Spending guideline percentages may be useful as you examine your spending habits. These spending guidelines are for comparison purposes ONLY. They are NOT hard and fast rules. One family may choose to spend forty percent of their income on housing and less on clothing, and transportation. Another may choose to spend more on transportation and less on housing. It's up to you to decide your priorities. These figures are from the Department of Labor Consumer Expenditure Survey. Remember--these show only the average expenditures of surveyed households, NOT the amounts families should spend. You can see housing, food and transportation take about two-thirds of the family budget and about one-third goes for all other expenses. That's where the challenges of money management come in.

Housing	31.8%
Food	15.6%
Transportation	17.6%
Clothing and Services	7.1%
Health Care	4.6%
Entertainment	5.6%
All Other	17.6%

Note: All other includes alcoholic beverages, reading, education, tobacco, personal care,cash contributions personal insurance and pensions and miscellaneous expenditures.

Are you wondering how to calculate your spending percentages? Here's an example. If you spend $350 a month on housing and your take-home pay is $1,000, you are spending 35% of your income on housing. $350 divided by $1,000. x 100 = 35%

The most important thing for you to remember is your take-home pay is like a pie. If you cut one slice too big, all of the other pieces will have to be cut smaller so everyone gets a taste. Or there will be someone who won't get a piece of pie.

If you do this with your paycheck, you will probably find yourself having to borrow to make ends meet.