Final 2022 Cost of Living - Total Household Expenses (Not Including Travel)

[SecondCor521]

This is fairly easy for me to compute since I run a 0 cash balance. $$ either gets spent, or goes into the market.

If I subtract what we invested from our total Gross Pay (still w*rking)...

$207,445.44

Includes all expense items like FICA, Health/Dental/Vision Insurance, Life Insurance, Childcare expense, food, travel, households expenses, auto expenses/repairs, activities, donations and also business expenses.

I have a LOT of room for improvement in 2023.

No other side income? Gifts received? Dividends? Capital gains? Withdrawals from savings? Refunds? Interest? If you had any I would add those to your W-2 gross pay.

Also, depending on which number you use for gross pay and whether you save from your paycheck into the market, you may want to adjust for that to get an accurate spending number.

 

[kgtest]

No other side income? Gifts received? Dividends? Capital gains? Withdrawals from savings? Refunds? Interest? If you had any I would add those to your W-2 gross pay.

Also, depending on which number you use for gross pay and whether you save from your paycheck into the market, you may want to adjust for that to get an accurate spending number.

This includes side income, cashback rewards, refunds, interest. I guess technically I had some capital gains as well that aren't included I suppose I could include the $200 check the in-laws cut to me for my birthday lol. I always tell them to keep it, but they insist.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Since I quit eating out once or twice a week and now do that amount monthly my cholesterol went down 29 points. I reduced it because of the cost but definitely had a health benefit.

 

[skyking1]

Also what is interesting is seeing the large number of people here who keep excellent detailed records of their spending. I can bet that the average person on the street wouldn't have a clue what they spend annually if you asked them.

I see the detailed posts and smile, because I have been really lackadaisical.
Essentially I logged into our main bank and used their data from 2022, massaged the categories a bit.
I came up with 60K and 10 of that was travel.
Last year was 70K, no travel and we spent 20K on a new car. Seems like 50K is an accurate number, not to put too fine a point on it.
We are sailing off over the edge of the earth this year with building a new house and selling the old, getting new and different bills and unknown increases in property taxes, insurance. I could try to figure it out, but I'm not going to.
Que Sera Sera, whatever will be, will be.

 

[Koolau]

Since I quit eating out once or twice a week and now do that amount monthly my cholesterol went down 29 points. I reduced it because of the cost but definitely had a health benefit.

Heh, heh, pills are easier and eating out is more fun - but YMMV.

 

[kgtest]

I see the detailed posts and smile, because I have been really lackadaisical.
Essentially I logged into our main bank and used their data from 2022, massaged the categories a bit.
I came up with 60K and 10 of that was travel.
Last year was 70K, no travel and we spent 20K on a new car. Seems like 50K is an accurate number, not to put too fine a point on it.
We are sailing off over the edge of the earth this year with building a new house and selling the old, getting new and different bills and unknown increases in property taxes, insurance. I could try to figure it out, but I'm not going to.
Que Sera Sera, whatever will be, will be.

The categories I always have a hard time/don't care to track meticulously are household purchases, groceries and food (mainly things like Target, Wal-Mart, CostCo and dining out etc) since we could both buy household and groceries in the same trip and also my DW and I sort of split those costs throughout the year and I rarely look back into her transactions (and neither does she because she doesn't care).

I've also been blessed that our income has kind of outpaced inflation for quite some time so as long as we don't have lifestyle creep we should never be in a situation where we are in critical need of income. I probably just jinxed myself. It's been 8 yrs since we had our last income gap and hopefully I won't have another one until I all out FIRE.

 

[skyking1]

We have a second bank that I had to estimate using some Kentucky windage. I will ditch that bank as we are moving away from any of the branches and it was near beach property we are now going to sell. I will still avoid spending time in quicken or any other accounting product.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Heh, heh, pills are easier and eating out is more fun - but YMMV.

I wouldn’t go on statins no matter how high my cholesterol is because of all the side effects but it’s nice to have it at 186. The less medication the better.

 

[GenXguy]

I wouldn’t go on statins no matter how high my cholesterol is because of all the side effects but it’s nice to have it at 186. The less medication the better.

I have been taking statins for years, and I'm not having any side effects, thank goodness. I know some people do. They definitely helped me. I would slim down biking several hours per week and eating healthy, and my cholesterol would come down some, but it was still high. Statins definitely helped a lot. I still exercise and keep my weight down as well. I don't like taking medication, but after resisting for quit a while, I finally gave in on statins.

 

[Zona]

I am just now playing catch-up for this thread -- I wait until all our final credit card charges are input into Quicken before I can get a final year spend. DH retired in late 2021, so 2022 was our first full year with both of us retired. We decided to BTD on vacation spend, but our core non-discretionary expenses weren't too out of whack with everyone else here.

Couple, early 50's, no kids or pets
Location: Arizona
Home: 1800 sqft single family w/mortgage
Car: two paid-for cars but minimal driving (sold car#2 in Nov 22)

3125 Auto (gas, service, insurance)
465 Clothing
7515 Groceries (not incl alcohol, I track alcohol as discretionary)
8150 Home expenses (HOA, maintenance, improvement)
1115 Household essentials
806 Legal & professional fees
10350 Medical (insurance, drs, dentists, prescription)
4560 Utilities (incl internet, streaming, phones, gas/elec, water/trash)
21286 Mortgage (principal, tax, insurance, interest)
8400 Fed & State Tax (1st Roth conv. for DH - will pay another 4K in estimated tax in Jan)

$65772 *** Total non-discretionary spend including tax & mortgage

Our 2022 discretionary spend was only a little less than our non-discretionary spend and it includes items like charity/gifts, alcohol purchases, dining out, big-ticket home improvement nice-to-haves, entertainment and vacation. Basically anything we can get by without if we have to. I appreciated doing this exercise because it shows that we could live reasonably lean if we had to (and if we paid the mortgage off early).

 

[Chuckanut]

Heh, heh, pills are easier and eating out is more fun - but YMMV.

You are the .

 

[MC Rider]

We moved and spent $5150 on the movers. Ekk. A boatload more on a new place. Stuff to facilitate life here, and we are not done. Not by a long shot.



I have no total, just like modifying a car, bike, house, etc, maybe I do not want to know.
But, higher than a normal year. We will be finding a new normal in due course of events.

 

[RobbieB]

Three hundred thousand dollars.

 

[TheWizard]

This is fairly easy for me to compute since I run a 0 cash balance. $$ either gets spent, or goes into the market...

This is the proper way to compute your total, of course.
It's what I did up a ways...

 

[W2R]

Our monthly budget for 2 next year is 1,400 all in with groceries, liquor, restaurants. We basically don't cook anymore and this category is one of our pleasures of retirement.

We don't cook anymore either! I spent 23 years of married life cooking almost every single day and now that I'm unmarried and retired, I decided enough was enough. Frank is fine with that. My numbers are for just me since we don't share our money.

I hear ya.
My DGF feels the same way and cooking is a chore for me. If you double your food number theoretically for 2, it is somewhat closer to my number in fact.

If I had the money I would be eating out or ordering in twice a day(or more) 365 days a year. As long as you can afford it then go for it. I can barely afford the $150/mo that I spend so that's all I get to spend.

Interesting. We cook most meals and only eat out or order in about once a week on average as we get sick of restaurant food quickly.

That tells us a great deal more about the restaurants you choose, than anything else. I know, I am so lucky to live in New Orleans, a city that is famous worldwide for its wonderful restaurants and cuisine.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Now that restaurants are putting their calories in their menus it’s eye opening how much more fattening the meals are versus at home. There’s also a lot more sodium content. I used to say if I was rich I would eat every meal out but actually I wouldn’t because of those 2 things.

I am far from being a health nut but it was too hard to lose those 50lbs almost 3 years ago. Plus because groceries have went up so much so have our restaurant prices and I don’t think it’s worth it anymore.

 

[tmitchell]

Late to the game but I spent $64k outside of taxes and travel. Renting in SoCal. Partner spent about the same. Life ain’t getting any cheaper here.

 

[NW-Bound]

Some of y'all are big spenders. I mean around $100K or close to it, and that's without a mortgage, nor big purchases.

I don't have a mortgage either, and even counting almost $30K in tax withholding for Roth conversion, I do not get to that level. And I have 2 homes to pay expenses on. And I spent some money to do 4 weeks of Europe trekking.

 

[Sunset]

I spent pretty much the same as last year, $36K ,

DW doesn't bother to track her spending but she pays the taxes, and utilities.

My rough estimate is we spend 60K in total.

 

[Music Lover]

That tells us a great deal more about the restaurants you choose, than anything else. I know, I am so lucky to live in New Orleans, a city that is famous worldwide for its wonderful restaurants and cuisine.

Now that restaurants are putting their calories in their menus it’s eye opening how much more fattening the meals are versus at home. There’s also a lot more sodium content. I used to say if I was rich I would eat every meal out but actually I wouldn’t because of those 2 things.

W2R, we have lots of good restaurants around here but we're also good cooks. Why pay $100 for a meal we can make for $20?

Also, what Terry said, at home we can control the fat and salt along with all the other ingredients.

 

[W2R]

W2R, we have lots of good restaurants around here but we're also good cooks. Why pay $100 for a meal we can make for $20?

Also, what Terry said, at home we can control the fat and salt along with all the other ingredients.

I have never paid $100 for a meal in my life. I checked my daily records and the most I paid for a restaurant meal last year was $16 (including tax and tip), on February 2nd. Like I said, your comments tell us more about the restaurants you choose, than anything else.

I have met people who feel that it's perfectly fine to eat anything at all, as long as it's listed on the menu. I never did understand what the logic behind that could possibly be.

 

[Music Lover]

I have never paid $100 for a meal in my life. Like I said, your comments tell us more about the restaurants you choose, than anything else.

$100 was one example, perhaps a steak restaurant for dinner and a drink or two. For 2 people that's "normal". Other restaurants are much less than that of course.

But, we both are good cooks so we don't dine out very much because of our cooking skills, not because of the lack of good restaurants.

In fact, I've always thought that people who dine out all the time should maybe learn how to cook

 

[Koolau]

I wouldn’t go on statins no matter how high my cholesterol is because of all the side effects but it’s nice to have it at 186. The less medication the better.

Yeah, my response was somewhat tongue in cheek - though my statin has w*rked wonders for my numbers - doc is ecstatic! (If I'm having side effects, I don't know what they are but YMMV.)

 

[NW-Bound]

$100 was one example, perhaps a steak restaurant for dinner and a drink or two. For 2 people that's "normal". Other restaurants are much less than that of course.

But, we both are good cooks so we don't dine out very much because of our cooking skills, not because of the lack of good restaurants.

In fact, I've always thought that people who dine out all the time should maybe learn how to cook

Steak houses near me charge $50+ for a steak. Drinks are $15. No salad, side dish, or dessert yet. With tax and tip, it's $100+/person.

I only go out occasionally. We can cook all sorts of food at home that we enjoy. We don't eat that much anymore, and there's joy in cooking too, in addition to the eating.

 

[Dtail]

$100 was one example, perhaps a steak restaurant for dinner and a drink or two. For 2 people that's "normal". Other restaurants are much less than that of course.

But, we both are good cooks so we don't dine out very much because of our cooking skills, not because of the lack of good restaurants.

In fact, I've always thought that people who dine out all the time should maybe learn how to cook

Some of us have cooked all our adulthood and are just tired of it.