Could you live comfortably on $7500 a month?

[Anonymous]

We do. In Rockville. Family of 3. Child in a private school. Same mortgage, actually. But maybe your definition of "comfortable" differs from mine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure. That's roughly what I live on. We make 170k and put a lot into retirement, so our after tax is somewhere around there.

We're able to save about 3-4k a month too.

You bring home $7500, put $1900 towards a mortgage and put $4000 into savings? So you pay all your other living expenses (transportation, utilities, food, clothing etc . . . ) with $1600 a month?

I bring home about $5200 and my mortgage is about the same as you. I think it would very hard for me to reduce my other expenditures to the point where I was able to save $1700.

Yes! Our mortgage is actually 2k a month and we bring home $8000 a month (well 8k with 2 biweekly paychecks). Yes we can manage to live well on 6k a month (after deducting mortgage)... and save 3-4k.

We don't have any other debt and are pretty frugal with food/utilities. We do buy expensive furniture, vacations and clothes though.

No kids, I'm guessing?

[Anonymous]

OMG yes. My take-home is currently about $4k, and we do fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure. That's roughly what I live on. We make 170k and put a lot into retirement, so our after tax is somewhere around there.

We're able to save about 3-4k a month too.

You bring home $7500, put $1900 towards a mortgage and put $4000 into savings? So you pay all your other living expenses (transportation, utilities, food, clothing etc . . . ) with $1600 a month?

I bring home about $5200 and my mortgage is about the same as you. I think it would very hard for me to reduce my other expenditures to the point where I was able to save $1700.

Yes! Our mortgage is actually 2k a month and we bring home $8000 a month (well 8k with 2 biweekly paychecks). Yes we can manage to live well on 6k a month (after deducting mortgage)... and save 3-4k.

We don't have any other debt and are pretty frugal with food/utilities. We do buy expensive furniture, vacations and clothes though.

I find this hard to believe. We have no debt except for our mortgage. I'll breakdown our expenses:

Income: 7800/month
Expense:
1850 = mortgage + tax
600 = all insurance (life, house, car)
350 = cell phone + cable
400 = house utilities ( average) for water, electricity, trash, heat
1000= food
---------
4200 subtotal

I haven't yet added gas, stuff for the house (like cleaning supplies), clothing, etc.. and activities for the kids - which can be a fair amount. Maybe your kid has no activities?

If we don't have any extra expense, like doing stuff on the house, going out, or travel, then we can save about 1500.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG yes. My take-home is currently about $4k, and we do fine.

+1 on $5K (but large mortgage).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG yes. My take-home is currently about $4k, and we do fine.

+1 on $5K (but large mortgage).

+2. Our take home varies from 4k to 8.5k. Not hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I find this hard to believe. We have no debt except for our mortgage. I'll breakdown our expenses:

Income: 7800/month
Expense:
1850 = mortgage + tax
600 = all insurance (life, house, car)
350 = cell phone + cable
400 = house utilities ( average) for water, electricity, trash, heat
1000= food
---------
4200 subtotal

I haven't yet added gas, stuff for the house (like cleaning supplies), clothing, etc.. and activities for the kids - which can be a fair amount. Maybe your kid has no activities?

If we don't have any extra expense, like doing stuff on the house, going out, or travel, then we can save about 1500.

OK
2000= mortgage, tax and insurance
$600 YEAR car insurance (home insurance is in mortgage, work provides life, and health was already deducted)
$66 cell phone, no cable
$200 utility
$500 food
Equals 2750 a month

[Anonymous]

No

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I find this hard to believe. We have no debt except for our mortgage. I'll breakdown our expenses:

Income: 7800/month
Expense:
1850 = mortgage + tax
600 = all insurance (life, house, car)
350 = cell phone + cable
400 = house utilities ( average) for water, electricity, trash, heat
1000= food
---------
4200 subtotal

I haven't yet added gas, stuff for the house (like cleaning supplies), clothing, etc.. and activities for the kids - which can be a fair amount. Maybe your kid has no activities?

If we don't have any extra expense, like doing stuff on the house, going out, or travel, then we can save about 1500.

OK
2000= mortgage, tax and insurance
$600 YEAR car insurance (home insurance is in mortgage, work provides life, and health was already deducted)
$66 cell phone, no cable
$200 utility
$500 food
Equals 2750 a month

But what about your expensive furniture, vacations and clothes? If that is coming out of savings, then you are not really saving. You are just postponing your expenses, and ideally you should divide them up and add to monthly expense calculations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I find this hard to believe. We have no debt except for our mortgage. I'll breakdown our expenses:

Income: 7800/month
Expense:
1850 = mortgage + tax
600 = all insurance (life, house, car)
350 = cell phone + cable
400 = house utilities ( average) for water, electricity, trash, heat
1000= food
---------
4200 subtotal

I haven't yet added gas, stuff for the house (like cleaning supplies), clothing, etc.. and activities for the kids - which can be a fair amount. Maybe your kid has no activities?

If we don't have any extra expense, like doing stuff on the house, going out, or travel, then we can save about 1500.

OK
2000= mortgage, tax and insurance
$600 YEAR car insurance (home insurance is in mortgage, work provides life, and health was already deducted)
$66 cell phone, no cable
$200 utility
$500 food
Equals 2750 a month

But what about your expensive furniture, vacations and clothes? If that is coming out of savings, then you are not really saving. You are just postponing your expenses, and ideally you should divide them up and add to monthly expense calculations.

OK if all that adds up to 3k say and I'm bringing home 8k and saving 4k, there's still a 1k difference. That's where most other expenses fall.

[Anonymous]

Geez. 90k is double what I make as a teacher, so of course I can live comfortable on that. I would feel like the richest person alive.

[Anonymous]

Anyone who cannot live on $3K monthly excluding PITI has serious money management problems.

Yes, this includes two children in public school.

[Anonymous]

Easily. We take home 10K monthly but our budget for essentials - shelter, food, utilities, insurance, transportation, healthcare, childcare - is about $4200K/month. Adding in nonessentials/"wants" like clothing (beyond the basics), cable, travel, gifts, dining out, kids activities, etc is usually another $3k/month average. So that's about what we live on now, and we could be more frugal with our wants without feeling too deprived.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I find this hard to believe. We have no debt except for our mortgage. I'll breakdown our expenses:

Income: 7800/month
Expense:
1850 = mortgage + tax
600 = all insurance (life, house, car)
350 = cell phone + cable
400 = house utilities ( average) for water, electricity, trash, heat
1000= food
---------
4200 subtotal

I haven't yet added gas, stuff for the house (like cleaning supplies), clothing, etc.. and activities for the kids - which can be a fair amount. Maybe your kid has no activities?

If we don't have any extra expense, like doing stuff on the house, going out, or travel, then we can save about 1500.

OK
2000= mortgage, tax and insurance
$600 YEAR car insurance (home insurance is in mortgage, work provides life, and health was already deducted)
$66 cell phone, no cable
$200 utility
$500 food
Equals 2750 a month

But what about your expensive furniture, vacations and clothes? If that is coming out of savings, then you are not really saving. You are just postponing your expenses, and ideally you should divide them up and add to monthly expense calculations.

OK if all that adds up to 3k say and I'm bringing home 8k and saving 4k, there's still a 1k difference. That's where most other expenses fall.

Ok, yes 1K saving is doable, you are living on 7K.
So OP yes you can do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I find this hard to believe. We have no debt except for our mortgage. I'll breakdown our expenses:

Income: 7800/month
Expense:
1850 = mortgage + tax
600 = all insurance (life, house, car)
350 = cell phone + cable
400 = house utilities ( average) for water, electricity, trash, heat
1000= food
---------
4200 subtotal

I haven't yet added gas, stuff for the house (like cleaning supplies), clothing, etc.. and activities for the kids - which can be a fair amount. Maybe your kid has no activities?

If we don't have any extra expense, like doing stuff on the house, going out, or travel, then we can save about 1500.

OK
2000= mortgage, tax and insurance
$600 YEAR car insurance (home insurance is in mortgage, work provides life, and health was already deducted)
$66 cell phone, no cable
$200 utility
$500 food
Equals 2750 a month

I also think you have no kids. But OP does. So apples to oranges comparison. Wait till you have kids, then check your finances again.