How do you afford private school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of these incomes are insane. Please get some perspective. We do just fine on $80,000/year.

Umm, what? How so? Are you in subsidized housing or something?

No, we just don't live in a mansion. The average HHI in DC is in the $85k range iirc. Lots of people do it.

Well hey, happy that it is working for you. Why the rest of us should feel ashamed for making 6 figures is beyond me. I can't speak for anyone else, but I worked very hard to earn my degree and I work hard every day at my job. That I can afford to spend some of it on an expensive private school education, is just my personal reward to myself and family.

No one is saying you should be ashamed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of these incomes are insane. Please get some perspective. We do just fine on $80,000/year.

Plenty of people get by on that income. Most of them are not paying $40k in private school tuition.The thread is about how people afford private school. If you are able to afford private school on that income, good for you.

It's called parochial school, buying an affordable house (hint: over half a million isn't affordable), and, idk, not spending ridiculously? Have you all not heard of Aldi? Paying cash for used cars? If I was making $400k a year, I genuinely do not know how I could spend it.

You would start living a little...Aldi? I took a stroll through there and kept right out the front door. There are a few items worth picking up, but I'll pass on everything being some unknown brand. Cash for used cars?!? Sorry, but not sorry - I work too hard to drive a car that is going to be and out of the shop. No hoopties for me. If you were making 400K, you would absolutely find a way to spend it. People spend what they make, it's not that hard at all. Over the course of my life I have gone from making $34k to $170K. I started off driving a Corolla and living in an apartment to now driving a Mercedes and living in a $500K home. Wasnt' that hard to conceive of or do. If I made $400K I would up the luxury on my car, get a boat and buy a beach vacation home (not even sure if $400K is enough for all of that).

Where around here can you buy a $500k family home? Serious question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll take the bait, used car commenter is killing me. I bought my car when it was used and a year old. It had been a rental and only had 7,000 miles on it but was <50% of the price if it had been new. It certainly hasn’t been in and out of the shop and if anything it’s had way less problems than my mom’s brand-new luxury car which has had a million little electrical issues and random recalls. Being snobby about a massively expensive item that depreciates the second you buy it makes you sound ignorant.

Slight thread hijack. I am in the market for a used car (I won't even begin to touch the "in and out" of the shop thing), but do you mind sharing if you purchased it directly from a rental car company? If so, which one. I have looked at Hertz and Enterprise and the prices did not seem as enticing as what you were able to get. If you could point me in the right direction, that would be great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of these incomes are insane. Please get some perspective. We do just fine on $80,000/year.

Plenty of people get by on that income. Most of them are not paying $40k in private school tuition.The thread is about how people afford private school. If you are able to afford private school on that income, good for you.

It's called parochial school, buying an affordable house (hint: over half a million isn't affordable), and, idk, not spending ridiculously? Have you all not heard of Aldi? Paying cash for used cars? If I was making $400k a year, I genuinely do not know how I could spend it.

You would start living a little...Aldi? I took a stroll through there and kept right out the front door. There are a few items worth picking up, but I'll pass on everything being some unknown brand. Cash for used cars?!? Sorry, but not sorry - I work too hard to drive a car that is going to be and out of the shop. No hoopties for me. If you were making 400K, you would absolutely find a way to spend it. People spend what they make, it's not that hard at all. Over the course of my life I have gone from making $34k to $170K. I started off driving a Corolla and living in an apartment to now driving a Mercedes and living in a $500K home. Wasnt' that hard to conceive of or do. If I made $400K I would up the luxury on my car, get a boat and buy a beach vacation home (not even sure if $400K is enough for all of that).

Where around here can you buy a $500k family home? Serious question.

Plenty of places - you just need to buy somewhere that’s not UNWDC (wards 2 & 3), close in MoCo or NoVA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of these incomes are insane. Please get some perspective. We do just fine on $80,000/year.

Plenty of people get by on that income. Most of them are not paying $40k in private school tuition.The thread is about how people afford private school. If you are able to afford private school on that income, good for you.

It's called parochial school, buying an affordable house (hint: over half a million isn't affordable), and, idk, not spending ridiculously? Have you all not heard of Aldi? Paying cash for used cars? If I was making $400k a year, I genuinely do not know how I could spend it.

You would start living a little...Aldi? I took a stroll through there and kept right out the front door. There are a few items worth picking up, but I'll pass on everything being some unknown brand. Cash for used cars?!? Sorry, but not sorry - I work too hard to drive a car that is going to be and out of the shop. No hoopties for me. If you were making 400K, you would absolutely find a way to spend it. People spend what they make, it's not that hard at all. Over the course of my life I have gone from making $34k to $170K. I started off driving a Corolla and living in an apartment to now driving a Mercedes and living in a $500K home. Wasnt' that hard to conceive of or do. If I made $400K I would up the luxury on my car, get a boat and buy a beach vacation home (not even sure if $400K is enough for all of that).

Where around here can you buy a $500k family home? Serious question.

NW, DC. (Petworth). Admittedly, I bought 10 years ago. Today, it would be probably be closer to $650K so I should have qualified that (I always think of it being what I purchased it for).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of these incomes are insane. Please get some perspective. We do just fine on $80,000/year.

Umm, what? How so? Are you in subsidized housing or something?

No, we just don't live in a mansion. The average HHI in DC is in the $85k range iirc. Lots of people do it.

Well hey, happy that it is working for you. Why the rest of us should feel ashamed for making 6 figures is beyond me. I can't speak for anyone else, but I worked very hard to earn my degree and I work hard every day at my job. That I can afford to spend some of it on an expensive private school education, is just my personal reward to myself and family.

No one is saying you should be ashamed

Your comment that all of these incomes are insane and that we should get some perspective (and that you wouldn't know what to do with $400K), seemed to suggest that we were off-base and doing extra and should be ashamed. If that's not what you meant, OK - I misunderstood your point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meant to add, we applied late because of covid but friends who applied to larger schools during the regular cycle got significant financial aid. It doesn't hurt to apply.

OP here, if you do not mind me asking, is the financial aid similar to what one would receive for college? Or more significant? Trying to figure out if it's worthwhile to apply with a 200k salary (although that is before taxes) for aid for two kids or they will laugh me out of the door.

We got aid for 2 young kids with this income. Apply to a school where you may stand out. For example, if english is not your first language, choose a school that may be trying to diversify their students.

The best thing we like about private is the smaller class size allows more attention per child and during covid this is worth it for us.

We have cut vacations, eat less expensive meals, cook more at home and don't buy expensive gifts. We have also cut all but one activity per kid (covid anyway).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of these incomes are insane. Please get some perspective. We do just fine on $80,000/year.

Umm, what? How so? Are you in subsidized housing or something?

No, we just don't live in a mansion. The average HHI in DC is in the $85k range iirc. Lots of people do it.

Well hey, happy that it is working for you. Why the rest of us should feel ashamed for making 6 figures is beyond me. I can't speak for anyone else, but I worked very hard to earn my degree and I work hard every day at my job. That I can afford to spend some of it on an expensive private school education, is just my personal reward to myself and family.

No one is saying you should be ashamed

Maybe not “ashamed” but the $80k poster was awfully judgey

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll take the bait, used car commenter is killing me. I bought my car when it was used and a year old. It had been a rental and only had 7,000 miles on it but was <50% of the price if it had been new. It certainly hasn’t been in and out of the shop and if anything it’s had way less problems than my mom’s brand-new luxury car which has had a million little electrical issues and random recalls. Being snobby about a massively expensive item that depreciates the second you buy it makes you sound ignorant.

Slight thread hijack. I am in the market for a used car (I won't even begin to touch the "in and out" of the shop thing), but do you mind sharing if you purchased it directly from a rental car company? If so, which one. I have looked at Hertz and Enterprise and the prices did not seem as enticing as what you were able to get. If you could point me in the right direction, that would be great.

I purchased it from a dealer with a large used car selection. I searched a bunch of local dealers for the models I wanted, and sorted out used cars with lower mileage. Then I checked the Carfax reports for each one and sorted by ones that had been in rental fleets in mild climates. I considered doing it from a rental company but saw the same issue you did- the prices were far higher than through a dealer. I have heard that used cars are in high demand right now so this might not be as easy as it was a couple of years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of these incomes are insane. Please get some perspective. We do just fine on $80,000/year.

Plenty of people get by on that income. Most of them are not paying $40k in private school tuition.The thread is about how people afford private school. If you are able to afford private school on that income, good for you.

It's called parochial school, buying an affordable house (hint: over half a million isn't affordable), and, idk, not spending ridiculously? Have you all not heard of Aldi? Paying cash for used cars? If I was making $400k a year, I genuinely do not know how I could spend it.

You would start living a little...Aldi? I took a stroll through there and kept right out the front door. There are a few items worth picking up, but I'll pass on everything being some unknown brand. Cash for used cars?!? Sorry, but not sorry - I work too hard to drive a car that is going to be and out of the shop. No hoopties for me. If you were making 400K, you would absolutely find a way to spend it. People spend what they make, it's not that hard at all. Over the course of my life I have gone from making $34k to $170K. I started off driving a Corolla and living in an apartment to now driving a Mercedes and living in a $500K home. Wasnt' that hard to conceive of or do. If I made $400K I would up the luxury on my car, get a boat and buy a beach vacation home (not even sure if $400K is enough for all of that).

Where around here can you buy a $500k family home? Serious question.

NW, DC. (Petworth). Admittedly, I bought 10 years ago. Today, it would be probably be closer to $650K so I should have qualified that (I always think of it being what I purchased it for).

You can buy a very small house or a house in not very good shape or both for $650k in Petworth. $500k in Petworth (ok, $450) is literally the budget that developers have to purchase a house to just completely gut it and flip it. 10 years ago is a ridiculous metric to use in the DC market especially in 2020

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of these incomes are insane. Please get some perspective. We do just fine on $80,000/year.

Plenty of people get by on that income. Most of them are not paying $40k in private school tuition.The thread is about how people afford private school. If you are able to afford private school on that income, good for you.

It's called parochial school, buying an affordable house (hint: over half a million isn't affordable), and, idk, not spending ridiculously? Have you all not heard of Aldi? Paying cash for used cars? If I was making $400k a year, I genuinely do not know how I could spend it.

You would start living a little...Aldi? I took a stroll through there and kept right out the front door. There are a few items worth picking up, but I'll pass on everything being some unknown brand. Cash for used cars?!? Sorry, but not sorry - I work too hard to drive a car that is going to be and out of the shop. No hoopties for me. If you were making 400K, you would absolutely find a way to spend it. People spend what they make, it's not that hard at all. Over the course of my life I have gone from making $34k to $170K. I started off driving a Corolla and living in an apartment to now driving a Mercedes and living in a $500K home. Wasnt' that hard to conceive of or do. If I made $400K I would up the luxury on my car, get a boat and buy a beach vacation home (not even sure if $400K is enough for all of that).

Where around here can you buy a $500k family home? Serious question.

Plenty of places - you just need to buy somewhere that’s not UNWDC (wards 2 & 3), close in MoCo or NoVA

Or capital hill, or H St corridor, or NoMa, or Brookland, or Shaw, or lets be honest, almost anywhere in DC that’s in decent shape and isn’t a 1-2 bed condo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of these incomes are insane. Please get some perspective. We do just fine on $80,000/year.

Umm, what? How so? Are you in subsidized housing or something?

No, we just don't live in a mansion. The average HHI in DC is in the $85k range iirc. Lots of people do it.

Well hey, happy that it is working for you. Why the rest of us should feel ashamed for making 6 figures is beyond me. I can't speak for anyone else, but I worked very hard to earn my degree and I work hard every day at my job. That I can afford to spend some of it on an expensive private school education, is just my personal reward to myself and family.

No one is saying you should be ashamed

Maybe not “ashamed” but the $80k poster was awfully judgey

lol the hilarity of people feeling judged for being ridiculously wealthy. please get over yourselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll take the bait, used car commenter is killing me. I bought my car when it was used and a year old. It had been a rental and only had 7,000 miles on it but was <50% of the price if it had been new. It certainly hasn’t been in and out of the shop and if anything it’s had way less problems than my mom’s brand-new luxury car which has had a million little electrical issues and random recalls. Being snobby about a massively expensive item that depreciates the second you buy it makes you sound ignorant.

Slight thread hijack. I am in the market for a used car (I won't even begin to touch the "in and out" of the shop thing), but do you mind sharing if you purchased it directly from a rental car company? If so, which one. I have looked at Hertz and Enterprise and the prices did not seem as enticing as what you were able to get. If you could point me in the right direction, that would be great.

FYI. There was a used white lexus ES 3-something that was from 2006, but only had 36k miles on it (about 2k miles per year). New tires, battery, etc. The owner passed away. The post was from 9/16/2020. It was in the North Potomac online yardsale group. It looked in immaculate condition. Worth a shot.

[Anonymous]

One word -- grandparents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Worked hard at good paying jobs, HHI over 2mil. Don’t even feel the cost for 2 kids.


Good career choice and luck.

Please enlighten me on career choices that produce this income? You don't have to tell yours. We're make about 200 k and are on FA but both grew up in very poor families so I have no idea how to even earn this! Would love to be able to discuss these things with my kids. I want them to have a broader outlook on opportunities than I did. (Yes they will do what they love, etc- but its still good to be knowledgeable)