What is your single biggest monthly cost?

[Stinky The Clown]

Housing?

Car payment?

Alimony?

Child support?

Tuition?

Health Care?

Food?

(edit to add) Something Else?

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Drugs and alcohol

Just kidding. :)

House is paid for. So it's my car.

[Zanzoobar]

106. Don't forget tobacco and ammunition.

[kestrel91316]

2. Rent. 80% of my take-home. I live on air for the most part, and can't

go anywhere or do anything that costs a dime. And heating and cooling are affordable ONLY if I keep it 60F in winter and 85F in summer.

It didn't used to be like this. I totally blame Dubya.

[Bucky]

94. Housing, they told us in high school, should be 1/3rd of your monthly income

I mentioned that to my dad once and he said when he was young they told him it was supposed to be 1/4th.

So, yeh, housing costs, which produce few jobs, continue to eat up increasing amounts of America's disposable income.

[kestrel91316]

126. 1/3? In Los Angeles that's not possible, I don;t think, lol.

[cantbeserious]

3. Mortgage

eom

[FreeState]

14. +1

[bemildred]

51. +2 nt

[Mojorabbit]

66. +3 nt

[City Lights]

97. +4. nt

[polmaven]

114. +5

[onehandle]

4. House payment. nt

[doc03]

5. Cable/internet/telephone bill n/t

[nevergiveup]

6. (1) Health care followed closely by property taxes.

[closeupready]

7. Rent. Majorly.

nt

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. Rent. Though if one includes restaurant eating and occasional splurges, probably food. nt

[Betsy Ross]

9. Mortgage

60% of take-home

[PA Democrat]

10. Health insurance, and that's with a high deductible.

[ReggieVeggie]

11. Rent

Cigarettes
Gasoline
Food/Bills/Credit debt payment
weed

[southerncrone]

12. Food

Soon to be insurance. :(

[Horse with no Name]

13. Electricity. I live in Texas. It is privatized.

It usually runs between $600 (on a good month) and $1000 (in the extreme months).

[FreeJoe]

89. Wow

I live in Texas and pay $150 to $400 (average around $250-$300) a month. That's for a 3,500 square foot house that is occupied practically 24/7 and is filled with electronics. You have a massive place, a horribly inefficient cooling/heating system, or need better insulation or something.

What do you pay per kwh? We paid something like 10 cents last year and it is lower this year.

[Horse with no Name]

95. Well..I have friends that live in 600 sq ft apartments

and don't run their air and are VERY conservative and still pay double what you pay. Congratulations. It seems like YOU have a wonderful deal.

[WatsonT]

101. Austin?

And you might want to get your insulation checked.

Unless you have a mansion that's a bit high.

I pay less than 200 for a 3bd house and my roommate keeps the AC pretty low (I'd rather not, but compromises. . . ).

[one_voice]

15. Mortgage...

2. Groceries

3. Health Ins.

4. tied..car payments/electric/and now gas.

[hobbit709]

16. Top3: Food, house taxes, utilities.

Now that the house is paid for.

[Cleita]

17. Health care, but I'm a senior, yet it costs me more

than $300 a month for the insurance plans alone and I'm on Medicare. Then there are the peripheral out of pocket medical expenses that aren't covered by Medicare. Who says it's free and that old people are free loading on the system? Actually, housing costs me more, but medical is my second biggest expense.

[Petrushka]

84. Senior health care: $ for Medicare + HMO + co-pays + meds = more for me than housing costs. (eom)

[housewolf]

18. Utilities

water, sewage, gas, electricity, trash, phone, tv & internet

but at least I don't have to buy heating oil

[Webster Green]

19. Gasoline.

I spend $400 to $500 mo. on gas at the current prices. That's more than I pay for rent.

[jillan]

20. Mortgage.

[verges]

21. rent.

Rent+gas+elect+phone = @80%

[Fuzz]

22. Private army

[uppityperson]

23. Health insurance. If you add mortgage and property taxes, that passes, but single? Health ins.

[Darkhawk32]

24. Here's my ranking...

1. Car Payment and Insurance
2. Rent
3. Gasoline
4. Propane Heat Cost (#3 during the winter)
5. Electricity
6. Satellite
7. Internet
8. Cell Phone


Oh, forgot... paying a deadbeat ex-wife 25% of my net income for child support even though I have my kids the same amount of time as she does. That's actually #1.

[JackBeck]

25. Mortgage + Monthly Condo Fees + Special Assessment.

We pay over $3000 a month to live in one of the bottom 5 neighborhoods in New Jersey. We bought 6 years ago before everything crashed and now the refurbished building we live in is falling apart.

[TransitJohn]

26. Mortgage.

I was tempted to list 'paying life tax to my corporate overlords,' but decided to give a one word answer.

[MacNfries]

27. Mortgage BUT Groceries & Gas are catching up really fast ...

Let's see ... mortgage payment is $890 a month ... $10,680
groceries ($180 week) .............. 9,360 this will exceed mortgage by 2012
gas-3 cars ($110 week).............. 5,720 this will exceed mortgage by 2013

[Tresalisa]

28. Rent n/t

[AsahinaKimi]

29. Rent

but at least we have Rent control in SF or I would be on the streets.

[alcibiades_mystery]

30. Child care for two kids

By far.

[eridani]

31. Health care by far

No house, car or student loan debt. Food would be next.

[Shiver]

32. Books.

..I have an addiction...

[cui bono]

77. You really gotta stop smoking that shit.

;)

[Shiver]

79. Fantasy and science fiction give me a better high than weed ever could.

;)

[cui bono]

81. Do you get paperbacks so they're easier to roll?

;)

[Kat45]

33. In the winter, heating oil.

I've been paying around $500 a month, and that's with not putting the heat up a lot and freezing my butt off at home all the time.

[Mugu]

34. Property taxes. n/t

[Newest Reality]

35. My major costs have been the wealthy fatcats

corporate welfare, and expensive war machines, since that is where all the fruits of my life's effort and taxes seem to have gone.

Now, my biggest cost is trying to make it day to day without income, no assets, no savings. That cost keeps going up, up, up in a non-financial sense. The balance of my life is now zero-minus.

[Uben]

36. Applesauce

I like to be different!

[virgogal]

37. Housing.

[madinmaryland]

38. What is yours, Stinky?

:shrug:

[Stinky The Clown]

48. Pest control

:-/

[madinmaryland]

53. Uhmm. One paper towel or kleenex and a flush of the toilet will get rid

of the stink bug!

Trust me, I've had that happen every semi-warm day this spring and all summer and into the fall.

None of them are in Washington State where I am working for the next two weeks!

[AlabamaLibrul]

39. Rent nt

[Dappleganger]

40. Mortgage, food, utilities, insurance.

[GoCubsGo]

104. Yep.

Even if I didn't include my cats' food in the equation, food would still be #2.

[Dappleganger]

122. We have four teenagers.

My full-time job is cutting coupons, hunting for deals to make do with less (plus selling things on craigslist). The price of food staples continue to skyrocket as we get less and less for the money.

[Tumbulu]

41. food and animal feed

and I'm a farmer.....

[greendog]

42. Corporate parasites.

Most of the wealth I create is siphoned off before it ever gets to me.

[Blue-Jay]

43. Chilean groundskeepers.

Who knew?

[Starry Messenger]

44. Rent.

[drm604]

45. Health Insurance.

Rent is second.

[bermudat]

46. Grateful I have a job and the money to pay taxes.

Federal tax, state tax, retirement, soc security and medicare take up to 33% of my gross pay.
My rent, including parking takes up 20%.

[footinmouth]

47. Health Insurance Premiums

[RevStPatrick]

49. Rent...

...is too damn high!

[gkhouston]

50. Housing. Can't afford health insurance. n/t

[niyad]

52. cat food and litter

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

54. porn or ammo...

it usually alternates.

[cui bono]

78. Good that you alternate the two. Together they are really dangerous!

;)

[lumberjack_jeff]

55. Ill tempered sea bass. n/t

[nashville_brook]

56. food

[Vinnie From Indy]

Strippers - by far!

the drugs do not buy themselves either!

[cliffordu]

64. Oddly enough.....

:rofl:

[sakabatou]

57. Health care or food

[Blue_In_AK]

58. Thw mortgage payment followed by health insurance premium.

The health insurance premium is withheld from my husband's pension check so we don't really notice it, but $800 a month is quite a bit.

[Karia]

59. Health care

Or housing, if you include property taxes & utilities.

[bhikkhu]

60. Housing - 52%. Food - 25%

Obviously I can't afford a car, but get by with a bicycle just fine. Health care has been beyond imagining for many years, though in any case my health is good as I can't afford alcohol and cigarettes and fast food like I could in the "bad old days".

[medeak]

61. two kids in grad school

and husband sick with no paycheck..blech

[Silver Swan]

62. Last year it was property tax

This year, it will be health insurance.

[cliffordu]

63. Heroin to take the edge off DU

[Horse with no Name]

96. Just say NO.

It's really that easy. If people that are concerned about this country stress you out that badly, take some time away.

[cliffordu]

119. Well.....

Very little of what I write here is serious in any way.

If DU stressed me out enough for H, I'd be in the hospital because my toilet seat is too cold.

[newfie11]

65. car insurance n/t

[NMDemDist2]

67. Mr K's new car

he got a new car for Xmas, 44 months of payments left and by far our largest monthly expense.

We own the house and my car, second is our entertainment budget of DishNetwork and Netflix.

We are so blessed to be in this good shape in our little podunk town.

[robinlynne]

68. rent.

[Lugnut]

69. Food.

Gas for my car is quickly catching up.

[starroute]

70. Health insurance first, then housing costs

Our mortgage is paid off, so we don't have that, but if you add up the utilities, real estate taxes, homeowner's insurance, and maintenance, it comes pretty close to health costs.

Food and everything else trail after.

[taught_me_patience]

71. Mortgage

then $900 in student loans.

[hunter]

72. Health Care.

Insurance + very high deductible.

My wife and I pay the insurance premium and ALL our health care costs most of the year. It's more than our mortgage. Then at the end of the year we fight with the insurance company because they really hate it whenever they have to pay out anything on these high deductible policies. We're supposed to just send them the money and never make any claims.

It's not even really insurance in my mind. If something happens to me that's so bad the insurance company ever has to pay out more than we've paid them, then bills are going to have a very low priority on my list of things to worry about.

So, if you ever see a crazy homeless stiff jointed stick man hobbling along cursing at passing cars, that'll be me, unable to pay for my medicine and cast out onto the street. But I'll be happy too, knowing I can't possibly pay any more medical bills or health insurance premiums. FREEDOM!

[Kablooie]

73. My elegant coiffe.

The price of coffee is going up, you know.

[MilesColtrane]

Rent

[Cresent City Kid]

74. Rent, food, electricity, gas

For healthcare, I'm on the GOP plan, CFI Care. I pay nothing, and get nothing, deficit neutral. It's a two part plan, 1)Don't get sick, 2)Don't get hurt.

[Rochester]

75. House payment

The others in the original post are (in order) $0, $0, $0, $0, $0, and a variable number that is not too high. Stuff like phone/internet and utilities are my only other monthly bills. Ah, the joys of being a cheap bastard.

[blueamy66]

76. toss up between child support and house payment

evil pissed off ex girlfriends suck

[cui bono]

80. Housing = Mortgage + insurance + property tax

Car is next but that's less than half of the above. And add maintenance and repairs to housing of course.

[Codeine]

82. When I was younger it alternated between books and wargame figures.

Now it's rent. :-/

[eppur_se_muova]

83. Student loan debt. Payments far exceed rent. nt

[mmonk]

85. Healthcare.

That's why I was against the Heritage Foundation's healthcare reform bill (not enamoured with it).

[FreeJoe]

86. Taxes

1) Income tax
2) Property tax

I suppose that imputed rent and car depreciation would be up there if you wanted to account that way. For actual money at the door, it's taxes for me.


That assumes that we aren't talking about savings either. If we are, retirement savings would be #1 and college savings would be tied with property taxes.

[mmonk]

87. Income Taxes? Federal income taxes are at their lowest in about

60 years. That has caused property taxes and other state and local taxes and fees to go up. Who pays for your health care? Are you young?

[FreeJoe]

88. I'm middle aged

My health care is employer provided. I pay something like $250/month. My employer picks up another $1,100/month or so.

My income tax comes out to several thousand per month. It eats up about a quarter of my gross. Excluding savings, nothing else comes anywhere close in my budget.

My property taxes have declined in the last few years. Sales tax rate has stayed the same.

[Amaril]

116. Same here

Taxes are roughly 25% of my gross income

Next would be rent -- 16% of gross -- followed by food, then car

[nessa]

102. Taxes here as well...

I both parts of social security and medicare. Adding in state income tax, local wage tax, unemployment tax, property tax, state and county sales tax, taxes are easily 30% of my income, without paying any federal income tax. Mortgage is about 20%.

[malaise]

90. Food followed by

electricity.

[cordelia]

91. Mortgage

[AmandaRuth]

92. mortgage, insurance (all types), food, gas

in that order

[Exilednight]

93. Mortgage. n/t

[RebelOne]

98. Food and housing

I feed me and 3 dogs and I don't give them cheap dog food. I am a vegetarian and don't buy meat, but still my food bill adds up. Second expense would be housing. Fortunately, I own a mobile home and only pay lot rent, which is approximately $370 a month that includes water and garbage pickup.

[liberalla]

99. Rent n/t

[bullwinkle428]

100. Rent, by a long shot.

[raccoon]

103. Rent. #2 is health care--individual plan with high deductible, which means I pay for

everything out of pocket, unless (cross fingers) something catastrophic happened.

[slackmaster]

105. Mortgage P&I payment

Then, roughly in order:

Gasoline and other transportation expenses
Food and entertainment
Utilities
Health and medical

[Nydari]

107. Mortgage, followed very closely by daycare

[MountainLaurel]

108. Mortgage

Although the mortgage wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the home insurance (the joys of living in New Orleans).

[Broken_Hero]

109. Hmm, at first thought I believed it was our mortgage

but then I started thinking about our car, and all the $$$ that entails, and when I compared our car vs. mortgage, the car was the clear winner.

Keeping our car is the most expensive bill we have:

Car Payment-340

Car Insurance-160

Total cost of gas per month-200$(this fluctuates)

The total is 700$ per month to keep our car going, not counting the extra $$ for repairs, and regular maintenance.

[PVnRT]

110. Mortgage

[rucky]

111. Mortgage, then electric - or gas in the winter.

Then healthcare, then food - although I think gas will surpass that this month. Then cigarettes, then student loans, then car insurance. There is nothing left over, which is stressing me out, which makes it hard to cut out the cigs.

[tjwash]

112. Mortgage payments 1--Taxes 2--Retirement 3

44000 a year total for all mortgage payments, 26000 a year in fed, state, and property taxes. 15 percent of my income to my retirement portfolio.

Not that I am complaining...I consider myself extremely lucky to have the privilege of being able to do any one of those things on that list.


--prepares to be flamed for being a freeper troll and told "you got yours fuck everyone else" by the usual suspects.

[laundry_queen]

113. Rent.

Then food, utilities, tuition, childcare, fuel, in that order. I'm just making it and with gas going up, it's going to be tight. I'm not sure where else to cut. We rarely eat out, and that's about the only thing we do (no movies, or fun things). Thankfully I'm in Canada where I don't have to worry about health insurance - that would probably be as much or more than my rent b/c I have 4 kids. As it is, I can't afford supplementary insurance for them ($300/month for SHITTY coverage! I hate insurance companies) but thankfully their dad has some and I have my own through my school. I don't know how americans deal with the insurance thing. ugh.

[Iggo]

115. 1. Rent. 2. Student Loan.

[L0oniX]

117. Slip dock fee for my sail boat.

[Moondog]

118. Taxes.

It's not even close.

[MorningGlow]

120. Mortgage, matched almost exactly by

credit card payment. That $15K debt gnaws at me, so I've been trying to pay it down by making enormous monthly payments lately. If we didn't have that damned B of A MasterCard, we'd have SO much disposable income. x(

[Kber]

121. Until this year, childcare / preschool tuition.

Now that my youngest is in (public) kindergarten, mortgage.

They were pretty close, but childcare edged out housing by a small amount.

[livetohike]

123. Health Insurance

We are self insured.

[Gormy Cuss]

124. Taxes

When it's all added up (income,property, sales) taxes are definitely the biggest expense.

[bikebloke]

125. Rent

For a shitty apartment.

[Withywindle]

127. Rent, by far.

Not a car or health insurance/health care, because I'm a very long way from being able to afford either, so I don't even try anymore.

[The Nexus]

128. Hookers

Someone had to say it. :rofl:

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

129. Long Distance Relationship,

Were both from Orange County but I am stuck working in Canada and she is stuck working in Texas. The airlines get whatever is left over.

[spinbaby]

130. Our top four

Housing, transportation, food, health care, in that order.