A $3,000 monthly budget

[Want2retire]

Originally Posted by ziggy29

About a month ago I built a "layoff budget" which would reflect what I think would be approximate expenses if I lost my job. (These ignore all taxes except property tax which doesn't change with job loss and loss of an income stream.)

I was able to pare down our current operational $4400 "budget" to $2500 a month by slashing discretionary spending by anywhere from 30% to 100% -- but then I had to add $700 back in for health insurance through COBRA since I wouldn't have it from Megacorp any more. So that would be $3200 a month. (We have no house payment and about $35K in liquid emergency fund cash.) We could probably live on less than that, but we wouldn't have to like it.

I built one of those a few years back, though it looks like I won't need it now due to my unexpected windfall. Times have changed, too. I was thinking of going from cable modem internet to dial-up, for example, and I think dial-up will be history by the end of the decade.

[ziggy29]

Originally Posted by Want2retire

I was thinking of going from cable modem internet to dial-up, for example

Broadband Internet is one luxury I will NEVER give up, even if I have to clean a few toilets a month to pay for it.

[trixs]

Edit: After reading some others posts I figured I should add some..

Wow - you live expensively!

Lets see

Mortgage - $950 ( a 3 bedroom 2000sq foot house. Built in 2003)
HOA - $40/ year - Dont really count this as it just comes out of misc once a year.
Landscaper - $0 - Cant see paying someone to do something that takes an hour every two weeks.
Maid $0 - See above
Health Insurance - Military - $0
Electric - $150 and I have lots of computers running 24/7
Water/Sewage - $35
Phone - $40 (who needs to have phone internet and text)
Trash - $30
Insurance - $10 (Liability only)
Cable - $120 - I need my internet/tv
Spending money - $1000 (gas, food, entertainment, ext)
Eating out - I eat out almost daily for lunch and dinner . Comes out of spending money.

Of course some of these bills change but in general my living expenses are $2200-2300 a month.

[Anne]

This is the budget I'm figuring by for after I leave my salary position. These numbers are for one person living in a condo in Chicago:

Taxes $265 - assume you mean property tax. $120/month
Home Ins $50 - 0 (included in HOA assessment)
HOA $150 - $225
Med Ins (Medigap & son's insur $300) - figuring $100/mo for HDHP premium + $250/mo. put in HSA
Electric $200 - $40 for electric + gas
Sewer & Garbage $70 - $0 (included in HOA assessment)
Water $60 - $0 (included in assessment)
Tel (reg line & Internet line) $60 - $70 (cell + internet)
TV $75 - $0 (included in assessment)
DSL $45 - $0 (included above in "Tel" line)
Landscaper $100 - $0 (included in assessment)
Maid (twice a mo) $160 - $0 (though I admit this would be a nice luxury to have)
Eating Out (two people) $240 - $200
Eating In $600 - $200
Misc (all other stuff) $900 - $600 (misc. plus $500/month for travel and fun money)
Car Insur $200 (two vehicles) - $0 because I don't have a car, but I use public transportation which is $75 for a monthly pass
Gas $ 160.00 - $0

So $1880/month.

[outtarentals]

Originally Posted by ashtondav

For anyone thinking about retiring in the UK this is our budget per month (converted to $ at 2 to the UK pound). House paid off, no rent.


Fuel $300 (gas here is now $10 a gallon)

.

Ashton, Did I read that right? Gas is $10 a gallon in the UK!!

[trixs]

I hope its not $10 a gallon! I'm moving to Germany in about two months and wont be doing much traveling with those gas prices...

[ziggy29]

Originally Posted by outtarentals

Ashton, Did I read that right? Gas is $10 a gallon in the UK!!

Yeah, but with current exchange rates on the dollar, that's probably about a pound and a half these days.

[oma]

Originally Posted by trixs

I hope its not $10 a gallon! I'm moving to Germany in about two months and wont be doing much traveling with those gas prices...

I'm in Germany now - paying Post Exchange AAFES prices at about $3.20/gal. Need special coupons. I think Germans pay $5-6. They have an outstanding mass transit system over here - very dependable and safe.

[FinanceDude]

Originally Posted by oma

I'm in Germany now - paying Post Exchange AAFES prices at about $3.20/gal. Need special coupons. I think Germans pay $5-6. They have an outstanding mass transit system over here - very dependable and safe.

With a $4-$5 "gas tax" in place for 25 years, they could afford it........

Keep in mind that Europe is the size of the MidWest, for perspective, so it's easy to see why mass transit works, it's a small area compared to the USA.........

[landover]

Some of you may remember that I moved from the US to a third world country. Here is my expenses, hashing my expenses in already provided format:

Taxes $265 - assume you mean property tax. Ours is ~$0/mo
Home Ins $50 - 0
HOA $150 - $9.
Rent this was not here originally $215
Med Ins (Medigap & son's insur $300) - No medical insurance $400 deduction from income for tax, $12,500/yr limit hospitalization only benefit - free from employer - I guess cost appx. $600/yr, including parents 60+ yr old.
Electric $200 - $40/mon average
Sewer & Garbage $70 - 0/month
Water $60 - $0
Tel (reg line & Internet line) $60 - $40/month including cell phones
TV $75 - $0 - no cable
DSL $45 - $0 included in phone but 3GB/month only
Landscaper $100 - 0.
Maid (twice a mo) $160 - $50 month
Eating Out (two people) $240 - $100/month
Eating In $600 - $200/month.
Misc (all other stuff) $900 - $600, $200 school fee, $200 travel budget (rail travel is very cheap), $200 cloths etc
Car Insur $200 (two vehicles) - $45/mo with comp/collision for the most part
Gas $ 160.00 - $100, gas is around $4.5 gallon, 1.25/liter.

So Total is $1400 ($1200 without rent), I used to spend around approx. $2000 in US not including rent. This is with 2 kids.

There are other differences, a civic cost as much as a entry level luxury car , houses are more expensive barring a few areas in E/W coast.

[EngineeringMyFinances]

couple of expenses you don't seem to include.

A biggy is car depreciation. I'm guessing you have paid-up cars, because I see detailed car expenses. What about replacing the car when it wears out? And major repairs?

Perhaps your HOA covers exterior maintenance, including painting and roofs. What about interior maintenance? If your cooling system needs to be replaced, who pays for that?

[haha]

Originally Posted by trixs

Insurance - $10 (Liability only)

I may have misunderstood, but are you saying that the only homeowner's insurance that you carry on a house built in 2003 is liability?

I have considered dropping damage and contents insurance on my old house, but so far no one will sell it to me.

What kind of policy is this?

Ha

[Helena]

The two of us are able to live a simple but comfortable life on
less than $2000 a month; but we have no debts & don't play golf


No HOA fees either... what a rip off !

[oma]

Home Owners sometimes covers a lot of things like H20, garbage, cable, and building insurance, landscaping, and pool/gym maintenance. In FLA, building insurance is becoming outrageous - some large insurance companies like USAA refuses to even start new policies there, so having the HOA cover it is sometimes a good deal.

[zoey]

ArizonaAZ Mo Cost Taxes $265 Home Ins $50 HOA $150 Med Ins (Medigap & son's insur $300 Electric $200 Sewer & Garbage $70 Water $60 Tel (reg line & Internet line) $60 TV $75 DSL $45 Landscaper $100 Maid (twice a mo) $160 Eating Out (two people) $240 Eating In $600 Misc (all other stuff) $900 Car Insur $200 (two vehicles) Gas $ 160.00 Total $ 3,635.00 **Plus income taxes

Here is how our expenses compare:

Prop tax: $24
House Insurance: $83
HOA: none
Med insurance: $266
Electric: $75
Gas (propane): $25
Sewer: None (have cesspool)
Garbage: zero (we take our garbage to the dump, which is free)
Water: $18
Telephone: $25
Internet: $10 (dial-up)
TV: Zero (use Bunny ear-type antennae)
Landscaper: Zero (we do the yardwork)
Maid: Zero (I clean the house)
Eating out: $10-$15 (McDonald's or Taco Bell dollar menu 2-3 times)
Food: $450
Auto expenses: $162 (includes $100 for maint acct, car ins, registration)
Gasoline: $55
Prescriptions: $180
Misc: $250 (hair cuts, clothes, house and garden products, soap, shampoo, cat food and litter, supplements, etc.)
Cell phone: $40 (will be zero when contract is up in July)

Our total monthly expenses have been coming in under $1,600 per month, so your expenses seem really high to me.

[zoey]

Originally Posted by JohnDoe

Doesn't anyone take a vacation here or budget for it?

I know when I retire I would like to have a minimum of 10,000 per yr budgeted for vacations. After all, that's a big reason for ER, for me.

No, we live in Hawaii and don't feel the need to go someplace else for a vacation. We never did travel much. We're pretty much homebodies.

[dixonge]

This was a great opportunity to examine our current and projected budget. We're still a few years away from ER but it's obvious that even though we were paying off debt at an accelerated pace we were leaking money elsewhere. The future projections assume we are still in our house. In retirement we will be renting only (no property taxes or insurance) and will be overseas, somewhere cheap.

                      Our      Our
OP's Budget           YTD   Projected
Taxes          $265   400      400
Home Ins        $50   138      138
Mortgage             1129     1129
HOA            $150    50       50
Med Ins        $300    20       20
Electric       $200   290      200
Sewer & Garbage $70     0        0 (included in water bill)
Water           $60    70       80
Tel             $60   115      100 (cell only)
TV              $75   115      115 (Cable + internet)
DSL             $45     0        0
Landscaper     $100     0        0
Maid           $160     0        0
Eating Out     $240   125      100
Eating In      $600   787      650 (may include non-grocery)
Misc           $900  1264      624
Car Insur      $200   132       90
Gas            $160   267      250
Student Loan         1719        0
Total        $3,635 $6600*   $3946*

* Approximate

[RetiredGypsy]

When I had my apartment in San Diego, my expenses went something like this.

Taxes $0
Home Ins $0
HOA $0
Rent $825 (About the cheapest in San Diego without living in the ghetto)
Med Ins $0 (Military)
Electric ~$35
Sewer & Garbage $0
Water $0
Cell $40/month (unlimited calls/text)
TV $0
DSL $0
Landscaper $0.
Maid $0
Eating Out $0
Eating In ~$300
Misc (all other stuff) ~$1,000 for some major motorcycle maintanence (tires, clutch, etc)
Car Insur $58/month
Gas ~$80/month

So, around $1,325/month, or $15,876/year, plus $1,000 last year for some major motorcycle maintenance items. Once I'm free from w*rk, I'll be able to cut that down to <$900/month for the essentials.

Entertainment hasn't been included because it's based on funds available at any given time. It does get budgeted in, but it's much more fluid.

[oma]

Originally Posted by RetiredGypsy

When I had my apartment in San Diego, my expenses went something like this.

Taxes $0
Home Ins $0
HOA $0
Rent $825 (About the cheapest in San Diego without living in the ghetto)
Med Ins $0 (Military)
Electric ~$35
Sewer & Garbage $0
Water $0
Cell $40/month (unlimited calls/text)
TV $0
DSL $0
Landscaper $0.
Maid $0
Eating Out $0
Eating In ~$300
Misc (all other stuff) ~$1,000 for some major motorcycle maintanence (tires, clutch, etc)
Car Insur $58/month
Gas ~$80/month

So, around $1,325/month, or $15,876/year, plus $1,000 last year for some major motorcycle maintenance items. Once I'm free from w*rk, I'll be able to cut that down to <$900/month for the essentials.

Entertainment hasn't been included because it's based on funds available at any given time. It does get budgeted in, but it's much more fluid.

Surprised utilities are so low ($35), as well as eating out (can't think of anyone who doesn't). If one doesn't mind renting, you can save a lot on real estate taxes and insurance. With a budget like yours, a person could continue to invest $$$$ as well as live w^rk-free.