Exactly why I posted the thing on the Couponing above... they could conceibably cut those bills down to a hundred bucks... maybe less, if they had the dedication and will...

But that coupon ing takes a ton of time too. Not only that, but a lot of the crap that they issue coupons for is the kind of crap that I don't want to eat. Processed frozen food or prepared food. How often do you see coupons for organic food or meat of veggies?

Like an employee from the property appraiser's office told me, want to live in South Florida?

No I don't get that much in services + we don't use the schools. That's another ton of dough/month.

Not Buckingham but nice and spacious but not waterfront either. 1 acre lot with 6000 ft under a/c.

Even at a average sq foot, say 3,000 (half) that is 9x what I pay. I guess that is the price of south Florida. At least you don't have state income tax.

Just curious, how do all the aged pensioners afford living there?

Its a killer. Market based and if you bought at the wrong time....

Most pensioners live in small apartments or had the properties before the boom.

Market here was stupid. For example, I bought my 1st house here for 200K (3K/ft) and at the peak I had offers at $900K. Stupid me that I did not sell then...

At least property insurance has reduced substantially also.

Wow! I though our $3300 a year in property taxes was high...

Louisiana & Wyoming have low property taxes - basicly any state in the oil/coal energy belt does - they get $$ from severance taxes

you need to figure out cheap eats to feed kids - buy a cheap cut of pork on sale ($1.50/lb. sometimes here) - stick it in a slow cooker, with some liquid smoke and salt; you can add some wine or beer too

it will sit and cook and presto: pulled pork (smokey style) for cheap

I got this recipe from a friend who is a surgeon; his wife is a radiological oncologist so they have a huge income, but he is maybe even cheaper than me, so knows a lot of tricks.

This is my basic monthly budget for my wife and I. We have no kids.

Mortgage 1350 (includes property insurance)
Groceries 480
Alcohol 50
Utilities & Misc 530 (includes cable, internet, elec, gas, water)
Cash 300 (for haircuts, fun activities, etc)
Dining out 75 (We only eat at places where we have restaurant.com coupons)
Fuel 120
Insurance 280 (Two daily drivers and two toy cars)

We have spent the past four years paying back a $h!t load of consumer debt. In 2004, we had over $100k in debt, not including the first house mortgage or school loans. This year we have finally paid off all CC and are actually saving money now.

I think spending $500 a month or $6000 a year for eating out is extreme.
You should try to break this down between lunches and dinners and see how the money is being spent.
For example, perhaps you can get a tap water for lunch and save yourself a couple bucks everyday or $10 a week/$40 a month. It is better for you anyways.

Also, I discovered when we eat out, usually half of the bill goes towards booze. I now limit myself to one or two drinks max. This helps keep the dinner bill lower.
We usually have more drinks at the house as it is cheaper.
In addition, we mainly only go to restaurants where we have some type of coupon. From restaurants.com you can buy a $25 gift certificate for $4 (using an 80% off promo code). This keeps the bill usually around $25-$35. We only go out to super nice restaurants for special occasions and we usually save our money ahead of time.

I'm sure there are plenty of other places where you can make small changes to make a considerable difference. The hardest part is tracking all of your spending, including cash, and understanding where the money is going. From there you can ask yourself if paying X for something is really worth it.

No definitely NOT "stupid for not selling then". You're smart for not buying then and if you'd sold, a lot of any profit you may have made would have probably gone towards getting another place (you have to live somewhere) so you'd have either been someone else's sucker to pay their inflated bubble price to buy or paid inflated rent. I don't know the specifics of your situation it you might've lost a ton due to capital gains taxes too...

The best way I've observed to deal with bubbles (particularly in RE) is to stay way the hell away from them. Sure you can profiteer off of them (or try to) but for everyone I know that made money in the bubble I probably know 2-3 others who lost, got foreclosed on or worse. Dangerous game. You're smart for buying in a good market and having a decent inflationary hedge (assuming a fixed-rate) and not getting involved with the shenanigans.

I agree P-O-P. My thought was around the lines of sell and move out of the state (or country)....

My business is highly dependent on accesibility to Intl destinations and being close to MIA helps a lot.

This is my view, and I'm not even retired.