By now you all are fairly familiar with my story of early retirement and what I've gotten up to over the last decade
And when the question is asked of me and retirement the first thing I generally ask is "how much does it cost you to live"
and I normally break that down into two sections essential and non essential spending
I view essential as as the basics like food shopping, utilities, all insurances including car, eating out and take aways
Everything else is basically non essential but sometimes the lines between the two do become blurred especially when it comes to bike related things
Below is a fairly accurate view of most of our living costs over the last 11 years for two adults living in a bog standard three bed dormer bungalow with two cars and a cat and an unhealthy obsession of all things bike related
Year | 2012 | 2017 | 2020 |
Food Shopping | 4076 | 3361 | 4103 |
ESB | 980 | 834 | 680 |
Gas | 1234 | 887 | 992 |
Waste | -- | 172 | 178 |
Broadband | 616 | 432 | 370 |
Mobile | -- | 469 | 239 |
TV | 529 | 761 | 191 |
Health Insurance & Medical exp | 1270 | 2819 | 3930 |
Car Insurance & Maintenance | 700 | 2500 | 1851 |
Petrol | 700 | 662 | 547 |
House Insurance & Maintenance | 1286 | 1421 | 906 |
Entertainment & Takeaways | 468 | 1865 | 1293 |
Holidays | --- | 15701 | 4500 |
All Things Bike | 1751 | 2545 | 6070 |
Miscellaneous Spending | 750 | 1425 | 1217 |
Totals | €14360 | €35854 | €27067 |