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eddiehaskell & Ellise - GREAT posts and points of view! Most of the people my husband and I know live on a lot more than we do. I applaud people who live their lives the way they want, be it with gobs of money or not so much money. We live independently, debt free, welfare free, and have health insurance. I can't help but think that some people who posted here are just jealous and envious. Not all, but some.
I am reminded of the saying: The more you make the more you spend. There are so many people who prove that saying true everyday. My husband and I used to do that before we decided to make some changes in our lifestyle.
Anyway, I think people should remember that there are many different ways to live, that we have different personalities, and as long as we are doing no harm to others, LIVE AND LET LIVE.
Great post. I like what you say. My grandparents raised 5 kids working in the cotton mills and I think the great value they passed down was how to value a dollar. In their 70s and 80s we offered to install cable tv, but they said "don't waste your money we don't want a hole drilled in our floor." haha.
My husband and I combined only spend about $22k-23k per year on expenses, and that includes $7500/year on our mortgage (not including taxes and insurance). So once our house is paid off, we will only have about $15k in expenses per year. And that is for 2 people. So I think it is totally doable for one person, in the right part of the country, personally. We don't do it because that is our budget, we actually save almost 50% of our net income each year. We do it because that is all our expenses are for our lifestyle.
We live in a townhouse, so repaint/reroof costs will be low when necessary, but the townhouse is only 10 years old, and the roof is a 50 year roof and the siding is Hardiplank, which only needs painting about every 20 years, it still looks brand new. We are about due to recarpet, but at 1250 square feet, part of which is not carpet, that won't be all that much, either.
However, let me compare my numbers (post mortgage payoff) to yours to give you an idea what you may be missing:
Quote:
Rent $0 - mine will be $0 also
car payment $0 (for the next 7-8 years) - mine is $0 also
Food $325/month - Hubby and I combined spend about this much for food and household goods (toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc)
Utilities $225/month (includes required $50 cable tv package) - This may be a little low, but in the ballpark
Gasoline $60/month - Combined, we spend about $80 a month
Cell with unlimited data $40/month - I have a prepaid at $100/year and he has a smart phone at about $40/month
Gym $20/month - my gym membership is about $35/month
Car insurance $60/month - Combined we pay about $75/month
Property tax $67/month - Property tax + home insurance combined is about $110/month
Health insurance $38/month (could get a bronze plan for $0) - I don't include this because it is taken out of hubby's check, so isn't in my net income, so I don't include it in expenses, so $0
home insurance $50/month - I included this above with property tax
clothes/haircuts $30/month - Probably a fair average
home/car maintenance $??/month
travel/vacations ??
So my numbers only total about $11k per year also, yet I end up spending about $15k a year, not counting the mortgage, on average. Take that into consideration. One year, I bought a new computer, another year, new furniture, another year I had to replace my dishwasher, another year the compressor went out on my fridge, another year we went to Florida for a week. Those numbers do add up. I'd count on at least a couple thousand worth of things you didn't list each year.
Edited to add: We spent over $3000 just this week, in fact. I bought a new $2200 gaming computer, since mine was 6 years old and misbehaving. He bought a new, large, monitor, for around $400 or so. And he had to have $500 worth of dental work done. That is $500 AFTER his excellent insurance covered most of it. It was actually $1400 worth of dental work. $500 was his share. Don't underestimate medical costs. No one escapes them forever.
I did give some thought to this. Dental insurance is about $50/month. However, have you ever looked into what dental stuff cost in other countries? Costa Rican dentist and the like often do the same procedures for 30% of what it cost here.
well when your jaw feels like it will explode any second from a good root infection lets us all know how the plans for your trip went.
well when your jaw feels like it will explode any second from a good root infection lets us all know how the plans for your trip went.
You do know that many foreign dentist were trained in the US, right? Heck, that shouldn't even matter because the US isn't the only place with good dental schools. Look up medical tourism - seems to be pretty popular. Or perhaps people in other countries have no teeth? hehe
I hope you got good teeth and genetics. A few major dental bills can destroy your budget.
you dont have to tell me that
i am looking at $11,000 in out of pocket dental expenses. it might be more. next year, i will probably itemize if i find that lowers my taxable income more than just the standard deduction...
eddie i am not doubting that the care is fine in other countries. columbia was the premire country for learning dental implants.
the issue is when the pain strikes i can tell you that your reaction is not going to be to start booking trips to some far off place to have the pain stop.
i am looking at $11,000 in out of pocket dental expenses. it might be more. next year, i will probably itemize if i find that lowers my taxable income more than just the standard deduction...
3 years ago i hit 25k when i needed implants because of poor genetics.
the only thing that will change tax wise is any of the dental that exceeds 10% of your agi you can put on schedule a along with all your other deductions.
anything you had before the dental that you couldn't clear the standard deduction with still stays that way. it doesn't suddenly make anything that was not clearing the level prior any different. it is only from whatever exceeds the standard deduction which in this case is some of the dental if you can even take it.
My husband and I combined only spend about $22k-23k per year on expenses, and that includes $7500/year on our mortgage (not including taxes and insurance). So once our house is paid off, we will only have about $15k in expenses per year. And that is for 2 people. So I think it is totally doable for one person, in the right part of the country, personally. We don't do it because that is our budget, we actually save almost 50% of our net income each year. We do it because that is all our expenses are for our lifestyle.
We live in a townhouse, so repaint/reroof costs will be low when necessary, but the townhouse is only 10 years old, and the roof is a 50 year roof and the siding is Hardiplank, which only needs painting about every 20 years, it still looks brand new. We are about due to recarpet, but at 1250 square feet, part of which is not carpet, that won't be all that much, either.
However, let me compare my numbers (post mortgage payoff) to yours to give you an idea what you may be missing:
So my numbers only total about $11k per year also, yet I end up spending about $15k a year, not counting the mortgage, on average. Take that into consideration. One year, I bought a new computer, another year, new furniture, another year I had to replace my dishwasher, another year the compressor went out on my fridge, another year we went to Florida for a week. Those numbers do add up. I'd count on at least a couple thousand worth of things you didn't list each year.
Edited to add: We spent over $3000 just this week, in fact. I bought a new $2200 gaming computer, since mine was 6 years old and misbehaving. He bought a new, large, monitor, for around $400 or so. And he had to have $500 worth of dental work done. That is $500 AFTER his excellent insurance covered most of it. It was actually $1400 worth of dental work. $500 was his share. Don't underestimate medical costs. No one escapes them forever.
Your numbers look good. I say living frugal life is the new bling. .
I save at least 2-3k every year for my "oh crap" fund.
eddie i am not doubting that the care is fine in other countries. columbia was the premire country for learning dental implants.
the issue is when the pain strikes i can tell you that your reaction is not going to be to start booking trips to some far off place to have the pain stop.
I definitely agree with that. I'm just saying that outside of an emergency, I would entertain the idea of having a lot of work (5k+) done abroad.
me too, a big implant job is a fraction of the costs out of the country.
but when that pain struck i was at a local dentist faster than you can say oooouch.,
the other issue is on big stuff like implants you have frequent vists that are needed for a year . the expenses of going back and forth and time away from work make it really not practical.
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