Top Ten Expenses?

[foxcreek9]

Trips - 19.5%
Fed Tax - 11.5
Health Ins - 10
RE Tax - 7.9
Food - 5
Christmas Gifts - 5
Utilities - 4.2
Long Term Care Ins - 4
Church Donations and other gifts 3.8
New Appliances - 3.3 (washer, dryer, DW, and stove)
Home and Auto Ins - 2.6

 

[aja8888]

I don't track every expense, I just look at year to year bulk spending. But, I can say that the top three for 2024 will be:

1. Fed tax (single - widower)
2. Insurances (medical, auto, home)
3. Home costs (prop tax, utilities, internet/streaming, upkeep)

The rest is just blown on food, auto, and misc.

I'm pretty much done with big travel. Just car trips in my future.

 

[N02L84ER]

1. Taxes
2. Housing
3. Food
4. Insurance
5. Charity
6. Utilities
7. Recreation
8. Auto
9. Medical
10. Gifts
The first 2 categories exceeded 50% of our spend last year.

 

[Zona]

1 travel
2 home expenses (new carpet, furniture, roof maintenance)
3 taxes (fed & state)
4 medical insurance
5 charity & gifts
6 dining out (includes dining while traveling)
7 mortgage interest/insurance/property tax
8 groceries (includes groceries while traveling)
9 utilities (water, phone, internet, gas/electric, streaming)
10 auto (insurance, fuel, service)

We are in our big travel years and were gone 5 months last year. This year we are traveling quite a bit less so that may not be number 1 for 2024. 60% of the budget was the first four items.

 

[brett]

-income taxes
-property taxes
-travel

 

[Car-Guy]

I don't track where my money goes but I have a good idea of my top two categories (or three if you like).

(1) Hobbies/entertainment/fun stuff
(2) Cars
(3) Everything else (Which is less than 1 and 2 combined)

 

[Gumby]

For 2023:

1. Travel
2. Income tax
3. Property tax
4. Groceries
5. Utilities (Electric, Gas, Water, Internet)
6. Charitable contributions
7. Home and Umbrella insurance
8. Wine
9. Restaurants
10. Housekeeper

 

[ncbill]

according to mint, highest to lowest for last year:

1. Auto & Transport (kids' first vehicles of their own)
2. Shopping
3. Taxes
4. Home
5. Gifts & Donations
6. Bills & Utilities
7. Food & Dining
8. Entertainment
9. Uncategorized
10. Financial
11. Business Services
12. Travel

 

[frayne]

1. Food and consumables
2. Insurance, medical, home, cars.
3. Taxes
4. Gifts and donations
5. *Home improvement projects, usually do one per year
6. Utilities, Internet, cable TV, phone
7. Hobbies

* This amount can vary by quite a bit depending on the project.

 

[pacergal]

I don't keep track to the penny, but top categories this year would be:
Travel (prepaid for this years trip)
Taxes
House (mortgage/utilities/improvements)
Medical

 

[ksr]

1. Property Taxes
2. Groceries & Dining
3. Utilities
4. Home Repairs
5. State Taxes
6. Homeowner's Insurance

Everything else is pretty small

 

[aaronc879]

Property taxes on my house are the killer for me at 31% of last years spending. Nothing else comes close most years.

 

[Bigdawg]

1. Hookers
2. Blow
3. Gambling losses
4. Alcohol
5. Girlfriend
6. Other girlfriend

 

[marko]

Fed, state and property tax: 51%
Car leases/insurance: 23%
Travel/Ent: 15%

When DW dropped BCBS and got on Medicare (16%) AND we got rid of our dear old boat (30%) all the percentages changed.

 

[FIREd]

For 2023 my top ten expenses are:

1) travel
2) groceries
3) income/social taxes
4) gifts
5) watercolor supplies
6) HOA fees
7) furnishings
8) home build
9) home improvement
10) gasoline

 

[aaronc879]

1. Hookers
2. Blow
3. Gambling losses
4. Alcohol
5. Girlfriend
6. Other girlfriend

Then the rest you just waste?

 

[aja8888]

1. Hookers
2. Blow
3. Gambling losses
4. Alcohol
5. Girlfriend
6. Other girlfriend

Thanks for being honest! No divorces in there (alimony, child support, legal fees)? I can tell you those are real expensive, especially if you have more than one.

 

[FlaMariner]

Interesting......top ten for 2023...We use the BofA budgeting tool/categories:

1. Travel
2. Taxes (Federal & property tax)
3. Health (insurance, drugs, copays, and her majesty broke her hip)
4. Home & Utilities
5. Giving (church, kids, gifts)
6. Shopping & Entertainment
7. Groceries
8. Restaurants & Dining
9. Personal & Family Care
10. Transportation (gas and car repair)

Surprises/comments after 5 years in ER:

Taxes are much higher and take much more than we anticipated....feeding Caesar is a problem...he wants more always.

Travel is our priority and it shows in our budget.....

Transport is lower than thought....went down to one car....and no longer driving to/from w*rk......

Home/utilities high because of a couple of projects...not the norm...normally much lower down the list......

Very low expense on eating out as we enjoy cooking from scratch and the garden delivers....all so much better.....

Thanks for making me do this.....Priorities quantified!

 

[MC Rider]

We built a garage last year, so that was #1.
This year will be much different.

 

[anothercog]

Interesting......top ten for 2023...We use the BofA budgeting tool/categories:

1. Travel
2. Taxes (Federal & property tax)
3. Health (insurance, drugs, copays, and her majesty broke her hip)
4. Home & Utilities
5. Giving (church, kids, gifts)
6. Shopping & Entertainment
7. Groceries
8. Restaurants & Dining
9. Personal & Family Care
10. Transportation (gas and care repair)

Surprises/comments after 5 years in ER:

Taxes are much higher and take much more than we anticipated....feeding Caesar is a problem...he wants more always.

Travel is our priority and it shows in our budget.....

Transport is lower than thought....went down to one car....and no longer driving to/from w*rk......

Home/utilities high because of a couple of projects...not the norm...normally much lower down the list......

Very low expense on eating out as we enjoy cooking from scratch and the garden delivers....all so much better.....

Thanks for making me do this.....Priorities quantified!

Yes, taxes will likely always be my biggest expense even when we up our travel budget even more. We also don't eat out much except when traveling. We did a very nice kitchen remodel in 2019 and I love to cook. One of the great things about living in California is fresh, year-round produce. Despite inflation, I'm only spending about 15% more on food than in prior years. I actually spent less last year than in 2019 but that was the year of the remodel, so we were probably eating more expensive prepared foods while we didn't have a kitchen.

 

[anethum]

In 2023:

1. New car. Early last year, a kid with a learner's permit driving an SUV crashed into my parked car. My insurance company deemed my car totaled. My car was more than 11 years old but had just 29,000 miles. Unbeknownst to the kid or his mother, both of them were uninsured. The kid's parents had recently divorced and the father cancelled the insurance on his ex as well as his own son without telling them. The story eventually got even crazier. Fortunately, I had kept my collision insurance.
2. Property tax
3. Travel
4. Income tax (fed + state)
5. Medical (Medicare, medigap G, part D, small annual medigap deductible)
6. probably groceries
7. probably non-medical insurance
8. probably utilities

 

[calmloki]

Fed tax
State tax
Roof replacement
Property taxes
Food
Insurance, home and car
Gifts, donations
Dining
Car oil, gas and rubber for paid off 2017 CX5 and older parked BMW wagon
Supplies

 

[iloveyoga]

Travel
Taxes
Food including out to eat
Gifts
The rest is pretty minor....
We could always have a home expense come up too
It's so nice not to have to worry much about $$

 

[REWahoo]

Our top three accounted for 41% of our total expenses in 2023:

#1 Taxes (Federal and Property)
#2 Home repair and maintenance (HVAC system replaced)
#3 Insurance (Home, auto, health and LTC)

 

[fosterscik]

Another Travel #1 spender In our case 41 % of our total spend:
1. Travel 41%
2. House (mortgage & escrow) 16%
3. Groceries 8%
4. Taxes 7%
5. Dentist 3%
6. Lawn and Garden 3%
7. Automobile 2%
8. Other medical (Eyes, Ears, Insurance) 1.4%
9. Electricity 0.8%
10. Water 0.5%