We live in a HCOL area (coastal NorCA) so our fixed expenses are high. I recently worked with our insurance broker and doubled/tripled our coverages, which were woefully out of date. Sent our total insurance bills skyrocketing, but
c'est la vie, that's what was needed.
We also have LTCi policies so that is our second biggest expense next to food/dining out, which I lump together because for us the two go hand-in-hand. Spouse is happy to eat at home but I get antsy if I can't dine out regularly. There are literally thousands of restaurants within an hour or less drive in any direction, from our home, and a number of them are deservedly famous in foodie circles.
Fortunately we have a good net monthly income which more than covers everything. It is from pensions (his very large - 40 yrs with one company! - mine modest), my SocSec, and a $3K monthly distribution from our portfolio which is less than 3% of total assets. Last year we established a DAF (Donor Advised Fund) on the advice of our financial advisory firm, for the majority of our charitable contributions.
Charity donations was not a large category for us - probably no more than 15% - but 4 yrs ago we agreed to a sizable donation to an organization we've been affiliated with for almost a decade. They are doing a remodeling project to bring their facility up to date and it's already made a big difference. Because the donation was so large, we spread it out over five years, and after a couple of years our advisors suggested the DAF as a way to front-load our deductible expenses for 2021 taxes. Haven't given all the paperwork yet to our CPA but I think it will make a big difference for this one year.
As others have mentioned, because travel is so restricted these days, that money just sits around unless we find something to spend it on. So, we're getting those minor but annoying small house projects done, when we can get any workmen scheduled. All the tradespeople are BUSY! Good for them, but the consumer has to just be patient and get in line, sigh.
With no kids, a small mortgage at rock-bottom interest (we took it out last year to free up some equity, as we had a costly partial foundation project to fund), our discretionary monthly income is roughly 40% of our net income. This is after paying for all fixed costs except groceries/dining out.
Food/dining out is a large category for us. I love to cook but hate cooking every day, seven days a week. So we dine out two or three times a week. This is down considerably from when we were able to do our multi-day car trips, where we ate out twice a day, for 3-6 days!
We usually traveled every 6-8 weeks, so not that often.....but I really miss it and want to schedule at least 2 or 3 trips this year. One to Napa Valley, at least two to Sonoma County - yum, food and wine for days ......
