Confirmed Plan Expenses

[ConfusedinOC]

For people from Orange County, CA:
Can someone provide some expenses that were allowed in with their confirmed plan (eg. utilities, food, clothing, car loans etc.)? I understand that all cases are unique but I'm looking to see what was allowed. I have a 3 person househould with $190k annual income and can't believe we could live within the IRS standards.

[justbroke]

Well, you must live within the IRS limits. You are above-the-median and you may not deviate from the IRS limits except where allowed. For example, food for 3 people is $626/month nationally. If you have specific reasons, you can go over by 5%. Unless there is a medical need, you are not going to be able to spend whatever you want on food. Similarly clothing is the same. There is a standard and you can't exceed it.

Chapter 13 over-the-median income cases are not really unique. I'm in a similar income bracket as yourself and have a family of 4. If you were to compare our Means Test, you would see the same values for the IRS allowable limits. This would be the same on the person person who makes $60K and over-the-median, or a person making what we make.

In some areas, such as utilities, you may be able to claim some home energy costs that are higher than the allowances... and provide the documentation.

The #1 reason why Chapter 13 cases fail, is because people can't stick to the budget. It can be extremely difficult if you are unwilling to stay within the budget. My observation in your post is that you seem to be already defeated. I can't tell if it's an unwillingness to stop eating at Ruth's Chris and Morton's once a week -- which I was guilty of -- or that you just can't see yourself living on tight budgets.

Here are the allowed expense limits for a family of 3 (nationally or your specific state/county):

Food, Clothing, & Other $1,152
Car #1 and Car #2 Ownership Allowance $489/each
Car Operation Allowance for 2 cars $422
Non-Rent/Non-Mortgage Expense (Utilities) $598
Rent/Mortgage Expense $1,848

There are some additional categories that you may be able to use for "continued" charitable contributions (less than 10% of net pay), charitable contributions (extent where it's non-taxable and/or where the company matches)... where this is continuing, telecommunications costs (usually up to $200/month is okay).

Everything else will be scrutinized.

(Source: U.S. Trustee Means Testing - Census Bureau, IRS Data and Administrative Expenses Multipliers)