{"id":72530,"date":"2025-05-04T00:50:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-04T00:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/72530\/"},"modified":"2025-05-04T00:50:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-04T00:50:11","slug":"were-a-family-of-5-living-on-one-salary-heres-our-monthly-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/72530\/","title":{"rendered":"We’re a Family of 5 Living on One Salary: Here’s Our Monthly Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Living on a single income with a family of five is not easy, especially when expenses<\/a> keep rising every year. For many Americans, making it work means getting creative, staying disciplined, and always looking for ways to stretch every dollar. <\/a>For Katie and Marc, living simply and sticking to a strict budget has become a way of life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a YouTube video, Katie reveals exactly how they make it work, from paying off debt to building savings, all on one paycheck.<\/a><\/p>\n

Family Background and Income<\/p>\n

Katie is a stay-at-home mom to three sons: one in high school, one in middle school, and the youngest in elementary school. She said, \u201cWe are a family of five who are trying to pay off a bunch of debt. I almost said six-figure debt, but we are actually under six figures now.\u201d Katie manages the family\u2019s budget and uses a zero-based approach, ensuring every dollar has a purpose.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Marc works full-time and is the sole provider for the household. His $6,500 paychecks form the backbone of their monthly budget. In this instant, their income totaled $13,350 from Marc\u2019s two paychecks. Katie also budgets $350 in credit card rewards, which she plans to use for Christmas shopping.<\/p>\n

Monthly Expenses and Debt Payoff<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s largest fixed expense<\/a> is their mortgage, which is $2,536 per month. Utilities and other essentials are carefully tracked, with $1,250 budgeted for groceries, $200 for eating out, $100 for water, $250 for electricity, and $75 for gas. <\/p>\n

Katie explained, \u201cFor groceries, I\u2019m budgeting $1,250. For eating out, we\u2019re budgeting $200.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

They also allocate $300 for car gas, $173 for phones, $86 for internet, and $50 for trash service. Subscriptions, including streaming services, total $132 monthly. Debt repayment is a top priority. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Katie said, \u201cOur big debt that we\u2019re trying to work on and pay off \u2014 hopefully in November, we want this gone by November 2025, so I\u2019m budgeting $1,500 for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In total, the family is budgeting $4,595 toward debt payments<\/a> for the month, including their Highlander car loan and Marc\u2019s student loan. A miscellaneous buffer of $100 is set aside for unexpected expenses.<\/p>\n

Savings, Revolving Funds, and Kids\u2019 Needs<\/p>\n

Despite focusing on debt, the family also prioritizes savings. Katie budgets $500 for their emergency fund each month. She explained, \u201cFor our emergency fund, I\u2019m budgeting $500.\u201d The family also prepares for annual school expenses by increasing their school fund, setting aside enough to cover a required $1,500 school donation in December.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Katie manages revolving funds for variable expenses, including $100 for home maintenance, $89 for car maintenance, and $50 for health and dental. She also budgets $550 for holiday gifts, $250 for car insurance, $250 for Marc\u2019s personal spending, $200 for her own spending, $200 for the boys, and $200 for pet expenses. Then she sets aside $100 for a family fund, $89 for taxes, and $150 for house bills.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After so much budgeting done, everything came up to $12,575, leaving the family with $775. \u201cIf we don\u2019t spend all of the money in one month, it can just roll over because some months are definitely more expensive with kids,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Budgeting Philosophy<\/p>\n

Katie\u2019s approach is rooted in flexibility and learning from past mistakes. She uses a detailed spreadsheet to track every dollar and regularly tweaks her system to make it more efficient. \u201cI don\u2019t ever want to put Christmas on a credit card \u2014 we used to do that before I started budgeting, and I don\u2019t ever want to do that again,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

Living on one income with a family of five is not easy, but Katie and Marc show that it\u2019s possible with careful planning, honest communication, and a willingness to adjust as needed. Their journey is proof that with proper budgeting, discipline and teamwork, families can cover their needs, pay down debt, and still enjoy life together.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PixelsEffect \/ Getty Images Commitment to Our Readers GOBankingRates’ editorial team is committed to bringing you unbiased reviews…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3093],"tags":[51,474,20692,2499,4880,34873,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-72530","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-gobankingrates","11":"tag-personal-finance","12":"tag-saving-money","13":"tag-savings-advice","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114446822571892608","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}