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

[Anonymous]

A childless single person can easily survive on that.

[Anonymous]

Not if you shop at Whole Foods.

[Anonymous]

Yes, but it would not be comfortable with kids in this area.

[Anonymous]

It costs me $5,100 per month to run the house. That includes mortgage (PITI), food, utilities, car insurance, house cleaners, and lawn service. This also includes $500 into my car fund for when I'll need to buy something. That leaves me with $1,900 for play money.

You mention after taxes---just taxes or all the other stuff that comes out of your paycheck like 401K contributions and insurance premiums. If the $7,000 is after taxes but not including other contributions, then it gets tougher. I'm 50 so I put away 2500 into my 401K so I would have 4,500 and then another $300 for insurance so now I have $4,200. I could take away the car savings and run the house on $4,600. But I'm still short $400 so I would have to scale back my retirement contributions.

[Anonymous]

Struggling and living paycheck to paycheck on $4500/month after taxes in upper NW. Single, no kids at home, car paid off.

Utilities and homeowners insurance alone are $700/month (Pepco, WashGas, DC Water, basic internet)

[Anonymous]

Why are you asking OP?
I do but live modestly by DCUM standards.

[Anonymous]

It’s tight. My advice is: Just keep trying to live under it. No eating out or Starbucks. No movies out. Limit paid activities. Less new clothes. No new car. Drop all memberships. One trip a year. Etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It costs me $5,100 per month to run the house. That includes mortgage (PITI), food, utilities, car insurance, house cleaners, and lawn service. This also includes $500 into my car fund for when I'll need to buy something. That leaves me with $1,900 for play money.

You mention after taxes---just taxes or all the other stuff that comes out of your paycheck like 401K contributions and insurance premiums. If the $7,000 is after taxes but not including other contributions, then it gets tougher. I'm 50 so I put away 2500 into my 401K so I would have 4,500 and then another $300 for insurance so now I have $4,200. I could take away the car savings and run the house on $4,600. But I'm still short $400 so I would have to scale back my retirement contributions.

Ye, after taxes, 401k and health issuances.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like it’s about 90-100k per year? Hard to say if we don’t know your expenses and debt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are you asking OP?
I do but live modestly by DCUM standards.

Our income is 7k and we aren’t making it.

[Anonymous]

I earn just over $4k a month after taxes and maxed out retirement and I’m surviving just fine. But I don’t live in a million dollar home and my car is several years old (but paid off). I would be rich taking home $7k per month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I earn just over $4k a month after taxes and maxed out retirement and I’m surviving just fine. But I don’t live in a million dollar home and my car is several years old (but paid off). I would be rich taking home $7k per month.

how many kids do you have?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It costs me $5,100 per month to run the house. That includes mortgage (PITI), food, utilities, car insurance, house cleaners, and lawn service. This also includes $500 into my car fund for when I'll need to buy something. That leaves me with $1,900 for play money.

You mention after taxes---just taxes or all the other stuff that comes out of your paycheck like 401K contributions and insurance premiums. If the $7,000 is after taxes but not including other contributions, then it gets tougher. I'm 50 so I put away 2500 into my 401K so I would have 4,500 and then another $300 for insurance so now I have $4,200. I could take away the car savings and run the house on $4,600. But I'm still short $400 so I would have to scale back my retirement contributions.

Are you really that tone death?


You'd live in a house that costs far less. You don't have lawn service or house cleaners or a car fund.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It costs me $5,100 per month to run the house. That includes mortgage (PITI), food, utilities, car insurance, house cleaners, and lawn service. This also includes $500 into my car fund for when I'll need to buy something. That leaves me with $1,900 for play money.

You mention after taxes---just taxes or all the other stuff that comes out of your paycheck like 401K contributions and insurance premiums. If the $7,000 is after taxes but not including other contributions, then it gets tougher. I'm 50 so I put away 2500 into my 401K so I would have 4,500 and then another $300 for insurance so now I have $4,200. I could take away the car savings and run the house on $4,600. But I'm still short $400 so I would have to scale back my retirement contributions.

Are you really that tone death?


You'd live in a house that costs far less. You don't have lawn service or house cleaners or a car fund.

My maid is only $200 a month, she comes once a month.

[Anonymous]

Yes. $6k after taxes (and all other deductions like health insurance) here, 2 kids, 1 in daycare. We definitely have no issue with regular monthly bills.

Where we have to make choices is big and irregular stuff- our house is tiny and a fixer upper, but we can't upgrade or fix all the stuff at once, it's going to take years. And the years we take a vacation, that might blow the non-emergency house repair budget. And we have one car. But that's being middle class, right?