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Making it on $250,000 a year (WaPo business section, front page, Sunday)
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Anonymous
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Did anyone think the numbers cited for Alexandria, Bethesda and the District were a bit off?
I thought the property taxes were way low, but other expenses estimated high, like dry cleaning and cleaning person. Any comments? |
Anonymous
| Could you please post the link to the article |
Anonymous
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Yeah - I think they said $19K per year on food (not including eating out).
$19K on food? For a family of 4? I suppose maybe if you're shopping at Whole Foods all the time. but I spend no more than $175/week for our family of 5 (granted, two of my kids are still small). But that's only $9100 a year... |
Anonymous
That's only $5 per person per day. Are you sure you counted correctly? That does not seem very realistic to me. |
Anonymous
| And where can you get takeout for a family of four for $25 per night, other than at McDonald's? We do takeout maybe 3 times a month, but it's at least $60 per time. |
Anonymous
| Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. |
Anonymous
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$19K/year = $365/week. This includes household supplies (soap, cleaning supplies, paper towels, toilet paper, etc.). The $19 K figure also includes take-out and work lunches.
I think that it's a reasonable figure. Remember, people, that these are AVERAGES. Your personal spending habits, unless you think that they are the norm, aren't reflective of the family in the article. |
Anonymous
Anonymous
| Hmm. We are moving to Bethesda (2 kids in public), with less than half of that income. We have computed we will do quite well. |
Anonymous
| We make that income with the same ages and number of children. I thought that the mortgage payment for Bethesda was low. We live in Silver Spring and our mortgage is only a little lower. We couldn't afford Bethesda. |
Anonymous
| 12:41 are you moving to the area from somewhere else or moving within the area? |
Anonymous
We get Peruvian chicken takeout once/month or so, from a little place down the street in Silver Spring. We spend about $18 for a roasted chicken and three sides. It feeds the four of us (two adults, one teenage boy, one tween boy) and sometimes we have leftover chicken. $60 for takeout is absurd. |
Anonymous
I'm guessing you have young children who do not each much? Have you tried to feed a family with two teenage boys on $25 takeout? A family of 4 at Chipotle can easily cost $40--even without fountain drinks. Add a bag of chips and a couple of guacs, you're past $45. And I'd hardly call Chipotle "high end" take out. |
Anonymous
Whoops. You're right... I forgot to calculate my and my husband's lunches (sometimes we pack, and sometimes we buy a sandwich)... add another $80 per week. Still... that's about $250. I'm not joking. I do the shopping in my family (we shop at Wegmans) and I average about $125-$130 per week. My (young) sons don't eat a lot for dinner (usually we get three steaks and share). |
Anonymous
I think it is easy to do. I cook A LOT. Cooking means expensive ingredients and often "on off" ingredients...just this week, I can think of cilantro, shitake mushrooms, baby artichokes, raspberries, I too shop at Wegman's and spend around $200/wk. I buy a lot of fresh fruit and veggies and do buy dairy/chicken organic and we eat seafood, at least 1-2xs a week. On top of that we go out to eat once a week, plus lunches out. Then I have to factor in the holidays and entertaining. I agree that the number is on the high side, but not out of the ball park. NOW if we were on a tighter budget, I DEFINITLY cold keep my grocery bill around $100/wk. Again, this is because I cook and I could scale back to basics and still cook healthy. |