What are your monthly living expenses?

[X2Farm]

Somewhere between 1,000-2,000

We work off most of our rent every month, which helps out a TON! We've not paid more then half the rent since we moved in here a few months ago.

Our biggest expense is fuel. Diesel is $3/gal here, and its about 50 miles round trip for DH to go to work, plus the short morning trips driving DS to school, store, errands, etc. Fuel is actually almost as much as rent, for us, yuk!

I finally got to where I could grow a garden, we've got chickens for eggs and/or meat. Dairy will be provided by our goats after the nanny kids, and we're not very frivilous. Though we could budget down more then we do now, we also understand a few splurges here and there go a long way, whether it be ice cream with the kids... a new jacket, etc... its always nice to get a lil something

 

[redhen]

Quote:
New England has some of the highest electric rate in the states. Do you run electric heat or use a lot of hot water from an electric water heater?

I thought ours was kind of high at $350 a month. I put a meter on the barn and found we were using $150 a month out there for lighting, ventilation, and hot water. The remaining $200 on the house is hot water, well pump, a freezer, two refrigerators, and a lot of gadgets.

We do have an electric water heater.. but we take short showers.. ( i make sure of that.. i'm the shower nazi around here...lol)
But... we run a dishwasher.. so... that may be part of it.. but darn..how much electricity do they take?
we also do have an extra fridge running in the basement..(filled with frozen animal food/greens from my garden and left over food and extra frozen eggs i froze to feed them in the winter..etc...)
.. we also have a big cube freezer running too... (more animal food and our extra meat..)
So..i hate to turn those off and lose all that food for my animals..

In the middle of winter..we sometimes get $600 bills... With running a small wall heater for my pigs outside( i dont want them to freeze..*sigh*..) and a heat bulb for the birds.(sometimes).... and another heater in my bedroom.. (cause my room is in a finished basement... and its gets a bit too cold for me sometimes down there.. even though we do have heat vented in..)

But we dont leave lights or t.vs on all the time... they are mostly off all day long..
only turned on a few hours at night.
OOh i forgot to add..our heat is oil.. wonder if our furnace is electric start? must be..

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Quote:
I hear ya! We're on a tiered system so our electricity can be up to $0.40 a Kwh! I wrote about ways we save electricity , but at the end of the day we decided to install solar panels to really bring our electric bill down.

 

[debilorrah]

Quote:
I hear ya! We're on a tiered system so our electricity can be up to $0.40 a Kwh! I wrote about ways we save electricity , but at the end of the day we decided to install solar panels to really bring our electric bill down.

You are a Green God!!!! We are using 1 MW of solar power at our new facility for work. It will pay for itself in 5 years, and the cost is $5.7 million. THAT is something!!

 

[silkieluver_07]

Mine is under $500 a month, at least until I start college next fall.

My truck is paid off, all I have to pay is my gas, insurance, chicken feed, clothes and other miscellaneous items (movies/activities). Most of my paycheck I try to save if possible.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
I hear ya! We're on a tiered system so our electricity can be up to $0.40 a Kwh! I wrote about ways we save electricity , but at the end of the day we decided to install solar panels to really bring our electric bill down.

Great info, Nifty! Thanks!

 

[Beth G.]

Quote:
um... try living in the San Francisco Bay Area where EVERYTHING is more expensive than most parts of the country!
Examples:
Connecticut state income tax is 5% for most people. In California, income tax for most people is 9.5%!
Connecticut gas: $2.99 California: $3.14
... and on and on.

Your right San Fran is expensive my Bro lived there for awhile.

I wish my gas was $2.99!! I paid $3.19 last night. The $2.99 must be in very populated areas of CT b/c where I live I haven't seen under $3.00 in awhile. Our property taxes are high here too. I live in a shoebox of a house and I pay almost $5k in taxes per year just on that lot and house!!

I'd love to move to VA.

 

[sonew123]

ahh This makes me ill to think what we pay every month.

Let me start off saying that 5 yers ago when the economy was great-we were doing great-DH is in real estate sales and a contractor-and when the market bottomed out around here so did his work:-( SO we went from living a very comfortable life to living paycheck to paycheck. Some of you remember I posted a thread a while back about bakruptcy? We have not gone that route..yet..however we have been on payments plans and settlements with all the companies we owe$ to. We just did not feel right to not pay something back to what we spent-trust me if it were fast and simple to file we would have but we didnt qualify for chapt7 and 13 is basically what we are doing. Even still, every cent is accounted for and the pay is gone the second it hits the banks-

Our monthly expenses
Mortgage-2500$ taxes are escrowed into that and insurance too( for those BYCer's that have been to my house they can verify the house is NOTHING special but the cabin and land that comes with it is what we pay for-bought the house when the market and income were 2x as much as what we live off of now)
We renovated cabin -back when we had the $ to do so-to rent weekly to help offset mortgage-600-700$ a week from May-Nov1st-it is not always booked up and we just went through our first year doing it and it brought in 6000$ to help payoff some debt.
sold our pontoon boat we had for 8 years
sold our catepillar toy thing My dh had for work ( man toy??)
sold all antiques we had and everything else to help pay off and catch up some bills
electric 200-800$ per month depending on season-DH is installing an outdoor woodburner to completely offset that cost as I JUST got done finally paying off the 3000$ electric bill from last WInter! and a 2500$ fuel bill

and I kept the heat on 64 at all times.
TV-cable-phone 160$ a month-all though Im pulling the plug on cable and getting basic that will cut it down another 65$ before Winter
cellphone-165$ a month thats after a 19% discount through work -oh and because of my contract they give me 42$ a month towards that bill-3 phones on it and we ALL need them due to the fact we are 25 minutes from town and commnication is a must.
food 3-400$ a month for 4+ healthy eaters
100$ a month on pet feed ( 50+ chickens 2 dogs 2 cats)
truck payment-579$ 4 years old for DH's contracting business
my car -369$simple basic Kia sportage 3 years old
school lunches 5$ a day for both girls when they dont pack a lunch
havent used a credit card in 3 years
we do NOT vacation anymore-used to every year its been 4 years since we've done that-I will go on a weekend trip for chickenstocks and such but thats only happened once... so far
We don't host gatherings anymore either-used to all the time-except my recent chickenstock and everyone helped and pitched in enough to where my expenses were not killing me when it was over except those shirts LOL..

I dont think im forgetting anything-all the other expenses clothes-eating out etc..only come if we make a little extra or get gift certificates for gifts ( which is what we tell people we would like if they feel the need to purchase anything for us for bdays and Xmas-this way my whole family can enjoy it-)

For Xmas ( since we have 2 DD's 12 and 15) I make alot ( 150-200)of egg ornaments to sell at a craft show to raise extra $ for my girls
and I sell eggs eating and fertile to offset the pet feed bill-it usually breaks even..

whatever comes in goes out immediately so thats my life!

 

[Mattemma]

2k-3k

If needed I would be happy to get rid of internet,cable,cell,and house phone. I can do without them,but others cling to this stuff and whine if I mention canceling.I will if it comes to money for the house.House first because our new bank(did a refi) is just itching to take it.

For comparison here our some of our biils:
House 550
car 330
cable 56
net 15
cell 110
last electric was 48
last gas was 56
last water 28
3 month garbage 45
house taxes lot 1 is $1,350 and lot 2 is $33 for a year.Going up due to 2 passed school levies.
we put $400 a month on a medical card to cover what insurance does not pay(pretty much all)
House insurance is $526 a year
Car insurance on 2 old one new is $450 for six months I think.

I always tell dh we should get a house under 1000sf and insulate the heck out of it.Smaller house and bigger lot.

I love sending him houses we could buy,and actually found one that was 440 sq ft. Ofcourse that was to small as it was just 1 bedroom.We need 3 beds,so I have found houses at 700-800 sq ft . I don't know why he wants a bigger house when you really just spend time in 2-3 rooms,and don't *need* cathedral ceilings or an echo in a room! Just more to clean,heat,and cool.

I love solar panels.Dh's parents have solar water heaters in their country.I would love to get that sort of thing.Our water heater just flooded the house and I paid $700 to get a new one put in. I know we should prep for expenses,but we never do.

We don't have income tax in our area,but my mom does in her city an hour away.Her property tax is $3,500 a year.I thought that was bad until I came across a 100k house for sale near her city that had a tax of $5,680 a year.Good luck to them selling with that tax.Sales tax is 6.5%.Gas for the car ranges from $2.69 to $2.95 the past few days.Diesel is $3.11.

There is so much more to consider than just liking a house.I always just looked at the house before,and never so much into the taxes and local expenses that would affect us. I know better now!

Once our car and house payments are gone we will be doing good.Ofourse that will take another 3-12 years,but if nothing else we all know time marches on!

 

[Mattemma]

It is tough paying for a house that is worth about 20k+ less that what we paid for it 5 years ago. Tougher to know everyone around us is buying up and paying off their homes-homes nicer than ours.Ah well we bought right before prices dropped. Only option is to keep paying or sell at a loss and buy a cheaper house.