your monthly budget before entertainment?

[JoseSantiago]

Hi friends,

What's everyone's monthly budget before entertainment or food? I'm sure this has been posted before but w rising costs of living everywhere probably a good one to revisit. Mine is about 900 a month.

Budget:
Mortgage: $0
County Tax:$104
Home Owner Insurance: $50
Electric: $250
Internet: $50
Ring: $10
Gas: $15
Water/Sewer/trash: $50
Pool/yard maintenance: $50
Cleaning: $120
Mobile Phone: $55
Gym: $25
Insurance (car, Home warranty) $110
TotaL: $889

 

[FANOFJESUS]

Budget:
Mortgage: $0
County Tax:$200
Home Owner Insurance: $80
Electric: $225
Internet: $4
Gas: $35
Water/Sewer/trash: $70
Mobile Phone: $2.50
Insurance (car, ) $38
TotaL: $654.50

 

[disneysteve]

It will depend on what you count as "entertainment". Certainly internet and pool maintenance could be considered entertainment expenses. Most of my entertainment comes from the internet (streaming TV and movies, discussion forums, communicating with friends and family, etc.).


Our monthly spending runs about $7,000 counting everything. I don't break it down so I can't pull out entertainment or food.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I have found it tough to break down on a monthly basis as some months are relatively cheap but other months are pretty expensive. Overall, our "normal" expenses average around $2200/mo.

This figure includes all utilities, property taxes, cable/internet/tv/streaming, insurance, gas/maintenance/registration, food (includes eating out) and pet care.

Not included is house maintenance (was about $15K last year but we "expect" about $5K a year) and vacations/trips/other discretionary spending. Last year was a pretty expensive year overall due to ice storms and lots of vet bills (surgery on one of the dogs). We were "all in" at about $48K.

We have no debt (mortgage, car loans, or otherwise).

 

[DireWolf]

Here’s a rough stab at ours:

Family of 3 in a MCOL area

Property Tax: $267
Home insurance: $90
Car insurance: $160
*Home maintenance items: $200
Health insurance : $126
Dental ins: $38
Gym: $109
Phones: $200
Natural Gas: $50
Electric: $100
Water/Sewer/Trash: $100
Internet: $70
Gasoline: $135
*Clothing: $80
OOP Medical/Dental: $450
*Autos: $500
Home security service: $25
Miscellaneous: $100

Total: $2800

*I took a swag at what things like home maintenance, clothing and vehicles costs when the one time costs are spread out over time. We just spent $10k+ on a new roof and gutters, for instance. I need to replace 4 tires on an SUV, and that might end up being $1000 for decent off-road tires (haven’t priced yet, but preparing myself). I had a check engine light come on and needed a hard to reach sensor replaced a couple months back, $800. We pay cash usually for vehicles, but I spread that out over a decade (if they last longer, great, but useful for budgeting). I’d rather overestimate on things than come up short here.

Additional notes: My medical bills are high, but would be crazy high if we weren’t in the ACA CSR range, limiting our Max OOP, which we tend to hit most years. The joys of getting cancer.

 

[Luvtoride]

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.

 

[JoseSantiago]

Arizona for me. Property taxes are great here. Even w sky rocketing prices.

 

[aaronc879]

Single person in lower cost of living area with paid off home.

Property tax: $250
Homeowners Ins.: $50
Internet: $80
Gas/electric: $100
Water: $40
Phone: $15(Tracfone)
Car Insurance: $25
Car gas/maint.: $50

Total: $610

Health insurance is free with ACA subsidies and haven't had any co-pays or other OOP in the last year+. Internet is my primary source of entertainment but I included it anyway. Food and entertainment would only increase my budget by a couple hundred unless I went to Florida for part of the Winter.

 

[RetiredHappy]

Before we moved, the property tax was only $200 per month on a $700K home and we live in Nevada. Now we pay about $340 per month on a $900K home.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Budget:
Mortgage: $0
Real Estate Tax:$475
Home Owner & Flood Insurance: $250
Electric: $120
Internet: $75
Gas: $25
Water/Sewer/trash: $50
Pool/yard maintenance: $150
Association HOA: $160
Mobile Phone: $60
Insurance (car): $30
Healthcare: $400
Car Lease: $410
Total: $2,145

 

[Sue J]

Budget:
Mortgage: $0
County Tax:$303
Home Owner Insurance: $68
Electric+Water/Sewer/trash: $170
Internet: $50
Natural Gas: $60
Gas for cars: $50
Mobile Phone: $32
Insurance (car): $75
Medicare+Medigap+Part D ($537-$312 HRA):$224
DirecTV:$118

Total: $1150

I eliminated some of your categories that don't apply to us and added a few of ours. What about your health insurance?

Our total for everything including food and a generous category for "OTHER" each month is right around $2750/mo. That's less than DHs pension so that means we save a nice chunk every month. Sweeeet!

 

[aaronc879]

Before we moved, the property tax was only $200 per month on a $700K home and we live in Nevada. Now we pay about $340 per month on a $900K home.

Wow, I pay $240-250/mo on a house that is valued at around $130K but would probably not be able to sell for more than $100K.

 

[scrabbler1]

I don't separate entertainment and food expenses from other, more easily quantifiable expenses because sometimes I pay for them in cash, sometimes with a credit card.

I first break down my expenses into 3 broad categories: (1) housing, which is my monthly co-op maintenance charge minus any state property tax rebate; (2) medical costs, which include health insurance, dental, and all copays; and (3) everything else.

Housing is about 1/3, medical is about 1/6 (a lot lower than prior to 2020 because I am back on the ACA subsidy train), and everything else is 1/2. Prior to 2020, the last items used to be split evenly.

As others have mentioned, what one defines as entertainment can vary from one person to another. My triple-play internet/cable-tv/phone could be split into entertainment for the first 2 services and non-entertainment for the phone.

 

[gauss]

Hmm... Nobody is paying any Federal/State income taxes?

That is one of our larger expenses.. Same question for pet/vet costs? and maybe even clothing?

Perhaps folks are answering the "what are you housing costs" question.

-gauss

 

[aaronc879]

Hmm... Nobody is paying any Federal/State income taxes?

That is one of our larger expenses.. Same question for pet/vet costs? and maybe even clothing?

Perhaps folks are answering the "what are you housing costs" question.

-gauss

I'm low income so I pay almost no income tax but I don't consider that an expense. My income is what I make after taxes, my expenses come off my after tax income. I don't have any pets and almost never buy clothes. If I buy clothes it's a couple $10 t-shirts every few years and a pack of socks or boxers every few years, maybe a $10-20 hoodie every 5 or so years. Breaking it down monthly it's maybe $5/mo or less for clothes.

 

[brett]

$6K after tax, not including any income tax installment payments.

That is the only budget number we have.

 

[FANOFJESUS]

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.

Most of the middle of the country is like this. I pay about $2400 in house taxes a year. If I moved to a so so area I could cut it down to $500 a year. If I moved to a small town maybe 1k a year. I pay $35 for car insurance. If I moved to that so so area it would jump to $50 month. You get the picture.

 

[geeky_grrl]

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?

I'm in Oregon and pay about $300 a month in property taxes and $100 a month for car insurance for 2 cars. I thought our taxes were high here; I've been looking at lower cost of living places for retirement where I'd pay less taxes for more house.

 

[CardsFan]

Hmm... Nobody is paying any Federal/State income taxes?

That is one of our larger expenses.. Same question for pet/vet costs? and maybe even clothing?

Perhaps folks are answering the "what are you housing costs" question.

-gauss

We don't budget, so did not reply to OP. But to your question on taxes, our taxes are a function of Roth conversions. So they could vary from $100/mo to $2,000/mo.

I am guessing others are in the same position.

 

[Luvtoride]

GG,
Lower rates than Oregon where you live now? [emoji2359]
Is cost the only factor on where to live in Retirement?

I must be so numbed by the high cost of living in the NJ/ NYC area that I don’t realize how much lower it is in other parts of the country. What “services” are lacking in these places that taxes can be that low? I must be missing something!.

 

[geeky_grrl]

GG,
Lower rates than Oregon where you live now? [emoji2359]
Is cost the only factor on where to live in Retirement?

I must be so numbed by the high cost of living in the NJ/ NYC area that I don’t realize how much lower it is in other parts of the country. What “services” are lacking in these places that taxes can be that low? I must be missing something!.

Yes, I've been considering moving back to the southwest and the property taxes looked like they were a lot lower in NV, AZ, CO, and NM. If I stay in my area I'll probably move to WA to escape the high income taxes in Oregon (I could move a mile away and save thousands a year). I haven't spent much time in the NY/NJ area so I can't really compare what the differences in services are.

Cost of living isn't everything but I don't have that many ties to the area I live in now. I moved here for work and my family is scattered around and none live close to me here. I'd miss some of the friends I've made in the past few years but I would make new ones in a new location.

 

[RetiredHappy]

GG,
Is cost the only factor on where to live in Retirement?

I must be so numbed by the high cost of living in the NJ/ NYC area that I don’t realize how much lower it is in other parts of the country. What “services” are lacking in these places that taxes can be that low? I must be missing something!.

We lived in CA before moving to Nevada in retirement. The biggest push factor was policy decisions by the government - trying not to make it sound political. We did not mind paying state tax but the money just did not go back to infrastructure. I will stop here.

Nevada has no state income tax, communities here are built under what is called Master Plan. Prices of homes of where we now live cost about the same as where we were in Northern California. We definitely don't get homeless problem here although we do see some when we go to the older areas, but nothing like back in CA. We prefer here because of lower crime and better standard of living. We probably spend more in retirement than before because we joined the country club, golf alot and continue with lots of travel.

Nevada makes money off casinos, much like Alaska and its oil. It makes up for the lack of state income tax. Services are not lacking here.

 

[jollystomper]

We no longer budget, we just track cash flow.

For the last 12 months our expenses excluding income taxes, recreation, entertainment, gifts, and charity (as the latter two are things we chose to do, but do not have to do) have averaged $4.7K per month. No mortgage payment. This includes just over $400/month property taxes on a home Zillow claims is worth $550K (HA!) and $145/month in auto insurance for 3 cars.

The 5 excluded categories add another $3.1K/month in expenses. If we were able to travel internationally as we were before the pandemic, that would be another $1.7K-$2K/month.

 

[youbet]

Hmm... Nobody is paying any Federal/State income taxes?

That is one of our larger expenses.. Same question for pet/vet costs? and maybe even clothing?

Perhaps folks are answering the "what are you housing costs" question.

-gauss

Taxes are by far our largest expense category, led by fed and state income taxes.

It seems for these types of discussions, it would be best for the op establish a template and we could just fill it in. Otherwise it seems like these posted "budgets" are some miscellaneous numbers.

 

[braumeister]

It seems for these types of discussions, it would be best for the op establish a template and we could just fill it in. Otherwise it seems like these posted "budgets" are some miscellaneous numbers.

We all live at different levels of comfort, so the raw numbers don't say that much without knowing your local cost of living. Percentages of total spending might be more useful, but the problem there is that we all have different ways of categorizing our spending.