Tackling the big 3 --> Housing, Transportation, Food

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Lemur
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Tackling the big 3 --> Housing, Transportation, Food

Post by Lemur »

I'm curious to what you guys have done personally to tackle the big three.

Housing - I share a house with a sibling. So it is me, my spouse, and my sister renting a house. We split all of our expenses down the middle so my rent comes out to $862 a month. Split with my spouse (who stays home and watches my son) that is $431 a month for each of us. Not Bad and it is the most ideal situation for us. I give myself a B.

Transportation - Well my 2004 Honda Civic is paid off but I have a long commute to work. This was compromise because my work is 30 miles north of where I live while my sister's work is roughly 30 miles south so we found a location in the middle. My honda civic is getting older and needs some repairs and perhaps I could have gotten myself something more energy efficient many years ago. I give myself a C; I am at least able to split half of my commute via train and it gets reimbursed through my employer.

Food - Terrible and looking for suggestions. Also communication with my spouse is rough on this one since she likes to go out to eat once a weekend or so whereas I usually dread it (financially). We spend maybe $600-$700 a month ($7,200 - $8,400 a year) for our family of 3. Also my self discipline sucks a bit because sometimes I get bored at work and go get myself food or a carbonated water or energy drinks (fountains are free!). I give myself a F and looking for suggestions to work on this. Shockingly, we've actually gotten better; we have been eating rice, beans, staples, more veggies but we haven't cut down on meat and other junk food that is a waste of calories. We're both in decent shape but not great shape. Learning how to cook lentils as well.

At the moment my savings rate is 25% (automatically because 25% goes to my 401k) on a $55,000 salary.

BRUTE
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Re: Tackling the big 3 --> Housing, Transportation, Food

Post by BRUTE »

Lemur wrote:
Sat May 13, 2017 6:56 pm
cut down on meat and other junk food that is a waste of calories
brute objects to classifying meat as junk food.

in general, Lemur is doing very well. getting into food prep and cooking can be a fun hobby, combined with a bit of bulk cooking it's been working pretty well for brute.

classical_Liberal
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Re: Tackling the big 3 --> Housing, Transportation, Food

Post by classical_Liberal »

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Last edited by classical_Liberal on Thu Feb 04, 2021 11:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

BRUTE
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Re: Tackling the big 3 --> Housing, Transportation, Food

Post by BRUTE »

some personal care products can be bought at salon supply stores. brute acquired a gallon of shampoo for about $12 there once.

ThisDinosaur
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Re: Tackling the big 3 --> Housing, Transportation, Food

Post by ThisDinosaur »

I've done car free + minimalist housing in the past, but I'm currently at an F on both of those. That will change before I FIRE. I was very inspired by the suburban homesteading movement to try and push my food costs down towards zero. But my first full year of gardening has been pretty disappointing. My current set up isn't amenable to growing long-lived perennials and fruit trees, which I think I'd be better at.
Lemur wrote:
Sat May 13, 2017 6:56 pm
Food - Terrible and looking for suggestions.....Also my self discipline sucks a bit because sometimes I get bored at work and go get myself food or a carbonated water or energy drinks (fountains are free!). I give myself a F and looking for suggestions to work on this.
I really think its easier to make better food decisions on a full stomach. If you can force yourself to eat some salad greens and/or drink a large amound of water *before* eating that taco/doughnut/soda or whatever, you may find afterwards you can do without the bad stuff altogether or at least are satisfied with far less of it.

Allagash
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Re: Tackling the big 3 --> Housing, Transportation, Food

Post by Allagash »

I do pretty well on food, but auto and housing are big expenses for me.

Housing grade D. I live in a very average nothing special 600 sf 1 bedroom apt in a cheaper area of a expensive city and pay $1,250/mo (will probably go up to at least $1,325/mo as they raise rents annually here A LOT). Nicer 1 bedrooms in my area can go for $1,750-$2,000+/mo, so I'm paying a lot less than others, but way higher than I would want to be. Housing is my TOUGHEST cost to hack because I do not want roommates (really value my privacy and work from home), buying would be even more expensive then renting, and I already live in one of the lowest cost areas of the metro area, so can't go miuch lower without getting into more junky neighborhoods. So my only choice to lower housing is really to move to a cheaper part of the country and maybe downsize to a studio. I'm FI and could live anywhere, so moving is an option but I like it where I live so it will be sad to move. Have also thought of living in a RV full time chasing the weather as a snowbird. Probably wouldn't save much over renting, but might be fun.

Car grade C. I drive a 2010 Nissan I paid cash for 6 yrs ago. Gas + insurance + maintenance + estimated monthly depreciation costs me $300-$350/mo total to have the car. I really love having a car for spontaneity, grocery shopping whenever i want, speed, flexibility, I take a lot of road trips and camp/hike/etc... Like having my own apartment, it is something I have a very, very hard time giving up or making much cheaper in my life.

Food grade B. I spend about $225/mo on groceries. I'm mostly Vegan and eat pretty simply. I eat a lot of veggies, avocadoes, spices, garlic, olive oil mixed with grains like Quinoa, Amaranth, Millet and also lentils. Toast, almond butter, snack on almonds, seeds, grapefruits, local fruit, etc... So extremely healthy too. I eat almost 100% or meals at home. Only eat out at restaurants occasionally when I'm kind of forced to with friends, dates.

My apartment and my car really kill my monthly overhead. I wish I could make them much cheaper. But I find it really, really difficult to change them without making a major and very uncomfortable compromise in my overall quality of life. And this point in my life (47 yrs old), I really don't want to have roommates or go without a car. So they are both a thorn in the side of my finances that is very tough to change!

wood
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Re: Tackling the big 3 --> Housing, Transportation, Food

Post by wood »

Housing
I put EUR 700/month as my maximum and started searching. I ended up in a small apartment 100 meters from work at EUR 500/month where I'm sharing toilet and shower with the neighbour (family of 4) downstairs. Doesn't bother me, I mostly shower at work anyway. At this price most would expect to live in a shared flat with 2 or 3 strangers (students typically).

Transportation
I walk the 100m to work everyday. And I have 3 different grocery stores within 300m. My housing/work is in town so I don't really have transportation needs. I have a bike that I got for free and I don't own a car. Transportation costs me EUR 20/month on average (bus tickets for longer trips). When travelling I pay for the use of airplanes and boats. This costs more.

Food
I sometimes buy take-away junk food (burger/kebab 2-3 times a month perhaps). I see it as buying time because I will typically order it, do my grocery shopping, pick up and eat it, then proceed to whatever appointment I was in a rush to make. The food gives a nice high.
I've recently bought more organic food, which has increased my monthly bill.
I spend about EUR 40/month in the work cafeteria. I use my diabetes as an excuse for buying sweets when my sugar is low.
On a positive note I'm good at cooking, enjoy it. My girlfriends cook for me sometimes. I live close to the ocean so I fish my dinner about once a week and I grow some spices. Oh and I buy in bulk when I find good discounts.
Food costs me EUR 230/month on average. I haven't included outings with family/friends or beer money. I consider those social/cultural events even if they include food.

wolf
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Re: Tackling the big 3 --> Housing, Transportation, Food

Post by wolf »

Housing:
I have a paid off apartement. I only have to pay utilities. Therefore my spending for housing is relatively low. It takes about 7% from my income. Because it works so good, I am a quite big fan of owning rather than renting.

Transportation:
I have managed to live car-free for one year and I don't regret it. I bikt to work (45min one way) and groceries supermarkets are withing walking distance. Totally my expenses for transportation is quite low.

Food:
I almost never eat out. I only eat breakfast and dinner and I skip lunch most of the time. What's really helping is that in Germany purchasing power is quite high and cost of living quite low (I know that they depend on each other, but I wanted to say it nevertheless)

Allagash
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Re: Tackling the big 3 --> Housing, Transportation, Food

Post by Allagash »

MDFIRE2024 wrote:
Mon Jul 03, 2017 12:58 pm
Housing:
I have a paid off apartement. I only have to pay utilities. Therefore my spending for housing is relatively low. It takes about 7% from my income. Because it works so good, I am a quite big fan of owning rather than renting.
Depending on where you live owning does not make sense vs. renting. Where I live, I would probably have to START at $200k U.S. dollars to get a very small fixer upper condo. Then even if bought all cash with no mortgage on the condo, I would have HOA dues + property taxes + insurance + repairs/upgrades. But much worse, I would lose the "opportunity cost" of the $200k cash I paid for the condo. I make 10% return on my invested savings, so that means by owning the condo I would forgo $20,000 a year I could make investing the $200k that would be now tied up on a condo. So $20,000 a year of lost investments + property taxes + hoa + maintenance/upgrades is still higher then I would pay in rent. And where I live $200k would get me a dumpy place at the bottom of the housing market (worse area then I rent). And renting gives you a lot of flexibility to move easier when you want if you are the type that moves around a lot. There may be very cheap parts of the USA where owning vs. renting makes sense, but not where I live.

wolf
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Re: Tackling the big 3 --> Housing, Transportation, Food

Post by wolf »

Always good to hear another view about the same topic. Thanks for the information. Maybe someday I will think about owning also differently, depending real estate market and my favourite lifestyle. What I've also learned is that there is a big difference between property taxes and taxes on gains between the countries, e.g. Germany has small property taxes and you don't have to pay taxes on property gains if you live in your house for 10 years. Well, thanks again. I will remember if I will ever live in another country, e.g. the States.

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Lemur
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Re: Tackling the big 3 --> Housing, Transportation, Food

Post by Lemur »

I'm doing a lot better since my initial post when it comes to food. Still much more room for improvement but I changed some habits

-Before: Energy drink M-F; Now I just stick to coffee or water + caffeine Pill. Diet mountain dew is also good on occasion.
-Before: Grocery Shopping; I felt we did good in this area but recently we decided that if a meat was on sale we would load up. We have had a ton of chicken legs which has lasted a while. My rule is meat only if it is under $2lb / per pound. I found this to be a good deal in my area.
-Before: Going out to eat. We drastically cut this down; a big part of it was my wife's understanding my view point but when we do go out we have a $20 or under rule. I generally end up eating less; the "sacrifice" is worth it to me.
-I'm not a big fan of rice (unless it is with fish) but it is a staple for my wife. I like black beans more. Could eat them everyday.
-Not buying chips anymore. I have done a good job recently of dropping off bread, processed foods, snacks; stuff like that. I have lost a few pounds by sticking to a meat/fruit/veggie diet. I would like to continue this trend. I weight 186lbs at 6'0. Ideally I would like to get to 170lbs. I won't purposely diet to get there as I don't want to be neurotic over nutrition but I think I will eventually get there the slow and steady way.
-Been bringing food to work for Lunch. This is saving me a lot.

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