How much did you spend in 2007?

[SecondCor521]

$63,286.01 including everything, according to Quicken. I hope to see that drop by a couple of $K in 2008, but I am usually a little too optimistic in that regard.

Top several categories include:

$30.7K - Kids (child support, child care, education expenses, etc.)
$11.9K - Taxes (SS, fed, state, medicare, property)
$9.6K - Interest (mortage, student loan)
$2.6K - Food (groceries + eating out)
$1.9K - Utilities (gas, electricity, water, sewer, trash, cell)

All other categories are less than $1.2K each.

2Cor521

 

[Notmuchlonger]

$63,286.01 including everything, according to Quicken. I hope to see that drop by a couple of $K in 2008, but I am usually a little too optimistic in that regard.

Top several categories include:

$30.7K - Kids (child support, child care, education expenses, etc.)
$11.9K - Taxes (SS, fed, state, medicare, property)
$9.6K - Interest (mortage, student loan)
$2.6K - Food (groceries + eating out)
$1.9K - Utilities (gas, electricity, water, sewer, trash, cell)

All other categories are less than $1.2K each.

2Cor521

Wow how did you only spend 2.6k in food?

 

[Khan]

Gross pension $29,600

$5293 grocery stores
$1160 ACE hardware (mostly bird food)

$1000 natural gas
$276 ..electricity
$407 ..water/sewer/trash

$927 ..cable
$368 ..cell
$736 ..landline/DSL
$1715 PC/electronics/software

$4468 house/yard upkeep

$100 ..gasoline

$915 ..insurance(car/house/LTC)
$897 ..insurance (medical)
$196 ..medical

$217 .veterinarian

$2652 income taxes (this could go down, need to adjust withholding)
$827 ..property tax

$2000 charity
$300 ..miscellaneous

~$24000

Not included in above:
Bought a car with cash(check): money came from MMA from money saved for such occurrences

 

[Ronstar]

Just did my end of 2007 in Quicken today. Major categories exclusive of income taxes are:

Vehicle expense 11,425.45
Condo fees/taxes/utilities/improvements 9,229.09
Misc 22,340.02
Travel/ entertainment 18,349.01
Medical 1,110.75
Home fees/taxes/utilities/improvements 24,866.25
Clothing 4,278.61
Groceries 7,384.58
Total expenses 98,983.76

 

[Maurice]

Ron - you've got the same problem with 'Misc' as I have with 'Cash'. Lts of stuff buried in there...

 

[Ronstar]

Ron - you've got the same problem with 'Misc' as I have with 'Cash'. Lts of stuff buried in there...

Yes, "misc" or "cash" can really add up. Mine didn't look that bad until I summed it up for the whole year.

 

[SteveR]

I use MS Money and have since 1993. I have WAY TOO many categories so my expense reports cover pages and pages. This year I started to reduce so my past years accounts are different from this years but I can still see the year to year differences.

Speaking of which....our expenses and income swings pretty wide most years so I work off of a "projected" budget for basics that has a lot of padding in it to keep our projected expenses higher than a normal year (whatever that is!).

2007... I am still working it out but the following all happened to make it a screwy year:

Sold cabin...moved gain to various places.

Sold RV

And bought a new one.
Paid sales tax on it.

Replaced all kitchen appliances.

Remodeled two rooms...repainted 1/4 of the house...replace 5 windows...replace front stucco....etc.

Bought a car for DW

Sold my truck

Sold some stuff on Craigs list

Put money in the grandkids 529 accounts

Paid youngest son's tuition and partial living expenses

Gave some $$ to family member in need.

etc., etc.,

Oh.....and retired in May. DW stopped working in Jan.


How much did we spend in 2007......a whole lot!

2008 will be a lot less....really! I mean it this time...

 

[AltaRed]

About $110k (excluding income taxes) per Quicken for 2 people (retired). We had a lot (about $30-35k) of one time items getting new things for the home that won't be repeated. Still more than we expected or planned on. I would guess we should plan on $75-80k (net of income taxes) going forward since we don't want to cut back any.

 

[Nords]

2007... I am still working it out but the following all happened to make it a screwy year:
2008 will be a lot less....really! I mean it this time...

You're a poster child for the reasons that make it so difficult to calculate a personal rate of inflation!

Even when we're not raising families, something happens every year to make that year's data unprecedented, possibly unique, and unable to be used to supply even the second point on a trend line.

It's a frustrating issue and nearly impossible to address. I've had a significant minority of veterans, Reserves/NG, & active-duty military* tell me that they can't/won't retire because inflation rises much faster than their military pension COLA. They're absolutely positive that, no matter who else is enjoying retirement or for how long, that in 10 years they'll be bankrupted by the 6-10% rate of "hidden" inflation. The govt data is laughed off even by the economists, let alone by the conspiracy theorists.

Attempts to appeal to logic & experience are met with reciprocated diatribes along the lines of "You poor deluded fool, hopefully you can get that Wal-Mart greeter's job before it's too late..."

*Present company excepted, of course, but it's been pretty ugly on various military discussion boards.

 

[Geoffrey]

Several posters use an Excel spreadsheet to track expenses. Sounds like a great idea, but they noted that it took some effort to set it up. I'd like to try tracking my expenses with Excel. Would some mind sharing a sanitized copy of their spreadsheet with us?

 

[sunshine]

$19,622.46 Not including taxes.

 

[kat]

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.

I can't be bothered either. Whenever I have a reason to take a look, I do it the old fashioned way. Look up past year's prop taxes in my checkbook. My credit cards give me year end reports, my utility companies keep it online.

I've been instinctively living a certain way so long that I know what I spend as much as I need to know.

But I also don't do spreadsheets. I do Unclemick's back of the envelope.

 

[Maurice]

Our total is about $54,000.

View attachment 3036​

Al - did you really only spend $150 on clothing? If so, does your wife have any sisters?

 

[W2R]

It would take a while to itemize as completely as others have (though you are inspiring me!! I should keep all of my itemized expenses in my Excel spreadsheet too).

But, it's pretty easy to figure out what I had in the bank one year ago, what take-home pay and other after-tax income I have had since then, and what I put into my Roth, and what have left in the bank and taxable accounts now. From that, I figure my expenses for 2007, not including my Roth, to be $13,013.

My monthly goal for expenses other than property taxes/insurance, car insurance, and unexpected or unusual expenses is $800, or $9600/year. My property taxes and property insurance totalled $2118, my car insurance was $434 (minimum liability, got to change that soon), and my only unusual or unexpected expenses in 2007 was a laptop for about $550, so my expenses other than these were $9,911, exceeding my goal by $311 (oops!). I know where it went, though. I spent $981 on this table, which I purchased in December and happen to just absolutely love.

Had I not bought it, my expenditures would have been $670 (or, $55/month) below goal.

 

[TromboneAl]

Al - did you really only spend $150 on clothing? If so, does your wife have any sisters?

Wow, did we really spend that much?

Seriously, that's true. Right now I'm wearing an Old Navy Polartec fleece sweatshirt that we bought at a garage sale, never worn, with the tag on, for 50 cents. That kind of deal is not unusual. I have a ten-year supply of T-shirts in a closet.

Wife is similarly frugal WRT clothes. A few times she's bought an ugly sweater that's made with good wool, unraveled it, and knit a new sweater.

Being retired, I can wear the more worn clothes around the house, saving the nicer stuff for going out.

 

[REWahoo]

...I figure my expenses for 2007, not including my Roth, to be $13,013.

My monthly goal for expenses other than property taxes/insurance, car insurance, and unexpected or unusual expenses is $800, or $9600/year. My property taxes and property insurance totalled $2118, my car insurance was $434 (minimum liability, got to change that soon), and my only unusual or unexpected expenses in 2007 was a laptop for about $550, so my expenses other than these were $9,911, exceeding my goal by $311...

So you had $0 in medical expenses, including any payroll deductions for insurance premiums?

 

[W2R]

So you had $0 in medical expenses, including any payroll deductions for insurance premiums?

If you re-read my post, I only counted take-home pay. You retired types probably have forgotten that medical insurance, taxes, and social security/Medicare contributions are taken out before one gets one's take-home pay. Medical insurance is $125/mo and is taken out before taxes, so it decreases my take-home pay by about $82/month.

My medical expenses were included in the $800/month figure. I spent $22/month for Vytorin with my drug card, and two $15 co-pays for my doctor visits. So, that would come to about $25/month that was already included in the $800 goal (or $745 actual) expenditures.

I also had to pay something for one x-ray of my poor bruised tailbone (due to New Orleans' potholes probably). My share after insurance wasn't a whole lot - - maybe $150? I'd have to check. It and the bloodwork for my Vytorin also were counted in my $745 actual expenses. Now, if I had been run over by a car or had had an appendectomy or something, I would regard it as an unusual expenditure but these are small enough that I do not.

 

[REWahoo]

OK, I see now.

Maybe I'm I little too sensitive to the fact our medical insurance premiums ($5,000 deductible) were over 60% of the amount you report as your total expenses for 07.

 

[rmh]

Around 110,000.

As long as it is under allocation, to lazy to count. Gifts to children, grandchildren, etc., plus travel vary so much that needs/wants cannot be expected/anticipated yearly. Actually "living" costs (home, ins., utilities, food, etc. cars -) around 60K.

 

[W2R]

OK, I see now.

Maybe I'm I little too sensitive to the fact our medical insurance premiums ($5,000 deductible) were over 60% of the amount you report as your total expenses for 07.

Thank you for helping to provide me with the motivation to work until I qualify for lifetime medical, 675 days from now. I could retire sooner or maybe even immediately if it weren't for that.

With lifetime medical I will have to pay the $125/mo (or whatever it has inflated to by then) after taxes instead of before, but it still sounds like it is worth another 675 days of my life (I guess). Tomorrow it will just be 674...

Now, if/when we end up with universal health coverage for everyone in the U.S., you will have the last laugh. I really, REALLY don't want to be spending hours of my precious life at work today, even sneaking onto the ER forum.

 

[Martha]

W2R, I really love that statue on your new table. What is it made of?

 

[W2R]

W2R, I really love that statue on your new table. What is it made of?

Oh, it's a cheap reproduction and I am having a mental block about what it is made of (nothing fancy). Maybe I'll remember it in a minute. After it was molded, it was apparently painted to look like old stone. It's kind of dinged up, but to me, that adds to the effect. It only cost me $25 or so the year before last at Heirloom Antiques here in New Orleans (where I got the table and the little gilded tray too).

One of the great advantages to growing older is that I am less discriminating about my artwork. My eyesight is bad enough that as far as I'm concerned it's worth a million! I really love it, too. I like to scout around for cheap art like that. It's my favorite pastime. I spend all my shopping time combing through antique stores for stuff like this, and usually don't buy much.

 

[FANOFJESUS]

Is that for one or two people? You are getting close to our number of 11,100

It would take a while to itemize as completely as others have (though you are inspiring me!! I should keep all of my itemized expenses in my Excel spreadsheet too).

But, it's pretty easy to figure out what I had in the bank one year ago, what take-home pay and other after-tax income I have had since then, and what I put into my Roth, and what have left in the bank and taxable accounts now. From that, I figure my expenses for 2007, not including my Roth, to be $13,013.

My monthly goal for expenses other than property taxes/insurance, car insurance, and unexpected or unusual expenses is $800, or $9600/year. My property taxes and property insurance totalled $2118, my car insurance was $434 (minimum liability, got to change that soon), and my only unusual or unexpected expenses in 2007 was a laptop for about $550, so my expenses other than these were $9,911, exceeding my goal by $311 (oops!). I know where it went, though. I spent $981 on this table, which I purchased in December and happen to just absolutely love.

Had I not bought it, my expenditures would have been $670 (or, $55/month) below goal.

 

[kombat]

Food 2400
Not bad for two people

Praytell, how does an individual survive on a $100/month food budget? That's only about a dollar a meal. How do you get all the necessary nutrition for such a low cost? My wife and I spend about triple that, and we rarely eat out at restaurants. And we make extensive use of leftovers.

EDIT: To keep this on topic, our expenses last year were around $92,000. My wife and I, no kids, age 32. But $50,000 of that was mortgage and investments.

 

[W2R]

Is that for one or two people? You are getting close to our number of 11,100

Oh no, I am not living on anywhere near as low a figure as you so I am out of any competition for "most frugal" here on the forum. There is just one of me, and I am dating so Frank takes me out to eat on the weekends a lot. I am still spending over $300/month on food just for me. I think your low food budget is amazing!

By the way, I notice that was your 3rd post. Welcome to the ER forum!