Author Topic: How much did you spend last year (2016)?  (Read 8843 times)

westcoastarlo

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How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« on: January 02, 2017, 09:56:10 PM »
Last year, my SO and I decided to commit to tracking our expenses. Our goal was to build the habit of meeting once a month and reviewing our transaction and seeing if our spending matched our priorities. This is the first time in my life that I actually know who much I spent and on what for a whole year. It wasn't pretty but it feels good to know. Here's our profile for 2016.

Household composition: 2 people, 1 awesome Aussie Shepherd
Location: Victoria, BC
Homeowners: 1 year
Total Expenditures: $60,400
Monthly Average: $5,033

Here's our Top 10 Categories:
10. Travel................... $500
  9. Medical Expenses... $600
  8. Phone...................$1,200 
  7. Dog......................$1,200
  6. Going out..............$1,500
  5. Transportation.......$1,700
  4. Beer & Wine..........$1,700
  3. Food and household stuff (e.g. tp, soap etc) ..... $7,300
  2. Home repairs, improvements...... $16,700
  1. Shelter and house operations..... $26,900

I'm excited to track our spending this year (2017) now that we have a baseline.

How was your year? How did you do?

cheers,
westcoastfrugal


CanuckExpat

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2017, 11:39:35 PM »
Household composition: 2 adults, 1 infant-toddler, 2 dogs
Location: San Jose, CA & Various
Homeowners / Renters / Homeless
Total Expenditures: $56,300 (USD)
Monthly Average: $4690

Breakdown:
Housing / Shelter: $24,300
Kids / Childcare  : $12,000
Auto / RV           : $10,000
Food / Dining      : $3,300
Medical / Health  : $1,900
Bills  / Utilities     : $1,800
Travel                 : $1,100
Pets                   : $700

Sailor Sam

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #2 on: January 03, 2017, 12:12:56 AM »
Line items, by total spent. I've been tracking for 6 years, and I spent ~5k more this year. I had 4 one-off purchases that drove 2016's total expenditure up.

Household: 1 adult
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Housing situation: Renter
Total Expenditure: multiple interperpretations

SPENDING
$15,260   Rent (fucking balls)
$8,676 Charity
$4,891   Auto
$3,731  Groceries
$3,638   Misc
$3,567   Fun
$3,047   Personal Care
$2,414   Utilities (internet, electric, phone)
$2,409   Others
$2,196   Eating Out
$1,090   Household
$969   Gym
$823   Coffee
$774   Travel
$340   Alcohol
$53,825 Total Spending
$45,149  Total Spending w/out charity
$29,889  Total w/out charity or rent

obstinate

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #3 on: January 03, 2017, 12:28:55 AM »
Two adults and a child. Our top ten categories (as a fraction of total spending):

.40 Mortgage
.18 Childcare
.07 Medical/dental (ambulance for son -- he's fine -- and orthodontia for wife)
.05 Groceries
.05 Travel
.04 Insurance
.03 Restaurants
.03 Electronics (Built a new computer, bought a phone)
.02 Charity
.02 General merchandise (Amazon, essentially)

In total, we spent 22% of our net income.

Zikoris

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2017, 04:06:25 AM »
Oh, another BC resident! Well, when it comes to spending, we're a borderline-insanity-level couple+cat. We live in beautiful Gastown, over in Vancouver.

For 2016 we spent:

Total: $27,333

Housing: $9518
Travel: $8882
Food: $3665
Shopping: $1413
Entertainment: $1004
Bills: $938
Personal Care: $701
Everything else: $1209

It honestly still feels very high to me. My eyes always bug out at our year end travel costs in particular. I spend about a month abroad every year, but spread out.

Ebrat

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2017, 07:55:36 AM »
Almost $5,500 a month all in for 2 people and 2 dogs. Last year was the first year we really tracked expenses, but it consisted of spending and then tallying up the spending every month. This year, we're tracking as we go and trying to stick to lower numbers. Our fixed expenses are fairly low. We just need to get the variable stuff (e.g., groceries) knocked down. We're aiming for about a 10% reduction this year overall, which will represent about a 20% reduction in variable expenses. Still a lot compared to a lot of people on here, but it's sustainable for us right now, and we're pretty happy with our savings rate.

westcoastarlo

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2017, 09:44:18 AM »
Thanks for posting your numbers everyone and good luck tracking 2017.

Ebrat- We also want to reduce our expenses (especially in the beer $ wine section). That said, I think it's easy to play the comparison game and beat oneself up for this or that but I feel that at the end of the day if you're spending reflects your priorities and values, it's a win :)

Zikoris- Yeah, another Canadian! Wow, your annual spending looks pretty low to me, especially for a Vancouverite! Your month rent is less than $800/month - a huge score.

Sailor Sam- I like the multiple interpretations and respect your $$ contribution to charity. A+. That is badass.

Obstinate - Liking the additional data on % of spending of NET income. To scared to look at that number right now but it'll be there for our 2017 numbers. Thanks for the kick in the pants.

CanuckExpat- Homeowners/Renters/Homeless- sounds like an adventure. Thanks for sharing :)


neophyte

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #7 on: January 10, 2017, 10:24:47 AM »
Single adult.  Rent, utility, and pet expenses split with roommate.

Total                   $12,301.43

Rent:                 $5,700.00    (mid-HCOL area, 1 bedroom in a crappy apt.)
Utilities:             $393.92
Groceries:          $1,976.53    (includes non-food items)
Transportation:   $476.46     
Entertainment:    $1,638.33   (Mostly restaurants, some clothing. Also includes money spend on lunches and dinners at work when I didn't pack.)
Pet:                    $27.00 
Healthcare:         $1,015.82  (Biggest savings over 2015 spending, does not include insurance)
Other:                $1,073.37   (Gifts, donations, additional taxes owed, renters insurance, gardening and brewing stuff, books.  $41.47 is unknown spending)

« Last Edit: January 10, 2017, 04:03:00 PM by neophyte »

FIRE me

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #8 on: January 10, 2017, 10:44:43 AM »
$12,233, all inclusive, for 2016.

No dependents, LCOL area, paid for house. I was disappointed that I was not able to average less than $1,000 per month.

Dollar Slice

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #9 on: January 10, 2017, 11:45:46 AM »
Single, very HCOL (Manhattan). Total spend is around $42000. Not including anything taken out of my paycheck like tax or insurance premiums.

$25200 rent (1BR apartment)
$6550 food/drink (includes alcohol/bars, restaurants, groceries, etc.)
$3900 entertainment/hobby
$1890 phone, utilities, internet
$1320 medical/doctor/pharmacy
$730 transit
$800 bought a new laptop
$800 gifts/charity
$550 clothing (some of this was medically-necessary expensive shoes)
$300 other

I didn't do most of my usual charitable donations because I've been on the edge of my seat for months waiting to find out if I will still have a job going forward. They keep changing the "you'll know one way or another by..." date. Currently that date is Feb 1st. (LOL, as I was writing this I got an e-mail that they "could delay" this date.)

I am aware that rent and food/drink categories are too high. I have been dealing with slowly increasing chronic pain and health issues, so ideas like "moving to a cheaper place" or "cook twice as much as you do now" just aren't happening. I was planning to get surgery to hopefully partially fix issues, but now that's in limbo due to potential job/insurance loss.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2017, 11:47:57 AM by Dollar Slice »

Ebrat

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #10 on: January 10, 2017, 12:25:04 PM »
Thanks for posting your numbers everyone and good luck tracking 2017.

Ebrat- We also want to reduce our expenses (especially in the beer $ wine section). That said, I think it's easy to play the comparison game and beat oneself up for this or that but I feel that at the end of the day if you're spending reflects your priorities and values, it's a win :)

Agreed :) Don't get me started on our beer and wine expenses!

tarheeldan

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #11 on: January 10, 2017, 12:29:11 PM »
Household composition: 1 person, 1 dog
Location: Manchester, NH
Homeowner: No
Total Expenditures: $26,809.53
Monthly Average: $2,234.13

Here's my Top 10 Categories:
Rent................... $10,464
Groceries............. $2,488
Clothing...............$2,394 (abnormal, major wardrobe overhaul) 
Automotive...........$1,948 (new tires, tolls, parking, registration, service)
Insurance.............$1,285
Medical................$1,099 (unusual dental expenses)
Dog....................$940 (includes boarding)
Gasoline...............$923
Restaurants..........$867
Gifts...................$816

2Birds1Stone

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #12 on: January 10, 2017, 02:01:59 PM »
Just me, add $20k for SO.

Renter, HCOL area (Long Island, NY), no kids.


$6,600   Rent/Utility
$1,352   Grocery
$1,321   Gas
$3,028   Entertainment
$868   Vehicle Fund
$1,200   Vehicle Depret.
$3,346   Travel
$1,406   Insurance
$1,319   Health/Hygiene
$2,466   Misc
$1,771   Gifting
$600    Cell
$25,277 Total Spent

Travis

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #13 on: January 10, 2017, 02:33:20 PM »
Two adults, one six year old. Renting a house in Colorado Springs, CO.

Rent: $17k
Internet/utilities: $2k
Insurance: $1.3k
Entertainment: $400
Cell phones: $430
Groceries: $5k
Gasoline: $700
Restaurants: $1500
School activities, zoo, museums, treats: $600
Gifts: $600
Christmas: $600
General shopping: $2800
Vacations: $1900
Vehicle maintenance: $800
Total: little over $37k

Herbert Derp

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #14 on: January 10, 2017, 06:40:36 PM »
Single, owns a condo in a HCOL city. Did anyone else here spend less than $5,000?

Code: [Select]
Housing:   $4,065.56
Living:    $421.13
Utilities: $258.57
Total:     $4,745.26

Read this thread if you want more details about my spending patterns:
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/track-expenses-and-reduce-annual-spending-to-2-of-liquid-assets-in-2016/msg921991/#msg921991
« Last Edit: January 10, 2017, 06:51:03 PM by Herbert Derp »

RWD

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #15 on: January 10, 2017, 07:05:42 PM »
Household composition: 2 people, 2 cats (one with cancer)
Location: Mississippi
Homeowners: A little more than half of 2016
Total expenditures: $37,694
Monthly average: $3,141

Our top 10 categories:
10. Home repairs, improvements....... $928
  9. Phone.................................................$940
  8. Computers.........................................$956
  7. Travel..............................................$1,274
  6. Gifts.................................................$1,318
  5. Utilities............................................$1,981
  4. Groceries (food)........................... $3,051
  3. Transportation...............................$3,326
  2. Cats.................................................$3,659
  1. Housing....................................... $13,041

I suspect we will spend even less money in 2017. See my journal for a more detailed break down.

swashbucklinstache

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #16 on: January 10, 2017, 07:56:03 PM »
Household composition: 1 adults
Location: Midwest, around 5% above Median U.S. C.O.L. according to internetz
Renter
Age: 27
Total Expenditures: $21,600 (USD). About equal for last 4 years
Monthly Average: $1800

Highest 10:

Rent              : 7,457
Travel            : 4,231 (Europe for 18 days, Portland, Chicago, DC, local)
Automotive    : 1,695
Healthcare     : 1,195
Dating!!!!       : 1,088
Utilities          : 985
Entertainment: 957   (mostly sports and bars)
Insurance       : 952
Groceries       : 832
Restaurants    : 789


I have a lot of other categories.

Vanguards and Lentils

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #17 on: January 10, 2017, 08:19:00 PM »
Single grad student, sharing a 2 bedroom apartment:

$11,653 total on myself, or $13,988 after factoring in donations and personal gifts


The five biggest expenses being:
$4648 Rent
$2933 Food
$1584 Health (including insurance) and Recreation
$641 Travel
$270 Clothing


Laura Ingalls

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #18 on: January 10, 2017, 09:33:48 PM »
Family situation
2 adults, 2 kids, no pets
Homeowners located in the middle of Iowa.

Total spend ~32,000

Not a meticulous tracker but certain that
Food is the top category.  Other larger categories are cell plans, property taxes, car and homeowners insurance, gas, the monthly city bill (electricity, water, sewer).  Pretty good for fancy phone owner and clown car driving.

I figured this out last weekend.  We had budgeted $36,000.  We had low years on car repair and house maintenance.  We have already spent more in 2017 on house stuff than all of last year.  We did buy ds a saxaphone too.


CCCA

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #19 on: January 10, 2017, 11:26:30 PM »
I'm going to jump in with a spending amount that's a bit higher than the others here.  I assume we're not the only ones on here with a fairly high level of spending (almost $90k).


2 adults and 2 elementary school kids
HCOL San Francisco Bay Area
Homeowners
 
Mortgage
25,000
Property Tax
11,400
Childcare
14,000
Utilities
1,600
Household and home care
4,600
Insurance Home
1,500
Student Loan
3,400
Cell Phone
200
Cable
100
Phone/DSL/Internet
800
Groceries
7,100
Eating Out
2,700
Transportation
2,500
Travel
1,400
Clothing
700
Electronics
500
Books/Shows/Activities/Rec
1,800
Gym
500
Classes
1,000
Medical Exp / Health Ins
2,700
Life Insurance
700
Gifts
500
Charity
1,700
Misc
2,400
TOTAL
88,800

We spend about $36000 on housing (mortgage + prop tax), and $14000 on childcare (happily our children are ageing out of this and we should see this go down over the next few years).  At the peak (when both were in preschool) our childcare expenses were over $2k/month so this is a bit better.
So $50k for housing and childcare!


If you take housing and childcare out we are spending about $38k on everything else, which seems sort of reasonable. We recognize we could do a bit better on this as well, but the big ticket items (housing and childcare) seem to dominate.


Our savings for the year were ~$60,000.   

BlueMR2

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #20 on: January 11, 2017, 10:08:45 AM »
Made it in at $29k.  Not where I wanted to be (was hoping for $25k), but I don't feel too bad.  Dropped close to $2k on a car that had a radiator failure which turned into a major adventure.  Can't get new regular radiators (neither OEM nor aftermarket) and hoses for that car anymore, so ended up ordering an expensive "drop-in" racing radiator and racing hose set which are stupid expensive.  Then the labor got really high because this car is hard to work on to begin with, plus the radiator did NOT drop-in.  Required re-engineering the fan mounts as well as tweaking the front bumper supports and I didn't have the time to do any of that myself (work and all).

Then we threw $3k at fixing rust on my wife's 2002.  Had not planned on that much, but we found a spot where water was getting down into a structural area, so that got unexpectedly pricy.  Should be good for another 5-10 years though.

Gyosho

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #21 on: January 12, 2017, 08:36:58 AM »
I live in the Expensive SF Bay Area and just calculated my 2016 spending, so I’ll share. I’m single, no kids, 2 cats, one of whom has bad teeth. I am lucky enough to own a condo. This list does not include donations to charity or taxes.

Mortgage:               26000
Property Taxes:        7200
HOA fees:                 3000
PG&E:                        705
Books and magazines: 725 (This shocked me. I will spend less on this in 2017)
Gas:                          179 (Yes that is for the entire year! I bike a lot.)
Gifts:                         186
Groceries:                 3224
Insurance:                1036
Internet:                    633
Misc (clothes, etc):    1760
Pets:                          692
Phone:                       475
Restaurants:               868
Transportation:           740
Trash:                        214
Vacations:                 3210


Shor

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #22 on: January 13, 2017, 02:43:19 PM »
Around $16k of after tax money.
12k of that is sunk into rent + utilities

HPstache

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #23 on: January 13, 2017, 03:36:10 PM »
Family of 3, NW Washington

Mortage (PITI) & House Repairs: 20,712
Food & Restraunt: 7,200
Regular Bills: 7,164
Gasoline & Vehicle Maint: 2,760
Charity: 2,500
Vacation: 1,800
Gifts: 1,200
Pets (Cat, Chickens, Rabits): 600
Misc Spending $ (Clothes, Hobbies, etc.): 2,880
______
Total: 46,816 or 3,901/mo

« Last Edit: January 13, 2017, 03:38:17 PM by v8rx7guy »

HPstache

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #24 on: January 13, 2017, 03:40:48 PM »

  2. Cats.................................................$3,659


Ouch!  What happened?

CCCA

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #25 on: January 13, 2017, 04:14:40 PM »
This thread seems lightly traffic'd and I would have suspected it would get more posts as well as comments on other people's spending.  I'm thinking that maybe it's because it's in the wrong section of the forum. 


One suggestion is to move it to the "Welcome and General Discussion" part of the forum.  I suspect it'd get alot more views and activity as a result.  If others agree, would it be possible for a mod to move the post?

westcoastarlo

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #26 on: January 13, 2017, 04:34:58 PM »
Great idea! I'm a bit of a newbie to this forum. Any suggestions how to move it to a more appropriate section?

RWD

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #27 on: January 13, 2017, 07:08:55 PM »

  2. Cats.................................................$3,659


Ouch!  What happened?

One of our cats was diagnosed with cancer near the end of 2015. Most of our 2016 pets expenses were for treatment. The chemotherapy alone was initally $200/month and was soon increased to $400/month... At which point we switched to a compounded version for ~$25/month. Going forward I'm expecting between $100-200/month for everything (food, litter, vet visits, and medication).

But our 2015 pet expenses were much worse: $6,200! That was primarily due to the many vet visits and procedures required for the diagnostics.

jlajr

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #28 on: January 14, 2017, 03:34:15 AM »
I'm single, living alone in a rented apartment and driving a paid-off car. I work full-time as a salaried employee. I changed jobs, including one week of overlapping salaries the last week of July, and moved during 2016.

Amounts are in USD, using today's ILS-USD exchange rate, according to Google.

Vacation: 6238.91
Entertainment and restaurants: 715.50
Culture and leisure: 36.65
Food and drinks (also includes everything I bought at supermarkets, but does not include lunch expenses at both jobs through the year nor breakfasts at my job through April): 1492.48
Clothing and shoes: 142.21
Beauty and fashion accessories: 23.93
Health (does not include primary and supplementary private health insurance premiums deducted from my salary): 450.55
Electrical appliances and communication devices (includes services such as internet, cell, and satellite TV): 2644.07
House and garden: 10930.55
Vehicle and transportation: 2810
Payments (the cost for a US CPA to prepare my IRS income tax return): 459.42
Banking services (including brokerage account fees): 301
Cash withdrawals: 1335.08
Gifts: 198.22
Donations to non-profit organizations: 184.37

Total: 27962.95

Total income (includes take-home salary and passive income): 45248.97

What my bank's online budget management tool calls "the bottom line", basically, income minus expenses, which I invested in my taxable brokerage account: 17286.02 (or about 38% of my "total income").

My savings rate is not 38%, though, because my employers and I contribute an amount equal to a little over 30% of my base salary to tax-advantaged savings plans. My savings rate is not 68% because that would not take into account such things as taxable benefits from my employers, for example, lunch subsidies. I don't know my exact saving rate for 2016, although I do calculate it every month and report it in my MMM journal and on my blog.

PhysicianOnFIRE

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #29 on: January 20, 2017, 08:47:40 PM »
Family of 4. Paid off homes.

$62,000 in 2016.

« Last Edit: January 20, 2017, 08:50:05 PM by PhysicianOnFIRE »

Spiffy

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #30 on: January 30, 2017, 01:00:35 PM »
2 adults, 3 kids in Texas
we spent just over $57,000. I had to go look in Mint and don't know why I had never looked under the trends tab before! Interesting info in there. That includes paying extra on the mortgage to get it paid off early. I am sort of surprised. I didn't think we spent that much, but it seems high for a LCOL area, which I assume includes my town.

CCCA

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Re: How much did you spend last year (2016)?
« Reply #31 on: January 30, 2017, 09:23:52 PM »
With the help of a mod (swick), we moved this thread into this section of the forum (Ask a Mustachian) from a little traffic'd corner of the forum (Mustachianism Around the Web).  Hopefully we'll get more responses and discussion on this topic now.


thanks

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!