What are your monthly living expenses?

[chookies]

house is paid for would LOVE to have a smaller place on an acre or two--will accept reasonable offer in cash or trade for a mobile home and generator

vehicles paid for.

i grow as many veggies/fruits as i can. what isn't eaten in-season is canned. if i find staples on sale (or at the discount grocer), i load up--been doing that for a little over a year now. have lots of incandescent bulbs, and get them every time i see them at the dollar store or on special someplace else. little goes to waste: if it's gone over (but not TOO far over), it's chicken food. most of the clothing i have is from charity stores. i dress warmly in winter and keep the heat as low as possible. same for AC in the summer (lots of trees around help keep it cool). dogs eat well--and i get a variety of foods from discount grocery or on sale. if i need something out of the ordinary, i check charity stores first, then classifieds or yard sales; last resort is retail.

george says "ow" when i pinch him.

benjamin tells him to stop it.

 

[Cetawin]

Quote:

I just pulled my 14 year old out of public school 8th grade to homeschool...the first thing I did was dump pre-algebra (she is not a math friendly student) and add basic general math...she is learning to balance a checkbook, make a budget and manage finances. I was one of those brainiacs that took math through Calc, Trig, statistical, etc etc because I loved math...I have yet to use any of it aside from Geometry and general math...I see no need to torture her with something she will never use...were she interested in a field that utilized algebra I could see teaching it but she will avoid it like the plague so she will learn things she needs to know and will use.

I agree about the history...while I loved history, there are very few days where knowing what happened, what caused and the parties involved in the War of 1812 or who discovered Florida (Ponce De Leon by the way) is needed knowledge. They can forego some of that nonsense and learn what they need for their future.

 

[chickbird]

if your child is going to college, most are going to require algebra for degrees, i agree with you that schools should be teaching basic reading, writing, math. i think if students get the basics they have a foundation to build on. i also think you are right that schools and certainly parents should teach children to save and manage money. we see people living well above their means, charging large amts., borrowing more than they can pay back... i know there are many that are faced with loss of jobs, but this is all the more reason for having some savings so that if something like this occurs, at least there is some time to make decisions. banks are in trouble because they have loaned people more for homes than the person should have been loaned. i think credit cards are probably one on the worst things for people who do not know how to manage and this causes them to live beyond their means. i am amazed by all of you with the clever ways you cut cost. i do the financial management for our family and i live within our means and like many of you try to save on food and anything that we need, i buy 0nly what i can pay for and never spend all of our monthly income..i always save for rainey days . our utility bill is our main expense, averaging 400-600.00 per month for heating and cooling.

 

[Cetawin]

Quote:
Most college require Math not necessarily algebra...our intention is to allow her to attend the community college for SAT and ACT prep classes and for those exams once she turns 16, she can attend with no problem.

I really believe if children can read, comprehend what they read, know the basics of Math and focus there is nothing they cannot learn.

Here is another neat savings idea....I have 3 very useful apps on my Droid that I use constantly.

One is a coupon app...when I am going to go grocery shopping, I open that app and pull up that week's coupons or current coupons for the various stores I shop at, then I print them and take them with. Most of the coupons on the app are not the same ones you get in the paper and flyers s I get extra coupons by using theo app. I also use it for coupons when we are going out to eat and etc etc.

The second one is called "We Rewards" and you get points for various things such as taking a picture of yourself with a can of pepsi and submitting it....that one was worth 100 pts if taken within certain dates....there was one for taking your picture with your waiter at TGI Fridays...that one was worth 250 pts....the points accumulate and you cash them in for "Cash". In a little over 2 weeks of having this app, I have cashed in for $74 and received a check in the mail.

The Third app....my bar code scanner. Any item I am interested in purchasing, I use the barcode scanner app and scanner (ie my camera) to scan the barcode...then I select search....it tells me where that item can be purchased within whatever number of miles...mine is set for 30 miles...and they are listed in order of cost....lowest to highest. So I can quickly see if I can save money by driving 10 miles and buying it elsewhere or not. I can also check online prices and see if it is cheaper to order online and have it shipped.

 

[PunkinPeep]

Quote:
I am all for accentuating the practical every day skills that most/many of us are lacking.

But about algebra....my hubby and i were talking about this just the other day. I have heard lots of people say that regular people (non-mathematicians/scientists) have no use for algebra. I disagree. I use basic algebra all the time. I use it to figure out how much medicine to give my chickens when they get sick, to figure out how much feed i'm using per chicken, to figure out how many chickens should be able to live in my coop, to figure out lots of things in the kitchen....and i periodically find myself figuring these things out for other people who don't have any algebra skills.

I didn't remember enough the information i struggled through to barely pass calculus, but algebra skills....i'm very thankful for. And i don't know how much more basic you get than cooking and raising chickens.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

I use basic algebra quite a bit too. I think the whole system needs to constantly be balanced and readjusted to prioritize what education and courses have the highest long term ROI (return on investment).

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

well now I see the post is monthly LIVING expenses. But the cost of trying to run our small business is greater then 5K per month, and it almost never breaks even. Just trying to pay the employees' wages is the most important part, and after office expenses there's usually none left over. Actually its usually in the red, taking from my income from my job or from savings our relatives set aside for our kids. So that's the way we live, does that count for living expenses? The home expenses: mortgage, property tax, one of the cars, utilities, Blue Cross/Blue Shield for healthcare insurance, the prescriptions and doctors bills that BC/BS doesn't cover, my professional license and education fees, and food for family of 5 (gluten free diet) is around 5K a month, too. I guess our entertainment budget is the chickens. We don't even do vacations, we don't smoke, we don't buy cable TV or air conditioning. We have not bought new clothes in over 8 years, except last week I bought an outfit for $14 at SteinMart because the youngest son was embarrassed at my outfit

If you look at our house, we look deceivingly well-off! I think that's just because the little white house is situated up on a hill. Actually just a berm. Looks like The American Dream House. I am very thankful for that; its lucky, at least, to look rich!

 

[Wardogg]

Quote:
I actually went and met Dave Ramsey last week. Got to shake his hand and introduce myself. Watched him do the show for a little while. It was really neat. Not often you get to meet someone that changed your life, and your family tree.

Debt Free since March 2010 and will never have debt again.

 

[Eglyntine]

We are on a strict budget but I think what most ppl do not realize is that just because you have a budget does not mean it stays the same all year long. Summer seems like it is always cheaper than the winter. Just our power bill alone is enough to make a healthy person choke. We go from around $150/mo in the summer to $400+/mo when winter hits. It helps that I am home with the boys too so we do not have the added expense of daycare and since I homeschool we do not have the extra expenses that come with sending them to public school which I do not know how we would ever be able to afford something like that.

If I worked outside of the home, all of my paycheck would be going just to daycare that is for sure. The last time I priced it, with the daycare expense, driving back and forth picking them up, the extras that go along with having them in daycare I was looking at paying $2000/mo and that was 3 years ago, I cannot imagine what the cost would be now.

We just picked up a second vehicle in August and while I was super frugal with the total price ($5300) and I picked up a 16 year old vehicle too but it is an added expense we did not have before. $205/mo payment plus it bumped our insurance up from $119/mo to $155/mo. so that increased the budget. But now I have a truck to run the boys around, do the household and farm shopping, etc. and it is wonderful.

Overall we are around $2600/mo during the winter months which leaves like $0 for anything but we do have food and necessities included in that amount so although we are not able to do anything extra besides eat and pay bills we still have a roof over our heads, food in our bellies and we spend A LOT of family time together which in my opinion is really all you need in life.

Most of the expenses are credit cards and lines of credit from our water store business that went under at the beginning of the year and I could declare bankruptcy but since I can pay it back (although it makes life a bit stressful at times) I am staying away from that option as much as I can. Once all of that is taken care of our monthly expenses would only be around $1800/mo.

Budgets are definitely something that can get your finances under control and keep them that way but it is a living document and it has to be changed constantly to work through your life. Our goal is to get to a point where we only pay cash for everything. We already do that with most everything and like I said if we had not lost our business our personal life would have stayed that way.

I think the most important class that should be taught over and over to our children, from grade 2 to 12 they should have to take a class that teaches that checks and credit cards, and your parents are not our endless buckets-o-money. Just because the card has not been declined does not mean you should keep spending money. Our kids do not need credit cards, they need bank accounts without OD protection (savings and checking) and jobs and they should be charged rent, food, clothes, toys, etc. (You put it into a college or trust fund) That shows them that things in life are not free, it gives them experience with out to take care of their expenses and where money comes from. They can still be kids, but only after their responsibilities are taken care of. And I totally agree with the person that made the statement that there should be less fluff and more practical subject material in our schools. History should be an elective, not Finances and trade skills.

I homeschool and I am very happy with knowing that my children will be taught how life really works instead of fairyland. Pretend is fun in the right setting but when you are out in the world by yourself that is not going to get you very far.

I definitely agree that to live the simple life seems expensive but it in my opinion is definitely the best way to grow up. I have many fond memories growing up and father's yearly income was $9k a year to provide for 6 ppl. I did not suffer that is for sure and I wish I could give my children even half of the fun and experience I got growing up.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Very interesting article: Retirees: Get ready to live on $190 a month

"... the average savings of 50-somethings is only $29,000, which comes out to an income of $190 a month over 20 years"

WOW

I wonder what people that are 50+ and don't have enough money for retirement are thinking about all this. What were they thinking when they were 20? or 30? or 40? (I mean the ones that didn't save money... not the ones that had it and lost it in investments, etc.)

The ones that didn't and don't save for retirement... are they thinking:

1) I won't need that much money to live on
2) I'll just keep working until I die
3) I'm sure government, family, etc. will take care of me when I'm old
4) If I don't think about it, it won't be a problem

I mean, those are kinda the only options, right?

Crazy!