Living Expenses - Rule of Thumb

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: Lothar
Gross (meaning after taxes, deductions, and 401K)

Rent: 0% (I live for free at home)
Car: 0% (if you include gas, 0.48%)
Food: 0% (I eat for free at home)
Student Loans: 6.8%
Savings/investments: 93.2%

You don't eat out? Parents buy/make all of your food?

I probably eat out maybe 4x a year on my own tab. If you include company sponsored events, events and presentation by pharmaceutical companies, and other events at other family members houses besides our own, I ate more than that. I don't consider eating for free to be "eating out".
I think I ate out 2x last year. I haven't eaten out this year so far.

We both buy/make our food.
Depends on what we need. If you include regular shopping for food stuff, that would be no more than $300-350/month (or 4.07%...actually if I combine her income to mine, it would be much ~2.5%). Either of us buys depending on who is able to. We eat mostly ethnic food, and cook some foods in bulk so it's cheaper for us in the long run.

Wow!

Well to add to that, both my brother and aunt's birthday both fall on April 25th. My brother says he wants to plan something on April 26th(involving going out to eat, but I know everyone will expect me to pay since we all know he's a college student and won't be able to afford it while everyone would be looking at the doctor of the house expecting him to pick the whole tab or most of it, which I don't mind doing.)

All this of course would be assuming my brother's plans come to fruition.
I don't understand why we can't just do this at home and make 10 cups of jollof rice with fried goat meat stew, plantains, and other side things.
Much cheaper (and probably better tasting) food in the long run.

He wants to be go out and be social and not be a lame tightwad. Don't you want to have a social life? Do you have any friends?

Why can't he be social at home?
It's a pure family event, no friends invited. My aunt lives 2 houses down on the same street.

Why not enjoy a night out with family? No one has to cook, force yourself to go out and be around people.

 

[ponyo]

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: Lothar
Gross (meaning after taxes, deductions, and 401K)

Rent: 0% (I live for free at home)
Car: 0% (if you include gas, 0.48%)
Food: 0% (I eat for free at home)
Student Loans: 6.8%
Savings/investments: 93.2%

You don't eat out? Parents buy/make all of your food?

I probably eat out maybe 4x a year on my own tab. If you include company sponsored events, events and presentation by pharmaceutical companies, and other events at other family members houses besides our own, I ate more than that. I don't consider eating for free to be "eating out".
I think I ate out 2x last year. I haven't eaten out this year so far.

We both buy/make our food.
Depends on what we need. If you include regular shopping for food stuff, that would be no more than $300-350/month (or 4.07%...actually if I combine her income to mine, it would be much ~2.5%). Either of us buys depending on who is able to. We eat mostly ethnic food, and cook some foods in bulk so it's cheaper for us in the long run.

Do you take vacations? Or have hobbies? Or females to wine and dine?

Saving/investing is fine but so is spending and having some fun. Life is short and you never know how long you have left. One of the regrets my dad told me before he passed was that he didn't take much vacations and didn't get a chance to see the world.

 

[darkxshade]

blow: 50%
hookers: 50%

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: Lothar
Gross (meaning after taxes, deductions, and 401K)

Rent: 0% (I live for free at home)
Car: 0% (if you include gas, 0.48%)
Food: 0% (I eat for free at home)
Student Loans: 6.8%
Savings/investments: 93.2%

You don't eat out? Parents buy/make all of your food?

I probably eat out maybe 4x a year on my own tab. If you include company sponsored events, events and presentation by pharmaceutical companies, and other events at other family members houses besides our own, I ate more than that. I don't consider eating for free to be "eating out".
I think I ate out 2x last year. I haven't eaten out this year so far.

We both buy/make our food.
Depends on what we need. If you include regular shopping for food stuff, that would be no more than $300-350/month (or 4.07%...actually if I combine her income to mine, it would be much ~2.5%). Either of us buys depending on who is able to. We eat mostly ethnic food, and cook some foods in bulk so it's cheaper for us in the long run.

Wow!

Well to add to that, both my brother and aunt's birthday both fall on April 25th. My brother says he wants to plan something on April 26th(involving going out to eat, but I know everyone will expect me to pay since we all know he's a college student and won't be able to afford it while everyone would be looking at the doctor of the house expecting him to pick the whole tab or most of it, which I don't mind doing.)

All this of course would be assuming my brother's plans come to fruition.
I don't understand why we can't just do this at home and make 10 cups of jollof rice with fried goat meat stew, plantains, and other side things.
Much cheaper (and probably better tasting) food in the long run.

He wants to be go out and be social and not be a lame tightwad. Don't you want to have a social life? Do you have any friends?

Why can't he be social at home?
It's a pure family event, no friends invited. My aunt lives 2 houses down on the same street.

Why not enjoy a night out with family? No one has to cook, force yourself to go out and be around people.

My only issue is just that if one goes out to eat the only thing one can do is talk while eating for 1-2 hours maximum (otherwise the waiters start staring at you and/or you block other innocent customers who want to sit down and eat).

If this were done at home, the event could last much longer, there are movies we can all watch, board games, video games and card games we can play etc...and we can still talk.

If this was done at a restaurant, the only thing one can do would be to eat for an hour or two, and everyone goes to their respective houses to crash after that.

I don't have any issue with paying whatsoever.

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: Naustica

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: Lothar
Gross (meaning after taxes, deductions, and 401K)

Rent: 0% (I live for free at home)
Car: 0% (if you include gas, 0.48%)
Food: 0% (I eat for free at home)
Student Loans: 6.8%
Savings/investments: 93.2%

You don't eat out? Parents buy/make all of your food?

I probably eat out maybe 4x a year on my own tab. If you include company sponsored events, events and presentation by pharmaceutical companies, and other events at other family members houses besides our own, I ate more than that. I don't consider eating for free to be "eating out".
I think I ate out 2x last year. I haven't eaten out this year so far.

We both buy/make our food.
Depends on what we need. If you include regular shopping for food stuff, that would be no more than $300-350/month (or 4.07%...actually if I combine her income to mine, it would be much ~2.5%). Either of us buys depending on who is able to. We eat mostly ethnic food, and cook some foods in bulk so it's cheaper for us in the long run.

Do you take vacations? Or have hobbies? Or females to wine and dine?

Saving/investing is fine but so is spending and having some fun. Life is short and you never know how long you have left. One of the regrets my dad told me before he passed was that he didn't take much vacations and didn't get a chance to see the world.

I will be taking a vacation to Nigeria this september. Of course it's not technically a vacation. Going there to see family members I haven't seen in ages and see our house we're building there. Seeing and interracting with family members I haven't seen in a long while is vacation enough for me.
I went to the Baltimore zoo, national aquarium in Baltimore, inner harbor, and six flags with family members last year.

If you're talking vacation to resorts, islands, or cruises I don't do any sort of that.