The average cost of living for an American

$20,194 per person per year according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (value given divided by 2.5 average household size ('consumer unit') - [1]
Of this, food ($2577), housing ($6844), cars ($3442) totals $12863 per sucker

Average food expenditures for an American

Bureau of Labor Statistics - $2577/person/year - [2]
- Almost half of this is eating out
$4800/year according to [3]
$2700/year according to [4]
$5000/year - [5]

$6844/person/year - includes utilities and furnishings - [6]
- $541 of this is electricity, and 451 is phone
- $1500 of this is mortgage payments, or about 1/4 of all housing costs

$3442 per person per year - BLS - [7]
- Of this, $1086 is for fuel and oil, and $205 is public transportation

From [8]:

The above statistics don't tell much about debt levels.

$8500 is the average debt per person in America in 2008 - [9]

Say a person lives 78 years [10], and you take the average cost of living from BLS.

Over 78 years, one spends an average of about $1.6 million dollars just to survive.

Of this, one spends about $1M on housing, food, and cars ($12683 per year * 78)

More specifically:

One spends an average of $530,000 to put a roof over their head over their life.

One spends an average of $270,000 on their wheels.

One spends an average of $201,000 on grub.

This certainly makes a case for buying out at the bottom.