2015 Expenses

[grasshopper]

Well we spent 12K less than our high spending limit, but 18k more than our prefered spending limit. Large expenses 20k home repair, medical 17k, travel 15k. We usually spend 30k less than our high limit. We don't really have a budget because we constantly spend less than we could.

[Mulligan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calico I spent $30,500 in 2015 - right on the target I set. Only 18-24 months to go before the mortgage is paid off, and then I'll be rolling in dough! Whatever will I do with those bazillions of dollars in the budget?

Proportionally speaking, Calico, you will be "rich" when that happens. And that is all that really matters!


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[jollystomper]

We increased our budget since we hit our "number" and felt we could loosen up some and reduce our savings rate. our spending increased around 10% as we "splurged" on some additional vacation and long-term home improvements. Medical also went up as our youngest needed a tooth implant and much of it was not covered by insurance - but this was the best year to handle that expense.

However, we didn't expect our income to go up almost 6%. An unexpected raise and bonuses for me (even while in OMY "wind down" mode), some freelance work for DW, and an unexpected inheritance from my mother, meant our savings rate was still 30%. So though our investments barely rose, the savings helped boost our net worth.

[NanoSour]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stepford Gotta ask what's in your $2K build.

A PC spec'ed primarily for X-Plane which is my main hoppy. It's based on a 4790K and GTX 980 Ti with 6 GB of VRAM. Can no longer run XP on the old iMac with only 512 MB VRAM. Just doesn't have the cahoona's.

Intel Core i7-4790K, MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti, Fractal Design Define S - System Build - PCPartPicker

[sengsational]

I don't have a budget, but as a stand-in for one, I'll use what my conservative i-orp and FIREcalc plans say I could spend.

With that caveat, I'm under "budget" by 20%.

That included two trips across the pond, two trips out west, a long driving trip, and many treks to Florida.

[Danmar]

About 10% over plan including my daughter's wedding that was way over plan, lots of real estate related overages including FX effect on USD expenses in Arizona (we use CAD as our base currency as we are Canadians). No worries though-plenty more where that came from.

[rodi]

I had hoped to spend $25k on our trip of a lifetime... but set aside $30k. We spent $30k. (not bad for Europe for 9 weeks for 4 people including flights to/from and all transpo, spending, food, lodging, etc.) But that was off budget - since I'd set aside that money for this trip, prior to retiring in 2014.

Excluding the trip we budgeted $84k. Again, for 4 people - which includes 2 teenagers.
We spent just under $80k. That includes the expensive medical OOP due to one son with a broken left elbow followed by a broken right wrist, and the other son with a broken face (baseball to the orbital socket) and a short hospitalization. I'd thought I was conservative budgeting $5k for OOP medical... we spent 8980 for medical/dental OOP.

Also - my first pass on taxes indicate I'm getting a HUGE tax refund... I wasn't sure how to handle the ACA tax credits - since due to a glitch in CoveredCA I had to pay full price for the insurance... so that money is somewhat found money - to be allocated for future "trip of a lifetime" travel funds. (We budget for travel - but not for trips that 10's of thousands.)

Midyear I would have guessed we'd be way over budget - so I'm happy to be 4.7% below budget.

[Theseus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmm99 How did you do last year? Stuck to the budget? Any surprises?

Was impressed with myself for tracking about 25% under planned budget for much of the year, but between higher out-of-pocket (anticipated) medical costs and buying a new car in the last days of December we ended up pretty much right on budget. Not bad for our February 10 days in the sun and fun already bought and paid for. Best news is Firecalc says we could be spending more yet. Right now I'm working on methods for keeping our MAGI in a sweet spot for ACA subsidies the next couple of years without scrimping on living too much.

[Moemg]

I came in just under budget despite a lot of giving , a few major repairs & prepaying our Europe 2016 trip .I only contributed $1,000 to my surplus fund which has grown to $30,000 from several way under budget years.

[FIREd]

We came in just under budget; we had a couple of large unexpected expenses early in the year but we were able to absorb them by cutting other expenses (cut cable, sold the second car).

We are preparing for a lean year in 2016 as we need to save money for our move back east in 2017.

[Sue J]

Despite some unexpected medical and dental we came in under budget.

We spent $26,284 on our normal monthly expenses.

In addition to that we had $7,773 in other stuff-
Medical - $3060 ($2655 of this was for diagnostic tests including a CAT scan for a urology work-up due to a cancer scare, it was worth it)
Car repairs - $2196 (2001 and 2003 Toyotas, includes a set of tires)
Dental - $1606 (regular cleanings for both and we each needed a crown)
Kitchen project - $600 (just patching and painting)
Travel - $311 DH trip to Denver

Total expenses for the year - $34,057
Savings for the year - $3,318 (8.87% of after tax income of $37,375)

We expect a Fed tax refund of about $1200 mostly due to our ACA subsidy adjustment because we contributed to an HSA. That will go into savings for 2016.

[Scubamax]

Came in at about 4% under our run rate we forecasted for the year, which was based on 2014, the first year without a regular paycheck for me, so am happy with where we landed.

[jabbahop]

Over by about 10% on several unanticipated maintenance items and some retirement startup costs (needed to replace company owned computer, phone, and tablet).

We had a bit more rental income than planned so that partially offset the spending.


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[Ronstar]

$978 over budget. I budget $2500 a year for an emergency house repair, but spent $5k on a backup generator, so I'm somewhat pleased.

[Calico]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mulligan Proportionally speaking, Calico, you will be "rich" when that happens. And that is all that really matters! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I agree completely. It's the only kind of "rich" I'll ever be - the kind that comes with peace of mind - and it's the only kind I'm shooting for!

[Shawn]

My expenses were consistent with expectations. Single, living alone, San Francisco Bay Area, 56, not yet retired ...

$11,380 Mortgage
$08,500 College Costs (for friend's niece in Philippines)
$07,329 Veterinary Bills (for another friend's cat)
$04,659 Charity
$03,305 Property Taxes
$02,220 Utilities (Gas/Elec, Water, Phone, Trash, TV, Internet)
$01,435 Water Heater and Related Work
$00,930 Medical Issue
$00,495 Auto Insurance
$00,434 Homeowners Insurance
$00,263 Bicycle Repair and Supplies
$00,228 Auto Maintenance
$00,226 Auto Gas
$05,660 Misc (food, clothes, entertainment, recreation, doctor/dentist, subscriptions, ...)

Total: $31,234.52 (plus $7329 veterinary bills and $8500 college costs for friends)

Previous Years:
1999 (30,915)
2000 (33,454)
2001 (27,325)
2002 (31,751)
2003 (29,757)
2004 (25,510) [plus 18K in veterinary bills]
2005 (29,424) [plus 5K in veterinary bills]
2006 (30,735)
2007 (29,703)
2008 (31,846)
2009 (23,878)
2010 (26,108) [plus 17K for a new car]
2011 (28,845)
2012 (27,539) [plus 15K in veterinary bills]
2013 (26,860) [plus 20K in veterinary bills]
2014 (29,854) [plus 15K in veterinary bills for friend's pets]
2015 (31,235) [plus 7K veterinary bills and 8K college costs for friends]

[Sue J]

Shawn, how wonderful that you can do things like help friends with huge expenses like college costs and veterinary costs.

[34rlsa]

My dog wants you to adopt him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shawn My expenses were consistent with expectations. Single, living alone, San Francisco Bay Area, 56, not yet retired ... $11,380 Mortgage $08,500 College Costs (for friend's niece in Philippines) $07,329 Veterinary Bills (for another friend's cat) $04,659 Charity $03,305 Property Taxes $02,220 Utilities (Gas/Elec, Water, Phone, Trash, TV, Internet) $01,435 Water Heater and Related Work $00,930 Medical Issue $00,495 Auto Insurance $00,434 Homeowners Insurance $00,263 Bicycle Repair and Supplies $00,228 Auto Maintenance $00,226 Auto Gas $05,660 Misc (food, clothes, entertainment, recreation, doctor/dentist, subscriptions, ...) Total: $31,234.52 (plus $7329 veterinary bills and $8500 college costs for friends) Previous Years: 1999 (30,915) 2000 (33,454) 2001 (27,325) 2002 (31,751) 2003 (29,757) 2004 (25,510) [plus 18K in veterinary bills] 2005 (29,424) [plus 5K in veterinary bills] 2006 (30,735) 2007 (29,703) 2008 (31,846) 2009 (23,878) 2010 (26,108) [plus 17K for a new car] 2011 (28,845) 2012 (27,539) [plus 15K in veterinary bills] 2013 (26,860) [plus 20K in veterinary bills] 2014 (29,854) [plus 15K in veterinary bills for friend's pets] 2015 (31,235) [plus 7K veterinary bills and 8K college costs for friends]

[slowsaver]

I can't believe how many of you have spending below $30k. Really impressive. My DH and I have been spending $60k (combined) each of the last 3 years.

[kcowan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by slowsaver I can't believe how many of you have spending below $30k. Really impressive. My DH and I have been spending $60k (combined) each of the last 3 years.

It is highly a function of where you live "norcal". Also all capital expenses need to be accounted for differently. We keep a separate line on the spreadsheet for such expenses: cars, appliances, home maintenance...