Reducing monthly expenses.

[bigbadboss101]

I put my expenses on a spreadsheet recently and realized I spend much more than I thought! There was a time when I made about 50k a year and have a bit of savings left after taxes. Now I am making more and do have money left in my corporate account but I can’t say I am happy with the amount saved or invested.

Here are some expenses that I think can be reduced. Positive opinions or suggestions welcomed.

1. Car! I have a beater 93 Pathfinder and an 2011 X3. Although I can afford it, the $ spent can be used elsewhere. Before the purchase (4 year financing at ~$1400 a month) I made sure I have extra that I can give to mom and other family members on occasions. I also dedicated a fix amount to charity ($650/month plus any spontaneous giving to other organizations or during seasons of need). If I can sell or have someone take over the financing where the deal makes sense for me I would get a decent, reliable car to go with the Nissan.

2. Eating out. I don’t know how much the amount is but I would guess $500 a month eating out, and $400 a month groceries.

3. Shaw/Enmax/Direct Energy. Shaw is $180 ish where it was $100 when I first renegotiated. This is for BB50, HDTV and some extras, and basic phone. I basically watch only sports and 5 channels. Gas/Elec is with DE and that averaged to may be $140 a month between summer/winter. Enmax is around $70 a month. I will look into bundling the two to save the admin and fees. It seems the Enmax bill is mainly extra fees.

4. Insurance. I am with Statefarm. House insurance seems to have increased quite a bit. Will go see them and see what can be done.

5. Life/disability/Critical health insurance. Life some argue I don’t need. It is to protect my mother now, and my wife when I get married. DI and CI purchased as I am a contractor. Quite often people who can use insurance didn’t buy in and those who have it don’t use it.

6. Investments. Right now not too much. $150 a month to a TD Income fund where distributions gets reinvested monthly. Also have some McKenzie funds and am not putting more $ in. It’s just sitting there and I am pondering if I should that that out and put toward mortagage.

Anyways looking for positive comments and advice. Want to be more financially responsible!

[Mibz]

1a. So go try and sell the X3. You'll quickly find out whether or not you can do it when you compare deals that make sense to you and deals that make sense to the market.

1b. Unless you're seeing a significant tax break from those donations, or you require them to avoid putting a bullet in your head, I'd move that money into an investment that's actually working for you.

2. We were spending $800/mo eating out and $300/mo on groceries. Now we spend $300 eating out and $400 on groceries. It's a pretty simple change once you figure out some good meals. The initial ingredient purchase tends to be the most expensive.

3. We cut out a bunch of channels we didn't use on Shaw (Mostly timeshift, we just PVR stuff anyway) and saved about $40 a month there.

4. Talk to Masked Bandit about insurance.

[JLau]

Sounds like you are doing not bad with only 50k income.

I would sell the X3 and get something older and reliable, also cheap on gas. That way you save on and gas

Dining out is freaking expensive nowadays (especially when you have a few drinks during meal), if you can cut down on that, it will definitely help.

I pay 80ish for internet and cable (got all HD sports channels too), like Mibz said, cut out unnecessary channels to save a few bucks here and there.

Having insurance policy when you are young is good, and great way to learn how to be responsible.

I personally only donate once a while, make sure you donate to the right charity groups, many of them only 30-40% of the donations actually goes to the people who actually need the money.

[A790]

Wait... you're giving $650 a month to charity but only investing $150/mo for yourself? You aren't Mother Theresa... flip it.

[Euro_Trash]

Geez $1400/month for a car payment. Seems a little spicy to me, would definitely sell. Is there a reason you need 2 SUV's? Why not buy a nicer SUV that isn't quite at the level of a 2011 X3? I am assuming the Nissan is an offroader or something so maybe you can ignore me.

Pretty cool that you donate $650/month, but that still seems like a lot.

Depending on how much you owe on the mortgage, I like the idea of contributing any stagnant cash to extra payments.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[CanmoreOrLess]

1. Dump $1,400 a month hole called car payment for one closer to $500. How much are you making after taxes as income? I'd have to be clearing 200K a year to not feel a sucker spending 2K a month on a vehicle (payments, gas, insurance). Unless there is some reason to be supporting a rapidly depreciating asset, get out of it.

2. Drop charity to $500 a year or whatever you can write off.

3. Drop landline, you have a cellphone.

4. Drop all unwatched TV channels. I am down to HD sports basically.

5. Run vehicle and home insurance by a couple of agents. Go with the cheapest.

I use an app called HomeBudget, I know to the dime what I spend and where it goes. The app allows for taking a pic of each receipt as well.

That car payment is the real issue, fixed in an afternoon.

[Boat]

Originally posted by JLau
Sounds like you are doing not bad with only 50k income.



He said he makes more than that. He used to make 50 and have lots of leftovers.

In the op's case - the more you have the more you spend!

[Euro_Trash]

Originally posted by CanmoreOrLess
1. Dump $1,400 a month hole called car payment for one closer to $500. How much are you making after taxes as income? I'd have to be clearing 200K a year to not feel a sucker spending 2K a month on a vehicle (payments, gas, insurance). Unless there is some reason to be supporting a rapidly depreciating asset, get out of it.



Exactly my thought, no way I could justify that

[bigbadboss101]

The donations goes to Church, World Vision children, Compassion child, Cancer society, Campus Crusade. I am comfortable at the current level. I do want to give more regular to mom (she is doing fine as a retiree) and sometimes help out my sister.

Yes when I was making $50 k the mortgage was small and car was a few thousand dollars. Mortgage is not 50% more than before with the move last year. Just figure extra cash is always a good option. Opportunity to travel, give, contingency use, etc.

[JBreaks]

Astonishing.

[Mitsu3000gt]

My only suggestion with regards to the charity is to remember that in many cases, only a very small % of your money donated actually goes to the direct cause, especially with churches. If you still want to give $650/mo to charity I would look into how much of your donated money is actually going to work for the cause you're supporting (and maybe you already have). For example if only half of your $650/mo is actually making it to the end beneficiary, that is just pissing money away. Maybe give more to mom rather than charity, if you want to just give it away?

Again, you may have already done all your research, so it's just a suggestion. $650/mo to charity is an insanely high amount unless you are disgustingly rich IMO, but obviously that is 100% up to you.

$1400/mo on a car seems really high too unless you are making well over $100k/yr or unless that car is your #1 passion. If it's just a tool to get you from A to B, I would trade it in for something a lot less expensive.

I used to pay $530/mo when I had an S4. I moved downtown, didn't really need a car anymore, sold it, and bought a Civic outright. My disposable income increased by $530/mo instantly (+ gas & insurance savings) and it made a much bigger difference than I even expected. I miss it sometimes, but I can have my fun with cars again when I move out of the DT core.

I try to decide on purchases with the following criteria:

1) How much time do I spend using it/depending on it
2) How much joy does it give me (I.e. is it my main hobby, or just a casual luxury item I use once in a while)

By asking myself those questions, it helps me decide what to spend lots of money on, and what to not worry so much about.

[Strider]

Originally posted by bigbadboss101
1. Car! I have a beater 93 Pathfinder and an 2011 X3.

2. Eating out. I don’t know how much the amount is but I would guess $500 a month eating out, and $400 a month groceries.

3. Shaw/Enmax/Direct Energy. Shaw is $180 ish. Gas/Elec is with DE and that averaged to may be $140. Enmax is around $70 a month.

4. Insurance.

5. Life/disability/Critical health insurance.

6. Investments.


Definitely start from the biggest bills to the smallest.

1. Sell both and find something cheaper - either bought outright or lower cost financing. That'll be your biggest savings. $1,400/month is huge. I could never understand people who take on such a large car payment, especially since the interest rates on these things is crazy high.

You'll save on maintenance and insurance with only one car.

You should be able to do okay on the X3, since there's still huge demand of F25's and they're incredibly rare on the used market, a quick search on Autotrader.ca shows 0 for sale in Alberta.

2. $400/month on groceries seems pretty average. The real savings would be cutting down on eating out - or not drinking when you eat out.

3. At ~$200/month, you're not gonna find too much savings on your utilities, but definitely renegotiate your Shaw if possible. Threaten to switch to Telus.

You didn't mention a cell phone bill, there's another opportunity for savings, especially if you have a data plan. Talk to retentions to see if they can help cut down your bill (or switch to a low cost carrier like Wind or Mobilicity).

4. Definitely bundle your home and auto insurance if they're not already, there's always savings to be had. Shop around as well, make sure you mention any alumni or professional associations you belong to, there's often discounts.

5. Sounds like you're pretty set on this, as well as your charitable giving.
I applaud you for wanting to make a difference, but I would reconsider the $650/month - as mentioned, research how much money actually makes it to supporting the cause instead of overhead, then you can donate less, but only to where it counts.

6. This isn't an expense. Maximize this whenever you can.

[JLau]

my bad, misread


Originally posted by Boat


He said he makes more than that. He used to make 50 and have lots of leftovers.

In the op's case - the more you have the more you spend!

[CanmoreOrLess]

Originally posted by bigbadboss101
The donations goes to Church, World Vision children, Compassion child, Cancer society, Campus Crusade. I am comfortable at the current level. I do want to give more regular to mom (she is doing fine as a retiree) and sometimes help out my sister.

Yes when I was making $50 k the mortgage was small and car was a few thousand dollars. Mortgage is not 50% more than before with the move last year. Just figure extra cash is always a good option. Opportunity to travel, give, contingency use, etc.

Sell both vehicles and get into something more frugal at a third the price. All the freed up monthly cash can now go to your donations as they appear to be very important to you, your mom and sister. Enough there for a nice family vacation twice a year.

Look here to make certain your charity is spending as you would expect them to:
http://list.moneysense.ca/rankings/charities/2011/health/Default.aspx?sp2=1&d1=a&sc1=0

[bigbadboss101]

Thanks guys. I just checked the MoneySense link and the ones I support are at 84, 81,86, and 89%.

[guessboi]

That car payment is the real issue. Start with that first and your insurance will go down once you get rid of the car. You can call retention for shaw or go with Telus.

[max_boost]

Help yourself before focusing on helping others.
You know what you need to do so stay disciplined.

Good luck Al.

[Feruk]

1. Car: Do you really need 2?

2. Eating out: At one point I was spending $100/month on breakfast alone. Bring cereal to work and just buy milk. This will slice off a big portion. Cook for 2-3 days at a time for dinner.

3. Shaw/Enmax/Direct Energy: Dump the cable TV. You can get it all free. Just google "Project Free TV." Stream onto your TV from your computer instead.

4. Insurance: Statefarm is pricy, shop around.

5. Life/disability/Critical health insurance: No thoughts

6. Investments: A LOT more needs to go here. You should be in excess of $1,000/month, not $150!

CHARITY: Dump most of it. You're donating almost $8K a year! you don't make enough to do that if you're anywhere near under $100k/year. Until you get your savings from $150/month to over $1000/month, you do not have ANY room to donate to any of those charities. You should slice 7/8 of your donations off the bat. This one I will criticize heavily. Look at your mom who needs help paying her bills. If you don't save up when you can, and throw money away to other people you don't know, you'll be in the same boat as your mom when you get old!

[canadian booster]

charity begins at home, i'd drop the donations to $100/month if you really feel you need to give at this point in your life

also get rid of cable tv and sign up for Netflix instead

just my 2 cents

[bigbadboss101]

Cool cool. No mom is fine. I help her but she always tells me she is good. Her condo is paid off and she has pension from the oil company she worked at. She lives frugally that is why I want to give her some $ to buy nicer stuff. I think a lot of chinese ladies are like that.

Just to clarify I was saying when I was making less I spent less. Now I am making good money but we never know if or when things will collapse. At the end of all the spending and taxes I have some $ left in the corp and a bit less in the personal account. I figure any amount we save now is amount that we can use down the road. An extra $500/month we dont use now can be quite useful 5, 10, 15 years down the road.

Step by step, will try to cut some things out or renegotiate :-)

[Mibz]

Originally posted by bigbadboss101
I figure any amount we save now is amount that we can use down the road. An extra $500/month we dont use now can be quite useful 5, 10, 15 years down the road And that's precisely why you should put into investments and less into donations, IMO.

[msommers]

I really get the impression he is not willing to give up his donation which personally I think is fine. While a tax break is helpful, I highly doubt that's the reason he is donating. Additionally, it doesn't sound like he's eating table scraps and giving roasts away either. A huge amount of money can be saved by getting into less expensive vehicle. Do you require an SUV for work? Is the pathfinder a fun toy but chipping away at your funds with mods, maintenance etc? Insuring a single, cheaper vehicle will also save some cash.

Cable/TV: Get HDTV and HD sports. The rest can be torrented/downloaded/streamed etc.

What do you do for work? Are you able to get in with Meloche Monnex? If so, they can do home and auto. My car insurance is quite a bit less.

Don't eat out as often, simple as that. Spend half that money on buying better quality ingredients and cookware. Quality knives, pans/pots etc may give you more initiative to cook at home since you've bought it and don't want it to just sit and collect dust? These don't go bad either and can be used for years and years.

As much as it may seem like everyone here is crucifying you for your choices, I commend you for recognizing something that has to change and seeking advice.

[max_boost]

Honestly I only donate when friends participate in some cause, running, walking, biking, shaving their heads for cancer etc.

As for your mom, don't worry bout her she is fine. It's not in her to buy nice things anyway so giving her money for that is basically a waste. If anything just spend more time with her, go for dinners etc. She would appreciate that more.

[Feruk]

Originally posted by max_boost
Honestly I only donate when friends participate in some cause, running, walking, biking, shaving their heads for cancer etc.
Agreed, but I think for him it's tied to religion. Three (or four not sure) of the five organizations he donates to are directly tied to religion. Gotta make sure the priest gets to ride around in his Ferrari after all.

[LOLzilla]

You aren't really wanting to take any effort. Forget it.

[rage2]

You should price your X3 realistically if you want it to sell. You can get a brand new 2012 with the same options for $1000 more than your asking price lol.

[Strider]

Originally posted by rage2
You should price your X3 realistically if you want it to sell. You can get a brand new 2012 with the same options for $1000 more than your asking price lol.

:confused: I got to $63,341 with his options before GST using the configurator on bmw.ca

$57k doesn't seem too far out of the ballpark... although it would probably look more attractive as $55k with the winters sold separately.

[rage2]

Originally posted by Strider
:confused: I got to $63,341 with his options before GST using the configurator on bmw.ca
Yea, that price might be valid a year ago. The 2013's are already here, everyone is discounting 2012 stock.

[Strider]

Originally posted by rage2

Yea, that price might be valid a year ago. The 2013's are already here, everyone is discounting 2012 stock.

Gotcha.

I didn't think there was any 2012 stock left though... I had to order mine in Feb and it came as a 2013 in May.

I called 8 dealers back then (price comparing), and they were all pre-order as far as I know.

[colinxx235]

^

Rage is probably referring to looking at one of the BMW dealers. The 2012 models are getting shipped out for the new 2013's.

From my experience selling vehicles in this price range/purchasing. You usually get about 5-6 over the BB value. Assuming your vehicle is on the high end condition.

High end is $47,650. (least I can't see panoramic roof).

So figuring that he would most likely get about 53-54ish for his vehicle.

He would have to take a respectable hit on it. Downfalls of buying new

[bigbadboss101]

Yeah, not too worried. Staying on topic would be nice though.

[max_boost]

What the heck. X3 are that much money?! :eek:

[bigbadboss101]

$46.9 base for the 35i and then the options add up quickly. The SLK were high 50's weren't they? The Q5 I think are close to $60k if not more.

Good for me. Can't sell then keep for life instead of buying a mini van.

So now the $ cutting will be elsewhere.

[Euro_Trash]

Originally posted by bigbadboss101


So now the $ cutting will be elsewhere.

:(

[CanmoreOrLess]

Your two massive leaky holes are the vehicles and the charities, yet you ignore them and move onward to shaving $10 off your cable and cell bills? You can lead a horse to water..... Maybe easier to just ask Jesus for more cash flow? I'd double up the charity donations for a year and post back on how how it all worked out. Eh, your life, if you're happy this is all that matters.

[Strider]

Originally posted by max_boost
What the heck. X3 are that much money?! :eek:

There's a handful of 35i listed on the BMW Gallery new inventory website at $69k, and one that tops $70k. :eek:



Originally posted by bigbadboss101
$46.9 base for the 35i and then the options add up quickly. The SLK were high 50's weren't they? The Q5 I think are close to $60k if not more.

Good for me. Can't sell then keep for life instead of buying a mini van.

So now the $ cutting will be elsewhere.

I think the GLKs were quite a bit cheaper... there's a ton of CPO inventory listed at the $30-$40k mark, combined with 0.9% financing.

Might a car to consider switching into if you manage to sell the X3 and still want a niceish SUV.

Q5 pricing is pretty much in line with the X3, slightly lower... not sure if that's changing with new engine options. Base Q5 is slightly less than base X3, fully loaded Q5 is slightly less than fully loaded X3.

[clem24]

Originally posted by CanmoreOrLess
Your two massive leaky holes are the vehicles and the charities, yet you ignore them and move onward to shaving $10 off your cable and cell bills? You can lead a horse to water.....

Yeah this is kind of what got me too.. That charity donation is practically a mortgage payment for some. Also these are just expenses that can be cut; I assume there's also a mortgage on top and other uncuttable expenses.. If anything I'd cut the donation and give it to your mom instead (it's just one of those respect things in Asian culture LOL) or give $150 to charity and save $600 instead.. In the grand scheme of things, all the other won't make any difference unless you cut them off 100%.

[bigbadboss101]

Yeah I think I will try to eat out less and make better healthy meal decisions. Will up the investment amount and give more to mom too (she doesn't want me to give her $). Donations I will keep as they are all committments I made. Eg. supporting 3 friends who are doing mission work, a few sponsor children, and couple other things.

I do appreciate all your advice. Oilsands is good now so I am fine. Since it doesn't sound like a good deal to sell the vehicle I will keep it. That might change if a baby comes ;-).
The big 3 (mortgage, vehicle, donations) I think 2 of the 3 are locked in, and the third can go if the right deal comes along.

[rage2]

Originally posted by bigbadboss101
Since it doesn't sound like a good deal to sell the vehicle I will keep it. That might change if a baby comes ;-).
It's never a good deal to sell a new vehicle within the first year of purchase, especially since you've racked up quite a bit of mileage on it. It sounds like you do have a need for 2 vehicles, but don't want to get killed on 1st year depreciation on the X3, which is frankly, impossible.

If you step back and look at the big picture, ditch the X3, and let's assume you have to take a $4k loss on it. Go get into a cheaper AWD, like a Hyundai Tucson AWD for $400/month on finance. It'll take you 4 months to break even then the extra $1000/month saving will kick in.

If you don't get rid of the X3, you're burning an extra $1000 a month, and if a baby comes, you're going to lose out on however many months you decide to hold out on savings. At some point, if you're forced to free up monthly expenses, you're going to have to take a loss on the X3. Better now than later if you're that stretched on cash. You're not going to save $1000/month from eating out less.