Since I regularly track all my expenses, I can tell you my top 5 expenses in 2010: Mortgage/property taxes, food, health insurane (premiums and out of pockeet), clothing and "household" expenses.
As a bride who is about to embark on a second marriage (his first), I would say guests are not required to attend if they felt they already celebrated enough the first go round. We are paying for almost all expenses ourselves and can only invite a smaller group of family and friends. If for financial or judgmental reasons one does not want to attend, it would be best to reply no on the RSVP and let it end with that. More room for those truly in the celebratory mood. :)
Great article; your frustration is palpable ☺ And I can definitely relate to it, because I'm a DeleteMe expert at Abine, Inc., and I remove people from many, many, MANY of these people search websites every day. I actually just blogged about my own irritating experiences with these sites and gave your article a shout-out: http://bit.ly/eQfI54
My biggest expense is my education- and I went to a state school! I ended up needing loans for almost my entire time there and am currently paying off four different lenders. It's always a little depressing to realize that my expensive education isn't paying itself off. Terrible job market has me wishing I'd found other ways to pay for my schooling!
Stockpiling food that's on sale--saves me money plus a trip to the store. Paying off my house 15 years early-you can look at it as reducing monthly expenses or as having an extra ($XXX--whatever your principle and interest total) to spend.
Fortunately, we live below our means in almost every aspect. However, when it came to our childs daycare, we simply would not comprimise. Day care for our infant is by far the largest expense in our household at 20% of our net income. Next would be the mortgage on our small condo at 15% (including taxes, insurance, PMI and maintenance).
Wow, it would kill my shoulder/back to be carrying that much stuff around! I have a very small purse that weighs only a couple pounds when full, and I never find myself "missing" something. In it, I keep my wallet, lipstick and lip gloss, my cell phone, a pen, eye drops, Altoid Smalls, chapstick, a flash drive, a nail file, my birth control, and my grocery store coupons in a side pocket.
Hmmm, looking over all our budget categories in mint.com, it appears our biggest expense each month is helping our son with all his monthly expenses, followed closely by our lump budget each month for food/groceries/toiletries/pet supplies.
My wife and I are both retired, our mortgage was paid off last October and our cars are both paid off.
Our biggest expense by far is health insurance and health care. We're currently paying north of $900 per month and next month this will jump to $1200/month. So much for the promised "bending the cost curve down" by the passage of the health care reform bill. Add in about $1200/year auto insurance and about $1800/year homeowners insurance and insurance of one kind or another is definitely the biggest expense in our budget.
Second place is federal, state and local taxes with federal income taxes and local property taxes and assessments taking the biggest bite.
Third place goes to utilities: electricity, water, phone, satellite TV and internet. I suppose that the last two can be categorized as "entertainment".
Remaining expenses, in order, are food, travel and entertainment.
The biggest single item is housing, if you count mobile home payment and lot rent together. Groceries for our family of four is our next-biggest expense, larger than either loan payment or rent alone.
We're about three years out from paying off the loan, though, and it's almost impossible to refinance a mobile home if you don't own the ground under it, so our only strategy for now is to wait it out. I have many strategies for cutting down on grocery expenses, but they're pretty 101 - buy cheap, cook at home, don't eat out much - and there's only so low you can go and still have food on the table.
My poor old 99 mazda is on its death bed. I want to buy used, but hopefully a car that can last me at least 6 years... and not break the break the bank during 4 more years of grad school. Yikes! Wishful thinking! Maybe I'll just cut holes in the drivers side floor!
By far, our joint student loan payments. They represent almost 50% of our take home pay! However, we have them on an aggressive repayment schedule and most of that cost is subsidized through loan repayment assistance programs we are both eligible for.
Instructions for creating the Compubody Sock can be found here.
Thank YOU for the great tips! My family did some fairly major (well, major for us) home renovations last summer, so I can totally relate. =)
Mortgage. Most definitely.
Since I regularly track all my expenses, I can tell you my top 5 expenses in 2010: Mortgage/property taxes, food, health insurane (premiums and out of pockeet), clothing and "household" expenses.
Taxes! Since most of that is taken out before I get a chance to see it, next is mortgage!
My city utility bill (electric, water, trash). It varies, but is often higher than my mortgage payment.
As a bride who is about to embark on a second marriage (his first), I would say guests are not required to attend if they felt they already celebrated enough the first go round. We are paying for almost all expenses ourselves and can only invite a smaller group of family and friends. If for financial or judgmental reasons one does not want to attend, it would be best to reply no on the RSVP and let it end with that. More room for those truly in the celebratory mood. :)
Great article; your frustration is palpable ☺ And I can definitely relate to it, because I'm a DeleteMe expert at Abine, Inc., and I remove people from many, many, MANY of these people search websites every day. I actually just blogged about my own irritating experiences with these sites and gave your article a shout-out: http://bit.ly/eQfI54
Definitely rent is the biggest part, student loans would be second.
My biggest expense is my education- and I went to a state school! I ended up needing loans for almost my entire time there and am currently paying off four different lenders. It's always a little depressing to realize that my expensive education isn't paying itself off. Terrible job market has me wishing I'd found other ways to pay for my schooling!
Stockpiling food that's on sale--saves me money plus a trip to the store. Paying off my house 15 years early-you can look at it as reducing monthly expenses or as having an extra ($XXX--whatever your principle and interest total) to spend.
Housing related costs take the biggest bite out of budget, but our dogs and horses devour most of the rest.
I have no suggestions to add to the already adequate list, but where can I find a pattern for the privacy sweater in the photo? I totally want one!
Health insurance, unfortunately. We have to buy ours privately, and that adds up!
Fortunately, we live below our means in almost every aspect. However, when it came to our childs daycare, we simply would not comprimise. Day care for our infant is by far the largest expense in our household at 20% of our net income. Next would be the mortgage on our small condo at 15% (including taxes, insurance, PMI and maintenance).
Wow, it would kill my shoulder/back to be carrying that much stuff around! I have a very small purse that weighs only a couple pounds when full, and I never find myself "missing" something. In it, I keep my wallet, lipstick and lip gloss, my cell phone, a pen, eye drops, Altoid Smalls, chapstick, a flash drive, a nail file, my birth control, and my grocery store coupons in a side pocket.
Housing is our budget killer!
Our largest category in our budget is actually our tithe to our church by more than $100 over our mortgage. Our car payment would be next.
rent!
Definitely housing and then food
Hmmm, looking over all our budget categories in mint.com, it appears our biggest expense each month is helping our son with all his monthly expenses, followed closely by our lump budget each month for food/groceries/toiletries/pet supplies.
My wife and I are both retired, our mortgage was paid off last October and our cars are both paid off.
Our biggest expense by far is health insurance and health care. We're currently paying north of $900 per month and next month this will jump to $1200/month. So much for the promised "bending the cost curve down" by the passage of the health care reform bill. Add in about $1200/year auto insurance and about $1800/year homeowners insurance and insurance of one kind or another is definitely the biggest expense in our budget.
Second place is federal, state and local taxes with federal income taxes and local property taxes and assessments taking the biggest bite.
Third place goes to utilities: electricity, water, phone, satellite TV and internet. I suppose that the last two can be categorized as "entertainment".
Remaining expenses, in order, are food, travel and entertainment.
The biggest single item is housing, if you count mobile home payment and lot rent together. Groceries for our family of four is our next-biggest expense, larger than either loan payment or rent alone.
We're about three years out from paying off the loan, though, and it's almost impossible to refinance a mobile home if you don't own the ground under it, so our only strategy for now is to wait it out. I have many strategies for cutting down on grocery expenses, but they're pretty 101 - buy cheap, cook at home, don't eat out much - and there's only so low you can go and still have food on the table.
My poor old 99 mazda is on its death bed. I want to buy used, but hopefully a car that can last me at least 6 years... and not break the break the bank during 4 more years of grad school. Yikes! Wishful thinking! Maybe I'll just cut holes in the drivers side floor!
By far, our joint student loan payments. They represent almost 50% of our take home pay! However, we have them on an aggressive repayment schedule and most of that cost is subsidized through loan repayment assistance programs we are both eligible for.