I just worked out that 15% of our spending is for tuition to F's school (and this takes into account the financial aid we receive). I am probably opening up a can of worms discussing this, but I am ok with paying for school. The public schools where we live are not good (there are a few ok elementary schools and everyone asks for a transfer). There are other reasons I won't go into. Trust me - for us and for F, her school is worth every penny.
Anyway, the problem is not paying this tuition, it's being able to save with this large fixed bill as part of our budget. We've done so much to tighten up in other areas in order to save.
We could probably do more.
Our other huge expense is the trip we make to England every other year. If we don't go, F doesn't get to see her grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins. And D doesn't get to see his parents, sister, nephews and niece. I earmark money each month for this expense, and we use the profit (which is not that much) from the rent on our house in Ireland when we are over there so we just have to buy plane tickets (I gather as many credit card travel points as I can to offset the cost).
I feel like rather than some formula, spending is really individual. We buy private school and trips to see D's family because those are priorities for us. And we do without other things some people would think are priorities.
Do you have non-negotiable expenses like this?
Our Budget Priorities - Tuition
July 3rd, 2013 at 01:33 am
July 3rd, 2013 at 04:03 am 1372824207
July 3rd, 2013 at 04:06 pm 1372867618
July 4th, 2013 at 02:00 am 1372903214
English Castle - is your UK trip to see family, too? Where do you go? (My sister in law is in Stroud, mother in law in Essex, father in law in Wycombe... and we go see our good friends, too! It's hard to see everyone when we're there! But - we get to stay free for most of the trip then add on a "real" vacation of about a week or so...).