I just saw the blog post for MMM's 2016 expenses earlier today and, just for the fun of it, I decided to create an identical spreadsheet and add our 2016 expenses in next to MMM's. It was interesting to see where the differences are and, all things considered, I wasn't too disappointed in the results even though we spend WAY more money than they do.
Here's the breakdown -
- We had $8400 in COA expenses that MMM didn't have. That kept some of our utilities lower than theirs (internet, water, insurance were all included) but was still a big difference.
- Our grocery/restaurant/wine expenses were almost $1500 more. We love wine. Not sorry.
- Our home/tuition expenses were about $6,900 higher but we have a son in college and DH is always doing things around the house.
- Our misc. expenses were $6,000 higher but that includes our boat club membership (definitely our big guilty pleasure) and we take cash our each month for non-tracked spending.
- We spent about $1,500 more on travel but we splurged on a big vacation last year. Won't do that this year.
- We did NOT have $10,000 in medical expenses they had.
- Our health insurance is less than 10% what MMM pays
- We pay $2,900 a year in life insurance premiums which obviously, they don't need to do.
Considering we're not trying to match the level of frugality MMM has achieved and we think it's worth it to have a boat club membership that brings us so much joy (living in south Florida, we can use it year round), I'm okay with where our expenses are. We know it's going drop after next year when we're no longer helping our son with school, too.
We're really pleased with the changes we've made to lower our expenses thanks to MMM and we are enjoying being FIREd.
