My wife and I make a combined $109,350 per annum (not including her commission pay). Not more than some, but certainly above average. The tough part though is that we have a very high monthly burn rate – spending close to 90% of our net income each month. I’ve included our monthly budget below (click on spreadsheet).

*Note: This budget does not include our investments/savings.

We spend over 2 times more per month than some couples we know. Granted, most of our friends rent instead of own and condo costs make up 40% of our monthly bills. Nevertheless, we need to slow the bleeding so that we can put more money into our investments/savings.

We plan to make the following changes next month:

• Sell Car 1

• Buy a replacement car for ½ the price of Car 1 – $200/month savings

• Switch to a lower cost Internet/cable package – $20/month savings

• Look into combining auto insurance and condo insurance

• Look into lower cost birth control

Further down the road, we will have the credit cards (0% interest currently) and auto loans paid off. Of course, we also want to sell our condo and get a house in 4-5 years, so that money will be used to help cover the higher housing costs.