Sailing the High Accountan-cies

Ah, middle class American life. Millions of people around the world have no clean water, go without food or basic necessities, and live in abject poverty. Me? I spend thousands of dollars on frivolity.
The first day of the new year I obsessively close out my financial books for the previous year, and take a look at reports to budget for the next year. 2006 was my first full year in California, and as expected my expenses went up. The most obvious expense to scream out “California!” is my mortgage. Here, in order of shocking expense, are things I spent money on in 2006.

• Mortgage: $35,675
• Medical Insurance: $2,640
• Out-of-pocket Medical Expenses: $1,520
• Gas & Electric: $1,500
• Internet: $1,240
• Cable TV: $1,033
• Cell Phone: $770
• Dining Out: $680
• Wine: $538
• Water: $290
• Gasoline: $286

My first impressions for the year: despite having a heart attack, my medical expenses were shockingly low, relatively speaking. The best decision I made was to get a comprehensive medical plan from Kaiser. If I hadn’t had any health problems, it would have seemed expensive, but in the end it was a life-saver – both literally and fiscally.
I’m amused that I spent nearly twice as much on wine as on water; but this is a definite side effect of living in northern California. Not having many friends in California resulted in a lower dining out expense; working for myself (and driving a hybrid) meant that my gasoline bill was almost non-existent.
The big expenses of the year were, obviously, that California real estate — I didn’t include my property taxes in this list, but they would have come in second on this list — and utilities such as electricity and internet. Electricity is very expensive here, and the combination of my webserver, main computer, and a plasma TV really bring that bill up. Still, I don’t think a few Google ads on my blog will make up for the expense of hosting a bunch of websites. I may have to start charging some people this year.
If you’re doing the math, this list comes out to $45,886. This list doesn’t include a lot of other expenses like groceries and, oh, buying new cars and whatnot. So I think one thing is crystal clear for 2006: I was living above my means.
Way above.
California, you know.