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I was living in Tucson from January to September. I spent about $1200 per month for rent and all utilities. Groceries were about $350. Other costs like Medicare and secondary health insurance, auto insurance, gasoline were about $400 per month. Toss in a few other things, and I spent about $2200 per month month total.
I've been living in Chemnitz, Germany since October. Cost of living is a bit lower for me here, under $2K per month for everything. I pay for almost everything with a credit card, so have a good idea of what I am spending. Rent includes everything like heat, water, power, TV, internet and is only $840 USD per month (520 sq ft furnished 1 BR apartment).
All added up, my 2020 spending was about $25K, and 2021 will likely be the same. I have not bought much at a store or even online, except online Kindle books since the Covid crisis began (not including groceries of course!). I also have not been buying much takeout food, almost all of my meals the past year have been home prepared. Here in Germany, all restaurants are closed to indoor or outdoor dining, so eating out is not an option.
Not very much.. about $50-60k or so.. and I'm a single retiree in SoFl.
But I renoed a bathroom and did some other improvements (new super-grill and cabinets for outdoor kitchen, etc.)
I'm actually trying to find ways to spend MORE I'm so bored nowadays!
I guess this is not a good forum for me.. bye.
Because I am an accounting nerd, I've gotta say I've got some issues with the living wage calc.
First off, the info is not up to date, not even for last year. It listed our minimum wage in Colorado Springs as $11.10/hour but it was $12/hr last year and is now $12.32/hr.
Then it says that one adult with no kids has a living wage of $11.99/hr which is also untrue (though it might have been a few years back.) Why is that untrue? Because I believe that...well, actually I don't think that wages are the problem, I believe that housing and rental markets are, mainly. But you can't find any apartment here under $900 a month, and that's even a lucky find, more commonly you're looking at around $1100, but let's say you luck out. I believe that a single full time employed adult with no kids should be able to afford a living space, even a very small or modest one, of their own. And rental qualifying criteria for the property management companies is most commonly gross income 3x the rent.
So let's say you're lucky and find an apt for $900.
x 12 months = $10,800 a year in rent.
x 3 = annual income of $32,400
/ 52 weeks = $623.08 / 40 hours = $15.58/hour.
With exceptions most commonly for childcare, for some folks, it is housing that is the universally highest expense that most have to deal with. So I think that is the most meaningful metric about living wages and cost of living in various areas.
But, too, our rents have been going up about 11% a year here, so... There's that.
Anyways. My number is about $66.8K. I was sometimes frugal and sometimes not. My wedding and my son's medical bills drove things upwards quite a bit at times.
Because I am an accounting nerd, I've gotta say I've got some issues with the living wage calc.
First off, the info is not up to date, not even for last year. It listed our minimum wage in Colorado Springs as $11.10/hour but it was $12/hr last year and is now $12.32/hr.
Then it says that one adult with no kids has a living wage of $11.99/hr which is also untrue (though it might have been a few years back.) Why is that untrue? Because I believe that...well, actually I don't think that wages are the problem, I believe that housing and rental markets are, mainly. But you can't find any apartment here under $900 a month, and that's even a lucky find, more commonly you're looking at around $1100, but let's say you luck out. I believe that a single full time employed adult with no kids should be able to afford a living space, even a very small or modest one, of their own. And rental qualifying criteria for the property management companies is most commonly gross income 3x the rent.
So let's say you're lucky and find an apt for $900.
x 12 months = $10,800 a year in rent.
x 3 = annual income of $32,400
/ 52 weeks = $623.08 / 40 hours = $15.58/hour.
With exceptions most commonly for childcare, for some folks, it is housing that is the universally highest expense that most have to deal with. So I think that is the most meaningful metric about living wages and cost of living in various areas.
But, too, our rents have been going up about 11% a year here, so... There's that.
Anyways. My number is about $66.8K. I was sometimes frugal and sometimes not. My wedding and my son's medical bills drove things upwards quite a bit at times.
But I sure have been saving money on gas!
You nailed it. we are being gouged by housing. Health insurance is another gouging
Between moving to a cheaper apartment and the Covid student loan forbearance, I definitely spent less in 2020 than I did in 2019. Still, I probably spent around $60k
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