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Household Expenditures

If anybody's interested in frugality, check out the blog and forums on the Mr Money Mustache site. The site is all about extreme early retirement and has a lot of ideas around cutting spending.
 
faxmachineanthem said:
If anybody's interested in frugality, check out the blog and forums on the Mr Money Mustache site. The site is all about extreme early retirement and has a lot of ideas around cutting spending.
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OliveGardenDeac batsignal
 
to buy a house in my neighborhood similar to what i rent i'd be looking at $200k down and a mortgage+taxes at at least $4,500 a month. i save over a grand a month renting and put it in a brokerage account. i miss out on the mortgage interest deduction which is the biggest place where it would be beneficial. i also could pick up and move at any time and i don't have to worry about my rent increasing.
 
I follow our household budget very closely and it has definitely increased since I got married in 1998. Cell phone, DirecTV, insurance premiums, gas, and groceries have gone up 40% since 1999. Our water bill is ridiculous...that sucker has increased 100% since we were married- of course, we've added 3 more people to the household, but the rates have increased dramatically. The power (duke energy) rate is out of hand, and you can't shop those like you can cable, cell, and groceries. Groceries are just stupid expensive anymore. We try to shop at the Farmers Market and we have a pretty large spring/summer/fall garden as well as buying a whole cow from a meat market (1.98/lb), but paper products and toiletries have gotten very expensive.

We bought our home in 1999 with the idea that it would be a starter. Had the first kid in 2003 and refinanced- lower interest, fewer years and monthly mortgage about the same- we kept saying we were going to sell, but the kids multiplied and at this point, our 1800 sq foot house is almost paid for. We need more space, but we're just 40 and a year away from being mortgage free. With the rising cost of everything, I'm not sure we want to move and go into debt again. We did purchase 11 acres of land five years ago with the intent of building on it, but I'm almost to the point of just having it for fun and for the kids in the future.
 
deacphan said:
to buy a house in my neighborhood similar to what i rent i'd be looking at $200k down and a mortgage+taxes at at least $4,500 a month. i save over a grand a month renting and put it in a brokerage account. i miss out on the mortgage interest deduction which is the biggest place where it would be beneficial. i also could pick up and move at any time and i don't have to worry about my rent increasing.
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This. Buying while you're still somewhat young is great if you plan on being in the same spot indefinitely and don't have ambitions to move for better opportunities.
 
I just found some stuff on sale here in Charlotte.

2unyp7p.jpg
 
bigdoublezero said:
This. Buying while you're still somewhat young is great if you plan on being in the same spot indefinitely and don't have ambitions to move for better opportunities.
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yeah. i mean i would buy at the right price (like i did in dc and did well in selling), but the market here seems insane right now. so i'm content to look for investment property for potential tax purposes or just keep pumping cash in to the markets. i still look, but it's more out of interest than anything. i was looking with intent, but i kept finding that everything was selling over asking and FUCK THAT.
 
deacphan said:
yeah. i mean i would buy at the right price (like i did in dc and did well in selling), but the market here seems insane right now. so i'm content to look for investment property for potential tax purposes or just keep pumping cash in to the markets. i still look, but it's more out of interest than anything. i was looking with intent, but i kept finding that everything was selling over asking and FUCK THAT.
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over asking and generally with cash
 
KVegasDeac said:
I follow our household budget very closely and it has definitely increased since I got married in 1998. Cell phone, DirecTV, insurance premiums, gas, and groceries have gone up 40% since 1999. Our water bill is ridiculous...that sucker has increased 100% since we were married- of course, we've added 3 more people to the household, but the rates have increased dramatically. The power (duke energy) rate is out of hand, and you can't shop those like you can cable, cell, and groceries. Groceries are just stupid expensive anymore. We try to shop at the Farmers Market and we have a pretty large spring/summer/fall garden as well as buying a whole cow from a meat market (1.98/lb), but paper products and toiletries have gotten very expensive.

We bought our home in 1999 with the idea that it would be a starter. Had the first kid in 2003 and refinanced- lower interest, fewer years and monthly mortgage about the same- we kept saying we were going to sell, but the kids multiplied and at this point, our 1800 sq foot house is almost paid for. We need more space, but we're just 40 and a year away from being mortgage free. With the rising cost of everything, I'm not sure we want to move and go into debt again. We did purchase 11 acres of land five years ago with the intent of building on it, but I'm almost to the point of just having it for fun and for the kids in the future.
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No offensive but if you add 3 extra people its gonna be expensive. Ever heard of birth control?
 
Our credit card bill can be as low as $3K if no unusual expense happens that month. That't seems to be about 1 month per year.
 
bigdoublezero said:
over asking and generally with cash
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deacphan said:
yup. fuckers.
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wall streets buying properties by overpaying, not caring because they're turning them into rental properties and securitizing the rental properties and pushing to get those 0 down mortgages going so they can unload the properties for profits to people enticed by nothing down and low interest rates.

Sound familiar?
 
palmab03 said:
wall streets buying properties by overpaying, not caring because they're turning them into rental properties and securitizing the rental properties and pushing to get those 0 down mortgages going so they can unload the properties for profits to people enticed by nothing down and low interest rates.

Sound familiar?
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I'm sure this is happening, but a lot of the time these are just dot com jagoffs.
 
TARDAWG said:
I do not understand how people afford to raise a family while renting. I had some friends hit hard when the bubble burst, most were in real-estate in some form, they were killing it and now have regular jobs and can’t get loans, so they are forced to rent. Making less money than before and paying another’s mortgage is a tough up hill battle.

Young posters out there, NEVER let your credit get fucked.
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From a cash flow perspective it is better to rent, but you don't have the big equity payoff at the end.
 
KVegasDeac said:
I follow our household budget very closely and it has definitely increased since I got married in 1998. Cell phone, DirecTV, insurance premiums, gas, and groceries have gone up 40% since 1999. Our water bill is ridiculous...that sucker has increased 100% since we were married- of course, we've added 3 more people to the household, but the rates have increased dramatically. The power (duke energy) rate is out of hand, and you can't shop those like you can cable, cell, and groceries. Groceries are just stupid expensive anymore. We try to shop at the Farmers Market and we have a pretty large spring/summer/fall garden as well as buying a whole cow from a meat market (1.98/lb), but paper products and toiletries have gotten very expensive.

We bought our home in 1999 with the idea that it would be a starter. Had the first kid in 2003 and refinanced- lower interest, fewer years and monthly mortgage about the same- we kept saying we were going to sell, but the kids multiplied and at this point, our 1800 sq foot house is almost paid for. We need more space, but we're just 40 and a year away from being mortgage free. With the rising cost of everything, I'm not sure we want to move and go into debt again. We did purchase 11 acres of land five years ago with the intent of building on it, but I'm almost to the point of just having it for fun and for the kids in the future.
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We were in a starter home up until 1 year ago We had it payed off and then moved. Our mortgage payment is about the same but taxes, utilities and maintenance are definitely more.
 
ChrisL68 said:
We were in a starter home up until 1 year ago We had it payed off and then moved. Our mortgage payment is about the same but taxes, utilities and maintenance are definitely more.
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We want to build, but being free of a mortgage payment is very attractive...and we only really need the extra space for 8-10 more years. Not sure I want the debt, upkeep, and larger utility bills for the long term when our space issue is temporary. If we build in this land, we are there until the end.
 
DeacWatcher said:
I am constantly amazed at how much my household spends per month. Just my basics that have to be paid every month approach (mortgage, utilities, cell, insurance, gas, food) about $3200. But then there is about another 1K that is spent that is hard to account for (ok not hard just not tracked carefully).

If my parents knew this they would probably think we were insane since their generation was so tight fisted. We certainly do not live in a McMansion just a 2400 sq ft house, but man everything (especially food) seems way more expensive that it used to be. I know most will say wages have not kept up with inflation.

Am I alone in being amazed by what it costs to live these days or maybe shocked is a better word?
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It just seems that way. When Fox News starts planting that kind of idea in your head every price you see becomes a shock. 923 can show you in an official government graph from FRED that inflation (thanks to Chairman Bernanke) has been kept to a very low rate over the past few years.
 
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