Expenses - What Am I Doing to Myself!

[mb7588a]

Ok. Another post got me thinking about what I actually spend in a month.

Background: I live with my fiance in Washington, DC. I'm a poor graduate student with dividend income (Thank God my parents were smart!) and savings to spend while I get an M.A. The fiance is not so lucky, she's incurring debt on law school loans and living expenses.

So, here's what a normal month's bills/budget, look like for us:

Rent: $1600 (For a one bedroom in DC, this is cheap.), including water, heat, gas.
Groceries: $300
Comcast Cable/Internet: $106 (Please for God's sake can we get a la carte cable...?)
AT&T iPhone bill: ~$80
Verizon Cell phone: ~$50
Car insurance: ~$33
Gas: ~$25 (We hardly ever drive anywhere other than the grocery store. There is not one within walking distance...)
Electricity: $45 monthly average over last year, but we were gone for most of the summer AC months.
Netflix: $4.99
TiVo: $12.00
Coin Laundry: ~$10

Total = $2114.99

It's so absurd what we get suckered into paying!!! And yes, I realize it's my fault. When we were working this was no problem. Now that we're both in school, it's a little more difficult. It's depressing. We could drop some of the luxuries, but really, they're just a drop in the bucket...

That rent hurts so bad... eff D.C.! There are people in this city, with full-time jobs, who take out loans to pay rent. Not smart, not good.

And this is why we're moving to the Midwest next summer after school. Yay!

[Squatch]

1. You know...

you can combine your phone, cable, internet, cell phone and tivo into one bill with Verizon. We live in NoVa and we save a whole bunch by doing that.

[SoCalDem]

2. Dish offers a package that has all three..

dumping the cell phones would save a fast $130 a month too:)
Also co-habiting a house with some other like-minded people can save a BUNDLE..

When my son was single he had a gorgeous 4 bedroom house and 3 roommates (they were rarely ever there all together).. $450 a month per person covered it all..and they had a great place..

I know DC is pricey, but so is southern CA..

[distantearlywarning]

3. I agree that it doesn't look too unreasonable.

And I *completely* agree about the ala carte cable thing! My God, the amount of money I would save if I could just pick HGTV, NatGeo, A&E and basic channels! *massive fist of dooooom to the stupid evil greedy cable companies*

My only suggestion would be as someone above said - your cell phone bills are a bit spendy given your situation. We picked up Virgin pay-as-you go phones for $10 a month each and the phone was free. They don't do anything fancy, but the main point of cell phones is to be able to talk to people, right? And they accomplish that goal. Doing something like that would save you another $120 bucks a month.

Alternatively, you could move to Pittsburgh, where I live. The median rent here is probably about $600 a month for a 2-bed, and they have great public transportation. I am in grad school, and bought a house 2 years ago. My mortgage in a hip neighborhood including taxes and everything is significantly less than what you are paying in rent currently. :-)

[Stephanie]

4. If I could subscribe to just MSNBC, TCM and IFC I'd be happy

Ok, and maybe Bravo.

[Statistical]

5. Cut the cable TV keep cable internet drop one of the cellphones.

Cable TV is a luxury. Honestly most people don't need it.

With DTV put up an antenna and use your Tivo to record it OTA. saves: $60
Drop one cellphone. Honestly w/ $25 income you need 2? Saves: $50 (even better ebay the iphone & save $80)
Tivo yeah it is a luxury but also a life saver. Lifetime subscription is expensive but 1 year prepaid is $99 so that is an easy save of ~$4 per month.

Not going to change the world but if you live w/ only 5-8 OTA channels (plus DVR abilities from Tivo) and ONLY one cellphone you can put back $115-$145 a month into your pocket.