Please don't be offended- What should your HHI be around to consider sending DC to private school?

[Anonymous]

DC poster here. I was just returning fire with fire. I stand by original post. I've lived in McLean before moving to DC and remember standing outside the DMV on Old Gallows while tons of illegal immigrants got licenses. Talk about waste, or sending my tax dollars down to Richmond and getting nothing back so I sat in traffic every day. I guess her mind is made up and I'm not trying to convince her otherwise, just want to show that she's spouting a lot of shit that isn't accurate. She reminds me of the legacy pledges in a sorority that no one likes but they have to be there. We wish they'd just GO away.

[Anonymous]

Sorority girls ... ick.

[Anonymous]

Anyhoo...

We make about $9100 net each month. HHI is about $160K a year. We fully fund our 401K. Our house is a little bungalow that we bought before the boom, so even with some modest improvements our mortgage is still only $1600 a month. Our monthly expenses are $6000-- there's a fair amount of costco in there, but no car payments or any other debt except the mortgage. We could cut back even more if need be. Assume it stays the same... that means we have about $3000 discretionary, extra savings each month.

So we can manage the private school-- assume $27,000 a year or so divided by 12 months = $2300 a month. The $2300 will come from the extra $3000. So yes, we can afford it.

I know a lot about our finances -- I've been keeping close track on www.mint.com for months. I see every penny in and every penny out. After a while you can see patterns and you are able to see where you can easily cut. For example, I realized that we were overpaying for long-distance coverage that we never used. Our auto insurance was high. Groceries were pretty high. Over time, we've been able to lower our month expenses by over $1000 just by getting better deals, better rates, new providers, etc. Try it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC poster here. I was just returning fire with fire. I stand by original post. I've lived in McLean before moving to DC and remember standing outside the DMV on Old Gallows while tons of illegal immigrants got licenses. Talk about waste, or sending my tax dollars down to Richmond and getting nothing back so I sat in traffic every day. I guess her mind is made up and I'm not trying to convince her otherwise, just want to show that she's spouting a lot of shit that isn't accurate. She reminds me of the legacy pledges in a sorority that no one likes but they have to be there. We wish they'd just GO away.

Add "racist" to the list of attributes.

[Anonymous]

Racist? What the hell? How does this make me racist?

[Anonymous]

If you automatically assumed that all of the minorities that you saw at the DMV were illegal immigrants without any proof, then you ARE a racist. On the other hand, if you had proof that they were illegal immigrants, then I think you were just concerned that people were rewarded (i.e. obtained drivers licenses) despite breaking the law (i.e. being in the country illegally).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC poster here. I was just returning fire with fire. I stand by original post. I've lived in McLean before moving to DC and remember standing outside the DMV on Old Gallows while tons of illegal immigrants got licenses. Talk about waste, or sending my tax dollars down to Richmond and getting nothing back so I sat in traffic every day. I guess her mind is made up and I'm not trying to convince her otherwise, just want to show that she's spouting a lot of shit that isn't accurate. She reminds me of the legacy pledges in a sorority that no one likes but they have to be there. We wish they'd just GO away.

Add "racist" to the list of attributes.

[Anonymous]

why don't you two take this to a different thread?!? Your comments have nothing to do with the OP's question. Get out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have a reasonable mortgage ($3K or less) I'd say $400K.

Who on earth has a mortgage under $3k?? You can't have kids in a studio!

\

Are you joking? We just refinanced and our mortgage is $2150 (down from $2800). We bought our house for $500K.

It is three bedrooms, good sized eat-in kitchen (though not originally, the previous owners opened up the house by knocking down a wall and extending the kitchen), two bathrooms, and a finished basement, plus a nice screened in porch, and a good sized yard.

It is not big by any means but it is hardly a studio apartment.

Agreed -we aren't studio living either. $600K house in Arlington bought in early 2009. We scrimped and saved for years to put 20% down. We pay about $2900/month, including taxes. It's small, but it works.

[Anonymous]

Re who on early has a mortgage payment under $3K? people who bought in the mid 90s.

We have a 5 BR 5.5 BA house in Ward 3 with a mortgage payment at the low end of 2K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:why don't you two take this to a different thread?!? Your comments have nothing to do with the OP's question. Get out.

Actually, I was the original "suburban" poster, and I'd like to point out that there are a whole bunch of replies to the "DC" poster that aren't from me.

[Anonymous]

Obviously, you are wound way too tight! You do realize that this is an ANONYMOUS board don't you? And you have absolutely no authority here. If the discussion irks you so much, then get off the computer.

Anonymous wrote:why don't you two take this to a different thread?!? Your comments have nothing to do with the OP's question. Get out.