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Breaking down a budget into daily costs...
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Athens
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Jul 25, 2011, 04:32 AM
 
Has any one ever looked at what stuff costs them on a daily time schedule. For example, my smokes cost me $8.75 a day. My Food costs me $20.00 a day, my Rent works out to be $36.16 a day and my car payments $19.59. Those are the bigger items. Cable/Internet is 4.93 a day, my cell is $4.11 a day and my Insurances, government, 3rd party and home work out to be $2.30 , $2.96 and $1.15.

Overall to live I spend the equivalent of $101.26 a day.

Its amazing when you look at it like this vs monthly or yearly.
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Andy8
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Jul 25, 2011, 10:22 AM
 
Priced in USD:

Rent: $21
Food: $12
Fiber: $0.85(1000M no data caps)
IPhone: $0.65
Electricity: $5.10 (Summer)

So I am just under $40 a day, allow maybe 1-2 dollars more if I use the bus or subway to get anywhere in town.
     
SSharon
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Jul 25, 2011, 10:50 AM
 
This would take me too long to compute for everything so I'll just post the daily cost of my car.

Gas: $5.26
Insurance: $2.85
Car (plus expected maintenance): $5.48

That is nuts that gas costs as much as my car!
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ShortcutToMoncton
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Jul 25, 2011, 11:32 AM
 
Mortgages: $92
Food: $15 or so?
Heat/Hot water: $8.30 average for year
Electricity: $1.60
Property Taxes: $11.23
Internet & Netflix: $1.80
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andi*pandi
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Jul 25, 2011, 11:57 AM
 
$60 mortgage.
$3.33 cable/internet/tel.
$3.33 cell (3 people on family plan)
     
Athens  (op)
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Jul 25, 2011, 12:50 PM
 
Does it not give you a new perspective on how much stuff costs though? Like think about it most of us are paying $100 or more a day just to live. Like Sharon pointed out hes paying almost the same amount on gas as he is paying for his car. Its easy to whip out 80 bucks at the store for groceries and you see it as $80.00 but all these other things in our lives are spread out over a year and we just see it as oh just a 50.00 phone bill each month, not the 600 over a year or $1.64 a day the same as a cheap coffee.

The one thing that stands out for me is I never cared about a buck here or there. But now that I broke stuff down into a daily cost I sure the hell care about the buck now. What didn't seem that important before really add's up over the year.

IE, I buy a pop once a day for work at the gas station because its on the way to work. Its $1.99 so I basically spend $517.40 on this sugar water. I could buy it at Super Store for 5.34 for a pack of 6 which works out to be 89 cents each. But been lazy. I've always had the mind set its only a buck more it does not amount to anything. Well would cost me $231.40 a year with out making any real changes, saving me 286 a year or $1.10 a day for the days i buy it.

Im going to be looking at trying to save a couple bucks a day here and there on things and pay attention more to prices because that 50 cents or dollar really ads up at the end of the year.
( Last edited by Athens; Jul 25, 2011 at 12:56 PM. )
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Uncle Skeleton
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Jul 25, 2011, 01:50 PM
 
Originally Posted by Athens View Post
Does it not give you a new perspective on how much stuff costs though? Like think about it most of us are paying $100 or more a day just to live.
It makes more sense the opposite way. As you say after:

because that 50 cents or dollar really ads up at the end of the year.
Bingo. The little things add up, and it's the aggregate number that spurs most people to pay attention. Not the daily, incremental cost.

For me (USD):

Housing: ~37/day
Food: ~7/day
Transportation (bus/bike/motorbike): 1+.05+2 = ~3.50/day
Telecom (cable/tv/tracfone/ooma/netflix): 0.9+1+0.3+0+0.3 = 2.50/day
Electric: ~1
Total: ~$50/day = 18.25K/year

I think the per-year number is far more interesting/informative/motivating than the per-day number. It's caused me to target a lot more recurring expenses than taking it day by day did.
     
ShortcutToMoncton
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Jul 25, 2011, 01:54 PM
 
$7 a day for food?! Don't you guys live in first-world countries??
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SSharon
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Jul 25, 2011, 01:57 PM
 
Originally Posted by SSharon View Post
This would take me too long to compute for everything so I'll just post the daily cost of my car.

Gas: $5.26
Insurance: $2.85
Car (plus expected maintenance): $5.48

That is nuts that gas costs as much as my car!
This is sort of interesting so I'll add a few more for comparison.
Internet/TV/Phone: $2.56 (optimum triple play)
Cell phone: $2.30 (ATT iphone)
Electricity and Gas: ~$2.50 (average)
Computer: $0.71 (based on new MBP every 5 years)
Food: $16.50 (based on $125/week, but I may be off here)

The monthly maintenance cost for my coop is pricey so I'm too afraid to do the math and break it down. I think I pay more per month for maintenance than some people here do for rent!
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finboy
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Jul 25, 2011, 02:07 PM
 
Originally Posted by Athens View Post

Its amazing when you look at it like this vs monthly or yearly.
One of the first things you have to do when setting out a budget (personal, or family, or calories) is to write down everything you spend every day. Then once you have an idea of what's going out when (after, say, a month) you can think about what you're spending in daily terms.

But to answer your question: yeah, I've thought about it. Scary, huh?

Scariest: Look at how much you pay in taxes per day. Wow.
     
Athens  (op)
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Jul 25, 2011, 02:26 PM
 
I don't even want to think about taxes. Deductions alone which include Federal Income Tax, Provincial Income Tax, EI, CPP work out to be 30.10 a day or $11,000 a year. If I add in HST on goods and Gas taxes from gas and so on it gets much higher...
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Athens  (op)
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Jul 25, 2011, 02:36 PM
 
Originally Posted by Uncle Skeleton View Post
It makes more sense the opposite way. As you say after:


Bingo. The little things add up, and it's the aggregate number that spurs most people to pay attention. Not the daily, incremental cost.

For me (USD):

Housing: ~37/day
Food: ~7/day
Transportation (bus/bike/motorbike): 1+.05+2 = ~3.50/day
Telecom (cable/tv/tracfone/ooma/netflix): 0.9+1+0.3+0+0.3 = 2.50/day
Electric: ~1
Total: ~$50/day = 18.25K/year

I think the per-year number is far more interesting/informative/motivating than the per-day number. It's caused me to target a lot more recurring expenses than taking it day by day did.
It is when you look at the big picture. What I was trying to get at was the small picture. Ive always had a attitude that a buck didn't matter. Its a tiny number. Its the big things that matter. How to save 20.00 on Cable per month from one company over another. That extra buck I spend cuz im lazy every day was just a buck. But when you break things down to a daily cost you see how important a buck is and how far saving even 1 dollar a day adds up as well. Look at the people who toss away pennies from change, sure its 8 cents but if they do that 3 times a day that 8 cents turns into $1752 dollars after 20 years lol


Remember those commercials for sponsoring a child in Africa, it was a cup of coffee a day, a dollar a day they wanted. I one in 10 people in Canada/US actually donated that dollar a day that would be $12,775,000,000 a year donated :O
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Uncle Skeleton
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Jul 25, 2011, 03:51 PM
 
Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton View Post
$7 a day for food?! Don't you guys live in first-world countries??
Don't eat out, and your food bills drop like a rock. I cook at home because I'm impatient, it tastes better, it's healthier, and it costs less, by order of priority.
     
Uncle Skeleton
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Jul 25, 2011, 04:09 PM
 
Originally Posted by Athens View Post
It is when you look at the big picture. What I was trying to get at was the small picture. Ive always had a attitude that a buck didn't matter. Its a tiny number. Its the big things that matter. How to save 20.00 on Cable per month from one company over another. That extra buck I spend cuz im lazy every day was just a buck. But when you break things down to a daily cost you see how important a buck is and how far saving even 1 dollar a day adds up as well. Look at the people who toss away pennies from change, sure its 8 cents but if they do that 3 times a day that 8 cents turns into $1752 dollars after 20 years lol
The effort expended in keeping and carrying those pennies adds up too. Would you bend over and touch your toes if someone paid you 1¢ to do it (IOW pick up a penny off the ground)? I wouldn't. Would you bend over 100 times if someone paid you $1 to do it? I wouldn't do that either. Big scale or small scale, it's the same rate/percentage/ratio. The only difference between $1/day or $365/year is if you can benefit from economy of scale. Like if you can buy 2 cases of soda all at once, then it's probably worth while, but if you have to expend just as much effort for each incremental savings/bottle, then there's not much point.

The real savings though is if you can use bulk discount as a stepping stone to actually consuming less, or substituting a home-made product (lemonade or something). Because that kind of change has multiple-benefits, in health (ease off the sugar/sodium/preservatives, and portion control), and also convenience (leverage the fact that you have unlimited tap water already inside your house and workplace), in addition to cost. If you can move away from soda entirely, then the $ saved on health care will be 1000x more than the cost of the actual foodstuff. There's some big-picture for you, if you want it.
     
Athens  (op)
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Jul 25, 2011, 04:25 PM
 
Originally Posted by Uncle Skeleton View Post
Don't eat out, and your food bills drop like a rock. I cook at home because I'm impatient, it tastes better, it's healthier, and it costs less, by order of priority.
I've been trying to get into that habit for a while now. Just don't like cooking for one. Its nice to cook for others. I find myself spending about as much trying to shop for small meals i can make at home as I do when eating out.

then the $ saved on health care will be 1000x more than the cost of the actual foodstuff.
that one does not really apply to me, but just overall better quality of life works.
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Uncle Skeleton
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Jul 25, 2011, 04:31 PM
 
Originally Posted by Athens View Post
I've been trying to get into that habit for a while now. Just don't like cooking for one. Its nice to cook for others. I find myself spending about as much trying to shop for small meals i can make at home as I do when eating out.
Leftovers
     
SSharon
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Jul 25, 2011, 05:07 PM
 
Is anyone brave enough to post how much they spend per day on alcohol?

Spending on entertainment might also be interesting, as would be donations.
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Athens  (op)
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Jul 25, 2011, 05:50 PM
 
im not a drinker, just a smoker and man i want to quit its a expensive condition.
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imitchellg5
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Jul 25, 2011, 06:08 PM
 
About $24 a day for me. My biggest cost is petrol (drive about 80 miles a day).
     
Athens  (op)
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Jul 25, 2011, 07:53 PM
 
Originally Posted by imitchellg5 View Post
About $24 a day for me. My biggest cost is petrol (drive about 80 miles a day).
Dam you live cheap.....
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Jul 25, 2011, 09:16 PM
 
[Family of four]
Housing: $0
Food: $0
TV: $0
Internet: $0
Cell: $3
Gas: $0
Insurance: $4

That's pretty much my expenses not including entertainment.
     
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Jul 25, 2011, 09:28 PM
 
It's gotta be at least $150/day to $200/day.
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Jul 25, 2011, 09:49 PM
 
Wow, you could save over $3000 a year just on smokes.
     
Ghoser777
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Jul 25, 2011, 10:07 PM
 
Condo Assoc: $3.39
Car Insurance: $2.56
Electricity: $2.03
Gas: $0.94
Graduate Loans: $16.66
Undergrad Loans: $5
Comcast (Cable+Internet): $4.43
AT&T (Mobile): $2.88
Car Loan: $13.33
Mortgage + Escrow backpay for underestimated property taxes: $62.38
Gas: $3.33 (estimate)
Food: $15 (estimate)
Retirement (TRS + 403b): $22.07

Grand total: $154/day or about $4620/month
     
imitchellg5
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Jul 25, 2011, 11:28 PM
 
Originally Posted by Athens View Post
Dam you live cheap.....
I don't have a lot of costs, really. I don't have rent, car payments, etc. Just fuel, insurance, phone bill (I'm on a family plan), and internet. I eat most of my meals on my employer's dime, so I don't really need to have any food at home.
     
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Jul 26, 2011, 12:55 AM
 
Originally Posted by andi*pandi View Post
$60 mortgage.
$3.33 cable/internet/tel.
$3.33 cell (3 people on family plan)
That's a grand total of $66.66
     
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Jul 26, 2011, 12:08 PM
 
Originally Posted by imitchellg5 View Post
I don't have rent
Live with parents? or live at work?

, car payments
Strictly speaking, there's some cost in there for eventually buying a new car as the current one wears out. You should average the purchase price over the useful lifetime.
     
imitchellg5
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Jul 26, 2011, 12:20 PM
 
Live with parents in Colorado Springs, work in Seattle. I bought my current car outright in 2008 for $6,000. It has 123k miles on it right now, so I should be good for quite a while (It's a Honda Accord).
     
residentEvil
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Jul 26, 2011, 12:38 PM
 
looks like either nobody has credit cards or because of past threads about credit with the "holier then thou" club makes people not want to include them. or maybe i'm the only one left in the world that does. even if you pay off "every month always" it still is an expense.
     
SSharon
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Jul 26, 2011, 12:46 PM
 
Originally Posted by residentEvil View Post
looks like either nobody has credit cards or because of past threads about credit with the "holier then thou" club makes people not want to include them. or maybe i'm the only one left in the world that does. even if you pay off "every month always" it still is an expense.
At least in the context of this thread, credit card bills are a secondary expense to what was actually purchased. For example, my credit card bill includes all the food I buy, the gas for my car, my utility bills, etc. and those are all expenses I broke out. I left out a huge number of expenses (student loans, clothing, furniture, home maintenance, haircuts, etc.) but those are still the real expenses, not my CC bill.
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residentEvil
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Jul 26, 2011, 12:53 PM
 
Originally Posted by SSharon View Post
At least in the context of this thread, credit card bills are a secondary expense to what was actually purchased. For example, my credit card bill includes all the food I buy, the gas for my car, my utility bills, etc. and those are all expenses I broke out. I left out a huge number of expenses (student loans, clothing, furniture, home maintenance, haircuts, etc.) but those are still the real expenses, not my CC bill.
point taken, gotcha.
     
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Jul 26, 2011, 01:37 PM
 
Same as SSharon - almost everything goes on my credit card. I tend to use it as a conduit for "free" points.
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SSharon
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Jul 26, 2011, 01:52 PM
 
Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton View Post
Same as SSharon - almost everything goes on my credit card. I tend to use it as a conduit for "free" points.
Do you buy dollar coins from the mint with free shipping just to rack up points/miles and then deposit the coins into your checking account to pay your CC bill?
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residentEvil
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Jul 26, 2011, 02:06 PM
 
Originally Posted by SSharon View Post
Do you buy dollar coins from the mint with free shipping just to rack up points/miles and then deposit the coins into your checking account to pay your CC bill?
that WAS a good scam, too bad i didn't get in on it early. credit card companies along with the mint are now flagging these purchases as "cash equivalent" and don't let the purchase qualify for airline miles/points

U.S. Helps Frequent Fliers Make a Mint - WSJ.com
     
SSharon
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Jul 26, 2011, 02:24 PM
 
Originally Posted by residentEvil View Post
that WAS a good scam, too bad i didn't get in on it early. credit card companies along with the mint are now flagging these purchases as "cash equivalent" and don't let the purchase qualify for airline miles/points

U.S. Helps Frequent Fliers Make a Mint - WSJ.com
I didn't know they cracked down on it that hard. Last I heard they had only limited the number of coins you could buy per week.
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Jul 26, 2011, 02:57 PM
 
That's pretty funny. Hadn't heard of that trick.
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Jul 26, 2011, 04:35 PM
 
Originally Posted by imitchellg5 View Post
Live with parents in Colorado Springs, work in Seattle.
Wow, that commute is longer than 80 miles
Don't you need some place to stay locally? Or do you mean 80 miles is your commute to and from both airports each day? Just curious

I bought my current car outright in 2008 for $6,000. It has 123k miles on it right now, so I should be good for quite a while (It's a Honda Accord).
So with a 80 mile commute, suppose it lasts 4 more years (before repairs eclipse normal carrying costs). 6k for 7y is $2.35/day (ignoring maintenance/insurance/parking/whatever), or 10% of the daily total you gave. It's no match for gas, but it's not negligible. Just sayin'
     
imitchellg5
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Jul 26, 2011, 05:44 PM
 
I travel on weekends, I'm in Colorado Springs during the week. But I commute to Denver most week days.

Good thing I said "about" $24
     
Athens  (op)
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Jul 26, 2011, 06:10 PM
 
Originally Posted by SSharon View Post
At least in the context of this thread, credit card bills are a secondary expense to what was actually purchased. For example, my credit card bill includes all the food I buy, the gas for my car, my utility bills, etc. and those are all expenses I broke out. I left out a huge number of expenses (student loans, clothing, furniture, home maintenance, haircuts, etc.) but those are still the real expenses, not my CC bill.
Ya pretty much the same for me, about the only thing that would be valid would be accounting the interest on the CC not the CC debt as a whole. I put everything on my credit card for the points and most months pay it off fully. I left out a lot of things in the post because I was just to generalize it, I didn't expect others to post costs.
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Jul 26, 2011, 06:11 PM
 
Originally Posted by ssharon View Post
do you buy dollar coins from the mint with free shipping just to rack up points/miles and then deposit the coins into your checking account to pay your cc bill?
that's a brilliant idea!
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Jul 26, 2011, 06:41 PM
 
Originally Posted by SSharon View Post
I didn't know they cracked down on it that hard. Last I heard they had only limited the number of coins you could buy per week.
yup; that caught the small timers...so it became not worth it.

the large/frequent/multiple credit card people though, got flagged by their CC companies. some even LOST all their previous points/miles because of the tactic.
     
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Jul 26, 2011, 07:35 PM
 
Originally Posted by imitchellg5 View Post
I travel on weekends, I'm in Colorado Springs during the week. But I commute to Denver most week days.

Good thing I said "about" $24
Do you ever have to pay airfare?
     
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Jul 26, 2011, 07:46 PM
 
Originally Posted by Uncle Skeleton View Post
Do you ever have to pay airfare?
No, the company books it. I should mention that during the school year my costs are a lot higher, due mostly to books
     
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Jul 27, 2011, 10:33 AM
 
This is fascinating. I'm moving Monday to the South of France from Brooklyn, NY. So what a time to do a little post-mortem (and underline one of the reasons I'm moving).

My share of the household budget, give or take:

Rent: $32 (of $64)
Daycare: $28 (of $56)
Food/Groceries: $10
Restaurants: $5
Phone: $3
Laundromat: $3
Cleaning lady: $8
Netflix: $.5
Cable/Internet: $4

Total: $93.50/day or $2,805/Month or $33,360/year

Not sure what to put for commuting as I bike to work. Probably less than $1 a day.
( Last edited by paul w; Jul 27, 2011 at 02:45 PM. )
     
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Jul 29, 2011, 05:09 PM
 
Family of Four:
Mortgage: $11
Food: $30
Utilities: $7.50
Property Taxes: 80¢
Internet: 66¢
Car: $3.85
Gas: $6.40

Eh, could be worse.
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Jul 30, 2011, 12:35 PM
 
Originally Posted by SSharon View Post
Is anyone brave enough to post how much they spend per day on alcohol?
I will. Last week I was at a fancy restaurant and bought two drinks, at $6 apiece. I have bought four six packs of hard cider in the last year at about $8 a pack. Maybe three times a year I will visit my parents and go to the bar with my father and spend about $15 in drinks.

So, (2 * $6) + (4 * $8) + (3 * 15) = $12 + $32 + $45 = $89. $89/365 = $0.24 a day.

Alcohol has never been a big part of my life.
     
el chupacabra
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Join Date: Apr 2001
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Jul 31, 2011, 04:49 PM
 
Rent:............................ $13..... /day 400 /month soon to be $2700/mo
Food:............................$9......../day (a bit expensive since I eat lunch out every day.)
Internet + full cable:...$0.73. /day 22 /month
dumb Phone:..............$1.20. /day 36 /month
Electricity:................... $2....... /day 60 / month
Car Insurance:...........$2.49. /day 900/year
Gas:............................ $3.20 ./ day
Id theft protection 13 /mo

Tot $972 / mo

That's about it; even with a 6 figure salary. I think I'm gonna upgrade the apartment though which will throw everything off. And I'm gonna get one of those really big saltwater fish tanks too, which will jump my electric bill.

edit: I should add I do go on lots of vacations; don't know what that adds up to
     
brassplayersrock²
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: California
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Jul 31, 2011, 05:28 PM
 
that fish tank idea, in theory sounds good, but with costs of water maintenance, and food, and the price of fish, coral, electricity, and depends on if you get halogen or standard lightening, you'd need to get a cooling unit for the lights, unless you go LED (which are EXPENSIVE still, Then that one tank alone can easily double-tripple your monthly money needs. Plus if you don't want to take care of it all by yourself, you'll have to find a good fish tank guy that should come once or every other week to make sure all is good.

Saltwater tanks are so much more expensive than freshwater. Trust me
     
   
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