Who’s spending money on what? Find out at Bundle

Bundle.com is a free spending comparison database that has statistics from across the United States.

You can find out how your personal spending habits compare to families in your demographic, geographic area, income level or a combination of those factors. You can also take a spending quiz to find out your financial personality.

I got the heads up on the Bundle site from PFFirewall. So I decided to look up the spending statistics for Monroe County, Mich., and found some interesting details about my local readers:

• Eating out: $197 a month is the average of what families in Monroe County, Mich., are spending on eating out. Those in the $40,000 to $50,000 income bracket are spending $97 a month at places such as McDonald’s, Applebees and Dolce Vita; while those in the $50,000 to $75,000 income bracket are spending $114 a month. Wow, this is insanely high! If you are in those median income brackets, you really should consider dropping the eating out spending by a third to a half.
• Gas: $147 a month is the average for all of Monroe County, Mich.; $98 a month for those in the $40,000 to $50,000 income bracket; $149 a month for those in the $50,000 to $75,000 income bracket. This is one of those expenses where it is hard to find a work-around. Monroe residents commute for work or shopping in three directions – Toledo, Detroit or Ann Arbor – and there is no public transit between those cities. My suggestion is to bunch up out-of-town errands when you can, but expect your household savings to be found elsewhere.
• Utilities: $201 a month for all Monroe County, Mich., households; $233 a month for those in the $40,000 to $50,000 income bracket; $222 a month for those in the $50,000 to $75,000 income bracket. Why is there a bump up for the median incomes? My guess involves logistical hurdles for those who can only afford to rent instead of own a home. You can’t, for example, replace an outdated furnace when you are the tenant. And a lot of rental units in Monroe don’t have laundry hookups, so those families have to cart their dirty clothes to the expensive paid laundry centers.
• Charity: $48 a month for all Monroe County, Mich., households; $47 a month for those in the $40,000 to $50,000 income bracket; $72 a month for those in the $50,000 to $75,000 income bracket. This is an interesting snapshot, especially when one considers that volunteer service and in-kind donations are very much part of the community culture in Monroe.
• Hobbies: $71 a month for all Monroe County, Mich., households; $47 a month for those in the $40,000 to $50,000 income bracket; $71 a month for those in the $50,000 to $75,000 income bracket. I expected the overall average to be a bit higher, given the fact that  many popular hobbies in southeast Michigan can be expensive (hunting, casino gambling and vintage cars, for example).

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From Monroe on a Budget.