What do you spend per month?

[Andy_B]

The very first step anyone should do when starting to get a hold of their personal finance is to figure out how much money they are spending every month. Simple programs like quicken also help you easily track where you are spending your money.

Give us your situation and how much you spend per month. Just expenses, I don't want to see any investments (529, 401k etc, I consider that savings not expenses)

Me, wifey and 5 year old daughter, in a home, w/ 2 cars, Boston suburb - $2600/month


Andy

[Real Ray]

Wife; no kids. 2 cars. 3 bdr house in suburb-house is paid for.

What I would describe a "fixed cost" $1,155 per month.

Car payment: $250
Cable w/ broadband: $113.00
Utl: $150 (aprox-would have to look-higher in the winter)
Phone: $42.00
Home Allowance:$600 (This amount I give to my wife to cover grocery, etc.)

My wife does temp work from time to time and covers her mobile bill, which is the only other monthly bill due. Depending on how much she work, the allowance can drop to $300-$200.

The only other two items are property tax and insurance-which are done twice a year.

[Andy_B]

The only other two items are property tax and insurance-which are done twice a year.

I should have been more clear.

I guess what I more wanted to see was the average monthly cost everyone spends.

I want to see all items like water, excise tax, property taxes, car insurances, lawn care, car maintenance, vacations etc that might not happen every month, averaged over a monthly time frame.

What I did to determine my $2600/month was to look at what I spent over an entire year and then divide by 12.

Andy

[Real Ray]

$1,433

[Andy_B]

Real Ray,

Thanks for the information. You keep your expenses down quite nicely!

If I am reading your data correctly, you are spending <$300 a month on the following items:

car maintenance, car insurance, lawn care, house insurance, property taxes, excise taxes, vacations, entertainment(movies, soccer games, dvd rentals etc), recreation, gifts, charity, subscriptions, dining out, trash pick up etc.

That is just great! Makes me want to go back and look through my expenses again.

Does your wives $600 cover auto:fuel as well?

Andy

[Real Ray]

ah-you got me on a few extras.. :)

$1,600-that's all items except vacation.

I did not include vacations, as the expense/time on these vary.

This year we are looking at going to Europe, so I would raise it to $1,766.

[obie]

Let's just say that for my family of two, living in a newly-purchased condo in suburban NJ, our fixed expenses are a hell of a lot more than $2,600 per month. I don't think $2,600 would cover our mortgage + maintenance fee + property taxes.

[dawgpound2]

Heck, I live in an apartment here in L.A., and our expenses blow by the $2,600/month level.

Darn auto insurance in L.A.

[Andy_B]

Let's just say that for my family of two, living in a newly-purchased condo in suburban NJ, our fixed expenses are a hell of a lot more than $2,600 per month.

I own my home so my $2600 does not include a mortgage. That is why mine and Rays will likely look less than most people with an apartment or mortgage I think.

Andy

[Real Ray]

Well, I have to say living in Cincinnati has made our life a bit easier.

We used to live in a co-op on the Upper East Side, and doing the numbers quickly, I hit $2,800. And that's with no car. I would think if I took the time to really go over it, it would go over $3000.

We've had to adjust in order to maintain a simliar amount to put aside for our savings. With only only one main salary now, we watch our money even more tightly than in the past. But the swap for space, slower pace of life, and proximity to family has been worth it. I'm happy we did it.

[peledre]

I'm a single guy with a roommate and a fully paid for car in an extremely cheap area of the country to live. I can live like an absolute king on 40k a year.

Rent $332.50
Utilities $15.00
Credit Card Bill ~ $200.00
Gas $80.00
Car Ins. $65.00
Insurance (Health, Dental, Vision, AD&D) $63.00
Groceries $160.00
Entertainment $150.00
Investments $350.00

$1415.5 I like to consider my retirement savings and investments an expense, don't ask me why. I usually pay my CC bill in full now, but being an employee of Citigroup I've got a great card with prime being my APR, so occasionally I carry a balance if I went a little overboard.

I still really haven't figured out what to do with the extra $2,000 a month that I make (just started my first "real" job this January). So far it's been allocated to moving expenses, furniture, etc... And I'll probably just invest what I have left over from now on. I'm probably going to be leasing a BMW this summer, which will be about $325 a month with 1k down. My roommate is a car salesman so I'm going to be getting about as good a deal as possible, I'm just waiting a while until I get my FICO score up to where I don't have to put as much down on the car up front.

[Chicago1871]

Single, with a roomate, a 1996 4-Runner (recently paid off), basic cable, heat, electric, phone (no long distance), cellphone, insurance, food, plus anything else small I might be forgetting. Somewhere in the rhelm of 13-1500 a month in terms of fixed. That's not counting anything fun (bars, soccer games, clothing, etc) or other, non-regular expenses. Now that my move has finally been paid off, I'm putting $100 away every paycheck into a personal retirement fund, plus the 401k that gets taken out. Got a sizeable chunk of change (low 5 figures) put away during my 18 months living at home after college that's earning interest, but I need to work to invest that for a better return. I could really use a better salary at this point, but I live confortably.

[Sachin]

Please be careful about posting your income on this board. We don't know who lurks.

Thanks,

Sachin

[MLSNHTOWN]

Fixed Monthly Expenses

Condo, Property Taxes - $640
Maintenance Fees - $320
Electricty - $125 (on avg.)
Car - $500
Student Loans, consolidated, 30 years, very low interest - $415
Cable Bill - $30 (basic cable covered by MF, but I have to have HBO)
Cell - $55
Land LIne and Internet - $35
Gas -$35 per tank, 2 tanks/week, four weeks/month - $280
24 hour Fitness - $30

Grand Total - $2430

[Andy_B]

I noticed many on here have been posting there "fixed expenses".

These are obviously the easiest ones to track since they don't fluctuate month to month.

But they are also just a portion of what one spends every month. When people track their expenses using the fixed expenses, when you do your planning, do you use some rule of thumb saying if these are my fixed expenses, this is how much I really spend?

Quicken was quite an eye opening experience for me because it forced me to see where every dime was going. If I remember, I will cut and paste all the categories I spend the $2600 on per month. Its amazing how some of the small ones can add up over time, even if they are not in any way fixed, like gifts, and charity and things like that.

Andy

[MLSNHTOWN]

I use the term "fixed" because they are somewhat consistently there each month. I have to drive to work, I have to pay my car payments, maintenance fees and rent etc. Technically I can eat Ramen each day for lunch/dinner, so those expenses aren't fixed in my opinion. I don't have to go out with my friends that much if I am hurting for money, I don't have to play poker as much as I do. So...that is why I call it fixed.... I usually can't spend less than that. Whereas other costs are more flexible.

[striker]

Groceries $160.00


I am amazed that you can live on ~$5 a day for food. How do you manage that?

[zverskiy yobar]

I am amazed that you can live on ~$5 a day for food. How do you manage that?

if youre single and dont eat out all the time its quit easy.

Microwave Dinners are like 2 dollars, if you eat a modest breakfast and take a sandwich for lunch you can probably get it under $4 a day.Heck switch out the microwave dinners for a something you make from scratch on sunday then freeze in portions for the week and you can get it lower then that.

[zverskiy yobar]

My fixed is under $1000.
I own my home and my car.MY credit card is only used for things I cant pay cash for.
I do not have cable, sattelite or any other perks at my house.
My computer and Internet I pay for on my business expense (its at my place of business).
The biggest hit I take is Taxes, Fuel and Insurance.I would say that is about 70% of my monthly fixed.

[Andy_B]

Here is how my categories break down per month when averaged over a 12 month period.

House Tax/Ex Tax $450.00
Phone $32.00
Heat $130.00
Satellite TV $65.00
Electricty $100.00
Cell $22.00
Car/home insur $150.00
Groceries $350.00
Gas $210.00
Gifts $145.00
Dining $100.00
Household $125.00
Water $50.00
Cable Modem $60.00
Entertainment $100.00
Clothing $75.00
Haircut $20.00
Yard $75.00
Medical $31.00
Recreation $90.00
Trash $7.00
Subscriptions $20.00
Charity $25.00
Car Maint $100.00


Andy