Can you survive with 7,000 monthly income after taxes ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I net around $2800/month and I think that’s pretty good. This post must be a joke.

Sadly I doubt it’s a joke. The more you make, the less discipline people have.

[Anonymous]

Survive? No, I'm pretty sure if household income slipped below 7K the whole family would pass away.

Using the word survive in your scenario is not appropriate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Survive with a monthly after tax income of $7,000 ? Sure--after welfare, food stamps, and subsidized rent kick in.

That’s about $90k pre-tax income. You seriously think someone making $90k qualifies for welfare?!

LOL !!! You need to get out more. I cannot believe that some idiot took my post seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bring home about $7500/month after taxes and after maxing 401(k) and HSA. Wife is a SAHM (does some part time work). We have two kids in public HS. Life is similar to what a lot of people have mentioned...enough to be OK but NICE vacations are scarce, going out to eat is rare, upgrading clothing/furniture is rare (thank goodness for tele working), etc. We do put $750/month into each of their 529s so $1500/month for both. So that leaves about $6000K to live, pay bills, save for vacations and all of life's unexpected twists and turns, etc. We have no mortgage and two paid off cars. Some of those things are $700/month for utilities (Gas, Electric, Water, sewer, trash, and cable). One kid plays a top level club sport on national level. That's at least $1,000/month on average. $1750/month on groceries and ordering in. Try to save $1500/month for repairs, insurance, property taxes, car taxes, etc. So that leaves about $1000 for everything else for the month. Out of that is what we have for date night, birthdays, vacation savings, doing whatever. I know people have it much worse but it's not living in luxury.

You spend $1K on on kid's sport alone. You put $3000 in savings, not including retirement. You spend $1750 a month on food, including takeout. But you're not "living in luxury, " Boo hood. You people are all so pathetic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bring home about $7500/month after taxes and after maxing 401(k) and HSA. Wife is a SAHM (does some part time work). We have two kids in public HS. Life is similar to what a lot of people have mentioned...enough to be OK but NICE vacations are scarce, going out to eat is rare, upgrading clothing/furniture is rare (thank goodness for tele working), etc. We do put $750/month into each of their 529s so $1500/month for both. So that leaves about $6000K to live, pay bills, save for vacations and all of life's unexpected twists and turns, etc. We have no mortgage and two paid off cars. Some of those things are $700/month for utilities (Gas, Electric, Water, sewer, trash, and cable). One kid plays a top level club sport on national level. That's at least $1,000/month on average. $1750/month on groceries and ordering in. Try to save $1500/month for repairs, insurance, property taxes, car taxes, etc. So that leaves about $1000 for everything else for the month. Out of that is what we have for date night, birthdays, vacation savings, doing whatever. I know people have it much worse but it's not living in luxury.

You spend $1K on on kid's sport alone. You put $3000 in savings, not including retirement. You spend $1750 a month on food, including takeout. But you're not "living in luxury, " Boo hood. You people are all so pathetic.

+1

Plus, I like how earlier he says that "going out to eat is rare," implying that they cook all their food at home. But then later he says his $1,750/month (!) food budget includes takeout, as if the real luxury is physically sitting in a restaurant and not all the other benefits of takeout (no time spent meal planning, grocery shopping, preparing the food, washing dishes, etc.).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I net around $2800/month and I think that’s pretty good. This post must be a joke.

How many people in your household and what do you pay for housing? Because I'm truly impressed you find $2800 per month "good" for this area. Actually, that's about what I took home when I first started out, but I had roommates and was only responsible for myself, so I guess did feel like I had a lot of money at the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bring home about $7500/month after taxes and after maxing 401(k) and HSA. Wife is a SAHM (does some part time work). We have two kids in public HS. Life is similar to what a lot of people have mentioned...enough to be OK but NICE vacations are scarce, going out to eat is rare, upgrading clothing/furniture is rare (thank goodness for tele working), etc. We do put $750/month into each of their 529s so $1500/month for both. So that leaves about $6000K to live, pay bills, save for vacations and all of life's unexpected twists and turns, etc. We have no mortgage and two paid off cars. Some of those things are $700/month for utilities (Gas, Electric, Water, sewer, trash, and cable). One kid plays a top level club sport on national level. That's at least $1,000/month on average. $1750/month on groceries and ordering in. Try to save $1500/month for repairs, insurance, property taxes, car taxes, etc. So that leaves about $1000 for everything else for the month. Out of that is what we have for date night, birthdays, vacation savings, doing whatever. I know people have it much worse but it's not living in luxury.

You spend $1K on on kid's sport alone. You put $3000 in savings, not including retirement. You spend $1750 a month on food, including takeout. But you're not "living in luxury, " Boo hood. You people are all so pathetic.

+1

Plus, I like how earlier he says that "going out to eat is rare," implying that they cook all their food at home. But then later he says his $1,750/month (!) food budget includes takeout, as if the real luxury is physically sitting in a restaurant and not all the other benefits of takeout (no time spent meal planning, grocery shopping, preparing the food, washing dishes, etc.).

Yeah that food budget seems crazy high to me! But when you have no mortgage, no car payments, no childcare, $7k per month does in fact go a long way, maybe that was his point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I net around $2800/month and I think that’s pretty good. This post must be a joke.

How many people in your household and what do you pay for housing? Because I'm truly impressed you find $2800 per month "good" for this area. Actually, that's about what I took home when I first started out, but I had roommates and was only responsible for myself, so I guess did feel like I had a lot of money at the time.

There are two of us. Me and my teenage son. I pay $1200/month for housing in a basement apartment. It's in a luxury home so it's a nice place. I also dog sit for the couple who owns the home. They go away 2-4 times per year. $2800 is good enough for us. What other posters mention are not needed so of course people can survive on much less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I net around $2800/month and I think that’s pretty good. This post must be a joke.

How many people in your household and what do you pay for housing? Because I'm truly impressed you find $2800 per month "good" for this area. Actually, that's about what I took home when I first started out, but I had roommates and was only responsible for myself, so I guess did feel like I had a lot of money at the time.

There are two of us. Me and my teenage son. I pay $1200/month for housing in a basement apartment. It's in a luxury home so it's a nice place. I also dog sit for the couple who owns the home. They go away 2-4 times per year. $2800 is good enough for us. What other posters mention are not needed so of course people can survive on much less.

Right- the number of family members is relevant because obviously you’d need a larger place for a family of 4 vs. 2. Also that’s a steal for a basement apartment! Hope you are able to keep that long term PP because it frees up a lot of $$ for everything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I net around $2800/month and I think that’s pretty good. This post must be a joke.

How many people in your household and what do you pay for housing? Because I'm truly impressed you find $2800 per month "good" for this area. Actually, that's about what I took home when I first started out, but I had roommates and was only responsible for myself, so I guess did feel like I had a lot of money at the time.

There are two of us. Me and my teenage son. I pay $1200/month for housing in a basement apartment. It's in a luxury home so it's a nice place. I also dog sit for the couple who owns the home. They go away 2-4 times per year. $2800 is good enough for us. What other posters mention are not needed so of course people can survive on much less.

Right- the number of family members is relevant because obviously you’d need a larger place for a family of 4 vs. 2. Also that’s a steal for a basement apartment! Hope you are able to keep that long term PP because it frees up a lot of $$ for everything else.

$2800 times 4 is still a lot less than $7k.

[Anonymous]

Provided you're already maxing out 401ks before you get that $7000, it's fine provided you have a reasonable mortgage.

e.g.,
$2500 PITI
$700 529s for two kids
$500 utilities
$1000 food
$500 car (seems like everyone on here has paid off cars but sooner or later you'll need to buy one)

Still leaves you with $1800 for travel, house repairs, activities, emergency savings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I net around $2800/month and I think that’s pretty good. This post must be a joke.

What is your monthly budget? SOmething tells me we could learn a lot from you on fiscal discipline.