<p>My D will be starting as a freshman OOS starting next week. We have a younger son in HS, so we won’t be moving or downsizing the home. Based on your experiences, I am wondering what (if any) type of expenses you saw go down due to the absence of one family member (four will become three). I am thinking that the following expenses would go down:(at least for the 8 months she is not here)</p>
<ul>
<li>food costs (one less mouth to feed)</li>
<li>restaurant expenses (again, only three of us)</li>
<li>electricity (this would be minimal, I would assume, since heating/AC/refrigerator stays same)</li>
<li>water bill (she took many looong showers)</li>
<li>gas cost (less rides)</li>
<li>ticket costs (sporting events, concerts, etc)</li>
</ul>
<p>If you “suspend” it, then probably have to turn on/off when she is home for breaks. But most insurance companies will reduce cost if she is more than a certain number of miles away, and you don’t have to tell them when she comes and goes.</p>
<p>Unless on full scholarship, some of those costs are now just paid to the school as room & board charges. True savings will only come when children are fully independent.</p>
<p>What’s the deal with car insurance? If my D goes to school in state but 180 miles away from home, will we be able to get the discount? This is exciting news to me - I think I’m going to call my agent!</p>
<p>Yes, you likely will get a discount. How much depends on how much she has been increasing your rate… our savings is not huge, but worth asking for.</p>
<p>Our electric bill goes down by about 50% or more when our kids are away. They run as many computes as possible 24/7 while they’re in our house and it adds up. They had a tough time believing it, even when we showed them the bill.</p>
<p>Considering the huge increase in costs to us due to tuition & their living expenses away from home, it was hard to see any costs going down while our kids were in college.</p>
<p>Probably depends on whether you plan to send your kid an allowance. I definitely saw the cost reductions --but I shifted all out-of-pocket, incidental costs to my kids – I paid the balance owed on tuition & room & board for year #1, for year 2 forward dropped the meal plans and shifted that cost to the kids as well. The net out of pocket for me still went up – but considering those savings in reduced at-home expenses was useful in doing the math to hold down my borrowing costs. It was at at least $2-$3K. Son was a bigger consumer of food – weekly grocery bill dropped by $50 when he left. </p>
<p>Once all of the kids were out of the house, our food costs went down substantially. Even though our kids are not “big eaters” it’s still a huge adjustment to feeding just two of us with modest appetites versus more. And the types of foods changed, too - in one case snack foods, in another, we saved a lot from not having to buy all the expensive organic items. :)</p>
<p>Gas costs also went down once the kid who needed to drive/get a ride 2-3x a week to a nearby city for music activities went off to school. </p>
<p>Some schools list different costs of attendance for commuters living with parents compared to resident students. Such listings typically include $4,000 to $5,000 in “room and board” (presumably food and utilities consumed at home). It is likely that the real food and utilities costs associated with a high school senior or college frosh vary considerably from one family to another. It may also be hard to account for all of the “room and board” costs, as they are typically scattered through various parts of the household budget (groceries, electricity, heating, water, garbage, etc.). Transportation related costs (particularly car insurance if the student was driving a car at home) can also be affected. Some other costs associated with the student (clothing, laundry supplies, soap/shampoo/etc.) may also be scattered about various household budget categories.</p>
<p>I don’t expect our household expenses will go down much, going from 5 to 4…
Also we will spend more on gas going to pick her up and take her back to school for breaks.
We will get her a slightly higher cellphone plan with more minutes to call home, now she mostly just needs texting…
She will still need money for toiletries and clothes and such.</p>
<p>We shifted some expenses to our kids when they went to college. Spending money and books were on them (which they knew several years ahead of time). They attended a private high school where we had to purchase books, so that is an expense that transferred to them. And fast food, cosmetics, shampoo, etc. was mostly theirs, too.</p>
<p>We had the “away at school” auto discount for both kids…who were more than 100 miles from home. It saved us a whopping $250 a year. Big deal. Some companies are more generous than others.</p>
<p>The biggest savings was our electric bill. It is less than half the amount when our kids aren’t here. I notice the increase every Christmas when they are both here.</p>
<p>My electric, water and food costs all go down when son is away. He also pays for a lot for a lot of things we used to pay for when he was in high school (entertainment/eating out with friends & gas for car for example.) </p>