Another year in the life of Norm and Marge is in the books! We started out in January by taking a trip to Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong (before the protests). We experienced the chaotic streets and had some of the best meals and hotel ever in Georgetown. We sat by the pool and saw monkeys on Langkawi. We saw unimaginable buildings, malls, and art in Singapore. And we celebrated Chinese New Year in Hong Kong. By my birthday in March, I was thinking too much about the upcoming presidential election, had chosen my favorite candidate and was making memes and comments online to help get the grassroots going.
In the spring, we tried out Misfit Market, the grocery delivery service (still subscribed). I tried to grow herbs from seed, which by the summer saw a tiny bit of success. By April I was ordering underwear online from Tommy Wiseau (of “The Room” fame) for a friend’s birthday… or was it housewarming… I don’t even remember. I also bought my first new (to me) car in 14 years: A 2016 Subaru Crosstrek. We spent Memorial Day on Cape Cod with family and their new baby, and illegally rode a fenced-off, incomplete bike trail.
In the summer, I tried making cheese for the first time, which resulted in some delicious mozzarella and cottage cheese, and unappetizing goat’s cheese. We went to the Aurora Games in Albany and saw Katelyn Ohashi perform her insanely viral floor routine for the final time. We camped out in the Thousand Islands during Labor Day week as usual.
In the fall, we saved a groundhog’s life by attaching a tennis racket to a paint roller extender, and helping him out of a whirlpool by a dam. We brought our friend from New York City to the Dutchess County Fair. We saw The New Pornographers at a tiny venue in the Catskills, which I have to remember to get back to one day. We went to Vermont in October for a perfect yuppie holiday, and met our friends in Middleburgh.
We went back to Cape Cod in November in search of great white sharks. They had already left, but there were fresh oysters and that unfinished trail was done, so we did alright. We hosted Thanksgiving at our house, and drove what felt like everywhere for Christmas.
But what did it all cost??
Total Expenses: $54,959
Avg Per Month: $4,580
Without Debt PaymentsTotal Expenses: $37,972
Avg Per Month: $3,164
Savings Rate: 56.8%
Previous Year Comparison
| 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | |
| Serious Stuff | $14,573 | 13,675 | 14,568 | 24,396 | 28,847 |
| Food | $9,523 | 9,156 | 7,799 | 7,226 | 6,445 |
| Transportation | $14,751 | 4,445 | 3,270 | 3,433 | 3,339 |
| Utilities | $2,822 | 2,955 | 2,704 | 2,686 | 2,836 |
| Fun Stuff | $7,364 | 6,562 | 5,892 | 4,650 | 5,881 |
| Pets | $693 | 2,799 | 4,889 | 2,018 | 2,671 |
| Miscellaneous | $5,233 | 5,493 | 5,147 | 6,312 | 4,018 |
| Total | $54,959 | 45,087 | 44,279 | 50,721 | 54,037 |
| Total Non-Debt | $37,972 | 36,752 | 35,344 | 35,373 | 35,851 |
That total non-debt spending is finally starting to creep up! We’ve been able to keep it nearly identical from year to year since we first started this blog. I guess that’s to be expected eventually, what with inflation and all. Plus, with ever-enlarging retirement accounts, I can feel myself loosening the purse strings a bit.
Serious Stuff:
| Total | Monthly Average | |
| Mortgage | $8,334.96 | $694.58 |
| Medical | 532.78 | 44.40 |
| Home Maintenance – DIY | 126.46 | 10.54 |
| Home Maintenance – Contractors | 938.26 | 78.19 |
| Home Insurance | 1,048.21 | 87.35 |
| Property Taxes | 3,591.84 | 299.32 |
We didn’t make any extra payments on the mortgage this year. Our medical expense was higher this year because Margie got a knee injury and needed physical therapy. Contractor expenses was for a badly needed tune-up on our boiler.
Fair food!
Food:
| Total | Monthly Average | |
| Groceries | $6,495.04 | $541.25 |
| Wine & Beer | 263.79 | 21.98 |
| Dining Out | 1,918.78 | 159.90 |
| Takeout Food | 845.66 | 70.47 |
| Total Food | 9,523.27 | 793.61 |
Food expense is up a bit this year, but it wasn’t due to the groceries or alcohol! Those are both down, but dining and takeout were both up. Chalk it up to all those meals we ate out in Singapore.
Transportation:
| Total | Monthly Average | |
| Auto Maintenance / Tolls | $2,025.93 | $168.83 |
| Auto Loan | 8,652.40 | 721.03 |
| Gas | 1,563.56 | 130.30 |
| Insurance | 1,776.17 | 148.01 |
| Parking | 102.00 | 8.50 |
| Bus Tickets | 440.00 | 36.67 |
| Total Transportation | 14,751.06 | 1,229.26 |
Transportation expense exploded this year because of the new (used) car purchase. Now we have a snow car (Crosstrek) and a go car (Corolla). Marge takes the go car to work, and I usually take the bus. We take the snow car on long trips, or if it’s bad weather out.
Maintenance was $1,000 more than last year. This was due to a lot of work on the Toyota (brake pads, new tires).
Utilities:
| Total | Monthly Average | |
| Cable Internet | $549.89 | $45.82 |
| Electric | 646.79 | 53.90 |
| Gas | 926.88 | 77.24 |
| Cell Phones | 332.89 | 27.74 |
| Water & Sewer | 366.02 | 30.50 |
| Total Utilities | 2,822.47 | 235.21 |
Managed to keep all of the individual utilities under $1,000 each again! We see very little movement in this category from year to year.
Fun Stuff:
| Total | Monthly Average | |
| Entertainment | $1,190.60 | $99.22 |
| Recreation | 3,373.06 | 281.09 |
| Travel | 2,799.98 | 233.33 |
| Total Fun Stuff | 7,363.64 | 613.64 |
Recreation has been a real, ahem, growth category for us. It is $2,000 more than last year. This is almost entirely due to the $1,700 Marge paid to her dance studio. Although it was actually offset by a $300 stipend she got to choreograph a new dance.
Travel came in under $3,000, which is not bad for all of the trips we took! Business and First class flights to Asia, two weeks in very nice hotels, two weekends at Cape Cod, a weekend in Vermont, and a week camping.
Pets:
| Total | Monthly Average | |
| Pet Sitting | $288.64 | $ |
| Food | 280.63 | $ |
| Other | 168.99 | $ |
| Total Pet | 692.62 | $ |
I have to say, losing Maeby last year was an awful thing to go through, but without a dog, our pet expenses have dropped at least $2,000 a year. The amount we spend on our two rabbits is barely worth breaking out. But they are definitely worth it!
Purchase Of The Year?
Miscellaneous:
| Total | Monthly Average | |
| Cash (Untracked) | $227.00 | $ |
| Charity | $806.16 | $ |
| Clothing | 1,164.79 | $ |
| Gifts | 1,242.09 | $ |
| Home | 1,354.01 | $ |
| Personal Care | 344.10 | $ |
| Postage | 95.31 | $ |
| Total Miscellaneous | $5,233.46 | $ |
I try to track all of my cash, but when I don’t, I put it under Untracked. I made a promise to myself when I first got a job to give more to charity each year, and so I have.
We spent more on clothing than usual. That is mostly because of a dress Marge had to buy for her role as a bridesmaid in an upcoming wedding.
We did okay on gifts this year compared to years past. And Home expense was similar to past years as well, and included maybe my favorite purchase, our used robot vacuum. It works wonders and only cost $72!
Goal Progress
Total 2019 Non-Debt Spending of $30,000:
I might just have to give up the ghost on ever hitting $30,000. We haven’t hit it in five years of tracking. It might be possible, but what’s the point? It would take some cost-cutting measures we really don’t need anymore.
Savings Rate of 65%:
- Final Savings Rate: 56.8%
Pretty good, but not good enough! I believe this is our highest savings rate ever, but I am still striving for that magic 65% number.
Max Out 457 Plan and Roth IRAs
- Goals: $18,000 in 457 Plan / $6,000 in each Roth IRA
- Saved: $14,388 in 457 Plan / $6,000 in each Roth IRA
At the beginning of the year, I was hoping to max out my 457 Plan, then we got distracted looking for a new home. We shut off the retirement contributions in order to save up a fat down payment. We turned the contributions back on at the end of the year, but it wasn’t enough to max out.
We finished our Roths up early in the year thanks to an extremely generous gift from my parents, who apparently don’t need money anymore.
Contribute to Marge’s 401(k)
- Goal: $10,000
- Saved: $7,813
Came up short on this one for the same reason as the 457 Plan above. Home savings took precedence, and honestly, in light of how expensive the stock market seems, and the preponderance of money we have locked up in retirement accounts, paying down debt next year sounds good. I might make it one of my goals.
Read 25 Books
Thanks to GoodReads, I can easily track things like this. I finished up the year by reading Jacob Schlicter’s memoir of being the drummer in 1990’s one-hit wonder Semisonic, a biography of Dr. Thomas Mutter, Eric Hoffer’s The True Believer, and Dave Cullen’s definitive book on Columbine. But really, the most important book I read this fall was Jim Theis’ “The Eye Of Argon.”
Years of Savings:
This magical calculation demonstrates how far we could get if we kept living every month like this ones listed above. We take our investable assets and divide them by our monthly non-debt expenses. The number to shoot for is 25, because at that level of savings, you could afford to live forever on your money stash. According to our monthly average non-debt expenses and our investable assets, we have…
12.5 years of savings
Retirement Location Possibility:
If we take that number of years of savings above, and divide by 25, we can figure out where in the world we could afford to retire right now by dividing another country’s cost of living price index by our own cost of living. I averaged Buffalo and Hartford for our own cost of living since those are the closest to us on Expatistan’s index.
Our International Retirement Cost of Living Number is….
79
According to Expatistan’s index, that means we can retire in…
Cairo, Egypt