Spanky said:
SecondCor521,
I think your estimate is low -- how about home insurance, entertainment & hobbies, clothing, drugs & other essentials, house/Yard maintenance, savings for kid's education, property taxes, long-term-care insurance, other discretionary items, dental care, eye care??
Your medical insurance is really low - we are paying over $250 per month for a family of four. Your utility bill is pretty low also.
It's not an estimate. Those numbers are actual numbers from Quicken, where I record all of my income and expenses. But I did go through the exercise of going through your list and considered each of them [1]. Basically I expect my expenses to go up as I extend my budget history from three months to six months and incur some of those irregular or lumpy expenses such as property taxes. But also I simply don't spend as much money -- or any money at all -- on a lot of things that others do (such as drugs).
2Cor521
[1]:
Home insurance: This is one of those lumpy expenses. In my case it is paid once per year in December, so it is not included in the one month or three month numbers I have provided on this thread. My home insurance is ~$260 per year.
Entertainment and hobbies:
TV - got the TV for free and the electricity to run it is under Utilities:Electric.
Kids - under Kids expenses, explained earlier.
Library - free except the gas to get there is under Auto:Fuel.
Exercise: Free, already own a bicycle and tennis shoes. The bike hasn't required any maintenance lately, but that would be under Recreation.
Getting my MBA - paid for by a government grant, fuel to get there is under Auto:Fuel.
Movies - rent movies from the local video store sometimes. Under Recreation:Movies.
Eating out: Under Food:Eating out. $100 spent in the last three months.
Clothing - I did buy some new dress slacks at Costco for about $60, but I guess that was outside of the three month window. But again, this is a lumpy expense for me, so over a six month window I would expect to see some clothing expenses.
Drugs - don't take any.
Essentials - not sure what you mean here. Toiletries are under Food:Groceries, I don't separate those out.
House/yard - Own a lawn mower and tools already (free hand-me-downs). Gas for the lawn mower will be under Landscaping, but I haven't bought any this spring yet. Home is 2 years old and hasn't required any maintenance yet. Again, that will be a lumpy expense.
Saving for kids' education - not considered an expense from Quicken's point of view because I am just transferring $ from one account to another. As mentioned before, one adjustment I make to my FIRE calculations is the NPV of their unfunded college expenses. I chip away at this number when I can, and relatives also contribute there.
Property taxes - $450 due twice yearly; haven't made a payment in the last three months; next payment is June.
LTC insurance - Don't own it, don't want it. Plan is to self insure.
Other discretionary items - I don't buy discretionary items as already noted. By definition, they're discretionary so I don't need them.
Dental care - haven't seen the dentist in the last six months, but I have an appointment next month. I don't carry dental insurance so it will probably be $100 or so.
Eye care - I wear glasses but already own a pair. If I break or lose them a new pair will run me about $300.
My medical insurance actually costs what Quicken says it costs. I am 38 and single and have a high deductible PPO through my employer, so my monthly premium is about $30. My kids' medical insurance is covered within my child support payment.
My utility bill is low because I don't have cable TV or internet or home telephone service. I use a T-Mobile prepaid cell phone that runs me about $40 per month. I also am rarely home (work and school and kids) and when I am gone I leave the lights off and the heat down. Finally, my home is 2 years old and very energy efficient.