Last year, our family of three spent $36,667.10, plus our mortgage, daycare, and insurance costs. While this averages out to just over $3,000 a month, this number fluctuates quite a bit depending on what expenses crop up. Namely, home maintenance and vet bills, and our older dog has had some serious health issues over the last two years.
Our biggest discretionary spending is always our food budget, and while it is two-thirds less than it used to be, we still spend a healthy amount on groceries and eating out (usually while on vacation). Second and third are pet expenses and vacations. We go out of town on weekend adventures often, usually camping or staying in Airbnbs, and then use travel rewards to reduce the cost when we do bigger trips like Hawaii and a road trip up the East Coast.
We have a roommate and bought our home in the bottom of the real-estate market, so our housing costs are quite low for a very expensive area. We charge him well under the going rate for rent, but he watches our animals when we go out of town, so it works out well for all of us. Our families watch our son three days a week, so our childcare costs are quite reasonable for our area, but again, still really expensive compared to most parts of the county.
We don't have car payments or any debts other than our mortgage, so our fixed costs are quite low for the Seattle area. This gives us more flexibility to spend on the discretionary items that are important to us while still maintaining a high (40-50%) savings rate.
My husband and I make median incomes for our area, which equates to the low six figures. Salaries are higher here, but so are the rest of our expenses, from childcare to housing to groceries. Otherwise, we make a very small amount of passive income from investments.