2009 actuals v/s budget

[tmm99]

I know a guy who tried to do with $1.50 per day (or was it $2 per day? I can't remember exactly since it was a few years ago, but his food budget was shockingly low. And it wasn't like he didn't have money.) and I don't think he cooked much because I heard he was eating instant ramen noodles a lot. Last I heard, he got sick (he had seizures) and went back home. I don't know whether he was eating exteremly unbalanced meals all the time made him sick, but I wouldn't be surprised.

If you can actually eat well balanced meals with $3 per day, all the power to you (although I don't consider soda, some fast food and junk food nutritious). I guess if you shop wisely, it may be possible to eat well with $3 per day, but I'd like to indulge a bit more than that, and I don't wanna rack my brain trying to do extreme bargain shopping either. (My food budget is more like $10 per day... Actually, $110 per week if I include going out for lunch and such.)

 

[73ss454]

Aaron seems to make the original John Galt look like a spend thrift.

 

[aaronc879]

I don't economize on food. Last month I spent $188 at the grocery store, and $297 eating out, for a total of $485 on food. But gosh, it was great food. Love those little New Orleans Cajun/Creole/Italian neighborhood restaurants.

You're in a much different stage in life than I am. You are definetly able and seem to be willing to spend that much on food. I say go for it! Just make sure you're not forgetting to go to the gym before or after those yummy meals

 

[W2R]

You're in a much different stage in life than I am. You are definetly able and seem to be willing to spend that much on food. I say go for it! Just make sure you're not forgetting to go to the gym before or after those yummy meals

True, that is a problem for me! When I was in my 20's, I couldn't eat like this, you're right. Maybe that's why I spend so much on food now.

 

[aaronc879]

It's tough to know who wins. While Aaron's performance is impressive, I suspect Shawn's ratio of total expenses to income is pretty low, considering how much he said he made in some much earlier posts.

Looking at past posts, it looks like he makes at least 4X what I make but only spends about 1.5X what I do overall. Pretty impressive to limit yourself to <$25K/yr spending when you make nearly $200K.

 

[bbbamI]

I took a look at my cc bills online. It appears we are 7% over the original budget for 2009. Since there was a little income and six months of pension payments, we took approximately 2% from our portfolio.

This year both of us are fully retired and our WR will be 3% plus a pension.

2 adults, no mortgage, no kids

 

[Bikerdude]

9% under budget. I did not feel deprived.

 

[NW-Bound]

Looking at past posts, it looks like he makes at least 4X what I make but only spends about 1.5X what I do overall. Pretty impressive to limit yourself to <$25K/yr spending when you make nearly $200K.

Well, he does not bring home all of that. They kill you with taxes when the income is up there.

 

[REWahoo]

20.3% over budget
6.1% USWR
Spending like a drunk sailor
We're not getting any younger
It's only money
You can't take it with you
YMMV
Yadda yadda yadda...

 

[FreqFlyer]

2009 was the first time I've ever created a budget and tracked my spending closely. Ignoring a small tax issue I came within 1% of my budget and saved 47% of my gross income. Hooray! I think I'd like to get it up to an even 50% in 2010 but that may be difficult.

Like many others my biggest discretionary weakness is food and dining out. I think I'm spending $500 or so per month on both. Ouch.

Tracking my spending and saving so much did make me realize one thing. I spent a fortune for short-term disability. After I looked at the benefit I concluded I'm better saving the $1K this year since I'm now self-insured. I kept the LTD of course.

It's also a motivator to defer replacing my car. I don't want the higher insurance to bite into my monthly expenses since I'm now down to liability coverage only.

 

[NW-Bound]

20.3% over budget
6.1% USWR
Spending like a drunk sailor
We're not getting any younger
It's only money
You can't take it with you
YMMV
Yadda yadda yadda...

Heh heh heh... It won't be long until this forum is dominated by Live-Beyond-Your-Means-gas-guzzler-RV-driving types of retirees. We, the economy stimulators.... Whoo hoo.

 

[bbbamI]

20.3% over budget
6.1% USWR
Spending like a drunk sailor
We're not getting any younger
It's only money
You can't take it with you
YMMV
Yadda yadda yadda...

Whew...I'm glad you posted this. I don't feel like such a brazen hussy now...

 

[Shawn]

If you can actually eat well balanced meals with $3 per day, all the power to you (although I don't consider soda, some fast food and junk food nutritious).

You are correct. Junk food isn't very nutritious. That's what makes it more interesting. I spent $658.58 on nutritious food, $153.82 on junk food, $27.04 on fast food, and $43.91 on soda. If I cut out the junk food, I could have spent even less. I believe my meals were relatively healthy and well balanced, probably more so than usual. I had to think about everything more. For example, I can't remember eating lentils before last year. And unlike the guy you mentioned, I'm never sick.

Food is the 1 area I feel I overspend but am not willing to reduce spending. I'm 6'6" and barely staying above 160lbs. I don't want to give up any of my food money. Because I include household items in my food spending i'm not sure exactly what I spend but I think it's at least double what you spend so that would be about $150/mo maybe more.

I have the opposite problem. It's difficult for me to keep the weight off. I lost an inch or so off my waist in January/February of 2009, but essentially zilch after that. And that's after running/bicycling 5-7 days/week throughout the year.

In a normal year, I probably spend about $150/month too (2010 will be back to a normal year). In 2008, I tracked food separately and spent $1995. I thought that was a lot, which motivated me to see if I could spend under $1000 last year. Incidentally, for comparison, the food stamp budget for a single adult is about $175/month, assuming they have no other resources.

Yes NW-Bound, your memory is impressive. My expenses to income ratio is pretty low. (And yes, I spend more than twice on taxes than what I spend on myself.)

 

[happy2bretired]

I overspent my budget by 1.7%. No trips but I did buy a few pieces of furniture. I received a sizable tax refund last year due to over estimating quarterly taxes from the year before, so I have no guilt in over spending my budget for 2009.

 

[Sam]

I spent $23,878.13 last year. Not counting my mortgage ($9K), property taxes ($3K), and charity ($5K)

....

Since I have yet to retire, I don't really have a SWR. However, if I was retired, I would have withdrawn about 0.82% of my total assets in 2009

Wow, wow, wow!!!

Shawn, you must love what you do more than anything in the world, correct? If not, I'm having a hard time imagining why you're still working.

Sam

 

[Lakedog]

In 2009, my first full year of retirement, I spent less than half of my pension. For 2010, I plan to correct that with more travel and will likely relocate as well. Of course, my pension will increase by about 60% in 2010 due to a reclassification of positions held during most of my career (in progress when I retired), putting me in a more beneficial retirement system. So I may still have to work on my spending habits. It can be more difficult than I thought to spend lots of $$ in retirement.

 

[eridanus]

I was aiming to spend less than last year. I came in about 1% less.

Looking back, about 35% of my budget was for travel and home repairs. I can live with that.

 

[NW-Bound]

Yes NW-Bound, your memory is impressive.

I wish that were true. My brain selects seemingly random facts to remember, and I do not know its selection algorithm. I am otherwise very absent minded, and often misplace things. I like to show off my random memory whenever possible, for self-assurance that I still remember something.

 

[freebird5825]

I know exactly how much it takes for us to meet OUR recurring bills. We each transfer in a certain amount each month and pay everything directly out of that. There is a certain amount of leeway in that joint fund.
We went on a cruise in 2009 and stayed within the allotted amount, budgeted for and saved up for over 1 year. We bought a new mattress and cut back on other discretionary areas to achieve that.
Equlibrium has been achieved.
dh2b and I had a surplus of $1300 left in the OUR account on Dec 31, 2009. That paid for county property taxes due in Jan 2010.
My own personal savings account was fine, in fact I had a higher balance than year end 2008. I continued my DCA as planned in 2009 and see no problems for 2010.
dh2b is highly constrained in his ability to save due to divorce related court orders for support, so he rarely comes out ahead of the game. He recently increased his 401(k) contributions to 10%.
All in all, a good year.

 

[Shawn]

Shawn, you must love what you do more than anything in the world, correct? If not, I'm having a hard time imagining why you're still working.

Actually, I hate my job more than anything. I have a hard time understanding why I'm still working, too.

My plan for the last several years was to retire when I turned 50 and became eligible for lifetime medical benefits. That was last November, but I'm still working. There are a few more financial incentives in the next couple of years, but I could easily retire today with a low withdraw rate. In fact, I'd remain in the accumulation phase due to my pension. So I can't really explain it. I don't know what the future will bring so it may be out of fear of not having enough.

 

[walkinwood]

....
There are a few more financial incentives in the next couple of years, but I could easily retire today with a low withdraw rate. ....

Those financial incentives are the equivalent of golden handcuffs.

I had to leave options behind when I quit my big corp job. It was hard to do since I worked for them - but there is never an end to those carrots dangling just in front of you.

From a financial standpoint, you feel comfortable, so there must be something else holding you back. Taking time off to really think about it may be work. Whatever you decide, it will be a deliberate action.

It took me a long time to decide to go back to work (even though it is part-time), but once I made the decision (thanks to a push from this board and friends to make up my mind), it has been a great.

All the best.