I often ask clients how much they are spending now, and almost always the answer is “don’t know”. This comes up most often when one spouse has died and that spouse handled most of the financial matters. The surviving spouse isn’t sure that he or she has enough to live on, or perhaps enough extra to begin making gifts to family members. Often, surviviors can afford to make gifts to children and grandchildren, but don’t realize it because they don’t know what they need for living expenses and, sometimes, seem paralyzed by the need to calculate it. Well, you need to start somewhere, and so here is a template I have given to clients to help them determine how much they are spending on the expenses of daily living. It’s not necessary to develop numbers down to the penny, but this will give some idea of what’s needed.

A calculation of living expenses:

(This can be done on a monthly or yearly basis)

Ordinary household expenses (groceries, gas, laundry)

Home Mortgage (principal , income, insurance)

Vacation Home Mortgage (principal, income, insurance)

Gas, oil or electric utilities

Water

Cable and newspapers

Insurance (auto, life, disability, long term care)

Property taxes

Clothing

Medical and Dental

Home repairs

Home furnishings

Auto payment

Auto repair

Veterinarian (a big number in my home)

Commuting and parking

Telephone

Vacations

Holidays

Contributions

Gym and Club Memberships

(I did not include retirement and other savings, nor saving for college, assistance to parents or other relatives)