What's Your Daily Nut?

I have budgets on my mind these days.

I've added and re-added my expenses, regular monthly and annual extras, to ensure I'm living below my means in retirement spending.  Putting it all together, I project I'll be spending 51% of my current annual income and saving 49%. 

Then I had another thought.  What does it cost me to get out of bed every morning?  What is my daily nut?

Total annual spending divided by 365 = the daily nut.

That is what you spend every day before you've even put a foot on the floor.

Carry it one step further.  Project how far your emergency fund would carry you if that was all you had to rely upon.  Emergency fund total divided by the daily nut = amount of days you could live off your emergency fund before it was depleted.  My cookie jar emergency fund would carry me through 600 days at my current level of expenses.  Not even two years.  Fortunately, that's not my only cash reserve.

Think about your daily nut.  It's an eye-opener.

Penny Pincher