How much money do you earn? And how do you spend it?

[cguy]

I won't give my total income, primary savings, charity contributions, etc., but I thought my monthly expenses may be interesting given that I live in the US:

Company pays:
Medical/Dental/Vision (for wife and I): ~R14k
401K Match: ~R8K
Long and Short Term Disability, Life Insurance (for wife and I): R5k

Our expenses, roughly:
Cable TV/DVR/etc + 25Mb internet (no cap): ~R2k
2xCellphones (3GB cap, LTE): ~R1.5k
Food, groceries: ~R20k
Apartment Levies: ~R15k
Apartment Property Taxes: ~R15k
Pre-tax Savings: ~R16k
Going out, restaurants, fun, etc: ~R25k
Public Transport: ~R2k
Expenses (levies, tax, etc.) for other properties: ~R20k

About once a year I will also go on an overseas vacation or some such.

Edit:
Electricity: ~R1k
Gas:~R1k
Water included in levies.

 

[akescpt]

I won't give my total income, primary savings, charity contributions, etc., but I thought my monthly expenses may be interesting given that I live in the US:

Company pays:
Medical/Dental/Vision (for wife and I): ~R14k
401K Match: ~R8K
Long and Short Term Disability, Life Insurance (for wife and I): R5k

Our expenses, roughly:
Cable TV/DVR/etc + 25Mb internet (no cap): ~R2k
2xCellphones (3GB cap, LTE): ~R1.5k
Food, groceries: ~R20k
Apartment Levies: ~R15k
Apartment Property Taxes: ~R15k
Pre-tax Savings: ~R16k
Going out, restaurants, fun, etc: ~R25k
Public Transport: ~R2k
Expenses (levies, tax, etc.) for other properties: ~R20k

About once a year I will also go on an overseas vacation or some such.

Holy shyte! Profession?

 

[Pho3nix]

I won't give my total income, primary savings, charity contributions, etc., but I thought my monthly expenses may be interesting given that I live in the US:

Company pays:
Medical/Dental/Vision (for wife and I): ~R14k
401K Match: ~R8K
Long and Short Term Disability, Life Insurance (for wife and I): R5k

Our expenses, roughly:
Cable TV/DVR/etc + 25Mb internet (no cap): ~R2k
2xCellphones (3GB cap, LTE): ~R1.5k
Food, groceries: ~R20k
Apartment Levies: ~R15k
Apartment Property Taxes: ~R15k
Pre-tax Savings: ~R16k
Going out, restaurants, fun, etc: ~R25k
Public Transport: ~R2k
Expenses (levies, tax, etc.) for other properties: ~R20k


About once a year I will also go on an overseas vacation or some such.

:wtf:

 

[Pavan]

In London -

(Per month)

Rent (1 Bed, 1 Bath): GBP 1,500 (ZAR 27,500)
Council Tax: GBP 150 (ZAR 2,800)
Transport (Bus + Tube): GBP150 (ZAR 2,800)
Food: GBP900 (ZAR 16,500)
Cable TV/DVR/Internet/Landline: GBP 70 (ZAR 1,300)
Cellphones - Free, Company Perk

Company pays for all other benefits like medical, dental, life insurance, etc.

 

[TehStranger]

I won't give my total income, primary savings, charity contributions, etc., but I thought my monthly expenses may be interesting given that I live in the US:

Company pays:
Medical/Dental/Vision (for wife and I): ~R14k
401K Match: ~R8K
Long and Short Term Disability, Life Insurance (for wife and I): R5k

Our expenses, roughly:
Cable TV/DVR/etc + 25Mb internet (no cap): ~R2k
2xCellphones (3GB cap, LTE): ~R1.5k
Food, groceries: ~R20k
Apartment Levies: ~R15k
Apartment Property Taxes: ~R15k
Pre-tax Savings: ~R16k
Going out, restaurants, fun, etc: ~R25k
Public Transport: ~R2k
Expenses (levies, tax, etc.) for other properties: ~R20k

About once a year I will also go on an overseas vacation or some such.

I'm assuming the expenses are covered by your combined income (i.e. you and the SO)? So you've listed R143,500 worth of expenses, roughly $12,050 per month. Interesting, what do you and the SO do, and what age group?

 

[TJ99]

Holy shyte! Profession?

:wtf:

****'s expensive in the US, yo.

 

[cguy]

Holy shyte! Profession?

Software developer.

 

[Pho3nix]

In London -

(Per month)

Rent (1 Bed, 1 Bath): GBP 1,500 (ZAR 27,500)
Council Tax: GBP 150 (ZAR 2,800)
Transport (Bus + Tube): GBP150 (ZAR 2,800)
Food: GBP900 (ZAR 16,500)
Cable TV/DVR/Internet/Landline: GBP 70 (ZAR 1,300)
Cellphones - Free, Company Perk

Company pays for all other benefits like medical, dental, life insurance, etc.

You spent 30k on a one bedroom flat?

 

[Pavan]

You spent 30k on a one bedroom flat?

Yeah, to be close to the office and public transport. GBP 1,500 pm is the average rental here for a 1 bed 1 bath.

 

[heartbroken]

In London -

(Per month)

Rent (1 Bed, 1 Bath): GBP 1,500 (ZAR 27,500)
Council Tax: GBP 150 (ZAR 2,800)
Transport (Bus + Tube): GBP150 (ZAR 2,800)
Food: GBP900 (ZAR 16,500)
Cable TV/DVR/Internet/Landline: GBP 70 (ZAR 1,300)
Cellphones - Free, Company Perk

Company pays for all other benefits like medical, dental, life insurance, etc.

jirre, that is insane. R 16500 in groceries could buy you a house with groceries in good ol' ZAR

 

[cerebus]

Jussus.

Big shop for us is R4k. And that excludes perishables

Our family food budget for 5 people is 6k and usually comes in under that, and we eat really well for that. It's not that hard to do if you're not eating mostly processed foods.

 

[cguy]

I'm assuming the expenses are covered by your combined income (i.e. you and the SO)? So you've listed R143,500 worth of expenses, roughly $12,050 per month. Interesting, what do you and the SO do, and what age group?

I'm a software dev. SO doesn't work. Age is ~40.

 

[lived666]

Our family food budget for 5 people is 6k and usually comes in under that, and we eat really well for that. It's not that hard to do if you're not eating mostly processed foods.

Do you include house hold items in that or only food - I battle to keep a weekly shop around R2k

 

[cerebus]

Do you include house hold items in that or only food - I battle to keep a weekly shop around R2k

Yes my wife manages that budget in a separate account. All household items included. Like I say, fresh vegetables and making your meals from scratch is the key.

 

[Pavan]

Strangely enough, when you break the expenses down as a % of your monthly net income, it's quite on par with SA - London vs Johannesburg that is. The absolute amounts skew things, but the ratio's are very similar... e.g. rent = +/- 20% of net income in London. In SA, if you rent a modern 1 bed, 1 bath in Sandton, you're looking at around R10k pm (new development). That was around 20% of my net income in my previous job in Johannesburg.

 

[TehStranger]

I'm a software dev. SO doesn't work. Age is ~40.

Interesting, thanks for the answers. I don't see any schooling expenses, no kids? Seems like you've definitely done well for yourself in the US of A.

 

[cguy]

Interesting, thanks for the answers. I don't see any schooling expenses, no kids? Seems like you've definitely done well for yourself in the US of A.

Thanks. Yeah, no kids, no car.

 

[cerebus]

****'s expensive in the US, yo.

Not that much. You can get by there for MUCH cheaper than this budget.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Our family food budget for 5 people is 6k and usually comes in under that, and we eat really well for that. It's not that hard to do if you're not eating mostly processed foods.

Mine is a flat rate of R2000 a 4-week month for delivered meals to our door midweek for two people.

Outside or that another grand goes to buying food on the weekends or getting takeaways.

I haven't really been to conscious of the cost of baby food at this point but I guess it ads another R500-R750 or so.

So yeah your 6k sounds pretty reasonable to me.

 

[cerebus]

Mine is a flat rate of R2000 a 4-week month for delivered meals to our door midweek for two people.

Outside or that another grand goes to buying food on the weekends or getting takeaways.

I haven't really been to conscious of the cost of baby food at this point but I guess it ads another R500-R750 or so.

So yeah your 6k sounds pretty reasonable to me.

Yeah I don't even consider it particularly frugal.