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Old 10-30-2008, 11:16 AM
 
1,815 posts, read 5,398,572 times
Reputation: 789

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I've posted similar threads for Lancaster and Lewisburg, and just to keep all my inforation up to date, I'm posting here.

I'm a Long Islander hoping to get out of the rat race here and be able to live, not just survive day to day.

I'm hoping some of you will share with me your average household bills in the Valley area. I'm trying to figure out how low I can go on salary and still be better off than I am on LI. As an example, here's what I'm paying now in a one person household for a 1200 sq foot house on .21 acres and a nearly 10 year old car. I'd be looking to get a house of about the same size, but with more property so I can seriously get into veggie gardening.

Taxes - $6500/yr
Insurance - $100/mo home, $600/yr car
Water - $40/quarter
Electric (have elec heat, but use pellet stove too)- $200/mo on average
Pellets (for heat) - $1075/3 tons
Phone/TV/Internet - $125 for unlimited local/regional calling, DSL, and basic TV - no movie channels or PPV or the like.
Garbage - including in taxes, usually have 1 can per week or less
Gas - Currently 2.75/gal
Food (organic, no meat), medicines and other incidentials - $300/mo

Those are the biggies. Of course, as is life, something pops up - like a vet bill or new tires for the old car to erase what little I have left.
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Old 10-30-2008, 02:39 PM
 
Location: Lehigh Valley, PA
242 posts, read 836,994 times
Reputation: 45
Quote:
Originally Posted by lialleycat View Post
I've posted similar threads for Lancaster and Lewisburg, and just to keep all my inforation up to date, I'm posting here.

I'm a Long Islander hoping to get out of the rat race here and be able to live, not just survive day to day.

I'm hoping some of you will share with me your average household bills in the Valley area. I'm trying to figure out how low I can go on salary and still be better off than I am on LI. As an example, here's what I'm paying now in a one person household for a 1200 sq foot house on .21 acres and a nearly 10 year old car. I'd be looking to get a house of about the same size, but with more property so I can seriously get into veggie gardening.

Taxes - $6500/yr
Insurance - $100/mo home, $600/yr car
Water - $40/quarter
Electric (have elec heat, but use pellet stove too)- $200/mo on average
Pellets (for heat) - $1075/3 tons
Phone/TV/Internet - $125 for unlimited local/regional calling, DSL, and basic TV - no movie channels or PPV or the like.
Garbage - including in taxes, usually have 1 can per week or less
Gas - Currently 2.75/gal
Food (organic, no meat), medicines and other incidentials - $300/mo

Those are the biggies. Of course, as is life, something pops up - like a vet bill or new tires for the old car to erase what little I have left.
All utilities are based on a 1200 sq ft home.
taxes $2800 - $3800 (depending on your area)
Home insurance $600 -$750 a year (Auto obviously depends on your record)
Water - same
Electric - $175 -$200 depending on heat type
TV - same (if you get high def.)
Garabage - $300 a year
Gas - were about $2.60
Food -depends on family an what you eat.

Hope this helps.
Thanks
Jeff
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Old 10-30-2008, 04:34 PM
 
1,815 posts, read 5,398,572 times
Reputation: 789
Thanks Jeff.

I'm surprised some of the other items weren't lower.

Is 175-200 with electric heat? If I only used my electric for heating, my bills in the winter would be over $400/mo keeping the house at a conservative 65 degrees.

I know insurance will be cheaper anywhere but perhaps CT or CA. I have a great driving record with no tickets or accidents in over 8 years.
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Old 10-30-2008, 05:44 PM
 
Location: Lehigh Valley, PA
242 posts, read 836,994 times
Reputation: 45
$200 would be with electric heat. The home that I just sold at 1100 sq feet, had a regular electric bill of $100.
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Old 10-30-2008, 09:06 PM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,616 posts, read 77,579,178 times
Reputation: 19101
Quote:
Originally Posted by lialleycat View Post
I've posted similar threads for Lancaster and Lewisburg, and just to keep all my inforation up to date, I'm posting here.

I'm a Long Islander hoping to get out of the rat race here and be able to live, not just survive day to day.

I'm hoping some of you will share with me your average household bills in the Valley area. I'm trying to figure out how low I can go on salary and still be better off than I am on LI. As an example, here's what I'm paying now in a one person household for a 1200 sq foot house on .21 acres and a nearly 10 year old car. I'd be looking to get a house of about the same size, but with more property so I can seriously get into veggie gardening.

Taxes - $6500/yr
Insurance - $100/mo home, $600/yr car
Water - $40/quarter
Electric (have elec heat, but use pellet stove too)- $200/mo on average
Pellets (for heat) - $1075/3 tons
Phone/TV/Internet - $125 for unlimited local/regional calling, DSL, and basic TV - no movie channels or PPV or the like.
Garbage - including in taxes, usually have 1 can per week or less
Gas - Currently 2.75/gal
Food (organic, no meat), medicines and other incidentials - $300/mo

Those are the biggies. Of course, as is life, something pops up - like a vet bill or new tires for the old car to erase what little I have left.
Well I live outside of the Lehigh Valley, but now that I can see you are expanding your relocation focus for more of Pennsylvania, here are some typical expenditures for the NEPA area as well, more specifically Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. I'll use my parents' 1,800 square-foot home on a 3/4-acre lot as an example (I also drive a 10-year-old car, so that's a plus for comparison purposes).

Home Value: $208,200
Taxes: $3,800/year.
Insurance: $960/year (Auto) Wow! I'm really getting the shaft there using the crooks at Nationwide!
$1,000/year (Home)
Water: ???
Electric: ???
Pellets: $900/3 tons
Phone/TV/Hi-Def: Roughly the Same Through Comcast
Garbage: (Free in My Community But Will Obviously Vary)
Gas: $2.55/gallon
Food: Depends (Coupons, sales, family size, tastes, etc.)
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Old 10-31-2008, 07:13 AM
 
1,815 posts, read 5,398,572 times
Reputation: 789
Quote:
Originally Posted by ScranBarre View Post
Insurance: $960/year (Auto) Wow! I'm really getting the shaft there using the crooks at Nationwide!
If I were a male under the age of 26 or so, I'd be paying a LOT more for insurance. I think my Brother was paying $1200/year when until he got old enough for the insurance company to drop it down.

One of the few perks of being older and female!

Wow! Pellets are cheaper. Perhaps I should come out with a trailer and take a few tons back with me!
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Old 10-31-2008, 09:04 AM
 
Location: Marshall-Shadeland, Pittsburgh, PA
32,616 posts, read 77,579,178 times
Reputation: 19101
Quote:
Originally Posted by lialleycat View Post
If I were a male under the age of 26 or so, I'd be paying a LOT more for insurance. I think my Brother was paying $1200/year when until he got old enough for the insurance company to drop it down.

One of the few perks of being older and female!

Wow! Pellets are cheaper. Perhaps I should come out with a trailer and take a few tons back with me!
We sell them for about $299/ton here at our Lowe's store. I've still heard our prices are "outrageous" though, so perhaps you could find even cheaper pellets around here if you looked around.

P.S. I'm a young male filled with testosterone who's already had two major speeding tickets. I'm GLAD I'm not paying twice that amount! LOL!
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Old 10-31-2008, 11:41 AM
 
1,815 posts, read 5,398,572 times
Reputation: 789
Quote:
Originally Posted by ScranBarre View Post
We sell them for about $299/ton here at our Lowe's store. I've still heard our prices are "outrageous" though, so perhaps you could find even cheaper pellets around here if you looked around.

P.S. I'm a young male filled with testosterone who's already had two major speeding tickets. I'm GLAD I'm not paying twice that amount! LOL!
I got my pellets at Lowes here. Got my stove and install kit there too a few years ago.

You're lucky to be paying so little for car insurance. I'm guessing mine would go down a bit then, since I have no tickets or accidents. I don't think my ole SUV could speed if I dropped her off a bridge! With a tailwind!
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Old 10-31-2008, 01:01 PM
 
13,254 posts, read 33,507,910 times
Reputation: 8103
I'll go along with Jeff's prices in general. Our car insurance is a good deal but we've got mulitple discounts, no accidents, no tickets and youngest driver is 21 year old. We pay about $400 a car per year. That will change next year when our last child turns 16.
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Old 11-14-2008, 02:47 PM
 
61 posts, read 192,522 times
Reputation: 20
Wow, you guys are getting screwed on Insurance.. lol I live outside Philly and my insurance is about $800/year total for my Chevy pickup, Toyota Camry and my Harley. I thought it would be cheaper up in Lehigh Valley.
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