Reality check on expenses for family of 4 in tier 2
Tracked family spend for Apr–Sep (screenshot attached). Couple + 2 kids (primary + kindergarten), Tier-2 India. Income and internal transfers excluded. Looking for a fatFIREIndia sanity check — what’s high for this stage, and where you’d cut first.
Quick read of the matrix
- Monthly cats are roughly on the 6-month budget overall; Food and Transport are the clear overages, Shopping is well under.
- Housing is rent + maintenance + household help + utilities — kept lean on purpose.
- School & Classes is lumpy when fees hit; still pacing under the annual budget.
- Travel and Insurance have most of the year still ahead.
- Some Uncategorized left that are miscellaneous and unplanned spends.
Questions
- For fatFIRE with 2 young kids in a Tier-2 city, does this burn look high, low, or about right?
- Transport and Food are the monthly misses — what’s actually worked to cut those without making life miserable?
- School/classes pacing toward the annual budget — normal for decent private + extras, or overdoing it?
- Would appreciate if you guys can share your spending by categories to see where we can optimize or not needed.
Lifestyle we have is not luxurious i would say, but very comfortable. Travel coming up later this year and will probably burn through the remaining budget. If you ask me from 10 years ago, i would say, these numbers are outrageous and now that we are living it, it seems very reasonable and don't think we can reduce much. Food, we cautiously decided not look at price tag too much and purchase what we like without putting too much thought into it, that's why the budget looks high.
Happy to break any category down further. Thanks.