MONTHLY BUDGET PERCENTAGES + FREE PRINTABLE

Dave Ramsey Recommended Household Budget

When you are ready to start budgeting, you might be wondering what your monthly budgeting percentages should be.

This is where Dave Ramsey’s Monthly Budget Percentages comes in because well if there is one thing we can say about Dave Ramsey – it’s that he likes to keep things simple.

There are no hard and fast rules on monthly budgeting percentages, but there are definitely a few guidelines that you can stick to, to free up the most cash flow for saving, investing, and even having fun!

These monthly budgeting percentages are just a guide, and do not include debt payments.

Debt payments will come out of your extra cash flow outside of your basic expenses.

Obviously, the more you can crank down on your necessary monthly budgeting percentages, the more you will have to throw at debt.

So, what does Dave say about recommended household budget percentages?

Let’s find out…

Dave Ramsey’s Recommended Household Budget Percentages

Ramsey’s 11 budget categories, along with the percentages, are:

Giving — 10%

Saving — 10%

Food — 10% to 15%

Utilities — 5% to 10%

Housing costs — 25%

Transportation — 10%

Health — 5% to 10%

Insurance — 10% to 25%

Recreation — 5% to 10%

Personal spending — 5% to 10%

Miscellaneous — 5% to 10%

To download your copy of the Dave Ramsey recommended monthly budget percentages – click HERE.

Here is a breakdown of each category, based on Dave Ramsey’s advice:

GIVING 10%

Generosity shifts the focus off of our financial shortcoming and reminds us of our blessings. Contentment does not come when we have enough, but rather, when we see that what we have is enough.

SAVING 10 – 15%

This will change depending on where you are at in your debt payoff or wealth building journey.

Once you are out of debt completely, save up 3-6 months of expenses, then you will move onto investing and building wealth!

FOOD 10 -15%

Is this category not the BIGGEST budget buster for your family?

The weekly grocery bill is always a struggle!

Try keeping your weekly grocery bill to a certain value as well as meal prepping.

HOUSING 20-25%

This is an easy category to control, but may take a big chunk of your budget!

If your rent or mortgage is too high, you will be struggling to have the cash flow that you need to cover the rest of your monthly budget categories.

Keep your rent or mortgage payment between 20-25% of your take home pay.

UTILITIES 5-10%

There’s not much we can do about this category here, because we definitely need lights, water, and gas to run our homes however if your home is too big your electricity bills are bound to be higher and in that case you may have to down size.

TRANSPORTATION 10%

This category will vary depending on where you live, whether you have a long commute to and from work, and whether you have access to great public transportation. Start by budgeting 10–15% of your monthly income here and tune up this amount as needed.

HEALTH 5-10%

Even if you have a good medical aid, you will likely have some out of pocket costs.

Set aside a little fund for out of pocket health costs (maybe a big fund if it’s cold and flu season!)

At the end of the day, your health is more important than money.

INSURANCE 10-25%

Assign a percentage of your monthly income to cover all the important insurances (Home and Vehicle, Life)

Make sure you shop around to get the best possible deals so you can keep this expensive category as low as possible.

RECREATION/ENTERTAINMENT 5-10%

Entertainment could mean your monthly Netflix subscription, or concert tickets for date night.

If you are trying to pay off debt, you can squeeze this category down, but make sure you budget for some entertainment each month.

PERSONAL SPENDING 5-10%

Clothing, haircuts, home décor, gadgets. The fun extras in life. Put it in this budget category, and space out the more expensive purchases so you don’t overspend in one month.

MISCELLANEOUS 5-10%

It never fails. We always have unexpected or miscellaneous expenses come up each month.

It is best to just accept that this will happen and set aside the cash for these miscellaneous items.

Do you stick to Dave Ramsey’s monthly budgeting percentages, or do you have a different method for budgeting? Let me know in the comments!