Hello everyone! I wanted to be able to update one of life’s biggest monthly costs that I am chewing on – and that is – the cost of living in my house each and every month. Surprisingly it has been over 2 years since I have written about my payments that go out each month, and to show the community whether that has changed for better or for worse, even though I internally review this each and every month. I find more data and time interesting, as it can really tell how well you manage and how consistent you are able to keep with your management & money. Without further-ado here is my 2016 update to my housing expenses!
May 2014 Re-Cap Housing expenses
Way back in the day, er-circa May 2014, I had a post regarding my fixed expenses, which including my rough average of housing expenses. Back then, on average, I was around $942.00 per month. What did this include: Mortgage, Mortgage interest, Property Tax, House Insurance, Utilities (Gas, Electric, Water/Sewer), Netflix (NFLX) and Internet. My Mortgage with interest, taxes and insurance at the time was $788, with the average of the others in order from above at: $68, $25, $17/$10, $8.50 and $25.50 (at that time had a promo deal going). That is what embarked my end amount at approximately $942 each and every month. So what has changed? What has happened? Well, I believe we all know now about my battle of internet with AT&T and ultimately switching. Further, I always ask the readers and community whether I should pay down the mortgage or invest and even with asking when the Netflix (NFLX) cost may be too high to continue to use. The question then is – has my amounts gone up, stayed the same or even lowered? We all love to save money and to keep our expenses in check, but how well did I do in 2 years, given the increased cost of everything – property taxes, insurance, utilities, you name it. Further, this was prompted in one of my dividend income articles and a reader suggested I do an update, so here we are… The analysis – Mid-2016 style!
Mid-2016 Housing Expenses Analysis
I thought I would break the last 12 months down in a very easy to read format, and then to document the results and analysis to show what has occurred in 24 months. Here are the last 12 months of home expenses:
Well, first off the bat – we can see that only this current month and last July that my main expenses on the house are below my prior average of $942, and that came in at $920.47 and $932.09 as you can see above (hilarious). Including those two, and others, I was below $950 for the month 4 total times and over $1,000 3 different occasions.
Internet is now within check, at $24.99 versus the previous $25.50 two years ago and the even more recent $37.00 per month. Additionally, Netflix is now $10 per month (not included above) going forward. My sewer on a monthly basis was approximately $7.95, with water at $19.27, therefore – truly staying consistent and comparable to two years ago. Gas, on average, is now at $46.20 with Electricity at $21.15, which are both lower than they were on average 2 years ago (primarily because I kicked my roommate out during that year of 2014). Now the big kicker – the mortgage, interest, taxes and insurance is now at an average of $853 vs. the $788 from prior year – with the primary focus on the tax and insurance – both are WAY up in two years. But what does all this mean? What do the full totals come out to? That new average total = $984.00
In conclusion and summary – My new monthly expense average that I will be using in comparison is $984 vs the previous $942. This is up $42 in the course of two years, or 2.29% in 2014-2015, and then 2.18% increase from 2015-2016. These are moderate increases, but $42 per month more x 12 months = $504 on an annual basis, that could be a stock purchase!!
Action, Thoughts & Summary
The absolute biggest jump here is the tax and insurance on my house, NO doubt. I have two actions here: Do nothing or Do something. My plan of attack is to see what my next house insurance premium will be going forward. If I see another change that is higher – I will call and argue on it. If they can’t do anything – then it’s time to say goodbye to my house & auto carrier altogether, as I had to kick some ass on my auto insurance to reduce that finally to an average of $65 per month. So one more rate increase and it’s off to bidding wars with at least 5 carriers to see if I can keep that in check or to reduce. Property taxes are a little harder to defend, that I’ll have to do more research on. All other expenses such as gas, electric, water/sewer and internet are all in check, so I feel OKAY here. Would you agree? These could be a few reasons why Bert is in no hurry to buy a house, I guess? haha
With my expenses laid out – is there anything else that you see? Should I reduce somewhere else? Are you seeing any increase in your house that is mind boggling? Thanks for reading, stopping by and your thoughts! Much appreciated and talk soon.
-Lanny