Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
During the lockdown, also known as my year of no income, I bought food from local farmers only, stopped eating meat, stopped drinking alcohol and purchased no beverages at all. I only drank tap water and tea. I was shocked at how little I was spending in food. It was a real eye opener!
Last edited by Butterflyfish; 02-15-2022 at 01:32 PM..
Putting it in manually is the only way I can categorize my expenses correctly. That's why Mint did not work for me. I spend just as much time correcting entries.
That's happening to me with Quicken now. It used to work great but now when it does an update, it randomly deletes transactions. I can't trust Quicken to give me accurate information.
Even though I am still working we live on our retirement budget which is approximately $70,500.
I will retire in the next few months.
Mortgage $426.29
Real Estate Taxes/insurance $353.34
HOA $304.00
Medicare G $402.19
Medicare D $63.80
Life Insurance $540.38
Kemper Insurance $56.50
Auto/Homeowners Insurance $150.00
Basic Automobile & Gas $150.00
Electric $129.00
Gas (Heat) $109.00
Cell Phone $248.02
Cable/Internet $202.76
Pharmacy $220.00
Church $210.00
Haircuts $75.00
Food $324.75 Entertainment $324.75
Total Monthly Expense $4,289.78
Rural Oklahoma - Monthly expenses: around $5000 a month. It includes more expensive rural electric, liability car insurance on 2, cell phone, internet, entertainment, household, gasoline, and some groceries.
Calif
Mortgage: $1500
Food: $800 (includes eating out 1-2x a week)
Phones & Internet: $110
Gas: $350
Exercise- $65
Tires, Auto Insurance, DMV costs- $150
Electric: $50
Water: $70
Misc- $155 (hair, clothes, tech, etc)
------------------------------------
$3250 per mo. for 2 people
My earnings $1750
DH earnings: $1550
------------------------
$3300 NET income per mo. (after self employment taxes, 7k each into IRA, etc...)
Since eating mostly organic Whole Foods, we cut it very close. However, we feel retired & somewhat on vacation since eating so healthy & exercising. We planned on retiring to RV part time but have decided to work longer into retirement to contribute to the IRA's. Work allows us to be gone for up to 6 days at a time RVing for about 3-4 months of the year
I don't understand how someone would not know that if they bring in X amount and then have X amount left, or zero, or whatever...
I don't understand how anyone could NOT know that^^ about their own finances. You don't have to budget or track anything to know this. I mean, they have $ left over, or they don't.
It’s very easy to understand how might not know their total income and their total expenses. It takes work to do and a lot of people are lazy, ignorant or both.
I’d wager most people couldn’t tell you when asked what their total expenses and or income where last year within a 10% band.
Food: $557.43
Misc: $203.31 (all nonfood costs not separated into the other categories). $150 is always my target max goal.
Gas: $159.02
Housing: $700.00
Car insurance: $127.25
Cell Phone: $35
Health insurance: $354.53
Cable/internet: $146.09
Electric: $117.95
Total: $2,400.58
Food is about $200 too high, but the two categories I don't really try to skimp on are food and heating/cooling.
401K has already been maxed.
Since I started tracking everything in 2008, my historical average for monthly expenses is $2,705.12, which comes out to $32,461.44 per year. That includes every single expenditure/cost, including fees, taxes (non-paycheck), unexpected expenses such as car repairs and also optional items like travel or dental work, etc.
This was July:[*]Since I started tracking everything in 2008, my historical average for monthly expenses is $2,705.12, which comes out to $32,461.44 per year. That includes every single expenditure/cost, including fees, taxes (non-paycheck), unexpected expenses such as car repairs and also optional items like travel or dental work, etc.[/list]
$2400 - $2700 is about where I’m at also. I tweak my retirement contributions and tax withholding to make my paycheck sit at around $2700 - $3000. I can’t imagine what I’d do with much more than that. Additional tax withholding is to account for capital gains and one day I’ll stop living like a miser and actually enjoy spending some of them.
$2400 - $2700 is about where I’m at also. I tweak my retirement contributions and tax withholding to make my paycheck sit at around $2700 - $3000. I can’t imagine what I’d do with much more than that. Additional tax withholding is to account for capital gains and one day I’ll stop living like a miser and actually enjoy spending some of them.
That's about the range where I feel like I'm "living enough" while being able to cover all of my expenses. While it's not an extravagant amount, I don't have to make any draconian cuts or give up luxuries such as cable and other discretionary purchases.
Mainly, however, I want to try and retire by 59½ with enough cash and 401K money to cover any gaps until taking full Social Security at 65, or maybe 67 (or whatever the ages will be by then). If I wanted to retire earlier than 59½, depending on how I feel about not only my health, but my work at that time, I have a general idea that I'd "safely" need about $35k per year (inflation-adjusted) for each year I retire early.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
