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View Full Version : OMG....wtf!! How much it costs to live!?!?



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BalletBaby
12-21-2007, 01:03 AM
I'll have to find the spreadsheet my parents made when I said I wanted to support myself. Ahahaha! I think it was around $50,000. But the expenses actually turned out to be a lot higher, so for a year, I cost around $75,000(that's including tuition)

StuartL
12-21-2007, 03:59 AM
Agreed. London is paying somewhere around $15USD per Gallon! o.O; At least they ARE closer together!

It's about £1.04 per litre at the moment - so about £4.15 per gallon I guess. In US$ that must be in the realm of $8.40 I guess. The problem is that there are too many people and cars in the UK, so though everything is smaller and closer together - it is just one big traffic jam.

cutey5032
12-21-2007, 08:50 AM
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threlayer
12-21-2007, 12:40 PM
Cable is expensive--look into satellite. But a geater portion of your foodstuffs at dollar stores, Aldi, Sav-a-Lot etc (big savings here). I think your car insurance is a bit high. You can probably shave off some from your electricity and spending money. Most of the other comments are fair. You always have to evaluate the purchase cost versus operating cost (eg refrigerator, new car etc.); would be good to learn how to do that accurately..

GoldCoastGirl
12-21-2007, 03:36 PM
Wow you Londoners are paying $15 a gallon!?? I always thought the US would boycott gas once it got to the $3 mark....but we never did, hahahaha. But DAMN!! $15!!!!!

And I have to ask you Aussies....with your cost of housing being so damn high, can anyone afford to buy a house??! Or does mostly everybody rent with a few exceptions of really rich people living in houses?? It seems renting over there is so much money, it would be hard as hell to save up to buy.

Right now that is the big problem facing housing. First home buyers are not are populous as they might be due to how high house prices are around here for a decent place in a decent location (suburb, etc) thus it can be rather hard to save up 20% down deposit (as well as cover all the fees associated with purchasing a home).

Tho' we do have the First Home Buyers grant http://www.firsthome.gov.au/ to help us all out in purchasing our first 'home' for the time being.....

Housing Crisis links
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=799
http://www.dailyreckoning.com.au/housing-crisis/2007/05/30/
Rental Crisis links
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22898701-36418,00.html
http://www.aussieindolanka.com/news_main.asp?id=Australia&newsid=42100&cat=

It still works out to be better for me to rent than to buy a home right now. I would rather be a tenant and try to save my money so I can buy IPs (Investment Properties) and then eventually have those IPs help fund my first home purchase.

Plus you do have to realise us Aussies are quoting prices in AUD. Do the conversion to get the price in USD.

Lysondra
12-21-2007, 07:09 PM
Wow you Londoners are paying $15 a gallon!?? I always thought the US would boycott gas once it got to the $3 mark....but we never did, hahahaha. But DAMN!! $15!!!!!

And I have to ask you Aussies....with your cost of housing being so damn high, can anyone afford to buy a house??! Or does mostly everybody rent with a few exceptions of really rich people living in houses?? It seems renting over there is so much money, it would be hard as hell to save up to buy.

You do have to also realize minimum wage is $22 here.

paintgoddess
12-21-2007, 11:41 PM
The spending money ($300) is just basically things like, maybe if we go out to eat one night a week, something miscellanious for our house (like a toaster or coatrack), or maybe something random we forgot to pick up at the grocery store, a case of beer, bottle of wine. You know, dumb little things, but things I don't feel like I should have to give up. I'll keep track of it anyway to see if theres anything I'd want to cut out.

I don't really live "Expensively".....which is why I'm pissed that I'm spending all this money anyways. I'm not one of those strippers who gets weekly massages and facials, eats out at the most expensive restaurants, drinks starbucks everyday, and wears $500 shoes and purses. I NEVER go out on my days off, I shop at Walmart for most things, and I refuse to pay outrageous amounts for stupid things like clothes and shoes.


^^^Please do so. It's fucking magical. Heh. I've done this for 10 years now, and it really helps you figure out what you can cut out. You'll see your habits over time. There are fixed expenses, and then there are those little sins--everyone has different ones. Switching from soda to making your own iced tea adds up over time. Making your own coffee at home and carrying it in your own mug helps. You won't really know what your budget-related sins are until you start writing down what you spend stuff on.

Get a 12-column notebook for the year. Get a receipt for EVERYTHING so you can enter it!!

My budget categories are:
Loans/debt (student loans, private loans, car loan)
Housing/household (rent or mortgage/utilities/maintenance/appliances/home decor)
Food (i specify with a* whether or not it was eating out)
Miscellaneous (gifts/etc/pet crap)
Entertainment (alcohol/tickets/movies/passes/vacation fund)
Car (insurance/maintenance/gas/upkeep/washes)
Personal (health ins/toiletries/clothes & accessories/medicine/vitamins/gym)
Taxes (specifically a stripper thing because of the cash income upfront)
Savings (how much can you put aside a month?)
Education (optional for those in school)

Take your receipts once a week and use them to fill your columns. Remember you might have some personal items on a grocery receipt, etc which will require splitting the total for the columns. KEEP the receipts that you will need for tax deductible items.

Anyone that has ever tracked their expenses can tell you how eye-opening it is. Even for the most frugal.

paintgoddess
12-21-2007, 11:47 PM
Cost of living is nothing...have you looked into costs of funerals lately...living is much cheaper...;)

On a serious note, in the very least, get the cheapest life insurance policy possible. It's not fair to your family to have to spend $15k or so to bury you.

I pay $1200 a year for mid-grade private health insurance and $3 a month of that goes towards a connected life insurance policy so my SO/family can afford to bury me. It's the least I can do. They get $10k if I die of natural causes, and $20k if I die suddenly from accident. Approx $36 a year so I don't fuck over my family. No-brainer.

ellebelle
12-21-2007, 11:52 PM
You do have to also realize minimum wage is $22 here.

I don't think minimum wage is $22? I think it's around $12 or something.. though most entry level jobs pay at least $18. First year apprentices are on like $5 an hour hah.

If you bought a house before 2000 when the housing boom started properties were quite reasonable. It's just kind of our generation that's fucked. But on the other hand if you do manage do buy a house here, you are so much better off than the rest of the pack.

Lysondra
12-22-2007, 04:37 AM
I don't think minimum wage is $22? I think it's around $12 or something.. though most entry level jobs pay at least $18. First year apprentices are on like $5 an hour hah.

If you bought a house before 2000 when the housing boom started properties were quite reasonable. It's just kind of our generation that's fucked. But on the other hand if you do manage do buy a house here, you are so much better off than the rest of the pack.

Depends on age. It's $22 if you're 21 and over for part-time work. There's a spreadsheet somewhere on it on the government sites. Boo. I think it starts at $5 if you're like, seven. And apprentices have to include extras like food and stuffs so they can survive. :P

scarlett_vancouver
12-22-2007, 07:21 PM
$150 a week spending money each, considering your food, gas, and cell are accounted for, seems a bit high. $100 would be smarter.

But 42k for two people, or 21k each, to live, all included (pretty much), for a year...that doesn't seem so bad? It's not like that's a bare minimum, either...you each have a car, a cell and spending money.

Aubreyyy
12-23-2007, 01:27 PM
I have a question.... do you guys support your boyfriends? I am extremely lucky I guess. My boyfriend works in finance and pretty much completely supports me- my share of the monthly $1700 rent is only $500. The only other bill I have on top of that is my cell. Everything else I make is pretty much my spending/saving $$.

holiday
12-23-2007, 02:27 PM
^I'm a lucky bitch too, my BF pays the mortgage/utilities and the car insurance and the internet.

It's funny you just started this thread - I sat down just yesterday and did my yearly cost of living. My expenses are very low. My phone is like $50 a month and I don't have credit card debt or anything, but check out my CHILDCARE expenses: just over $10,000 a year!! Yep. So I can work.

I was bummed at myself. I have basically an unaccounted for $15,000 or so this year
:-[ . I mean I know I didn't blow it all - I didn't make a catagory for clothing and household stuff but still isn't that almost $300 a week? :-[ . I don't go out even and I don't have a crack habit or anything.

I know there must be something I'm forgetting. Oh, I also didn't figure food. So that number is clothing, girly crap, household stuff and food. OK, I obviously need to keep better track.

2008!

GoldCoastGirl
12-23-2007, 07:11 PM
I don't have a boyfriend to support, nor do I support my flatmate. I support myself.

cutey5032
12-23-2007, 07:48 PM
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TheSexKitten
12-23-2007, 08:35 PM
That's not bad at all. What is that... a bit under 2,000/month for each of you?

How old are you? That's quite doable, especially if you're dancing...

Kaylinn
12-24-2007, 07:32 AM
I justfigured out my budget for 2008

Rent $1484
Gas for cars $1800
Car payments $7200
Car insurance $2400
Electric $2460
Cell Phones $1200
internet $600
Dish $600
Food $3600
Fun $9600
Smokes $600 ( banking on me qutitting Jan 1st! Otherwise, smokes for the year cost...$5200!

Total: $31544
Not bad for 2 people, right?

AudreyLeigh
12-24-2007, 03:07 PM
My husband supports me :) He make 6 figures but I still have to work because we pay almost $17K a year in child support. If we didnt have that expense I wouldnt have to work. Use condoms people. Please.

AudreyLeigh
12-24-2007, 03:08 PM
I justfigured out my budget for 2008

Rent $1484
Gas for cars $1800
Car payments $7200
Car insurance $2400
Electric $2460
Cell Phones $1200
internet $600
Dish $600
Food $3600
Fun $9600
Smokes $600 ( banking on me qutitting Jan 1st! Otherwise, smokes for the year cost...$5200!

Total: $31544
Not bad for 2 people, right?

Thats really good. I wish we could get our expenses that low... gotta pay off debt and the cars and wed be doing a LOT better...

Aubreyyy
12-25-2007, 07:58 AM
My husband supports me :) He make 6 figures but I still have to work because we pay almost $17K a year in child support. If we didnt have that expense I wouldnt have to work. Use condoms people. Please.

Whoa. :O

cutey5032
12-26-2007, 04:00 PM
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TigersMilk
12-26-2007, 06:52 PM
What helped me organize my spending was Microsoft office (any other like program will do). I put in a budget and put in every last amount down to the penny. It showed me how much I was over spending on eating out, groceries, gas, electricity etc. Maybe something like that can work for you too.

Tara_SW
12-26-2007, 09:14 PM
I'm not sure anyone mentioned this yet because I only skimmed this subject past page one so sorry if this is a repeat suggestion.

One thing that is a big waste of money is car payments. Instead of paying all that interest on a car loan consider buying a car cash instead.

Sure it might not be the dream car but an little older but still reliable car that is paid in full is a much better choice use of your funds.

Melonie
12-27-2007, 04:50 AM
^^^ actually, buying a car with cash can also have a 'cost' ... the interest that the cash could be earning if deposited in a CD instead of spent on a car to name one example. Thus if you compare a 0% factory financed car loan versus a 5% interest rate on a CD over a period of 5 years, buying a $20,000 car with cash would 'cost' you about $5300 in lost interest earnings. The flip side of course is that a car loan at a 7-9-12% interest rate would be a huge loser versus paying cash. So it really boils down to 'interest rate spread' being positive or negative.

Kaylinn
12-27-2007, 06:40 AM
Thats really good. I wish we could get our expenses that low... gotta pay off debt and the cars and wed be doing a LOT better...


well, we defaulted on all of our credit cards this year :( So i didn't include them in the budget since they will be included in the impending bankruptcy we must file. I also see I forgot to include a few other things...but sstill...it isn't to bad at all. That makes me feel better :)

AudreyLeigh
12-27-2007, 12:47 PM
Im blamimg the damn child support. My full time job as a hairdresser = child support. That bitch is making $9/hr being a mom! Court case on my birthday next month. Thats when were going to put in for the support change. So it *should* go from $1400 to about HALF that!

VegasPrincess
12-27-2007, 03:04 PM
[QUOTE=scarlett_vancouver;1338980]$150 a week spending money each, considering your food, gas, and cell are accounted for, seems a bit high. $100 would be smarter.

QUOTE]

Are we talking American dollars here? Holy shit! That's only 20 dollars a day! You need more money than that unless you're going to sit in your house and not do shit!

AudreyLeigh
12-27-2007, 03:35 PM
^^ I spend nothing but then again - I sit in my house all day and dont do shit.

$100 to spend on whatever - Starbucks, Fast Food, Misc stuff is a good amount.

Thats $800 a month thats unrestricted spending going to unaccounted stuff.

All the bills, food, gas is accounted for... Id say thats not bad. Id be happy to have $100 a week to spend on whatever!

RoseLeigh
12-27-2007, 04:11 PM
[quote=scarlett_vancouver;1338980]$150 a week spending money each, considering your food, gas, and cell are accounted for, seems a bit high. $100 would be smarter.

QUOTE]

Are we talking American dollars here? Holy shit! That's only 20 dollars a day! You need more money than that unless you're going to sit in your house and not do shit!

If food and gas are accounted for, what else is there to spend every day? Of course, I don't go out much, so...