On New Year's Day I closed the December tab of our budget spreadsheet, opened a new one called 2025 Totals, and Ben set a bowl of black-eyed peas next to my laptop without a word. Harper turned 11 on Thursday, and she asked to see the finished tab. She found the grocery total and said, "That's a car."
It's about the price of a used one, so she's not entirely wrong. Here's the whole year, the way it actually went.
What came in, and what came out before we saw it
I earned $88,000 and Ben earned $78,000, so $166,000 between us before anything came out. Then the paychecks did their work:
- Federal, state and payroll taxes withheld: about $32,000
- Retirement from our paychecks: about $10,600 (my 401(k) went from 5% to 8% in June, and Ben stayed at 6%)
- Health, dental and vision premiums: about $8,450
- What landed in checking: about $115,000
My company added its $4,400 match on top of that. In HR, I used to watch people open their W-2 in January like it belonged to someone else. The gap between salary and take-home surprises almost everyone, and it still surprises me a little every year.
Where it went: what grew and what shrank
If you split it the old-fashioned way, my take-home covered the mortgage, the cars, the utility bill and childcare with some to spare, and Ben's covered groceries, Harper's activities, eating out and giving. We don't actually run it like that, since everything lands in one checking account. But it's a good reminder that neither paycheck is the "extra" one.
| Category | 2025 | vs. 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Mortgage, with escrow | $12,120 | same |
| Groceries | $11,660 | up $870 |
| Cars: gas, insurance, upkeep, tags | $7,580 | up $370 |
| City utility, internet, phones | $5,060 | up $250 |
| Childcare: after-school and summer | $4,570 | |
| Eating out | $2,310 | down $580 |
| Giving | $1,800 | same |
| Piano and soccer | $1,610 | |
| Emergency fund deposits | $7,800 | |
| Retirement, ours plus my match | $15,000 | up $1,520 |
Groceries grew the most, and I can't pin it on one thing. Prices, a growing ten-year-old and Thanksgiving for 11 at our house in November all did their part. Car insurance went up $410 at renewal in July, and after two hours on the phone we held the increase to $135. The city utility grew with a hot summer. July alone was $380, and that was the month the AC capacitor went out on a 96-degree day.
The one that shrank was eating out, down $580 from 2024. No dramatic rule did it. My Sunday reset means weeknight dinners are decided before Monday, and Ben cooks on Sundays, so there are leftovers most Tuesdays. Fewer 6:30 p.m. "what are we doing for dinner" conversations turned out to be worth about $48 a month.
The emergency fund got $300 from every one of my paychecks, $7,800 for the year, plus our $2,240 tax refund in the spring. It paid for one real emergency, the $310 capacitor, fixed the same afternoon. It ended the year at about $13,400, a little under two and a half months of expenses.
The sinking fund started in September at $385 a month and paid for Christmas in full, with help from the $800 I seeded it with. That was the first December in years I didn't do math in the Target parking lot.
Everything else we spent, from Moose's food to the gutter guy, plus what went into long-term savings, lives in the rest of that $115,000. The long-term savings number is the one I'm keeping off the internet.
The 2026 plan
- The HSA. We're on the high-deductible plan as of January 1. $250 a month goes in from my paycheck, plus $750 from my company, and the lower premium covers it.
- Three months of expenses. The emergency fund's target is $16,800. At $300 a payday, we should get there in the spring.
- The sinking fund stays at $385. Middle school starts in August, so I'm watching for new fees to add to the list.
- A beach week in June. We're booking a condo this month and paying for it from money we planned, not from next month's statement.
- A raise gets a job before it gets spent. My annual review is in February. If it brings a raise, the raise gets a line on the spreadsheet before the first bigger paycheck lands.
These are our 2025 numbers for our house, our jobs and our corner of North Alabama. Borrow the shape if it helps. The specifics are ours, and none of it is financial advice.
