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Fixed Utilities Costs
Remember how I was comparing my spending to that of a couple of personal finance bloggers who published their spending for 2014? Well I decided to look into home energy and water costs as well.
me
* natural gas - $327
* electricity/trash/water - $2154
* total = $2482
Eco Cat Lady
* gas/electric - $1188
* water - $222
* total = $1410 (57% of what I pay)
Mr. Money Mustache
* electricity/gas/water - $1614 (65% of what I pay)
It sure looks like there is a lot of room for improvement! Of course, those two other guys do not have my same situation. They both live somewhere cold, but that just means they spend way more on heating and way less on air conditioning than I do. Eco Cat Lady has a small house like mine; Mr. Money Mustache's is bigger and holds three people. Yes, I should be able to do better as well.
But how much better? Some of my costs are fixed. I decided to find out how much.
My last City of Austin utilities bill was $129.57 for electricity, water, wastewater, trash pick-up, and other random city services. This is super low because we are in the middle of winter. Fixed costs were about $58.03. I say "about" because it's not totally black and white. This number includes:
* a tiered fixed charge of $3 for water--if we were in the first tier instead of the second, this could be less
* a trash can charge of $5.10--this is lower than for bigger trash cans, but last time I checked, we had the smallest one possible
And I am not including the 1% tax on electricity which is based on both fixed and variable expenses.
My last Texas Gas Service bill was $35.77 for natural gas (a little bigger than usual because it's winter). Of this, $20.06 was not based on usage. Again, this figure is problematic because it includes several small charges which seem to change randomly from month to month.
Still, my total annual cost just to be allowed to have these services even if I use nothing at all looks to be about $937 ($78/month). (And here is where I remind myself that it's not cheap keeping the power lines up after all our storms, dealing with tree roots growing into pipes, and driving those behemoth trash and recycling trucks all over town repeatedly.)
That fixed-cost total is 2/3 of Eco Cat Lady's total expenses and 58% of Mr. Money Mustache's. So it's not the case that my fixed costs are greater than their total costs. So that's a relief. (Unless I was in the mood to be whiny.) My original notion that there is room for improvement by adopting more of their strategies appears sound.
me
* natural gas - $327
* electricity/trash/water - $2154
* total = $2482
Eco Cat Lady
* gas/electric - $1188
* water - $222
* total = $1410 (57% of what I pay)
Mr. Money Mustache
* electricity/gas/water - $1614 (65% of what I pay)
It sure looks like there is a lot of room for improvement! Of course, those two other guys do not have my same situation. They both live somewhere cold, but that just means they spend way more on heating and way less on air conditioning than I do. Eco Cat Lady has a small house like mine; Mr. Money Mustache's is bigger and holds three people. Yes, I should be able to do better as well.
But how much better? Some of my costs are fixed. I decided to find out how much.
My last City of Austin utilities bill was $129.57 for electricity, water, wastewater, trash pick-up, and other random city services. This is super low because we are in the middle of winter. Fixed costs were about $58.03. I say "about" because it's not totally black and white. This number includes:
* a tiered fixed charge of $3 for water--if we were in the first tier instead of the second, this could be less
* a trash can charge of $5.10--this is lower than for bigger trash cans, but last time I checked, we had the smallest one possible
And I am not including the 1% tax on electricity which is based on both fixed and variable expenses.
My last Texas Gas Service bill was $35.77 for natural gas (a little bigger than usual because it's winter). Of this, $20.06 was not based on usage. Again, this figure is problematic because it includes several small charges which seem to change randomly from month to month.
Still, my total annual cost just to be allowed to have these services even if I use nothing at all looks to be about $937 ($78/month). (And here is where I remind myself that it's not cheap keeping the power lines up after all our storms, dealing with tree roots growing into pipes, and driving those behemoth trash and recycling trucks all over town repeatedly.)
That fixed-cost total is 2/3 of Eco Cat Lady's total expenses and 58% of Mr. Money Mustache's. So it's not the case that my fixed costs are greater than their total costs. So that's a relief. (Unless I was in the mood to be whiny.) My original notion that there is room for improvement by adopting more of their strategies appears sound.