How much money per week do you need to live on?

$3000 per week if I lived in Australia. I have expensive tastes
$700 per week if I lived in Bali. I have expensive tastes

The thread asked you to "live" ....... not to "exist". Why work all your life to squirrel money away only to pennypinch every cent of your funds? That to me is "existing" and not "living".

Go to a decent restaurant (NOT McDonalds) and buy a nice Brut Cuvee as an apertif, have the soft shell crab for entree' with a delightful Chenin Blanc, Wagyu Tataki for main washed down with a full bodied Shiraz and then for dessert an apple and calvados sorbet drizzled in Cointreau. Not much change out of $500 for dinner for 2. I would expect this once a week.

Do the same in Ku De Ta or the Oberoi in Bali and it would cost you $200.

trainspotter said:

Go to a decent restaurant (NOT McDonalds) and buy a nice Brut Cuvee as an apertif, have the soft shell crab for entree' with a delightful Chenin Blanc, Wagyu Tataki for main washed down with a full bodied Shiraz and then for dessert an apple and calvados sorbet drizzled in Cointreau. Not much change out of $500 for dinner for 2. I would expect this once a week.

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mm sounds good. But i would be pairing my meals with fine beers. Not many restuarants have a good beer list though

easylikesunday said:

To survive you would only need $50 a week. That would pay for food and a warm blanket.

Anything above that figure is simply to cater for our luxuries.

We are a greedy lot nowadays.

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$50?... luxury dude!

food can be had 4 free from soup kitchens in city, scavenging.

clothes, blankets salvos for nix

a few neccesities by charity shopping voucher, wipe yr ass with newspaper

freeganism & barter !

There is also a guy who walks the country, living off the land, and coins he finds, has done for 30yrs, been on TV, saw him recently near Condobolin

Interesting 1 this.......

If i wanted to live like a peasant (no house, camp etc..) then a couple hundred a week would cover me.

But if you want the house, cars decent lifestyle then 100k per yr would have to be the minimum i reckon....

Hi Bill,

Have done a budget recently for the first time in a long while, to see if my wife can retire.

My total costs are not for just for a couple as we have dependant uni students who cost a bomb.

However opening my budget, I have made PA allowances for such things as:


Upgrades and Maintenance to Capitalist Swine Mansion $6k

Upgrades to Luxury Capitalist Swine Household equipment $2k

Total Cost for Capitalist Pig Auto fleet $10k

Energy Costs...#$%& well ahead of inflation!

I have found these to be the true costs of maintaining an older home and 2 cars including depreciation, if you dont factor them accurately, them future expediture forecasts will be shot to bits.

These costs could obviously be less for some, but I am not what you would call a spendthrift.

If I posted the family food bill, that is scary, big boys eat a LOT.

On the basis of your original question, if only a couple, could get by on $1k a week, but more would be highly desirable

awg said:

However opening my budget, I have made PA allowances for such things as:


Upgrades and Maintenance to Capitalist Swine Mansion $6k

Upgrades to Luxury Capitalist Swine Household equipment $2k

Total Cost for Capitalist Pig Auto fleet $10k

Energy Costs...#$%& well ahead of inflation!

I have found these to be the true costs of maintaining an older home and 2 cars including depreciation, if you dont factor them accurately, them future expediture forecasts will be shot to bits.

These costs could obviously be less for some, but I am not what you would call a spendthrift.

If I posted the family food bill, that is scary, big boys eat a LOT.

On the basis of your original question, if only a couple, could get by on $1k a week, but more would be highly desirable

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Thanks for that. You seem to have allowed a lot for maintenance and upgrade for your house, 8k a year? I could buy 3 colourbond fences, a water heater and re carpet my whole house for that and then I won't need any of those for 10 years. But never mind I accept your figures, everyones needs are different.

One thing I didn't include in my budget was car depreciation. The reason for that is that I don't buy new cars. I only have 1 car and normally buy 5 year old cars with low kilometers that last me 10 years before I get another one. Cars don't interest me much so I don't spend much on them. In my case 10K over 10 years is only $20 p/w depreciation and has no impact on my budget.

Your living costs of $1k per week are quite reasonable considering all your expenses, cheers.

My short answer and not a smart Ar$e one either is.

Enough not to worry about how much I need to live on a week.

Its just something I decided long long ago wouldn't be in life's equations.
Other more important issues to take care of--rather than concern yourself with the almighty $$.

The less important you make it the less important it is.

Whether you choose not to have it (Money) or have it in excess (Money).

Out of interest though I do know how much I need each month to keep the Company doors open.
$260,000 a month.
Kind of makes the Home budget pale somewhat.

WOW tech/a I would be stressed with those sorts of numbers. The good thing is though, from the replies here, you only need $261,000 per month to run the business and live reasonably.LOL

Bill M said:

Hi trainspotter, I know I shouldn't ask.... but now I am so curious, what costs 3 grand a week when you have your own home and no debts and no kids? I could eat steak and drink champaign each night and still have $$$$ left after it with $800 p/w. Just tell me to shove off if it's personal.

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I do eat steak and drink champagne each night. Alright ...... seeing how you asked for it.

Just to fill up one of my cars is $150 per week. V8 Landcruiser.
The other car is $100 per week. We do a lot of running around and travelling to Perth (country based) We will not be sitting in the house waiting to die.

Accomodation whilst in Perth. Not staying in a caravan park and never will it is not unusual to have to spend $300 per night for a decent room in a decent inner city hotel. Conservatively $3000 per annum and sometimes we fly to Perth (more expense)

Entertainment - See my other post RE: a decent restaurant ...... the reason we are in the big smoke is to go and see a show/entertainer/class act and not sitting in the bleachers nor the nose bleeds it gets up to $200 per ticket to get a good view.

House Outgoings - My house costs about $14,000 per annum to own. Land and Water Rates are $4,000 per year, Electricity, gas and water consumption is approx $5,000 per year. Not uncommon to get electric bills of $600 PLUS for a 60 day period !! Insurance is over $2000 per annum. Maintenance (reticulation, gardening, tapware, light fittings etc) take another $2000 per annum.

Clothing - I would think nothing of spending $250 on a business shirt which would last me only a couple of months. I have a penchant for leather jackets as well. $2500 for a Monza Italian is about the right money. My wife has equal tastes.

Holiday - One month in Bali every year costs me $10,000 inclusive flights, shopping meals etc etc. We also fly to QLD once a year. This year the rellies are coming to me (saving I think????)

Hobbies - I have a boat that conservatively costs me $5,000 per annum to maintain/insure/keep afloat as well as fishing gear that is not at the cheap end of the scale that constantly is required to be replaced. One trip to the Abrolhos Islands would be a $2000 exercise in logistics. I do this 3 to 4 times a year. Bait is $18.50 per kilo for octopus. One decent 24 oz sinker is $6.00, some of the hooks I use are $5.00 each. You would lose up to 5 rigs per day.

Health Insurance/Incidentals - Close to another $100 per week easily. Top Cover

This is what I am doing right now. This to me is "living" and not "existing". Yes we could scale back and do everything on a budget and get it down to $800 per week but WHY? Lifestyle has the words LIFE and STYLE in it's spelling.

Champaign??? Never heard of it ?? :

trainspotter said:

$3000 per week if I lived in Australia. I have expensive tastes
$700 per week if I lived in Bali. I have expensive tastes

The thread asked you to "live" ....... not to "exist". Why work all your life to squirrel money away only to pennypinch every cent of your funds? That to me is "existing" and not "living".

Go to a decent restaurant (NOT McDonalds) and buy a nice Brut Cuvee as an apertif, have the soft shell crab for entree' with a delightful Chenin Blanc, Wagyu Tataki for main washed down with a full bodied Shiraz and then for dessert an apple and calvados sorbet drizzled in Cointreau. Not much change out of $500 for dinner for 2. I would expect this once a week.

Do the same in Ku De Ta or the Oberoi in Bali and it would cost you $200.

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Im up for adoption if you interested, sounds good to me

Thanks for that trainspotter, your response answers the 3K question. Man, your LIFE and STYLE sounds like a full time job to me Good luck to you mate, enjoy it.

Man think of the gold and silver you could buy with that sort of loot floating around

MP: You were lucky. We lived for three months in a brown paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six o'clock in the morning, clean the bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down mill for fourteen hours a day week in-week out. When we got home, out Dad would thrash us to sleep with his belt!

GC: Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at three o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of hot gravel, go to work at the mill every day for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would beat us around the head and neck with a broken bottle, if we were LUCKY!

awg said:

Upgrades and Maintenance to Capitalist Swine Mansion $6k

Upgrades to Luxury Capitalist Swine Household equipment $2k

Total Cost for Capitalist Pig Auto fleet $10k

Energy Costs...#$%& well ahead of inflation!

Click to expand...

trainspotter said:

We will not be sitting in the house waiting to die.

Accomodation whilst in Perth. Not staying in a caravan park and never will it is not unusual to have to spend $300 per night for a decent room in a decent inner city hotel. Conservatively $3000 per annum and sometimes we fly to Perth (more expense)

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I feel the same. Would rather go away less often and stay in good accommodation.
Last time in Sydney we paid around $400 per night. Worth every bit.

House Outgoings - My house costs about $14,000 per annum to own. Land and Water Rates are $4,000 per year, Electricity, gas and water consumption is approx $5,000 per year. Not uncommon to get electric bills of $600 PLUS for a 60 day period !! Insurance is over $2000 per annum. Maintenance (reticulation, gardening, tapware, light fittings etc) take another $2000 per annum.

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Exactly. This is the point I was trying to make yesterday when people were assuming no outgoings on one's residence if simply no mortgage. On the contrary, there are constant and necessary outgoings. Small example: yesterday received notice that annual termite inspection and pest control is due. Cost around $400 p.a.

Health Insurance/Incidentals - Close to another $100 per week easily. Top Cover

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Yep, I'm curious about why people do not have private cover, i.e. whether this implies total faith in the public system, similar faith in one's eternal good health, belief that no catastrophic accident or illness will happen, or alternatively a budgeted separate fund that ensures you could pay for private care if necessary, bearing in mind that some procedures can cost more than $300,000.

This is what I am doing right now. This to me is "living" and not "existing". Yes we could scale back and do everything on a budget and get it down to $800 per week but WHY? Lifestyle has the words LIFE and STYLE in it's spelling.

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Agree. Obviously you can afford what you have so why not enjoy it. Too many people (not suggesting this applies to anyone here) without quite realising it, become habituated to trying to save money when it's no longer necessary.

Mister Mark said:

Im up for adoption if you interested, sounds good to me

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So funny. Do you necessarily want to be adopted into Western Australia? What can you offer as an adoptee?

Btw, great thread, BillM.

Bill M said:

Thanks for that. You seem to have allowed a lot for maintenance and upgrade for your house, 8k a year? I could buy 3 colourbond fences, a water heater and re carpet my whole house for that and then I won't need any of those for 10 years. But never mind I accept your figures, everyones needs are different.

One thing I didn't include in my budget was car depreciation. The reason for that is that I don't buy new cars. I only have 1 car and normally buy 5 year old cars with low kilometers that last me 10 years before I get another one. Cars don't interest me much so I don't spend much on them. In my case 10K over 10 years is only $20 p/w depreciation and has no impact on my budget.

Your living costs of $1k per week are quite reasonable considering all your expenses, cheers.

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The bulk of those costs is for major stuff you only do rarely, like a room reno, or roof repairs, or additions. If you dont factor them in tho, your budget will be innacurate.
Believe me, I am no maintenance freak, but there is only so long a wife will tolerate a tired bathroom or kitchen, plus they wanna do makeovers an stuff

You can also have expensive items like tree removal, damaged sewer or water pipes,
worn out aircon compressor (the joy of PPOR and IP)

Have experienced these costs so thats why budget them, maybe just had a bad run


Man, I would sit on a couch till the stuffing was hanging out, but no...anyway, at least once a year an appliance such as computer, washing machine, dishwasher, TV etc etc seems to need replacing

I buy my cars well depreciated, so that is only about 2-3kpa on the 10k costs
The rest is rego,insurance, maintenance, petrol x 2.

my vintage cars I account as a seperate item.

The quoted figures are also inflated a bit in account of present family situation, they should probably fall in the future ? ( would be nice)

It would depend a lot on the size, age and type of structure for each property

The $1k p/week is what I would see as the bare minimum for us, if we were just a couple, based on todays money, any sort of luxury woud require extra dollars to the value of that spending.

also not subsidising any offspring, which is unrealistic given the situation visa-vi the uni, job, welfare and property issues for the younger generation imo..is a very hard figure to nail down an estimate for future budget purposes, is how much it will cost you to subsidise a good uni education for them, best I could do is say, this will be the most we can afford.

Although this does not affect couples with no dependants, dependancy for welfare purpose can extend up to the age of 25!

If I did not have to consider any other persons wishes, reckon I would live on less money than otherwise, although admit may be torn between frugality and utter, reckless hedonism

Bill M said:

I did a little budget of what we spend in an ordinary suburb per week. I put in all our running costs for the house, insurances etc and the running costs of the car. I also allowed for half a tank of petrol. It includes an RSL lunch a week, a take away and my alcohol. We do not do any expensive sports like golf, skydiving etc. We do not have health insurance so you must add that in if you do. My wife and I live comfortably on $400 P/W. Every other bit of income such as in the above case $600 P/W would go into savings. Times that by 52 weeks gives you 32K which can be spent on holidays, so yes I think 52K a year is very comfortable and you can do a reasonable amount of travel.

What we are well aware of is that most of the time you do spend it living at home. The 8 or 10 Months at home living well but simply allows us to save the surplus and do our holidays. When we are overseas we do all our dental work and buy our clothes there, we save money by buying overseas. I have bought enough Billabong T Shirts at $5 each and jeans at $20 each to last me years, my wife is the same. We prefer the overseas bargains. I kind of use our trips not only for the holiday but to do/buy the things we need too. I look at living at home as money going in the bank for the next trip.

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You misread my tone.

It should read - you have to be a foolish spendthrift to not be able to live off 1k a week

I spent 4 months in USA and only spent 10k. That included tour bookings (3k) theme parks, NASA, 1 week in Orlando, 1 week in Miami (1k) a tattoo (1.5k) and the rest was drinking and having fun.

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Is no one else shocked at someone spending $1.5k on a tattoo? Or have I read it wrong?

As for the OP I honestly have no clue, bad form really. Life is presenting me with too many wacked out challenges ATM to worry about how much money I will need in retirement. All I can say is that once I offload the kids life will be much cheaper anyway.

trainspotter said:

MP: You were lucky. We lived for three months in a brown paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six o'clock in the morning, clean the bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down mill for fourteen hours a day week in-week out. When we got home, out Dad would thrash us to sleep with his belt!

GC: Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at three o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of hot gravel, go to work at the mill every day for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would beat us around the head and neck with a broken bottle, if we were LUCKY!

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My sort of humor!
A classic.
Anyone seen Doug and Dinsdale?
Or Norman Cingenpolvolter
Where the petshop with the parrot?
Better still the Undertakers!

awg said:

Although this does not affect couples with no dependants, dependancy for welfare purpose can extend up to the age of 25!

If I did not have to consider any other persons wishes, reckon I would live on less money than otherwise, although admit may be torn between frugality and utter, reckless hedonism

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I am convinced, I think I need to allow a bit more for house maintenance. By the way we are lucky (or unlucky for some) we do not have any dependant children, it really keeps our living expenses down.

NewOrder said:

Is no one else shocked at someone spending $1.5k on a tattoo? Or have I read it wrong?

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If someone offered me $10K to go and get a tattoo I wouldn't do it. I don't like needles from the Doc let alone have someone inflict pain on me.