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Looking At Your Income And Expenses In A New Way

When people are considering making a major purchase, they usually look at it in terms of payments rather than total cost.

Usually, I prefer to look at the total cost to see how much money I’m really spending.

However, there is another way to look at your income and expenses besides using payments, total costs or monthly numbers.

This new way of looking at your income and expenses can be useful in some situations, like for controlling spending.

That said, the largest value to me of using this new method is comparing your spending to your values.

Break Your Income And Expenses Down To Dollars Per Day

Breaking down your income and expenses to dollars per day is a relatively simple exercise if you already have a budget.

Take your monthly income or expenses and divide by 30 days for a month or divide by 14 for a biweekly budget. Yes, I know, not all months have 30 days but one or two days doesn’t make that big of a difference.

Once you’ve calculated how much your different budget items are per day, take a look at your list. Does anything look surprising?

Let’s go through a theoretical example of a couple without kids. I completely made all of these amounts up so I don’t want to hear any complaining about how inaccurate they are.

  • Income – $5,000/month – $166.67/day
  • Rent/Mortgage – $1200/month – $40.00/day
  • Car Payment 1 – $450/month – $15.00/day
  • Car Payment 2 – $300/month – $10.00/day
  • Car Insurance – $200/month – $6.67/day
  • Food – $600/month – $20.00/day
  • Gas – $250/month – $8.33/day
  • Cable/Internet – $150/month – $5.00/day
  • Cell Phones – $150/month – $5.00/day
  • Electric – $100/month – $3.33/day
  • Water/Sewer – $60/month – $2.00/day
  • Other Random Expenses – $150/month – $5.00/day
  • Fun Money – $200/month – $6.67/day

Based on this theoretical example here are some key takeaways I’d see.

I bet this couple didn’t realize that every day they pay two twenty dollar bills just to live in the house they’re living in. It is cheaper than a hotel and probably a lot nicer.

This couple spends $40.00 a day on their two cars which is just as much as they spend on their rent/mortgage. After all, cars are more than just the monthly payment. You have to include gas, insurance, maintenance and other costs, too.

Are your cars worth as much to you as your house is?

This couple might want some more spending money.

If so, they could almost double their fun money if they canceled their cell phones or their cable/internet/home phone package. Alternatively, this theoretical couple could cut down on their food spending by not eating out as often.

Are their cell phones really worth as much to them as their home cable and internet? Do they need both? They could easily get cheaper cell phone service using Republic Wireless. Our phone bill is just $20 per month per line.

Next time they upgrade their phones, they could choose a cheaper phone, too. If they don’t want a cheaper phone, they can make sure they find the best price by searching for the best place to buy a phone before they make the purchase.

How awesome would it be if the couple wasn’t spending $25.00 a day on car payments? It is possible. They just have to keep their cars after they are paid off and save up and pay cash for their next cars.

The List Of Ideas Could Go On For Quite A While

The big takeaway is that when numbers are larger, sometimes we lose perspective on how much things cost relative to each other. When it is broken down into smaller pieces sometimes it is easier to see the big picture.

If you want more reasonable numbers that are closer your budget I have a novel idea… do this exercise for your budget. You may be surprised at what you see.

Have you done this exercise before? Are you doing it now? Either way, were you surprised at any of your per day numbers? While I don’t expect anyone to list them below, general comments would provide some great insights.

Diane taber

Friday 19th of March 2021

We to are going to start looking at what we spend and where we can save. And get the same but cheaper. Or get rid of altogether. If we can’t find cheaper. As we would really like to be totally debt free. And own our house right out. We don’t have car payments and never have but there’s just other things that our money and things that have been paid to each month.and it just can’t go on and believe me it’s not going to go on. As I can now see the error of my ways. And am going to sit down and start and go through everything and I mean everything. And I’m going to see what we can save on now. And how to go about it.

Lance Cothern, CPA

Saturday 20th of March 2021

That's a great first step!

Bobby

Wednesday 15th of July 2020

Interesting way of breaking it down. Makes you think about how you spend. Nice job sir.

laura

Friday 5th of October 2012

I make less than $40 a day. That hurts.

Lance

Friday 5th of October 2012

Hopefully you can work on increasing your income! I know it is tough out there right now but being optimistic really helps.

Amy Turner

Thursday 26th of July 2012

Our budget is even more specific than this. I do a meticulous breakdown of our expenses (food, toiletries, bills, etc) and create a monthly budget from this. It has guided all my spending habits all these years. If it's not within budget, and necessary, we try to find the money from savings and even emergency fund.

Lance

Thursday 26th of July 2012

Good for you! Budgeting can be a great way to make the most of your money.

Barbara Friedberg

Saturday 30th of June 2012

I like this idea of breaking things down into daily spending. Very interesting concept and easy to implement.

Lance

Sunday 1st of July 2012

Easy is always good. Of course you have to have a budget first to try this out.