A Breakdown of Your Monthly Budget?

Glonoinha asks: "I just finished balancing the checkbook after doing a stack of bills, the out-pile being higher than the in-pile, and I was wondering...do I completely underestimate the cost of living a regular lifestyle or am I getting taken for a ride? I am not interested in comparing paychecks, there are already plenty of studies out there to prove we are underpaid (well, most of us) - I am more interested in the overall picture. Where are you spending it? Post as an AC if you feel the need, but I am interested in a breakdown of monthly pre-tax income, taxes taken out, money put towards retirement, child support or alimony, mortgage or rent, car payment, medical insurance, car insurance, electricity, gas, water, entertainment, savings, liquor, food, vehicle maintenance, computer toys, and any other column you care to break out."

"The purchase price of your home, car, or any other property would be relevant if you were to include an indication to where you were geographically, and how you felt it was in relation to the rest of the region. If you were to include the type of work you do I would group those accordingly. If you are part of a two (or more) income residence, handle that however you wish but make a note of it so I can better tweak the dataset.

With a decent dataset made available I would be willing to do some statistical analysis and make the charts / compiled data available for download.

If you are not already doing a breakdown along these lines it may be an eye opener for your own use (but share it here to help make the dataset larger, more accurate.)"

Comments

castration 101

[Anonymous Coward]

Saying he wanted to send a message that such activity ''will not be tolerated in this society,'' an Oakland County Circuit Court judge Monday ordered an Oak Park man to prison for performing a kitchen table castration on a volunteer patient last summer.

``I think you show a degree of remorse,'' Judge Fred Mester told Suo-Shan Wang, 29, before sentencing him to 14 months-to-four years in prison for practicing medicine without a license and dispensing prescription drugs. ``But I think that the concern is that you would continue doing this if this was not seen as a serious violation of our laws.''

Wang, an unemployed engineering student, told police that he performed the castration in June at the man's request. The pateint, 48-year-old Birmingham resident, testified during Wang's two-day trial earlier this month that he wanted to eliminate his sex drive because he had a sexually transmitted disease.

Wang told officials he learned the technique from family members in his native Taiwan, and since 1994 had performed about 50 such surgeries before police caught up with him.

On Monday, Wang told the court he was only trying to help people unable to find such services in conventional medical facilities, but said he regretted his actions.

``I'm very very sorry I've done things like this,'' Wang said. ``Ever since that day, I really think that what I did was very very wrong.''

The sentence was more severe than the 12-month-to-four-year term recommended by the probation department. Mester said he chose the high end of the guidelines because Wang endangered the life of the man who sought the castration. The man nearly bled to death hours after the surgery and required two days of hospitalization, according to medical testimony.

``A society that wants to care for all of its people cannot accept this,'' Mester said.

Wang's attorney, Steven Reina, had asked the judge to consider probation, noting that Wang did not present himself as a doctor, and did not charge for the surgeries.

``The punishment has to fit the crime,'' Reina told the judge. ``For all the odd elements here, there is no evidence the defendant misled anyone.''

But assistant prosecutor Ken Frazee said the case is ``truly unique in the annals of the criminal history of Michigan,'' said the act was enough to justify prison time.

``Strange as the motives were that brought these individuals together . . . it is stil a crime against a profession, and the norms of society, and a violation of the laws of the state of Michigan,'' Frazee told the court.