What are your monthly living expenses?

[Nifty-Chicken]

We have a HUGE diversity of people on BYC. It got me to thinking, and I became curious what our peep's monthly living expenses are.

I'm doing a poll since it will allow you to submit your amount without having to post it associated to your username (so it is anonymous).

So, what is your monthly budget? How much do you spend per month? If you go on vacations, etc. just average those into the monthly figure.

 

[Boyd]

I know I'm on the low end. All I pay are taxes n insurance on the new place.. No mortgage, no car payments, have more flour than pre-packaged foods, freezer full of garden bounty, cans of fruits n veggies, vacuum bags of dehydrated foods.. I do most of the mechanical work on cars, equipment etc, scrounge and recycle everything I can, garage sale, shop the adds, thrift stores..

I do odd jobs here and there, mainly computer and network stuff.

And I am trying to shrink our footprint without breaking the budget.

 

[debilorrah]

I just figure our expenses are what we bring home because at the end of the month it's always gone.

 

[Rozzie]

Quote:
No utility bills or internet costs? No toilet paper?

 

[Rozzie]

Whoever clicked on $5000-6000, I am officially offering to trade paychecks with you...

 

[Cindiloohoo]

I do everything I can to save money. We could go through a WHOLE LOT more if I let up off the strict budget we follow, slightly stricter now since we were absolutely bare bones this time last year and up until a few months ago when DH FINALLY found work! We do have some leeway so it doesn't get super redundant around here, and we put a chunk in savings weekly. Every once in a while we will go get some from savings and have a crazy whatever-we-want-to-do-week, and then we're good for a year or so

We used to travel ALL YEAR LONG, so we are burnt out on "vacation" type stuff. We'd rather have a movie madness marathon than go out of town, and sometimes we do.

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

Don't mind sharing.
We sneak by on a little over $2,000 a month. No extras around here except internet.
Trying to set up after school daycare here to help get the mortgage paid off sooner then later.
No vacations either.
Food budget is very small.
We both hunt and fish to fill the freezers, and every year the garden gets bigger.
We eat a fairly strict Traditional Foods diet, so no fast food, and lots of bulk co-op food stocking up.
And we buy local raw milk.
And of course, we have lots of chickens, which we feed only local pasture and grains.

I also make my own clothes, and am learning to make tailored shirts for my hubby.

ETA: We heat with wood, so no heating fuel costs either.

 

[key west chick]

I honestly had zero clue. I had to call up DH and ask. Its a lot more than I had thought...

 

[dieselgrl48]

Well too much for the money that is coming in.Filing for bankruptcy, house is pending foreclosure,No decent rental propertie's, 2 repo'd vechicle's.One grandson, one daughter,And all my bird's and my 3 long time house pet's.

 

[sonew123]

I have to agree with Deb-whatever goes into the house goes out before I send the bills

... check is depostied before actual payday and gone by payday!!! My family is happy and healthy thats all that matters at this point-roof-food-lights-check, check, check-were good for now--oh and my fluffy friends