There's still a lot of things that I don't see in some of the very low budgets that people are posting, some may have ways to get these things for cheap/free but even a moderate cost across these categories adds up fast. Maybe they're all in the "misc" category. I think it's easier to get away with a barebones budget if you are a single male.
- Doctors visits and prescriptions (the co-pay)
- Hobbies
- Entertainment (books/movies)
- Household furnishings
- Road tolls
- Haircuts
- Clothes
- Dry cleaning
- Gifts for family/friends
- Travel/vacation
- Charitable giving/donations
There is still fat in my budget that I would like to cut, but personally, would not want to live at the poverty line in order to get to ER sooner. That is a hard road to hoe.
I'm mildly annoyed at the implication in your post that some are not including all of their expenses or that it is impossible to live on such low expenses.
I am 41, single, live in Boise, Idaho, have a full-time professional day job, a 4br/2ba home in a suburban subdivision, a 1995 Toyota, 3 kids that are with me ~1/3 of the time. I have two cell phones (pay-as-you-go with TMobile) and a computer (4 year old Dell laptop). I do not have any expensive toys (no 42" LCD TV, smartphones, cable, boats, fancy cars, second car, motorcycle, plane, etc.).
Here's my report directly out of Quicken for last year. I do track all of my spending. A very small amount that shows up below under Cash represents miscellaneous periodic reconciliations of cash-on-hand with what Quicken has, so I don't know what I spent that on, but I know that I did spend it (or lost it perhaps).
1/1/2010 through 12/31/2010
Category Description 1/1/2010- 12/31/2010
EXPENSES
Uncategorized 0.00
Auto 1,647.80
Bank Charge 5.50
Cash 29.79
Charity 150.00
Christmas 674.97
Clothing 114.47
Food 3,550.61
House 1,807.90
Insurance 2,452.65
Interest Exp 7,659.12
Kids 15,925.24
Medical 1,792.13
Misc 42.00
Recreation 3,090.27
Tax 21,958.73
Utilities 2,462.21
Work Expense 21.01
TOTAL EXPENSES 63,384.40
And a line-by-line explanation of where your categories come into my budget:
- Doctors visits and prescriptions (the co-pay)
-> Both are included under Medical above, although about $969 of the Medical above is for my out-of-pocket for my son's braces. I visited the doctor about three times last year and am on one prescription medication, but I take the generic, which is like $30 per 90 day supply. I'm 41 and fortunately relatively healthy.
- Hobbies
-> Watching TV - Free except heat and electricity which are included under Utilities.
-> Reading books - Free except gas money to drive 1 mile to the library, which is included under Auto.
-> Watching movies - Free except for movie rentals from Hastings and the occasional movie ticket which are included under Recreation
-> Donating platelets - Free except for gas money to drive to the Red Cross, which is included under Auto.
-> Working out - Free at the health center at my office
-> Web surfing - Free except for $30 / month internet, included under Utilities
-> Spending time with kids - Included either under Kids:Recreation or Recreation:<something> or Food:Eating Out as appropriate.
-> Hiking and mountain climbing - Pretty much free, although I think I spent about $10 at Walmart for my lean-to supplies when climbing Borah Peak last year. Gas from Boise to the trailhead is under Auto:Gas or perhaps Recreation.
- Entertainment (books/movies)
-> See above
- Household furnishings
-> Already own everything I need; spent $0 in 2010.
- Road tolls
-> No toll roads in Idaho that I'm aware of. Certainly none that I use.
- Haircuts
-> Cut my own with a $20 shaver from Walmart that I bought four years ago. Electricity again included under Utilities.
- Clothes
-> Included under Clothing above. Don't really buy new clothes all that much except for replacements from Walmart.
-> I do get free T-shirts from the Red Cross fairly regularly as a platelet donor.
- Dry cleaning
-> Only own one dry cleaning item, which is my interview/funeral/wedding suit, and I only wear that rarely, and thus only need to dry clean about once every two years. I attended zero interviews and zero funerals this past year. I did attend one wedding and wore that suit, but it didn't need dry cleaning.
- Gifts for family/friends
-> Give homemade cookies occasionally, costs are included under Groceries (for the raw materials) and Household (for the packing and postage if needed) or Auto:Gas (if delivered personally).
-> Write emails and PMs to my friends. Costs are included under Utilities:Internet.
-> Christmas gifts are included under Christmas. I give to my three kids and we rotate giving to nieces/nephews.
- Travel/vacation
-> Took a couple of road trips this year, and one one week vacation to San Diego with the kids. Costs are all included under Recreation:Vacation. I did receive the plane tickets as a gift from my parents, so you could argue about that.
- Charitable giving/donations
-> Categorized under Charity. (For those with a pharasaical bent, I stopped tithing several years ago. Sue me.)
Using the last six months expenses (essentially half of the budget above) and then adjusting for interest expense (assumes sinking fund for paid off house), child support (assumes sinking fund for paid off child support), taxes (assumes minimal earned income in retirement), and work expense (assumes I won't have any work-related expenses if I don't work), and backing out the trip to San Diego (I consider it an expense I would not incur if I retired), I calculate a monthly expense of $1,395.57, which works out to ~$16,747 per year.
This also assumes I don't downsize my 1800sf house after my oldest graduates in a few years, and includes food and utilities for my kids, all of which will likely go down.
So aaronc879 still has me beat, but it certainly seems quite feasible to do my lifestyle on ~$17K per year. Whether it's a lifestyle anyone else would like, well, that's obviously their decision. For me, the increased likelihood that I can pay my bills and the possibility of being FI at age 45 or so are worth it to me. In fact, I don't feel particularly deprived and am quite content with my low-cost life.
2Cor521