taxi once a week. Machines of our heroes do not – live modestly.

Devices – 4000. It just so happens that the phone, computer, laptop, tablet and other devices become obsolete and break. Need to buy new ones. This amount should be enough to buy is not the most pontovoe, but quite decent. I want the same. (A phone and a laptop cost 30–80 thousand and are bought every 3 years each + a tablet with a desktop one).

Any supplies. Cosmetics, cleaning products, toothpaste, contact lenses, minor expenses for repairs and calling specialists, buying water, replacement filters, air conditioning refills, and so on. 4000 more.

Rest : modestly, 2 times a year for a couple of weeks. 100,000 per trip per person, including on-site costs. Sometimes you can fry on a budget on the beach in Turkey, and sometimes you want to see the Seychelles. We also include all kinds of kebabs, going out of town and hiking. Total 16 000 per month.

Training. Once a quarter, you need to do vocational training, sometimes training, sometimes payment of consultations, or conferences, or something else depending on the type of activity. An average of 25,000 per month is enough.

As a result, about 146,500 rubles are issued per person. Note that there is nothing here but immediate living expenses. No housing purchases, no mortgages, no loans, no car… No investment in the future, except for your own learning. And no pay past. Even our couple does not help parents and they do not have children.

I realize that by this time many readers have already accumulated an internal protest about half the lines from this table: “You can get much cheaper!” Sure you may. Let’s see how you can save money and where it leads to.

Food – buy lower quality products. Or spend more time looking for discounts and optimization. Cook everything yourself. Buy fast carbs. Outside the house do not eat or eat fast food. Already reduced three times, 7000 left.

Housing – let’s cut to odnushki, without repair and far-oh. Will be cheaper. 12 500 with communal.

Fitness? Why is it needed? You can buy dumbbells home. Or an intermediate option: go to the gym, but do not pay the coach. The difference is striking, but the savings are high. We write 0 rubles.

Clothing. Look for sales, deny yourself quality things, often wear “that is not a pity” in everyday life. Have exactly 1 suit and exactly 1 pair of shoes. 500 per month to compensate for the torn.

Medicine – you can not save. You can not buy insurance and pray. With each passing year, prayer will work worse and worse. OMS will solve part of the problems, but the statistics can not be fooled. 4,000.

Learning is, well, easy here. Just delete: there is no money for it. 0

Rest – 2 trips a lot, leave one. And easier. Here, already three times cut. 6000 leave.

Entertainment – here, too, will be reduced every five. Budget need to relax, you can watch a movie at home. 2000

Devices – a computer and a laptop together are not needed, the phone can be over 5000. The article is reduced to a minimum: 500.

Consumables – all the cheapest, and for shoes you can not care at all. 1000 rub. sure enough.

Total: 7,000 + 12,500 + 500 + 4,000 + 6,000 + 2,000 + 500 + 1,000 = 33,500.

What do we observe? If you deny yourself everything, you can decently save. Moreover, each individual reduction looks very logical. Saving. Without much impact on life. And this is with entertainment and vacation! Now compare the quality of life in the first and second case.

There is an effect for which this article was written. In the first case, each specific aspect of life works “as it should”: everything is comfortable, a healthy lifestyle, you live “as you like”; in the second – every day it is necessary to put up with discomfort and solve minor problems. Drive longer, eat worse, check holes on clothes, do not train, etc.

When we think that will change in our life with the growth of earnings, it is easiest to imagine some thing. “I will buy myself an iPhone and fly to the Maldives.” The desire is not bad, but it does not motivate enough to change and work. The main difference is not in the purchase of one material thing. The difference is how it goes every day. Every area of ​​life, just absolutely everything becomes more convenient.

I will note an important point. A car, a mortgage, a child – each such item of expenditure will be 30 thousand per month. Expensive hobby? Third trip a year? Add accordingly. And I would also like to save money for the future – as a safety cushion, as a reserve for the implementation of future projects…

As you can see, a comfortable life in the middle class makes it easy to use a quarter-million wage.

What is the use of these calculations? First, the motivation. Your life will get better from rising incomes. You will be more comfortable day by day. It makes more sense to earn more, not only because “it’s so accepted, it’s obvious,” but because personally your day will be more pleasant. Secondly, if you earn much less and think “now, I will get 20-30–50 thousand more and become king” – set the bar higher. Income will increase by 50,000 – believe me, you will immediately come up with useful expenses. Third, do you have a purpose for which you need money? Began to earn more – do not leave the economy mode. Most save on almost all items, so comfort can be improved for a very long time. Perhaps more profitable to postpone. For example, on the same mortgage.

Oh yeah, the biggest good. Stop fooling yourself. If you could, you would not save here anywhere. This is not a master’s life and throwing out money “from fat”, it is an ordinary life for your pleasure. If you save – this is a lack of money. So invest in learning. This is the most effective way to increase income in the long run. Am I cutting my own expenses? Yes, it happens. But the only article that I always leave is training. And often I spend on it many times more. Better save on food and on vacation. What I advise you.

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