We tried to live within a budget, but we can't

[corn18]

I have been closely tracking expenses since 2010. Retired this past Mar and put together a budget for retirement that I thought was reasonable. Areas that I think we overspent on were food and clothes. So I put in an amount that I thought we should spend vs. what we do spend. Ask me how that turned out. So now the "budget" (or should I call it planned expenses) reflect what we have been spending the last 2 years. Nice try, huh? At least I know we don't have to watch what we spend on a daily basis and just need to meter the big spending. Probably happier that way. Still have more money than we needed to retire, so life is good.

Just to put up the dart board:

Food: $1,500 / mo budgeted, $2048 actual over the last 2 years
Clothes: $400 / mo budgeted, $600 actual over the last 2 years (I haven't bought clothes for me in years)

I also had to bump gas up 40% because we are camping a lot and pulling my 12,000 lbs fifth wheel with a gas truck costs a lot. We weren't camping before, so didn't account for that. Truck costs $125 to fill up and I can go about 200 miles on a tank when towing.

Everything else is tracking nicely.

 

[bloom2708]

Interesting. Is he or she spending $400/month on clothing?

Food is expensive. Gas is too, when towing and camping.

Clothing is a trap. Most have overflowing closets of clothes and wear 5-10% of it.

I hope to dramatically simplify my clothes when retired. Shorts and a T-shirt every day.

Budgets don't work if you spend freely and then look backwards at what you spent.

 

[corn18]

Interesting. Is he or she spending $400/month on clothing?

Food is expensive. Gas is too, when towing and camping.

Clothing is a trap. Most have overflowing closets of clothes and wear 5-10% of it.

I hope to dramatically simplify my clothes when retired. Shorts and a T-shirt every day.

Budgets don't work if you spend freely and then look backwards at what you spent.

Yes she is. And her closet is overflowing and we have more clothes in the basement. I don't complain because my hobbies aren't cheap.

We don't want to have to budget for everyday stuff. Just track and plan for it. If we bust it by too much, it cuts into our annual play money, but we're not close to that yet.

 

[REWahoo]

We tried to live within a budget, but we can't

Sure you can, don't spend so much. It's a simple as that.

 

[SecondCor521]

My guess would be that your partner never really bought into the budget in those two categories. They may have claimed to, but they probably didn't appreciate the implied judgment that they were spending too much, or they didn't really think the budget amounts were reasonable/realistic, or they think the whole idea of budgeting is not worthwhile, or they never really had a good reason to change their spending behavior, or some combination of these.

That's the classic and extremely common pattern, anyway. You might be different but I think it's unlikely.

Since you have enough money, you can gloss over the underlying disagreement if you want to.

 

[Lakedog]

Wow, $600 a month on clothes? I don't spend $400 a year on clothes with most of that being on running gear. Of course, you indicate none of that was on clothes for you. Being a single guy I just cannot relate to $7200 a year on clothes for one person......maybe that's why I'm single?

 

[kcowan]

It is always a good idea to have an honest conversation about overages because it will cost in other areas. We have done that and it did result in some cutbacks.

 

[RetiredHappy]

The question is can you afford to "blow" your budget without jeopardizing retirement? If so, then just not worry too much about a budget and tracking spending against budget.

I plan our lives on a spreadsheet for the last 20 years. Unfortunately we have never spent to budget and usually blow our budget by 30%. There is always something, so to speak. Some are inevitable but most of the unplanned spendings are in the discretionary category. The fortunate part is that we are not in danger of out spending our savings.

 

[EastWest Gal]

And I though $600/mo for food was a lot. I have bought clothes once since spring 2020-socks and underwear. I wonder if the excess clothes will start to take over your life. A friend of mine had to clean out her aunt's house for sale after she passed away. She spent a month in California doing it. The aunt was a clean horder. She collected items from all her travels, and far too many clothing items. When I visited on my own trip to California, I took my friend for a drive in SF and a nice lunch. She needed the break. The house was nearly impassable for all the clothes on racks, filling the hallways, extra bedrooms, and even the living room.

Eventually the clothing will begin to own you. Please be careful. It's not the spending I'm worried about; it's the clothing "spilling" out of the closet. Where will you be if this goes on another 2 years?

 

[tb001]

I initially budgeted $6k a year on clothes for me. That was less than I spent while working, so I figured that was safe. I feel like I’ve bought a lot and haven’t come anywhere near my initial budget. But also not buying much because of covid, so we’ll see… my sizes also change more than I’d like, so I will often buy more than one size or something I like.

To the OP, if you’ve been staying in due to COVID, I would be surprised if the clothing spend doesn’t increase!

Are you eating out a lot? That’s close to our food budget as well, though also includes cleaning supplies and the random Costco purchase. I would like to get it lower, but we’re remarkably consistent.

 

[corn18]

I initially budgeted $6k a year on clothes for me. That was less than I spent while working, so I figured that was safe. I feel like I’ve bought a lot and haven’t come anywhere near my initial budget. But also not buying much because of covid, so we’ll see… my sizes also change more than I’d like, so I will often buy more than one size or something I like.

To the OP, if you’ve been staying in due to COVID, I would be surprised if the clothing spend doesn’t increase!

Are you eating out a lot? That’s close to our food budget as well, though also includes cleaning supplies and the random Costco purchase. I would like to get it lower, but we’re remarkably consistent.

Dining is $800 / month. The remaining $1248 does include all the toiletries and cleaning supplies she buys when she's at the grocery store or Costco.

The $600 / month on clothes is about half what it was a few years ago, so we have cut back

Here's our spending for the last 2 years (first number is monthly, second number is annual):

Auto 1,159 13,903 (includes savings for new car every 5 years)
Clothes 400 4,800
Pets 200 2,400
Food 2,000 24,000
Gifts 454 5,450
Health / Beauty 260 3,120
House 1,862 22,338 (includes property taxes)
Entertainment 150 1,800
Misc 700 8,400
Insurance 304 3,650
Medical 250 3,000
Cell Phone 113 1,352
Utilities 320 3,840
Internet 165 1,980
Taxes 836 10,027

TOTAL EXP 9,172 110,061

We also have a $25k annual blow that dough budget.

 

[erkevin]

Interesting. Is he or she spending $400/month on clothing?

Food is expensive. Gas is too, when towing and camping.

Clothing is a trap. Most have overflowing closets of clothes and wear 5-10% of it.

I hope to dramatically simplify my clothes when retired. Shorts and a T-shirt every day.

Budgets don't work if you spend freely and then look backwards at what you spent.

I retired just over five years ago. In those approximately 1850 days, I have worn slacks maybe a dozen times. (in my w@#king days, it was pretty much slacks, dress shirt and tie daily). If it's really cold, it is sweats. Other than that, shorts, Ts, or tanktops!!!

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I don't really track how much we spend on clothes. It goes into the monthly household category, but it is probably less than $500 a year for both of us. Pants and tops from Costco: $10 - $20 each. Coats usually $20 - $40. I just look on the Costco online site every once in awhile and we order whatever we like. It is quick and easy. If it doesn't fit we usually return to the store but we could mail it back for free if we wanted. We both buy pretty basic, neutral colored mix and match pieces.

 

[Bamaman]

We too are spending the week in our RV with the two grandchildren. My wife's getting ready to go to the grocery as they've already eaten just about all the food and we still have 2 days to go until we leave. That's somewhat expected. We're 250 miles from home, and unfortunately groceries here are substantially more expensive than at our LCOL city.

We have found it possible to cut down dramatically on our cost of food by limiting ourselves to eating out to just about once per week. And even then, it's not eating at expensive restaurants. We just don't find dining out to be important any longer.

My wife plans very carefully on our meals, and even making a menu helps us not buy foods we're not going to promptly use. When we go to the store, it's with a list, and we try to not deviate from buying the items on the list.

As we all know, many items in the grocery are showing price increases. We start shopping at Aldi's for specific items they're so cheap on. And we fill in at the only other grocery store that's having great week to week sales. Other local grocery stores are simply too expensive, and we avoid going into them. Needless to say, we eat a lot of ground beef, pork and chicken. Steaks and roasts are saved for special meals. We load up in sales items, and much goes into our freezer.

As far as clothing goes, all our budget goes to the granddaughter we're raising. My wife and I seldom buy clothes as we really don't need any.

Our total cost of this week in the campground is $40 to move our camper on and off the campsite (out of storage.) And it cost us 20 gallons of gas to get here and return home. We can stay 14 days a month in the campground for $1 a night. I'd say that's a bargain.

Even if we kept our camper at home, we have state parks, city campgrounds and other RV facilities within an hour of home. Gasoline wouldn't be an issue towing my RV.

There are so many ways to tuck ourselves in when it comes to budgets. Little here and a little there adds up.

 

[corn18]

The question is can you afford to "blow" your budget without jeopardizing retirement? If so, then just not worry too much about a budget and tracking spending against budget.

I plan our lives on a spreadsheet for the last 20 years. Unfortunately we have never spent to budget and usually blow our budget by 30%. There is always something, so to speak. Some are inevitable but most of the unplanned spendings are in the discretionary category. The fortunate part is that we are not in danger of out spending our savings.

We can afford it, so I'm not sweating it. I still like tracking everything. Always have. My spreadsheet goes back to 1996. It's always interesting going back and looking at what we spent money on back then.

I don't make a big deal out of it with her and we never fight over money.

 

[OldShooter]

Sure you can, don't spend so much. It's a simple as that.

This. Not sure, though, what question you're asking. If you just want someone to pat you on the head and say that failing to achieve your budget numbers is OK, you may be in the wrong place.

 

[38Chevy454]

I'm one of the "just look at monthly total" type budgeter and as long as it's reasonable I don't get concerned. I only budget at the very macro level. No categories to speak of. Just the monthly total, which unless we make a big trip somewhere or other single large purchase of something, the monthly total stays surprisingly pretty even.

 

[ivinsfan]

So you have the money, don't fight about money and aren't looking for ways to cut back. What exactly did you hope to get from this thread.

 

[Dtail]

We can afford it, so I'm not sweating it. I still like tracking everything. Always have. My spreadsheet goes back to 1996. It's always interesting going back and looking at what we spent money on back then.

I don't make a big deal out of it with her and we never fight over money.

I can relate with these categories, but on a lesser scale.
Food has gone up for us, as neither of us like cooking all that much, but we do cook 3 to 4 times weekly. Our budget in this area is 15/16k annual.
As for clothing, budget at retirement was 1k, but now is at 2k annual. Most not for me, except sneakers for sports.

I also track everything as I like it too for comparison, rerunning calculators and just plain like numbers.

It sounds like you are just letting a bit of steam off, as you have accepted this concept, perhaps a little reluctantly.
Have faith, I am in a similar boat, just on a lesser scale in these 2 categories.

 

[jkern]

My clothes spending is about $25 per month. Even then it accumulates. My wife on the other hand buys a lot of clothes and she won't tell me what she spends (we have separate accounts for this like that). Our closets are so full I'm turning the 4th bedroom into a giant closet.

Our monthly food purchase is about $750 and we spend about $400 per month dining out.

 

[corn18]

This is our annual spend from 2010 to 2020 on the base budget. Can you tell when we read the book The Millionaire Next Door?

 

[ivinsfan]

One of you read MND..you won't find anybody in those pages blowing 600 a month on clothes..that's a car payment

 

[aja8888]

When the brackets holding the top rail (12' long) in our master bedroom closet ripped out of the wall that held DW's "collection" of clothes going back to 1976 happened, we had a heart to heart conversation on the contents of the closet(s).

That rail that fell down was one of the three that are in that closet holding her clothes. She has clothes in the other bedroom and hall closets. My clothes are on a 4' long section of the lower closet rail.

After many trips to Goodwill, and boxes of her clothes sent to grown nieces, we have the problem managed.

And it was amazing to her to find several NEW tops, shorts, dresses, etc that she had that still had the tags still on them and were never worn (and they are not going to worn anytime soon).

Case closed. Limited buying of clothing for the lady of the house that is handicapped (and pushing a walker) and only goes out in public to dine or to Bible Class once per week.

I have a thread on this issue somewhere here.

Good luck to you corn18.

 

[corn18]

One of you read MND..you won't find anybody in those pages blowing 600 a month on clothes..that's a car payment

So what? I often wonder why people that have a 1% WR don't spend more. Or give it away. You do you, I'll do me.

 

[RetiredHappy]

This is our annual spend from 2010 to 2020 on the base budget. Can you tell when we read the book The Millionaire Next Door?

We are still at the top of your graph and not about to slow down. Maybe [-]I[/-] my husband needs to read the book. Nah, he won't.