Second, grow 10,000 square foot of a variety and various timed (from seed) produce. That should yield about 1,500 pounds of food. (3 pounds per day) Sell some, can some, eat some.

Third, hunt and trot fish – not for sport dummy for food. Keep the equipment to a minimum and go for poundage. Trap, shoot squirls, deer etc.

You will have lots of extra food stamp credits on your card. You can use those to buy cheese, sausage, tuna etc which you will sell along side your produce.

This method means that what may have been a $600 expense is now a $200 income and you will be reaping taxes instead of paying them.

That will mean you have saved close to $10,000 a year!

Yes, I do buy some books second hand but I like to buy others new as well, because you do not get everything you want as a used book. A library is difficult for me due to their opening hours being similar to my working hours.

One wonders how much one need spend to be considered a paying customer.

Thanks for this data it will be very helpful in my letter to their corporate offices about their ridiculous customer service.

JH
US Gov’t Economist

First, transportation and apparel. I don’t own a car, neither does my husband (neither of us even have a license) and walk as much as is possible (whenever it takes 30 minutes or less to walk somewhere, and occasionally when it takes longer).
We don’t even have bus passes because even that would cost more than paying for individual tickets. Our average monthly expense for transportation is probably 10-20 dollars.
Apparel now. I just got new shoes. Running shoes, that is. My previous running shoes were bought in 2003, and I would have kept them if I hadn’t moved from France had had to leave a lot behind. (To be fair, they were really falling apart. I glued the sole back on a few times).
I own three pairs: a pair of running shoes, a pair of winter boots (Canada…) and a pair of sandals.
Shoes usually last me between two (sandals) and five (running) years (I don’t know for the winter boots. I only used them for one winter, so they’re good as new, really. They might last ten years or more).
I own two pairs of pants, both more than five year old.
And I could go on.
In other words, my apparel expenses aren’t really measurable in a monthly way, more of a yearly way. And even then, I don’t buy clothes every year.

However, I do spend money on graphic novels and videogames pretty much ever month. I do buy many books, even if I try to borrow them from the library as much as possible. My “entertainment” category, although smaller than the average American, is definitely bigger than transport or apparel.
Electronics would also be a “big” one. I do own a mp3 player, a laptop, and just bought a (refurbished) desktop. I also own several consoles, although I’ve never replaced any of them so they’re a one-time expense.
My TV in France was older than me (to be fair, I’m only 24), and we’re being given one here so no expense there either.

I could go on but I’ve been long enough as it is. I’ll just add that I have no insurance whatsoever. Of course, I’m French and live in Canada, both countries having universal health care. I don’t have a car. I don’t own a house. I’m young, without dependents and therefore have no death insurance yet. In my case, it makes sense, I think.

The healthcare portion looks out of whack. $2853 is only about 4% of total income, yet on a national level, we’re spending about 16%. Who’s paying for the difference???

It’s not in Insurance/Pensions, because nearly all of that is subclassified as social security and pensions, and not insurance. Is it possible that far more people are uninsured than we think?

Our mortgage is much higher than the average american’s but we also live in a higher cost of living area. Our total earnings before taxes is at least 3 times higher than the average so it is understandable that some of our expenditures are higher.

I am just surprised that some of the things are lower such as we spend less on healthcare, housekeeping supplies, and education.

We don’t purchase alcohol or tobacco, either.

I’ve only been tracking my spending accurately for a few months, but at the current rate I’m going, I expect to have spent about 60% of my income in these categories (compared to the chart’s 79%). I hope to either invest the rest or set it aside to purchase a home…

which brings me to a question I have that for you, JD. How does something like purchasing a home fit in with a savings plan? What are the different opinions on this–yours, the experts, the readers?

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by the differences. I am a single New Yorker, so I spend a tiny fraction on transport (about $100/month) and waayyy more on alcohol and “personal care.”

Re: books, I use my library a lot, but including gifts for others I easily spend $1,200/year on books.

http://blog.moneysense.ca/rob-gerlsbeck/where-your-money-went/

Of course, I’m also a young person, single, and a student.

My housing costs are right on, though, because I own. Seems smart when you’re young, but it’s really not.

If the majority of the population keep accurate records of their expenditure and the minority go from their perception of spending then the data is better than vice versa.

As shown by the diversity of expenditure figures in different categories given by previous commenters, the value of a chart like this is that it’s a great conversation starter.

Cheers

I just started budgeting so I can’t look back and get an actual annual amount spent on books. But I’m guessing it’d be $800-$1200 for our 2.0 person consumer unit.

Looking forward to reading all the comments more closely. Since I’m just starting to budget (to see where all the money goes…because it sure goes) I always like to hear what others allocate.

So the fact that yearly depreciation on 2 cars is $3244 is actually quite reasonable. Or if you find the depreciation concept too abstract, then just consider that if (for example) the “average family” buys a new vehicle for $15K and hangs onto it for 10 years before junking it, then you get roughly the same numbers with a large sample size. (i.e. every 5 years the average family purchases a new car for $15K, so the average outlay across families per year would be $3K)

I would guess $500 – $750 per vehicle in repairs is about normal, so that leaves an extra $1500 to $2000 unaccounted for in other transportation expenses. Airline tickets for the whole family once or twice per year will take a good chunk of that, plus keep in mind that a lot of people have significant parking and/or public transportation expenses. Here in the Northeast Corridor, spending $100/month on parking for your job is not at all unreasonable, or if you prefer not to park downtown you can take public transit, but that will cost you roughly the same.

There have been numerous times where I wanted to buy a cup of coffee or get a bite to eat while I was on my way to work (even though I brought a lunch with me and my employer offers free coffee). I am just ‘weening’ myself off the card now, as I don’t feel the urge to spend anymore.

I can’t wait to find out how much I have saved after a month has gone by. I am three weeks into it now and already saved over $100.

Regarding the non-US articles, I wouldn’t ever expect you to write those, they’re not your area of expertise. But a lot of your advice regarding IRAs, insurance, bank accounts is purely US centric, so I’d like to see more *general* information, or have it spelled out that they are based on US details to remind us. And if you could point us towards finding non-US blogs that have similar information to yours that would be brilliant too.

It’s a lot easier to splurge on things like eating out when you’re content to live in a one-bedroom house for half the price that other people are paying for bigger places. We live in a fantastic location — we’re one block from the beach in a California beach/college town. That matters a lot more to me than buying a den, or an extra bedroom, or a room dedicated to a television, so we forgo those things and save on housing costs.

I spend nearly nothing on books. I probably buy a couple novels a year, and almost no non-fiction. Almost all of that reading (and it is a *lot* of reading) has moved online. For many subjects it’s a lot easier to find up-to-date “how to” type information online than it is to go to a bookstore, and I read a lot of this.

It’s easy to when you don’t have any space for purchased books.