What's your family size and how much do you spend each month total?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Single mom with kid -- about $5,500 a month, with savings. I hope to have a little more breathing room when the little guy starts school, and can go back to saving more.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:family of 5:

mortgage 2400
utilities and phones 600 (higher in winter)
car payments 500
out of pocket medical 700 (various therapies)
eating out/entertainment 700
gas 150
clothes, presents, repairs, misc purchases 800
lawn care 200
housecleaning 250
childcare 2700
kid lessons 300

so, total is something around 9.5k/month, then 3 to 4k/year for family trips (everyone is on the west coast, so that's almost 2k in airfare alone) and there's always some unexpected huge expense for the house.

as soon as we can reduce our child care costs, that money will go into college savings.

What about food? Or do you exclusively eat out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, we're counting on our kids being smart or athletic. The athletic part is probably a bust given their parents, so they'll just have to be smart!

When you have a higher HHI, your kids can be as smart as you want, you're still not going to get aid (other than loans). You're sort of in the HHI sweet spot for being able to get aid.

Oh, boo hoo, poor little rich kids.
Have you ever heard of merit scholarships?

Do the top twenty five schools for undergrad generally give merit scholarships?

Yes.

No they don't. The Ivies only give need based undergrad scholarships while Stanford gives out need based and 300 athletic scholarships per year for Olympic caliber athletes and people like Tiger Woods.

If you want merit scholarships, stick with public schools or apply to private foundations that give them out. The top 25 schools are almost all need based.

you're right. what I meant was that merit scholarships are available for top universities, not that the university necessarily provided them.

[Anonymous]

Family of three:

Mortagage: 3600 ( I think we got a bit carried away when buying the house)
Childcare: 1500 (1350 to daycare and Occasional baby sitter)
Utilities: 500 avg (Electricity/Gas/Water/Trash/Cable/Phone)
Dining Out: 350 avg
Groceries: 700 avg ( But this includes all kinds of things we buy from Costco including gifts/clothes/movie ticket/some household appliances)
Shopping: 700 (online/clothes/gadgets)
Auto/Transport: 400 avg (parking/gas/insurance/maintenance/public transport)
Home: 300 avg (Mostly cleaning / a Bit of home improvement)
Vacation: 800 avg (about 10 K a year)
Other: 500 (personal care/fitness/entertainment/laundry/whatever activity the kid is doing (Swimlesons/football may be/Ice skating may be ... etc))
Second Home: 1000 (rent doesn't cover all of it)

So total is about 10 K.

Take home is about 15K.

[Anonymous]

PP. It actually 11K avg. Not 10K.
We have no student loan/car loan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, we're counting on our kids being smart or athletic. The athletic part is probably a bust given their parents, so they'll just have to be smart!

When you have a higher HHI, your kids can be as smart as you want, you're still not going to get aid (other than loans). You're sort of in the HHI sweet spot for being able to get aid.

Oh, boo hoo, poor little rich kids.
Have you ever heard of merit scholarships?

Do the top twenty five schools for undergrad generally give merit scholarships?

Yes.

No they don't. The Ivies only give need based undergrad scholarships while Stanford gives out need based and 300 athletic scholarships per year for Olympic caliber athletes and people like Tiger Woods.

If you want merit scholarships, stick with public schools or apply to private foundations that give them out. The top 25 schools are almost all need based.

So don't go to an Ivy. Life won't end. Really.

[Anonymous]

single mom + kid: 2k