would like to know utility costs, food bill, gas bill/monthly for Dfw area, for a family of 4 (Dallas: rent, mortgage)

[andiamodfw]

we are moving soon to dfw area and want to know "around" how much it would be monthly while we rent a 2200 sq ft home. we are a family of 4 (2 children under 3 yrs), and husband would be traveling to work from Frisco to Irving area 5 days/wk 8am-4pm. We will be living in Frisco. thanks in advance.

please help us with what it would cost-monthly (roughly):

heat
water
electricity
food
gas

[USA_Mom]

Originally Posted by andiamodfw

we are moving soon to dfw area and want to know "around" how much it would be monthly while we rent a 2200 sq ft home. we are a family of 4 (2 children under 3 yrs), and husband would be traveling to work from Frisco to Irving area 5 days/wk 8am-4pm. We will be living in Frisco. thanks in advance.

please help us with what it would cost-monthly (roughly):

heat
water
electricity
food
gas

I would say it's kind of hard to be completely accurate because house temperature, if you leave AC/heat on all day, etc and how the house is built, window placements, trees, etc. will make a difference but here's what we have experienced:

Heat I'm going to put under electricity because we don't have a separate charge. For our house which was built around 2000 and 2800 square feet it is $200-400 a month, that is an average including A.C. I work at home during the day so I don't raise it during the day in the summer or lower during the day in the winter.

Water I think is around $100 including sewer and trash; I think it's around $65 usually though.

Our food bill for groceries is around $400-500 a month, that includes cleaning products. We also eat out 2-3 times a week (yeah bad bad bad habit) so probably another $200-300 for that at the most depending on the month.

If you are talking about for gas at home, again depends on if your hot water heater is gas, oven/range/stove, dryer, etc. We currently spend about $65-85 for that. Our dryer is electric, as well as the range. I know the hot water heater is gas.

I bet Brian can give you more details

[BstYet2Be]

Add to that the price for gasoline to/from Frisco-Irving @ $2.99/gallon (today's cost in Frisco) for a 54-mile round-trip each day (Irving to Frisco is approximately 27 miles one way).

Also, include approximately $8/day round-trip for toll costs for both George Bush Tollway (161) and North Dallas Tollway.

[lh_newbie]

Here's a link to a thread I started about energy costs, that I think contains a LOT of relative information:

//www.city-data.com/forum/dalla...fficiency.html

Definitely put some thought into the commute for work. I'm a huge proponent of living close to work.

For a 54-mile round trip, you're going to cause a lot of wear and tear on the vehicle + gas + toll charges. 54 miles x 35 cents/mile = $18.90 per day in wear/tear /fuel + $8 per day in toll charges = $26.90 per day. Multiply by 20 work days per month and you have $538 per month in just commuting to work expenses, not to mention someone having to sit in traffic for 90-120 minutes per day.

If you find a place that's 10 miles from the office (20 miles r/t) that doesn't need the tollway, you can drop that monthly expense to $140 per month. That's almost $400 per month in savings, which would equate to $50K worth of additional home ($50K mortgage @6% for 30 years + the extra property taxes). Additionally, the commuter saves an hour or more per day in driving, which can then be used as quality time with the family.

It's a quality of life thing for me. To me, quality of life equals time with my loved ones. The less time I'm in traffic, the more time I'm at home.

Brian

[intence]

Very good advice, if it's possible, living close to work can reduce your bills, commute times, stress level (from sitting in traffic) and you spend more time with your family.

Are there are any neighborhoods other than those in Frisco you would consider?

Originally Posted by lh_newbie

Here's a link to a thread I started about energy costs, that I think contains a LOT of relative information:

//www.city-data.com/forum/dalla...fficiency.html

Definitely put some thought into the commute for work. I'm a huge proponent of living close to work.

For a 54-mile round trip, you're going to cause a lot of wear and tear on the vehicle + gas + toll charges. 54 miles x 35 cents/mile = $18.90 per day in wear/tear /fuel + $8 per day in toll charges = $26.90 per day. Multiply by 20 work days per month and you have $538 per month in just commuting to work expenses, not to mention someone having to sit in traffic for 90-120 minutes per day.

If you find a place that's 10 miles from the office (20 miles r/t) that doesn't need the tollway, you can drop that monthly expense to $140 per month. That's almost $400 per month in savings, which would equate to $50K worth of additional home ($50K mortgage @6% for 30 years + the extra property taxes). Additionally, the commuter saves an hour or more per day in driving, which can then be used as quality time with the family.

It's a quality of life thing for me. To me, quality of life equals time with my loved ones. The less time I'm in traffic, the more time I'm at home.

Brian

[andiamodfw]

Originally Posted by lh_newbie

Here's a link to a thread I started about energy costs, that I think contains a LOT of relative information:

//www.city-data.com/forum/dalla...fficiency.html

Definitely put some thought into the commute for work. I'm a huge proponent of living close to work.

For a 54-mile round trip, you're going to cause a lot of wear and tear on the vehicle + gas + toll charges. 54 miles x 35 cents/mile = $18.90 per day in wear/tear /fuel + $8 per day in toll charges = $26.90 per day. Multiply by 20 work days per month and you have $538 per month in just commuting to work expenses, not to mention someone having to sit in traffic for 90-120 minutes per day.

If you find a place that's 10 miles from the office (20 miles r/t) that doesn't need the tollway, you can drop that monthly expense to $140 per month. That's almost $400 per month in savings, which would equate to $50K worth of additional home ($50K mortgage @6% for 30 years + the extra property taxes). Additionally, the commuter saves an hour or more per day in driving, which can then be used as quality time with the family.

It's a quality of life thing for me. To me, quality of life equals time with my loved ones. The less time I'm in traffic, the more time I'm at home.

Brian

thanks Brian- you really put things into perspective and made us reconsider such a far move.

[andiamodfw]

Originally Posted by USA_Mom

I would say it's kind of hard to be completely accurate because house temperature, if you leave AC/heat on all day, etc and how the house is built, window placements, trees, etc. will make a difference but here's what we have experienced:

Heat I'm going to put under electricity because we don't have a separate charge. For our house which was built around 2000 and 2800 square feet it is $200-400 a month, that is an average including A.C. I work at home during the day so I don't raise it during the day in the summer or lower during the day in the winter.

Water I think is around $100 including sewer and trash; I think it's around $65 usually though.

Our food bill for groceries is around $400-500 a month, that includes cleaning products. We also eat out 2-3 times a week (yeah bad bad bad habit) so probably another $200-300 for that at the most depending on the month.

If you are talking about for gas at home, again depends on if your hot water heater is gas, oven/range/stove, dryer, etc. We currently spend about $65-85 for that. Our dryer is electric, as well as the range. I know the hot water heater is gas.

I bet Brian can give you more details

I was wondering who "Brian" was....thanks for the info! He did (and all of you) helped us reconsider where to live...

[andiamodfw]

Originally Posted by new2sa

Add to that the price for gasoline to/from Frisco-Irving @ $2.99/gallon (today's cost in Frisco) for a 54-mile round-trip each day (Irving to Frisco is approximately 27 miles one way).

Also, include approximately $8/day round-trip for toll costs for both George Bush Tollway (161) and North Dallas Tollway.

Well when you put it that way- yikes! what were we thinking!

[andiamodfw]

any suggestions? we are coming from Long Island and visited only a few times. We liked Lantana is that too far?

[BstYet2Be]

Originally Posted by andiamodfw

any suggestions? we are coming from Long Island and visited only a few times. We liked Lantana is that too far?

Sorry, Lantana is a little over 27 miles, too. Have you considered Valley Ranch (northernmost tip of Irving, zip 75063 - 7 miles), Coppell (15 miles), Grapevine (15 miles) or even Southlake (17 miles)? These are north-northwest of Irving and none would involve tolls. You might want to look on mapquest.com to check distances of those you are interested in.

Also, I surely didn't mean to disappoint you, either... just wanted to let you know what to expect, and some do make this commute everyday.

Good luck to you!