How much are 'average' living expenses?

[Stella]

Hi all,
Just after peoples ideas of how much an 'average' couple in an 'average' house would spend per month on living expenses?

We have been using LOC for a few months now & each month credit card seems to come in at around $2500 - $3000 per month. There are only 2 of us (plus a dog & 2 cats) and even though the last half of the year is generally dear for us with rates & regos & insurances etc but I still think this seems a lot - even though I feel we arent going out & living it up??

Any thoughts on what would be considered an average monthly spend?

Cheers
Stella

 

[Able]

Sorry i'm not going to answer the question. I'm going to suggest that you need to do a budget in order to answer the question for YOU. It really will not take you too long, OK maybe some time if you have never done it before. But once done you can play with the figures (ie. if you finance a new car it will cost us $x per year... which you may or may not want to afford). When you do this exercise you will be surprised how much all the little categories of spending add up to.

Regards
Able

 

[Novar]

I used to budget $400 p/week .. $1600 mth ..few years ago.
Be more like $600 p/week now I'd imagine, but that is not rent/mortgage inc.
2 adults and 2 kids ... though now the kids are grown up they are more self sufficent.

Get an exercise book/diary and write everything. It really helps see where you money goes. You'll be able to look back and see what the electricity bill was same quarter last year and year before at a glance.

Add it up monthly and then yearly if you want.

 

[alexlee]

There is no such thing as 'average' expeneses, only expenses you can live with.
Alex

 

[ianvestor]

With our PPOR mortgage taking over $2500 a month, I wouldn't want have less than $5000 / month to spend.

Where do you live? How many cars to you have? How far do you have to travel to work? How long is your nearest ball of string?

 

[The Y-man]

We have been using LOC for a few months now & each month credit card seems to come in at around $2500 - $3000 per month.

3k per month is equivalent to 36k pa after tax, so about $50k (give or take) before tax for the average punter..... I know some people on less than that as a household income, and paying the rent with it as well.

Cheers,

The Y-man

 

[Kenster]

"Average" is for...

... Average people

Above average people are prepared to go beyond what the average does.

There is times they can satisfy with the bare minimum while building up wealth.

There is also times they spend like kings.

Rich life is about living at the extremes. Not the average.

 

[BayView]

Good point Kenster.

Here's a budgeting tip for the investment part of it;

you need at least 10% of your income set a side to "pay yourself". This money only gets used for investing. Not boasting, but we "pay ourself" a third of our income, and still manage to have lots of fun.

If you haven't got that amount (10%) of spare income for this purpose, then do a budget and try account for every cent for the next 30 days. This is harder than it sounds; EVERY CENT.

Then, you will be able to see where the financial haemhorrage is occurring, and take steps to cut it off.

A good read is "The Richest Man in Babylon".

 

[Bill.L]

Hi all,

'Average expenses' are a joke.

Different people in different areas, with different priorities will have different expenditures.

Our 'expenses' next year will be exorbitant because we live in the country. We will have 2 children attending university and will have to pay for accommodation . This will be probably over $25k alone.

If we lived in the city they could live at home.

The percentage of secondary school leavers in the country areas who go on to university is pathetic for this reason, yet no politician will do anything about it.

Sorry for the 'rave', but talk of 'budgeting' and 'average' expenses just don't come close in some situations.

bye

 

[GoAnna!]

Hi Stelle a

Are you saying that each of you live on up to $350 pw each and this includes everything apart from rent / mortgage?

How much are you investing / reducing debt / saving (investment saving not spending saving) each month? Is your investment plan on track?

 

[Propagate]

Hi all,
Just after peoples ideas of how much an 'average' couple in an 'average' house would spend per month on living expenses?

We have been using LOC for a few months now & each month credit card seems to come in at around $2500 - $3000 per month. There are only 2 of us (plus a dog & 2 cats) and even though the last half of the year is generally dear for us with rates & regos & insurances etc but I still think this seems a lot - even though I feel we arent going out & living it up??

Any thoughts on what would be considered an average monthly spend?

Cheers
Stella

We have just moved to Melbourne from the UK. Our rent is $450 a week and we have budgeted $230 for food & entertainment ( not enough ), $300 for petrol, ( not enough ), $200 a month toward rego, insurance etc. Basically we have budgeted to cover every outgoing. It comes to $4300 a month and we are having to increase it as we are going over $230 a week with our grocery shop and spending way more that $300 a month on fuel. If we rented somewhere cheaper, we'd be way better off.

 

[Stella]

Hi Stelle a

Are you saying that each of you live on up to $350 pw each and this includes everything apart from rent / mortgage?

How much are you investing / reducing debt / saving (investment saving not spending saving) each month? Is your investment plan on track?

The c/card pays for just about everything - all bills ($100 pw cash for the little things like bread, milk coffee etc) but otherwise yeah the $2500 - 3k is everything except mortgage.

Investment plan only young but plan is to leave as much on PPOR LOC each month. I feel we are spending too much but ptr thinks not.

Guess we will have to keep track of every $1 for a month or two & see where/if we can trim a bit. Maybe ptr is right & we aren't wasting but I just think when there are people living on 1/2 our earnings & paying rent too we could be doing better.

Thanks for all the thoughts
Cheers
Stella

 

[s_t]

Hi Stelle a

Are you saying that each of you live on up to $350 pw each and this includes everything apart from rent / mortgage?

How much are you investing / reducing debt / saving (investment saving not spending saving) each month? Is your investment plan on track?

You sound shocked GoAnna! Sounds like a lot to me

atm we live on about $300 / wk. That's for a family of 4, with the oldest son in a private school too....

Don't need or wont much, living in a nice relaxed farm/rural environment.

(that is of course ignore housing and IP costs)

 

[Rolf Latham]

Hi All

A touch of sanity to figures

One person normal expenditure is another's extravagance.

As a couple with nil kids, and once accomodation expenses are taken care of, 1447 a month is the official poverty line.

Spend less than this u are living below the poverty line, yet i know many that do and have a good quality of life............its not only about the money !


ta
rolf

 

[Stella]

Hi All

As a couple with nil kids, and once accomodation expenses are taken care of, 1447 a month is the official poverty line.

Thanks Rolf - thats what I was after - a ballpark figure by which I can compare our spending habits.

Happy to be able to live above the official poverty line but still aware there may be savings to be made.

Cheers
Stella

 

[BoatBoy]

We have just moved to Melbourne from the UK. Our rent is $450 a week and we have budgeted $230 for food & entertainment ( not enough ), $300 for petrol, ( not enough ), $200 a month toward rego, insurance etc. Basically we have budgeted to cover every outgoing. It comes to $4300 a month and we are having to increase it as we are going over $230 a week with our grocery shop and spending way more that $300 a month on fuel. If we rented somewhere cheaper, we'd be way better off.

Picks jaw up off floor

That's more than we have coming in and we are running 8 houses and building a 50 ft catamaran.

Dave

 

[WinstonWolfe]

The figures in the attached spreadsheet are a reasonable portrayal of our expenditure for a working couple. The household income doesn't apply to us.

The planner doesn't consider investments.

 

[Propagate]

Picks jaw up off floor

That's more than we have coming in and we are running 8 houses and building a 50 ft catamaran.

Dave

Tell me about it. I'm flabberghasted. I am just hoping we have alocated too much to bills, but we wont know until they start coming in.

This is how it breaks down ( as I said, it does also inlcude small amounts for things like Ambulance cover, RACV etc that need paying once a year so we dont have to find the cash when needed ). All figures are per month.

I would be interested to hear opinions as to the budget we have against things like water, gas & electric.

Australian Outgoings

RENT $1,955.00

Ambulance Cover $10.00
Car Insurance $50.00
Car Service $50.00
RACV $15.00
Rego $75.00

Water $50.00
Gas $50.00
House Insurance $70.00
Electric $100.00
Broadband $90.00
Phone $27.00
Gym $100.00
Mobiles $60.00
Emma Hair $100.00
Emma Leg Wax $16.00
Food & Ents $1,150.00
Petrol $300.00


Total $4,268.00

It also includes an allowance for Emma's hair do's bi-monthly! Also, we are using way more petrol than that and our grocery bills are coming in hig too.

 

[The Y-man]

I recall once upon a time (less than a decade ago) we got our utilities (2 of us) down to under $100 per month (gas, water, phone) and lived to tell the tale (understand this is Melbourne we are talking about, not sunny Qld), so it must be possible!

Cheers,

The Y-man

 

[BoatBoy]

Gym hair and leg wax would go.

Ambo's is on the power bill (in Qld anyway) Water, we probably spend $50/year.

Food and ent probably $750/mth

Petrol (LPG) about $60/mth.

Have cheaper car ($2000) so service/rego insurance etc is cheap as well


But thats us

Dave