Do other people's bills.......

[FarmerChick]

yea Deb. Jersey is expensive. My aunts taxes aer $14K per year in Bloomfield.

She has to put aside $1,167 per month for property taxes.

that is one reason I am so glad I now live in NC!

Location makes a huge difference on how well one can live on what income.

 

[SD Farm Girl]

Sometimes no matter how much you budget and plan, extra expenses always pop up. Winter brings me an extra $200 a month on the electricity bill to run the water tank heaters for the livestock and I just found out my county is doubling vehicle registration prices. Oh, and insurance went up again last month. Seems I'll always be paying someone no matter how 'self sufficient' I am.

 

[FarmerChick]

Sometimes no matter how much you budget and plan, extra expenses always pop up. Winter brings me an extra $200 a month on the electricity bill to run the water tank heaters for the livestock and I just found out my county is doubling vehicle registration prices. Oh, and insurance went up again last month. Seems I'll always be paying someone no matter how 'self sufficient' I am.

YOU SAID IT!!!!!

for every dollar I truly save, something goes up to take that dollar from me. vicious cycle for sure

 

[THEFAN]

Sometimes no matter how much you budget and plan, extra expenses always pop up. Winter brings me an extra $200 a month on the electricity bill to run the water tank heaters for the livestock and I just found out my county is doubling vehicle registration prices. Oh, and insurance went up again last month. Seems I'll always be paying someone no matter how 'self sufficient' I am.

YOU SAID IT!!!!!

for every dollar I truly save, something goes up to take that dollar from me. vicious cycle for sure

The lucky numbers is all I am asking for. COME ON LUCKY NUMBERS!!!

 

[Leta]

A very, very significant part of why we are getting the ball rolling to move are the taxes and utility rates here. Property taxes are highest in the county, water and electric rates are the highest in the state. The electric company is corporate, but still under the regulation of the state, which must approve each rate hike, and the taxes and water are at the discretion of the local government. I wish there was some way I could make our city council understand that we are being driven out by these expenses.

Our mortgage, principal and interest, costs us $175 per month. Our insurance costs $35/mo, and truthfully we are over-insured and could probably take that down a bit. Our taxes and utilities, expenses that will only go up and up even more, cost us $400-$450 per month right now and we'll have those expenses FOREVER. We basically have no incentive to pay this house off- $175/mo isn't going to make a very big difference at all in our standard of living. So we are putting our resources toward moving someplace nearby with lower taxes, on a well, and (hopefully, though not a deal breaker) on one of the three other nearby electric utilities that have far, far lower rates.

The place we made an offer on cost $225 per month more on the mortgage (principle and interest) and $15 per month more on insurance, and $15 per month more on phone service, plus it's on propane instead of natural gas, so it would seem like it would cost us $255 more every month, plus an increased gas bill. But we could burn wood there (so we'd use a fraction of the gas- here we are only allowed to burn pellets and they are more expensive than cordwood, though far cheaper than gas) and the taxes are waaaay lower, and there's no water bill, which water alone here costs us $80-$150/mo. It would actually cost us *less* every month to own a house worth more than double what this one costs. And, eventually, the single biggest expense will be paid off, versus here, where the biggest expense will not only never be paid off, it will continue to grow. So, even paid off, this house will keep costing us $400/mo., at current rates, and we know from experience that they go up every other year, so lord only knows what it would be by the time we've retired. The place we put an offer on would cost us under $200/mo if it were paid off.

I wish I could get the city to understand these numbers, and make them understand that this is why people are fleeing. This is what happened to Detroit! But nobody wants to hear it, sadly.

 

[tortoise]

I used to live on $800 - $900 / month. With mortgage, property insurance eating up $500 of that. Absolutely miserable. Obviously no phone, interenet. 1 car, rarely having gas money. Our electric bill was about $20 - on account of only havin 4 light bulbs in the house - no electronics. Keeping the heat well below 60 degrees in winter, no A/C in summer.

Getting down to a certain $ amount is counter-productives in my opinion. Crazy bills? no. True austerity? no thank you.

 

[Wannabefree]

We live on $1500 a month no matter what we bring in. That'll go up slightly when we have 3 more kiddos running circles around here, but shouldn't be too bad still. The foster kids will get a check from the state, so there won't exactly be a huge surge in bills that isn't taken care of. I don't see spending more than that, and wouldn't if I had it to spend I try not to judge, but when my friend was going "bankrupt" and still buying her two kids a 20 0z. soda every time they left the house(3-4 times daily) it did make me raise an eyebrow. Plus they kept the roads hot constantly, burning no telling how much fuel per week. Her fuel bill was higher than mine, and I was driving to Louisiana twice a month to see DH I tried to show her, help her get on a budget, but she just couldn't control her spending Some folks can not do it unless they're forced into it.

 

[rebecca100]

I'm making it on $1000 to $1100 a month. Dh is paying the car insurance and cell bills though. I take care of the car, property, and utilities. He makes good money but he blows it as quickly as he gets it and usually ends up borrowing money from me and he makes darn near $4500 a month and only has his truck, the cell bill and car insurance to pay and $500 every two weeks to the kids and I.

 

[me&thegals]

I don't know how you guys do it!

Our mortgage is under $1000, but property taxes average $333/month.
House/liability/car insurance (I have an at-home business and need liability) insurance: approx $150/month
Health insu: $372/month PLUS up to $4000 in deductible/stop-gap/year

Food: minimal, but up to $400 in a month during the winter or with lots of company

Gas: high mpg vehicles (35-40) but up to $300/month

Electric: $40-100/month, depending on humidifier use

LP: only used for hot water, but possibly $40-50/month when LP is quite high.

Phone/internet: Used to be about $170/month, now dropped land line and at $120/month

I often wonder how on earth we pay our bills and have extra left over, as we are both
fairly low wage earners (farming, medical transcription and vegetable farming) Somehow it works
out. Just sent in the paperwork to refinance at 3.25% today, saving approx $9000 over the
life of the loan!!

 

[hwillm1977]

We couldn't make it on $1000 even if we already had all our debts paid off...

Our gas to get back and forth to work is about $600/monthly.

We pay:
Mortgage (only two payments left): $420
Car Insurance: $240/month for two vehicles
Car Payments (Both vehicles paid for by April): $750 for two vehicles
Gas: $600
Food: $450
Internet/TV/Phone: $140
Power/heat (on equalized billing): $302 monthly
Property taxes: $50 monthly
Daycare: $500 monthly

So we're at around $3500/month, but I doubt we'll make it much lower than $2000/month even with debts paid off... hubby's work is 77km away from our house in one direction... my work is 50 km away from our house in the opposite direction. Although I'm going to try to make a go of working as an artist from home so we can cut down our expenses a lot... daycare will disappear and gas will go way down.

Hubby wants to buy a small hobby farm and make a go of having a home business so we can both cut out our commutes and live a better, simpler life at home But that terrifies me... lol