Need some advice from existing retirees. (payments, taxes, rates, vehicle)

[biscman]

Help!!!

I've done a estimate what we presently spend a month living in Monmouth County NJ. I just retired in November, involuntary, company eliminated my position, and we never put a plan together as i had a very good income. I will be 61 in March and i cannot collect SS at minimum for a year from now. I am collecting a pension from a former company that nets me $3500.00 a month. I am listing below my monthly expenses, what i would like to know is are these consistent with other retirees? Do we over spend?? Will be hopefully moving to NC within the next 6 months.

Your Thoughts please. To me this is more than most retirees spend in a month but where are we overspending? Where can we cut costs. We do not and will not have a mortgage when we move and my taxes will go from 1000 a month to 250 a month.

Help!!!!!

Monthly Expenses----

Real Estate Taxes 1000
House repairs 200
heat-air con 200
water 90
elec 200
cable tv,internet, phone- 170
Cell 210
ent 400
Clothes 100
toilerties 40
car 750
health ins 1500
ductible 250
prescription 50
credit cards 250
newspapers 30
vacation 200
pets 40
gifts 50
car ins 80
food 900
gas 200
Total 6910

[jms493]

Cell phone is too high.

Car payments at retirement??? NO!

Cable internet and phone too high.

Credit card payments??? NO!

Food 900 a month??? 2 people??? Too high. My wife and I live in NY with a 1 year old and our grocery budget is 450 a month. This month we were under by 25 bucks.

Thats my quick assessment. I would work on getting that budget below $5000.

[Red On The Noodle]

Along with the above -- Why do you need $100 worth of clothes each month? And $250 deductible each month?
If you have internet, you don't need newspapers. Most are on line. Ditch the vacation until you move -- there's another $200 a month.

[biscman]

- As soon as cell contract expires i will be going to a flip phone and no more smart phones..
-i have 2 Lexus with low miles
-I agree on the Verizon FIOS Triple play- TV-Internet-house phone. I will have to shop around. Any suggestions?
-i hate credit cards so will not have any once i move
-Food one is a killer, i agree it is way too much. Maybe we should stop shopping at Cotsco...


Thank you very much for responding. I have work to do..

Originally Posted by jms493

Cell phone is too high.

Car payments at retirement??? NO!

Cable internet and phone too high.

Credit card payments??? NO!

Food 900 a month??? 2 people??? Too high. My wife and I live in NY with a 1 year old and our grocery budget is 450 a month. This month we were under by 25 bucks.

Thats my quick assessment. I would work on getting that budget below $5000.

[biscman]

Good valid points Red. Thanks

Jim

Originally Posted by Red On The Noodle

Along with the above -- Why do you need $100 worth of clothes each month? And $250 deductible each month?
If you have internet, you don't need newspapers. Most are on line. Ditch the vacation until you move -- there's another $200 a month.

[Ruth4Truth]

Get rid of the cell phone. You apparently already have a landline. Cut way back on entertainment. $400/mo?? Way too high, unless you're including in that a couple of high-end dinners out for both of you. Still, you need to cut back. If you cut it back to $100, you'll be saving $510/month, between the cell phone bill eliminated, and the ent. budget.

What's the $750 for the car for? Are you making car payments? Trade it in for a reliable older car, like a Toyota, and pocket the difference (apply it to your credit card). Boom, another $750/mo. expense eliminated, for a total of $1,260 saved. See how easy that was? And what's this $50/mo. for gifts? That's $600/year. Is that for Xmas gifting? I don't find the grocery budget too high. $450/person/month? You might be able to cut that back about $50-$75/month/person.

If you're supporting two on that pension, you may qualify for subsidized health insurance from your state insurance pool. Look into it. If you qualify for a subsidy, you could cut your health ins. by half, and still have quality coverage.

You and your wife should look into part-time work. Will you be getting a pension from the job you just got let go from? Another option you could consider is converting part of your house to a rental. If you have a basement or a garage you could convert, or a family room, you could be generating a monthly income from that, which would cover your property tax and home-maintenance/repair budget for you. If you're moving, I guess it's a moot point.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Red On The Noodle

Along with the above -- Why do you need $100 worth of clothes each month? And $250 deductible each month?

Remember, that budget is for two people. It's only $50/mo. per person for clothes. Maybe that can be cut by half, but people do need clothes; pants wear out, socks and underwear wear out (it's amazing how much women's underwear costs), at some point you need a new coat, jacket, or new shoes. So it's wise to budget monthly for that.

[Compuhi]

Originally Posted by biscman

Monthly Expenses----

Real Estate Taxes 1000
House repairs 200
heat-air con 200 (lower the thermo 2+ degrees in winter, and raise 2+ degrees in summer to help save)
water 90 (ensure you have low flow nozzles on everything and no leaky hoses)
elec 200 (Go around your house and unplug anythign that doesn't need to be plugged in. Even if some devices are "off", they still pull down power. If you *need* certain things on when you are home, get a plug in timer so you can set it to turn off when you go to bed and back on when you get home from work)
cable tv,internet, phone- 170 (Check out amazon Fire, Netflix, Hulu Plus, etc... Far cheaper and will give you ~90% of all the tv/movies you would want)
Cell 210 (check out boost mobile, virgin mobile, cricket, etc. You can have a smart phone for so much cheaper. Ditch the landline if you have one)
ent 400
Clothes 100 (Where do you shop?)
toilerties 40
car 750 (Can you sell one of the lexus' and purchase a cheaper multi use vehicle - used CRV, rav4, etc)
health ins 1500
ductible 250
prescription 50 (where do you get your rx filled? Costco is incredibly cheap)
credit cards 250
newspapers 30 (Remove this - online reading is free)
vacation 200 (Staycations are pretty nice )
pets 40
gifts 50
car ins 80 (Call around for cheaper rates)
food 900 (Get a crock pot - save you money and time while eating well!)
gas 200
Total 6910

My thoughts listed above in bold parenthesis.

[jms493]

There is a frugal living forum on City Data. Check that out.

I also found this blog/forum very interesting and fun to read. Mr. Money Mustache — Early Retirement through Badassity

[Linda_d]

• I think I'd get rid of the landline and keep the cells. You're tied into those for the length of the contract, and having a cell is much handier than having a landline. Look into tv/internet only packages.
• You're spending $1030 a month on cars (payments/gas/insurance) which I think is way out of line when your income will likely only cover half your expenses. This wouldn't be "forever" but it would be until you can get out from under your immediate money crunch by moving. Some possible cuts:
  • If you're retired, you probably do not need to spend $200 a month on gas, especially with gas prices declining.
  • I'd look into possibly selling one of the cars if one or both are not leased. If one of the cars is paid for, maybe you keep that one and sell the other one. If both have payments, perhaps you could sell the one with the bigger payment.
  • If one or both cars are leased, consider parking one of them to save on gas, oil, and mileage and using it sparingly.
  • Paring $500 somehow from your car expenses would significantly improve your financial situation in the short-term.
• Spending $200 a month on vacations and $50 on gifts probably should end for the short-term.
• You're spending $1300 a month on entertainment and food, which is not simply not doable on $3500 a month. If you can cut the entertainment by 50% and the food budget by a third, that's a $500 a month savings.

Hope this helps.