2018 Spending Summary and Analysis

[Dtail]

While looking at my shoes... Just DW and I.

I categorize items from Walmart and Costco as Groceries. I try to move household items (like an Instapot) into the appropriate category. So, I think this number is pretty accurate. The credit cards tell no lies

The grocery and alcohol numbers are consistent over the years and are budgeted as such.. This year's grocery spending was $429 over budget. The spirts category is a bit over budget as we have started stocking a small wine cellar.

At least I know where to cut in a severe downturn!

Ah we spend 14k a year on groceries (not including household) and dining. This number is definitely on the high side for this forum, but we love eating out 3x a week.
Good to see there others like yourself enjoying this pleasure too.

 

[Bir48die]

I don't keep track anymore. It was a fun exercise for a year. Then I found it was just another thing to fret over or take up my time. Once I established my basic budget and it proved out, I have stayed within those parameters. Now I just have three main buckets that share the different budget items including small capital expenditures.

 

[W2R]

We came in 7.2% under budget giving us a nice comfy cushion. We spent less in 2018 than in any year since 2010, despite the fact that we spent more on travel than usual, painted the house and did two other major home improvement projects in 2018. I don't know why this happened exactly, but think it may have something to do with the fact that 2018 was my first year of retirement. Our WR will be something well shy of 1% of our assets at the beginning of the year. Guess we'll have to join the Blow that Dough thread in 2019.

I am almost in the same situation! Both of us need to spend some time figuring out how to get the most benefit from Blowing That Dough in 2019. There have been worse years, that's for sure.

As for UtahSkier's groceries, I think that spending a lot on delicious, nutritious food is a terrific idea when it isn't a hardship. We are what we eat, as the saying goes.

 

[Dash man]

We don’t keep track of expenses. We evaluate our net worth and asset allocations a few times a year and use a base amount of spending to move money into our checking account each month. We have a nice 25% cushion between our planned spending and what we can spend, so we don’t worry if we need to move extra money. Every other year we do a full financial plan, which we just completed earlier this month. All is good.

 

[jkern]

Housing: 8,784
Food: 3,583
Utilities: 4,885
Transportation: 7,167
Medical/Dental: 6,588
Travel: 2,268
Gifts: 1,233
Entertainment: 4,200
Golf: 2,537
Miscellaneous: 2,269
Rental Expenses: 19,005
Car replacement: 32,400
Outdoor Kitchen: 15,550
New HVAC: 9,800
New sofa: 3,900

Total: 124,169

 

[wmc1000]

Just completed expense review for 2018. Stayed just under budget even though we had an unexpected $4K sewer pipe repair in March.




Mortgage goes away in 2021!

 

[Golden sunsets]

I am almost in the same situation! Both of us need to spend some time figuring out how to get the most benefit from Blowing That Dough in 2019. There have been worse years, that's for sure.



As for UtahSkier's groceries, I think that spending a lot on delicious, nutritious food is a terrific idea when it isn't a hardship. We are what we eat, as the saying goes.

Oh I'm all for treating ourselves to great, high quality, sometimes gourmet food (lobster, king crab, filet), BUT, as we have aged, we just can't consume as much food as we used to. Our appetites are shrinking. Heck if we eat lunch out, half the time we don't have enough of an appetite to eat a normal dinner.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[W2R]

Oh I'm all for treating ourselves to great, high quality, sometimes gourmet food (lobster, king crab, filet), BUT, as we have aged, we just can't consume as much food as we used to. Our appetites are shrinking. Heck if we eat lunch out, half the time we don't have enough of an appetite to eat a normal dinner.

Same here; and also, if I ate any more, I'd just gain back the weight that I worked so hard to lose.

On another topic, I just ordered some accessories for my new Nintendo Switch, so I'll have to revise my spending total upwards sometime tomorrow.

 

[sengsational]

2 Weeks in April (Moab and Southern Utah). 5 Weeks in May and June (Idaho and Wyoming). And 7 Weeks in Sept and Oct (Colorado and New Mexico).

The motorhome category is for expenses that are incurred whether the MH is being used or not. I have done a lot of pre-emptive maintenance the past 2 years and the MH category has been around $25K. I am glad to see this number finally come down.

The vacation category includes the actual use spending. This is shown by the fuel and campground expenses.

Thanks for explaining that. 14 weeks is a pretty good bit of time in the RV. I was thinking about doing something like that, but DW isn't having any of it (says if she has to cook, she's not on vacation ). I'm sure there are separate expense topics on RV-ing, but it looks like your are $321/day (direct plus indirect expenses total) if there's no non-RV vacation spending in there.

 

[steelyman]

The various ways that people categorize their expenses are interesting. Mine seem to have just grown up over time on an as-needed basis.

I’m thinking of redoing things going forward to separate out expenses coming from subscription-based goods/services. Those are mostly entertainment oriented for me (streaming video in particular). But they also include stuff like Prime and the New York Times. More and more, software applications are headed that way, storage too.

I try to find non-recurring things when possible, but subscriptions seem to be the business model of the times. I think it is especially targeted to those just starting out and can add up without realizing it.

 

[Lsbcal]

We spent like drunken sailors this year. One nice thing is that much of the spending was at the stock market highs so much of that did not go down with the market.

Anyway I just break out Travel and Discretionary spending:
1) kitchen remodel (old kitchen was from early 1980's and lived with it for 21 years)
2) replaced washer and dryer
3) 2 sinks replaced
4) some ceiling lighting updated to LEDs
5) 40 days of domestic fun travel

So spending totaled to 5.4% of portfolio. We are both taking SS too. Next year will probably be in the more normal 3% portfolio spending range.

We're really happy with the new kitchen. No regrets. Here is a pic:

 

[steelyman]

That’s one Fine Looking Kitchen!

 

[Moemg]

gorgeous kitchen

 

[Lsbcal]

Thanks. We saved a lot of money (I think) by having the cabinets refinished instead of replacing them. Put pulls on them too so the finish would be less touched (body oils,etc.) and hopefully hold up better over years.

 

[audreyh1]

We spent like drunken sailors this year. One nice thing is that much of the spending was at the stock market highs so much of that did not go down with the market.

Anyway I just break out Travel and Discretionary spending:
1) kitchen remodel (old kitchen was from early 1980's and lived with it for 21 years)
2) replaced washer and dryer
3) 2 sinks replaced
4) some ceiling lighting updated to LEDs
5) 40 days of domestic fun travel

So spending totaled to 5.4% of portfolio. We are both taking SS too. Next year will probably be in the more normal 3% portfolio spending range.

We're really happy with the new kitchen. No regrets. Here is a pic:

Wow - very nice kitchen! Love the light!

 

[Sue J]

I enjoy this topic every year! And this year I learned how to post a table. Thanks W2R!

DH has been retired for 8.5 years and his pension covers more than 100% of our regular monthly living expenses. The rest gets saved for the other stuff that comes up. We spend what we need to spend and I just like to keep track to see how it plays out.

I have a part time job as a school crossing guard, just because I enjoy it. My gross pay went into my Roth IRA.

Type	Amount	Comment
Internet	600
Property taxes	2,629
Property Insurance	692
City Utilities	1,913	Water, sewer, trash, recycle and electricity
Natural Gas	720
DirecTv	1,248
Car Insurance	898
Life Insurance	816
Medical Insurance	96	ACA Bronze HSA plan with ginormous subsidy
Groceries	8,532
Gas	456
Other	4,473	Broad category for anything that doesn't fit elsewhere
Eating Out	1,300
Pocket Cash	1,495
Donation	65
TOTAL	25,832

That's our normal monthly expenses. Of course there's more and I keep track of those too.

Type	Amount	Comment
Home repairs and purchases	1,902	Mostly plumbing replacement
Medical/Dental/Vision/Rx	4,629	Mostly PT, diagnostic stuff and a procedure
Travel	6,387	DH to Beijing and 5 trips to Denver for Mom
Car repair	945
Grandson gifts and 529	1,450
TOTAL Spent on Everything	41,145

A note about the Travel expenses. DH went to Beijing with our son to see our DIL and meet her family. If you've read my comments about this you'll remember I did not want to go to Beijing (very long flight, crowded city, horrendous traffic, yada yada, toilets) So he went and I didn't care what it cost because I didn't have to go! The cost for him (including his visa) was $1445 which was very inexpensive. The balance of the travel was DH making many trips to Denver as his elderly mother's health was going downhill. Then we both went to Denver for the memorial service and to help his sisters get the house emptied.

Someone else mentioned taxes. Ours are withheld so I don't include them in the income or expenses. Our Federal taxes will be $1116. State taxes are not computed yet. We had $387 withheld and we usually get a refund. Our tax lives are cheap!

Had a lot happen this year but I feel like we live quite well for $40,000 in a low COL area.

 

[W2R]

Sue, that is great, especially for two people! That's around $20K/person.

I thought I was done spending for 2018, but I wasn't. I spent a little more yesterday on accessories for my new video game console, just because I could. I guess the inner "consumer monster" took control; anyway, my measly attempts at resistance were futile. Also my lunch today was a buck less than I anticipated. So here is my corrected final spending summary for 2018. To the penny, I spent:

Category | Total for 2018 | Comments
Groceries | $2,433.76 | Includes toiletries, detergent, paper towels, etc.
Restaurants | $2,985.25 | lunch every day plus some dinners
Gasoline | $357.26 | Everything is close by.
Car | $1,773.73 | insurance, maintenance, registration
House | $5,734.38 | insurance (homeowners', wind-and-hail, and flood), property tax, mowing, maintenance, upgrades
Utilities | $2,817.58 | internet, natural gas, electricity, water, trash, sewage, cell (I don't have landline or cable TV)
Fitness | $504.00 | gym fees
Clothes | $560.76 | casual "retiree wear", underwear, shoes
Miscellaneous | $2,456.55 | Gifts, laptop, printer, InstantPot, haircuts, batteries, TurboTax, etc
Video Gaming | $768.09 | Gamecube, Nintendo Switch, games, accessories
Medical | $5,319.19 | insurance, Medicare, prescriptions, dentist, HR monitor, etc
Total | $25,710.55 | plus income tax

 

[Katsmeow]

I’m thinking of redoing things going forward to separate out expenses coming from subscription-based goods/services. Those are mostly entertainment oriented for me (streaming video in particular). But they also include stuff like Prime and the New York Times. More and more, software applications are headed that way, storage too.

I do break these out in my budget and keep a spreadsheet of just those expenses so I don't lose track of them. I periodically consider whether to cancel them. For some of them that I like to do periodically I tend to join for awhile then drop it and rejoin as needed. I have a NYT Digital subscription that was $15.99 every 4 weeks. I decided to drop it (keeping WaPo instead) and called to cancel. They offered me $4.32 every weeks for a year so decided to keep it another year.

For us this year, our spending was extremely high for a number of reasons. The main one was moving. This involved expenses to get our house ready for sale (we did recoup that) but we were in an expensive short term rental for almost 3 months while we were looking for a house. And we had to pay moving expenses twice. Then there were some expenses involved in setting up this house. We also had some adult child related expenses that are non-recurring.

This was my last year at super high insurance premiums (partially subsidized by DH's former Megacorp) but still expense. In a few months I go on medicare so that cost will go down.

 

[SecondCor521]

@W2R, you still have 7 hours left! ;-)

 

[W2R]

@W2R, you still have 7 hours left! ;-)

I know!!!

 

[Lsbcal]

I know!!!

That Amazon button is just a few clicks away.

 

[W2R]

That Amazon button is just a few clicks away.

Exactly!!! Hopefully I can wait until after midnight to click it.... It's already dark here, and I don't drive after dark any more so online spending is my only temptation.

 

[street]

We spent like drunken sailors this year. One nice thing is that much of the spending was at the stock market highs so much of that did not go down with the market.

Anyway I just break out Travel and Discretionary spending:
1) kitchen remodel (old kitchen was from early 1980's and lived with it for 21 years)
2) replaced washer and dryer
3) 2 sinks replaced
4) some ceiling lighting updated to LEDs
5) 40 days of domestic fun travel

So spending totaled to 5.4% of portfolio. We are both taking SS too. Next year will probably be in the more normal 3% portfolio spending range.

We're really happy with the new kitchen. No regrets. Here is a pic:

Beautiful! One day that is what we need to do but I hate to spend so much on a kitchen. LOL

 

[street]

I don't break things down but costs us $31,000 for all expenses for 2018.

 

[stepford]

My total 2018 expenditures dropped down to $25K from $32K in 2017. This is mostly due to buying one used road bike in 2018 vs 2 new mountain bikes in 2017. Also 1 week in Iceland in 2018 was significantly cheaper than 3 weeks wandering around New Zealand in 2017.


All my other expenses: food, insurance, utilities, taxes, heathcare, etc. were constant within 10% from year to year.