So, I ABSOLUTELY know there’s massive variation in this. Just want to get ahead of that.

What I’m looking for is…what do finances look like, casually, when you have a 100% paid off small (SMALL!) home. When a mortgage is out of the way, what’s left to eat up your paycheck?

I suppose I’m looking for the sort of casual knowledge of expenses for this sort of life that your kids might pick up if they lived in your area with you in your home. En mass, pulled from multiple lemmy folks, so I can get an idea of general trends. I’m partial for info from the USA, but others reading this might appreciate statistics from other areas. :)

(People mistake how valuable this sort of “general idea” info is, I always see people going into the weeds on how every situation is different without bothering even giving a crappy signpost so I can see if I’m looking at a $5 expense or $500 or $5000. Knowing if something is going to be $5 or $5000 is very valuable, even if it’s not some exact precise number. But I don’t need to know if it’s going to be exactly $392.29 if I wiggle my ears and tug my nose to get the right loophole, I just need to know that closer to $500 is correct, or whatever.)

I don’t have family, so I missed out on “casual learning” opportunities, and don’t have anyone to talk to IRL to get this info, so it’s really hard to apply my city-living experience to try to extrapolate what life might be like if I make a goal to buy a small home in Nowheretown, USA to retire in 20 years down the line.

Anyway. So what do expenses look like if you have a small paid off house? What range do utilities run in for you (in your particular climate), what’s home insurance like, what sort of unexpected expenses pop up when you own instead of rent?

What’s utilities like for sewer and trash, especially? Those have always been rolled into my rent. Is rural internet still limited to DSL or satellite (or Starlink I guess these days), or has better infrastructure been rolled out in places over the past 20 years since I last looked for this info?

Edit: Also…talk to me about well water and well expenses, and septic tanks instead of sewer lines, and oil heating. I promise I’ll listen!

Edit 2: Also talk to me about how propane works.

Thanks everyone. :)

  • @IMALlama
    5•3 days ago

    Feedback: your actual questions start about 2/3 down your post. Lead with them next time so we know how to answer better :)

    it’s really hard to apply my city-living experience to try to extrapolate what life might be like if I make a goal to buy a small home in Nowheretown, USA to retire in 20 years down the line

    We have younger kids, live in a lower cost of area, and bought our house in 2011. Excluding frivolous categories, our top expenses are:

    1. Saving for our retirement. Between our 401ks and IRAs, this is our biggest expenditure by quite a bit
    2. Food. We don’t eat out a ton, but also don’t do a great job of eating low cost. Feeding four is also fun, we can’t wait until they’re teens. This category is not much ahead of #3 though
    3. Our mortgage (it’s a 30 year and taxes, insurance, principal, and actual mortgage are $1,250/mo)
    4. Saving for our kid’d potential college tuition

    Once the kids are out and we’re retired categories #1 and #4 go away, category #2 will probably get cut in half, and our taxes and insurance are currently well under $4,500/year. Speaking of taxes, mine are capped at a maximum increase of 5% or inflation, whichever is lower. With the housing run-up this has worked out in our favor.

    Home expenses are a thing. It’s hard to say how much to budget for that though. Some of it depends on you (eg do you really need to renovate that bathroom in full), your taste, and your budget. I would expect a decent outlay every 5 years or so - roof, brick/siding/exterior work, furnace/ac, driveway etc. The more you’re willing and able to do yourself the better off you’ll be.

    You don’t have to be in the boonies to live in a low cost of living area.