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Last edited by cutey5032; 10-15-2008 at 09:54 AM.




Basically all the numbers listed seem about right. Basically thats probably what its gonna cost to live your lifestyle. To make it go down much at all, you would have to make some changes, i.e. down-graded apartment or cars.
That rents actually not too bad compared to some of the horror stories I've heard about rent in the NE.
My suggestion, try and think about the $150 a week spending, budget that a little more carefully... If you lower it to $100 a week, then you've already cut things down 5 grand.



I would imagine it would only be more expensive if the two of you were single. 2 apartments, seperate groceries, seperate internet, phone, whatever, etc...
I rent a bedroom of a house for $300/mth which I consider dirt cheap. If it weren't for very cool landlords I would have to have my own place and in the Toronto area, I am looking at anything from $1200/mth and up.
Oh Canada, we stand on cars and freeze...





^^^ in the northeast at least, you can also count on your electric bill going up significantly next year. as will the price of basic foods and gasoline.
perhaps one option that is worth looking into is to purchase a smaller car that gets much better gas mileage ... for example a 2 year old Volkswagen Jetta diesel ... which would significantly reduce your fuel bill and probably your car insurance costs as well.
perhaps another option that you might want to explore is Cingular's family plan cell phones. $3000 per year is a HUGE amount to be spending on cell service ... especially if a fair percentage of the calls are to 'family members'.
As Jester points out, it is reasonably expensive to live in the northeast ... both in terms of energy and in terms of (embedded) property taxes (in your rent payments).
I would advise looking to see why your cell is so expensive. Most companies have free cell-to-cell minutes...if your company doesn't and the vast majority of your calls are to your SO, I would suggest going to a company that has free CTC minutes.
Also, Joe used to call 411 for all of his inquiries...and it's a $1.50 per call...which added up to about $20 per month. You can use 800-FREE-411 and it's just the cost of a regular cell call (unless you are on a plan that only charges minutes over you package cost).
I give Joe $250 for the MONTH as spending money. You may want to keep a list of what you are buying. Joe used to get around $400 a month until we kept track of what he was spending his money on. Turned out that he used $250 for "necessary" purchases and the rest was just "junk" spending.
You can lower your electric bill by making sure that EVERYTHING is turned off when it's not being used. For instance, you shut down the computer every time you are done with it. The moment you leave the room, you shut off the light. Use energy efficient bulbs...unplug anything that uses power, but you do not use often (for us it's the VCR/DVD player).
You can lower your car gas expenditures by making sure that you take the most efficient routes (if possible) but also by staying on top of maintenance (oil changes, tune ups, etc).
Other than that, it is what it is.![]()
Public transport whenever possible!
Also, cutey, try not to get so freaked out about the expenses per year. Break them down by month, then by week. Break variable expenses down even further.
The cell phone bill has to go, you already know that.
And keep in mind, those are your living expenses. You also need to calculate taxes, debts, and savings into your overall COL!
"Have you ever been to American wedding? Where is the vodka, where's marinated herring?" - GB
"And do the cats give a shit? No, they do not. Why? Because they're cats."-from The Onion
Originally Posted by Mia M
Yeah it can be daunting to look at the yearly picture. The things that stand out are, as the others mentioned, your "spending money" and your cell phone bills. My yearly cell is $504...that's a huge saving on your projected cost! I have one of those local providers (Pocket Communication) so I have unlimited talk and texting. Shop around, I freakin guarantee you'll save money on another plan or another company even if you have to break your contract.
And the spending money can easily be brought down. Do you categorize your expenses? Really look at where that money is going and cut it down by half if you can. If you're paying more for "miscellaneous" than you are for housing, chances are you have a big savings opportunity!





I 2nd taking care of your car. It will last you longer as well as run more efficient through the life of the car.
For a second there I thought thats what you paid monthly. Then I re-read it. Wow, gosh, I thought you paid 9600 a month!
Everyone has great advice so far. If it helps you any I just started a savings plan. In weekly income I'm saving 50% for savings, 40% for bills and 10% for me.
If you can, switch car insurance. I saved 1k per year alone on doing that. Now I only pay 1200 a year. Are you at least saving any money out of your monthly income?
you live like an ivy vine
you can only survive by clinging onto trees
that's your flaw
put down some roots so you can stand on your own
-Kenpachi





Yep, those number seem ok.
Except I see a couple of things missing.
I notice that there is no medical insurance category, so you can expect that at least one of you guys is going to get sick and need to go to the doctor or get medicine at least once during the year, so you need to budget that in there.
Also what about vehicle maintenance? These cars are going to need oil changes and new tires and likely a tune up at some point during the year.
That being said, you are in good shape compared with me!
Rent: 15,000
Utilities: 2,820
Internet: 520
TV: 1200
Car1: 9000
Car2: 4320
Car insurance: 3000
Credit cards(minimum): 4000
thats nearly 40000 before food or spending money. I don't know how much exactly, but I would bet that we spend at least 7000/year in food and way more than that spending money and extra expenses. All in all I would guess together we spend at least 60,000/year. HOWEVER, take this with a grain of salt if you are evaluating my area because we live much better than average for this price!
Last edited by austinatalie; 12-18-2007 at 11:57 AM.
I look at things by year. That way I don't get trapped in the "Can I afford the monthly payment" crap. I keep the big picture in mind.
Like rent - they bumped it up at my last place by 100 bucks. Looking at it monthly, eh - what's a 100 bucks eh? Looked at yearly - over a thousand dollars in their pocket instead of mine. Fuckers.
I rarely carry a balance on my credit card - but if I do, everything I put on there I calculate out as actually 1.11 x the price. (I have 11% APR on it) so I know how much it REALLY costs if I hold it for a year or so. That usually pisses me off enough to pay it down right away.
Maybe the credit card gurus on here can tell me if they compound month over month or they have some kind of aged balance on there? My gut tells me the greedy fuckers compound it but I don't know for sure.
fuck.i think your doing really well!!
i pay $20800 a year in rent!!!!
i guess the phone bills could be cut down a wee bit, but theres not a whole lot of excessive spending going on there. im too scared to even *think* what my yearly spending is![]()
Rent - $20,040
Utilities - $1,200
Cable/Internet/Home Phone - $1,200
Sewer, Garbage, Water - $360
=$22,800 (double yours)
Car 1 - $6,000
Car 2 - $3,600
Insurance - $3,600
Gas (Bs travel) - $9,600 (no getting around this until he finds a new position)
Groceries - $4,800
Cell Phones - $1,600
CCs (paying minimums) - $4,260
Cigarettes (gotta quit!) - $3,600
Other (gymnastics, daughters lunches) - $2,100
Child support (one child) - $16,800
Grand total - almost $75,000 and this does not include spending money, clothes, holidays, birthdays, savings, paying off debt, household items, etc etc etc
Oh and let me mention this is our NEW BUDGET. Ive really got to go back thru and cut more...
I agree with mermaid, you're doing an awesome job if you can stick with that budget! The cell phone has been beat to death, maybe you could lower the second car insurance a bit - it seems a bit high. Perhaps one of you had an accident or something? That's worse than my rates and as a young male in NJ I have it about as bad as it gets.
You're so far ahead of most people just by virtue of having made a budget though. And 42k for two people in the NE is golden! I think your spending money is very reasonable.
Have you figured out what you spend your "spending money" on? The best way, in my opinion, to figure out what can go is to see exactly what you are buying. Keep tabs of all your spending for one month and try not to change your normal pattern just because you are keeping track. And keep track of EVERYTHING from going to the movies, to fast food, to a CD, to a pack of gum... whatever. After a month, look at it and see if there is anything that can go. Last time I did this I found out that I was spending $50 a month on movie rentals so I switched to netflix for $14.95. Making little changes in your extra spending habits can add up.
This got me thinking about just how much I spend on rent. At $1550 a month, that's $18,600, and I pay that by myself. Wow!
Last year I was spending so much more than this year. I drank starbucks everyday, ate out all the time, rented movies, and bought a lot more luxury items and even toiletries I wasn't satisfied with.
Now, I watch almost all my movies online for free. I drink more tea, and when I have coffee I just make it at home. I've learned to cook so much more and stock my pantry accordingly. I never purchase toiletries or makeup, or even things like appliances/home items without reading reviews online so I'm more likely to be happy with the item. Also, when something like paper towel, toilet paper, or laundry detergent is on sale, things you always need, and never want to run out of, I buy in bulk.





That all sounds about normal for this area, though I do live on the cheap as much as possible. I have Verizon and I found it to be cheaper than my former nemesis-Sprint. Maybe call them and see what can be done to lower the cost? I'm also considering moving to the slightly cheaper state next door. Just a thought. Your car insurance would likely go down at least!
I want to say that this thread inspired me to take an honest look at my expenses and plan for next year, so THANK YOU. It was totally belated; I realize that I've been hiding behind the Hubby and letting him handle all the "finances" because honestly it bores me to tears, but this may be the start of me forcing myself past that boundary. And it was not worrisome at all!
Rent – $12000
Electric/gas – $2100
Water – $300
Cable/internet – $1260
Home phone – $276
Car Payment #1 – $900
Car Payment #2 – $3600
Car Insurance #1 – $1500
Car Insurance #2 – $460
Gas #1 – $1560
Gas #2 – $520
Cell phone #1 – $600
Cell phone #2 – $504
Groceries – $3900
Gym – $300
Movie rental pass – $204
Pet insurance – $240 (guess)
Misc expenses – $5200
Total Projected Yearly Expenses - $35424
Obviously I'm missing my (nonexistent) insurance and vehicle maintenance so that isn't a final quote, but it's pretty damn close and it feels so good having that number right there. I feel like I can make an informed statement about how much I need to make per week/month and how much I can save of that money. 2008 is going to be a fucking fantastic year.





I went over mine as well.
Rent/utils/internet-$8200 (realize I live in student housing, so this will go up when I get out of stealing-my-stuff house)
Car insurance-$1300
Cell-$720 (approx)
Food/grocery stuff-$2000-2500 (approx)
Netflix!-$204
Health insurance-about $800 through school
So around 14,000 before gas, tolls, books, fun, etc. Not bad, but I think I may still want a roommate when I move, or my cost of living will go up $3-400 a month. I still have a bunch of saving/bill paying to do. And I don't work much.
Looking at it by year is slightly less intimidating than by month.
Last edited by RoseLeigh; 12-17-2007 at 11:43 PM.
When I look at a year-end summary of what I've spent money on it's scary!





SundayMorning, one area that you might look at for economization is your electric / natural gas bill. Being in Texas I assume that a good portion of this is air conditioning cost. You might seriously want to look at investing in a natural gas 'absorption' air conditioner rather than an electric one - which will be far less expensive to operate. See . Of course your situation is complicated by the fact that you rent ... but you may be able to come to terms with your landlord about rent concessions if you were to make such a 'leasehold improvement'.
Also, one of the things I'm looking into for myself is buying a gas absorption refrigerator, which uses no electricity at all (actually 4 D cell batteries !). See . Like parts of Texas the cost of electricity in the northeast is also becoming sky-high, and not having to run an electric refrigerator's compressor motor versus buying a little bit of natural gas or propane looks like it will save about $600 a year on my electric bill ... which basically pays back the cost of the new gas absorption refrigerator. But more importantly where I live, if the electricity goes out this refrigerator still keeps working, meaning one nasty power outage could save me from having to throw away $500 - $1000 worth of spoiled food ! This style of refrigerator has primarily been made for the RV market, but now that gasoline is so expensive and RV sales are in the toilet, they're starting to make larger and nicer looking models for home use.
~
Last edited by Melonie; 12-18-2007 at 02:29 AM.



What an inspiring thread.
If you want to really do budgeting properly, take a pad and pen with you constantly for one month. Every time you spend anything and everything, write it down. At the end of the month you will know where IT ALL goes to and can make really informed decisions.
I have had clients who found that they spent £150 per month just in Starbucks!!!!
TY, I'd never heard of "gas absorption" before. We're kind of in that "in between" of not-really-renting and not-really-homeowning...my parents are military, they sold one house and turned around and used the money to buy this house for me and Hubby, so my mom is my landlord. We're mostly in charge of upkeep; the SA market was good for buying when we bought it and we're hoping to get a good return if and when we sell. Or if we decide to stay here, we will eventually just buy it from them and start amassing credit as homeowners ourselves.
Anyway we just over the summer purchased a new AC unit which has easily halved the $ on our electric bill; the number I quoted above is our average for last year before we had the new unit installed so we anticipate that it will be considerably lower next year. However, I will bring up your information on the fridge, the current one we have is due to be replaced (1st, possibly 2nd generation since the house was built in the 70s) and that may be a great option.
Again, mucho mucho thanks for the head's up.
I wouldn't be surprised. When I was doing NaNoWriMo and parked at Starbucks for hours a day, it was definitely possible. (However, having read Katrine's recent thread, I was reminded how yummy and affordable gas station cappucinos are and treated myself to a huge English Toffee coffee for $1.19. Ahhhh the power of shopping around!)
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Last edited by cutey5032; 10-15-2008 at 09:55 AM.
Oh, shit:
Rent in MKE: 4150
Rent in Vegas: 6000
Electric 4 both:1720
Plane tickets 4 a year: 4000
Cable/Internet: 480
Cell Phone:1400
Food:5200
Gas:800/yr (I don't drive that much)
Body Mantience (hair/nails/gym) 2400
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