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Many people seem to feel obligated to deny themselves pleasures and experiences. For some of course, there is financial necessity to point to, but for most, that doesn't really apply. My partner and I are in the latter category. Like a few others at least, we don't budget for anything discretionary. We just do what we want to do when we want to do it. We have a realistic sense of what our wealth and income situation is, and we proceed through life on the basis of that understanding.
this is how we were pre retirement . we never budgeted . we did what we wanted .
but now things are different in retirement . emergencies ,unexpected large expenditures as well as worse than expected markets may require cutting back .
you can't cut back much when everything is a need and not a want so the ratio of discretionary vs non discretionary spending is important even if you don't have a budget on everything . in fact those with little discretionary spending should not even be in equities in my opinion so the ratio is important in retirement .
we just monitor our total out go now periodically .
where it went , i could not care less as long as we are between our yearly goal posts we set. we like our travel and can easily exceed the goal posts we set if we don't watch where we stand .
Even as a Marine Corps private I didn't budget. I knew what I had and I didn't spend more than that. Like you, I just lived within my means.
I am exactly like that. I still have not set a budget. To me it is arbitrary. It is setting a limit and denying something in advance. I consistently go to the grocery store with no monetary limit. I put it on a credit card and pay that when the debt is due. Our CC pays 3% on groceries so... we go to Market Basket, buy what we need and want and move on to the next thing.
I know that if we do not have the money at the end of the billing cycle we will pay interest. I get it. I have a rough idea on how much I will spend and each week we are within $20 of the average. Occasionally we spend so little we walk out telling ourselves we need to stop going shopping right after eating.
I am exactly like that. I still have not set a budget. To me it is arbitrary. It is setting a limit and denying something in advance. I consistently go to the grocery store with no monetary limit. I put it on a credit card and pay that when the debt is due. Our CC pays 3% on groceries so... we go to Market Basket, buy what we need and want and move on to the next thing.
I know that if we do not have the money at the end of the billing cycle we will pay interest. I get it. I have a rough idea on how much I will spend and each week we are within $20 of the average. Occasionally we spend so little we walk out telling ourselves we need to stop going shopping right after eating.
Agreed. I'm fortunately not in a position where I need to be on a strict grocery budget, as long as I shop within reason, but I'm also working.
When you get into a situation like around here where many seniors are low income and groceries are expensive, a lot of people will run into problems and I feel for them.
Our Budget has separate line items for Food, Entertainment, and Clothing.
The Food category is actually two portions -- Groceries and Dining Out. And the Entertainment category is just a big Slush Fund that covers Concerts, Ballgames, and even Cable TV. Whatever is left in Entertainment is carried over into the next month or stashed in the Slush Fund. This month we bought Jimmy Buffett tix on Stub Hub and didn't bat an eyelash at the marked-up price. Last week we had Lunch at the fabulous Magnolia Restaurant and took in the Art Exhibit at the Gibbes Museum. You bet your *** we got Culture !!
We have one Credit Card with nice perks that is also a separate Line Item and paid in full every month. Clothing, Haircuts for me and Beauty Saloon for DW are just part of the Walking Around Money portion of the Budget.
At this stage of the game our budget or financial guideline is less on the spending side and more on the asset balance side. It is not based on declining assets but on the flow of income going into new assets. We have longer term asset goals based on future CCRC needs etc. As long as we are continuing to invest we are on target. Market losses are expected and long term goals barring things beyond are current ability to control will require adjustments. Delaying SS along with pensions and previous investments have enabled us to reach our ten year retired goals.
I have bought pork loin at BJ's, Costco and supermarkets. I always go to the butcher counter and ask him to cut it into three pieces for me. . They always do, repackage it and stick the price label back on for me at no cost. We cook one piece and freeze the other two. Pork loin is generally $2-$3 a lb. A real bargain thanks to subsidies to corn farmers (pigs eat corn meal). As far as yogurt, I buy the big Dannon tubs and spoon it out myself.
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Originally Posted by Serious Conversation
I've seen VERY low food budgets ($100-$150/month or so) on various fora over the years and do not understand how people get by on so little. I don't "pick like a bird" or eat like a king, but I'd eat what I'd consider is a fairly standard American diet. I also live in an area with high grocery prices, but even when I lived where food was cheaper, I never could get the budget that low for just me.
I eat about a pack of turkey sausage and organic breakfast bars a week. Those are about $4 each, so let's make that $9 after tax (food is taxed 5.5% here). I usually drink a gallon of milk a week. Basic house brand milk here is $4/gallon. I'll usually go through a box of raspberries or blackberries or some other fruit a week at breakfast, so assume $5 here for a large container at Sam's. We're up to basically $20/week, $80/month for basic breakfast stuff.
Lunch is usually cold cuts/sandwiches, sometimes leftover meals, some fruit or veggies, and a dessert thing like a cup of yogurt or fat free pudding. Something light. Other than prepackaged stuff like Oscar Meyer, you're not going to find any cold cuts here for under $8/lb or so, and that's for cheaper cuts like bologna/pepperoni. Turkey/chicken/ham will be about $10/lb, good roast beef is a buck or two a pound more. I like veggies on my sandwich, so I will get an onion, spring mix, Mt. Olive banana/jalapeno peppers, etc. - the veggies get expensive.
About the only meat you can get for under $5/lb here are dark meat chicken pieces (drumsticks, thighs, etc.), 75/25 ground beef, and whole pork loin from Sam's (you cut it up). A can of vegetables range $.50-$1 a piece, bags of healthier frozen vegetables are about $2/10 oz (get two meals from these). Fresh vegetables are much more expensive - corn in shuck is about $1/ear here, sometimes on sale for $.50.
Lean ground beef (90/10 +) is about $7/lb here. Steak is a bit more. Boneless chicken breasts are $5-$7/lb. Almost all of my meat comes from Sam's - they're notably cheaper than local grocery stores.
We have high grocery prices and comparatively low restaurant prices. I can go over to McAllister's Deli and get a sandwich and chips/applesauce/mashed potatoes with water (same thing for Jersey Mike's with a soda) for a little under $8 with tax. If I try to make that same sandwich at home with the vegetables and all, it will probably come near to that by the time I buy all the toppings and bread, and a lot of those fresh toppings just get wasted. I'm eating the same thing every day just to get through the food I bought vs. variety at the restaurants.
I probably eat lunch out about half the time, especially during the later half of the week. I cooked tenderloin, mashed potatoes, and green beans yesterday for lunch, and spaghetti for dinner, so I have two leftovers for Monday/Tuesday. By the middle of the week, I'm usually at the deli as I don't like to come home and make a large meal during the week. I'll often go to the gym and get some salad and a steak or something I can cook quickly. I'm not much for huge meals and huge cleanups, except maybe on Sundays.
I think a lot of people underestimate, sometimes considerably, their food budget. You have all your condiments and garnishes - just in my fridge, I have A-1, Heinz 57, Worcestershire sauce, Tennessee Sunshine (mild hot sauce), two salad dressings, three BBQ sauces. Some of that goes bad before you use it all. You have "base" type items - flour, sugars, lard, oils, etc. Any sort of beverage - prepackaged beverages like sodas, or even stuff made on site like loose leaf tea. A 36 pack of Coke Zero is about $10 at Sam's, green team is about $16 for a 24 pack, Snapple is about the same, and Costco flavored water is like $9 for an 18 pack. I don't go through each one of those a month, but I'm probably spending $30-$40 in beverages. That's not counting spices, alcohol, and the litany of other items people use.
Count me as one of those who never budgeted in their entire life. I just kept a vague notion in my head of what was available and was able to pay off the credit cards every month.
Now in retirement, I am trying to get a handle on spending via a spread-sheet and it's sort of a challenge for the unexpected items.
So far, food is about $200, booze is about $150, restaurants about $100, internet is $40, electricity between $50 and $150. Transpo around $40.
But then we had to go back to the States for some obscure visa thing and blew around $7,000 "stocking up" on stuff we can't get here, hotels and airline tickets. So I don't know how to budget that.
Generally we get by on $1,000 to $1,500 here. Except for those "surprises". Ugh. I wish I was better at math....
goes into the "food / entertainment" envelope every month (as it has for 40 yrs)
When It's gone, (seldom) we get creative. We do a lot of cooking for the elderly and infirmed (within this $100 budget)
(BTW: I still wear my "*Frostline Kit*" clothes I made in Jr High 4-H (1960's) & drive a 41 yr old car that gets 50 mpg on free cooking oil. My current car cost me $35 at a towing company auction) More money saved = more money to give away or to use for travel (we're gone 50 - 100% of the time). Just my way of life, YMMV. (fine!)
Wow. Kudos for your successful frugality. Impressive. I still have 8 - 10 years until I retire, but I'm always here looking for tips to conserve and not feel deprived. Thanks for posting.
That describes me exactly, although I suspect I've had a lifetime income a lot lower than yours. (High school teacher - how much lower than that can one get?) I've always lived within my means, i.e., spent less than I made, and I have continued to live that way since I retired.
Of course I do have a rough idea how much I spend per month, on average, in various categories. For example, I probably average about twice a month going to classical music concerts or the opera, but it's not on a strict schedule. In a given month, my entertainment costs might be double or triple the average, but I have a good sense of what it averages out to over the course of a year. Food is about $20 per day (for one person - I am divorced and live alone) but can vary widely. That's $600 per month for food, give or take.
I realize that I am in a small minority with my seat-of-the-pants approach to budgeting, hence I was a bit surprised (but quite pleased) to see I am not the only one.
I am similar to you. I am in better financial shape than I was at most earlier points in my life. My living expenses such as mortgage and utilities are budgeted, and I know what they are, but I go out to eat more often or buy prepared food more often than many others do. I also live alone, which makes a difference. The other night I was tired and hungry, and while I had food at home I could make, I opted to get something at the diner. I don't worry about the cost of food anymore. I can remember days of scrounging change to buy something to make for dinner. I also gave up eating meat. It was not for budgetary reasons, but that knocks some of the expense down and permits me to spend more on my food.
I also spent 25 years cutting and dyeing my own hair, and now that is a luxury I allow myself--to get it done professionally. If I ever find myself at the point where I have to cut back, I will merrily go back to doing my own. I didn't go to many concerts or anything in the years when I was raising my daughter. Everything was for her. Now I go to something a couple of times a year, and last year a friend asked if I wanted to share a vacation house with her for a week, and I did. I live near the ocean so in the summer here there are a lot of free concerts on or near the beach, and I do take advantage of that.
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