What's your average monthly expense???

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dreamer
Posts: 48
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2014 11:23 am

What's your average monthly expense???

Post by dreamer »

Hello everyone,
For past few months, I have been trying hard to reduce my monthly expense but I couldn't reduce it much. So I'm just wondering what's the usual monthly expense you have, specially if you are married and don't have any kids. If I know yours or at least get some idea, then it will be easy for me to concentrate on specific categories. So here is my breakdown (average expense per category per month):

Rent/mortgage, insurance, rental insurance, etc: $1750
Phone + Internet: $160
Electricity + gas, water: $100
Auto Payment: $560
Auto Insurance: $86
Gas: $150 - $200
Grocery: $250 - $300
Foods (eating out, office lunch, etc): $150-$200
Entertainment, shopping, movie, etc: $150-$200
Debt: $200-$300
Misc: $150-$200

Family members: 2
Location: San Diego, CA

So now if I take all lower bound, then it gets $3706, if I take upper one, then it becomes: $4056 :dollar . On an average it generally goes between $3700 - $4200 :oops:. Does it look normal? :confused

So in which category I am expending more than usual? What's your usual expense in those categories? If you share yours, it would be really helpful. Please feel free to criticize my expense breakdown. I'm open for any suggestions which can reduce my month expense.

If you want to share yours, you can use this template too:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Rent/mortgage, insurance, rental insurance, etc:
Phone + Internet:
Electricity + gas, water:
Auto Payment:
Auto Insurance:
Gas:
Grocery:
Foods (eating out, office lunch, etc):
Entertainment, shopping, movie, etc:
Debt:
Misc:
Average monthly total:

Family members:
Location:
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks a lot in advance. :happy
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Jerry55
Posts: 864
Joined: Tue Jan 27, 2015 12:56 am
Location: That Toddlin' Town

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by Jerry55 »

Real Estate Property Tax - $417.00
Phone + Internet: - $125
Electricity + gas, water: - $235 (lower when no heat or A/C is needed here in the Chicago burbs)
Auto / Motorcycle Payment: 0
Auto + Motorcycle Insurance: - $85
Homeowners Ins. - $62
Gas: - $120
Grocery: - $200
Foods (eating out, office lunch, etc): - $200 (this is on the high side. Usually about $50/month)
Entertainment, shopping, movie, etc: - $150
Cell Phone (4 phones- Sprint Unlimited everything) - $215
Long Term Care Ins - $210
Debt: 0
Misc: - $200
Average monthly total: $2157, but I'll round that up to ~ 2200 or 2300

But I'm single (I pay for 3 other peoples phones) and retired.
Works for me ~
Last edited by Jerry55 on Mon Apr 20, 2015 3:02 am, edited 2 times in total.
Retired CSRS on 12/19/2012 @ age 57 w/39 years | Good Bye Tension, Hello Pension !!!
harikaried
Posts: 2613
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2012 2:47 pm

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by harikaried »

dreamer wrote:Phone + Internet: $160
This looks highish. We have 2 smartphones and cable internet for about $100.

Auto: $1000 (fuel, insurance, payment, service)
Bills: $200 (electricity, gas, internet, phone, sewer, water)
Entertainment: $200 (arts, movies, streaming)
Food: $1400 (groceries, restaurants)
Gifts: $200 (donations [non-DAF], presents, weddings)
Health: $400 (gym, insurance, sports)
Home: $1000 (insurance, mortgage, property tax)
Shopping: $400 (clothes, crafts, electronics, games)
Travel: $800 (cruises, flights, hotels, trains)

Family members: 2
Location: Reno, NV
DVMResident
Posts: 1814
Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2011 8:15 pm

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by DVMResident »

This looks very normal for the area.
We also live in SD. Married, 1 infant child. Very similar budget, rolling 12-month expenditure is $4996. Our rent is higher by $650, which nearly accounts for the difference.

Is there a reason you want your budget lower? Not meeting your savings goals?
Savings is denial of needs/wants. If you're going to deny yourself, you should have a good reason.

----
Looking at your budget, nothing looks overly extravagant. Rent isn't going to get any better.
The car payments, phone service, and debt are eating into your cash-flow and keeping your costs up. When the car payments and debt (student? CC?) payments are done, you'll have a lot less fixed costs.
aaaaaaabbbbbbbbbb
Posts: 133
Joined: Sat Apr 11, 2015 12:34 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by aaaaaaabbbbbbbbbb »

Unmarried man renting room in a house in San Jose

Rent/mortgage, insurance, rental insurance, etc: $850 (includes most utilities). My girlfriend might move in with me, which would cut this expense in half and reduce some others too
Phone: $30/mo (T-mobile offers a great cheap $30/mo plan)
Internet: $10/mo (I split a $40/mo plan with 3 others)
Electricity + gas, water: included in rent
Auto Payment: none
Auto Insurance: $35/mo (non-owner's auto insurance, want to get this lowered, seems way too high considering how little I drive and my completely clean driving record)
Umbrella policy: $15/mo
Public transportation, cabs, car-sharing services: $200/mo
Gas: $0
Grocery: $50 (I work at Google so I eat three meals a day there for free. Before my free Google food, this figure was $150).
Foods (eating out, office lunch, etc): $100 (was more before I started working at Google)
Entertainment, shopping, movie, etc: $100
Debt: $0
Amortized cost of large purchases like computer, blender, etc.: $100/mo (maybe you meant for me to include this in Entertainment, shopping, movie, etc)
Travel: Paid for by exploiting credit card sign-up bonuses

Total $1490/mo

If gf moves in: $1050/mo estimated
Caduceus
Posts: 3527
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2012 1:47 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by Caduceus »

About $2,700 of your $3,700 expenses (conservative estimate) are housing related or auto related expenses. So it is unlikely you can make a huge jump in saving rate unless those costs go down somehow.
Mongoose
Posts: 120
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 5:02 pm

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by Mongoose »

You could probably shave off about $60/month on the phone/internet. Switching to a service like Republic Wireless has saved us a lot.
What is the car situation? Do you have 2 cars? I would sell that car and get one you could afford- ie, a car with no loan. If you were really serious (assuming you have 2 cars) sell one and bike more often (California is great for this).
Doing that would eliminate your $560 payment, lower your auto insurance (guessing here but maybe by $36?), lower your gas by maybe $75-$100? It would also improve your health.
With the phone and car that should give you about $700 that you can add to savings.
Food actually dosnt seem bad even with eating out- about 500 for 2 eating healthy is good.
400 for "waste" (entertainment/and misc) isn't all that terrible either. Could maybe try to drop that by $100 per month if you wanted to squeeze.

First month would be break even for the 2 $150 repub wireless phones you would need and the $500 bike you may need to buy.

Probably hard to get much lower on rent in San Diego but maybe if you have a spare room you could get it on Airbnb a few nights a month to help pay for that cost?
IlliniDave
Posts: 2388
Joined: Fri May 17, 2013 7:09 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by IlliniDave »

I'm single with kids grown and gone. My total monthly "ongoing" expenses average $2300-2600/mo. Much of that is in categories you don't show: medical, life, and disability insurance, home maintenance/property upkeep, gifts, clothing, as well as what I guess I'd call a generic sinking fund for occasional expenses such as auto repair maintenance, travel, home repair/replacement costs, medical expenses not covered by insurance, pet care, etc. That sinking fund is my largest single budget "item".

Regarding the specific list you are interested in, I included my approximate figures below. My Rent/mtg etc. category includes property taxes, HOA fees, and insurance on both my primary home and a cabin. Similarly the utilities figure includes both properties. My auto insurance number includes an umbrella policy.

Rent/mortgage, insurance, rental insurance, etc: $350
Phone + Internet: $131
Electricity + gas, water: $190
Auto Payment: $0
Auto Insurance: $52
Gas: $125
Grocery: $175
Foods (eating out, office lunch, etc): <$30
Entertainment, shopping, movie, etc: <$50
Debt: $0
Misc: $50
Don't do something. Just stand there!
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Stirlingsean2
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Mar 11, 2015 1:36 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by Stirlingsean2 »

These are all very normal. Nothing looks extravagant. Still if you have worries for future or something else look for extra income sources.
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Christine_NM
Posts: 2796
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 12:13 am
Location: New Mexico

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by Christine_NM »

Rent/mortgage, insurance, rental insurance, etc: home items & upkeep/yr = $600/month
Phone + Internet: $200
Electricity + gas, water: $200
Auto Payment: $0
Auto Insurance: $90
Gas: $10
Grocery: $250
Foods (eating out, office lunch, etc): $0
Entertainment, shopping, movie, etc: $500
Debt: $0
Misc: charity $300/mon
Average monthly total: $2250

Family members: 1
Location: urban New Mexico, if there is such a thing

This excludes state and fed taxes, health insurance, drug and copay costs, gifts, vacation. Add these in and whatever else is missing, and I think my real spending varies from $2800-$4000/month.

In 2014 I figured total spending on everything to be $52,000 for that year, the ninth of retirement. The first year of retirement I spent $31,000 total for the year.
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poker27
Posts: 1149
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 2:48 pm

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by poker27 »

Rent/mortgage, insurance, rental insurance, etc: 2,100 (not including maintenance)
Phone + Internet: 300
Electricity + gas, water: 200
Auto Payment: 0
Auto Insurance: 150
Gas: 300
Grocery: 300
Foods (eating out, office lunch, etc): 1,000?
Entertainment, shopping, movie, etc: 500?
Debt: 0
Misc: gym 150,
Average monthly total: 5000

Family members: 1
Location: Chicago


I do not track expenses, so food and entertainment is all ball parked. We eat and drink out alot, so I might even be low on those #s. Just thinking, this past weekend we spent over 200, and didnt go 'all out'. Add the twice daily coffees, and lunches out, that # might get scary :)
Confused
Posts: 636
Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2012 1:23 pm

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by Confused »

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Independent
Posts: 551
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 1:09 pm

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by Independent »

I could add one more family to the list, but I think I could provide better information by showing the average for all American couples, with no children, and at least one earner.

The first column is the US average for 2013. You look a little below average for the things you list.
160 Phone + Internet: $160
391 Auto Payment: $560
103 Auto Insurance: $86
251 Gas: $150 - $200
352 Grocery: $250 - $300
233 Foods (eating out, office lunch, etc): $150-$200
177 Entertainment, shopping, movie, etc: $150-$200
------------
1,667 Subtotal: $1,446k

Your "Misc" of $150-$200 is far short of the sum of other things that the average family spends.
I'll list them:
267 Furniture, small appliances, cleaning supplies, …
137 Clothing
90 Car maint & repairs
23 Car rental, parking, tolls
257 Health insurance
46 Dental, Eyecare, Hearing Aids
94 Other medical
67 Cable/Satellite services
32 Personal care products
33 Personal care services
37 Education
47 Alcohol
29 Tobacco
237 Gifts to family & friends
147 Tax deductible contributions
52 Life and other pers insurance
246 Travel
------------
1,838 Subtotal

If you're really at $150-$200 for everything here, you're very thrifty. OTOH, you may be overlooking some categories.

Couples who rent spend quite a bit less on shelter than those who are buying houses.
Either:
969 Rent
125 Utilities
------
1,094

Or:
1,110 Mortgage
328 HO ins, RE tax
260 Utilities
171 Upkeep
--------
1,868

This information comes from the Consumer Expenditure Survey which gets extremely detailed information from interviews and diaries. The numbers above are the averages of about 1,000 families.
acejacksingh
Posts: 379
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2014 10:15 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by acejacksingh »

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Rent/mortgage, insurance, rental insurance, etc: $650 (Renting a bedroom in 3 bedroom apartment)
Phone + Internet: $60
Electricity + gas, water: $60
Auto Payment: None!
Auto Insurance: None!
Gas: $200
Grocery: $300
Foods (eating out, office lunch, etc): $100
Entertainment, shopping, movie, etc: $200
Debt: None!
Misc: $200
Average monthly total: ~$1800

Family members: Single
Location: Washington DC
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Hulu
Posts: 212
Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2014 7:55 pm

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by Hulu »

Typically top expenses are housing, car, health and food. Single cohabitating person next to northeastern city. My current share:

Housing: $500
Car: $200
Healthcare: $100
Utilities: $75
Food: $200
Phone: $40
Travel: $400
Restaurants: $200
Tennis/yoga/bball/cycling/hiking: $50
Clothes: $20
Gifts: $1100

About $3k but add $1k a month once our family grows. Our best financial move was to rent vs. buy. Worst was not to save aggressively and to eat out weekly.
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kenyan
Posts: 3015
Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2011 11:16 pm

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by kenyan »

By and large you seem to be doing ok, though it does seem like you're missing some categories - car maintenance, medical/dental costs, clothes, cleaning supplies and household sundries, gifts, life insurance (if any), haircuts and personal care, clothing/shoes, travel and vacation, donations (if any), etc. Maybe all of that fits into your 'Misc' category, but I think it's possible that some of that hasn't been accounted for, and since the costs aren't as regular you might not be tracking them.

Aside from that, the 'easy' places to look are at your phone/internet bill and eating out, as others have mentioned.
Retirement investing is a marathon.
Cpt_Beanie
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2014 11:29 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by Cpt_Beanie »

My wife and I track 8-9k in total spending per month. I feel like this is a ton compared to everyone else that's posting here. However, if we say our total spend is 100k in 12 months some of it breaks down this way.

$28,800 Mortgage (including prepayment) 18k will go to principal
$6720 Car Payment (all principal)
$10,000 Day Care

So there is almost half right there $45,520.

That's on a combined income of 210k total gross approx. We have approx 250k total debt including mortgage and I'll have all debt cleared in under 10 years. I still think we are spending too much. Our overspending categories are food and shopping. We also have housecleaning at $200 per month and lawnmowing at around $75 per month in non-winter months. We have two incomes which means daycare cost plus additional commute costs as we both drive approx 30-45 min each way to work.

I will add approx 50k to retirement accounts and 25k to debt elimination in the next 12 months. So are we overspending or are we doing good at spending 8-9k per month? You decide, I dunno what's balanced.
The Wizard
Posts: 13356
Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:45 pm
Location: Reading, MA

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by The Wizard »

My detailed expense spreadsheet from 2-3 years ago is at home and I'm not there now.
My basic expenses, excluding recreational travel and income taxes, were around $4000 a month as I recall.
Included in that was $500/month for vehicle purchases even though I have no loan.
Also included was a few hundred dollars a month for home furnishing and appliance replacement...
Attempted new signature...
Hikes_With_Dogs
Posts: 316
Joined: Tue Mar 19, 2013 9:50 pm

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by Hikes_With_Dogs »

HCOLA-

Our mortgage + RE tax = $4000/mo

Daycare = $1700/mo

Groceries/dog food/beer = $650-$750/mo

Utilities ~ $500/mo

Debt: 0

Car payments: 0

3 person household. We spend around 10k/month, if not more.
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Bogle101
Posts: 468
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2012 10:14 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by Bogle101 »

Rent/mortgage, insurance, rental insurance, etc: $2,000
Phone + Internet: $150
Electricity + gas, water: 0
Auto Payment: 0
Auto Insurance: 0
Gas: 0
Grocery: 0
Foods (eating out, office lunch, etc): $1,000
Entertainment, shopping, movie, etc: $1,000
Debt: 0
Misc: 0
Average monthly total: $4,150

Family members: 1
Location: NYC
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Sents
Posts: 124
Joined: Tue May 13, 2014 12:24 am
Location: Nomad

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by Sents »

Rent: $900
Food: ~$300
Transportation: $80
Cell phone: $20

Average = $1300/month
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asha1001
Posts: 39
Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2014 9:43 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by asha1001 »

Rent/mortgage, insurance, rental insurance, etc: $1,000
Phone + Internet: $65
Electricity + gas, water: $250
Auto Payment: $0
Auto Insurance: $200
Gas: $250
Subway pass: $110
Grocery: $250
Foods (eating out, office lunch, etc): $250
Entertainment, shopping, movie, etc: $1000
Debt: $0
Misc: $0
Average monthly total: $3,375

Family members: 2
Location: NYC
Random Poster
Posts: 3314
Joined: Wed Feb 03, 2010 9:17 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by Random Poster »

I'm having trouble believing that people have $200 - $300 monthly grocery bills for two people.

My wife and I budget $600 a month for groceries, and our 11-month average is in the $530 or so range. We eat well, but not spectacularly well--which means, we aren't eating organic wild-caught salmon every night, but we try to eat a fish dish one night and a beef dish another night and a vegetarian dish another night and so on.

And, now that I think about it, when we had to stock a pantry with all new items due to a move, we dropped $700 easily on just basic canned goods, staples, condiments, and the like. To say that one's grocery bill is in the $200 to $300 range ignores, I think, the basic set-up food costs that allows for a lower monthly grocery bill in the first place.
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PinotGris
Posts: 1115
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2012 8:38 pm

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by PinotGris »

I track our expenses differently. discretionary and non-discre. I categorize our credit card and cash expenses but lump grocery, entertainment, gas, which are quite stable.

Rent/mortgage, insurance, rental insurance, etc: 220
Phone + Internet : 138
Electricity + gas, water: 320
Auto Payment:0
Auto Insurance: included in home insurance above
Gas:
Grocery:
Foods (eating out, office lunch, etc):
Entertainment, shopping, movie, etc:
Debt:0
Misc: (Credit card and Cash expense includes the 4 above): 1210
Average monthly total: 5000
Note: the average monthly includes gifts, vacation, medical expense, home maintenance, improvements,charity, taxes.
Family members: 2 Retired
Location: New England.
LRDave
Posts: 47
Joined: Sun May 06, 2012 7:46 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by LRDave »

Random Poster wrote:I'm having trouble believing that people have $200 - $300 monthly grocery bills for two people.

My wife and I budget $600 a month for groceries, and our 11-month average is in the $530 or so range. We eat well, but not spectacularly well--which means, we aren't eating organic wild-caught salmon every night, but we try to eat a fish dish one night and a beef dish another night and a vegetarian dish another night and so on.

And, now that I think about it, when we had to stock a pantry with all new items due to a move, we dropped $700 easily on just basic canned goods, staples, condiments, and the like. To say that one's grocery bill is in the $200 to $300 range ignores, I think, the basic set-up food costs that allows for a lower monthly grocery bill in the first place.
+1

I don't know how sustainable, healthy nutrition can be maintained for two adults at that cost for any period of time.
Cpt_Beanie
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2014 11:29 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by Cpt_Beanie »

LRDave wrote:
Random Poster wrote:I'm having trouble believing that people have $200 - $300 monthly grocery bills for two people.

My wife and I budget $600 a month for groceries, and our 11-month average is in the $530 or so range. We eat well, but not spectacularly well--which means, we aren't eating organic wild-caught salmon every night, but we try to eat a fish dish one night and a beef dish another night and a vegetarian dish another night and so on.

And, now that I think about it, when we had to stock a pantry with all new items due to a move, we dropped $700 easily on just basic canned goods, staples, condiments, and the like. To say that one's grocery bill is in the $200 to $300 range ignores, I think, the basic set-up food costs that allows for a lower monthly grocery bill in the first place.
+1

I don't know how sustainable, healthy nutrition can be maintained for two adults at that cost for any period of time.
+2 and I'm not that cheap. I like to enjoy food. We spend too much but $200-300 is too little in my book.
Confused
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Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2012 1:23 pm

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by Confused »

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TFinator
Posts: 175
Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2014 4:03 pm

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by TFinator »

I wouldn't have done this, but I am also in San Diego... so I guess it makes sense!
Living w/ Girlfriend who is in Grad school. I didn't include cost of school.

Rent/mortgage, insurance, rental insurance, etc:1000
Phone + Internet:120
Electricity + gas, water:60
Auto Payment:0
Auto Insurance:300
Gas:300
Grocery:400
Foods (eating out, office lunch, etc):150
Entertainment, shopping, movie, etc:200
Debt:
Misc:400
Average monthly total: 2930

Family members:2
Location:San Diego
-------------------
Cpt_Beanie
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2014 11:29 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by Cpt_Beanie »

Confused wrote:
Cpt_Beanie wrote:
LRDave wrote:
Random Poster wrote:I'm having trouble believing that people have $200 - $300 monthly grocery bills for two people.

My wife and I budget $600 a month for groceries, and our 11-month average is in the $530 or so range. We eat well, but not spectacularly well--which means, we aren't eating organic wild-caught salmon every night, but we try to eat a fish dish one night and a beef dish another night and a vegetarian dish another night and so on.

And, now that I think about it, when we had to stock a pantry with all new items due to a move, we dropped $700 easily on just basic canned goods, staples, condiments, and the like. To say that one's grocery bill is in the $200 to $300 range ignores, I think, the basic set-up food costs that allows for a lower monthly grocery bill in the first place.
+1

I don't know how sustainable, healthy nutrition can be maintained for two adults at that cost for any period of time.
+2 and I'm not that cheap. I like to enjoy food. We spend too much but $200-300 is too little in my book.
Grocery costs are, of course, dependent on what you eat. I grocery shop with a sibling every other week. That sibling is single, so only shopping for one person. And every time it's exactly the same thing:

Two loaves of bread, one bag of bagels, one bag of cereal, one gallon of milk, pre-sliced meat for sandwiches, several Pasta Sides and several Rice Sides, a couple Tuna Helpers and cans of tuna fish, frozen burritos, and occasionally a jar of peanut butter. Two weeks of food for one person. Price tag is always right around $35.

If you want to eat fancy, expect a higher grocery bill. If you want to cut costs, simplify your meals.
I spent $35 on Chinese Delivery last night. :oops:
aaaaaaabbbbbbbbbb
Posts: 133
Joined: Sat Apr 11, 2015 12:34 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by aaaaaaabbbbbbbbbb »

Random Poster wrote:I'm having trouble believing that people have $200 - $300 monthly grocery bills for two people.

My wife and I budget $600 a month for groceries, and our 11-month average is in the $530 or so range. We eat well, but not spectacularly well--which means, we aren't eating organic wild-caught salmon every night, but we try to eat a fish dish one night and a beef dish another night and a vegetarian dish another night and so on.

And, now that I think about it, when we had to stock a pantry with all new items due to a move, we dropped $700 easily on just basic canned goods, staples, condiments, and the like. To say that one's grocery bill is in the $200 to $300 range ignores, I think, the basic set-up food costs that allows for a lower monthly grocery bill in the first place.
When bought in bulk at low-cost stores:

Rice - $0.50/2000 calories
Beans - $1/2000 calories
Whole Milk - $3/2000 calories
Eggs - $2.20/2000 calories
Oatmeal - $1/2000 calories
...and the list goes on.

So you can easily get a day's worth of calories from healthy foods for <$2. This is <$60 a month. This leaves you with $90/mo for things like:

Chicken, pork - $3/lb
Apples - $1/lb year round
Bananas - $.69/lb year round
etc.

And I live in the bay area.
tj
Posts: 9368
Joined: Wed Dec 23, 2009 11:10 pm

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by tj »

Rent/mortgage, insurance, rental insurance, etc: $860
TV + Internet: $144
Electricity + gas, water: $0 (roommate pays these, I pay tv/internet)
Auto Payment: $200
Auto Insurance: $60
Gas: $80
Grocery: $50 (I don't cook)
Foods (eating out, office lunch, etc): $600
Entertainment, shopping, movie, etc: $150
Debt: $0
Misc: $250 (travel...I budget $3k/year for air/hotels, and my discretionary spending tends to be less than when I am at home, as I do tours which tend to include a bunch of meals)
Average monthly total: $2400

Family members: 1
Location: Inland Empire, CA
bigred77
Posts: 2049
Joined: Sat Jun 11, 2011 4:53 pm

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by bigred77 »

Rent/mortgage, insurance, rental insurance, etc: $3750 (PITI + HOA fees)
Phone + Internet: 360 (cable, internet, home phone, plus cell phones for my wife and I plus my mom)
Electricity + gas, water: about 200 on average
Auto Payment: 0
Auto Insurance: about 100
Gas: 350
Grocery: 1000
Foods (eating out, office lunch, etc): 500
Entertainment, shopping, movie, etc: 500
Debt: 600
Misc: 250
Average monthly total: about 7000

Family members: 2
Location: MCOL city in Texas

I don't budget too awfully hard. I know we spend a lot. We splurge on a lot of things and spend a lot on family get-togethers, travel, and conveniences.

We save a little over 25% of gross compensation (including employer matches) into retirement accounts. We have a very high debt load with low interest rates. I throw all lump sum income at our debt. We spend the rest pretty freely.
nordlead
Posts: 739
Joined: Thu Sep 12, 2013 9:09 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by nordlead »

If you seriously want to cut your bills (in order of easy to harder).

1) get cheaper internet/phone (savings of ~$100/month)
2) eat at home more and maybe go out once per month (savings of ~$100/month)
3) examine your misc/entertainment budget (saving ~$100/month should be easy)
4) sell your car and buy a cheaper one (you could buy a reliable 10-year old Honda for under 1 years worth of payments and drive it for another 10 years, savings of ~$600/month once you factor in insurance savings)

anyways, my averages

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Rent/mortgage, insurance, rental insurance, etc: $1500
Phone + Internet: $63
Electricity + gas, water: $206
Auto Payment: $0
Auto Insurance: $35
Gas: $142
Grocery: $911
Foods (eating out, office lunch, etc): $125
Entertainment, shopping, movie, etc: $480
Debt: $0
Misc: $250
Charity: $120
Average monthly total: $3832

Family members: 6
Location: Syracuse NY area
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Our shopping/misc categories are a bit ridiculous, but I did buy a ~$1400 piano and ~$900 in skiing equipment in those averages. Without those two big purchases it would bring the monthly average down to $3640, or course this isn't all that realistic as we always make 1-2 big purchases throughout the year. They won't be another piano and ski's this year, but it might be a nice grill or a new fridge, etc...
joelly
Posts: 504
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2008 11:22 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by joelly »

Rent/mortgage, insurance, rental insurance, etc: $2,000.-
Phone + Internet: $120.-
Electricity + gas, water: $200.-
Auto Payment: $450.-
Auto Insurance: $270.-
Gas: $360
Grocery: $500
Foods (eating out, office lunch, etc): $500
Entertainment, shopping, movie, etc: $200
Debt: $0
Misc: $400 (Mom)
Average monthly total: $5,000.-

Family members: 4
Location: Los Angeles, CA
pdriese
Posts: 51
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 9:34 am
Contact:

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by pdriese »

I live in Germany and thus most of my expenses are in the Euro, but I'll convert to dollar.

Rent/mortgage, insurance, rental insurance, etc: $2000 (Paid by employer)
Phone + Internet: $50 (netflix, internet, home phone, and one cellphone; this was running us $150 a month by we eliminated one cell phone and found a MUCH better deal on high speed internet
Electricity + gas, water: $200 (paid by employer)
Auto Payment: 0
Auto Insurance: $40 (one older car)
Gas: $75
Grocery: $450
Foods (eating out, office lunch, etc): $200
Entertainment, shopping, movie, etc: $200
Debt: $0
Misc: $800
Tithe: $1000

Average monthly total: about $5000

Average savings/investments: $4500

Family members: 4
Location: Stuttgart, Germany
RetiringFed.com
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FelixTheCat
Posts: 2035
Joined: Sat Sep 24, 2011 12:39 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by FelixTheCat »

I live in San Diego. Your numbers look like mine. We are paying for the perfect weather here in our beach community.

Why is car so high? Get a pre owned car and pay it off. My SUV is eight years old. :happy Eat at home and bring food to work. That's 760 a month right there.
Felix is a wonderful, wonderful cat.
yellowgirl
Posts: 179
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2015 9:12 pm
Location: Texas

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by yellowgirl »

Wow, so low expenses, I'm jealous. Our daycare + diapers,wipes+health ins, deductibles and other misc. on two kids alone are 2k a month. We are probably never going to retire but wouldn't change a thing.
Topic Author
dreamer
Posts: 48
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2014 11:23 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by dreamer »

Wow!!! Lots of great response. Thanks a lot each of you. Now I got a pretty good idea!!

I will try to write a response to each of you if you asked a question or have some confusions. But one of the common questions I saw was related to travel & shopping. Yes we do travel and spend $10-$12K on an average per year which is $1000 per month. For shopping (when each items cost > $1K) we spend $3000-5000K per year on an average. But the reason why I didn't use these two as a category that not a lot of people spend significant amount of money in travel and I wanted to get some feelings for usual day to day expense.

And I didn't want to include saving part (regular saving, 401k, IRA, etc) as a monthly expense. I hope that clears out some confusions.
Topic Author
dreamer
Posts: 48
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2014 11:23 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by dreamer »

harikaried wrote:
dreamer wrote:Phone + Internet: $160
This looks highish. We have 2 smartphones and cable internet for about $100.

I'm currently using T-mobile unlimited data plan for two lines which is $100 and Cox internet (extreme) for $49.. I didn't find a better or cheaper option for my requirements. But please let me know if there is something I need to consider instead of Tmobile+Cox.
Kix
Posts: 40
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2015 1:51 pm

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by Kix »

Mortgage/HOA: $1400
Electric/Gas/Water/Trash: $350
Phone: $50
Car fuel: $200
Car Insurance: $80
Health Insurance: $700
Life Insurance: $25
Education/Clothes: $200
Food/household items: 750
Car Payment: none
Car Sinking Fund: $200
Christmas/Birthday Sinking Fund: $100
Vacation sinking fund: $200

Total Expenses: $4255

Family size: 7
harikaried
Posts: 2613
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2012 2:47 pm

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by harikaried »

dreamer wrote:I'm currently using T-mobile unlimited data plan for two lines which is $100 and Cox internet (extreme) for $49.. I didn't find a better or cheaper option for my requirements. But please let me know if there is something I need to consider instead of Tmobile+Cox.
What are your requirements? Do you know on average how much data, voice, text you use across the 2 lines each month?
Topic Author
dreamer
Posts: 48
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2014 11:23 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by dreamer »

DVMResident wrote:This looks very normal for the area.
We also live in SD. Married, 1 infant child. Very similar budget, rolling 12-month expenditure is $4996. Our rent is higher by $650, which nearly accounts for the difference.

Is there a reason you want your budget lower? Not meeting your savings goals?
Savings is denial of needs/wants. If you're going to deny yourself, you should have a good reason.

----
Looking at your budget, nothing looks overly extravagant. Rent isn't going to get any better.
The car payments, phone service, and debt are eating into your cash-flow and keeping your costs up. When the car payments and debt (student? CC?) payments are done, you'll have a lot less fixed costs.
No, but I wanted to know if my average expense is usual and tried to find out that I'm not expending more than others do. I would try to save if those figures look too much. But based on your comment, it looks like it's normal.
Mongoose wrote:You could probably shave off about $60/month on the phone/internet. Switching to a service like Republic Wireless has saved us a lot.
What is the car situation? Do you have 2 cars? I would sell that car and get one you could afford- ie, a car with no loan. If you were really serious (assuming you have 2 cars) sell one and bike more often (California is great for this).
Doing that would eliminate your $560 payment, lower your auto insurance (guessing here but maybe by $36?), lower your gas by maybe $75-$100? It would also improve your health.
With the phone and car that should give you about $700 that you can add to savings.
Food actually dosnt seem bad even with eating out- about 500 for 2 eating healthy is good.
400 for "waste" (entertainment/and misc) isn't all that terrible either. Could maybe try to drop that by $100 per month if you wanted to squeeze.

First month would be break even for the 2 $150 repub wireless phones you would need and the $500 bike you may need to buy.

Probably hard to get much lower on rent in San Diego but maybe if you have a spare room you could get it on Airbnb a few nights a month to help pay for that cost?
Thanks a lot for sharing those options. I will definitely try some of them.
kenyan wrote:By and large you seem to be doing ok, though it does seem like you're missing some categories - car maintenance, medical/dental costs, clothes, cleaning supplies and household sundries, gifts, life insurance (if any), haircuts and personal care, clothing/shoes, travel and vacation, donations (if any), etc. Maybe all of that fits into your 'Misc' category, but I think it's possible that some of that hasn't been accounted for, and since the costs aren't as regular you might not be tracking them.

Aside from that, the 'easy' places to look are at your phone/internet bill and eating out, as others have mentioned.
Yes, actually some of those items I categorized them as "Misc" (clothes, cleaning supplies and household sundries, gifts, life insurance (if any), haircuts and personal care, clothing/shoes, etc) in my report.
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mickeyd
Posts: 4898
Joined: Fri Feb 23, 2007 2:19 pm
Location: Deep in the Heart of South Texas

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by mickeyd »

If memory serves correct DW and I spend about $4K/month but that varies a lot due to travel, vacations etc. Since our usual income stream is quite a bit more than that, I seldom follow the figures too closely.
Part-Owner of Texas | | “The CMH-the Cost Matters Hypothesis -is all that is needed to explain why indexing must and will work… Yes, it is that simple.” John C. Bogle
Topic Author
dreamer
Posts: 48
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2014 11:23 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by dreamer »

Random Poster wrote:I'm having trouble believing that people have $200 - $300 monthly grocery bills for two people.

My wife and I budget $600 a month for groceries, and our 11-month average is in the $530 or so range. We eat well, but not spectacularly well--which means, we aren't eating organic wild-caught salmon every night, but we try to eat a fish dish one night and a beef dish another night and a vegetarian dish another night and so on.

And, now that I think about it, when we had to stock a pantry with all new items due to a move, we dropped $700 easily on just basic canned goods, staples, condiments, and the like. To say that one's grocery bill is in the $200 to $300 range ignores, I think, the basic set-up food costs that allows for a lower monthly grocery bill in the first place.
I think the reason it's low because of our consumptions. I get free lunch at my work most of the days and during weekends sometimes we eat out. So if you want to know how much we spend in food per month then it will be + of the following two categories:
Grocery: $250 - $300
Foods (eating out, office lunch, etc): $150-$200

So which is roughly around $400-$500.
Topic Author
dreamer
Posts: 48
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2014 11:23 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by dreamer »

FelixTheCat wrote:I live in San Diego. Your numbers look like mine. We are paying for the perfect weather here in our beach community.

Why is car so high? Get a pre owned car and pay it off. My SUV is eight years old. :happy Eat at home and bring food to work. That's 760 a month right there.
I traded in my car 6 months back and got a new one (Nissan Pathfinder) that's why it's little bit high but low in maintenance. : :|

yellowgirl wrote:Wow, so low expenses, I'm jealous. Our daycare + diapers,wipes+health ins, deductibles and other misc. on two kids alone are 2k a month. We are probably never going to retire but wouldn't change a thing.
Nothing to be jealous here. As I mentioned already, we are just two and and I wouldn't expect my monthly expense will be same after having two kids.
Topic Author
dreamer
Posts: 48
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2014 11:23 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by dreamer »

harikaried wrote:
dreamer wrote:I'm currently using T-mobile unlimited data plan for two lines which is $100 and Cox internet (extreme) for $49.. I didn't find a better or cheaper option for my requirements. But please let me know if there is something I need to consider instead of Tmobile+Cox.
What are your requirements? Do you know on average how much data, voice, text you use across the 2 lines each month?
< 1000 mins per line is our average but we do need unlimited data or at least 5 gb per line. That's why we picked T-mobile $100 offer which is unlimited talk, data for 2 lines :(
LRDave
Posts: 47
Joined: Sun May 06, 2012 7:46 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by LRDave »

I see one reference to a pet (and accompanying expenses) in 45 posts. Hard to believe.....

I've got $160/month budgeted for pets - food and vet.
Topic Author
dreamer
Posts: 48
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2014 11:23 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by dreamer »

Independent wrote:I could add one more family to the list, but I think I could provide better information by showing the average for all American couples, with no children, and at least one earner.

The first column is the US average for 2013. You look a little below average for the things you list.
160 Phone + Internet: $160
391 Auto Payment: $560
103 Auto Insurance: $86
251 Gas: $150 - $200
352 Grocery: $250 - $300
233 Foods (eating out, office lunch, etc): $150-$200
177 Entertainment, shopping, movie, etc: $150-$200
------------
1,667 Subtotal: $1,446k

Your "Misc" of $150-$200 is far short of the sum of other things that the average family spends.
I'll list them:
267 Furniture, small appliances, cleaning supplies, …
137 Clothing
90 Car maint & repairs
23 Car rental, parking, tolls
257 Health insurance
46 Dental, Eyecare, Hearing Aids
94 Other medical
67 Cable/Satellite services
32 Personal care products
33 Personal care services
37 Education
47 Alcohol
29 Tobacco
237 Gifts to family & friends
147 Tax deductible contributions
52 Life and other pers insurance
246 Travel
------------
1,838 Subtotal

If you're really at $150-$200 for everything here, you're very thrifty. OTOH, you may be overlooking some categories.

Couples who rent spend quite a bit less on shelter than those who are buying houses.
Either:
969 Rent
125 Utilities
------
1,094

Or:
1,110 Mortgage
328 HO ins, RE tax
260 Utilities
171 Upkeep
--------
1,868

This information comes from the Consumer Expenditure Survey which gets extremely detailed information from interviews and diaries. The numbers above are the averages of about 1,000 families.
Thanks a lot for bringing up that data, very very useful!
Jwin999
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2015 10:55 am

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by Jwin999 »

Family of 5, little one doesn't cost much as of now, so most of the expenses are on me and spouse and the 15 and 9 year old. All in public schools , pay for health insurance on my own , take my lunch to work most of the time, eat out once a week with family.. All in all am spending around 5500- 5700 per month on average incl health insurance but excluding mortgage.
Have seen my expenses trend up from about $ 4k pm in 2007-2008 to $4.5 k per month in 2010 therefore am looking to see where I am overspending. I have had rising medical insurance and some out of pocket medical expenses as well have taken some Vacation trips In the past few years, that would answer part of it. So overall my discretionary expenses are stable , I think
mnsportsgeek
Posts: 555
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2015 12:39 pm

Re: What's your average monthly expense???

Post by mnsportsgeek »

Random Poster wrote:I'm having trouble believing that people have $200 - $300 monthly grocery bills for two people.

My wife and I budget $600 a month for groceries, and our 11-month average is in the $530 or so range. We eat well, but not spectacularly well--which means, we aren't eating organic wild-caught salmon every night, but we try to eat a fish dish one night and a beef dish another night and a vegetarian dish another night and so on.

And, now that I think about it, when we had to stock a pantry with all new items due to a move, we dropped $700 easily on just basic canned goods, staples, condiments, and the like. To say that one's grocery bill is in the $200 to $300 range ignores, I think, the basic set-up food costs that allows for a lower monthly grocery bill in the first place.
We spend $350 a month on groceries. About $85 a week. Have never thought twice about it.
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