Does anyone here live very well on very little?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do okay on 90k income. We went to London/Paris for spring break and are headed to Disney this Fall. Small mortgage because we bought an older townhouse further out. Public school for our one kid.

Are you also maxing retirement and building savings? Saving for home repairs? is the 90k gross? What's your secret for funding international travel for the family?

Different pp here with similar income a few thousand higher. We max retirement and have significant college savings. International travel every two years to visit family. Use ff when poss and generally stay with family, but also travel domestically a few times a year.

Impressive! Gross?
Budget, please? I'm doing something wrong - Not maxing, no college savings and no internAtional travel here. Help!

Yes,pls post your budget.

Take home pay is just under $5k per month, plus maybe an average of $500 per month from spouse. Retirement is already taken out, as is health insurance.

Mortgage, PITI = $1450
Utilities incl phones and internet = $300
Childcare = $100 for occasional aftercare, kids now both in school
Food and groceries, incl eating out = about $1000
Vacations = about $5k a year
Clothes for kids and occasionally us = maybe $500 a year
College savings = currently only $150 a month, but already have $50k plus saved for 3 and 6 year olds.
Gas = $40 a month, we don't drive much, but I guess it's more if we've driven to the beach or the mountains for a day or the weekend.
Activities = kids are not signed up for any but we do stuff as a family all the time, museums, hikes, day trips, etc.

Feel free to slam me for this, I'm sure I've left something out. We 1) have robust retirement and savings due to our age and length of time saving, as well as relative frugality (we do a lot of thrift store shopping, for example) and 2) have a relatively low mortgage payment because we didn't buy in the last few years and live in a neighborhood most people wouldn't have considered when we bought.

if your income is $90K and you bring home $60K and save 18.5K in a 401K (you sad you maxed) do you only pay 11.5K for taxes, health insurance, life insurance, etc?
How is that possible?

[Anonymous]

It's possible. First, I am not the 90k poster said we make a few thousand more. My gross is just under $95k and spouse brings in a few thousand more.

Even just looking at my paycheck that means there is $16k remaining for other deductions, not the 11.5k you calculate.

Last year's tax return shows that our total agi was a little over $95k. Fed tax was just over $8k (would have been lower but spouse has self employed income that is subject to self employment tax). DC tax was just over $4k, for a total of $12k. Health insurance cost just over $3k for the year. That brings us up to $15k.

So, yes, what I stated re. my gross vs net is absolutely accurate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do okay on 90k income. We went to London/Paris for spring break and are headed to Disney this Fall. Small mortgage because we bought an older townhouse further out. Public school for our one kid.

Are you also maxing retirement and building savings? Saving for home repairs? is the 90k gross? What's your secret for funding international travel for the family?

90k gross. No not maxing out on retirement/college. We do have savings. We are very frugal travelers and having just one child certainly helps with airline fees. My friend with three kids can't even consider flying internationally.

It's all about the mortgage. you net at least $5k a month maybe more if not maxing 401k. Let's say you have a $1500/month mortgage b/c you bought a while back. $1000k groceries. $500 health insurance. $2000 discretionary left. 3 tickets to Europe & hotel maybe $6000? You could save up that easily in a year no problem in two.

Try doing it with our $3k mortgage since we are in our 30s and bought our $700k townhouse in 2011. Much harder math.

We also bought our townhouse in 2011. But we spent 300k. Its a choice.

Do you both work inside beltway? B/c our careers are only located there. Living out past Burke or such would take 4 hrs out of families lives a day, so it's not quite the choice you imagine. I imagine you have a single breadwinner earning 90k and they work in tysons or something? That does work but the $300k TH out in Burke are old and will require expensive maintenance. Long term you might run into cash flow problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do okay on 90k income. We went to London/Paris for spring break and are headed to Disney this Fall. Small mortgage because we bought an older townhouse further out. Public school for our one kid.

Are you also maxing retirement and building savings? Saving for home repairs? is the 90k gross? What's your secret for funding international travel for the family?

90k gross. No not maxing out on retirement/college. We do have savings. We are very frugal travelers and having just one child certainly helps with airline fees. My friend with three kids can't even consider flying internationally.

It's all about the mortgage. you net at least $5k a month maybe more if not maxing 401k. Let's say you have a $1500/month mortgage b/c you bought a while back. $1000k groceries. $500 health insurance. $2000 discretionary left. 3 tickets to Europe & hotel maybe $6000? You could save up that easily in a year no problem in two.

Try doing it with our $3k mortgage since we are in our 30s and bought our $700k townhouse in 2011. Much harder math.

We also bought our townhouse in 2011. But we spent 300k. Its a choice.

Do you both work inside beltway? B/c our careers are only located there. Living out past Burke or such would take 4 hrs out of families lives a day, so it's not quite the choice you imagine. I imagine you have a single breadwinner earning 90k and they work in tysons or something? That does work but the $300k TH out in Burke are old and will require expensive maintenance. Long term you might run into cash flow problems.

Live in gaithersburg and work in Bethesda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do okay on 90k income. We went to London/Paris for spring break and are headed to Disney this Fall. Small mortgage because we bought an older townhouse further out. Public school for our one kid.

Are you also maxing retirement and building savings? Saving for home repairs? is the 90k gross? What's your secret for funding international travel for the family?

90k gross. No not maxing out on retirement/college. We do have savings. We are very frugal travelers and having just one child certainly helps with airline fees. My friend with three kids can't even consider flying internationally.

It's all about the mortgage. you net at least $5k a month maybe more if not maxing 401k. Let's say you have a $1500/month mortgage b/c you bought a while back. $1000k groceries. $500 health insurance. $2000 discretionary left. 3 tickets to Europe & hotel maybe $6000? You could save up that easily in a year no problem in two.

Try doing it with our $3k mortgage since we are in our 30s and bought our $700k townhouse in 2011. Much harder math.

We also bought our townhouse in 2011. But we spent 300k. Its a choice.

Do you both work inside beltway? B/c our careers are only located there. Living out past Burke or such would take 4 hrs out of families lives a day, so it's not quite the choice you imagine. I imagine you have a single breadwinner earning 90k and they work in tysons or something? That does work but the $300k TH out in Burke are old and will require expensive maintenance. Long term you might run into cash flow problems.

Live in gaithersburg and work in Bethesda.

And commute takes up at most 2 hours of our day. More like 1 1/2. So not four hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do okay on 90k income. We went to London/Paris for spring break and are headed to Disney this Fall. Small mortgage because we bought an older townhouse further out. Public school for our one kid.

Are you also maxing retirement and building savings? Saving for home repairs? is the 90k gross? What's your secret for funding international travel for the family?

90k gross. No not maxing out on retirement/college. We do have savings. We are very frugal travelers and having just one child certainly helps with airline fees. My friend with three kids can't even consider flying internationally.

It's all about the mortgage. you net at least $5k a month maybe more if not maxing 401k. Let's say you have a $1500/month mortgage b/c you bought a while back. $1000k groceries. $500 health insurance. $2000 discretionary left. 3 tickets to Europe & hotel maybe $6000? You could save up that easily in a year no problem in two.

Try doing it with our $3k mortgage since we are in our 30s and bought our $700k townhouse in 2011. Much harder math.

We also bought our townhouse in 2011. But we spent 300k. Its a choice.

Do you both work inside beltway? B/c our careers are only located there. Living out past Burke or such would take 4 hrs out of families lives a day, so it's not quite the choice you imagine. I imagine you have a single breadwinner earning 90k and they work in tysons or something? That does work but the $300k TH out in Burke are old and will require expensive maintenance. Long term you might run into cash flow problems.

Live in gaithersburg and work in Bethesda.

And commute takes up at most 2 hours of our day. More like 1 1/2. So not four hours.

2 hrs for 2 commuters == 4 hrs out of family time. That's why I mentioned SAH. Then it's only 2 hrs a day. Though Bethesda is not downtown and many more jobs downtown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do okay on 90k income. We went to London/Paris for spring break and are headed to Disney this Fall. Small mortgage because we bought an older townhouse further out. Public school for our one kid.

Are you also maxing retirement and building savings? Saving for home repairs? is the 90k gross? What's your secret for funding international travel for the family?

Different pp here with similar income a few thousand higher. We max retirement and have significant college savings. International travel every two years to visit family. Use ff when poss and generally stay with family, but also travel domestically a few times a year.

Impressive! Gross?
Budget, please? I'm doing something wrong - Not maxing, no college savings and no internAtional travel here. Help!

Yes,pls post your budget.

Take home pay is just under $5k per month, plus maybe an average of $500 per month from spouse. Retirement is already taken out, as is health insurance.

Mortgage, PITI = $1450
Utilities incl phones and internet = $300
Childcare = $100 for occasional aftercare, kids now both in school
Food and groceries, incl eating out = about $1000
Vacations = about $5k a year
Clothes for kids and occasionally us = maybe $500 a year
College savings = currently only $150 a month, but already have $50k plus saved for 3 and 6 year olds.
Gas = $40 a month, we don't drive much, but I guess it's more if we've driven to the beach or the mountains for a day or the weekend.
Activities = kids are not signed up for any but we do stuff as a family all the time, museums, hikes, day trips, etc.

Feel free to slam me for this, I'm sure I've left something out. We 1) have robust retirement and savings due to our age and length of time saving, as well as relative frugality (we do a lot of thrift store shopping, for example) and 2) have a relatively low mortgage payment because we didn't buy in the last few years and live in a neighborhood most people wouldn't have considered when we bought.

You do Europe and Disney on $5k/year??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do okay on 90k income. We went to London/Paris for spring break and are headed to Disney this Fall. Small mortgage because we bought an older townhouse further out. Public school for our one kid.

Are you also maxing retirement and building savings? Saving for home repairs? is the 90k gross? What's your secret for funding international travel for the family?

90k gross. No not maxing out on retirement/college. We do have savings. We are very frugal travelers and having just one child certainly helps with airline fees. My friend with three kids can't even consider flying internationally.

It's all about the mortgage. you net at least $5k a month maybe more if not maxing 401k. Let's say you have a $1500/month mortgage b/c you bought a while back. $1000k groceries. $500 health insurance. $2000 discretionary left. 3 tickets to Europe & hotel maybe $6000? You could save up that easily in a year no problem in two.

Try doing it with our $3k mortgage since we are in our 30s and bought our $700k townhouse in 2011. Much harder math.

We also bought our townhouse in 2011. But we spent 300k. Its a choice.

Do you both work inside beltway? B/c our careers are only located there. Living out past Burke or such would take 4 hrs out of families lives a day, so it's not quite the choice you imagine. I imagine you have a single breadwinner earning 90k and they work in tysons or something? That does work but the $300k TH out in Burke are old and will require expensive maintenance. Long term you might run into cash flow problems.

Live in gaithersburg and work in Bethesda.

And commute takes up at most 2 hours of our day. More like 1 1/2. So not four hours.

2 hrs for 2 commuters == 4 hrs out of family time. That's why I mentioned SAH. Then it's only 2 hrs a day. Though Bethesda is not downtown and many more jobs downtown.

We commute together so I guess I only count that as 2 hours (at most). Yes used to work downtown - still lived where we do now. We don't really have a choice to buy a 700k townhouse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do okay on 90k income. We went to London/Paris for spring break and are headed to Disney this Fall. Small mortgage because we bought an older townhouse further out. Public school for our one kid.

Are you also maxing retirement and building savings? Saving for home repairs? is the 90k gross? What's your secret for funding international travel for the family?

Different pp here with similar income a few thousand higher. We max retirement and have significant college savings. International travel every two years to visit family. Use ff when poss and generally stay with family, but also travel domestically a few times a year.

Impressive! Gross?
Budget, please? I'm doing something wrong - Not maxing, no college savings and no internAtional travel here. Help!

Yes,pls post your budget.

Take home pay is just under $5k per month, plus maybe an average of $500 per month from spouse. Retirement is already taken out, as is health insurance.

Mortgage, PITI = $1450
Utilities incl phones and internet = $300
Childcare = $100 for occasional aftercare, kids now both in school
Food and groceries, incl eating out = about $1000
Vacations = about $5k a year
Clothes for kids and occasionally us = maybe $500 a year
College savings = currently only $150 a month, but already have $50k plus saved for 3 and 6 year olds.
Gas = $40 a month, we don't drive much, but I guess it's more if we've driven to the beach or the mountains for a day or the weekend.
Activities = kids are not signed up for any but we do stuff as a family all the time, museums, hikes, day trips, etc.

Feel free to slam me for this, I'm sure I've left something out. We 1) have robust retirement and savings due to our age and length of time saving, as well as relative frugality (we do a lot of thrift store shopping, for example) and 2) have a relatively low mortgage payment because we didn't buy in the last few years and live in a neighborhood most people wouldn't have considered when we bought.

You do Europe and Disney on $5k/year??

Europe and Disney was my post - not the PP above. But we have similar incomes. We do not do those trips every year. This year just happens to be a big travel year. Next year we won't be going anywhere too extravagant.

[Anonymous]

I'm the pp you were referring to. Never been to Disney. We go to Europe every other year and take plenty of other shorter trips too. Yes we do that on about $5k per year. We mainly stay with family in Europe.

This year we've been to Europe (UK and Netherlands), Philadelphia, two state parks camping, two beach weekends, one weekend in the mountains and we have a trip to Florida planned. As I said before, we use ff miles for some of tickets to Europe, also for our trip to Florida this year, trip to CA last year.

[Anonymous]

At one point in time I did. I made $30K a year (each year I made a little more).

I lived beneath my means. My rent (at the time) was $750 a month. Daycare was about $400/month (yes, it was a few years ago). I did not eat out. It was myself and my daughter. We bought groceries. Stretched out the dollar. Clothes were hand me downs or second hand store finds. Simple, simple simple. Food was cooked and prepared and made to last a couple of meals. 1 pound of hamburger could last 2 meals and 2 lunches. Same with chicken. Food was bought in bulk and meals were made ahead of time and frozen.

As I made more, I still continued to live a modest lifestyle, socking the extra away in savings. I fully funded my daughters college ($40K) that way. It can be done - you just need to take stock of what is important. I drive my car until it dies - usually about 15 years or longer. I now buy new clothes once or twice a year ($300-400) but nothing over the top. I go with simple classic styles that can be worn for years and can be laundered (very rarely do I buy anything that requires drycleaning). Life is good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the pp you were referring to. Never been to Disney. We go to Europe every other year and take plenty of other shorter trips too. Yes we do that on about $5k per year. We mainly stay with family in Europe.

This year we've been to Europe (UK and Netherlands), Philadelphia, two state parks camping, two beach weekends, one weekend in the mountains and we have a trip to Florida planned. As I said before, we use ff miles for some of tickets to Europe, also for our trip to Florida this year, trip to CA last year.

How do you earn the 100ks ff miles needed for Europe trip if you don't travel much?

Staying with family in Europe is hard for folks not from Europe to use as a money saving travel idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm the pp you were referring to. Never been to Disney. We go to Europe every other year and take plenty of other shorter trips too. Yes we do that on about $5k per year. We mainly stay with family in Europe.

This year we've been to Europe (UK and Netherlands), Philadelphia, two state parks camping, two beach weekends, one weekend in the mountains and we have a trip to Florida planned. As I said before, we use ff miles for some of tickets to Europe, also for our trip to Florida this year, trip to CA last year.

How do you earn the 100ks ff miles needed for Europe trip if you don't travel much?

Staying with family in Europe is hard for folks not from Europe to use as a money saving travel idea.

I didn't present it as a money saving idea, just a fact. We earn Frequent flyer miles from travel but mainly from putting all expenditure on a credit card which we pay off each month. I also travel occasionally for work and I didn't say we all flee to Europe on ff miles. We typically get one ticket for free, pay for the rest, shopping around for the best flights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's threads like these that make me appreciate the area I live in and the lifestyle that allows me to lead. Our HHI is about $180k. Our house was $330k (mortgage, PITI is $1700/month), and that bought a new build, 3400 SF home, two miles from downtown. Our public schools are pretty good. Child care costs are low. We are able to max out retirement savings and save for college starting when the kids were babies. The job market here is good, and my husband could replace his job easily if he lost his current one. Mine would be harder to replace.

It's a low-stress, financially freeing way to live. I save where I can when it's not too much trouble, but I have no problem dropping cash for the things I want. Having low living costs really frees you up for all the other things you want.

You all should move!

I'm totally with you. Similar situation, similar [earned] income (but we've invested so much over the years that investment income is rapidly approaching earned income).

It's such a better life.

How do you command such high salaries in low COL markets?

telework.

Take a look at an agency like USPTO which allows its workers to live anywhere but have a DC wage, or top salesmen who live at home but mostly do sales over the phone, or programmers who work at home etc.

Not all careers offer this flexibility, but if you happen to choose a career that lets you, you can get pretty far ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought OP meant below 50k, even by dcum standards six figure income is not "very little".

Right? I'm the one with the t-shirt from sixth grade, and I earn $73k. I don't feel miserable or pinched or anything. I grew up cutting out coupons every Sunday, and stocking up on non-perishables when they go on sale, and checking to see if the dress I liked had gone on sale yet, so this is all second nature to me.

I bought a new car once (Hyundai) before realizing how much of a waste it was and I've only bought used since. I feel zero need for a fancy car. Zero. I feel zero need for a Gucci purse or whatever rich people have. That's not what makes me feel good. A huge part of why I "live well" is my perspective. Yesterday I took a long walk along the water and took pictures for an hour. It was tons of fun! To me, THAT is living well. I don't want for spas or manicures or whatever. I want to cook with my daughter, and spend time outside, and spend time with family and friends. To me, that is living well. I save 25% of my take-home pay, at least. So I feel like I have plenty.

You are lucky you don't have expensive tastes. Or even middle of the road tastes. Whatever I love I end up finding out it's the pricier end. Even if I go pick out home stuff like toilets or cabinet handles which I have no idea about, inadvertently the one I pick ends up in the highest or higher end. I love massages manicures pedicures clothing from Nordstrom fine dining and travel. I get annoyed with subpar massages manicures pedicures H& M clothing or chain restaurants and whatnot. I blame my upbringing. I don't plan to raise my child on too many finer things.