Shocked: Our bare-bones monthly cost of living is 5K after taxes! What's yours?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anything over 1500sq feet is huge. Talk about a waste of space---each kid has their own room, there's probably three bathrooms, and all sorts of crap. People elsewhere live well in much less space.

ROFL you are hilarious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I rent because I've owned and kept up houses and don't intend to any more. What a waste of time. So yes, I expect my lawn to be mowed, and I rent places that do so.

Landlords completely confuse me. You pay all that money to them. They should do something in return. Some won't even do things like fix broken water heaters, fix broken sewers. I guess they pay taxes on the land for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In order to ascertain whether we can realistically live on one income or not, DH and I have spent the past nine months recording all of our expenditures. We have also made efforts in several areas to cut the fat from our budget -- especially food costs. We are shocked to find that our absolute bare-bones monthly budget (for us and our toddler) is still 5K after taxes! This figure does not include any savings for retirement or college, daycare expenses, or the medical insurance premiums that are deducted from our paychecks. I should also note that we have a relatively small mortgage for the area (2K including escrow), that we have NO commuting costs (we use Metro and both have Metro subsidies), that we rarely eat out, and that DH and I both tend to wear holes in our clothes before buying new ones. We spend $2500 total for yearly trips to see out-of-state family; no other vacations.

Has anyone else recently calculated their bare-bones budget? We consider ourselves to be a frugal family and are stunned to know what it costs just to keep the lights on in the DC area.

If your mortgage is only $2,000 I dont get how your monthly is $5,000. Where is the other $3,000 going?

Tell us, oh wise one, how much should she spend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mtg payment is $6K/month on a 15 year loan. So I am very house poor at the moment, but I disagree on how much space you need. People get along a lot better in a 3,000 sf house (assume 2 kids and a pet) than in a 1,500 sf house. I can go to my home office and read quietly for 45 minutes, the kids have a big playroom in the basement. We have separate closet space and separate bathrooms, etc. Just makes things easier in my opinion. Now once you get over 3,000 than it is just luxury, but that is fine if you can afford it.

We also have an acre lot in Vienna, but that is mostly a waste. Save the money and get a 1/4 acre and just go to parks ....

I think 2000 is the sweet spot. I like a certain amount of enforced closeness - especially as the kids get older. They always have their bedrooms for privacy (and I for one, do not put TVs in children's bedrooms), but if they want to watch tv, play, or what have you, they should do it in common space. Although having adequate closet space and bathrooms definitely makes things easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good for you, Frugal Poster. I've never lived a bare bones budget and have no intention of doing so. Half of what we spend is discretionary, and I'm fine with that. Different strokes.

Frugal poster here. ITA. We chose to travel.

Frugal Poster, where are you and your husband are from, if I may ask?
I'm sort of curious how much you have to save to afford a plane ticket to, say, Paris?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Around here, mortgage alone can easily be over $3000/month and daycare or preschool for just one child can be upwards of $1200/month. I'm a single mom making less than $90K (plus $15K/year in child support) and my fixed expenses are about $4,400/month. If I dropped the internet (which I need for teleworking), directv (which is my entertainment 6 nights a week) and the data plan on my iphone, I'd save almost $200/month, but that's a drop in the bucket considering my $2700 mortgage (+insurance+taxes) and $1400/month preschool.

Your mortgage exceeds 31% of your gross monthly, you fail. http://www.bankrate.com/finance/mortgages/ratios-dictate-home-mortgage-fate.aspx

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You quoted me.

Last year, our only medical expense aside health insurance was $15 co-pay fir my first OB visit and $250 for my emergency C-section.
This is our first real Christmas with a child so I'm not sure if we'll buy gifts or not. For my taste DC has enough. We don't have family in the coutry and don't exchange gifts with friends. Clear now?

I go to the grocery store once a week and spend on average $40. Just came back, BTW and spent $39 this trip. I'm not an extreme couponer but I do stock up when I see a good sale and clip coupons for things that we actually buy. I cook from scratch and our diet is different from most people we know (DH is vegetarian, DC is gluten/lactose intolerant and I'm gluten intolerant with food allergies). We eat a lot of fresh produce and rarely use substitutes.

We don't buy clothes every month and don't service our car every month so I just listed what we spend every month. Gas is around $100...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Hm let me see...

$1300 - rent
$400 - car payment
$90 - utilities
$300 - health insurance
$150 - groceries

That's all for us. Family of 3 with #2 on the way.

We visit my country every other year, DH's country every other year and we take vacation in the US every year. The US vacations are usually very cheap because DH travels for work so among nights free in hotels, rental car points and flying miles we spend almost nothing.

So you don't by clothes, or anything other than food? No Christmas presents? No...anything? I thought OP was talking about what she actually spends each month, and everyone else is leaving out all of this shit, as though they never have car break down, have a sick pet, get a hair cut, buy a baby shower gift, etc.

How do you use the internet, are you at the library?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You quoted me.

Last year, our only medical expense aside health insurance was $15 co-pay fir my first OB visit and $250 for my emergency C-section.
This is our first real Christmas with a child so I'm not sure if we'll buy gifts or not. For my taste DC has enough. We don't have family in the coutry and don't exchange gifts with friends. Clear now?

I go to the grocery store once a week and spend on average $40. Just came back, BTW and spent $39 this trip. I'm not an extreme couponer but I do stock up when I see a good sale and clip coupons for things that we actually buy. I cook from scratch and our diet is different from most people we know (DH is vegetarian, DC is gluten/lactose intolerant and I'm gluten intolerant with food allergies). We eat a lot of fresh produce and rarely use substitutes.

We don't buy clothes every month and don't service our car every month so I just listed what we spend every month. Gas is around $100...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Hm let me see...

$1300 - rent
$400 - car payment
$90 - utilities
$300 - health insurance
$150 - groceries

That's all for us. Family of 3 with #2 on the way.

We visit my country every other year, DH's country every other year and we take vacation in the US every year. The US vacations are usually very cheap because DH travels for work so among nights free in hotels, rental car points and flying miles we spend almost nothing.

So you don't by clothes, or anything other than food? No Christmas presents? No...anything? I thought OP was talking about what she actually spends each month, and everyone else is leaving out all of this shit, as though they never have car break down, have a sick pet, get a hair cut, buy a baby shower gift, etc.

How do you use the internet, are you at the library?

Didn't you know? The internet is free if you're a liar

[Anonymous]

FP is full of shit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FP is full of shit.

I'll tell you why:
-no clothing costs & no shoes
-no transportation costs, so I suppose they can walk EVERYWHERE they need to be, so I'm not sure how they do that living in a "low rent" area. And wouldn't one go through a lot of shoes walking to work and every where else one needed to be?
-no internet (maybe she steals wifi from her neighbors, which is quite likely)
-no medical expenses, including asprin
-no feminine products
-no diapers
-no TV or entertainment
-fresh produce? YEA right on $35/wk because I AM a frugal from scratch shopper and spend $75/week on groceries for a family of 4. I serve up 74 meals for the 4 of us at just over a dollar each. On this alone, the poster is full of a load of shit, unless she is eating all empty carbs.
-no haircuts
-no toilet paper or other household supplies
-no emergencies

[Anonymous]

3000 sq feet? Really? TV's in each room and you live entirely separate lives? Kids learn a lot from sharing rooms and getting along without all that crap---like how not to have such a ridiculous sense of entitlement. If you have fewer clothes, you need less closet space, and one or two shelves of toys---and six or so of books---should do for any kid. Computers need to be in a common area for supervision, and homework is best done in the kitchen while dinner is cooking----interaction and supervision all in one.
Oh yeah, y'all don't cook, you run around with activities and don't get home from work til 630 or later. Your kids might be better with less space, fewer activities and more parenting?

[Anonymous]

Not FP, but:

I cut my kids and husband's hair. My friend cuts mine, just a trim.

I use mama cloth. We buy TP, but clean up with rags, not paper towels. Cloth napkins.

I think she said that work buys their internet.

We grow our produce and can it. Read hillbilly housewife, it is quite possible to eat well and cheaply.

I lived 25 years without a TV. Still don't have one. Don't miss it.....

Lots of people don't take meds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:3000 sq feet? Really? TV's in each room and you live entirely separate lives? Kids learn a lot from sharing rooms and getting along without all that crap---like how not to have such a ridiculous sense of entitlement. If you have fewer clothes, you need less closet space, and one or two shelves of toys---and six or so of books---should do for any kid. Computers need to be in a common area for supervision, and homework is best done in the kitchen while dinner is cooking----interaction and supervision all in one.
Oh yeah, y'all don't cook, you run around with activities and don't get home from work til 630 or later. Your kids might be better with less space, fewer activities and more parenting?

I beg to differ. Kids need as many books as possible so they learn to enjoy reading.

My DC is two and a half and she has at least 30 books she enjoys. When she learns to read herself, I'd expect her to have her own bookcase, fully stocked.

[Anonymous]

One or two shelves of toys and six (shelves) or so of books----

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not FP, but:

I cut my kids and husband's hair. My friend cuts mine, just a trim. Do you have a Flowbee? (Wait, you don't have a TV - never mind.)

I use mama cloth. We buy TP, but clean up with rags, not paper towels. Cloth napkins. Burgundy ones?

I think she said that work buys their internet.

We grow our produce and can it. Read hillbilly housewife, it is quite possible to eat well and cheaply. Awesome. Did you check out the title of this board? DC URBAN Moms. I'll go rent a jackhammer, rip up my parking spot, and plant some rutabagas.

I lived 25 years without a TV. Still don't have one. Don't miss it..... That's really not "not missing it," that's not knowing what it is.

Lots of people don't take meds. Ever? You never get sick? No Tylenol, Advil, nothing?