orangehairfella
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- May 28, 2015
- Messages
- 67
After summarizing our 2017 spending I looked at the number with a bit of disappointment. We live in a paid off home in a low cost of living area, with 2 paid off cars and employer healthcare, and we still managed to spend more than $37000 this year.
But what could I cut?
- $3000 on home improvements, $2000 was necessary but could’ve been delayed
- $5000 on “personal purchases”. This is everything from clothes to going out. DW and I each get half of that per year. We could probably cut this in half, but it wouldn’t be fun.
- $2000 on travel. A lowball, all of the airfare and most of the hotels were paid for with points.
- $1000 on booze
- $700 in union dues. $200 on Spotify.
- We’ll move in RE and save $1300 on neighborhood fees.
- We don’t have cable, our hobbies are cheap/free, we eat out maybe 5 times a year.
So we’re looking at $35k a year (plus healthcare & taxes) in retirement. We could trim down to about $30k a year while still covering needs and most wants. Down to $24k if we had to scrape by for a bit for some reason.
What about others? How much wiggle room do you have?
But what could I cut?
- $3000 on home improvements, $2000 was necessary but could’ve been delayed
- $5000 on “personal purchases”. This is everything from clothes to going out. DW and I each get half of that per year. We could probably cut this in half, but it wouldn’t be fun.
- $2000 on travel. A lowball, all of the airfare and most of the hotels were paid for with points.
- $1000 on booze
- $700 in union dues. $200 on Spotify.
- We’ll move in RE and save $1300 on neighborhood fees.
- We don’t have cable, our hobbies are cheap/free, we eat out maybe 5 times a year.
So we’re looking at $35k a year (plus healthcare & taxes) in retirement. We could trim down to about $30k a year while still covering needs and most wants. Down to $24k if we had to scrape by for a bit for some reason.
What about others? How much wiggle room do you have?