2013 expenses

[aaronc879]

Well see? With heredity like that, it would probably cost you a lot more. But at least you wouldn't have to pay for Weight Watchers!

My metabolism is starting to slow down. My dad gained 100 pounds from age 30 to 64. I don't want to match that.

 

[NanoSour]

This is according to Mint.

Household Expenses (Food, Clothing, Entertainment, etc) - 36,070
Mortgage - 12,256
Property Tax 3913
Electricity - 1820
Home Auto Insurance - 1072
Water/Sewer - 1068
Phone - 1180
Cable/Internet - 862
Life Insurance - 747

If it doesn't fit in to one of the categories above, I just treat it as a "household expense" and budget for $4000 per month. Looks like we were well under budget for the year.

 

[Dawg52]

My food/alcohol, not dining out was almost $15k. Time to cut back...

Wow. Hope you work out a lot.

 

[scrabbler1]

My 2013 expenses will be about $18,700. I can't determine amounts for every category yet until I get the 1098 form from my co-op at the end of January (to determine property taxes and home mortgage interest), and until I get our annual report from the co-op (to determine some other categories I keep track of when allocating annual expenses). We always have a thread (perhaps this one) around as we begin a new year so I will post an entry/update another time.

 

[Mulligan]

Knock on wood, i've been fortunate to have nearly zero medical expenses in my adult life thus far. I realize a lot changes from age 34 to 50+. The job i'm doing now requires that I stay in good shape and I get a full(free) lab work-up plus vital signs and ECG several times a year.

Hey now Aaron don't feel so pessimistic about future medical expenses. I'm almost 50 and I don't spend any money on medical care except for premiums. None of my friends do either. I have already decided I am waiting until I am on Medicare for I have any expenses and let the government pay for it! Just keep staying in shape and eat decent and more than likely you will be fine. Oh, and brush and floss those teeth often too and you will save a fortune down the road.

 

[NW-Bound]

Hey now Aaron don't feel so pessimistic about future medical expenses. I'm almost 50 and I don't spend any money on medical care except for premiums...

I was saying that up till I was 56.

BMI of 24-25 (23 now), BP 85/128, heart rate of 65, fasting blood glucose of 88, etc... Doctor said bloodwork was the best he had seen for a while. Maybe his patients were all geezers, but those were his exact words. Other than painful kidney stones that I managed to pass on my own (without even pain killers which are for sissies), I had no health issues. Still take nothing but a baby aspirin.

Never been hospitalized, operated on or poked in any place, until it just happened.

Anyway, there's ACA now so Aaron has nothing to fear, nor does anybody else.

PS. Still have all of my natural teeth except two. Had to have several crowns because of teeth grinding due to job-related stress.

 

[braumeister]

I've kept track of spending for the last seven years, using my own category system.

For 2013, taxes were high (due to a big Roth conversion) and vacation was high (due to treating ourselves to a memorable trip), but all the other categories were very close to the seven year average.

 

[youbet]

PS. Still have all of my natural teeth except two. Had to have several crowns because of teeth grinding due to job-related stress.

two = several?

Or maybe you're counting crowns as natural teeth?

 

[Meadbh]

I will not do the math until January 1, but based on my monthly expense accounting, my 2013 expenses will certainly exceed everyone's so far. Travel is a significant category for me. Stuff costs more in Canada. But I will have spent <3% of my portfolio and less than my financial plan projected, so that's all good.

 

[Mulligan]

I was saying that up till I was 56. BMI of 24-25 (23 now), BP 85/128, heart rate of 65, fasting blood glucose of 88, etc... Doctor said bloodwork was the best he had seen for a while. Maybe his patients were all geezers, but those were his exact words. Other than painful kidney stones that I managed to pass on my own (without even pain killers which are for sissies), I had no health issues. Still take nothing but a baby aspirin. Never been hospitalized, operated on or poked in any place, until it just happened. Anyway, there's ACA now so Aaron has nothing to fear, nor does anybody else. PS. Still have all of my natural teeth except two. Had to have several crowns because of teeth grinding due to job-related stress.

Hopefully you have bounced back all the way now, NW! I never have had kidney stones but from what I have heard, you are a way tougher guy than I would be.

 

[Hermit]

I think this thread was designed to make me feel bad. I was hoping to keep my expenses down to about 55k. After 6 months of retirement, its looking more like 70k if I work at keeping it down. I sure hope expenses drop when I am no longer living with one foot in Virginia and the other in Colorado. I've got to do something about the 10k a year car costs.

 

[NW-Bound]

two = several?

Or maybe you're counting crowns as natural teeth?

I have 4 molar crowns for the teeth that were worn out due to grinding, called bruxism. I consider them still natural because they had no cavities, did not need tooth canal treatment, and are still "live".

Hopefully you have bounced back all the way now, NW! I never have had kidney stones but from what I have heard, you are a way tougher guy than I would be.

I had several bouts of kidney stones in life, and initially thought it was lower back pain. When I was 35, went to the ER when I was passing blood and thought it could be kidney disease. After diagnosis, they sent me home to try to pass it naturally. Since then, I try to remember to drink a lot of water daily, and that really helps.

And then in 2009, I passed an even larger stone, after inadvertently eating a huge spinach salad, followed by a large wedge of cheese. The combination of the above two created an oxalate stone as documented in a post here: http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f29/what-did-you-do-today-37868-22.html#post848278. Click on the photo for a close up of this gemstone.

This time, I "knew" it was a kidney stone, so did not bother to go to the doctor, and suffered for about 2 weeks. This was actually dumb, as it could have been something else that might cost me my life.

 

[NW-Bound]

I will not do the math until January 1, but based on my monthly expense accounting, my 2013 expenses will certainly exceed everyone's so far...

You spent more than my $831?

 

[Katsmeow]

This is one of those threads where I suspect that most people posting will be those with low (how low can you go?) spending.

I always sort of feel bad when I see this kind of thing as our spending this year was well above what I am seeing here.

On the other hand, we have 4 people at home including 2 kids, one of whom was full-time in college and the other was finishing high school and taking dual credit college. So college/kid expenses were a big chunk of the spending. The other one was insurance. DH is on Medicare but due to high income 2 years ago he had to pay extra medicare premiums so health insurance (Medicare + retiree coverage for me and the kids )was over $11k. Annual auto insurance premium was about $4700 (the perils of having a young adult male on your policy). Next year, medical insurance will be over $16k and my daughter will get her license so the auto insurance will go up even more.

All of that said - our spending this year was only about 40% of our full-time income right before DH retired and I semi-retired. Even better, our projected spending after the kids is gone will be slightly more than half of our current spending.

 

[LOL!]

This is one of those threads where I suspect that most people posting will be those with low (how low can you go?) spending.

I always sort of feel bad when I see this kind of thing as our spending this year was well above what I am seeing here.

I don't feel bad at all about spending money.

This year I vacationed in New Zealand, Australia (twice!), the Colorado Rockies, New York City (twice!), North Carolina, Seattle, and Hawaii. I have no clue how much I spent although a year of college for oldest had to be more than $50,000. Fortunately, taxes and health insurance were very low, not to mention that the stock market did rather well.

PS: And just passed another kidney stone last week (while on vacation), but I was a wuss and had some pain pills in the suitcase just in case.

 

[NW-Bound]

I felt bad that I spent 3.5% WR this year, while not traveling as much as the year before (which was nowhere as much as LOL). Something is wrong. Must be the generous donation this year.

PS. I also left a stone in Vancouver. Tough to make that as romantic as the song "I left my heart in San Francisco".

 

[Alan]

We spent about $40k on essentials and about the same again on discretionary spending, including lots of travel in Europe including 3 cruises.

Just got off the phone with by brother in Oz. I expect we'll be spending a similar sum next year during 6 months in Oz, Tasmania, NZ and a Pacific island or 2.

Long live the stock market bull

 

[Mulligan]

I spent about $40k this year as I still keep the restricter plates on my spending. My retirement path was unconventional though. I borrowed my way to early retirement (buying service years) and did not get serious about saving money for retirement until after I was retired. Having a nice cola pension that allows me to do this was the key. I will continue to save about 2k a month under my monthly after tax income for 5-7 more years, then I will eagerly spend every penny every month.

 

[Katsmeow]

I don't feel bad at all about spending money.

I probably used a poor choice of words. I don't feel bad about what we spent. I am actually glad that we stayed within our budget. Some individual items were more than anticipated and others were less so it balanced out.

I think it is more than I am a little envious of the lower expenses once kids are out of the house and off the college dime. But, we'll be there in a few years...

 

[F4mandolin]

Starting to think those people who spend $20K or less have NO bad habits. Where's the drinking? Junk food? Where are the "wary of going to Hell" lifestyles

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I probably used a poor choice of words. I don't feel bad about what we spent. I am actually glad that we stayed within our budget. Some individual items were more than anticipated and others were less so it balanced out.

I think it is more than I am a little envious of the lower expenses once kids are out of the house and off the college dime. But, we'll be there in a few years...

We are in the same boat. Still paying high car insurance rates, some college costs and everything else.

Though after adding up pension income, reduced taxes, ACA subsidies, tax credits and maybe financial aid for college, no more job or commute costs and the money we save by having DH home to help with housework and control expenses better, we actually broke even financially with his salary from when he was working full time.

 

[albundyz]

wow, maybe cuz I live in California ??

Since we live on credit cards, our 2013 expenses are finalized. For 2 people living in So Cal. no debt on house and cars.

food...................6000
gasoline..............3360
my allowance.............7200 (pays for entertainment and dinners out)
my wife's allowance....7200 (pays for stupid girly things)
utilities................6600
household............6600 (this includes all trips to Walmart, Target...)
property taxes......5500
health insurance...5000
car insur & repair..2640
house insur incl EQ..2000
house repairs.........500
extra medical costs..600
income taxes..........6300
drugs......................900
Christmas................600
Travel...................8000

total s/b about $69000 (don't forget, no house payments no car payments)

next year $74,000

 

[jon-nyc]

I'll win this one! Or lose it, depending on your point of view.

My expenses were right around $1MM for 2013 - but that includes buying a house. 2012 was more like 1/10th of that. Next year should be more reasonable, though a new roof and bathroom remodel will prevent us from getting back to normal just yet.

 

[Major Tom]

Starting to think those people who spend $20K or less have NO bad habits. Where's the drinking? Junk food? Where are the "wary of going to Hell" lifestyles

Now you've got me curious. What are your bad habits then?

I haven't totaled my 2013 spending yet - will do so when the month is over, but it will probably be in the region of around $17K - I'm thinking a bit more this year.

What to me feels like a bad habit would probably sound benign to others. Every now and again, I buy a 3-pack of 1.65 oz chocolate bars from Trader Joe's for around $1.80. I seem to remember Alan saying that he has a square of dark chocolate a day, but I will polish off the whole bar in one sitting. I probably eat about 2 of those bars a week on average. They're small bars though. My cholesterol, triglycerides, pulse rate etc are all good so I think I'm doing OK. A glass of red wine and a small bar of dark chocolate = heaven.

I do drink about 1/2 - 3/4 bottle wine a week, or 3 bottles of beer, depending on the particular week. I think that's within acceptable limits.

I mean - what's the point of doing anything to excess? It's not enjoyable if you do it too regularly or too heavily. Best to do it once in a while. It's soooo much more fun then . As a kid, I had a great uncle whose motto was "Everything in moderation." I think his focus was on the moderation part, but my interest was in the "everything" piece of the equation.

 

[Marita40]

This is a very helpful thread for me. I just completed my first year of tracking all expenses. Even though I'm some years away from retirement, it was a useful exercise. I found it rather eye-opening. I'm on a fast-track to paying off my mortgage (11 more months!) so have tried to be frugal without penny-pinching. My spending came to $30,120, not including income taxes and $22,200. on mortgage. Had some large medical bills this last year that shouldn't be repeated in 2014 (knock on wood). Biggest category that I can control is eating out, but that's hard to do--it is an important form of socializing for me.