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Ask HN: What do you spend your money on?

• typesarecool 1y ago
  Paying for grad school out of pocket (around 700 USD per month, I'm going slowly). Paying for a large tattoo out of pocket, actually the same price as grad school (700 USD). Member of a few different clubs (BJJ, Muay Thai, local spa gym) which is maybe 300 USD all in. Those are my regular monthly bills outside of house, food, etc... Won't say salary but in a high percentile of income in EU country. If I had no job and unlimited money (and no responsibilities) I'd go to Phuket and train Muay Thai for a year, then go to the Wudang mountains and train Kung Fu at some probably quite Westernised temple for another year. Afterwards I'd start a company in the defence or space sector.
• mikesabat 1y ago
  I built a side project during COVID and after. I started recording videos explaining everything that's happening in the world for my kids to watch in 20 years. Then I wanted to capture my parents life story. I thought it might be a good little project and others might find it valuable. So I built viography.co The problem is that I'm not really promoting it and not getting customers. So I'm spending a few hundred dollars a month to record videos, save them for later and of course fix bugs that I find.
• TZubiri 1y ago
  Chicken nuggets and debt atm
  • kgwxd 1y ago
    I think I got more joy from paying off debt than anything I've ever purchased after I finally got out.
• steele 1y ago
  Raising a family
• ProfessorZoom 1y ago
  stocks and stuff that makes me happy (car, movie theater, eating out)
• nyarlathotep_ 1y ago
  Apparently many "gaming" mice, as I can't find something that doesn't bother my hand after a few hours.
  • kgwxd 1y ago
    Hate to break it to you, there will never be a solution for hours of gaming without some pain.
    • fragmede 1y ago
      physical therapy. hand exercises, weight training.
    • nyarlathotep_ 1y ago
      It's not even much gaming at all (a few hours a week at most). Mostly just "mousing around" for work stuff. Dunno, I think my hand is just busted.
    • D13Fd 1y ago
      This seems like a weird comment. Many people use a mouse for long periods. I play competitively and at the end of the comp season each year I'll often play in full-bore try-hard mode for 14+ hours straight with no issues (I'm in my 40's). I think it's just different for different people.
  • datadrivenangel 1y ago
    Try a vertical ergonomic mouse, and also go for more walks and do some very light body weight exercises and stretches. My hand issues start coming back when I skip the activities long enough. A 15 minute walk around the block and then a minute of pushups and another minute of stretches is enough to keep the arm functional for me.
    • nyarlathotep_ 1y ago
      Good call--I do have a logitech ergo something or other I used for a bit. Maybe I'll go back to that.
• setgree 1y ago
  My salary is $96,000, which comes to about $5700/month after taxes and everything. I spend about $1300 a month in recurring expenses (rent, gym, etc.). I'm 36, I live with roommates in Brooklyn, and I saved $1200 last month. That means on average, I spent about $100 a day on everything else (food, fun, travel). It's a life that works for me. IMHO, income is logarithmic [0], so in terms of things I might like to have but don't (an apartment with a shared pool?) it would probably be a big jump up in income to get them. If I got a $10K raise tomorrow, it wouldn't really make a difference. If I ever have kids, I'll either have to give some things up or climb the income ladder. [0] https://ofdollarsanddata.com/climbing-the-wealth-ladder/ https://ofdollarsanddata.com/climbing-the-wealth-ladder/
  • quotz 1y ago
    Its beyond minid-boggling how you spend 1300 a month on rent and gym and other stuff. Which neighbourhood are you in? How many roommates? I've usually paid around 3-4K for a studio...
    • setgree 1y ago
      I'm in Kensington with two roommates in an old house. It's definitely a great deal but if you are willing to live with roommates in a somewhat uncool area, similar deals are definitely possible: https://streeteasy.com/for-rent/nyc/price:3000-4000%7Carea:320,324,340,343,346%7Cbeds%3E=3%7Cin_rect:40.621,40.655,-73.988,-73.941?sort_by=se_score https://streeteasy.com/for-rent/nyc/price:3000-4000%7Carea:3... For instance, here's $3500 for a 4 bedroom/1.5 bath that's on a quiet street but near a lout one https://streeteasy.com/building/171-east-8-street-brooklyn/3?from_map=1 https://streeteasy.com/building/171-east-8-street-brooklyn/3...
    • exoverito 1y ago
      I was curious too, and it seems feasible. Assuming at least 2 other roommates, you can find a 3 bed for less than 3600/mo. Here's a small 4 bd/1.5 ba for 3350/mo, so about 1120/mo. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/216-E-93rd-St-2L-Brooklyn-NY-11212/452720737_zpid/ https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/216-E-93rd-St-2L-Brooklyn... Obviously not the most ideal circumstances, but it can be done.
• acureau 1y ago
  23m, 2 YoE software engineer, live in Louisiana. I take home around $1100 weekly after tax. My monthly bills total ~$2500. I put ~$600 into my personal IRA, being a contractor. What remains either sits in savings, put towards to developing another source of income, or spent on games and beer. I am fairly lucky in that I can do most things I want to. I can buy things that I want with a little saving. I can eat out with the family. I can't travel too much, though I'd like to. The only "normal life" expense I can't afford is buying a home. It seems a long way off. I think the path forward will be moving states or working remote, as there are few jobs in software near me. At least at my experience level. For now I cannot complain. My quality of life is higher than most I know. Off topic, but I think about this a lot.
• Kostic 1y ago
  I'm spending fair amount of money on helping teachers and professors in Serbia who had their pay reduced to to absurdity because they are supporting their students in demands for justice in the case of Novi Sad canopy collapse[0]. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novi_Sad_railway_station_canopy_collapse https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novi_Sad_railway_station_can...
• JohnFen 1y ago
  I have a fundamental philosophy about spending money -- identify the few things that really, genuinely, make your life better and spend on those. For everything else, be a total cheapskate. So, for example, I drive a cheap used car because a nice expensive car doesn't actually make my life better, but I won't think twice about buying an expensive tool that I'll use every day, or going out for a lavish meal every so often, etc. There is nothing I want to do but I can't because of a lack of funds. I make six figures, and I'm not in SV or NY, so that can provide a very comfortable standard of living. I actually spend about 25% of that and put the rest into charitable donations, savings, investments, etc.
• nritchie 1y ago
  Beyond mundane living expenses, bicycling and brewing supplies.
• scarface_74 1y ago
  Travel - $20K - $30K per year. Not extravagant trips, just a lot of them and months long “nomadding” in different cities and starting next year a couple of months in the winter in Costa Rica. Most of our long stays are offset via income by renting our home out. We live in a unit of a condetel (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/condotel.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/condotel.asp) that we own. We are 51/49, grown kids, and I work remotely I make in the low $200s in cloud consulting and another $7500 in rental income offsets to pay our mortgage + expenses when we aren’t there
• abhaynayar 1y ago
  hoes.. and coke..
  • Freak_NL 1y ago
    Sure. Gardening does make one thirsty.
    • Validark 1y ago
      It's hot out there, fr fr
• deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
• apwell23 1y ago
  i spend all my money on skiing that i have nothing else left. I hate how expensive it is but i just can't give it up.
  • normie3000 1y ago
    Ditch the lift passes, get some skins and go skimo!
    • apwell23 1y ago
      lift passes are the least of it. problem i have is that i live in midwest and it costs a fortune to travel and stay where the skiing is.
• thinkingtoilet 1y ago
  I make ~$220k with my bonus. I live in a rural area and work remotely so that money goes a long way. I also don't really have expensive hobbies. Well, my hobbies could be expensive but I don't go down the road some people do. I have a wife and two kids. A decent portion of my money goes to the normal family expenses including retirement savings. Outside of that, my biggest expenses, in order-ish, are: - Concerts. My wife and I love going to see music so it's maybe $100 bucks for a concert or two per month. - Once or twice a year I'll buy myself a new guitar pedal. They tend to be higher quality ones so that will run you $300 - $400 easy. - Pokemon cards. My son got into and I got hooked. It's a deep strategy game and it's tons of fun. We probably spend ~$50 a month on this. We go to a game store to play on the weekends so we always buy a pack or two to help support the store. - The usual drugs. Alcohol. Weed. The less usual but still good drugs, mushrooms and molly (pure MDMA) a few times a year. If I had a billion dollars I would probably have things like a personal driver and chef, and maybe a few nicer guitars and some sweet-ass pokemon cards, but overall I want for nothing. As you can see, I tend to spend money on experiences instead of things. The physical things I do buy, pedals and cards, are for things I do with other people. My biggest restriction is having two kids, 4 and 7. I would love to travel more but it's not a money issue.
• Apreche 1y ago
  I make almost all purchasing decisions using one simple metric, will I use it? More precisely, the question is will I use it an amount that justifies the expense? This applies for small purchases like a tempting snack at the grocery store. Am I going to eat it? Will I really enjoy this? If so, ok. If it will sit in the cabinet and be passed over for other snacks, no. It applies to large purchases as well. Should I buy this very expensive bicycle? Yes, I will ride it. And as it turns out, I did. It’s almost 10 years old, and I still ride it a lot. I’m also regularly going through my belongings and donating, selling, and trashing things I don’t use. This helps me to learn over time and make better purchasing decisions. It also helps me reduce the amount of crap I have. Best of all it’s really nice when I can give something to someone who appreciates it much more and will make better use of it. The result is that other than the regular essential things to maintain life such as food, household goods, etc. I buy things extremely rarely. The thing I spend the most disposable income on is probably tickets to shows, sports, and other experiences. If you ask me if I’ll use them and enjoy them, the answer is almost always yes. The only thing I want, but can’t afford, is real estate. I could afford real estate in a place with lower property value, but I only want NYC real estate. It’s not happening.
• peer2pay 1y ago
  Food and (international) travel almost exclusively. Currently on the third $10k+ trip with my wife in 18 months but don’t have a car and am still using my laptop from 2014. Main reason is that I feel like I have my whole life to buy X or Y but only have the time and energy to travel long distances while young.
  • Jeremy1026 1y ago
    Using a 11 year old laptop isn't the reason you're able to spend $30k+ on travel over an 18 month period. Including that is like when people say "stop buying Starbucks if you want to buy a house." There are typically other circumstances are involved, even a $8 coffee every day is only $3,000 a year. That isn't make or break for getting a mortgage.
    • Bilal_io 1y ago
      I agree with your point, but Tlto be fair, they also mentioned they don't own a car, which can prevent them from traveling depending on the condition and type of car they choose.
    • peer2pay 1y ago
      I mean true, fair point but OP asked what I spent my money on and it’s travel, as described. Could I also buy a new laptop? Yeah sure, but I don’t because I don’t value it as much.
• DougN7 1y ago
  This isn’t anonymous enough for me to give any details. Nearing retirement so I’ll just say I can buy almost whatever I want, especially if I raided the retirement account, but have finally discovered those things don’t bring happiness. There’s a great cartoon I lost track of that shows a person walking around with a huge hole in their chest, and how different people try filling it with various things (sex, drugs, drinking, money, fame, other people, hobbies(?), etc). While that gaping hole is there, money means very little. How to fill it? Still trying to figure that out.
  • vertigolimbo 1y ago
    Here it is: https://imgur.com/gallery/we-are-all-born-with-hole-chest-AnnBa https://imgur.com/gallery/we-are-all-born-with-hole-chest-An...
  • wijwp 1y ago
    That's pretty reductive. Having enough money to buy "almost whatever" allows for real happiness to happen. Money doesn't buy happiness, but it opens the door for it. Family, friends, love, hobbies. - Financial hardships are one of the top reasons for divorce. - Building and keeping loving relationships and friends is a lot harder when you have to work 60-80 hours a week. - Funds to have hobbies so you can do what you truly want to do rather than what pays the bills. A good fulfilling life is simple (but usually not easy).
    • robocat 1y ago
      Your answer is rather reductive. And unfortunately you seem to be strawmanning since your comment is replying to something that DougN7 never said. I would summarize your point as: we need some money to be happy. DougN7 said "[I] have finally discovered those [costly] things don’t bring happinessis". I think lots of money doesn't make you happier. I strongly suspect that most people don't really understand that, because they don't have lots of money and therefore they have not learnt about the lies we are taught about money by our money focused societies. Let's view your divorce argument from https://flowingdata.com/2021/05/04/divorce-rates-and-income/ https://flowingdata.com/2021/05/04/divorce-rates-and-income/ : Divorce rates are tied to job security, age, and occupation, so it should make sense that we see a pattern when we plot divorce rates against income There’s a tight decrease in divorce rate for incomes between $10,000 and $200,000 per year, and then rates seems to flatten out around 30 percent after that I suspect your assumptions about divorce money and unhappiness are incorrect. And you were definitely ignoring the confounders mentioned.
• bionsystem 1y ago
  Roughly 25% living expenses, 25% weekends and activities with my girlfriend (or provisions for future fun and activities), 25% provisions for a future downpayment and the rest in personal savings for retirement. That may be +/- 5-10% on each depending on what's going on in a particular month.
• rglullis 1y ago
  Why do you want to know?
• doix 1y ago
  I try to spend around 500-1.5k USD on renting a place to live in, depends on the country I'm in. Around 200-500 USD on food for two people (again depends where we are). Anywhere between 0 and 500+ USD on "activities" - ski lift passes, hiring a car, permits to go hiking, access to tourist sites, etc. Every 2-4 months, I spend some money to go to the next country, could be anywhere from $20 for a bus to $700 for long distance flights. I don't really buy things anymore, I have everything "I need" for a comfortable life, anything more at this point would just be annoying, I only buy to replace. I buy new shoes every 1-2 years and usually for $200+. I think nice shoes are worth it. > What things would you like to do or have but can't because you don't have the money? I think I would need an insane amount of money to make meaningful differences in my life. My partner has a "weak" passport, so being rich enough to "buy" one for her would be nice. Other than that, being able to buy a house or getting a pilots license would be nice.
• dijit 1y ago
  Nearly all my money goes on living in an above average apartment that I own. Housing is stupidly expensive if you want to live comfortably, and even more so if you want to actually own the place you live. I earn something like €95,000-€100,000/y in Prague. (varies due to Czech Koruna)
• georgehaake 1y ago
  Offspring's Tuition, as I don't want them to have the screwed up college debt that the US provides...
• chasd00 1y ago
  Most of my money is spent on mortgage, property tax, electricity and then food (including eating out). I’m married with two teenage boys so food is a decent chunk of change. Money left over is spent on family vacations in the summer, savings for college and retirement, and extracurricular things for the boys like piano, boxing lessons, and GPUs (heh my youngest has expensive taste in hardware). I have a couple hobbies, high power rocketry and competitive pistol shooting, that consume maybe $200/month on average. I don’t really spend a lot of money on “things” per se. Mostly tools, materials, and other consumables for my hobbies.
  • ata_aman 1y ago
    Good to see a balanced spend amount on the competitive shooting. I know it can get crazy spending wise.
    • chasd00 1y ago
      I’m just getting started, along with my oldest son, I can definitely see it getting out of control expensive. High power rocketry basically has no upper bound on expense. You can build a rocket to reach the karman line with commercially available components and launch it in Nevada with minimal oversight. The certifications required to purchase the propellant and launch with Tripoli insurance will take about 1.5 years to reach. The limiting factor is just $$ spent on propellant and testing. It’s a ridiculous hobby expense wise.
      • ata_aman 1y ago
        I have similar goals, get enough land to do hobby rocketry and get back to long range shooting. Both require a lot of land haha. Bumming it out at publicly available land at the moment. Awesome to hear you're enjoying the hobby with your son!
  • apwell23 1y ago
    this sounds mind numbingly depressing :( Are you happy?
• ttul 1y ago
  I had kids when I was pretty young and, in parallel with that, also spent two years earning nothing at all to start a company. I spend a very long time feeling quite poor, since it took a while for the company to be big enough to pay me a real salary. And if you have kids on a low salary, all of your money goes to absolutely the most basic necessities. In recent years, I have had just a little bit extra, and I found satisfaction in paying off debts and contributing to a retirement fund for the first time. I also bought ski passes for myself and my kids and we had many enjoyable days on the mountain. I have rich friends who own three houses and make over a million a year just from investments. They’re quite content, but the extra money doesn’t seem to buy them much extra satisfaction.
• 7thaccount 1y ago
  I like to figure skate. I'm not competitive at all, just like putting on some headphones and gliding around and working on new moves. It can be a bit expensive. I like that it's a bit social too as you see the same adults all the time and it's also great if you have kids as they can do their own thing and socialize. It's good for exercise and balance. It's prob over $200/month on group and private lessons when put together for me (I skate for 3-6 hours a week). Skates vary in cost from $150 for beginner skates (both boot and blades) to $400 for intermediate. At the upper end, boots are $1k by themselves and blades are $500+. Your skates last a good while though assuming you're not an Olympian. Hockey has similar costs, but you also have to spend ~$1500 on gear as an adult.
• VoodooJuJu 1y ago
  [dead]
• jebarker 1y ago
  In my 20s and early 30s I was very frugal. I had a relatively low income as a civil servant, was paying down student debt and spent any spare cash on backpacking. Fast-forward 15 years and I lucked into a high income about 10 years ago, am married and have two kids. We still enjoy spending on travel but we live in a high COL area, have a big mortgage, a couple of nice cars and buy too much non-essential stuff online. We do also try to give a good amount to causes we believe in and save well for retirement. I think saying "money doesn't buy happiness" is too reductive. The crap from Amazon certainly makes no meaningful difference and actually I feel slightly embarrassed when I see a new package arrive. But the relief from stress of having no debt, living in a good area for schools, having a large runway and not worrying about the cost of groceries is a real life improvement that I would be sad to give up. Having said that, none of the great memories from life so far involve spending huge amounts of money.
  • jermaustin1 1y ago
    > and actually I feel slightly embarrassed when I see a new package arrive. Same, but even more so when 6 different packages arrive staggered throughout the day. I have never understood how that is more efficient than 6 boxes at once, or 6 things in 1 box at once.
    • TZubiri 1y ago
      They come from different places, and delivery vans have different routes which mean they have a small marginal cost. As an engineering it's fairly simple to understand.
    • jebarker 1y ago
      One of the best features Amazon added in recent years was the delivery day option where they group things together. I assume the fact that they give 6% cash back when you choose that means they do indeed benefit from aggregation
  • aaronbaugher 1y ago
    Yeah, money matters. My money isn't making me happy, but my girlfriend makes me happy, and if I hadn't gotten out of the rut that kept me broke for years and started making enough to afford to go on dates, I never would have asked her out. So there's definitely a connection, even if it's not the Scrooge trope of someone gleefully counting his dollars.
• HPsquared 1y ago
  I've been saving and underspending for so long, living at home, that inflation depleting the value of my cash savings is literally my biggest single expense. Sitting on a cash hoard that will ultimately be a house deposit. Maybe my biggest expense is house price appreciation before I buy.
• jsbg 1y ago
  I invest about 40% of my income and other than necessities I spend an inordinate amount of money on travel, alcohol, and food. If I had more money I would travel more and spend more on alcohol and food.
• bromuk 1y ago
  Spend about 20% of my salary on (varies depending on month) - Eating out - Video games - PC Parts - Joint account with partner Impact of life; is that I'm not miserable. (I was obsessive about not spending early on in my career and got really bad depression, i.e. working really hard, not allowing myself to enjoy the fruits of my labor) Things I'd like todo if I had more money are: - Travel to see family abroad - Tidy up the nitpicky things in my house that bother me - A car with more doors (3 door at the moment) My philosophy is to have enough saved for a rainy day, then excess goes to pension / investments and then provide myself with a small amount of ££ for myself (And research the hell out of the thing I'm buying)
• andelink 1y ago
  Nothing. My biggest spend recently has been paying off my sisters student debt. Funded a car purchase for my other sister. Beyond that just rent and groceries. I should probably reevaluate my current lease because I quit my job and haven’t had any income in six months or so.
• KronisLV 1y ago
  I'm in the top 20% of salaries in Latvia, which in absolute terms is still pretty bad (not even close to 6 figures). That said, I was pretty lucky in that I don't have debts: I got my Master's degree mostly for govt. funds due to good grades + started working in development during my 2nd year in Bachelor's. I am also pretty lucky that I don't have many expenses: I live in my dad's old city apartment and look after it (swapped out fridge and stove some time ago, new lightbulbs, lots of cleaning etc.), so day to day only have to cover utilities (~300 EUR) and no rent to speak of. I try to save and invest a decent chunk of whatever I earn, sometimes funds managed by my bank, sometimes specific company stocks, a relatively small amount in crypto as well. At the same time I spend some of my money helping my friends that are less fortunate than me, like with medical expenses or getting food near payday etc., since while I feel comfortable with a bit of a spartan lifestyle, them not being able to afford necessities sucks and it'd feel bad to do nothing. Aside from that, I do get some knickknacks sometimes, like how I'm getting an Aigo AIO for my PC (~60 EUR, not strictly necessary, but might help with the Ryzen 7 5800X, ~150 EUR, throwing a hissy fit whenever I make it compile things) and a new Modecom PSU (~50 EUR, the old one rattles a bit, might be bad bearings on its fan, probably a good idea to replace it and not risk it frying things at some point), some new clothes (~150 EUR) and the usual boring stuff (e.g. groceries are around 250-300 EUR a month over here). Also visiting Germany later this year (~1000 EUR) for a programming event and to hang out with some lovely people. Probably won't have: a fancy gaming PC, or flagship phones/laptops, a car in the near future, my own apartment in a newly built building even in the more far future, or any sort of living in luxury. At the same time, I much prefer either being able to help others and also having some financial stability over having the latest shiny thing. Unfortunately, despite not living in excess, it very much feels like I'm one financial crisis away from financial ruin. Fun times.
• dhosek 1y ago
  Looking at my expenses for 2024 my top expenses were taxes, rent, dining out/snacks/drinks, charity, my kids’ school tuition, insurance, utilities (including web hosting services) and groceries in that order. But overall, the biggest place my money went (over a third of my gross income) was into savings (401k and cash reserves).
• chc4 1y ago
  Nothing really. I invest the majority of my money. I'll buy the occasional $50 video game and get take-out a lot, but I don't have any large expenses (modulo rent and utilities) or expensive hobbies. I have the money to go travel on vacation or attend live concerts, I just don't want to and would rather stay at home. I make ~$190k/yr. I work 32hrs/wk instead of 40hrs though, and I like it a lot more for my mental health - which I'm able to do because my salary is high enough to support my lifestyle with the trade-off of earning less per week.
• nkg 1y ago
  Makes me realize I hardly spend any money on fun stuff. Not that I can't but I'm the provider and I'm too scared of the future.
• throwaway-money 1y ago
  I have spending habits that will probably make a good chunk of HN feel a little sick. I offer as a counterweight to all the frugality that inevitably accrues in these sorts of threads. Sorry, Financial Independence, Retire Early folks. Read at your own risk. Judge if you will. Income is $450k / yr, engineer, 39 years old, no kids and no plans to have them. I have a chronic illness and retirement seems a distant and not very pleasant prospect. I like working and like to enjoy life. * $5k / month on rent. (Nice apartment in a high cost of living city). * At least $7k month goes into savings (I’m not totally financially irresponsible!) * One pretty ordinary car, expect to drive it for 10 yrs, usual costs. * $5k / month average on travel. My biggest luxury. I fly international business class sometimes but only when it’s “cheap”. * $2k / month on groceries, wine, dining out. I enjoy fine dining. * $3k / month on clothes and accessories. I’m a woman and I have a weakness for nice things, worst of all for designer bags. Yes I know it’s frivolous but the marginal utility is there for me. * $1k / month on a personal trainer. Could I have the same level of fitness without it? In theory yes, in practice no. The thing I wish I had more of is time, not in the sense of “retire and don’t work” but in the sense of “it would be nice to take a slight pay cut and work only 9 months of the year and travel more and spend the rest of the time reading, studying math again, and doing interesting projects.” Unfortunately that option isn’t really open to me, outside of consulting which I have no appetite for. I didn’t get into engineering for the money, but out of love. I’d have done it anyway. But the money is nice, for sure. I save some and don’t feel the need to be unnecessarily frugal with the rest. I know I’m incredibly fortunate. Your mileage may vary, and especially if you have kids. Make your own choices according to your values.
  • scarface_74 1y ago
    One hand, I used my time at BigTech starting at 46 to pay off debt, decontent my life, move to a tax free state (worked remotely) and be in a position where I didn’t need the stress of having to chase BigTech income and to put it on my resume. I had a game plan going in to only stay for the four year initial offer. My wife and I are both short so business class is not a big deal for us. But we do spend $2000 a year for lounge access to airport lounges via 2 credit cards and we are both Platinum Medallion on Delta which gives us automatic C+ regional upgrades. But I just can’t care enough about First class flights. I’ll take regional free upgrades but that’s about it. While we travel a lot domestically as a hobby post Covud and post kids. We don’t look forward to long international flights and are doing our first 10 hour+ non stop flight in a couple of weeks and we aren’t looking forward to being in a metal tube that long. We are at most going to do two or three long flights a year. As far as the personal trainer, my commitment device use to be teaching fitness classes as a hobby and running races with friends. Then it was having a home gym with cardio equipment and a big screen TV on the wall. Now at 50 it’s I never want to be tired running through the airport with a 50 pound book bag on my back and walking around a city when I travel. I bought my current condo purposefully to be right above the gym. But as far retirement? It scares me more than I look forward to it. With my working remotely, work is not the gating factor for anything in my life. But on the other hand, while my wife travels a lot domestically by herself, I don’t think she would ever want to fly economy as a single woman internationally. I get it. No one would ever call us frugal when it comes to travel, lounge access, month long stays in different cities. But I’m very frugal when it comes to fixed expenses.
• throwstock 1y ago
  I spend about $1k/mo on groceries and basic necessities for a single immigrant mom with five kids who escaped an abusive relationship. Plus some extras like birthday or Christmas presents for the children. Emergency costs too. Started buying some items for them in 2020 when the pandemic hit and they lost what little income they had. Slowly it grew into large-scale support, and I'm committed to help to get the folks to adulthood. The impact: I've learned to let go and become less stingy. Donate much more frequently these days because I realized I have more than enough. Much happier this way.
• D13Fd 1y ago
  Kids. I have five school-aged kids. My daycare, before- and after-care, babysitter, and camp bills this year will easily exceed $75k, despite them attending public school or going to cheaper religion-based camps and daycare (for a religion we don't practice). Kids are expensive.
• snow_mac 1y ago
  Funny you should ask, I just paid my mortgage. Mortgage - $3800 Groceries - ~$1000 Eating out - ~$1000 TV / Internet - $250 Utilities (Water, electric, sewer, gas, trash) - $400 average Car insurance - $280 Phones - $170 Life insurance - $106 Health insurance - $700 Audible - $40 Personal Trainer - $300 Panera Sip Club x2 - $26 Pharmacy - $100 / average ~$8200 a month on regular purchases. What do I want that we don't have the money for? A paid off house. My mortgage is 40% of our monthly expenses and I'd like it to be half what it currently is. I want to buy a nice new truck or car, but can't justify adding another payment of $500 to our bill sheet for the next 6 years. I also don't want to blow up savings to buy a car with some cash.
• chistev 1y ago
  I spend most of my money on food and transportation. Hardly anything left by end of month
• RhysU 1y ago
  Taxes win the plurality of my spending: Federal, state, local/property, sales, fuel, fees, etc. I would put more into savings/investments and charitable giving if the taxes came down.
• hkchad 1y ago
  Life takes about 1/2, Mortgage, Insurance, Tuition, Utilities. SCUBA takes the rest, gear/travel. When SCUBA doesn't take the rest it goes into retirement/investments.
• throw0101b 1y ago
  For anyone that gets worried about splurging too much, one way to perhaps assuage yourself about it is the "2X spending rule": > The first tip is what I call “The 2x Rule.” The 2x Rule works like this: Anytime I want to splurge on something, I have to take the same amount of money and invest it as well. So if I wanted to buy a $400 pair of dress shoes, I would also have to buy $400 worth of equities. This makes me re-evaluate how much I really want something because if I am not willing to save 2x for it, then I don’t buy it. […] > And you don’t have to invest the money for The 2x Rule to work effectively either. For example, you could donate the other half to a charity and have the same guilt-free effect. Every “extravagant” dollar you spend on yourself could be matched with a “charity” dollar that goes to a worthy cause. Not only does this allow you to help others, but you won’t feel bad when you spoil yourself. * https://ofdollarsanddata.com/how-to-spend-money/ https://ofdollarsanddata.com/how-to-spend-money/ And if you get a raise, if you're wondering how much of your extra income can you spend without succumbing to "lifestyle creep", about half is a good rule of thumb: * https://ofdollarsanddata.com/lifestyle-creep/ https://ofdollarsanddata.com/lifestyle-creep/
• lostmsu 1y ago
  Seattle, 2 kids. Most of the expenses exceed normal due to us trying to relieve the hardship of raising very young kids, expect to go back to normal in 2-3 years. $6k apt in a very nice area $4.5k for preschool and daycare $4k for household help (kids, cleaning, some cooking) $1.5-2k for eating out $400 for utilities $1.5k on travel (smoothed out) $500 boat club $400 hobbies
• RajT88 1y ago
  Currently funding my wife's restaurant which just opened and requires a lot of operational money. Rewind 1 year: I was buying retro gaming consoles to mod (the exquisitely beautiful, but unreliable Sony PSX). I also bought a mid-engine Japanese sports car to soup up (one of the cheap ones you can get for less than 20k with low miles). Rewind a little further - paid off the house. Purchases that fill not a hole, but my time. Hobby-type purchases which create learning opportunities. Or - investments in financial security of some sort.
• rcarmo 1y ago
  Food. Kids’ school, clothing, etc. Cheap AliExpress microcontrollers to play with, tools, 3D printing gear, occasional music gear, a new Mac every four years. Have recently decided to not buy any more gaming consoles and just use Steam on beefy mini-PCs, so am budgeting for another four-year upgrade cycle (1080p gaming is fine today, 1440p should be perfect in two years, there is no reason to buy expensive games today when they’re on sale in two year’s time). Would love to buy some top-of-the-line compute for my homelab and a few machines that just don’t exist yet and a house in a country town to retire to. None of that is ever going to happen. Am in South Europe so my income is way less than it should be considering what I do for a living, have somewhat made my peace with that by just enjoying my free time.
• uslic001 1y ago
  My current biggest money drain is for equipment and supplies for a small farm/homestead we bought last year. Never knew compact tractors with all the bells and whistles cost so much. Plus I like to buy EDC tools off of Kickstarter.