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

[Anonymous]

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.

Then you are living high on the hog and not bare bones. I know a family of sic (two adults and four chkldren) whose saary if $60,000 before taxes and they manage to save every month, but then, they have their pririties straight and, obviously, you do not.

[Anonymous]

Nah. I had a good sized community plot in fairfax, grew enough veggies to can---tomatoes and potatoes, green beans, onions, celery, zucchini, lettuce, chard etc. kind of buggy, but we handpicked and were fine.

And if you are too lazy to put a garden in your yard---gee, the kids could learn something useful!---well then stop bitching. Square foot/raised bed gardening works very well, and you can add a lot of fruit in as landscaping---blueberries, raspberries, hazelnuts, figs---all grow well in that climate and are both shrubby and decorative. Apples, cherries, and some plums are also really pretty and easy to grow.

[Anonymous]

I thought I was all done flaming FP, but then I saw this. Would have been helpful to mention this a few pages back, FP! Being in the Midwest makes quite a difference for COL, as I know having lived there most of my adult life. Not too many years back I was paying less than $700 to rent a 2 bedroom townhouse in a mid-sized Midwestern city. When I moved to DC, I lost one bedroom and my rent tripled.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, hit submit too soon.
We also lived in NOVA and now we're in the Midwest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parenst were self employed my childhood and my sister and I were healthy. If we needed shots or a check up we go to clinic. I needed stitches urgent care. You all are such pussies with colds. Weh weh weh my baby has a 104 fever for a couple days. Well then monitor your kid and get that amct/ ibuf combo and warm baths. Yes we were tired but I didnt run to the doc like all the other parents at daycare. Your ins comp has a hotline you call for things like this. If everyone (excluding medically fragile ppl) would just toughen up our rates would go lower.
My budget
905 mort/ins/taxT
30 HOA
30 internet
242 daycare
48 water
86 (2cells) sprint
89 domion power
80 food (generic, lil meat and WIC )
260 car (gas, ins,maint)
65 ballet
80 misc (tp, shampoo, light bulbs air filter batteries

I have no debt except for home. We do get hand me down and go to clothing swaps. WE make extra fun money by selling are unsed crap on craigslist or something. If my dd wants the new harry potter well she sells some other toys. I make 2400 a mont after taxes. It seems tight but Im going to school and the children are happy. We are a completely diff family than wha I grew up in. No crap tv and money problems makes life a lot less stressful. We also have a $12000 emergency fund.
1 adult and 2 kids

You apparently also save money on apostrophes and grammar.

Also saved a ton by skipping a sense of humor! And nothing stopped her from running to the WIC office!

[Anonymous]

To a PP who said I "failed" because my mortgage was over some notion of what they found acceptable, I don't have any problem making the payments every month. I save for retirement and my daughter's college fund. I have a roommate renting one of the spare bedrooms, which helps. Had to spend more on this house to get the elusive combination of great commute + good schools. (good schools + close to DC around here means paying more.) There isn't a ton of room for extras like vacations, but for now, I'm ok with that. there will be more money once my daughter is out of private preschool and in public elementary. And I'm currently working for a lower salary than I can earn with my background/degree; once the economy improves, I might see real income growth.

Some of us just don't have a renter's mentality. I haven't rented since i was able to pull together a down payment at age 27. I have friends who are in their 40's who have never owned, and I think there's something kind of sad about that. Some of them missed out on quite a bit of appreciation. (I made $200K on my last house; thanks to the bad market, my investments haven't done nearly that well.) I like home ownership. Sure, sometimes I wish I was out watching football instead of raking leaves on a nice fall Saturday, but I wouldn't trade ownership for renting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I keep looking at everyone's budget and wonder where you all fit in underwear, makeup, nylons, socks, floor cleaner, sponges, paper towels, laundry detergent, candles, batteries, light bulbs, stamps, tampons, soap, dishwasher detergent, etc... Do you all add these types of expenses into your grocery bill? I just don't see anyone with a realistic "Target" expense. This is the stuff that weighs us down. Add in birthday presents, sports (and equipment for said sports), school donations (public!), gas, the occasional trip to the carousel ($4/kid), it adds up even quicker. Where do you all budget for these things?

I spend at least $10 per month on deodorant alone...

[Anonymous]

In our case we didn't get phones that require a data plan just because it seemed that it was an all-or-nothing large expense: there aren't any $5/month data plans from our carrier, ATT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought I was all done flaming FP, but then I saw this. Would have been helpful to mention this a few pages back, FP! Being in the Midwest makes quite a difference for COL, as I know having lived there most of my adult life. Not too many years back I was paying less than $700 to rent a 2 bedroom townhouse in a mid-sized Midwestern city. When I moved to DC, I lost one bedroom and my rent tripled.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, hit submit too soon.
We also lived in NOVA and now we're in the Midwest.

Flaming me? HA-HA Keep coming...

BTW, when we moved here we looked into apartments in Chicago and the prices were exactly the same as in DC metro area. As we expanded our search we found out that the prices in the burbs were exactly the same as DC suburban area.

As for groceries and gas the difference is minimum. Midwest doesn't mean country side, you know?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought I was all done flaming FP, but then I saw this. Would have been helpful to mention this a few pages back, FP! Being in the Midwest makes quite a difference for COL, as I know having lived there most of my adult life. Not too many years back I was paying less than $700 to rent a 2 bedroom townhouse in a mid-sized Midwestern city. When I moved to DC, I lost one bedroom and my rent tripled.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, hit submit too soon.
We also lived in NOVA and now we're in the Midwest.

Flaming me? HA-HA Keep coming...

BTW, when we moved here we looked into apartments in Chicago and the prices were exactly the same as in DC metro area. As we expanded our search we found out that the prices in the burbs were exactly the same as DC suburban area.

As for groceries and gas the difference is minimum. Midwest doesn't mean country side, you know?

?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought I was all done flaming FP, but then I saw this. Would have been helpful to mention this a few pages back, FP! Being in the Midwest makes quite a difference for COL, as I know having lived there most of my adult life. Not too many years back I was paying less than $700 to rent a 2 bedroom townhouse in a mid-sized Midwestern city. When I moved to DC, I lost one bedroom and my rent tripled.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, hit submit too soon.
We also lived in NOVA and now we're in the Midwest.

Flaming me? HA-HA Keep coming...

BTW, when we moved here we looked into apartments in Chicago and the prices were exactly the same as in DC metro area. As we expanded our search we found out that the prices in the burbs were exactly the same as DC suburban area.

As for groceries and gas the difference is minimum. Midwest doesn't mean country side, you know?

?

? what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought I was all done flaming FP, but then I saw this. Would have been helpful to mention this a few pages back, FP! Being in the Midwest makes quite a difference for COL, as I know having lived there most of my adult life. Not too many years back I was paying less than $700 to rent a 2 bedroom townhouse in a mid-sized Midwestern city. When I moved to DC, I lost one bedroom and my rent tripled.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, hit submit too soon.
We also lived in NOVA and now we're in the Midwest.

Flaming me? HA-HA Keep coming...

BTW, when we moved here we looked into apartments in Chicago and the prices were exactly the same as in DC metro area. As we expanded our search we found out that the prices in the burbs were exactly the same as DC suburban area.

As for groceries and gas the difference is minimum. Midwest doesn't mean country side, you know?

?

? what?

Again full of shit. I'm from Chicago and it is much less expensive there than in DC Not.Even.Close.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need to lower the minimum wage so that low level workers like nannys, plumbers, repair men , lawn etc. cost less for the middle class. The tradesmen unions have been raping this area for years.

I am stunned no one jumped on this. Seriously? Why should nannies cost less for the middle class? Should BMW's and Bentley's cost less for the middle class too? If you can't afford it, don't buy it. You can't walk into a luxury car dealership and expect to pay economy car prices. Yes, lowering minimum wage would significantly improve the standard of living all around. More people on welfare and food stamps is just what we need. If people can make more money living on unemployment, welfare, working under the table etc. they're going to. Why go to work and not get by when you can get more for staying home? We need to make it beneficial to go to work...help out the people who are working full time but barely making it because they earn $100 over the threshold. Those are the ones who deserve help. The people working a 40-60 hr week at min. wage or slightly above it are the ones who deserve the breaks...not the wealthy, not the slovenly. Give people an incentive to work.

I was going to jump until I realized this poster must be joking. No one could possibly make such an asinine comment on a thread where folks are moaning about making ends meet on 100k a year and hope to be taken seriously. I really think PP was being sarcastic.

[Anonymous]

Let me remind you that we are renters not owners. We compared prices before moving and realized that whatever we found to fit our needs in Chicago was pretty much the exact same price we were paying along the orange line in Arlington.

When we started looking at the prices in the suburbs we also noticed we'd get exactly the same thing for the same price we were paying in Vienna/Oakton area if we kept in the same distance of the city.

I'd appreciate if you could keep the level of the conversation if you want to be I formative. The use of poor language doesnt contribute to the conversation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought I was all done flaming FP, but then I saw this. Would have been helpful to mention this a few pages back, FP! Being in the Midwest makes quite a difference for COL, as I know having lived there most of my adult life. Not too many years back I was paying less than $700 to rent a 2 bedroom townhouse in a mid-sized Midwestern city. When I moved to DC, I lost one bedroom and my rent tripled.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, hit submit too soon.
We also lived in NOVA and now we're in the Midwest.

Flaming me? HA-HA Keep coming...

BTW, when we moved here we looked into apartments in Chicago and the prices were exactly the same as in DC metro area. As we expanded our search we found out that the prices in the burbs were exactly the same as DC suburban area.

As for groceries and gas the difference is minimum. Midwest doesn't mean country side, you know?

?

? what?

Again full of shit. I'm from Chicago and it is much less expensive there than in DC Not.Even.Close.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I keep looking at everyone's budget and wonder where you all fit in underwear, makeup, nylons, socks, floor cleaner, sponges, paper towels, laundry detergent, candles, batteries, light bulbs, stamps, tampons, soap, dishwasher detergent, etc... Do you all add these types of expenses into your grocery bill? I just don't see anyone with a realistic "Target" expense. This is the stuff that weighs us down. Add in birthday presents, sports (and equipment for said sports), school donations (public!), gas, the occasional trip to the carousel ($4/kid), it adds up even quicker. Where do you all budget for these things?

I spend at least $10 per month on deodorant alone...

If you want to live frugally, you should try to find a gently used stick on Craiglist or at your local Goodwill store.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1400 Rent
1100 Daycare
650 Student loans (two formers students, five degrees)
400 Grocery
120 Utilities
60 Health Insurance
20 Renters
30 Cell service
100 Dogs

3880 (if I did my math right) for a pretty low budget lifestyle with good benefits and no car

WTF, 5 degrees? Sounds like a giant waste

Actually, that sounds like a bargain- I swear my DH's minimum student loan payment after law school was $1000. And that was *one* degree.