My Cost of Living

"Wobbles the Mind" (wobblesthemind)
07/02/2016 at 22:02 • Filed to: Personal Finances

Well after the last 90 days I can officially say I have cut my spending immensely this year and surpassed my annual goal. I’ve had so much of a boost that I paid off “ one” of my student loans two years earlier than I ever planned. *Warning: Upcoming TMI; cost of living with actual numbers! *

Here’s the Summary

Necessities : $1,100 a month ($13,200 a year).
Debt : $795 a month ($9,540 a year).
Charges : $433.33 a month ($5,200 a year).

Total : $2,328.33 a month ($27,939.96 a year).

That’s $13.43 an hour on a 40 hour weekly salary.
Basically $3.19 every single hour of the day all year long.

Savings and Tithing not included because I don’t want to know the yearly on those since I know I’ll stop if I see them. I don’t have any non-work related investments.

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Here’s the TMI Portion I Warned You About

My original goal for the year was simply to cut my budget for food, entertainment, incidentals, and automotive to $100 a week . However, my secondary goal relating to dietary and fitness progression allowed me to annihilate that projection. For the last 90 days my actual total spending in those four categories has been averaging $58 a week (or $3,016 a year ideally). That’s without me observing my spending for the last 30 days. I’m conditioned!

Because of the savings, I’ve been able to move my utilities and membership charges into my regular budget. In other words, $251.33 a month [ ($58 a week * 52 weeks a year) / 12 months ] covers:

Food : Restaurants (take out/sit down), Groceries, Drink

Entertainment : Books, Movies, Games, Music, Activities, Events

Incidentals : Grooming, Toiletries, Cleaners, Containers, etc.

Automotive : Maintenance, Cleaning, and Fuel

While the remaining $182 a month [( $100 a week * 52 weeks) / 12 months] - ($251.33 a month) covers:

Utilities : Electricity, Gas, Water, Sewer, Trash

Fees : Gym Membership, Subscriptions, Service Charges

Necessities would be Housing, all Insurances, Phone, and anything thati need to have that requires a monthly payment but it doesn’t go towards paying anything off. Those are $1,100 a month which would be $13,200 a year.

As far as debt goes the required payments amount to $795 a month ($9,540 a year). That would be my other student loan ($3,748.90 remaining), all the vehicles that are still financed ($28,215.35 remaining), and the unsecured loan I took out in order to pay off my credit cards coming out of college ($3,728.38 remaining). So a total of $35,692.63 in remaining debt since graduating 3 years ago. That means I’m still 45 months from everything being paid off if I were to make the minimum required loan payments. Thankfully I’ve kept to the snowball method so the student loan will be paid off next year at the same time as the unsecured loan I mentioned. I just need to avoid additional large debt for the next 18 months (hence why I didn’t buy that $20k Acura NSX back in December. No regerts?).

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This is written more for myself, but I need extra eyes just to keep me honest and feeling obligated to continue moving forward. I want to have a handle on things before an emergency comes up or I end up with a mail order family or something. I always say, “ You can only have two carry-ons when boarding a flight, it helps everyone on board when your personal baggage is small enough not to need the overhead bin space. ”*

*Note: Only occasion I have ever said that.

DISCUSSION (19)

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Wobbles the Mind
07/02/2016 at 22:06

Just wait until you own a home and get married. Your bills are merely in the larval stage.

Dru > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
07/02/2016 at 22:11

Am married. Also own home. Can confirm.

Trunk Impaired 318 > Wobbles the Mind
07/02/2016 at 22:16

I don’t want to graduate next year simply because of my student loans. Over $200k.....

Wobbles the Mind > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
07/02/2016 at 22:16

That’s all I was thinking. I’m frightened! Still want both though...

Birddog > Wobbles the Mind
07/02/2016 at 22:18

Just wait till you get Divorced..

I’ve been doing a lot of the same math lately just because I don’t want to retire when I’m too old to have fun.

One thing that shocked me is that i could save money on groceries by eating at work. I work at a hospital. The meals are portioned “properly” and average $132/mo for 2 per day. The bonus is serious weight loss!

Now, If i could cut down on my Beer consumption.. I could really pack some cash away.

Wobbles the Mind > Trunk Impaired 318
07/02/2016 at 22:19

All my old buddies that went into advance fields are in the same boat. Works out great in the long run, but that learning curve at the front...

Milky > Wobbles the Mind
07/02/2016 at 22:25

I need to math my money out like this. I’d probably save a lot more money if that way.

Trunk Impaired 318 > Wobbles the Mind
07/02/2016 at 22:26

Yea, I’ll be fine as th worst case starting salary in my field is $80k and realistically Im looking at 6 figures right out of school, if not within a couple years. Plus I’ve got a strong possibility of landing a government gig which would really help cut down on how many real dollars need to be paid back.

FromCanadaWithLove > Wobbles the Mind
07/02/2016 at 22:28

If it makes you feel better, by the time I graduate, I will have been in university for 7 years. Only 1.5 left!

PatBateman > Trunk Impaired 318
07/02/2016 at 22:28

My friend graduated from college with debt, got a great paying job, and lived in a $300/month studio efficiency apartment for three years until he paid off the student loans.

You can do it. It'll suck for a bit, but you'll appreciate it later.

XJDano > Wobbles the Mind
07/02/2016 at 22:29

good job man.

I need to sit down and set an actual budget. Not many people do that, we have just come into some expected & unexpected expenses (van & AC unit for house) we are hoping to get both these $8K purchases paid off in 3 years.

We also just paid about $800 in medical bills.

Thanks for sharing & reminding to buckle down on expenses.

Funktheduck > Wobbles the Mind
07/02/2016 at 22:30

Sweet. I’ll be debt free by the end of 2017 (not including newly acquired mortgage).

I have one big loan payment every month because I took the shorter term. Sometimes I hate myself for taking the 3 year option instead of the 5 but I’ll wind up paying less over time as a result so that’s good. I have 12 or 13 payments left on that. After that’s payed off the extra money goes into my car payment. My student loans I already pay about 50% more per month on so they’ll be done around when my car loan is. My student loans were relatively small because of scholarships and I worked my butt off while in school.

I'm super debt averse so it's a good feeling watching the balances drop

Trunk Impaired 318 > PatBateman
07/02/2016 at 22:34

Thats more or less the plan for right now

Frenchlicker > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
07/02/2016 at 23:22

I've come to the conclusion that in my area owning a home should not be more expensive than renting. If one saves the money not spent on rent for the exact same thing it should more than cover the incidentals one may face throughout a year.

Frenchlicker > Birddog
07/02/2016 at 23:24

I had this shitty job at a hotel once, it had the perk of $2 a day employee dining room. The food wasn’t the greatest but you could eat there all day if you pleased.

Birddog > Frenchlicker
07/02/2016 at 23:31

I was warned to stay away from the Hotel business a long time ago. They don’t pay. I still interviewed with one “Historic” place in Davenport. When they hit me with $12/hr I couldn’t run away fast enough.

samssun > Wobbles the Mind
07/03/2016 at 00:44

What all goes into the “Charges” category? Hopefully not just interest?

You may want to give Mint.com a try if you haven’t already. Tracks your spending and lets you categorize & set budgets as broad or focused as you want. If you put everything on a debit/credit card, it’ll give you a picture of where every dime goes.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Frenchlicker
07/03/2016 at 12:18

That is a good mindset. It took years of small sacrifices, but my mortgage is significantly less than what many of my friends pay for rent.

Frenchlicker > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
07/03/2016 at 12:22

I wish I was in the place to get a loan for a house. However I will have to do with paying rent while building credit and savings for a down payment. I think it is crazy when people get a house with no down payment and then bundle everything into their mortgage.