Total Spending in 2009

[Lakedog]

$14,768 in 2009 -- single, no mortgage, very cheap health insurance ($80/mo) and property tax ($961 on assessed value of $450k), includes a couple of 2 to 3 week trips but family/friends provided much of the lodging (FL and OR/WA). Plan to spend quite a bit more in 2010 and beyond - working on that now since I am currently in FL on a 3 week adventure.

 

[F4mandolin]

After reading more of these, I also am starting to feel a bit better about being able to retire at 54 the summer of 2011. With the house paid for it would seem living on $30k a year (providing no big bills) will not be that hard. We are doing it now and I am planning on being able to go $45-50K if needed. We will need to come back to the UK at least once a year, but offseason that isn't too bad. It will be the first time in my life I will be able to travel without the highest air fares/hotels etc.

 

[Shawn]

Single, living alone (one cat), San Francisco Bay Area, 50, not yet retired ...

$9,185.65 Mortgage
$4,609.85 Charity
$3,108.64 Property Taxes
$2,171.84 Utilities (Gas/Elec, Water, Phone, Trash, TV, Internet)
$1,008.97 Home and Auto Repair
$0,883.35 Food
$0,798.00 Homeowners Insurance
$0,435.32 Gas (for car)
$0,413.00 Auto Insurance
$0,402.96 Cat (food, supplies, vet bills)
$0,860.55 Misc

Total ($23,878.13) (plus $60,987 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)
2008 (31,846)
2009 (23,878)

I tracked all my expenses to the penny in 2009. The last time I did this was in 2001. Being very competitive with myself, this helped me keep costs well under previous years. I also had a ~$3 reduction from normal due to a mortgage refinance. As mentioned in previous posts, a goal was to spend less than $1000 on food in 2009. I came in at $883.35, or $2.42/day. I'll spend more in 2010.

 

[Rustward]

Actual cash spent for the two of us in 2009, $34,696 for the year. This figure includes property taxes, but does not include the reserves for replacement items (cars, home maintenance (water heaters (we have two), air and heat (we have two), painting, kitchen appliances, remodeling, etc)). We have no mortgage or car payments.

We do budget and have funds for those replacement items, but just did not spend on any of them in '09.

Edit to add: Property taxes on the 3/4+ acre lot and 2650 sf house are a little over $5,000/year, so we could downsize and save a little. Not planning to downsize anytime soon, though -- maybe when we are tired of doing the yardwork.

Yardwork: The main oil seal on the Sears Craftsman (little) lawn tractor is leaking and needs to be replaced. Ah, a project.

 

[W2R]

We must be big spenders too - around 60K for two people, not including about 20K lost on selling a house.

Those that are spending in the 30's - does that include mortgage/rent? Even when ours is paid off, I will be surprised if our spending gets down that low.

$20,792 in 2009, including all taxes except income taxes. My house is paid off, but if I was still paying the mortgage that would be $29,722. But then, there is only one of me and I live in the South. Both of these make a huge difference. I paid for several trips across country including the trip to Oregon for my daughter's wedding.

My spending decreased from 2008, when I spent $5K more than in 2009 plus another $10K that I had put aside and then gave to my daughter in 2008 for her wedding.

I have dutifully made my best attempt to correct this downward trend and spend more in 2010, by getting my new baby this week (photo below, I just can't help showing my baby picture). OK, so I've already spent almost 150% of my 2009 expenses in 2010 and it's not even February.

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

$34k for a single guy. I'd say $3k of that was frivolous spending on way over priced dance lessons which I will never repeat again. The other big ticket items were $5k for a car down payment and $5k for my part of grandma's funeral. Without being too flippant, I would have to safely assume that last item was a one-time only expense. As for the car, it will have to last the next ten years, so without all the craziness, I'm looking at getting back to my normal spending of about $20k to $24k a year.

 

[easysurfer]

Single guy, around 35K.

 

[lhamo]

Our totals for a family of four (2 adults, one 8YO boy, one 4 YO girl) were:

Food In -3546.82
Food Out -1520.44
School Meals -935.57
Transportation -2818.97
Medical -4631.55
Clothing -747.73
Entertainment -1235.20
Household -1850.60
Communications -229.99
Computer -1443.87
Vacation -5948.04
Childcare -10513.24
Housing -17120.37
House purchase -9043.91
Utilities -24.29
Furniture -2505.40
Education -3367.65
Health Club -1538.47
Gifts -1617.88
Misc -85.26

Total all categories (after taxes, retirement and college) -70725.24

House purchase includes miscellaneous fees and charges we had to pay that we won't get back -- like agent fee, etc. We won't have those expenses again soon. Aiming for around 60k for 2010. 2009 overall expenses were up about 33% over 2008 levels, largely because we more than doubled our housing costs when we took on a mortgage. Childcare costs also went up considerably when we switched DD to a new school closer to new home.

lhamo

 

[rescueme]

Just a bit more than $75k (includes taxes) for the two of us. Married - in our early 60's. I'm retired - DW still wor*ing (same age as me; her desire to still have a j*b). Completely debt free...

 

[scrabbler1]

I spent about $21.5k in 2009. Single person, 46, living on Long Island (NYC suburb), no kids, no debts, own my own co-op apartment. Includes health insurance.

 

[Kronk]

I'm impressed by how little some of you spend.

Health Care	11700	5700 deductible, insurance premiums, 2008 costs carried into 2009
House	11400	Taxes, home improvement, insurance, lawn mowing
Food	8300	We're not frugal with food
Discretionary	7500	includes a 42" plasma and a french horn, cash
Car	5400	insurance, gas, car service
Utilities	3900	gas, electric, phone, water, sewer, trash
Other	3600	cats and misc
Entertainment	2800	TV, travel, internet
Exercise	2400	TKD seminars and testing fees, BJJ membership, exercise equipment

Total of $57,000. Hopefully health care will be much smaller this year (and hopefully DW gets a job that covers the insurance part).

So over $40,000 was just basic living expenses (food, shelter, transportation, health), and around $17,000 was us actually spending money.

 

[dm]

About 72k for two, after tax. That includes 12k for health insurance and 14k to adult kids. House and cars are paid for.

Our target is $65,000, so except for the kids we did fine. And we don't expect to continue sending the kids that much in the future.

We could get by on around $40,000 and still live in the same house ect., but I would have to give up my golf membership, and the wife would have to cut back on shopping.

If times really got tough I figure we could get by on $36,000, but we would have to move. But that still includes $12,000 for health insurance.

 

[Xman]

Food In -3546.82
Food Out -1520.44

I was trying to make sense of a charge for food on the way out...

 

[freebird5825]

OUR money budget: $33,120.
Year end balance in joint account: $1300
We done good!
My rule of thumb is to estimate what we need annually with some extra play built in. I have a strong aversion to collecting data and/or doing expense tracking spreadsheets from too many years of w*rk related requirements.
I did the full blown expenses budget exercise in gruesome detail before I FIREd and it left an indelible mark on my brain.
Too lazy to calculate HIS and HER specific expenses...maybe next year.
We both had more money in our separate savings accounts at year end than at the beginning of year, so I'll claim a success.

 

[metabasalt]

50k for a couple in Philadelphia, excluding taxes, except real estate, and over 40k in savings. This has been consistent for us for last 3 years or more. Good to know since that's what we're planning our retirement costs to be.

 

[hlin]

Geez -- you guys make me feel like a spendthrift. I'm a single guy in my late 20s (w/ girlfriend) in Northern California (very $$$).

Total spending in 2009: $47,102.47
Rent: $27,393.08 (I am moving in with a roommate to lower this expense to $8,000-$12,000/yr.)
Eating Out: $3,713
Groceries: $1,058
Electronics: $3,047
Travel: $2,324

This does not include health insurance premiums, as these are taken directly out of my paycheck. Also does not include taxes, etc. But I don't think taxes should count anyways because if I did not make an income or if my income was all capital gains, the tax would be different.

 

[Maurice]

I'll make you feel a little better...

I spent ~127k this year, not including taxes.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Great year for us.

Did a lot of cool stuff.

Saved a huge amount on food.

44973.

Not including income tax. Includes property tax. Sales tax.

Our health insurance was paid for. Except 1000 out of pocket for dental and eye.

This was in the lovely state of Californie.

 

[lhamo]

I was trying to make sense of a charge for food on the way out...

I hadn't thought about it that way -- ewwwwww

That is for meals we don't prepare ourselves, including eating out and ordering in.

lhamo

 

[dessert]

Well it was raining all day today so I figured mine out for the year.
We spent $37K this year. That has been very consistent for the last three years. I will be retiring next year and I don't think we'll have a problem covering that. We'll have to teach ourselves to spend more.
Somehow, with traveling in the plans I don't think we'll have a problem there.

 

[NW-Bound]

I added up the numbers just now. We spent $58K last year. That does not include income taxes. No mortgage, no car payments. We did not take any foreign trip, and only had a simple vacation.

If I take out the kids' college costs, we could live on $40K, again not including income taxes. That $40K would cover living expenses with two houses (RE taxes and utilities), our health insurance, and one or two simple domestic trips a year. However, that does not include extraordinary expenses such as major home repairs, or car replacements, or dental work, etc...

 

[Moemg]

. However, that does not include extraordinary expenses such as major home repairs, or car replacements, or dental work, etc...

or a new RV !

 

[NW-Bound]

Yes, that's right. If it weren't for this or for that, we can live on nearly nothing at all!

But yours truly has been good, and working his butt off to generate extra income so his cheapskate's conscience does not ache when he finally buys his RV.

Heck, I lost enough money in the last 2 or 3 weeks to buy a used Alpine like Audrey's. A local dealer had a mint one with only 19K miles on it. Heh heh heh... My wife wouldn't have any of it though.

With the market god giving and taking so much more than what I can earn by working, it makes me so mad sometimes. Heaven knows, I would day trade if I knew how.

 

[mountaintosea]

All right I'll confess single female, one old cat and one old dog. I spent including property taxes, estimated quarterly taxes, & health care premiums (not including income taxes deducted from my pension check every month) $55,304. I think it's a lot but I've had my cabin worked on over the year and both my pets have become very expensive. They require multiple vet visits and meds! They are both around 15. Main monthly expenses are utilities and the health care premiums otherwise no debt.

 

[mn54]

$20,792 in 2009, including all taxes except income taxes. My house is paid off, but if I was still paying the mortgage that would be $29,722. But then, there is only one of me and I live in the South. Both of these make a huge difference. I paid for several trips across country including the trip to Oregon for my daughter's wedding.

My spending decreased from 2008, when I spent $5K more than in 2009 plus another $10K that I had put aside and then gave to my daughter in 2008 for her wedding.

I have dutifully made my best attempt to correct this downward trend and spend more in 2010, by getting my new baby this week (photo below, I just can't help showing my baby picture). OK, so I've already spent almost 150% of my 2009 expenses in 2010 and it's not even February.

Nice car! but I thought you loved your toyota solera. I hope you didn't have a problem with the gas pedal sticking.