How Much Did The Frugal Faithful Spend In 2020? (money)

[mitchmiller9]

It's that time of year to look back to see how much you spent for the year. Were you frugal?

My 2020 spending: $13,625.00 (yes, it's cheap to live in Las Vegas, NV)

[elnina]

^^^ For all expenses? Rent/mortgage, utility, insurance, medical expenses, food/drink, car, phone/internet, entertainment etc.??

[Mike From NIU]

Originally Posted by elnina

^^^ For all expenses? Rent/mortgage, utility, insurance, medical expenses, food/drink, car, phone/internet, entertainment etc.??

In addition, are you single/married? Do you have dependents? Do you split rent/mortgage/utilities with roommates? All of these affect how impressive such a spending figure may be.

[mizzourah2006]

As a family of 4 with 2 kids in daycare we spent $77,400. Not exactly a very frugal year, but not our most expensive either.

[jlawrence01]

Reminds me of a young coworker who was bragging how little she spent in a year. Of course, she was living at home and Mommy and daddy were taking care of her car payments, insurance, cell phone and many of her other expenses.

[mizzourah2006]

One thing that I found interesting that I saw from another thread was comparing your HH expenses to what MIT's living wage calculator says is needed for your area.

https://livingwage.mit.edu/

For us this past year that puts us at 124% of the living wage for our area.

[fleaflicker]

I don't know how much I spent, but I sure saved ~$15k by cancelling our family summer vacation.

[mitchmiller9]

Originally Posted by Mike From NIU

In addition, are you single/married? Do you have dependents? Do you split rent/mortgage/utilities with roommates? All of these affect how impressive such a spending figure may be.

I'm a single retiree, no dependents. HOA payments were $326/month. Gas + electric average about $45/month. No car.

Have been in lockdown mode since March. I rarely venture out due to my age (64).

[mitchmiller9]

Originally Posted by mizzourah2006

One thing that I found interesting that I saw from another thread was comparing your HH expenses to what MIT's living wage calculator says is needed for your area.

https://livingwage.mit.edu/

For us this past year that puts us at 124% of the living wage for our area.

Then you weren't very frugal in 2020. You've got work to do. Try to get it below 100% of the living wage.

I live in the lowest income area of Las Vegas and I own my condo outright. My housing costs are far lower than other areas of Las Vegas.

I pay $326/month for my HOA fee. If I were paying rent, I would be paying around $800 (865 sq ft, 2br, 1ba condo built in 1971).

[mizzourah2006]

Originally Posted by mitchmiller9

Then you weren't very frugal in 2020. You've got work to do. Try to get it below 100% of the living wage.

I live in the lowest income area of Las Vegas and I own my condo outright. My housing costs are far lower than other areas of Las Vegas.

I pay $326/month for my HOA fee. If I were paying rent, I would be paying around $800 (865 sq ft, 2br, 1ba condo built in 1971).

Lol, thanks man. Some people do have mortgages and kids in daycare. I guess my SO could quit her job to save money on daycare, but sure seems like a short term way to save money and a long term way to throw away an income that's 3.5x the cost of daycare. Considering we made about $300k and spent $77k I'd say that's pretty frugal all things relative. Without daycare and our mortgage we'd be significantly under the living wage. But hey, then it wouldn't necessarily mean you were frugal anyway, because the living wage accounts for those types of expenses within it.