40K sounded low to me for two of you, so I'm not at all surprised you are seeing 44k to 45k when tracking actual expenditures. In fact, even 45k sounds low to me.
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[FONT="]I suppose it depends on where you live and what your lifestyle is like. I still think we could live quite comfortably on 40K per year. Our total income last year (while still working) was less than 58K (before taxes), and a good chunk of that goes to savings or work related expenses that we won't have after retirement.
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[FONT="]My most recent expense estimate comes to just over 44K, based on what we are spending now. [/FONT][FONT="][FONT="]There are still many areas we could cut back if we needed to.[/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT="]1800 Electric (150/mo - current is 125/mo)[/FONT]
[FONT="]270 Garbage (45 every other month)[/FONT]
[FONT="]9600 Grocery (800/mo)[/FONT]
[FONT="]1080 Wife Gas (90/mo)[/FONT]
[FONT="]1080 Husband Gas (90/mo)[/FONT]
[FONT="]950 Home Insurance[/FONT]
[FONT="]4600 Property Taxes[/FONT]
[FONT="]800 Insurance for Vehicles[/FONT]
[FONT="]200 Vehicle Licenses[/FONT]
[FONT="]60 Safe Deposit Box[/FONT]
[FONT="]600 Home and Cell Phones[/FONT]
[FONT="]960 Internet (80/mo)[/FONT]
[FONT="]360 Netflix[/FONT]
[FONT="]300 Web Site Expenses[/FONT]
[FONT="]7000 Health Care[/FONT]
[FONT="]1500 Automotive Maintenance and Repairs[/FONT]
[FONT="]2500 Home Improvement (repairs, painting, etc.)[/FONT]
[FONT="]4500 Miscellaneous (clothing, computer parts, craft supplies, etc.)[/FONT]
[FONT="]6000 Recreation (movies, dinners out, hiking, vacations, etc.)[/FONT]
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