How much did you spend in 2007?

[JohnDoe]

Spent 62k not including taxes
Saved 25k

 

[kcowan]

$99k including $36k penthouse rental and $10k snowbirding expenses and taxes
$53.3k net

 

[FIREd]

For wife and I, $63,800 (excluding taxes), down 1.4% from 2006. Car expenses jumped almost 40% from 2006 (lots of costly repairs for my 7year old VW plus higher gas prices), grocery costs increased nearly 10%, and we spent almost 35% more on gifts (mostly cash gifts to help family members). But durable good purchases decreased almost 20% and our utilities cost cutting measures are starting to pay off with a 15% drop from 2006. The results are surprising as I thought we spent a lot more money in 2007 than we did in 2006 (it just felt like a very expensive year for some reason).

But in 2007 our tax bill came to a record $32,500 (includes Federal, state and FICA), up 16% though income was up only 7%.

 

[Maurice]

I just finished this a few hours ago.


Excluding two large 'extraneous' items (some pricey art and a pricey room renovation):

Housing: $68,883
Utilities: $6,576
Cash*: $33,283
Medical/Dental: $2,833
Food&Drink: $7,227
Entertainment: $15,456
Travel: $17,470
Consumer Goods: $16,885
Gifts: $3,980
Misc: $4,245

Total: $168,839.


Including the 'exceptional' items we spent $202,976.


*Cash - I know this category is bogus, but such are the limits of my record keeping. In reality its a mixture of Food, Entertainment, and Transportation

Other notes on categories: 'Entertainment' includes eating out. 'Misc' includes public transportation. Lots of transportation costs (taxis) are hidden in that 'Cash' category, maybe even 8-10k worth.

 

[Shawn]

Mortgage (12,397)
Property Tax (2,970)
Charity (5,040)
Home Insurance (762)
Auto Insurance (467)
Auto Gas (829)
Cable TV (636)
Phone (343)
Internet (219)
Electricity and Gas (247)
Water (219)
Trash (142)
Medical (713)
Veterinary (345)
Food (1,646)
Misc (2,727)

Total (29,703) (plus 65,287 in estimated income taxes)

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)

 

[kumquat]

I'm impressed with all the record keeping. I can only give a WAG at about 120K

 

[Bikerdude]

Single, $41,570, biggest expense: taxes. State, Fed and property= $9,081 .

 

[Maurice]

Single, $41,570, biggest expense: taxes. State, Fed and property= $9,081 .

I didn't include taxes in mine. Too early for me to figure that out yet!

 

[free4now]

This thread is a good inspiration for me to calculate my spending. This year total 2007 spending was $84,200 not including taxes. This included a one time cash gift of $12k, and expenses related to fixing up my condo for sale, as well as moving and refurnishing expenses.

I am thinking that my ongoing living costs will be about $60k a year now that I'm living in the city... it's more expensive than the suburbs where I spent $51k last year.

BTW for those of you who aren't sure how to calculate your spending, you might want to try my super simple approach. I have a single checking account through which all spending flows, and I just get a year end spending report on it from my bank. To make this work I needed to have a separate checking account that I use for all transfers... any money that will leave the account into another of my financial accounts. I am careful that any money going out of the spending checking account is actually spending, and any money going out of the transfer checking account is actually not spending.

 

[bbbamI]

2 adults, 1 income, no mortgage, North Texas......expenses $43,755.00 (not including fed tax)

Did save $51,500 for retirement fund...hubby wants to hang it up in 2009.

 

[Olav23]

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I am just wondering how you guys do the record-keeping to keep track of all these categories? Do you use a digital tool like wesabe/yodlee/quicken or are you just unbelievably disciplined at keeping up spreadsheets?

I really liked my AmEx as they produced a nice end of the year categorized spending list for me, but now that I switched to the EmigrantDirect cashback card, I don't think they have that feature.

I try to do all my spending on credit, but some large expenditures can't be done that way (like my rent and electricity). Plus in NYC, many restaurants are cash-only, as crazy as that is.

I'd love to track all expenses as well, but i just know I am not disciplined enough if it requires paperwork...

 

[donheff]

A lot!

DD is in her final year at NYU: $50K -kaching.
New furniture and house upgrades preparatory to DW's ER: kaching.
Regular expenses: kaching.

 

[bbbamI]

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I am just wondering how you guys do the record-keeping to keep track of all these categories? Do you use a digital tool like wesabe/yodlee/quicken or are you just unbelievably disciplined at keeping up spreadsheets?

I really liked my AmEx as they produced a nice end of the year categorized spending list for me, but now that I switched to the EmigrantDirect cashback card, I don't think they have that feature.

I try to do all my spending on credit, but some large expenditures can't be done that way (like my rent and electricity). Plus in NYC, many restaurants are cash-only, as crazy as that is.

I'd love to track all expenses as well, but i just know I am not disciplined enough if it requires paperwork...

For expenses, I have just one excel spreadsheet for each year. The biggest PITA was setting up the catagories. Every once in a while I'd have to add a new one. Most of our expenses are on 2 credit cards, so that makes it pretty easy. I post the other expenses when I receive the bills. The cash part goes into a misc fund, but it is never over $200 a month. If it were, I would separate those as well.

To me, this is an important step to retirement. We have to know how much it takes to pay the bills, where the money goes and what we could cut if there is a need.

 

[Nords]

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I am just wondering how you guys do the record-keeping to keep track of all these categories? Do you use a digital tool like wesabe/yodlee/quicken or are you just unbelievably disciplined at keeping up spreadsheets?
I'd love to track all expenses as well, but i just know I am not disciplined enough if it requires paperwork...

Quicken. A few minutes a day or a half-hour a week.

What matters is finding a method that works for you. The software is pretty much a personal preference as is the degree to which you drill down into categories.

 

[Maurice]

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I am just wondering how you guys do the record-keeping to keep track of all these categories? Do you use a digital tool like wesabe/yodlee/quicken or are you just unbelievably disciplined at keeping up spreadsheets?

I really liked my AmEx as they produced a nice end of the year categorized spending list for me, but now that I switched to the EmigrantDirect cashback card, I don't think they have that feature.

I try to do all my spending on credit, but some large expenditures can't be done that way (like my rent and electricity). Plus in NYC, many restaurants are cash-only, as crazy as that is.

I'd love to track all expenses as well, but i just know I am not disciplined enough if it requires paperwork...

I do it on a spreadsheet. Once a month, I paste the activity from my Visa, the wife's Visa, and our checking account into a spreadsheet. From there I select a category for each line item and the spreadsheet totals it for me.

The problem I have is the 'cash' bucket becomes a catch-all which limits the utility of my system. I too live in NYC and spend a lot in cash. To really track that I'd have to take notes during the day or update a spreadsheet each night, something I'm probably not disciplined enough to do. One thing I could do is use my debit/credit card whenever I can, at least that would minimize the 'cash' bucket.

 

[Maurice]

To me, this is an important step to retirement. We have to know how much it takes to pay the bills, where the money goes and what we could cut if there is a need.

Agreed. I actually started tracking only last year (meaning 2007), just for this reason.

 

[OAG]

Microsoft Money. Dump receipts and notes on desk. Post them at least twice a week, very accurate once you set the program up correctly and can keep multiple years in the same file. Been using MS Money since beta back about 12 years ago.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I am just wondering how you guys do the record-keeping to keep track of all these categories? Do you use a digital tool like wesabe/yodlee/quicken or are you just unbelievably disciplined at keeping up spreadsheets?

I really liked my AmEx as they produced a nice end of the year categorized spending list for me, but now that I switched to the EmigrantDirect cashback card, I don't think they have that feature.

I try to do all my spending on credit, but some large expenditures can't be done that way (like my rent and electricity). Plus in NYC, many restaurants are cash-only, as crazy as that is.

I'd love to track all expenses as well, but i just know I am not disciplined enough if it requires paperwork...

Quicken. Wife and I save every receipt she also has a palm pilot for anything else. Every few months we sit down and input it in. We just keep track of expenses. So anything that is paid out or lost money is kept track. So about every 2 to 3 months we take a half hour and do it. Then back it up on multiple cd's. It sure is giving us a great idea of future retirement expenses.

 

[KB]

I use Microsoft Money too, and post spending from my receipts a couple of times a week.

For 2007, basic spending was 35,051 plus 8400 in travel, legal fees and puppy purchasing expenses.

I'm aiming for 36,000 for 2008.

 

[Texas Proud]

Best guess is about $75K...

But that includes about $31K in income and property taxes (excludes SS taxes though).... man I am taxed like crazy...

 

[kcowan]

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I am just wondering how you guys do the record-keeping to keep track of all these categories? Do you use a digital tool like wesabe/yodlee/quicken or are you just unbelievably disciplined at keeping up spreadsheets?

We just download our two checking accounts and adjust for transfers from our investment accounts. So it is exact cash accounting. We used a spreadsheet for 3 years to understand where it was all going but have now stopped because it was not changing anything.

(All the receipts still go into a shoebox but that is just in case!)

 

[kumquat]

All this record keeping sounds too much like w*ork. As long as my WAG is at about a 2.5% WR I can't be bothered.

 

[Rustic23]

I found that Money, and I would suppose Quicken is the same, allows me to download my bank statements. As all my spending passes through two banks, it is fairly easy to assign things to categories.

Now, are the people reporting sans taxes just waiting to pay 2007 taxes or don't count 2006 taxes paid in 2007? I guess I use a cash system and record items when I pay them. That means that my 2007 taxes will go in the 2008 spending and the payment on the credit cards and any other charges that arrive in January. i.e. The December 2007 power bill is paid in January 2008. For me it all balances out in the end.

 

[Bikerdude]

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I am just wondering how you guys do the record-keeping to keep track of all these categories? Do you use a digital tool like wesabe/yodlee/quicken or are you just unbelievably disciplined at keeping up spreadsheets?

I really liked my AmEx as they produced a nice end of the year categorized spending list for me, but now that I switched to the EmigrantDirect cashback card, I don't think they have that feature.

I try to do all my spending on credit, but some large expenditures can't be done that way (like my rent and electricity). Plus in NYC, many restaurants are cash-only, as crazy as that is.

I'd love to track all expenses as well, but i just know I am not disciplined enough if it requires paperwork...

I have a spreadsheet budget that lists my basic expenses for each month. What's left over from my 4% SWR and pension is put in cash and charge card buckets for each month. What is not spent in one month is moved forward. As I spend money I update the spreadsheet.

 

[Sandy]

I use excel. I set the categories to what seemed to make sense for our family's spending, subdividing categories into specifics, for example, under transportation I have a line for gas, repairs, insurance, and registration. We take all receipts and pile them next to the computer. I sit down 1-2 times per week and enter what is there. For bills, I pull out the ole check book and enter those expenses as well. Takes only a few minutes each week. The hardest part was setting up the initial worksheets. There have been some modifications, but it seems to work well. I have a much better sense of where the $$ is going and can assess whether the reasons behind exceptionally high or low spending months makes sense.