How much money do you spend on expenses in total (Yearly?) What amount is left for savings?
How many people does this cover? I.e 1 person or family of 4 etc..
What Is Your Cost of Living?
GameChanger on 10/10/2015 - 12:31
Last edited 12/10/2015 - 13:43
Last edited 12/10/2015 - 13:43
Comments
How much do you end up saving?
What is a reasonable saving %?
literally nothing, Whatever I try to save I just end up spending it on here.
I hear you man
i started keeping track of this a few months ago, to get a $ figure on my finances, see what is going to be sustainable, if i'll be able to hit my goals. I simply track income (or rather - revenue since i might sell old junk, get a tax return), minus savings/debt reduction = expenses. So, for the past few months the expense figures came to:
4,694.11 (of which 1,362.24 is interest charges, and the rates came in this month ~$1500)
3,561.80 (of which 1,376.34 is interest charges)
2,493.76 (of which 1,356.97 is interest charges)For how many people does this include?
I think mainly myself. I pay for the house and bills (bills are split between two couples, and I pay for our half).
I put $100 a week into a join spending account, which partner spends on whatever including baby stuff. That will be included in the expense figures above, so that works out to ~$450 a month spent by partner/baby.
grocery, electricity, phone, internet, mobile, council rate, strata, water, mortgage, health cover, ctp, car comprehensive insurance, petrol, home insurance.
Lots after everything, Nothing left after Ozbargaining
" The high cost of living hasn't affected its popularity."
- Anonymous
$21,928 a year family of 3
Does that inculde rent/mortgage?
Oh no excluding mortgage. Mortgage $1211 /mont
So if my maths is correct, $36,460/yr for a family of three? Yikes, I spend about that much on just me. Maybe it's time for cohabitation
you mortgage is pretty cheap….good job!
@kboomkinesis: My mortage and house bills (ie no personal bills or personal living expenses) are $32,240 a year alone (thats my half).
My personal bills are about $9k a year(phone, credit card [cc getting low so that will soon be gone],etc)
Leaves me with about $700 a fortnight to live off - none of that is saved…
@geoffs87: Leaves me with about $700 a fortnight to live off
I'm on a disability pension. I get $800 in total a fortnight before I even start to pay rent or elec or water or phone or net or insurance etc.
Ahh good times. :-)
@azshade: I must admit - reading through here makes me realise how fortunate i am, and i do sympathise with your situation. I don't think i earn a huge salary, but i definitely earn above the average - and i find it hard to live… i guess its perspective, earn more.. spend more!
we are an asian family and my parents are very strict on their spendings… (family of 3 im the only child hehehe)
our electricity bill is around $250 after discount
water bill around $200
gas bill around $100
Internet+phone (500gb telstra) $79.95
3 mobile phones (one on contract $75 a month other 2 are on prepaid, $18/month with vaya and $30/month with telstra)
council rates ~$1400 a year
car insurance on 2 cars $2300 a year
Mortgage $1211/month
our weekly grocery budget is $150
we go out for dinner every 2 weeks ($80 a month)
petrol around $200 a month
public transport $30 a monthPfft. Lucky I didn't say that I've got a terminal cancer which is why I'm on the disability pension in the first place, or otherwise I'd really be milking that sympathy.
…. oh wait a second. Damn it! :-)
Eh, it blows but you make do. I mean I'm first world poor not third world poor so it's still good. I'm about 12 months post op so I'm now thinking about travel. Looking at the possibility of going to the UK for a trip.
that's low……
talk to banker before he said average for family of 3 is 36k - i.e 3k per month excluding mortage (inclusive ozbargain deals)
i.e couple working for 55k each. after tax approx 78k - 36k - mortgage, left over for holidays….. saving = NIL
20 boxes of nappies
12 boxes of wipes
12 cans of formula
5 diaper bags
Crazy amount of electricity/water
6 boxes of laundry powder
Clothes clothes clothesAnd that's just for the baby lol
Yeah but you get a free wake up alarm!
one needs to sleep to use the alarm!
Not if like most alarm clocks, you hit it to make it stop……….
aah, but then you should get free room and board in the clinky-clink
I tried and succeeded in spending under $20 a day excluding rent and electricity and car expenses. I used an app to keep track of every time I spent money. I could do it but I have since lost motivation to keep track.
I set up $80 to go automatically into my ING Orange Everyday each week. I can generally stick to that but I do have to top it up when I make bigger purchases.
what app?
GoodBudget. It saves the data to the cloud and you can even sync across devices or with your spouse/partner.
What is my cost of living? The earth is dying
I budget about $1000/fortnight to cover everyday purchases, and about $1000 a month to cover bills. Savings are about $500 a month. Sometimes go over a bit but this comes out about right. Don't have any credit card debt. Mortgage is about $2100 a month.
A generous estimate of my average spending per year is $36K (inclusive of rent and costs of my annual trip overseas, occasional shopping splurges etc). This year I've saved $33K (Jan to Sept), should be about $40k by 31 Dec.
And this cost is only for you? No other people?
Yea, just me. About 30% of my monthly take home salary goes to rent, but I refuse to share (been there done that no thanks)
$20 - $25 k per year on average, includes rent and the basics (food, utilities, transport, etc)
Doesn't include extras like say, purchasing a TV, or going on holiday.
That's per person btw. Living in Sydney.
:( Looks like its impossible to make that figure any lower, unless you share a house with someone.
hah, that is sharing
It could conceivably go down to maybe $15k if I lived in a shitty suburb and wanted to commute over an hour to work and back each day
the cost of commute would it not cost you more to live an hour away from work??
$10,404 for a family of 3 adults.. well that's what the bank calculated on my loan application. :)
$0 left for savings. I don't believe in savings at these interest rates. Surplus needs to be invested.You have no mortgage/rent?
$10k sounds a bargain :)
Home loan is paid (just keeping open for the equity). It certainly doesn't cover investment costs.
I wouldn't want to have to rely on their calculations. Otherwise I should be getting richer every year, and that isn't happening.
$2600-$2800 p/m just home loan interest just these stupid greedy banks + all stratas, councils, insurances + utilities bills. Easily $5000+ p/m Can't figure out how much.
Not to talk about eat, drink, transport, domestic, car, petrol etc etc etc endless list.
just too much…
@leehungfei:
You spent too much!
Honestly, interest rates have never been this low. What happens when they start rising?
$4500 Per Month Couple with 2 kids family (excluding mortgage) .. Spending too much isn't it ?
Sounds about right. Child care takes about $1500 per month for 2 kids, 3 days a week.
About $25,000 a year as a single female on rent, bills, food, gym, petrol, car servicing, plus things like occasional coffee, occasional movies, occasional nights out, occasional restaurant visits, and haircuts and clothes/shoes.
Save about $20,000 a year. But then I spend a fair amount on travel. Nothing exciting, I just live really far from my home/family/many friends and travel back as often as possible. There's no direct flights so it's about $500 on airfares each visit.I'm currently a full time postgrad student so don't have any more money to spend or save! When I was working full time before I started back at uni, my expenses were more (spent loads more on clothes and going out/drinking and ordered from menulog a lot) and I saved less. When my income was first reduced, I was full of regret at my younger self for not being more money wise. But I did have a lot of fun times, so I got over the regret quite quickly, and just focussed on being a little more smart with my money.
What are you studying now?
I'm doing a PhD. So I get $25,000~ from my APA scholarship and I also work a bit for the uni on top. My scholarship literally only just covers living expenses, and if I didn't do the extra work I would save nothing!
How wonderful for you! So you will become a Doctor of something.
How disappointing regarding costs. I hope your mental fulfillness will result in financial rewards soon too.
An APA scholarship isn't that bad considering its tax free, plus additional work at the uni is well paid ($55 p/h for marking | $150 p/h for tutoring @ Uni Melb) so you do get to avoid the stereotypical student lifestyle.
In saying that, the income does not compare to anything close to what I used to earn in a white collar job but I guess that's just an opportunity cost that needs to be factored in while at uni!
edit: auto formatting with bulletpoints when you use '+' :(
+1 for not saving more when I had the opportunity!
Never have regret you have enjoy your life to.
On a weekly basis:
Coffee $25
Beer $50
Cigarettes $50
Petrol $50
Lunch $50
Dinner $200
Morning tea $35
Afternoon tea $35
Dessert $30
Supper $50
Rent $450
Chiropractor $100
Chewing gum $10
Movies $25
Mobile phone $25
Eneloops $20
Internet $20
Electricity $20
Water $20That's $1265 a week = $65780 a year.
All that food and nothing for breakfast :|
Coffee, Beer and Cigarettes.
It says it right there! ;)
Who spends $10 a week on gum alone ? $10 worth of chewing gum will last me 2 months
You must be earning lots of money!
And this is only for you?
$450/ wk rent - do you live alone?
My ex paid $1500 PER WEEK on rent. I didn't realise how wrong that was until recently.
did you sneak in eneloops worth $20/week? are you trying to power a data-center?
I have no idea what "eneloops" are. I thought they meant envelopes (like they post a lot of things). Ooooops.
i earn $500 per week, rent is $165 and im trying to pay back a credit card debt. needless to say its a grim existance.
weekly expenditures
$165 rent
~$100 food
~$30-50 fun stuff
~$200 credit card debtIf you could go back, would you still take out that credit card debt?
I would be more prudent with my spending certainly.
What do you do for fun?
I like people that put amounts like that. I see my friends spending hundreds on alcohol.
Figures like 30-50 are more creative fun in my opinion.I have the occasional blowout and spend a bit of money on alcohol, maybe once a month.
Otherwise, I get free gym, basketball and tennis court hire at my university and I make the most of that. I'm also a volunteer surf lifesaver so I occasionally take a rescue board out for a paddle. I trained with a footy team twice per week during the season so that was nice to get some socialising and exercise in. I head to the beach and read in the sand on the weekend.
Nice! Enjoy :)
Early 20s
- rent: $250/wk
- food: maybe $80/wk? Honestly no idea but I doubt even $100
- discretionary: maximum $50/wk (Sometimes $0 but nevermore than $50)
- mobile: $20/wkso just under $21k/year
That is all
I walk everywhere and exercise using videos not a gym.$80 on phone :S
Other than that, it looks for a single young person its impossible to not have expenses less than $10k without living at home.
Unless you live on the moon.
Or are THAT friend that always lives on a friend's sofa.
Unless you're making all of your meals and not eating out, $80/wk seems low.
I don't eat that much and make all my meals 90% of the time.
I eat out maybe twice/week and a lot of the time someone else pays.If its for one person, $80 is easy done. Our supermarket bill is between $100-$150 / week for 2 adults & 2 children. But we do cook most of the time, only pick up maybe once or twice a month.
I manage to keep my expenditures quite low with my girlfriend living with me;
I'm 20,
Rent: $87 a week
Food: $100 a week
Bills and crap: $20 a weekI also drive a motorcycle so that cheap as hell. All up my annual living expenses including motorcycle usage (insurance/rego/fuel/maintainence) would be about $11K p/a.
Obviously this does not include splashing a couple of g on holidays and stuff.
The two major factors that keep my living expenses down are owning a motorcycle and living in a share house.
How many people live in your place? 200?
4 bedroom place haha
With my girlfriend living with me I pay $351 a month, without its $550. (its not exactly half, we pay more to reduce other peoples rent as a result of more people being in the house).
Family with 2 young kids.
Just going on the credit card (which get paid off monthly) which is 95% of our spending probably $5k per month + mortgage repayments.
Sometimes it's easier to bury your head in the sand.
25 Single Male Renting Solo
Weekly Expenses
-$275 Rent
-$80 Groceries
-$80 Petrol
-$25 Health Insurance
-$20 Utilities
-$20 Internet
-$3 Netflix
-$2 PSN
-$12.5 Phone
All the rest goes into house depot savings
$27k/ year for those without a calculator.
Where are you renting for $275/wk solo? That's pretty good (depending on location - hence the question)
Pakenham VIC :( Planning to move closer to work soon
23 Single Male (per week)
Rent: $190
Netflix: $3
Spotify: $3
Mobile Phone: $18
Groceries: $75
Car loan: $93
Petrol: $30
Meals and Drink Out: $79 (I am lazy)
Movies/Music: $20
Video Games $20Total: $27k a year.
Rest into savings for other expenses/holidays/life.Family of 2 Adult = 1 baby. I did the calculation recently and worked out that we spend $40k every year excluding travel + 18k in Mortage(interest only), Council rates, water and strata. Mortgage is low as we bought our unit in 2013 just before the current boom and I have fair bit of cash sitting in offset, thanks to citibank bank visa 18 months BT offer. My strata is a lot though it comes with lot of facilities. Now whats your situation OP?
Family of 3, incl 2 yo. Outside of mortgage our expense for fy2014-15 was 79,327.56. Includes all once off big expenses and childcare
expense for FY outside mortgage - almost 80k… is that expense or salary?
and the figure is pretty precise as well.. :):O dual income household?
i thought that went without saying…wife and kid excluded that number would be close to 25k!
Expenses…mind you that number includes all one offs as well…accountant by trade, every cent should tally ;)
Here come's a somewhat comprehensive, fellow Bargainers I would love to hear your ways to slash this!
Demographic: Male, 25-30, Shared CBD apartment, investment property (not put here as it's expense-neutral)Expenses (all monthly):
Rent: $1150
Electricity: $30 (barely home)
Gas: $30 (barely home)
Internet + Netflix & chill: $115
Groceries: $200
Eating out: $800 - I reckon this can go
Mobile: $65 (Voda, locked till next June ugh)
Travel: $50 Myki, $120 to maintain a car for my family
Health insurance: $90
Extras insurance: $90
Life, TPD, Trauma: $125
Hobbies / Bargaining: $200?
Student loan: $350All up: $3300
eating out can change to $200.
Yes! Recently purchased a slow cooker and frying pan, and aiming to have at least 50% of meals at home the 1st month.
Is that monthly myki? I wanna sell my car and move to city then commute by train and bicycle.
A 33 day Myki pass is $152.46 (zone 1+2). Zone 2 only is about $100
Yes, as I live in the CBD, 5 mins walk away from work. I think it is actually less than $50 per month, as I use myki once every week.
too much