How much did you SPEND in 2005?

[AltaRed]

About $51k for an empty nester couple.

But still includes $6-7/day for lunches while I am still working. DW also eats lunch out 3-4 times a week. That plus more control on dining out at about $100/wk is where we need to cut back.

[saluki9]

Are people including taxes in their spending?

If so we spent a little under $100K last year including 10 days in Hawaii and some work in the condo which throws the numbers off.

If we don't include taxes then we spent about $45K. It was a good year for saving though

[astromeria]

We had an unusually expensive year...spent ~$70k including payroll taxes for 2, maxing my 401k and DH's pension plan (our Roths are funded by recycling taxable cash), vacation in Italy, early expenses for daughter's wedding, new comfortable seating in the den, new computer when I retired and had to return my company-provided PC.

2006 should cost at least $20k less...DH is still working but I'm retired (so no 401k and less payroll taxes), no major travel planned, but we do have the rest of DD's wedding expenses.

[ShokWaveRider]

While on the Boat till May 2005

$1000 per month all in food, entertainment, the odd docking fee, buoys and immigration check in charges
$300 per month fuel
$100 per month emergency health care coverage

= 4 x $1400 = $5600 all up.

From June to December

$404 Car insurance
$700 Emergency health Care coverage
$67 Car licence
$579 Car repairs (Some Southern Baba clipped my fron fender and ran!)
$800 Gasoline (Day to Day)
$1000 estimated entertainment
$3500 Groceries and wine
$5600 Rent (Includes Cable, Internet + all Utilities)
$500 Vacation Gasoline
$150 drugs
$210 Phone (Vonage)
$100 (Cell)

Total = $22,700 so add $2300 for a fudge factor and there you have it.

Grand Total: $25,000

Total Income From investments was about $75k Taxes not paid yet. About $25k income working on the side. So income was about $100. Have not calculated taxes yet but will definately get the ungreased Baseball bat from the IRS/Canadian Inland Revenue this year.

SWR

[ShokWaveRider]

NORDS! What are your costs over there in Paradise?

SWR

[tryan]

Ran about 65k in the northeast for a family of 4.

Round numbers:

6k Automobiles (2)
12k Groceries
20k Housing (mortgage payments and improvements)
10k Insurance (Auto, home, health, life, dental)
7k Leisure (vacation, sporting goods/events, toys)
5k Utilities
5k Misc

With 2 boys I spend more a month on food than some spend all year (no bell pepers ... they don't come in 6 oz packages).

Enjoy!

[astromeria]

Quote:

Originally Posted by astromeria spent ~$70k including payroll taxes for 2, maxing my 401k and DH's pension plan (our Roths are funded by recycling taxable cash)

d'oh! Shouldn't've included retirement savings as expense. Guess we spent ~$45k including taxes. Ahhhh, now I feel virtuous*

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShokWaveRider NORDS! What are your costs over there in Paradise?

Eh, for that I'd actually have to run our budget numbers, and this thread came up about a month before I usually get around to it.

Well, here they are, subject to spouse audit:
500 Kid's Allowance
2750 Kid's school (mostly Kumon & Washington, DC trip)
1150 Kid's sports (mostly tae kwon do)
100 Kid's toys
200 Adult clothing (including uniforms)
450 Kid's clothing (growth spurts)
1000 Computer (includes the new box & monthly DSL)
1500 Dining
200 Entertainment (mostly movies & ice cream)
325 Surfing (used epoxy board!)
2000 tae kwon do (a year's tuition plus uniforms, tests, & tournaments)
200 Gifts given
6000 Groceries
125 Aquarium (Where the heck?!? Oh, yeah, all the new fish. Oops.)
1100 Furniture (mostly kid's bedroom, some adult)
100 Linens (kid's bedroom)
170 Pets (bunny food & vet bills, maybe for five more years)
100 Tchotchkes
7800 Home Improvement (solar equipment)
775 Car insurance
900 Home insurance
600 Personal property & liability insurance
250 Investment expenses (books, magazines, ER board's server fund)
8000 IRAs
750 Medical & dental (mostly TRICARE premiums)
18800 Mortgage interest
4300 Mortgage principal
3200 Refinancing costs
6000 Federal taxes
3800 Property taxes
1100 Gas
650 Car repairs & service
750 Electricity
300 HOA dues
325 Phone
425 CATV, although this should probably be entertainment
800 Water & sewer
5600 Vacations

$83,095.

Clearly this can't go on forever. We expect that a number of these are one-time or capital expenses.

The home-improvement costs are $7000 of photovoltaic panels and another $800 of wiring & solar-water heating materials. (We'll get about 40% of that back in federal/state tax credits, the rest is a multi-year payback.) Federal taxes include the cost of the Roth IRA conversions, which should go on for another six or seven years. 2006 home improvement costs should be under $1000, back in line with history. We're also carrying forward considerable state solar-energy tax credits, so our only state-tax "burden" until at least 2010 is property taxes. Hopefully property taxes are "only" going to rise another 25% this year.

We're carrying the mortgage for retirement-portfolio arbitrage, the subject of a whole 'nother thread, so that's $23K "extra". Our refinancing costs are a capital expense for the lowest interest rates in 40 years (and this time we really mean it). And of course the IRAs are just a transfer of taxable investments to tax-free Roths via my spouse's part-time salary.

Backing out $7K of home improvement, the mortgage, the refi, and the IRAs pulls out $41,300 and brings us down to $41,795. The electric bill will drop to under $200 this year and other categories will rise & fall (furniture, computer) but we're usually around $45K. My $35K pension is covering the basics and spouse's $15K part-time check covered some of the extras. And like other ERs we have a lot of room for belt-tightening.

I'm amazed that I'm spending $2000/year to get my butt kicked. That's going to go on for another two years (or however long it takes to reach black belt). At least I'm getting plenty of pain for my investment!

$6000 for groceries-- you read that right-- welcome to paradise. Some of that is kid convenience food and feeding the neighbor's kids, but I suspect that's offset by growing a lot of our own fruit & tomatoes. The kid eats like a horse, though, so I think that we could get two adults down to under $3500.

Note that the kid-related costs are at least $5K/year, and that doesn't even include groceries. We paid for the braces up front two years ago and she has pretty low medical expenses. Four more years to college!

[Jarhead*]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords Eh, for that I'd actually have to run our budget numbers, and this thread came up about a month before I usually get around to

Nords:* I saw nothing on your recurring costs,
Property Tax, Car Ins., Utilities, grocerys, Ho's ins. blah, blah, blah, that make living in Hawaii any more expensive than most areas in the U.S.

As a matter of fact, your property tax, versus the valuation of property is a downright bargain, versus most areas on the Eastern Sea-Board.* Your utilitiy costs are comparatively non-existant.* (No surprise).

When it comes right down to it, wouldn't you agree that it is the initial cost of housing that scares most folks?

Anyway, INMHO, I think that early retirees would be best served, because of the considerable amount of time they will be in that condition, is to "Match the Hatch", and find a spot that allows them to do on a daily basis the things they have aspired to do when they were up to their ass in alligators, and planning a bail-out.

Hawaii wouldn't work for me, as the Sierras wouldn't work for you. (But we're both comfortable with our choices.)

Comparing costs, are pretty much illusionary, as
every area is going to get a "pound or two of flesh", one way or the other.

Jarhead, who agrees with ReWahoo, that Texas is the best college football team in the country.

[HFWR]

Ho's insurance...

Now there's an expense I hadn't yet considered...

[Jay_Gatsby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jarhead* Jarhead, who agrees with ReWahoo, that Texas is the best college football team in the country.

Or at least has the most interesting cheerleader uniforms in the country.

[KB]

I'm glad this thread is here because I wouldn't have looked to see what my 2005 total was without it.

I was very surprised, even though some expenses were one time expenses and I prepaid 2006 property tax, orthodontia treatment and charity.

My total was 49,500 and I spent about 10K on prepaid or one time expenses.
So actually I'm in the 39K range, which is just where I wanted to be. My largest expense was health care and next was property taxes. When my last kid at home joins the Army this year, my healthcare and car insurance will drop.

[Andre1969]

Lessee, here are some of the highlights...

Property taxes: ~$2550
New garage (24x40): ~$20,000 and rising (they still need to pour the floor slab)
1976 Pontiac LeMans: $3000
Car insurance: ~$2200
Repairs to pickup truck (new gas tank, carburetor work, etc): ~$1200
Maintenance/repairs on Dodge Intrepid: ~$500
HELOC payments: $5600
Heating oil: ~$800
Electricity: ~1350
Home telephone: ~$660
Directv: ~$950
Cell phones: ~$1300 (both my roommates' phones are on my account, and they reimburse me)
Homeowner's insurance: ~$800
Gasoline ~$2500
New 32" tv with stand: $368
Trip to Florida/Disneyworld: ~$800
Christmas shopping: ~$1000
Food: have no idea, probably <$1000, because roommates pay for most of that
Clothing: <$200 (this has been a good, cheap year for me, nothing really wore out)
Beer/alcohol: ~$600

So I come out with $47,378. I know I'm probably forgetting a lot of stuff, but that's the meat of it I guess.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jarhead* Nords:* I saw nothing on your recurring costs, Property Tax, Car Ins., Utilities, grocerys, Ho's ins. blah, blah, blah, that make living in Hawaii any more expensive than most areas in the U.S. As a matter of fact, your property tax, versus the valuation of property is a downright bargain, versus most areas on the Eastern Sea-Board.* Your utilitiy costs are comparatively non-existant.* (No surprise). When it comes right down to it, wouldn't you agree that it is the initial cost of housing that scares most folks?

Jarhead, I've forwarded your post to the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau as my nomination for their annual resident-recruiting cash award.* When Ed McMahon knocks on your door wearing an aloha shirt and a maile lei, tell him I said "Hey brah".

But speaking for the "I've got mine, now stay away" contingent, what ARE you thinking?!?* Hawaii doesn't have fire ants or rattlesnakes like Texas, so we have to scare wannabes off with $300K condos, eight-inch centipedes, hurricanes, & $5 gallons of milk. It'd be most unwise to let slip that Hawaii is one of the nation's most tax-friendly states for retirees as well as the nation's healthiest state with the longest life expectancy. Anyway you can't drive for hours in a straight line or enjoy the changing of the seasons, so who'd want to sacrifice that for all this sunshine & beach stuff?

I've never lived in the Sierras so I don' t know if I'd like it.* How's the surfing?

The truth is that I've spent a lot of time in the Rockies with my family (they moved when I joined the Navy, but I tracked them down).* I can adapt to life at altitude if I survive long enough to restore my thermal resistance, and snowboarding might even be an acceptable (albeit expensive) substitute for surfing.* I could always pay someone to shovel my sidewalk, my driveway, and my roof.* But what's the point in making those compromises?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay_Gatsby Or at least has the most interesting cheerleader uniforms in the country.

There we go again... another post making fantastically unbelievable claims without any evidence or links to back them up!

[MJ]

I cut back on the expense details last year but here goes,

Groceries...............1500
Eating Out................500
Bicycle supplies..........341
Lottery......................40
Personal Misc...........1066
Electricity.................601
cooking gas...............208
phone......................309
internet......................71
cable........................279
property taxes..........2850
heating gas..............2517
ho' insurance............1128
ho' maint..................483
car insurance.............891
petro.......................164
bicycle usage credit....-467 (credit)
car maint..................420
health insurance........3389
ltc...........................1366
dental.........................70
medical.....................324
travel......................1283

Total tab was $19,700 in NYC. This is my first partial ER year and so the medical insurance kicked in 4 months from the end of the year. My budget for 2006 may more than double depending where I will live or travel.

[bbuzzard]

OK, there is something clearly wrong here, quite possibly with MY math. Our friends consider me and my DW to be tight-wads, and we are. We live the the cheapest house (of our frinds), only have one child, drive modest cars till they have 120-140K miles on them, rarely by clothes, have old furniture, do not have cable, only have one cell phone (my wife insisted), go out to eat only one ro twice a week (Normally less than $30 for three), do not drink or smoke, have not expensive hobbies, etc. etc. We do splurge on vacations ($3-$3.5K/year for 2-3 weeks of trips to Alasaka or Montana or other backwoods destinations). That is the ONLY area I can think of that most people would consider us to be big spenders. Given all this, how come I spend more than almost anyone on this board? Have a calculated my expenses wrong, or is everyone else low-balling there numbers? I think MOST likely a spend a lot more than I realized. I am going to double check my number this weekend.

Don't get we wrong, I am VERY happy with my lifestyle. No complaints at all.

[SteveR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbuzzard OK, there is something clearly wrong here, quite possibly with MY math. Our friends consider me and my DW to be tight-wads, and we are. We live the the cheapest house (of our frinds), only have one child, drive modest cars till they have 120-140K miles on them, rarely by clothes, have old furniture, do not have cable, only have one cell phone (my wife insisted), go out to eat only one ro twice a week (Normally less than $30 for three), do not drink or smoke, have not expensive hobbies,* etc. etc.* We do splurge on vacations ($3-$3.5K/year for 2-3 weeks of* trips to Alasaka or Montana or other backwoods destinations). That is the ONLY area I can think of that most people would consider us to be big spenders. Given all this, how come I spend more than almost anyone on this board? Have a calculated my expenses wrong, or is everyone else low-balling there numbers? I think MOST likely a spend a lot more than I realized. I am going to double check my number this weekend. Don't get we wrong, I am VERY happy with my lifestyle. No complaints at all.

You are only seeing what people want to report so take it with several grains of salt. Also, many how might be spending a lot more many not be posting so again the numbers may not be a good cross representation of reality.

Someone who has the time and stomach to deal with the 50 or so definitions of "what is spending" might create a poll on this.

[HFWR]

Don't keep an anal-retentive comprehensive budget, but major living expenses were about $25k, with savings/investments about $15k.

[CybrMike]

If it makes you feel better I'm sure I spent like 200K. Although I'm not even going to attempt to add it all up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbuzzard OK, there is something clearly wrong here, quite possibly with MY math. Our friends consider me and my DW to be tight-wads, and we are. We live the the cheapest house (of our frinds), only have one child, drive modest cars till they have 120-140K miles on them, rarely by clothes, have old furniture, do not have cable, only have one cell phone (my wife insisted), go out to eat only one ro twice a week (Normally less than $30 for three), do not drink or smoke, have not expensive hobbies, etc. etc. We do splurge on vacations ($3-$3.5K/year for 2-3 weeks of trips to Alasaka or Montana or other backwoods destinations). That is the ONLY area I can think of that most people would consider us to be big spenders. Given all this, how come I spend more than almost anyone on this board? Have a calculated my expenses wrong, or is everyone else low-balling there numbers? I think MOST likely a spend a lot more than I realized. I am going to double check my number this weekend. Don't get we wrong, I am VERY happy with my lifestyle. No complaints at all.

[bongo2]

Thank you. I feel better anyway.