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I would love some help with some or all of the following numbers relating to costs. I've done searches, but they're too general. I want actual numbers from people who actually live in Maine to decide on my move. Can you please help me with how they compare to my current living situation? I'm planning on moving to the Portland area. What would be the averages?
Right now I'm in CT living in an 1800 sq foot home.
Thanks a million in advance!
Elect-$125/month (this is with shutting all the lights off all the time! Use to be about $60-$80 a month until they increased rates dramatically)
Oil-budget plan runs me $210/month year round
Phone-$55/month, includes dsl service
Homeowners insurance-$1200/year. I live on the coast and considered in a hurricane zone (????? whatever, LOL)
Car insurance for 2 cars, 1 suv, 1 10 year old little car-$1700/year
Car taxes-about $500 a year for both cars
Car registrations-$85
Water-$50 Month
Cable-basic plan $65/month
Groceries-about $125-$150/week for a family of 5 and I'm a big time coupon cutter
Wish I could give any information, but there are way too many variables.
Same sized house can run either $600 a year for oil or $1000 a month for oil. Depends on how insulated it is, and how warm you keep it.
Same for electricity, even with the lights off there are still big electric usage appliances, Hot water heater - oil, propane, or electric? Stove propane or electric? Both of these will turn a mild electric bill into a monster in a short time.
Phone - Long distance packages, local packages, what DSL level? All contribute to what the phone is going to run.
Cable, same thing. Basic packages differ according to company and town. Maybe internet bundle with the cable. Some places it is cheaper than DSL some places it is more expensive than DSL.
Groceries can be cheap or other worldly depending on the amount you get from a regular grocery store and local venders and how much fresh produce you buy. Mine with 6 people in the family can vary from $70 a week to $220 a week depending on what is in season and what we are doing for the week for meals.
What area are you looking at, there is vast differences between areas of the state when it comes to cost. A bit more information would be helpful. What area? Coastal or inland? Tons of services or more self-reliant? All make a big difference.
Hello!
I cannot speak to the Portland averages, but will give you mine for Bath...
2000 sq. ft. home
Electric about $87-100 taking the same measures you do, but does not include water heater as it is propane.
Oil/propane(stove/water heater) for forced hot air furnace about $365 per month(my husband does the bills so I don't recall what price we locked in but this is also on a very old home with fieldstone foundation& older combination windows- not very energy efficient even with the savings of a digital thermostat)
cable- basic plan/internet $86
phone $56(we use cell for long distance)
Homeowners $400 year(maybe higher than some in this area because of the age of our house, but possibly lower than Portland due to different crime rates here)- we are 3 houses up from Kennebec and don't need flood insurance
2 cars- 1 suv (07) and 1 10y.o. truck combined tax/reg for both about $900
water is about the same at $50 as we live in a city- it seems most areas have private water and septics, but I wouldn't think that to be the case in Portland
groceries- $115-140 a week for 3( I don't use coupons, but get most of mine from Super Walmart and Shaw's - $10 going to milk)
I hope this helps you- we have done many military moves and we also like to look at the #'s.
Good Luck
T
Hello!
I cannot speak to the Portland averages, but will give you mine for Bath...
2000 sq. ft. home
Electric about $87-100 taking the same measures you do, but does not include water heater as it is propane.
Oil/propane(stove/water heater) for forced hot air furnace about $365 per month(my husband does the bills so I don't recall what price we locked in but this is also on a very old home with fieldstone foundation& older combination windows- not very energy efficient even with the savings of a digital thermostat)
cable- basic plan/internet $86
phone $56(we use cell for long distance)
Homeowners $400 year(maybe higher than some in this area because of the age of our house, but possibly lower than Portland due to different crime rates here)- we are 3 houses up from Kennebec and don't need flood insurance
2 cars- 1 suv (07) and 1 10y.o. truck combined tax/reg for both about $900
water is about the same at $50 as we live in a city- it seems most areas have private water and septics, but I wouldn't think that to be the case in Portland
groceries- $115-140 a week for 3( I don't use coupons, but get most of mine from Super Walmart and Shaw's - $10 going to milk)
I hope this helps you- we have done many military moves and we also like to look at the #'s.
Good Luck
T
Thanks a million, that really helps a lot. Looks like at least my homeowners and car insurance would go down considerably and those are biggies for me. I had suspected that but haven't been able to get some more concrete numbers.
As far as oil, I have pretty much the same set up as you-force hot air, water heater, everything is all oil and my house is older and very non-energy efficient. You can feel the breeze through the windows but I'm looking to have some control over that if we move by making sure we buy a newer house with energy effiecient windows and possibly a wood stove.
I shop at Walmart too when I can but I have to drive a distance to get there, otherwise it's Shaws too, but I find them pricey.
Glad I could help as everything adds up. You can feel the breeze through our windows as well so we shrink wrap the worst ones. I wish we had a wood stove too. Shaws is very expensive, but we eat a ton of fresh produce and Walmart's selection isn't very good or fresh.
Anyway, good luck again and your welcome!
I would love some help with some or all of the following numbers relating to costs. I've done searches, but they're too general. I want actual numbers from people who actually live in Maine to decide on my move. Can you please help me with how they compare to my current living situation? I'm planning on moving to the Portland area. What would be the averages?
Right now I'm in CT living in an 1800 sq foot home.
Thanks a million in advance!
Elect-$125/month (this is with shutting all the lights off all the time! Use to be about $60-$80 a month until they increased rates dramatically)
Oil-budget plan runs me $210/month year round
Phone-$55/month, includes dsl service
Homeowners insurance-$1200/year. I live on the coast and considered in a hurricane zone (????? whatever, LOL)
Car insurance for 2 cars, 1 suv, 1 10 year old little car-$1700/year
Car taxes-about $500 a year for both cars
Car registrations-$85
Water-$50 Month
Cable-basic plan $65/month
Groceries-about $125-$150/week for a family of 5 and I'm a big time coupon cutter
A couple of things jump out at me:
Electric - if you're not heating air or water with it, should be $75 or under
Oil - sounds about right
Homeowners Insurance should be half what you're paying, unless you are in a flood zone.
When you look at a home to purchase, the seller will attach a property disclosure form which will detail the heating expenses, whether wood, gas, coal, electric, oil, propane, pellets, etc. For an 1800 square foot well insualted home, you could expect to burn 600-800 gallons of oil annually, depending on you tolerance for wearing sweaters, etc.
Glad I could help as everything adds up. You can feel the breeze through our windows as well so we shrink wrap the worst ones. I wish we had a wood stove too. Shaws is very expensive, but we eat a ton of fresh produce and Walmart's selection isn't very good or fresh.
Anyway, good luck again and your welcome!
I'm asking: when you said 900 combined for the cars was that insurance or just tax and registration??
Because that would SHOCK me because ni Tampa my registration is like under forty dollars for one car and fifty for the other. NOW, my insurance is about 12 hundred dollars or down to nine hundred (for safe driver, no less)
I hope this question is not too nosey.
Also, the 365 per month. How many months per year is that?? Five?? Now, perhaps I'm being nosey. LOL !! And thank you in advance tlb71
Okay upon re-reading audrey's question I see something. You and she are both talking about car taxes. Apparently Florida has not thought of this YET? Dear GOD don't TELL THEM. I can't believe it. They have every other scam. PLUS. WHo do you pay car taxes to? That's on top of registration and insurance?
I object !!! LOL fat lot of good THAT will do me. No wonder you see so many cars on the side rather than ON the road as I've read here. Yikes. I always like to keep a 'spare' car. Perhaps I will be reconsidering that.
Last edited by mainewannabe; 12-06-2007 at 01:15 PM..
Reason: asked another question and another for second edit
mainewannabe
My numbers were just for tax/registration. This is on top of the sales tax you pay to the dealer. Some states call it an excise tax, some states refer to it as a use tax. I grew up in FL and they actually used to have a similar tax for those bringing in vehicles from out of state, but I think it was overturned years ago. The tax for our new car was based on the MSRP(which wasn't the price we paid)and I think they might apply some formula to that, but I'm not sure as my husband took care of it.
My insurance actually went up moving here from Virginia Beach where there is more crime and cars on the road because Maine has different laws for coverage. I want to say it runs around $90 a month for both vehicles(we are in our 30's-no accidents or claims)
The $365 is per month. The actual agreement with our oil company is paid 10 months of the year, but when determining monthly expenses I take the total amount for the gallons purchased and divide by 12. When we purchased this house we just went by the amount of propane/oil the previous owners used for the first year. We did some basic things to improve efficiency such as the digital thermostat, caulking, etc. and reduced their usage by about 50 gallons(every bit helps). We are with Down East Energy and they have 3 different plans I believe. Some people pay on delivery, some do an easy pay plan, which is what we have, and some pay in larger installments I believe. The plan we are is best for us as it allows us to better manage our finances monthly. If you use less oil, the extra amount you pay is rolled over to the next season(may/june are the off months) if you use more, the amount you owe can be added in to next year and divide by the 10 months or you can use the 2 off months to catch up. Hope this helps, I know from experience there are some definite differences in owning a home in not only Maine, but northern climates in general versus the south. The good news is no termite contracts needed although there are carpenter ants, and I have never seen a roach or those horrible palmetto bugs either!
Thanks a million, that really helps a lot. Looks like at least my homeowners and car insurance would go down considerably and those are biggies for me. I had suspected that but haven't been able to get some more concrete numbers.
As far as oil, I have pretty much the same set up as you-force hot air, water heater, everything is all oil and my house is older and very non-energy efficient. You can feel the breeze through the windows but I'm looking to have some control over that if we move by making sure we buy a newer house with energy effiecient windows and possibly a wood stove.
I shop at Walmart too when I can but I have to drive a distance to get there, otherwise it's Shaws too, but I find them pricey.
Again, thank you!
My homeowners on Cape Cod was almost 2000 a year for the same reason "hurricane zone". It's now around 800.
Car insurance...HUGE savings from MA. I forget how much I was paying there, but I remember noting I would save around 1000 a year! So...
Taxes vary so much...I have neighbors paying three times more than me with less land shhhh
With the money you'll save in the two insurances you can have a woodstove put in!
Utilites are running me about the same as they did in MA. I'm not seeing a huge difference. I had natural gas on the Cape and I have K1 for heat and Propane for the hot water. K1 is out of control...but we keep the heat way down and this house has blown in insulation and is very tight. Makes a HUGE difference. I had very little insulation in my old house on the Cape. BIG HEATING BILLS.
I live near Augusta...so I don't know about Portland. Oh, and other things are less expensive here as well. Like...CHRISTMAS TREES!
I find that with the cut in pay, the cut in insurances, we're pretty much in the same financial boat we were in living on Cape Cod...we're just WAY happier. You can't put a price on that.
I'm asking: when you said 900 combined for the cars was that insurance or just tax and registration??
Because that would SHOCK me because ni Tampa my registration is like under forty dollars for one car and fifty for the other.
Ours have ranged from $20/vehicle to $150/vehicle.
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shhhh
