Best tips for reducing expenses after salary cut?

[Anonymous]

God, these trolls are so dumb.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Really not a flame. But we do have plenty of small expenses that add up. I just checked and we spent more than 20k on amazon in a year. Many of those purchases were for things like diapers, but a lot was pretty frivolous.

[Anonymous]

Of course it was. Because you make 300k a year! Tighten your designer belt you poor dear and somehow maybe you'll weather the storm.

[Anonymous]

Who else gets tired of people posting their boohoo story of how they are poor and need to cut back, only to reveal they have a very large income? I AM!

[Anonymous]

With a 4k/month mortgage and a child, 300k is not an excessive amount of money in the DC area. Not poor, but definitely far from well-off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just accepted my dream job. Unfortunately, it is a steep salary cut from my current job. Here are our basic numbers after I start the new job (we have a one-yr old son):
HHI:300k/yr

Largest Expenses

Nanny:4k/month including taxes and bonus
Mortgage:4k/month
Groceries: 1300/month

The rest of the expenses are pretty standard. No student loans or other debt.

Any tips??

You can also cut down on your grocery bill a lot. We spend $150ish a week on groceries for two kids - I actually am not sure how we would even GET to $1300/month for us + 1 kid. Maybe try to drink cheaper wine, if that's your bill? Less filet mignon? I'm not trying to be snarky but there must be ways to lower that considerably.

[Anonymous]

You listed expenses totaling about 1/3 of your income. Figure out where the other 2/3 goes. I'm confident you can make it at 4.5 times the median HHI for DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You listed expenses totaling about 1/3 of your income. Figure out where the other 2/3 goes. I'm confident you can make it at 4.5 times the median HHI for DC.

There are a lot of other standard expenses not listed, like utlities.

[Anonymous]

Um, I see no early childhood professionals on this thread. Keep the nanny if she's good. Cut whatever else. Your baby's only one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Really not a flame. But we do have plenty of small expenses that add up. I just checked and we spent more than 20k on amazon in a year. Many of those purchases were for things like diapers, but a lot was pretty frivolous.

You can very comfortably afford to live on your salary. Many people live comfortably on 1/2. If you cannot afford that mortgage, downsize. You can get rid of the nanny and go to day care. There is probably far more than you realize. It should not be 20K for diapers. That makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um, I see no early childhood professionals on this thread. Keep the nanny if she's good. Cut whatever else. Your baby's only one.

Start potty training. Had three children close in age and could not deal with toddlers in diapers. PT each around 1.5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Really not a flame. But we do have plenty of small expenses that add up. I just checked and we spent more than 20k on amazon in a year. Many of those purchases were for things like diapers, but a lot was pretty frivolous.

You can very comfortably afford to live on your salary. Many people live comfortably on 1/2. If you cannot afford that mortgage, downsize. You can get rid of the nanny and go to day care. There is probably far more than you realize. It should not be 20K for diapers. That makes no sense.

The 20k was for all Amazon purchases, which included diapers. But the entire 20k was not JUST diapers. It was a lot of frivolous impulse buys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Really not a flame. But we do have plenty of small expenses that add up. I just checked and we spent more than 20k on amazon in a year. Many of those purchases were for things like diapers, but a lot was pretty frivolous.

We make $280k

- 4k nanny
- 3k mortgage
- $1200 groceries

We save about $4k a month on top of the 401k too. You'll be fine

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Really not a flame. But we do have plenty of small expenses that add up. I just checked and we spent more than 20k on amazon in a year. Many of those purchases were for things like diapers, but a lot was pretty frivolous.

We make $280k

- 4k nanny
- 3k mortgage
- $1200 groceries

We save about $4k a month on top of the 401k too. You'll be fine

Do you ever eat out or go on vacations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who else gets tired of people posting their boohoo story of how they are poor and need to cut back, only to reveal they have a very large income? I AM!

These threads are actually my favorite! I find them gratifying to read because they confirm I am doing a good job budgeting and living well on a substantially smaller income. Of course I wouldn't mind having a HHI of 300, but as an entry level fed, I've years to go on that front.