Poll: What is your annual spending?

[forummm]

Are you doing the "full Jakob", the MMM, or something else? Feel free to add comments explaining your situation.

Edited and reset poll due to request for higher spending brackets.

[bearkat]

Spending between $40k and $50k for our family of 2. We're working on getting it down but no hairs are on fire.

I'm curious to see more responses, but it might be hard to understand without knowing income also.

[PloddingInsight]

My spending is high for this group, until you divide by the number of people.  Then we look great!  I have small children, including one on the way.

$62,300 / 7 = $8900 per person.

[Jessa]

For this year, I'll probably be over $20k, I didn't find MMM until July, so the first six+ months were pretty spendy compared to the last two. Next year I'll defintely be under $20k, and shooting for under $16k.

[FunkyStickman]

I made $63,292.89, we spent $54,229.05 in the last 12 months, for 6 people. A large chunk of that went to mortgage, so when the house is paid off, it will go down to around $40K. As kids leave, will go down even more.

We're not really down to our slimmest budget, either... could realistically get below $30K if we made some hard sacrifices.

[TurtleMarkets]

HAHAH your poll numbers are LOW. Almost everyone I know spends almost 20K on mortgages.

[hybrid]

HAHAH your poll numbers are LOW. Almost everyone I know spends almost 20K on mortgages.

Fair point, especially if you live in a high COL area. I don't and my primary mortgage consumes about 14K a year without prepayments. I probably have too much house, but we really love our house and it provides tremendous bang for the buck.

[Emilyngh]

Holy crap. 

I said $8-$12k.   We spend $30k a year for a family of 3 (and that's including mortgage principle, b/c I don't know what exactly it is off the top of my head to pull it out).   And I really don't feel very Mustachian, let alone Jacob-like.   Holy crap, guess we are.

If anyone's curious a rough outline of this spending a mo is:

$800 mortgage
$500 medical insurance
$300 electric, water, cable and phones
$400 food
$70 random household items
$100 gas
$30 term life insurance
$50 car insurance
$150 spending money (pays for all entertainment, eating out, clothing, etc)
$100 gifts

[Emilyngh]

Spending between $40k and $50k for our family of 2. We're working on getting it down but no hairs are on fire.

I'm curious to see more responses, but it might be hard to understand without knowing income also.

Why would income matter?   I can see COL mattering, but very few spending requirements really change with income.

[forummm]

Interesting. I didn't expect there would be so many big mortgages for small families on this forum.

[MsRichLife]

Spending between $40k and $50k for our family of 2. We're working on getting it down but no hairs are on fire.

I'm curious to see more responses, but it might be hard to understand without knowing income also.

Why would income matter?   I can see COL mattering, but very few spending requirements really change with income.

My spending changes because of my income. So far this financial year we have spent more on Tax/business/investing expenses than on all of our living and discretionary spending. If I earned less, I wouldn't have to send so much to the tax office, or spend money on solicitors and accountants to protect it. I know it's not a bad problem to have, but it does skew how much I 'spend' at the moment.

[Emilyngh]

Spending between $40k and $50k for our family of 2. We're working on getting it down but no hairs are on fire.

I'm curious to see more responses, but it might be hard to understand without knowing income also.

Why would income matter?   I can see COL mattering, but very few spending requirements really change with income.

My spending changes because of my income. So far this financial year we have spent more on Tax/business/investing expenses than on all of our living and discretionary spending. If I earned less, I wouldn't have to send so much to the tax office, or spend money on solicitors and accountants to protect it. I know it's not a bad problem to have, but it does skew how much I 'spend' at the moment.

Ok, taxes I could see, but the poll asked to exclude income based taxes.   And I assumed this poll was asking about personal spending, not business spending, so I would guess that business spending should be excluded.

What type of investing expenses and why the need for personal accountants?   If those are such a large expense (how in the world could these be so high, unless also business expenses), I'd highly suggest considering simplifying your personal finances and doing them yourself.   Having a large income does not mean you need to pay others lots of money to manage or "protect" it.   Many here have quite a lot of money and yet manage their own finances.

[Spartana]

I put $8 - $12K as a single childless person who owns a paid off house and no debt. I spend approx. $8000/year to cover all my basic expenses and another approx. $4000/year for "wants" like travel - sometimes more, sometimes less, but total is usually around $12K/year.

[ProspectiveBum]

Doh!  I mis-read the question, and answered based on our total spending 60K+, instead of our per-person spending, which is <$30k.

[MOD EDIT: I made it so you can change your vote by removing and recasting it.]

[Elderwood17]

HAHAH your poll numbers are LOW. Almost everyone I know spends almost 20K on mortgages.

I guess I am lucky as that would be a very high mortgage everywhere I have lived.  Not that people don't have them, just not people I typical am around. 

We found once our kids were all gone (4 of them) and the house got paid off, expenses dropped dramatically even as our lifestyle loosened up (just a little).

I did not include charitable contributions as I don't really consider that "spending".

[Workinghard]

Well, I spend 24k a year buying after tax index funds (after other expenses). No wonder I can't get ahead!

[secondcor521]

Last six months was at a rate of about $56K, divided by 2.8 people is a tad above $20K.  That's excluding income-related taxes as the OP requested.  It includes in state college expenses for one and child support for two (which I'm counting as the 0.8, because they're only with me about 40% of the time).

[MsRichLife]

Why would income matter?   I can see COL mattering, but very few spending requirements really change with income.

My spending changes because of my income. So far this financial year we have spent more on Tax/business/investing expenses than on all of our living and discretionary spending. If I earned less, I wouldn't have to send so much to the tax office, or spend money on solicitors and accountants to protect it. I know it's not a bad problem to have, but it does skew how much I 'spend' at the moment.

Ok, taxes I could see, but the poll asked to exclude income based taxes.   And I assumed this poll was asking about personal spending, not business spending, so I would guess that business spending should be excluded.

What type of investing expenses and why the need for personal accountants?   If those are such a large expense (how in the world could these be so high, unless also business expenses), I'd highly suggest considering simplifying your personal finances and doing them yourself.   Having a large income does not mean you need to pay others lots of money to manage or "protect" it.   Many here have quite a lot of money and yet manage their own finances.

Sorry, I missed the bit about excluding income taxes. If I didn't account for income tax, business and investment expenses then we spend AUD$55,000 for three people, so AUD$18,333 per person.

Regarding the need for accountants and solicitors, I do see the need at the moment. I am setting up new company and family trust structures (for tax optimisation and generational wealth transfer), which I am not qualified to do myself. I'm also undertaking some estate planning which is prudent given the quantity of money involved and the number of contested estates we've had in our family recently.  I don't want my son to suffer in the event of our death, just to save some cash in the short term. Yes, I could get an off the shelf will kit, but I don't think this is something worth messing up. Hats off to others who do everything themselves, but I see expenses like these as an investment.

[Beric01]

Right now about 20K. Sadly, over half of that is due to rent, and I live in a 250-square-foot studio (thanks SF Bay Area!). Thinking about renting a room, but not sure yet.

[bearkat]

Spending between $40k and $50k for our family of 2. We're working on getting it down but no hairs are on fire.

I'm curious to see more responses, but it might be hard to understand without knowing income also.

Why would income matter?   I can see COL mattering, but very few spending requirements really change with income.

Good point, COL would be better than income. I'm just glad to see that we've added more spending ranges so I'm not off the charts anymore :)

[Spartana]

Right now about 20K. Sadly, over half of that is due to rent, and I live in a 250-square-foot studio (thanks SF Bay Area!). Thinking about renting a room, but not sure yet.

This rent/mortgage/prop tax/insurance/ utilities/etc... thing is what makes they kinds of polls (i.e. per person in one household) sort of useless. You live alone and pay X amount of dollar for rent, pay all the utilities (and the basic fees just to have them), and so on. Yet a couple could live together in your place and split the rent as well as have lower utility costs by sharing (heating the house for one is the same as heating it for 2 or 20) Paying for internet, cable, landline, etc... for one is the same as it is for 2 or 20, etc...). So your $1,000 place costs you an additional $6000 in income for this poll then it would a couple, or one with children. Of course things like medical and food, clothes, etc... would raise the bill with more people but even then couples and families can often go on lower per person family plans for medical insurance - thus skewing the results of a comparison between people (which I assume is the goal of the poll). Maybe a more realistic poll would be one that said - how much would you spend if you lived more or less the same way you do but alone? Probably to hard to do though. I know that when I was married my own share of the expenses were much less compared to being single.

[PloddingInsight]

What this poll makes clear is that if you really want to get ahead, you need to have a dozen children.

[Squirrel away]

I'm in the UK and we both live on about £10k a year which is about $16k in dollars.

[Ian]

Single people in the lowest bracket, represent.

[MandyM]

I'm feeling pretty good about my sub $20K spending, especially as a single person. I do have a roommate whose rent payment offsets my mortgage, but that isn't reflective in my spending.

[Jessa]

This rent/mortgage/prop tax/insurance/ utilities/etc... thing is what makes they kinds of polls (i.e. per person in one household) sort of useless. You live alone and pay X amount of dollar for rent, pay all the utilities (and the basic fees just to have them), and so on. Yet a couple could live together in your place and split the rent as well as have lower utility costs by sharing (heating the house for one is the same as heating it for 2 or 20) Paying for internet, cable, landline, etc... for one is the same as it is for 2 or 20, etc...). So your $1,000 place costs you an additional $6000 in income for this poll then it would a couple, or one with children. Of course things like medical and food, clothes, etc... would raise the bill with more people but even then couples and families can often go on lower per person family plans for medical insurance - thus skewing the results of a comparison between people (which I assume is the goal of the poll). Maybe a more realistic poll would be one that said - how much would you spend if you lived more or less the same way you do but alone? Probably to hard to do though. I know that when I was married my own share of the expenses were much less compared to being single.

That's a really good point. I was living by myself and my rent/utilities expenses were around $1,200-$1,300/month. (Ripe for some Mustachian pruning, but the rent alone was $1k). Now that I live with my boyfriend, I pay him $500 to cover my portion of the mortgage/electric/internet. My food costs have gone way up, but it's more than offset by the decrease in housing. I wouldn't be able to save at the rate that I am if I was still living on my own.

[minimalist]

Right now about 20K. Sadly, over half of that is due to rent, and I live in a 250-square-foot studio (thanks SF Bay Area!). Thinking about renting a room, but not sure yet.

This rent/mortgage/prop tax/insurance/ utilities/etc... thing is what makes they kinds of polls (i.e. per person in one household) sort of useless. You live alone and pay X amount of dollar for rent, pay all the utilities (and the basic fees just to have them), and so on. Yet a couple could live together in your place and split the rent as well as have lower utility costs by sharing (heating the house for one is the same as heating it for 2 or 20) Paying for internet, cable, landline, etc... for one is the same as it is for 2 or 20, etc...). So your $1,000 place costs you an additional $6000 in income for this poll then it would a couple, or one with children. Of course things like medical and food, clothes, etc... would raise the bill with more people but even then couples and families can often go on lower per person family plans for medical insurance - thus skewing the results of a comparison between people (which I assume is the goal of the poll). Maybe a more realistic poll would be one that said - how much would you spend if you lived more or less the same way you do but alone? Probably to hard to do though. I know that when I was married my own share of the expenses were much less compared to being single.

Not really. If you're single (or even if you're not), you can live with roommates to split rent, utilities, bulk food, etc. That's what I do.

[forummm]

I've seen the criticism. Any suggestions for a better polling question? The intent was to see what people with a strong interest in Mustachianism are actually doing with their dollars. We talk about all the ways to reduce the expenses that we can control (hence excluding income taxes, which are mostly a function of income) and I was curious what that comes down to in the end for everyone. Jakob (ERE) and MMM both had expenditures of about $8k per person. That seemed like a reasonable way of identifying a good indicator of expenses. If I weren't married I would either reconsider my housing situation or get a roommate or two. So my expenses per person would be about the same (eating half as much, having half as many cars, half as much insurance, etc).

I think even those with big mortgages or big rents due to living in HCOL areas could choose to reduce those costs if they wanted to. I lived in essentially Beverly Hills for years and was able to spend about $8k per year and had a really great time doing it. Jakob lived in SF on less than $8k. Not everyone needs to make that choice. I personally choose to spend somewhat more than that now and intend to increase my expenditures even more in the future due to travel and hobbies when I RE.

Anyway, interesting to see how other Mustachians live. Thanks for sharing.

[Exflyboy]

Well our budget is for about $11k each with no mortgage, $1.7K per year(that's the total for the property)  in RE taxes and free health insurance.. at least the premiums are free.

Now what we are ACTUALLY spending I honestly don't know.. but I suspect its more than $11k.. One of these days we'll pull our bank data and find out... We went through and cut all our monthly expenses as far as reasonable when I retired.. $31 for the house insurance, $71 car insurance (3 cars), $25 for all phones, $30 for internet etc.

Frank

[dude]

Way too much to be considered "mustachian" by many, but given our savings rate, income level, and FIRE schedule, it's a-okay with me.  Retiring will cut the one expense that has the most impact on the planet of all our spending -- my work commute.  Other than that, I think we have a below average carbon footprint.

[forummm]

Now what we are ACTUALLY spending I honestly don't know..

Call me weird, but I look forward to the end of each month so that I can tally up all our expenditures, break them out by spending categories, and see how much we saved that month and update all my spreadsheets with net worth and FIRE projections. Sometimes I can't wait for the end of the month so I'll break down on the 29th and do the analysis and then add in the final day or two of the month once those expenditures post.

Even though I always lived frugally, and contributed to retirement and investment accounts, I found it very helpful to tally things and see where money was actually going, and to keep track of how well we were doing. And then I think about how to get the savings rate up another percent or two. It actually helped me to trim expenses even more. I recommend it.

[UnleashHell]

I've changed my vote .

as its per person in the household then its under 8k per person.

as we jettison the kids (I mean as they set out on a lifestyle to which they can afford using proper budgeting etc) then I suspect that the per person spending will increase.
Right now we have set the budget at about 25k for 4 of us...

just over 6k per person..

some items are going to stay still as they leave, such as internet access.
travel budget will probably increase.
even at current levels its still over 100 per person per week....



I've also worked an a screaming emergency don't spend budget - based on that one then we are currently FI..
we can maintain the current budget with just my wife working her retail job... not sure I'd be too popular if I suggested that one seriously.....

2 1/2 years of us both working will see us fully FI..

[Apples]

We spend about $20k to $25k per person in a 2 person household, currently in the middle of tracking our first year of expenses so a little uncertain.  But that includes $900/month or more to student loans because currently that's part of our "spending", in that it goes back out the door, however we don't have a mortgage so I guess that balances out with some older members on this forum.  When those are finally gone it will drop by at least $6k per person per year.  But eventually we plan to have a mortgage, so then it will go back up.

[Exflyboy]

Not weird at all.. I did the same for 3 months, then I got bored and found something better to do..:)

Frank

Now what we are ACTUALLY spending I honestly don't know..

Call me weird, but I look forward to the end of each month so that I can tally up all our expenditures, break them out by spending categories, and see how much we saved that month and update all my spreadsheets with net worth and FIRE projections. Sometimes I can't wait for the end of the month so I'll break down on the 29th and do the analysis and then add in the final day or two of the month once those expenditures post.

Even though I always lived frugally, and contributed to retirement and investment accounts, I found it very helpful to tally things and see where money was actually going, and to keep track of how well we were doing. And then I think about how to get the savings rate up another percent or two. It actually helped me to trim expenses even more. I recommend it.

[Spartana]

What this poll makes clear is that if you really want to get ahead, you need to have a dozen children.

well if you take the $50/month I pay for internet access living alone and had that expense divided among OctoMom and her brood, then my spending for that for this poll would be $50/person and their's would be $3/person.  Wonder what that would be for The Duggars - that family on TV with 20 kids :-)! Do that for the other fixed expenses you have and you can see how it's sort of not fair. I might spend $4000 - $8000/year doing long driving/camping/budget motel or vacation rentals alone each year and so for the poll I have to include that in as part of my total spending. A couple or family can do the same trips, all pile into one car, all pay the same amount for gas and campground fees or vacation house rental and say they only spend $1000/person on travel/year. So while my total annual spending is overall much less then a couple's or family, according to the poll I am a spendy-pants :-)! As the OP and other's said there are ways to reduce expenses but if you are single and living in small 250 sf studio apt or own a one bedroom condo in an expense COL area (like Beric01), it's kind of hard to get a roommate unless it's an SO who you share your bedroom with. So you have to pay the the full mortgage or rent, HOA, insurance, maintenance and repairs, prop taxes, baseline utilities, internet, cable, landline, etc... that can be split between a couple living in the exact same situation.  Or a family even. So I think a poll saying how much do you spend in total (and break it down if you want) would be more realistic. I live on approx. $700/month (besides travel) but if I had an SO living here splitting the expenses (or even a friend who split the travel expenses)  it would be much less and I wouldn't appear to be such a "BIG" spender :-)!

[Emilyngh]

Right now about 20K. Sadly, over half of that is due to rent, and I live in a 250-square-foot studio (thanks SF Bay Area!). Thinking about renting a room, but not sure yet.

This rent/mortgage/prop tax/insurance/ utilities/etc... thing is what makes they kinds of polls (i.e. per person in one household) sort of useless. You live alone and pay X amount of dollar for rent, pay all the utilities (and the basic fees just to have them), and so on. Yet a couple could live together in your place and split the rent as well as have lower utility costs by sharing (heating the house for one is the same as heating it for 2 or 20) Paying for internet, cable, landline, etc... for one is the same as it is for 2 or 20, etc...). So your $1,000 place costs you an additional $6000 in income for this poll then it would a couple, or one with children. Of course things like medical and food, clothes, etc... would raise the bill with more people but even then couples and families can often go on lower per person family plans for medical insurance - thus skewing the results of a comparison between people (which I assume is the goal of the poll). Maybe a more realistic poll would be one that said - how much would you spend if you lived more or less the same way you do but alone? Probably to hard to do though. I know that when I was married my own share of the expenses were much less compared to being single.

Eh-while some of this is sometimes true, it just depends on so many factors.   Hmm, below's our current budget adjusted to how I can best guess it'd change if it were just me:

$800 mortgage --> $400 (could easily get a room, or even small house, for this where I am)
$500 medical insurance ----> $125 single person plan at my work
$300 electric, water, cable and phones ---> $200
$400 food ---> $160
$70 random household items ---> $40 (much of this is for DD and/or our bigger house and yard)
$100 gas ---> $50
$30 term life insurance  ---> $0
$50 car insurance---> $30
$150 spending money (pays for all entertainment, eating out, clothing, etc) ---> $75
$100 gifts ---> $20 (most of this is for the child)

=$1100 instead of $2500/mo, or $13.2k per year for just me instead of $10k per person.   So, yes, I save per person with a family, although it's not as dramatic as one might think just looking at a couple of select categories (like splitting internet/cable in half).  My numbers would jump from the middle of one bracket to the lower end of the next one up in the poll.

[tlsv]

Right now about 20K. Sadly, over half of that is due to rent, and I live in a 250-square-foot studio (thanks SF Bay Area!). Thinking about renting a room, but not sure yet.

This rent/mortgage/prop tax/insurance/ utilities/etc... thing is what makes they kinds of polls (i.e. per person in one household) sort of useless. You live alone and pay X amount of dollar for rent, pay all the utilities (and the basic fees just to have them), and so on. Yet a couple could live together in your place and split the rent as well as have lower utility costs by sharing (heating the house for one is the same as heating it for 2 or 20) Paying for internet, cable, landline, etc... for one is the same as it is for 2 or 20, etc...). So your $1,000 place costs you an additional $6000 in income for this poll then it would a couple, or one with children. Of course things like medical and food, clothes, etc... would raise the bill with more people but even then couples and families can often go on lower per person family plans for medical insurance - thus skewing the results of a comparison between people (which I assume is the goal of the poll). Maybe a more realistic poll would be one that said - how much would you spend if you lived more or less the same way you do but alone? Probably to hard to do though. I know that when I was married my own share of the expenses were much less compared to being single.

Eh-while some of this is sometimes true, it just depends on so many factors.   Hmm, below's our current budget adjusted to how I can best guess it'd change if it were just me:

$800 mortgage --> $400 (could easily get a room, or even small house, for this where I am)
$500 medical insurance ----> $125 single person plan at my work
$300 electric, water, cable and phones ---> $200
$400 food ---> $160
$70 random household items ---> $40 (much of this is for DD and/or our bigger house and yard)
$100 gas ---> $50
$30 term life insurance  ---> $0
$50 car insurance---> $30
$150 spending money (pays for all entertainment, eating out, clothing, etc) ---> $75
$100 gifts ---> $20 (most of this is for the child)

=$1100 instead of $2500/mo, or $13.2k per year for just me instead of $10k per person.   So, yes, I save per person with a family, although it's not as dramatic as one might think just looking at a couple of select categories (like splitting internet/cable in half).  My numbers would jump from the middle of one bracket to the lower end of the next one up in the poll.

Are property taxes included in your mortgage?
Do you really have no car/house repairs at all?
No medical deductibles?

[Daisy]

I think there was another poll here recently on the same topic that I answered.

I agree that you can't compare a single person's spending to a family or couple's spending habits.

Also, I find that most of these bare-bones spending amounts people post don't take into account for contingency planning such as car maintenance, house maintenance, variable health expenses, a little extra buffer for what/ifs. I do include that stuff in what I expect to spend in FIRE (even the non-travel part) because I think it's important to set aside money yearly for this.

So my annual spending would blow some of these bare-bones budgets out of the stratosphere. But I think it's more realistic.

[Emilyngh]

Are property taxes included in your mortgage?
Do you really have no car/house repairs at all?
No medical deductibles?

Yes that includes property taxes, and insurance (and actually the principle payment too since I didn't pull it out).

Car and house repairs are all diy so far and paid for with "random household items."    This budget category isn't for cleaning supplies (which we make with basic grocery items), or household knick-naks, but most of it is for house/yard maintenance/repair and random items for our daughter (socks, etc).   More than $800/yr has covered this just fine.

No, no medical deductibles (trade-off for what seems like a relatively high family premium to me), no co-pays for preventative, and the couple of $25 co-pays for specialists that we've averaged per year are paid for out of our "spending money" (relatively high budget category, IMHO).

I've been tracking spending and following a budget for at least the past 10 years.   While I'm happy to answer questions, I have pretty high confidence that it reflects very close to our actual spending (further confirmed by the fact that our bank accounts/investments reflects a savings of my income minus this spending).

[Spartana]

Thanks for that Emily. I agree that it's hard to compare a per person spending amount to family/couple or even roommates for sa poll. Way to many variables. I WAS going to cheat though and throw my dog into the mix to make my numbers look smaller like people can do on this poll with their kids. I figured she's sort of like a kid - doesn't contribute financially and costs me lots of money. If I included her as a per person spending for my household I'd halve my expenses for the poll :-)!

[UnleashHell]

Thanks for that Emily. I agree that it's hard to compare a per person spending amount to family/couple or even roommates for sa poll. Way to many variables. I WAS going to cheat though and throw my dog into the mix to make my numbers look smaller like people can do on this poll with their kids. I figured she's sort of like a kid - doesn't contribute financially and costs me lots of money. If I included her as a per person spending for my household I'd halve my expenses for the poll :-)!

:D

HA

that's it - I'm adding the cats. we are now under $5,000 per head.. possibly 4...

[Squirrel away]

Haha, yes if we include our eight animals the result would be much lower per being.:D

[BlueMR2]

Mid to upper $20's.  For an average year we could cut that by a third in a hurry by stopping charitable donations and not flying anymore.  All other hobbies combined account for around another third, with the remaining third being the housing and food.

[Jessa]

Call me weird, but I look forward to the end of each month so that I can tally up all our expenditures, break them out by spending categories, and see how much we saved that month and update all my spreadsheets with net worth and FIRE projections. Sometimes I can't wait for the end of the month so I'll break down on the 29th and do the analysis and then add in the final day or two of the month once those expenditures post.

Even though I always lived frugally, and contributed to retirement and investment accounts, I found it very helpful to tally things and see where money was actually going, and to keep track of how well we were doing. And then I think about how to get the savings rate up another percent or two. It actually helped me to trim expenses even more. I recommend it.

I do it almost daily. My dad got me Quicken for Christmas last year, so I go in and play with it every day. What have I spent so far, what do I know is coming up, where am I in the month, how far under/over am I, can I squeeze any extra over to savings? I'm a little obsessive, but it keeps me aware.

[SuperSaver]

I picked $12-$16k because through rough estimations it's what we would spend in a year each (there's 2 of us) however it's a bit misleading since in the past 5 months I moved out on my own (getting my first place and setting it up for a couple grand), got my first full time job, started contributing to a 401(k), started paying all of my own bills (previously my dad paid vision, health, dental & life insurance) paid off 2 private loans, helped my fiance move to join me (he had built a nice emergency and relocation fund but was unemployed 3 months). So our spending this year is atypical. However going forward our fixed costs are about $2200/month. However we travel back to visit my dad / our friends one weekend a month since it's not too far and my mom died a week after my move. We also spend money on eating out, visiting with friends, and very aggressively attacking student loans. I've paid off ~14k+ over half of it on a waitresses pay before my move.

[arebelspy]

The median Mustachian apparently spends 20-30k per person.

There's likely a median of around two people per Mustachian family (given there's a number of single people, but also a number of people with kid(s) to balance those out), meaning the median Mustachian spends 40-60k/household annually?

That's disappointingly high.  :)

[arebelspy]

The median Mustachian apparently spends 20-30k per person.

There's likely a median of around two people per Mustachian family (given there's a number of single people, but also a number of people with kid(s) to balance those out), meaning the median Mustachian spends 40-60k/household annually?

That's disappointingly high.  :)

We're definitely bringing up the average with >$40k/year in housing costs.  With a paid off house, we're below $15k/person (2 people). 

I'm still trying to bring down our spending, but it's a work in progress.

I was looking at the median, not the average.

[Kingomri]

In for $30-40k (2 adults + 1 baby, LCOL Ohio), but a 10% of gross income tithe is a big chunk of that, as were medical expenses for having a baby on a HDHP. Leave out one, the other, or both, and we're in the $20k-30k range.

Edit: Oh! Didn't see the "per person" at first - changed my vote to $12-16k. Without the tithe and one-time hospital costs of having the baby, we'd be in we would barely squeak into the < 8k category :)

[Beric01]

I just find it strange how the 12-16K is larger than the 16-20K. Is this ERE/Jacob's influence?

[forummm]

The median Mustachian apparently spends 20-30k per person.
...
That's disappointingly high.  :)

I was pretty surprised too. I think people are maybe not all responding as the question asked. Some don't see it's per person. Some may be including mortgage and other loan principal. Some may be including taxes.