How Much I Spent in 2007
12 Oct
A little while back I figured it costs me $24,160 to be alive each year based on my 2007 spending totals. That number was for the basic neccessities, but for some reason I never tallied the actual amount I spent in 2007.
This post will actually be the first time I’ve really tracked what I personally spent for the year. I’m very good at keeping a tight track of everything I spend for the month, so these numbers are quite accurate.
Jan-07 – $1,415
Feb-07 – $2,214
Mar-07 – $5,441
Apr-07 – $2,895
May-07 – $1,965
Jun-07 – $2,694
Jul-07 – $1,461
Aug-07 – $3,505
Sep-07 – $2,415
Oct-07 – $3,105
Nov-07 – $1,280
Dec-07 – $1,615
2007 TOTAL – $30,005
I often pay bills like car insurance, health insurance or gym memberships 6-12 months in advance, so the numbers vary quite a bit sometime from month-to-month. There’s also zero debt on my books, so these numbers are not inflated by credit card payments, car notes or anything like that. These also don’t include business spending (those numbers get more fun)!
In the post which calculated $24,160 in living expenses, I stated, “That’s just to live, doesn’t even account for going out, travelling etc.”
The total discrepancy between the estimate and actual number is less than $6,000 for the whole year, and since I know I spent more than $6,000 going out and travelling for the whole year, that means I’ve been good at keeping my monthly costs low.
Here’s a fun game for younger people to play:
(I would hope all older people already have this figured out):
1.) Tally last years total expenses.
What does it come to? That number = EXPENSES
2.) Now suppose for a moment you lost all your current income sources.
3.) Do you have at least enough money to cover EXPENSES for the next 12 months?
If yes; good.
If no; that’s your business.
I’d like to see a comparison of Noah’s monthly expenses from the time he was in the SF Bay Area compared to living in Austin now.
How do you track your expenses? Do you pre-plan how much you are going to spend prior? Or do you just subtract money saved from money earned?
Caleb
http://www.mefinanciallyfree.blogspot.com
Great job tracking expenses! I’ve always said the best way to better spend money is to how you have been spending it already. I personally write a journal at the end of the week and analyze how I’ve spent my money that week and write down ideas on how to improve that spending for the following weeks.
You also should look into investing to expand that spending money even more. I hear everyone saying it’s a bad time to start investing with the crazy markets and falling markets. This is not true! Many people are making loads of money even with the current economy. I and a few other people I know have been having great performance in investments with the stock and options advice over at Trade With Pros. Their link by the way is http://www.tradewithpros.com Check them out, they have a proven system and really help out people of all skill levels.
mine works out to around $40,000 but that includes family
http://www.coolpersonalchecks.com
On 2007 i spent around $50 000 :D
what the heck.. how do you guys spend so little money? i’m spending more than you do just on housing expenses, and i live in a 50 year old 3 bed, 1 bath ranch!
@Mike
We try to survive as much as we can.
@Mike
We all try to survive as much as we can.
There are many different types of expenses we spent every year so it might be difficult to track all amount but overall it does cost us a lot from year to year.
Do you live with Mama? Or do you have a wife who works?
tracking one’s expenses is not that easy.. especially in biggies like Houston, Hong Kong, London and Tokyo… extra income.. oh from stock markets.. be cautoius,, use the formula from ‘Risk Function Curve” paper.. one can invest prudently by using the recently discovered formula derived from research paper.. i have been benefitted.. it only needs some patience and a good calcultor…..i am using it.. so can you…
keep h consntant.. and trach other markets with the BSE Sensex.. that ‘s all…
alex mathews
Wow, I wish I could survive on as little as you are! I live in the Bay Area, so things are a bit more expensive around here, whether I like it or not.
Speaking of tracking expenses, I wanted to throw out a simple budgeting program called Budgex (http://www.budgex.net) that I use to track my finances. It also helps you create a budget in less than 15 minutes.
Using Budgex, I found my annual cost to be $34,000.
You did managed your monthly cash flow well!