whats your biggest expense?

[97guns]

is it housing or food?

i am curious if any of you have seen your food bills go up, how much in what period of time?

[BuckyBadger]

Neither. Our biggest expense (after savings, of course) is our hobbies. We keep our overhead low so that we can enjoy out time together and away from work.

Because our grocery budget isn't near a "line" I couldn't tell you if it's gone up. If it has, it's not been by enough that I noticed it. We still shop smart and benefit from sales and go to Aldis. I haven't seen a difference.

[DinoSaur]

Housing for us. Food really doesn't get close to the cost it is to pay our mortgage - it's probably around 25% of it actually.

We're probably also saving similar to the amount of our flat, which is positive!

[scfr]

Neither - it's income taxes

[disneysteve]

is it housing or food?

Housing for us. Food really doesn't get close to the cost it is to pay our mortgage

Same here. I can't imagine there will be many folks who spend more on food than on housing (unless they have really cheap rent like living with parents).

[97guns]

Same here. I can't imagine there will be many folks who spend more on food than on housing (unless they have really cheap rent like living with parents).

or large family with teenagers, $1000/month is not out of the relm

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Health insurance.

It is nearly one third of our income, tagging onto a group plan associated with previous employment.

[Aleta]

Insurance is our biggest expense. Cars, houses, and health insurance all grab a large portion of our income. Live in So Fl and that is a lot of it.

[disneysteve]

or large family with teenagers, $1000/month is not out of the relm

True, but a large family is probably spending a lot more than $1,000/month on housing as well. I'm a small family - 3 people - and our mortgage is over $1,300 and we bought our house 19 years ago.

[MonkeyMama]

If your home is paid off, food could easily be more. (Plus, I know many people who have had their homes for decades and only have $400/month mortgage payments - and that is in California).

Currently, mortgage is our #1 expense, but is very closely tied with health insurance (both under $1k per month, but barely). Next year health insurance will very likely be #1. Our health insurance only rises, while our mortgage has gone down over the years (lower interest rates).

I know I am definitely not the only one with health insurance as potential #1 expense.

Our food bill has only gone down over the years - just more efficient shopping over the years. We are pro-active in keeping costs down. This is true though we have two more mouths to feed. I also find that my spouse and I do not eat as much with age (slowing metabolisms), so offsets our kids' large appetites, a bit. Lower income has forced better economizing. {If we bought same stuff in same stores, as 2005, our food costs would be WAY up. We mostly buy the "same stuff" at other stores now}.

[Biffard]

Mortgage is biggest expense. However, I come from a large family and I could see how a monthly grocery bill could easily be more than a mortgage. Coupons and buying the right items at the right time (ie. clearance or sale) can help bring costs down.

[Snodog]

Food by far. With eating out and groceries we are spending ~$700/month on food. Housing/RE taxes/maintenance/insurance run a little less than $300/month.

[disneysteve]

Housing/RE taxes/maintenance/insurance run a little less than $300/month.

I'm jealous. Taxes alone run nearly $700/month.

[phantom]

Our housing cost is much higher than our food cost. Even if our mortgage were completely paid off, we'd still be paying almost twice as much in property taxes and homeowners insurance as we spend on food.

[kork13]

For me it's by far savings (27%), which I'm none too upset about... But excluding that, housing (18%). However, if I had gone with a 30yr mortgage vs. the 15yr loan that I have, Taxes/SS/Medicare would actually be the highest at about 13%... or at least tied with housing, and also with charitable giving (about the same). As a single guy, food doesn't even come close. Even including my "eating out" allowance, that's less than 4% of my budget.

There are alot of factors that impact individual families' budgets, but in most cases, it makes sense that housing or total insurance (health/dental/home/car/life) costs would be the top expenditures.