your monthly budget before entertainment?

[FIREd_2015]

Average total expenses over the past 5 yrs $4500-5000/month

Mortgage: $0
HOA: $200 (Planned Unit Development)
Property Tax: $580
Home Owner Insurance: $109
Electric & Gas: $75
Car Insurance:$90
Internet: $0 (use mobile as hotspot)
Water/sewer/trash: $145
Mobile: $41
Obamacare: $1145 (before subsidy - reconciled when I file taxes)
Rental Property: $990

Total: $3375

 

[ER2B]

MONTHLY EXPENSES
Auto (insurance, taxes, maintenance) $216
Health Insurance $837
Home & umbrella insurance $83
Property tax $634
Utilities (electricity, water, internet) $198
Gym $50
Total $2,019 per month

Add $20K for new roof and new tires this year

 

[carnivalday]

I (single person) definitely run a budget each month for the expenses that I know I will have they are:

Mortgage - 0
Kia - 310
Auto and house insurance - 190
Electric - 150 during the summer, down to 80 during the winter
Health Insurance Part G - 177
Prop. Tax - 125
Dish - 85
Internet - 85

Totals to about $1120. Gives me about another $1000 for food, gas, stuff from SS check. If I need more than that, I can take dividends from my Roth IRA; otherwise the dividends either get reinvested, or put in a money market for future major expenses.

 

[corn18]

Current spend. Just retired. 2 of us in OH. There's a small amount each month for entertainment ($150), but we budget $25k/year for blow that dough/travel stuff.

Auto 1,559
Clothes 500
Pets 200
Food 2,000
Gifts 954
Health / Beauty 175
House 2,862
Entertainment 150
Misc 1,000
Insurance 372
Medical 200
Cell Phone 166
Utilities 272
Internet 208
Taxes 826

TOTAL EXP 11,444

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

The question is pointless if the goal is some sort of comparison.

Does it not depend on where you happen to live and on your standard of living or how you live? Married, single, supporting others.

Our itemized budget, if we even had one, would be of no use to anyone. How can you compare cost of living or budget in East Rubber Boot to that of NYC or SFO?

Maybe not to you, but it might be useful to the OP. No need to poop on their parade.

 

[wmc1000]

Budget:

Mortgage: $0

County Tax:$80

Home Insurance: $90

Electric: $235

Internet: $40


Gas autos: $80

Water/Sewer/trash: $50

Yard maintenance: $30


Mobile Phones -2: $35

Insurance (2 cars) $80

Total: $720

Medicare/Plan G $480
Dental - 250
Food - home and away $600
Travel - $800
Gifts - $300
Amortized maintenance items - $400

All in $3550

 

[Kerfuffle]

So far this year, we average $11,707 per month, including taxes and health insurance and necessary living expenses, excluding savings and entertainment, etc. Taxes are by far the largest part of that.

 

[Surewhitey]

Food has been in flux, but this is pretty accurate for 2 in Dallas, home owned.

 

[Sue J]

We don't budget and we don't track expenses - we just make certain there is enough in the checking account.

I'm curious as I don't see most folks "budgeting" for replacement costs: Appliances, roof, HVAC, driveway, plumbing, exterior painting, interior rehab, cars, etc. YMMV

We just save our monthly excess and it accumulates into a fund big enough to cover those "lumpy expenses."

I'm still amazed that we can life so comfortably and still sock away a good chunk every month.

 

[RobbieB]

Yeah taxes are a big part. My Fed & State estimates are over a grand a month.

Throw in property tax and we're $1500/mo. And look out for the sales tax!

 

[FANOFJESUS]

Yeah taxes are a big part. My Fed & State estimates are over a grand a month.

Throw in property tax and we're $1500/mo. And look out for the sales tax!

Do you get any help from the ACA for health insurance?

 

[Surewhitey]

We just save our monthly excess and it accumulates into a fund big enough to cover those "lumpy expenses."

I'm still amazed that we can life so comfortably and still sock away a good chunk every month.

True. I personally have a bigger sheet that allows for a "new" car every 6-7 years, annual health "events" & "maintenance". Since none of these have happened over the past 5 years, just keep them in the back of my mind.

We eventually will ER, so we'll refine everything at that time. Likely go to 1 car and ADA insurance to name a couple big adjustments. For now, we are good with the average past costs as a guide.

 

[FANOFJESUS]

Do you get any help from the ACA for health insurance?

The reason I ask is I know RobbieB you have some serious bills. I am guessing health care might be another one or at least it was before 65.

 

[Kerfuffle]

We don't budget and we don't track expenses - we just make certain there is enough in the checking account.

I'm curious as I don't see most folks "budgeting" for replacement costs: Appliances, roof, HVAC, driveway, plumbing, exterior painting, interior rehab, cars, etc. YMMV

I keep sinking funds in savings specifically for things I'll want to buy down the road (like cars), and I keep those separate from our general savings bucket. I don't have to worry about any of the home improvement items you mention because we have decided to be lifelong renters. It's steady on the finances, and keeps us flexible enough to be able to easily lower/raise those expenses as we see fit.

 

[Koolau]

I keep sinking funds in savings specifically for things I'll want to buy down the road (like cars), and I keep those separate from our general savings bucket. I don't have to worry about any of the home improvement items you mention because we have decided to be lifelong renters. It's steady on the finances, and keeps us flexible enough to be able to easily lower/raise those expenses as we see fit.

Sounds good! We too rented for almost 15 years. It DOES have many advantages. Once we got kids, we committed to home ownership and still own a home 25 years later.

 

[brett]

No international travel, almost no shopping, and no restaurant meals or events over the past months just paid for our new roof and a new garage door.

 

[Koolau]

No international travel, almost no shopping, and no restaurant meals or events over the past months just paid for our new roof and a new garage door.

Heh, heh, we've all discovered at least ONE GOOD THING about Covid. Our expenses in 2020 were practically zilch beyond paying the required stuff. The premium on sanitizer and TP were easily absorbed into the budget. 2021 is turning out to be a bit more expensive as we finally got off the "rock." Still, we buy very little and eat out much less than we use to. I am hoping to BTD in 2022! I guess we'll see as YMMV.

 

[Pointby2]

Orange County, CA.
Budget:
Housing expense $1,350... which includes $540 property taxes, $129 homeowners insurance, $244 utilities.
DMV renewals $50
Car Insurance $125
Medicare $223
Cigna drug plan $30
Misc expenses on credit card $1500 (non-fun)



So, about $3,300 a month


Not counting federal and state taxes since they are coming out of my wife's payroll check and we usually are pretty close to a wash each year.

 

[Pointby2]

I am not sure the goal of the thread.

It is kind of like when my father asked me about how much I was spending on stuff or when I took him to a nice restaurant, I lied about the bill. Otherwise he would call me a spendthrift and would refuse to have me take him out again.

Haha, wife an I were at the airport with time to kill last week. Stopped for a snack and a couple of beers. When they were done I wanted to reorder, but I could see she was hesitant. She asked how much the beers cost, and I laughed and said, $3 each. We ordered another round for $9 a beer.

 

[RetiredHappy]

Haha, wife an I were at the airport with time to kill last week. Stopped for a snack and a couple of beers. When they were done I wanted to reorder, but I could see she was hesitant. She asked how much the beers cost, and I laughed and said, $3 each. We ordered another round for $9 a beer.

 

[GenXguy]

We don't budget and we don't track expenses - we just make certain there is enough in the checking account.

I'm curious as I don't see most folks "budgeting" for replacement costs: Appliances, roof, HVAC, driveway, plumbing, exterior painting, interior rehab, cars, etc. YMMV

Yeah, it seems a lot of people ignore these long term expenses that should be accounted for in the budget. I have always included them in my budgets for over 20 years as well as my prospective FIRE budget. Simply saying it's covered by an emergency fund or accounted for separately doesn't cut it - it's still an expense.

 

[RobbieB]

The reason I ask is I know RobbieB you have some serious bills. I am guessing health care might be another one or at least it was before 65.

Fed and state income tax are ~15 grand a year. I'm on medicare, wife is not, so $650/month for her. No ACA subsidy.

 

[joedila]

Outgo $3500; Income $13,000 per month

Not counting travel, our expenses are around $3500 per month (mortgage, HOA fees, groceries, utilities, tv/internet/phones, eating out etc. Thanks to COVID and lack of travel, we have a ton of cash and are aggressively paying our mortgage - we have brought it down from 95K to 40K this year and will pay it off early next year. Cars are paid off. Mortgage is our only debt

On the income side, we are bringing in around 12-13 K per month, This includes a pension, 457b, sep IRA, wife social security, my spousal soc security, and some small TIAA accounts. We still have about one million in ira’s that we are not touching

Bottom line: a very comfortable existence

 

[jr6035]

This is interesting information, but may I ask WHERE in this country you can live and pay $200-$300 per month in property taxes and $100- $160/ month in auto insurance?
We live in North Jersey, with a 2nd home at the Jersey shore and monthly property taxes alone on either home are more than your entire stated monthly budget (Jose and Fan). Yes, I realize our taxes are quite high here as I have lived in NJ all my life and it is HOT TOPIC political issue.

I guess this is why so many Retirees move to LCOL areas. Our family (kids and grandkids) all live in this area so moving to a LCOL area is not something that we would even consider. Do others here move away from their families in order to afford a comfortable lifestyle during retirement? To me, if I had to face that decision, I would keep working.

Yup. We did it. I already raised them. Doesn't need to cost me money just to be close. They can Facetime.

 

[1242Vintage]

All in, including a big bite for local/state/fed taxes, we are spending $7k/month.

We retired 18 months ago and spending hasn’t quite leveled out yet. Monthly spending is a little high now but trending down as our kids are transitioning from students (on our payroll) to young working and financially independent professionals.