I also started realizing the two cheap bottles of wine I allow myself a week are still $10! That’s $40 a month on wine too.

$90 a month on empty calories that are doing nothing for me. Must…stop…doing…this!

I have an 840sqft house which is small by US standards but close to average for the UK. I’d be happy to downsize but the only cheaper places are in really dodgy areas, and my boyfriend insists we need at least 2 bedrooms so that he has a library for his massive book collection.

We cut costs where we can — my husband and daughter both have HDHPs and they’re both in good health. Mine runs $650/month, with no cap on out of pocket expenses plus a very scary $1 million lifetime limit. Yep, lousy deal in some ways, but it was the only one I could get. Looking forward to 2014.

Other areas are OK, thankfully.

I have been debt-free for a long time and regularly save half or more of my after-tax take-home pay. I have no kids and believe in health maintenance rather than health insurance. I plan to relocate sometime next year, so housing expenses may change. The logistical necessity of having broadband internet service for my at-home job and the psychological/emotional necessity of living in a warm climate will somewhat determine how my housing expenses will change then.

As I work at home, I have no commuting or wardrobe expense for work. Because I work at home, though, I nearly go stark raving mad staring at the same four walls day in and day out. Hence the eating out–I eat out for almost half my meals (a maximum of one out of my two meals per day). I don’t eat at expensive places, and my restaurant expense might run anywhere from $4 to $9 for that one meal a day I am tempted to eat out. Even so, because my other expenses are so low, a couple of months ago, eating out accounted for over half my total expenditures for the month. Obviously there would be a dramatic increase in my savings percentage if I could stop eating out so much, but psychologically and socially I have not found a way to make it tenable yet. Lately the weather has been too harsh here to make packing “picnic” food at home and getting out of the house to eat it a possibility. I am very health-conscious and do choose fairly healthy foods when I do eat out. At home, most of my intake is raw. Because of the living situation (which is saving me a lot in the meantime), I cannot socialize at home and must do that elsewhere. I guess since I am normally spending less than $800 per month on all expenses, it’s not too bad–but this is a big area I need to get creative in. During milder weather, picnicking out would be a good option.

(Note that there is an huge difference between expensive and too much money!!)

Living – we’re in a long lease. Lease cancel fees plus paying pet fees for a new lease would easily cancel out saving $200 in rent for a year, so we’re living it up for now in a place that’s too big.

DH is starting his own business – there are expenses associated with that. If one has to work, one at least can work for oneself. I’m still at 25% or so of after-tax income. Together (if he worked for The Man again) we’d be at 60-70%.

Internet: in my job right now time transfers easily to money – I need my income as high as possible to save more. Luckily I save my raises instead of adding them to spending.

Eating in and out: I’m eating lunch brought from home 3-4 days a week now. However rice is 11c/oz, and beans (organic black beans) are 18.2c/oz. Chickpeas a bit less maybe. ~100 cals/oz would leave us at 2.40/day per person. That leaves us at about 75 bucks a month each. If we ate only rice and beans. Ha. It’s a battle every day, and we definitely add wheat gluten for protein.

Dogs: they aren’t cheap. I don’t care, as they’re part of the lifestyle I want.

Health insurance is paid for 100% by my company… for now.

50k for college? Hmmm…my parents never paid for my schooling. I believe college is something every child should pay for. It increases the chances of them not wasting their time since they to earn their keep. I’m attending an Ivy League school n to me, it’s more about networking than it is the education.

Can’t help you with your first issue (nice housing is expensive). However with the second, I think you can seriously consider reducing your meat consumption. For myself, I haven’t gone completely vegetarian but I only eat meat occasionally and certainly not at every meal.

There are many well documented vegetarian athletes so it can be done without affecting performance (I’m not just talking about long distance runners, but athletes who need significant all-around muscle mass). I suspect though that you’d need to be much more careful about planning your meals though.

Me too, but I’m reluctant to advise my children not to further their education. It’s tempting to save the $200,000 per kid and give them money for housing or investment. But then what?

@alex
$40,000/year for preschool – really?! How are you so certain it will be worth it? I am not being antagonistic, but sincerely would like to know since I question the $50.000/year it costs for my kids to attend college.