My annual expenditure

[GoodLife]

Single, living in suburbs of a large US city with another adult, sharing expenses 50/50.

2012 yearly expenses (for 1 person):

Food: $3053 (254/month), including $1810 in / $1243 out

All housing related: $4277 (356/month), including (numbers below are rounded to nearest 10):
- property taxes: 4340
- hired services: lawn mowing, snow removal: 410
- other hired services: 370 (pest control, AC/furnace cleaning, gutter cleaning)
- house insurance: 510
- utilities:
--- primary phone and internet - $0 (paid by employer ~100/month)
--- second / backup phone: 180
--- TV cable: 590
--- water/sewer: 490
--- electricity: 710
--- gas: 930
- Home Depot purchases: 30
Total is 8560 (so 4280/person)

All car related: $880 (or 73/month), including
- car insurance: 287
- gas: 277 (working from home)
- maintenance / registration fees: 316

Entertainment: $827
Trips: $900
Gifts: $336
Medical: $14
All other: $328 (clothes, haircuts, misc other).

2012 subtotal (regular): $10,615 / year

One time expenses: $1960

2012 total: $12,575 / year

Does NOT include depreciation for car, house, furniture, etc.

 

[Marita40]

My New Year's goal was to start tracking my expenses "to the penny." Still awhile from retirement, but wanted to start this habit. This thread is very helpful: I like seeing how people define expense categories.

 

[Surewhitey]

So here's a bit about us.
We're 42 & 48
1 car (now for a year) ride bike and bus to w*rk
Tried a test run for FIRE for 8 months and returned to LA in May 2012 to see if we "missed it". Don't! Running back to Mexico in April...
Here in LA, we're averaging $4k / month on a very modest living for everything. This is almost impossible for a couple in a nice part of town (Woodland Hills). We lucked out on a place to live, furnished for $1,500 / mo...

In Mexico, we averaged $2k before & anticipate $2,500 / month for a nice lifestyle. This includes all living, major medical in the US and occasional visit back or nice local vacation in the hood of Belize...

Our savings is modest by most of you guys / gals, but we just hope / expect that our overall balance stays steady over time.

 

[NW-Bound]

What people spend is all over the map. Some spend so much less than I do, but then sometimes it's because I am retired and have no health benefits, other times it's due to my own choice. I'll just pick two common categories from this poster.

All car related: $880 (or 73/month), including
- car insurance: 287
- gas: 277 (working from home)
- maintenance: 316

Medical: $14

According to Quicken, I paid $4208 for vehicle cost in the last 12 months. Four vehicles: two cars, one motorhome and a toad. No car payments. The newest vehicle is 2003, hence all licensing fees which are value-based are fairly low. My state charges 1.7% of the value of the vehicle at 1st year, then depreciates 16.25% each year. The MH ends up costing the most due to its higher initial value.

Note that gas expenses for the motorhome are not included, as they dwarf the above cost, and are classified under Travel category.

Also note that I do nearly all vehicle maintenance work myself. Have 5 floorjacks in my garage! I could still reduce the vehicle cost above; it was my choice to spend that, and much of it was discretionary.

Medical costs: $9064 for the last 12 months. That does not include the $10K annual deductible that we met [-]this[/-] last year, as the coverage still included my young adult son, who was hospitalized for more than 1 week in 2012. That $10K was paid out of an HSA, which was maintained separately.

Yes, early retirement can be expensive, both for costs incurred due to not having benefits from workplace, and also for discretionary spending.

My New Year's goal was to start tracking my expenses "to the penny." Still awhile from retirement, but wanted to start this habit. This thread is very helpful: I like seeing how people define expense categories.

No need to count to the penny, though Quicken does that for me.

When I call up the summary, it rounds everything to the dollar.

 

[Surewhitey]

I like this format, so I stole it and put mine in...Living in Los Angeles

$00,400 Dog misc
$18,000 Rent (furnished 2br/2ba)
$02,640 Charity
$01,800 Utilities (Gas/Elec, Water, Phone, Trash, TV, Internet)
$09,600 Food / eating out
$01,200 Auto Insurance
$03,000 DW Health Insurance
$00,500 Auto Repair
$02,500 Auto Gas / bus passes
$00,450 Bicycle
$07,910 Misc (clothes, entertainment, recreation, doctor, dentist, gifts, ...)

Total: $48,000

 

[FANOFJESUS]

Looks like you're doing 'better'. There's a little more "fluff" in your spending which you can easily afford. I wouldn't have pegged you as a gamer. Interesting.

I was shocked W2R was a gamer too. I did not see that coming.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

I'm stunned by what people pay for HI. I knew Florida rates were high but yowza.

When DH's COBRA ran out a couple of years ago, he had to buy insurance with guaranteed underwriting because of a pre-existing condition. Expensive. I was able to shop around a bit, bought an HDHP with an HSA, but still got upcharged 10% because I said I have arthritis in the base of both thumbs that flares up from time to time, which I 'fix' with a couple of ibuprofen.

Our current monthly cost for HI: $1273 and some change. DH figures that's about 25% of our monthly expenditure.

DH's premium has stayed the same, but mine has gone up 3 times in the past 2 years.

We are glad to have HI but look forward to seeing what ACA will offer in the way of more choices for DH.

 

[NW-Bound]

I was shocked W2R was a gamer too. I did not see that coming.

There were at least two other female posters who were very conversant about high-performance PCs, because they needed them for gaming.

I remember their posts, because I did not expect it. I do not know of any female gamers, middle-aged ones at that, among my circle of relatives and acquaintances.

 

[W2R]

There were at least two other female posters who were very conversant about high-performance PCs, because they needed them for gaming.

I remember their posts, because I did not expect it. I do not know of any female gamers, middle-aged ones at that, among my circle of relatives and acquaintances.

Maybe they just don't tell you?

There are a lot of games out there that are not ultra-violent, and are especially appealing to some of us. Now that I am retired, I have the time and money to enjoy playing them.

 

[NW-Bound]

Maybe they just don't tell you?

It's possible, but unlikely, as a few of my female relatives have plenty of trouble just using a PC for email. Yes, I also know not all games are violent. Still, the gamers in my extended family are all younger males generally under 40, like my son and his cousins, hence my stereotype.

 

[devans0]

We just went through our 2012 budget.

$7200 Groceries
3600 Utilities
3200 House taxes and insurance
1500 Vehicle ins.
7000 med expenses not covered by ins.
6000 other
______________________________________

$28500 Approx total

We are a couple, no debt, house paid, health insurance paid by employer, cheap area to live. The budget pinches, lately.

Next year will be different. DW has just been notified that she is being laid off. Today we discussed our future plans. We are in line for $72500 retirement spending. RMDs will hit, so might as well spend some more, before they hit, and keep taxes lower. $72500 is the sweet spot in taxes (the top amount for 15% Fed taxes).

Two more years...

 

[fh2000]

We are not retired yet. We are a family of 4.

2011 -- We spent 38% of take home pay (not counting tax and HI)
2012 -- We spent 37% of take home pay (not counting tax and HI)

 

[heeyy_joe]

Our 2014 budget for RE will be $68K, and $20K of that is budgeted for health care of which I am hoping we will not use all of it. We are both 57, DW is on SSDI and I am in what I hope to be my last year at Megacorp.

 

[Lurking]

I really like that approach, fh2000! Blatantly stealing your format (but including taxes):

2009 -- We spent 61% of income.
2010 -- We spent 68% of income.
2011 -- We spent 53% of income.
2012 -- We spent 49% of income.