What It Costs To Be Alive
30 Apr
I don’t know where this came from, but I was randomly curious on how much it costs me to simply exist here in Austin, TX. per year.
Fixed Yearly Costs:
$1,000 = Car insurance ($84/month)
$1,800 = Health insurance ($150/month)
$960 = Cell phone ($80/month)
$6,000 = Rent ($500/month)
$12,000 = Food, gas, general items ($1,000/month)
$2,400 = Random Costs ($200/month)
Total = $24,160
That’s just to live, doesn’t even account for going out, travelling etc.
I also have few monthly bills because I have no debt, no loans and no car payment.
Hmmm….good to know.
Interesting calculation. I feel a bit to scared to do mine! I am working hard and I don’t know if I want to know how much of it I spend on those things that come in brown envelopes!
Where do you get such affordable health insurance? Mine is over $300 a month for just a basic policy.
I pay $400 for the whole family for medical ins. and feel sometimes I throwing it away
Nice blog, I calculated my costs to live in Sydney (right in the middle fo the city) in australia and we are looking at $36,320 before going out.
James.
OK, I bite and will add mine.
(Keeping in mind that Zurich, Switzerland is quite expensive)
$1,200 = Car insurance
$3600 = Health insurance ($150/month)
$360 = Cell phone ($30/month)
$19,200 = Rent ($1600/month)
$12,000 = Food, gas, general items ($1,000/month)
$2,400 = Random Costs ($200/month)
Comes out to
$38,760 annually or $3230 monthly
I was in Zurich last year, and it cost $10 USD for a meal at McDonalds!
However I also think Switz has the highest living standard of any country?
-Nev
Damn that seems really expensive. Here’s roughly what it costs for me:
$850 – Car insurance
$640 – cheap health insurance (very basic, $53/month)
$360 -Cell phone, $30/month)
$6,615 – Rent ($551/month)
$12,000 – Food, gas other ($1000/month)
$1560 – Random costs – $130/month
Other random stuff- $5000
Total = $15,025
I’ve been reading your blog for awhile, and started keeping my own last month — budgetblogger.com
I’m not quite as good as you seem to be in keeping track. I’m still living paycheck to paycheck, but hoping to improve. Thank you for your site. It really helps, and inspired me to start mine.
Premium Card Guy,
Looks like you calculated wrong, your total adds up to: $22,030!
-Nev
Yes, Switzerland (and especially Zurich) is very expensive.
But hey, Zurich has been rated “best quality of living worldwide” for three years in a row, so..
I enjoy living here and calculations like that are very, VERY good to do once in a while.
::the blind ape::
PS: I would love it if you would interact more on your blog comments. You have to approve them anyway, so why not drop a few lines.
(This is also a good SEO tip for anyone running a blog)
adding 0wns both of you. It’s 27025, he forgot the $12k line.
Wow, $500 a month for rent is a good price. Where in Austin do you live? Good deal.
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Wow, does it really add up to that much!? Oye…*holding breathe while calculating mine*…
Car Insurance…$1080 (full coverage)
Health Insurance…$2548 ($98 a paycheck – 26 pay periods)
Cell phone…$180 (The beauty of a family plan)
Rent…$4800 ($400 monthly for my share)
Food, gas, general items…$12000
Random costs…$2400
TOTAL: $23,008
The cost of holding your breathe long enough to do the math…priceless (cheap shot, I know)
Pretty expensive – especially the health insurance. The rent seems cheap though – here in tthe UK you pay $900 easily and if you live in London you pay $1800 for a very ordinary 2 bedroom flat !
if you make more money, you will have more costs.