What are your One or Two Largest Spending Categories?

[walkinwood]

property tax Health insurance.

[unclemick]

At 16 yrs of ER:

1. Party including travel and other frivolous stuff.

2. Mortgage and house insurance.

3. Taxes - fed., state, property. I didn't SWAG sales.

1. above varies all over the place depending on my mood - as high as 60% of income if I'm feeling Bon temps Rolliere!

heh heh heh -

[loosehead]

Medical insurance by far with food coming in second.

[cashflo2u2]

1. cat food
2. Groceries
3. Medical insurance, including long term care insurance
distant 4th is property taxes.

The stupid cat never likes anything so it seems that way.

[scrabbler1]

For 2009:

1. Co-op Maintenance (includes prop taxes, co-op's mortgage interest, garage parking, and other common charges).
2. Health care (mostly non-dental health insurance but also includes all dental services) is a very close second.
3. Day-to-Day cash expenses which are mostly food but also includes non-food items and my dancing fees.
4. Income taxes.
5. Auto+Home Insurance is a close 5th.

For 2010, however, my health insurance is rising at 20% (yuck!) while my co-op maintenance is not increasing (for the first time in 11 years!). This will make Health Care #1 for 2010.

[SecondCor521]

Category Cumulative Percentage

Tax 32.1%
Kids 61.7%
Interest Exp 76.5%
Insurance 82.4%
Food 88.2%
Utilities 92.2%
House 94.7%
Recreation 96.6%
Auto 98.0%
Medical 99.1%
Clothing 99.5%
Work Expense 99.7%
Cash 99.9%
Misc 100.0%
Bank Charge 100.0%

2Cor521

[kyounge1956]

My biggest categories are:

1. Contributions to retirement account (more than #2 and both #3's put together)
2. Tithe & other charities
3. Mortgage payments & Income tax (roughly tied for third place)

No more retirement contributions or mortgage once I retire. At that point I think income taxes may well edge out charity for the #1 spot, since my gross income will be lower and I won't have mortgage interest to deduct any more.

[oma]

Property Tax and fed income tax (no state tax in FLA), Homeowner's Association montly fees are my biggest.

[Dawg52]

Med's and golf.

[cardude]

1. Mortgage (24% of total budget)
2. Food/groceries/everyday items (11%)
3. Vacations (8%)
4. Property Tax-- Texas (7%)

Oooops, that's 4...........

[WB52]

1. Mortgage
2. Tuition
3. Unreimbursed car expens to drive to w*rk.
4. Food
5. Medical

[bosco]

1. Food
2. Vehicle maintenance (not including gas)
3. health care

However, we are building a house. We have a lump sum set aside for that, and are also contributing monthly. It would be the largest monthly expense if I counted it.

Once the house is built, I am guessing property taxes will rocket up in the standings.

[rescueme]

1. Travel.
2. Household/retirement income taxes.
3. My girlfriend (don't tell my wife; just call me "Mr. Woods" ...

[Maurice]

For me income taxes vastly exceed all of my other expenses combined. Around 2/3 of my total expenditures are income taxes.

[Gumby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maurice For me income taxes vastly exceed all of my other expenses combined. Around 2/3 of my total expenditures are income taxes.

I'll bet most people did not count income tax (I know I didn't. If I did, it would be Number 1 on my list)

[Westernskies]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbbamI Like yours...property tax and medical expenses are the largest for me. Number 3 would be home improvements/maintenance. Discretionary expense would be travel.

What about them boots, missy?

[Westernskies]

Income taxes, by about a 3:1 margin...

[Goonie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby I'll bet most people did not count income tax (I know I didn't. If I did, it would be Number 1 on my list)

For me, income tax would be an even tie with "#4 - Health Care". My taxable income is just below halfway in the 15% tax bracket. My pension is exempt of state income taxes, and since almost all of my nestegg is in tax-exempt or tax-deferred accounts, and only a very small portion is in taxable accounts, I pay no state income tax.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goonie #1 - Travel (mutli-day trips & vacations, day trips, live theater/music/shows) #2 - Food (both groceries and restaurants) #3 - Hobbies (gardening, model railroading, etc.) #4 - Health Care (insurance, deductibles, co-pays, meds) #5 - Home (insurance, property taxes, upkeep)

[scrabbler1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby I'll bet most people did not count income tax (I know I didn't. If I did, it would be Number 1 on my list)

Income taxes were #4 on my list shown above. They are about 6% of my total expenses in retirement.

[FIREd]

If we take taxes into account, our 10 largest expenses look like this (over the last 12 months):

1) Income Taxes 43%
2) Payroll Taxes 7.0%
3) Groceries 5.4%
4) Mortgage 5.4%
5) Furnishings/Durable Goods 5.3%
6) Auto 3.8%
7) Charity 3.4%
8) Utilities 3.4%
9) Vacations 3.4%
10) Clothing 3.4%

Property taxes are <0.7% and healthcare costs are about 1.3%