davekes

Hi all,

I posted on here previously for thoughts on living costs in south california.

I've realised that we can forget about living in the beach towns due to lack of space for your money so we are looking at moving to Fullerton, CA instead. It is 20 mins from the beach and I've heard that it is a nice family town.

We can rent a 3bed family home for around $2000per month and I'm guessing utilities will be another $250??? any info?

My salary is now likely to be $75k a year so I'm guessing that I'll take home around $4400 per month after tax- Does that sound about right?

My monthly cost breakdown estimate is this:
Rent & Utilities: 2400
Gas/petrol: 350 (based on current gas prices & expected mileage)
Grocery: NO IDEA - Help please? 2xadults, 2xyoung kids & 1 big dog!

Any other essentials I've not considered?

That salary is based on a 40hr week and there will be plenty overtime available and my wife may get work with the company however I need to base our costs on the bare minimum confirmed earnings.

I realise that cash will be tight compared to the comfortable lifestyle we have in the UK but we are going over for the experience and to enjoy the california weather with the kids for a year or two.

I'm just trying to figure out if we will be able to get by without being on the breadline and will be able to enjoy ourselves whilst we're there.
My 40hrs are based on a 4 day week and we are thinking about using our savings to buy a 2nd hand RV or 5th-wheel to use at weekends to travel about, we rented one for a month earlier this year on holiday and had a great time. Although renting may be cheaper for us

All thoughts and critiscisms welcomed!

Oh yeah - Any school district recommendations for fullerton? We only have one daughter of school age and she will be 5 1/2 next summer when we head across.

Thanks

Dave

MsElui

im not sure about utilities in CA but here in Ohio our electricity alone got to $250 pm during the summer (2300sqft house) . that goes down during the winter but then gas heating goes up.

dont forget you may have to pay utilities for trash collection, sewerage and water, as well as tv and phone. Then insurance on the rental or house owners insurance too.

Our health insurance is quite good with my husbands firm but i think for the 4 of us he has to contribute $250 a month from his salary.

dbj1000

Here in Texas it's costing us ~$350 per month on average for heating (gas) and cooling (electricity) for a 4000sq/ft house, so I'd say that $250/mo is probably about right for a rental property.

Cable TV, Phone & Internet add another ~$175/mo to that.

Grocery prices are going up rapidly here. I just checked out accounting software, and for a family of 4 with a small dog we've averaged $1350/mo on groceries... but we're not exactly living on a budget either.

Gas has averaged $380/mo for two cars, one doing a 30-mile-round-trip commute, the other doing mostly the school run. Gas prices are way down now, but I wouldn't budget on them staying low.

As MsElui pointed out, you're missing out health insurance. Mine is supposed to be a very good deal, and I pay ~$280/mo for the family.

Renting, you won't have home repair/upkeep to pay, but how about service and repair on a car? That's cost us a fair few $$$ each year. Car insurance? Another ~$150/mo for two cars for a new arrival from the UK.

Texas is much cheaper than California for general cost of living. I think you can probably live on the figures you've given, but it's not going to leave much for anything except essentials.

I hope our numbers help in your calculations.

clarissageo

Our house in Ohio runs at this:

Rent $1550
Electric - summer $250 (the last couple of months we've been in the UK so its just been $60 with just the basics on
Food $200 per week (5 of us)
TV $107
Phone $88
Cellphones $103 (4 phones, 700 shared minutes in network with verizon)
Water $100

Can't comment on Gas - when we were over there it was at $3.60 a gallon and I understand its dropped quite a bit since then, but We were putting about $75 a week in and getting about 14mpg

Health insurance I have no clue, only that my SIL was telling me people at her work were paying about $400 a month.

Giantaxe

He ain't in Ohio!!

sambapink

Heres what ours is like.. Live in SoCal 3500 sq ft house

Rent $3400
Gas $50
Elec $140 (we don't use A/C)
House phone $25-$35 (Vonage)
House Ins $35 (renters Ins)
Water $90
Waste $40
Cell phones $110 (family account 3 users)
Pet Ins $35
Groceries $250-$300 (week - 5 of us and 2 dogs)
Petrol - at the moment can fill up SUV for just under $40!!
TV/internet (Cox) $130

We also pay over $300 a month for car Ins.. but thats for 3 cars and a 19 yr old driver!

Try this website for Schools (or search Fullerton School District)

http://www.greatschools.net/schools....t=473&state=CA

Good Luck!

Mummy in the foothills

I'm in No CA 1375sqft house
Electric and gas for us us two separate companies.
Electric $300 a month in summer if it gets really hot
$60 a month in winter average
Gas we pay the same year round on a plan $65 a month
Garbage pick up $30 a month
Water about $60 a month and no landscaping, just trees on drippers.
Many areas have monthly fees for streets and street lights
Car insurance for us is $130 a month
Renters insurance I have no idea
Telephone and DSL in one plan $85 a month includes all local and 200 nationwide mins a month and calls to UK are costing about a penny a minute right now.
Groceries, two adults, one teen and a 3 year old, about $150 a week, that includes the cleaning supplies. No dog.
We don't have sewer we have septic so no idea on that cost.

Dan725

Take home roughly right but will depend on option deductibles and elections you take with work, such as choice of medical plan, life insurance, disability, 401k, etc. You could end up with a little bit more or less than your 4400, but I think its a reasonable estimate on that salary.

What I find about the US is that you get nickle and dimed and unforeseen expensed to death, in a way that is far in excess of what its like in the UK. Always shelling out for something. The European toursit mentality of "its cheap in the US" certainly falls by the wayside. I'd certainly try and factor in some kind of emergeny fund into your calculations - the difficulty is trying to figure out how much - it so much depends on what happens during the year, it is hard to fix an amount as opposed to in the UK.

i think it might be fair to say that while UK costs are often on the surface higher, its true that you get what you pay for, so its easier to budget. Whereas here, while seemingly lower, the surprises soon end up boosting up those bills,and the human tendency is not always to budget the unforeseen.

meauxna

Dan, what kinds of things do you mean? I agree about having an emergency fund I just wondered what is different here vs UK in that regard.

penguinsix

Are you budgeting for two cars? (hint: you should)

Duncan Roberts

I think it's on the higher end. I generally use 40% as a general idea of what will be taken out of your pay when everything is taken into consideration. That is all taxes, healthcare, dental/vision, meaningful 401k contribution, short and long term disability, life, AD&D, all that stuff. That gives $3750 per moth. It is going to be on the lower end of the scale but that way you wont be shocked when you budget for something with money you don't end up getting.

Giantaxe

Healthcare. You really need to know how much this will cost you for you and your family. Even assuming that your employer provides insurance for this, you need to take into consideration the cost of those insurances to you (it's a relatively rare employer that picks up 100% of the tab these days, particularly for family coverage) and any out of pocket expenses (deductibles, copayments etc) that you're likely to incur.

Poppy girl

3,000sq house hot tub and A/C Electric $550 a month in Northen Cali in the summer.

Giantaxe

In the Central Valley. In my part of Nothern Cali (SF) it costs me $30 a month with no hot tub

He's aiming for Fullerton, which is much milder than your area of the Central Valley:

http://www.weather.com/weather/wxcli...nav_undeclared

http://www.weather.com/weather/wxcli...graph/USCA0714

davekes

Hi

Thanks for all the great advice - and for bringing up things that I hadn't though of. I'll go back to my prospective employer and see if I can wrangle out a better deal as that salary doesn't look like it is going to cover everything and allow us to enjoy everything that california has to offer.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Dave