Empty Nest budget changes?

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jollystomper Some cateogries went down, some went up. Down: Food, insurance, medical, cell phone, utilities Up: Gifts (graduation, marriage, "first home/apartment" support, grandkids, etc.) Overall, we probably spend more, but then we have a lot more and we can decide in a given situation what to provide.

This pretty well describes us as well.

Big change after kids were out of the house was that we realized our dream of moving to the Islands. THAT is a budget buster in comparison to living in the midwest - kids or no kids. We never tracked it - just made certain we didn't over spend.

[disneysteve]

We are not currently empty nesters, but I can tell you that during the 4 years DD was in college (on campus), our household expenses were noticeably lower. Gas, electric, water, groceries, household stuff like tissues, toilet paper, soap, laundry supplies, etc. were all lower during the school year and bounced back to normal when she came home for the summers. I would assume that if/when she moves out, the same will be true again.

[Surewhitey]

We realized that a year after getting married, she was fine for us to do some crazy things that definitely moved the needle for us financially. The last thing we did for her was financing her first house and they paid back in full, never missing a beat.

DW got a request to move from managing Dallas to managing LA offices a year after. We didn't really have a huge desire, but after sweetening the pot...a lot, we decided on a 4 year adventure there & never regretted it.

Expenses went down a lot after she left us, but the freedom made us more flexible to turbo boost the retirement plan. Then allowing us to take a few years sabbatical in Mexico.

So savings is just a small portion of the value of her flying the coop. Now we're working on the grandkids for the next 12 - 18 years...

[badatmath]

I made the mistake of asking for an advance on my allowance when I was quite young and was told to learn to budget. Thus I never asked for another dime when I left and it was not offered so there was no ongoing expense directed towards me.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by badatmath I made the mistake of asking for an advance on my allowance when I was quite young and was told to learn to budget. Thus I never asked for another dime when I left and it was not offered so there was no ongoing expense directed towards me.

Hopefully, someone providing the allowance helped you learn how to budget. We tried to help our kids with this. But setting limits on allowance was only one piece of the learning.

Oddly, DW and I have never truly budgeted. It has come "naturally" to know about how much we have at any given time, how much goes out and how much is left. We then can spend accordingly. For a kid, it's not so easy to picture and some kids need more help than others. Our kids ran the gamut of spendthrift to thrifty. YMMV

[Jimonlimon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by badatmath ... I never asked for another dime when I left and it was not offered so there was no ongoing expense directed towards me.

When our kids were looking at colleges we emphasized that a good education is important. We told them we would cover the cost of four years at our state university. Any more would need to be on them, any less and we'll put the excess toward grad school or a home down payment. Due to great scholarships both kids are on track to finish having spent only half the undergrad budget.

Other than education funding I'm hoping that we can give the kids some money to help them out without creating an ongoing dependence. Examples are the upfront cost of their first apartment rental, part of the down payment for a house, 529 for future grandchildren's education, and family reunion type trips.

[Librarian]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimonlimon Basic question is how did your budget change from kids at home fully dependant to kids out of school with jobs living on their own? We have two kids off at college and I want to retire before they graduate. I don't really know how to budget for post-graduation. It's easy to quantify tuition and housing expenses- other things like food, utilities, general living expenses sort of disappear into our overall household expenditures. Did you carefully track and segregate these expenses or just wake up one day realizing that the grocery bill went down? My assumption is that other than travel, our household expenses won't go up when we're true "empty nesters".

We are empty nesters & kids are 27, 24 & 22 (will graduate in May).
The only expense we pay for all 3 is car insurance...and they have been informed that by fall they either need to get their own or pay us monthly.
We are covering health insurance for younger 2 until May 2024 & youngest phone until he graduates in May.

Oldest just moved from California where cost of living forced him to come home (that and a low paying job...). He is still getting on his feet. Having a bit of a mid-20s crisis when you realize your Master's is NOT in the field you want to work in.
Middle child just bought a home, is outstanding with her $...giving her deadlines helps her plan.
And the youngest has surprised us...for being immature in high school he has astounded us with his college maturity & plans for the future.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Librarian We are empty nesters & kids are 27, 24 & 22 (will graduate in May). The only expense we pay for all 3 is car insurance...and they have been informed that by fall they either need to get their own or pay us monthly. We are covering health insurance for younger 2 until May 2024 & youngest phone until he graduates in May. Oldest just moved from California where cost of living forced him to come home (that and a low paying job...). He is still getting on his feet. Having a bit of a mid-20s crisis when you realize your Master's is NOT in the field you want to work in. Middle child just bought a home, is outstanding with her $...giving her deadlines helps her plan. And the youngest has surprised us...for being immature in high school he has astounded us with his college maturity & plans for the future.

Yeah, it's amazing how 3 kids can experience money so differently. As mentioned above, our kids were all different when it came to money.

It sounds like you will soon reap the full "empty-nest" dividend. Enjoy!

[PatrickA5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Librarian We are empty nesters & kids are 27, 24 & 22 (will graduate in May). The only expense we pay for all 3 is car insurance...and they have been informed that by fall they either need to get their own or pay us monthly. We are covering health insurance for younger 2 until May 2024 & youngest phone until he graduates in May. Oldest just moved from California where cost of living forced him to come home (that and a low paying job...). He is still getting on his feet. Having a bit of a mid-20s crisis when you realize your Master's is NOT in the field you want to work in. Middle child just bought a home, is outstanding with her $...giving her deadlines helps her plan. And the youngest has surprised us...for being immature in high school he has astounded us with his college maturity & plans for the future.

I would get them off your car insurance just to get rid of the possible liability issue. Even if you have to "help" pay for the insurance, it would be better if the car title and insurance didn't have your name on it.

[Librarian]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PatrickA5 I would get them off your car insurance just to get rid of the possible liability issue. Even if you have to "help" pay for the insurance, it would be better if the car title and insurance didn't have your name on it.

We currently are on their titles...another on the "to do" list...