No. of Recommendations: 3
I thought with a paid off house we'd spend on the low end $3-4,000 a month excluding taxes but it is way higher. Things like insurance (all types) have skyrocketed, any type of home repair that you can't do yourself seems to have doubled or tripled in cost, etc.
Our experience has been pretty much the same, so much so that our monthly base budget now also includes $1000 - $1500 in what I think of as "oh, ya, that" expenses: semiannual homeowner insurance one month, comprehensive auto PM (e.g. all fluids, or new tires) the next, then semiannual propane tank fill or new HVAC blower motor or...
Just about every month it's something, so having it built-in helps keep the agita away.
I can't quite figure out homeowners who say they are getting by on a $4K monthly retirement budget. It's what they say about theory v practice, or maybe the Mike Tyson quote that "everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face".
--sutton
