What are your monthly living expenses?

[Raiquee]

I would say 2k-3k.

Mortgage- $850 (not including insurance/taxes...then it would be 1100)
My car- $180 (almost payed off)
DH car- $220
Cells- $ 150
Cable/internet- $70
Electric/gas- $150-350, depending. We are burning wood too

Dental bill - $135
Car Insurance- $130
Credit Cards- $100 (we had these payed off, but then being layed off and having more expense than income, well..you get what happens. Plan to pay these off again as soon as one of us gets a job!)


There is more, well gas/food etc I didn't figure in. I think i'm forgetting something. I hope to get the dental bill and the credit cards gone within a month or two of being employed, so that will free up some income

Then that will go right into savings!

 

[silkiechicken]

Heckel's Hens :

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It's not always as great as it seems! We are in this bracket, b/c we live in a high COLA area and also own a rental house in another state. We do have more than enough, but we aren't living like crazy, either!

+1

Expenses can really add up if you have a business or property.​

 

[feather and mountain man]

The pole asked you for expenses not income, I have no problem sharing our expenses $3600 a month. I don't have a car payment and our mortgage is $230 a month. Not broke at the end of the month and kids are prob spoiled but I save my money. I don't buy a car unless I have cash because I will not pay $14,000 for a 10,000 for a car. I pay extra on the mortgage every month. Times are tough and we got tougher.

 

[chickbird]

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if you want to share this info i don't see anything wrong or offending about your sharing.

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

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6) There's not a thing I can do about it, but I'll try again, and again, and again, and fail......

I'm an RN. My portion of our Blue Cross Blue Sheild health care insurance is 632/month. Each family member pays 750/calendar year deductible. There are 5 of us. What I had dutifully saved toward retirement has repeatedly been used to pay doctors' and hospital bills, because we're not blessed with good health. We don't smoke or drink alcohol, don't buy cable TV, don't afford vacations, don't buy air conditioning in the summer. We have paid off our college educations by working many, many hours. We have applied for public aid to help with the medical bills and even for help with food assistance so we could try to save for retirement, but are denied (I make too much money!) I work 12 hour shifts. We live the healthiest lifestyle possible, except staying up too late after working too long, to blog on backyard chickens

! I feed my family of 5 on $18 per day by budgeting very, very carefully (gluten-free)

Somebody told me "you need to work less, so you qualify for public aid". I have a hard time with that. I just do not respect taking from others when I can provide for our needs. Plus, I keep plugging along in the belief that I will be able to save (again), eventually! One of these pretty green paychecks won't have anybody's broken arm or asthma attack or MRI written all over it, I'm sure! I know I can, I know I can, I know I can......

Cobra wanted 2,940/month for healthcare insurance when I was inbetween jobs. I could not pay that, so my next job took my monthly payments for 18 months before offering any benefit, so we paid not only the premiums but every medical expense out of pocket. In 2 years I paid out 21K to the children's hospital and the health insurance, by working at 2 hospitals at the same time, nights and weekends, too. I don't know why, but RN's generally have paid a higher percentage for healthcare than any other field. Now, most RN jobs do not even offer healthcare insurance, they'll only hire "per diem" or "in-house registry". In the future, if I can not find work which offers benefits,THEN maybe we'll sock all my pretty green money into savings instead of health insurance? ...and file for public aid everytime the kids need to go back to the hospital?

 

[Dunkopf]

People on public aid aren't doing too well. It's nice for those in need that can't earn enough money to feed and house their kids. That's about it. I don't really believe that SS will go away. Reason is because there are just too many people that don't earn enough to save for retirement. At least you have health care now. One thing this recession has taught me is to be happy with what I do have.

Sorry you lost all your savings to HC bills. That's a whole debate all to itself and never ends well.

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

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I had a coworker from Trinidad, she'd say "Thank de Loooord we's gots a job to complain about! And Ye Be Thankin de Looord when ye's gots a pillow for de head All Your Own, Girrrrllll, ye be sleeping up against a WALL someday, then ye be Thankful to the LOOORD for the pillow you can call your own today! At our job they may be floggin' us, but we got a job to be flogged at, and we need to be THANKFUL for it!"

My oldest friend from high school recently lost their home to their 3 year old's leukemia. He's alive and doing OK, they're renting a house, they have good friends and family support. Another friend is losing everything to his 11 year old's cancer. I thank God everyday my life is as sweet as it is. I'll be in good company when I drop dead working acute care in a hospital, some of those nurses who've done so have been the funniest characters! I'll be proud to walk the same path as them, if thats the way I go.

It was fun to be jealous of others who "had it easier" and had their IRA's and pensions intact by age 40! Then the economy crashed and now I feel bad for them. What I've been coping with feels old and somewhat comfortable to me, but its terrifying to them! Its a different world for many, many more people now than what their good parents and grandparents had brought them up for. I keep thinking, "if somebody had shown me how, maybe I could have done this better", but here's all these people around me FLIPPED OUT over losing their retirement savings, and its obvious they were smarter than me, with guidance from family and friends. It just saddens me. I hate to see good people suffer, they worked so carefully to sock their money away.