2015 Expenses

[papadad111]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcowan It is highly a function of where you live "norcal". ...

Family size is a major factor too. Perhaps more so than location.
Consumables such as healthcare premiums and OOP, Groceries and utilities usage, number of vehicles and insurance to maintain. Those modulate significantly depending on family size - kids at home etc.

[Mulligan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by slowsaver I can't believe how many of you have spending below $30k. Really impressive. My DH and I have been spending $60k (combined) each of the last 3 years.

I think a big driver for that occurring would seem to be if mortgage is paid off and healthcare costs are under control. I live in a low cost area and live a modest lifestyle and cannot get to that 30k level myself. Now, if my mortgage was paid off, I could come in right near that number, though.


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[rodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by papadad111 Family size is a major factor too. Perhaps more so than location. Consumables such as healthcare premiums and OOP, Groceries and utilities usage, number of vehicles and insurance to maintain. Those modulate significantly depending on family size - kids at home etc.

I agree with this. I'm proud of our less than $80k spend considering we have 2 kids at home. Especially when you look at over $13k of that was health insurance premiums and another $8k+ in medical OOP. It helps that our mortgage is paid for.

[audreyh1]

i set a generous spending budget about 10 years ago, and haven't increased it in all that time - no inflation adjustments, nothing. Well - I said it was generous. Also a pretty good chunk of it (20%) is charity and gifting and we have been maxing that portion out recently.

We'll see if we finally match it this year.

[aaronc879]

Quote:

Originally Posted by slowsaver I can't believe how many of you have spending below $30k. Really impressive. My DH and I have been spending $60k (combined) each of the last 3 years.

My income is well below $30K. That makes it easy to spend less than that $30K. I've only had 9 years where my income topped $30K and it likely never will again.

[tmm99]

If it weren't for the moving cost, I spent $36.3K. 30K or below is something to aspire to, but I don't want to cut my travel budget and such. 30K below can however happen in years where there are no special expenses..

[RunningBum]

4th year in a row of a major non-regular expense, but I did include a reasonable amount in my budget for capital and maintenance expenses when I set it up to see if I could ER. I no longer keep the budget items up to date but track outflow to my WR target, and I came about 10% under.

[jkern]

Essential expenses and monthly spending (recreation, entertainment, travel. etc..) came in pretty much on target. Only exception is auto maintenance/repairs which came in higher than budgeted.

The plan is to average $12,000 per year on irregular spending (cars, roof, furniture, appliances, new toys, weddings, etc...) so it's not always easy to determine if I'm on budget looking at just one year. Given that, I spent $12,500 in discretionary irregular spending last year.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by slowsaver I can't believe how many of you have spending below $30k. Really impressive. My DH and I have been spending $60k (combined) each of the last 3 years.

But you are a couple, and also probably in a stage in your life in which spending $60K makes more sense.

When I was saving for retirement, like some others here I spent less than $30K every year and put most of my income towards retirement objectives that included both building my nestegg ASAP and paying off my house. To me it made sense to do that, mathematically. Besides, I was working and didn't have much spare time to devote to spending money. Also I was pessimistic about the economy and wanted to over-prepare for retirement as much as I could.

After retiring in 2009, I no longer have had to save for retirement and the booming market has been wonderful; not at all the pessimistic scenarios I had envisioned. I have been spending more than $30K every year and I am still ramping up my spending since apparently I can afford to do so.

I could still cut back to below $30K if necessary by simply cutting back on discretionary expenses, but I neither want to do that nor have to at present. But I always try to be prepared! We never know what future market conditions could be.

Meanwhile, at present "all systems are go" for cautiously spending more in the future. I am doing a lot of introspection and thought about what I could spend more on that would genuinely add quality to my life. I bought a house this year that is a dream come true for me. It isn't the kind of house that everybody would want. In fact some of our members would probably say "Ewww" if they saw it, because it's small and old (1500 sq ft and built around 1960), but it's just perfect for me and exactly what I have always wanted. I am so glad that I did this.

[Sue J]

Quote:

Originally Posted by slowsaver I can't believe how many of you have spending below $30k. Really impressive. My DH and I have been spending $60k (combined) each of the last 3 years.

A big factor in this is probably housing costs and property taxes. We have no mortgage and our property taxes run just $200/mo. A relative of ours, also retired, has property taxes of $750/mo. To some at ER.org $750/mo probably sounds cheap, but in our area (NE Ohio) that's a large amount.

Living at $30K feels quite comfortable. We have a large grocery budget every month, still get satellite TV (which is our luxury item) eat out a couple of times a month and have a generous monthly amount for miscellaneous. Personally, I feel like we spend plenty.

I've always had a need to be a saver. Anything extra goes into savings. I need to be saving every month because I've learned, stuff breaks and sh!t happens.

[tmm99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R It isn't the kind of house that everybody would want. In fact some of our members would probably say "Ewww" if they saw it, because it's small and old (1500 sq ft and built around 1960), but it's just perfect for me and exactly what I have always wanted. I am so glad that I did this.

That sounds like a perfect house to me too, except I would probably get something a little smaller

[tmm99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaronc879 I spent $16,730 in 2015. $11,453 if I don't include FICA, Fed and State Income taxes. FICA really hurts as a low income self-employed person. I expect to spend less in 2016 since I won't be going down to Florida this winter and my taxes will be lower as well.

Your numbers are truly remarkable.

[tmm99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sue J I've always had a need to be a saver. Anything extra goes into savings. I need to be saving every month because I've learned, stuff breaks and sh!t happens.

I am finally in the draw-down phase and although I have a budget, it is kind of funny that I still try to save the money I have already allocated to spend. It's like I have a budget but I also have a target saving plan within it. I shouldn't have to do that but I want to try to be a saver still. I also have a secret stash (eg. rebate checks, CC reward redemption, returned item refunds, etc). I guess I cannot call it a secret since I know about it, but it's like a separate wallet ane I can spend this on frivolous things without logging the purchases. Crazy.

[aaronc879]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmm99 Your numbers are truly remarkable.

Thank you but spending only $11,453(not counting FICA, Fed or State income tax) leaves me plenty of room to cut. I spent several weeks in Florida in Feb and Mar. I bought a new refrigerator. Removing those two expenses alone would put me under $10K. I cancelled my cell phone service in Nov and switched to a Tracfone so instead of paying almost $500/yr, i'll spend $100/yr or just over for a smartphone with all the talk and data I need. I eat more than enough food, have a car with under 100,000 miles on it, a comfortable paid off home. I could cut my expenses in several area if needed. I find it equally remarkable how so many people spend several times what I do and still consider themselves to be frugal. I guess since I never earned much money I am forced to live on very little if I want to save for retirement. SS will give me less than $1000/mo and I may want to spend a little more when i'm older. I will probably need to pay people to do things for me that I do for myself now and that'll cost money.

[tmm99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaronc879 Thank you but spending only $11,453(not counting FICA, Fed or State income tax) leaves me plenty of room to cut. I spent several weeks in Florida in Feb and Mar. I bought a new refrigerator. Removing those two expenses alone would put me under $10K.

WOW

Do you care to share the expense by category?

And what did you eat yesterday (or what is your diet like)?

[jim584672]

I am on track for $14,000 annual base expenses. Not including things like special trips or large unexpected outlays.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shawn My expenses were consistent with expectations. Single, living alone, San Francisco Bay Area, 56, not yet retired ... $11,380 Mortgage $08,500 College Costs (for friend's niece in Philippines) $07,329 Veterinary Bills (for another friend's cat) $04,659 Charity $03,305 Property Taxes $02,220 Utilities (Gas/Elec, Water, Phone, Trash, TV, Internet) $01,435 Water Heater and Related Work $00,930 Medical Issue $00,495 Auto Insurance $00,434 Homeowners Insurance $00,263 Bicycle Repair and Supplies $00,228 Auto Maintenance $00,226 Auto Gas $05,660 Misc (food, clothes, entertainment, recreation, doctor/dentist, subscriptions, ...) Total: $31,234.52 (plus $7329 veterinary bills and $8500 college costs for friends)

That's $20,488 for gifts and charity out of $47,064, or 44%. For me, it's only 16%, and I thought that I was generous.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound That's $20,488 for gifts and charity out of $47,064, or 44%. For me, it's only 16%, and I thought that I was generous.

Pfffttt, that's nothing. For years we've donated almost all of our after-tax funds to an unemployed couple in their 60's.

[bradaz2488]

Just finished calculating this today. Spend $41,217 which was $2,953 under plan budget for 2015. Have been under plan budget each year since I retired in 2013. Hard to spend surplus money when you are use to LBYM... Hope 2016 is the same...

[aaronc879]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmm99 WOW Do you care to share the expense by category? And what did you eat yesterday (or what is your diet like)?

Last year I spent $11,543 or approx. $955/mo. It was broken down like this.

-Electric:75/mo
-Condo fee
Tax/insurance/maint.:295(includes $500 for a once a decade refrigerator)
-Internet/cell:105(will go down to ~$80 with cheaper cell phone service)
-Car-gas/maint./ins.:155/mo(will go down with cheaper gas and no trip to Florida although with 90,000 miles, maint. will start to go up)
-Food:175/mo
-Health:100/mo(includes subsidized premium and $500 max OOP)
-misc.:50/mo

Yesterday I ate oatmeal for breakfast. I had several pieces of microwaved summer sausage for lunch. I had a few handfuls of dry roasted peanuts throughout the afternoon as snacks. I ate a frozen pizza for dinner. I only drink water. Total cost of all food and drink is around $6/day. I don't eat the healthiest of diets but it works for me. I'm not overweight(6'6" & 181 lbs) and my blood work(which I have done many times a year for work) is all good.