How much do we spend LIA per month!

NoChaos · Post by **NoChaos** » Tue May 12, 2009 9:54 pm

nextgen;172515question was how much you spend..not how much you save[/quote]Saving is deferred expenditure.

suyog · Post by **suyog** » Sat Nov 19, 2011 10:08 am

are you guys adding mortgage to the expenses? Mine is around 3K (including apartment rent), single earning family in bay area with 2 kids

mn_op · Post by **mn_op** » Sat Nov 19, 2011 11:22 am

For single income families living in rented house, the expense is around 3K.
For single income families living in own house, the expense is around 4K.
For double income families living in rented house, the expense is 4.5 K (additional commute/car/daycare expenses)
For double income families living in own house, the expense is 6K (mortage/taxes and general upkeep and tendency to buy fancier household stuff) and general sense of financial well being causing them to splurge on more expensive toys for kids and non-walmart innerwear for grownups.

Although no two families are alike and each of us have different sets of obligations, this should be true for 60% of the NRI families.

Sid · Post by **Sid** » Sat Nov 19, 2011 12:46 pm

Cross posting from another thread

sid_earth;388776100K gross total salary for a family of 3 will be a horrible life in Bay Area. Take straight 35K out of it in taxes. Take another 20-25K out on house rent (you will at least have a 2BR apartment). Take out additional 15-20K out for annual groceries, shopping, phone, cable, petrol, and other utilities (all very basic and standard). Now what you have left is about 20K in hand in an year. This is assuming a very down to earth desi-middle-class living style. This is also NOT counting any childcare and educational expenses. This is also NOT counting any loans for a car, etc. You can forget about any savings.

sid_earth;388814Here is what my 2 person family spends in a month:
Electricity---------------  120       
Water/Garbage--------------  30 
Petrol--------------------- 120       
Internet-------------------  50       
Family 2 Line Cell Phone--  120       
Monthly Groceries---------- 500       
General Shopping----------- 200 
Eating Out/lunch at work -- 300   
Add a $400 per month installment for a car loan, and you are looking at a FIXED annual cost of approx $22,000. This is NOT counting any kid related expense, or a car repair/ maintenance, or any medical expense (any of which could very quickly become a major expense).

About taxes, ok maybe not 35K, but probably about 30K is how much typical Federal + CA will need to be paid.

RBee · Post by **RBee** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 4:15 am

suyog;424041are you guys adding mortgage to the expenses? Mine is around 3K (including apartment rent), single earning family in bay area with 2 kids

This is unbelievable Boss !! $3K in SFO bay area for a family of 4 should get you an audition in CNBC segment or you can have your own show like Suze Orman advising people of Indian origin to curb spending :) . Curious though for the breakdown of this estimate (I have a feeling that you must not have added biennial India trips or vacations or emergency spending by Missus in shopping malls or weekend Desi movies in movie complex like Rockstar :) which can add another $10K per year easily to your estimate ).. mn_op's estimate of ~$6K for DI2K (double income with 2 Kids) seemed reasonable including all the expenses sid_earth accounted above plus the vacation/emergency spending..

oasis138 · Post by **oasis138** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 4:22 am

Is this thread a disguised attempt to know member's salaries ? (if we tell you how much we spend and how much we save I guess that adds up to how much we make less taxes ) :)

samv · Post by **samv** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 4:32 am

My simple formula for my lifestyle for a 2+2 family is $30K + rent/mortgage+ vacations/India-trips + daycare. This is for So. Cal. I estimate that I can probably cut max. $5K from from the $30K without much change in how I live.

RBee · Post by **RBee** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 4:37 am

oasis138;424390Is this thread a disguised attempt to know member's salaries ? (if we tell you how much we spend and how much we save I guess that adds up to how much we make less taxes ) :)

Majority gave an estimate of what they spend and did not reveal what they save in spite of OP's attempt to get that, so one cannot guess what one makes :)

roxstar · Post by **roxstar** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 5:40 am

I second Rbee's question on how people can get by with $3k expenses in the bay area? Whatz the secret? At the very least, a paid off house i am presuming!

samv · Post by **samv** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 5:54 am

roxstar;424397I second Rbee's question on how people can get by with $3k expenses in the bay area? Whatz the secret? At the very least, a paid off house i am presuming!

I am interested too.

Only scenario I can think about is if somehow you can get a ultra-cheap rent controlled apartment in San Francisco (utilities included) next to your place of work so you don't own a car.