Does anyone here live very well on very little?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you talking about trying to get by on 150K?

Yes, $150,000 or less.

Not really doable. You need at least 320k to be ok here. Not sure when it became like this. Late 90s?

You people are amazingly out of touch with reality.

In the DC metro area, the median household income ranges between $75K and $92K. $344K is the top 1% of the region. There are about 2 million households in the region. There are only 20,000 families that live on an income of $344K or higher. The other 1,980,000 live on less. More than 1,000,000 households live on $100K or less. More than 900,000 households live on 75K or less per year. And that includes households in Washington DC, Montgomery County, and Northern Va.

Some of you talk about not wanting to live on less, being willing to work 2 jobs to make more to live on more. You have such a upper class attitude and have no understanding that there are many folks who live the lives you just talk about being better than. I bet most of you who say that you wouldn't want to live on whatever, would not be able to hack two jobs for more than a year. You all are too used to luxuries that you think some of them are necessities and you think it's easy to work multiple jobs, still try to negotiate affordable child care, feed and clothe a family and still see and interact with your children. Such silver spoon babies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Where do you live, how long commute, and how are your public schools?

We live at the intersection of Springfield/Fairfax/Burke/Annandale. So, several miles in any direction is similar.
Schools: FCPS, several good pyramid choices.
Commute: 30min VRE to downtown. We prefer VRE. There is free parking. Some families can get along w/1 car. Others prefer the express bus to Pentagon Metro and on from there.

You stay home, right? Bc your DH commute door to door is not 30 minutes, the train ride is 30 minutes. Then there is getting to station parking, and metro to office unless happens to be on VRE.

Also, a SFH in Burke is like $800k -- you are swinging a 6x income mortgage?

NP here but there's plenty of SFH in the Burke area for $500-$600K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$150k here with 2 kids and I feel we have a very good life

Great neighborhood with decent public schools and good friends. Travel at least once a month, but those are mostly trips by (10 year old) car and either camping or staying with friends/relatives. Occasionally go out to eat, but much more often entertain friends at home or go to a friends house. We do splurge on organic meat, fish, and produce (though not all organic) but eat meatless half the week. Kids are in some low-cost activities and we spend a little on our own hobbies. We spend a lot of time outdoors, and cooking, both of which are things I really enjoy. We chose fulfilling, albeit not financially rewarding, careers. Save for retirement and just started for college (oldest is in K). I'd be lying if I said there weren't things I would like to spend more money on (mostly travel, home improvements, potentially a third child) but all in all, I think I have it pretty good.

This is us exactly. I can scrimp on clothes, but not on good quality food. We don't eat out that often, but when we do, it's at some place like Silver Diner. We save the nice places for special occasions. We do usually take one big trip a year. However, when we started trying to save a lot for our kid's college fund, things got tight. My kid are older ES so, we need to start saving a lot more. We also always max out our retirement.

We have a low mortgage (under $2000 including tax and insurance), no car payments, no loans. I know our mortgage is not typical for DC area. We put a huge down payment on the house from proceeds from the sale of our previous house. We have $40K in emergency savings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you talking about trying to get by on 150K?

Yes, $150,000 or less.

Not really doable. You need at least 320k to be ok here. Not sure when it became like this. Late 90s?

You people are amazingly out of touch with reality.

In the DC metro area, the median household income ranges between $75K and $92K. $344K is the top 1% of the region. There are about 2 million households in the region. There are only 20,000 families that live on an income of $344K or higher. The other 1,980,000 live on less. More than 1,000,000 households live on $100K or less. More than 900,000 households live on 75K or less per year. And that includes households in Washington DC, Montgomery County, and Northern Va.

Some of you talk about not wanting to live on less, being willing to work 2 jobs to make more to live on more. You have such a upper class attitude and have no understanding that there are many folks who live the lives you just talk about being better than. I bet most of you who say that you wouldn't want to live on whatever, would not be able to hack two jobs for more than a year. You all are too used to luxuries that you think some of them are necessities and you think it's easy to work multiple jobs, still try to negotiate affordable child care, feed and clothe a family and still see and interact with your children. Such silver spoon babies.

A lot of people on this forum simply lie about their incomes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make 160k, dual income, and I'm not deluded into thinking that's "very little." But it isn't a ton for our area. I love our life. We own a small, cute house in NEDC. Our kids go to public school in the neighborhood. I grow a lot of our vegetables and we go out to eat less than monthly. But we do fun things and our kids aren't wanting for much--they have dance and music lessons, etc. We save for retirement and a little for college.

No, that actually is very little for here.

You are ridiculous. Not everyone is a spoiled brat like you or poor at managing their money. Talk about being delusional!

Huh? Again, that is very little money here.

Carry on, clueless!

[Anonymous]

We live well on 110 a year. Family of 3, living in the city to keep commute costs down in a neighborhood that many would not have considered when we bought, but is now gaining in popularity. This is what makes our mortgage low enough to manage, but we had no way of knowing this would happen when we bought. We swing private school, and max the one 401k we have access to (I work part time, from home) and college savings are ok. We do all the typical things to keep expenses low, but can still chose the costo organic chicken and whole foods organic broccoli, while using Giant for everything else. One small economical car and three "vacations" a year. 2 are to visit family, so, you know, but one is just us, for fun. When we travel internationally, we only visit family once. There are trade offs, but we feel remarkably fortunate every day and know others struggle to make it on much less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live well on 110 a year. Family of 3, living in the city to keep commute costs down in a neighborhood that many would not have considered when we bought, but is now gaining in popularity. This is what makes our mortgage low enough to manage, but we had no way of knowing this would happen when we bought. We swing private school, and max the one 401k we have access to (I work part time, from home) and college savings are ok. We do all the typical things to keep expenses low, but can still chose the costo organic chicken and whole foods organic broccoli, while using Giant for everything else. One small economical car and three "vacations" a year. 2 are to visit family, so, you know, but one is just us, for fun. When we travel internationally, we only visit family once. There are trade offs, but we feel remarkably fortunate every day and know others struggle to make it on much less.

Do you get significant financial aid at the private school? Otherwise, how do you swing that with three vacations and maxing 401k, and presumably some liquid saving? TIA!

[Anonymous]

A lot of people on this forum simply lie about their incomes.

I'd say 99% lie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live well on 110 a year. Family of 3, living in the city to keep commute costs down in a neighborhood that many would not have considered when we bought, but is now gaining in popularity. This is what makes our mortgage low enough to manage, but we had no way of knowing this would happen when we bought. We swing private school, and max the one 401k we have access to (I work part time, from home) and college savings are ok. We do all the typical things to keep expenses low, but can still chose the costo organic chicken and whole foods organic broccoli, while using Giant for everything else. One small economical car and three "vacations" a year. 2 are to visit family, so, you know, but one is just us, for fun. When we travel internationally, we only visit family once. There are trade offs, but we feel remarkably fortunate every day and know others struggle to make it on much less.

Do you get significant financial aid at the private school? Otherwise, how do you swing that with three vacations and maxing 401k, and presumably some liquid saving? TIA!

how is this possible?

401K $18.5K
private school $35k

You pay the mortgage, taxes, insurance, grocery bill AND travel 3 times a year including some degree of international travel on $50K a year???

Can you pls share your budget? This is impressive.

[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.

This is nice. But I walk along the water and take pics and have fun (I love to take pictures of architecture) and carry a nice purse and drive a nice car and spend time with my family and cook meals and eat out too. It doesn't have to be all or nothing.

[Anonymous]

I live in Riggs Park with a 15-year mortgage that is much less than $2K/mth and I have a short commute. I am able to keep more of my money and my time because I made those choices. I drive nice cars but I keep them for a long time. I buy nice bags and shoes but only occasionally rather than often and I take care of them so that they last a long time and I don't tend to the trendy. I also had very small school loans ~$10K that I paid off long ago and that helped me get an early start at building savings and wealth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

A lot of people on this forum simply lie about their incomes.

I'd say 99% lie.

+1. Very easy to show up to an anonymous forum and say you are barely getting by on 400k and you don't know how your neighbors making 200k aren't on food stamps. Especially when you know it'll stir up a reaction and make others feel bad.

Or the top 1% of income folks (making 350k+) have nothing better to do than to spend all their time on DCUM; you know -- maybe they've eschewed the country club, yacht, international travel, or anything else fun and instead prefer to have a phone in their face responding to every DCUM post.

[Anonymous]

No debt, no kids, don't live in DC, we live on $48,000 a year. Sometimes less. No one knows. You cannot tell by looking at my house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Where do you live, how long commute, and how are your public schools?

We live at the intersection of Springfield/Fairfax/Burke/Annandale. So, several miles in any direction is similar.
Schools: FCPS, several good pyramid choices.
Commute: 30min VRE to downtown. We prefer VRE. There is free parking. Some families can get along w/1 car. Others prefer the express bus to Pentagon Metro and on from there.

You stay home, right? Bc your DH commute door to door is not 30 minutes, the train ride is 30 minutes. Then there is getting to station parking, and metro to office unless happens to be on VRE.

Also, a SFH in Burke is like $800k -- you are swinging a 6x income mortgage?

NP here but there's plenty of SFH in the Burke area for $500-$600K.

If you look, you can get a SFH in the Burke area for under 500K.

[Anonymous]

$150ish HHI

2 working parents, 4 kids

Nice $650k house (with a low mortgage thanks to the huge profit we made on our first home), but nothing too fancy

Way out in the burbs in a nice school district that is essentially Family Town, USA

Plenty of money for sports and activities

Lots of travel (but nothing too exotic--we only fly as a family once every year or two)

Our cars are older, but functional.

We are fairly frugal, but aren't afraid to splurge.

DH and I are vested in pensions and saving for retirement.

Saving for college, but planning on state schools.

We don't feel like money is tight (except for my pet peeve of not being able to afford a beach house or take more exotic vacations).


I think people with more money piss through it unnecessarily. If we made $250 instead of $150, we wouldn't change much (we wouldn't buy a more expensive home or new cars). Instead, we would probably save more (for college) and take more expensive vacations.