Utility bills

[Dirtyhip]

We are so happy that we downsized a few years back. Also, I am glad we opted for a small fridge/freezer.  Empty space costs more to chill.   

It doesn't cost us much at all to live.  We've been good about turning things off too.

This is what our month looked like in Nov for utility bills.  Can you beat this?  I imagine that @12string or @pedalphile might be much lower than this.

This was for Nov 17

Gas bill $ 27.95 (Oct temps)
Electrical bill $ 56.29
Netflix $9.99
2 cell phones $87.96 
Internet $ 34
Water and sewer bill $37.40
Garbage $16.50
$270

[Thaddeus Kosciuszko]

That's very economical!  Certainly more economical than our bills.

I would make one suggestion - You could save another $16.50 if you didn't buy so much garbage.  Usually you can find garbage most anywhere, and for free too.

[Road Runner]

Last month (Oct/Nov time frame) for me:

 

Electricity (all electric house):  87.07

Water and Trash:  41.61

Sewage:  8.70

Phone:  27.31

Internet (cable):  79.99

 

Total Utilities:   244.68    

[Dirtyhip]

9 minutes ago, Road Runner said:

Last month (Oct/Nov time frame) for me:

 

Electricity (all electric house):  87.07

Water and Trash:  41.61

Sewage:  8.70

Phone:  27.31

Internet (cable):  79.99

 

Total Utilities:   244.68    

No TV subscription service, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon?   One phone, I assume a flip phone. 

How many in your family?

[Road Runner]

1 minute ago, Dirtyhip said:

No TV subscription service, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon?   One phone, I assume a flip phone. 

How many in your family?

No TV, just what I get off the air (quite a few channels, actually).  I have a land line phone, nothing else.  Just me here, most of the time.

[Dirtyhip]

1 minute ago, Road Runner said:

No TV, just what I get off the air (quite a few channels, actually).  I have a land line phone, nothing else.  Just me here, most of the time.

Gotcha.  We could cut our bills a little if just one person. Hot water costs would decrease and one phone could go.  Each phone is 43.  That would take us down to less than $226 a month.

[Road Runner]

I also have no house or car payment, so my monthly bills are pretty decent overall.  I spend a bit of money on food, but I almost never eat out.

Real Estate taxes are my biggest bill, equating to about $200 a month.

[dinneR ★]

$42.81 for my electric bill in Nov, Oct was $30. I haven't turned the heat on much, just one room on low. My heat is electric.

$40/month for internet service.

$8/month for my cell phone.

Water and garbage are included in my rent.

No netflix or any TV service. I use the library.

[Dirtyhip]

10 minutes ago, Road Runner said:

I also have no house or car payment, so my monthly bills are pretty decent overall.  I spend a bit of money on food, but I almost never eat out.

Real Estate taxes are my biggest bill, equating to about $200 a month.

No car payment here, house payment is super cheap and will be paid off soon.  Money spent on eating out last month was $35.  Groceries, toiletries and the like were $533 last month. We eat pretty well though.  There are some premium foods in the grocery budget.

Property taxes for us are about 3100 a year for 3 pieces of real estate.  One is worth about 120K, one 150K and another about 17K.   We're about 262 monthly for all the prop taxes.

[Dirtyhip]

4 minutes ago, dennis said:

$42.81 for my electric bill in Nov, Oct was $30. I haven't turned the heat on much, just one room on low. My heat is electric.

$40/month for internet service.

$8/month for my cell phone.

Water and garbage are included in my rent.

No netflix or any TV service. I use the library.

Winning.  Very nice.

Apartment, right?

[Wilbur ★]

Yes, I can beat that..

You                                   Me

Gas bill $ 27.95 (Oct temps).       89.98
Electrical bill $ 56.29.                324.60
Netflix $9.99                                9.99
2 cell phones $87.96                  342.24
Internet $ 34                              80.98
Water and sewer bill $37.40        126.69
Garbage $16.50.                      no idea
$270

 

I win!  

[dinneR ★]

yes. Technically my building is a condo. My landlord charges me about $300/month less than the apts. It's nicer too. She fancied it up with nicer floors, a washer and dryer, and fancier appliances. The place is small so heating it is easy. I only heat the living room and have yet to turn on the heat in the bedroom or bathroom. I usually turn it on while I'm home at night and then off overnight.

I don't do much TV. I'll check out a DVD from the library if I feel like watching something.

My cell is a tracfone. It's a fancy LG smartphone, but I don't do much with it.

I ride my bike or walk everywhere in town.

 

[Dirtyhip]

1 hour ago, Wilbur said:

Yes, I can beat that..

You                                   Me

Gas bill $ 27.95 (Oct temps).       89.98
Electrical bill $ 56.29.                324.60
Netflix $9.99                                9.99
2 cell phones $87.96                  342.24
Internet $ 34                              80.98
Water and sewer bill $37.40        126.69
Garbage $16.50.                      no idea
$270

 

I win!  

Your utility costs represent half of our monthly spending budget.  We have been trying to keep our spending below $2000 a month (post tax income).  Anything we have left in excess gets saved.  

Last month our total living expenses were only $1500.  We had a stellar savings month in Nov, when we saved 73% of our income.  Where we did well last month was $0 in gasoline, slashed our grocery bill by $100, and cut our eating out expenses down to $35.  I'm slaying this adulting thing.

[Green Grass]

My average monthly utility expenses is $567.75.  This does not include Hulu, Netflix, Amazon media, or Apple music.  Those are in my entertainment budget.  My company pays the cell phone bills for me and my 4 kids who have them.  That's north of $350/month.  No land lines at home.

I do have two residences, although one is closed down for 7 months of the year.

[Dirtyhip]

31 minutes ago, Goat Geddah said:

My average monthly utility expenses is $567.75.  This does not include Hulu, Netflix, Amazon media, or Apple music.  Those are in my entertainment budget.  My company pays the cell phone bills for me and my 4 kids who have them.  That's north of $350/month.  No land lines at home.

I do have two residences, although one is closed down for 7 months of the year.

Because the amount is so small, I left Netflix in utilities.  It probably should be in entertainment.  Mint categorizes it as movies and dvds.  It lands in other misc. expenses.  

[dinneR ★]

7 minutes ago, Dirtyhip said:

Because the amount is so small, I left Netflix in utilities.  It probably should be in entertainment.  Mint categorizes it as movies and dvds.  It lands in other misc. expenses.  

Libraries are free. Mine has a pretty amazing selection for a small town. And like TK said quit buying garbage. Tracfone or other pay as you go plans are super cheap if you don't need a lot of data/minutes etc. 

[Green Grass]

1 hour ago, Dirtyhip said:

Property taxes for us are about 3100 a year for 3 pieces of real estate.  One is worth about 120K, one 150K and another about 17K.   We're about 262 monthly for all the prop taxes.

Property taxes and HOA = $2,032.67/month.

[Longjohn ★]

Electric $110.00 includes hot tub

no gas

garbage $20.00 a rip off probably less than ten kitchen bags a month

no sewer or water bill

internet $100 satellite internet the slowest most expensive broadband anywhere

cell phones? I really don't know, my wife pays that and she has lots of people included in her bill, her mom, our daughter in law, I think she pays over $300.00. We use our phones a lot but not much for talking.

I bought one load of firewood in August for $150.00 I still have a good bit left. I keep our house hot. I would think maybe $100 for our coldest month of the year. I have a wood shed stacked full and another area stacked full. I use the fresh dumped stuff first until it's under snow then I switch to the stuff in the shed.

My wife pays for Direct TV. She always complains about it costing too much but she won't cancel it. She just has a basic plan.

I really dislike TV, I wouldn't have one if I wasn't married. I have never turned it on but when it is on in the room I am trying to read or do something in I get suckered into watching it and complaining how stupid it is. Wife is home today and the TV in on, I gave up and came down to my man cave.

[Dirtyhip]

16 minutes ago, Goat Geddah said:

Property taxes and HOA = $2,032.67/month.

You just took my breath away. 

We are not wealthy for housing at that level.  Just a modest middle class family trying to stop working somewhere in our 50's. 

6 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

Electric $110.00 includes hot tub

no gas

garbage $20.00 a rip off probably less than ten kitchen bags a month

no sewer or water bill

internet $100 satellite internet the slowest most expensive broadband anywhere

cell phones? I really don't know, my wife pays that and she has lots of people included in her bill, her mom, our daughter in law, I think she pays over $300.00. We use our phones a lot but not much for talking.

I bought one load of firewood in August for $150.00 I still have a good bit left. I keep our house hot. I would think maybe $100 for our coldest month of the year. I have a wood shed stacked full and another area stacked full. I use the fresh dumped stuff first until it's under snow then I switch to the stuff in the shed.

My wife pays for Direct TV. She always complains about it costing too much but she won't cancel it. She just has a basic plan.

I really dislike TV, I wouldn't have one if I wasn't married. I have never turned it on but when it is on in the room I am trying to read or do something in I get suckered into watching it and complaining how stupid it is. Wife is home today and the TV in on, I gave up and came down to my man cave.

Is it hard to keep the heat comfy, while you sleep?   I assume you stoke it up, before bed and turn down the damper a little for slow burn.  

We do miss a wood stove.  We don't miss the labor of cutting, gathering and stacking.

He have a small wall gas furnace and subsidize with cadet heaters in the back part of the house. It works OK.  It can be cold in here, at times.  

[Longjohn ★]

11 minutes ago, Dirtyhip said:

Is it hard to keep the heat comfy, while you sleep?   I assume you stoke it up, before bed and turn down the damper a little for slow burn. 

I had a Woodchuck wood furnace for the past 25 years, I just replaced it with a similar Hot Blast wood furnace by United States Stove Company. I never damp it down, it keeps the chimney clean. I load it a bit different before I go to bed and I usually go down once in the night and reload it. Sometimes it gets a bit warm, I kick the covers off. Always sleep nude, I can take too warm.

[Wilbur ★]

1 hour ago, Goat Geddah said:

Property taxes and HOA = $2,032.67/month.

Wow!  Property taxes on my house are north of 5k per year.  Summer home is another 7k in annual property taxes.   Your total budget is less than my family food budget.  

[Dirtyhip]

5 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Wow!  Property taxes on my house are north of 5k per year.  Summer home is another 7k in annual property taxes.   Your total budget is less than my family food budget.  

His numbers are monthly.  He is paying 24K a year in tax and HOA.  

I bet the house is lovely.  

[Green Grass]

4 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Wow!  Property taxes on my house are north of 5k per year.  Summer home is another 7k in annual property taxes.   Your total budget is less than my family food budget.  

Yeah, expensive:

Main home taxes $5,250 semi-annually

Main home HOA $598 quarterly

Summer home taxes $3,400 semi-annually

Vacant adjacent lot $2,350 semi-annually

Big burn fer sure.  

[Wilbur ★]

Just now, Dirtyhip said:

His numbers are monthly.  He is paying 24K a year in tax and HOA.  

I bet the house is lovely.  

Ooops!  I meant to quote you.  I am out of forum practice..

[Dirtyhip]

5 minutes ago, Goat Geddah said:

Yeah, expensive:

Main home taxes $5,250 semi-annually

Main home HOA $598 quarterly

Summer home taxes $3,400 semi-annually

Vacant adjacent lot $2,350 semi-annually

Big burn fer sure.  

It isn't a burn if you can afford it easily and are happy. 

6 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Ooops!  I meant to quote you.  I am out of forum practice..

I thought that maybe you were talking about my budget.  It's super meager.  

Note:  There are no new bikes in this budget.  We had to knock that back, if we ever want to stop working so hard.  Buying less stuff is the key.  Being happy with enough. 

[petitepedal ★]

My HOA is $358 a month: lawn service, plowing, garbage, heat, water....there is a pool and exercise room I don't use a party room and a patio with a gas grill that is shut down in the winter...

Electric was $29 last month..internet and land line $70..cell phone/tablet is high $95 due to new phone payment as part of that...Property Taxes are in my mortgage pmt... my budget is stretched to the limit because of the the flooring payment...but if all goes well the car and the flooring will both be paid off about the same time....

[2Far ★]

Dunno fersur, cuz Wo2 pays all the bills I could go to bill pay & look, but I don't feel like it,). We're on the budget plan for all the  utilities, that's easier for her. We generally run a pretty good credit until  she takes a coupla months off from payments.  

Electric $200

Gas $50

water & sewer $20

her phone $120 (includes payments on her new)

cable & internet $300

property taxes $250

HOA (includes garbage pick up, lawn care, outdoor maint., pool and common areas) $240

no car payments

[12string]

On 12/2/2017 at 1:12 PM, Dirtyhip said:

We are so happy that we downsized a few years back. Also, I am glad we opted for a small fridge/freezer.  Empty space costs more to chill.   

It doesn't cost us much at all to live.  We've been good about turning things off too.

This is what our month looked like in Nov for utility bills.  Can you beat this?  I imagine that @12string or @pedalphile might be much lower than this.

This was for Nov 17

Gas bill $ 27.95 (Oct temps)
Electrical bill $ 56.29
Netflix $9.99
2 cell phones $87.96 
Internet $ 34
Water and sewer bill $37.40
Garbage $16.50
$270

Me?  My phone bill alone is more than that!