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.