what is a good income to be a SAHM in NOVA?

[Anonymous]

One bedroom + SAH +infant=misery.

Will you be in a walkable area? Are you close to a park or rec center? There is a YMCA in Reston and they have resources for parents with children. It could be a place to exercise and meet other moms. There could be infant programs there or a Gymboree class. I met a nice group of new moms through Gymboree and we got together pretty frequently. The public library may have programs also. Any kind of outing will help. Being able to go to things like this (that are relatively cheap) and just walk to get coffee or lunch with other moms makes a huge difference. You're going to want to do this no matter how many bedrooms are in your apartment.

I think you'll be fine. My husband and I have never made the kind of money that people on this forum talk about. We have a son and we did fine and enjoyed him a lot as he grew up. You don't need two bedrooms! Our son didn't want to stay in his own bedroom anyway when he was young! It was a bit crazy, but we never felt like we had to keep up with anybody as far as our house was concerned.

You have already shown that you know how to manage your money. You are making good decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One bedroom + SAH +infant=misery.

+1,000

Bathroom = your escape

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in N Arlington and make $150K. I stay home with our 2 kids currently. We have plenty of money including for modest travel and savings.

When did you buy your house? That makes ALL the difference. No one making $150K who didn't have significant savings for a downpayment on a $600K + house could make it on $150 and own a nice house.

+1
How the hell are you living comfortably in Arlington on 150K, having enough for travel and savings?

Not the PP, but my husband makes $140 and we own a 2 bedroom condo in Arlington. Paid $290 for it in 2009. We have two children. Our savings are healthy. Each year we vacation for a week at the beach, and every other year we travel to Europe. We're frugal in nearly every part of our lives, but comfortable. Savings and travel are our priorities, not eating out, new clothes, fancy cars, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We lived here with one kid and $100k in Ashburn and that shit was tight, Ashburn isn't some other state. A decent townhouse is still $2300 a month. At $185k with two it's comfortable.

op here: He accepted a job for 95k . We will rent an apartment instead of buying, so that we have flexibility to make adjustments in case his job changes. I think we will just have one car and I will drop him off to work. He found a job in Reston so it's perfect

It will be VERY VERY tight but doable. He'll either need a raise or you'll need to work if you ever want to buy a place and/or take vacations/save for retirement, etc.

When I first started SAH, DH made $165k and our mortgage was about $1700/month for a 3 br townhouse. It was totally comfortable but not much left over. We couldn't buy a SFH or ramp up college savings until he broke $250k.

op: why will is be VERY VERY tight?

Well our mortgage was $1700/month and we didn't have any debt either. Do you plan to just ignore college and retirement savings? We did not. We also knew our old paid-for cars would eventually need replacing and in a few years we'd want another child. So no, month to month, paycheck to paycheck you'll be fine. With any eye on the future, it's tight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We lived here with one kid and $100k in Ashburn and that shit was tight, Ashburn isn't some other state. A decent townhouse is still $2300 a month. At $185k with two it's comfortable.

op here: He accepted a job for 95k . We will rent an apartment instead of buying, so that we have flexibility to make adjustments in case his job changes. I think we will just have one car and I will drop him off to work. He found a job in Reston so it's perfect

It will be VERY VERY tight but doable. He'll either need a raise or you'll need to work if you ever want to buy a place and/or take vacations/save for retirement, etc.

When I first started SAH, DH made $165k and our mortgage was about $1700/month for a 3 br townhouse. It was totally comfortable but not much left over. We couldn't buy a SFH or ramp up college savings until he broke $250k.

op: why will is be VERY VERY tight?

Well our mortgage was $1700/month and we didn't have any debt either. Do you plan to just ignore college and retirement savings? We did not. We also knew our old paid-for cars would eventually need replacing and in a few years we'd want another child. So no, month to month, paycheck to paycheck you'll be fine. With any eye on the future, it's tight.

Delusion is what's going in here. Yea, the pp above and her 140k HHI and "European " vacations. Complete bullshit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We lived here with one kid and $100k in Ashburn and that shit was tight, Ashburn isn't some other state. A decent townhouse is still $2300 a month. At $185k with two it's comfortable.

op here: He accepted a job for 95k . We will rent an apartment instead of buying, so that we have flexibility to make adjustments in case his job changes. I think we will just have one car and I will drop him off to work. He found a job in Reston so it's perfect

It will be VERY VERY tight but doable. He'll either need a raise or you'll need to work if you ever want to buy a place and/or take vacations/save for retirement, etc.

When I first started SAH, DH made $165k and our mortgage was about $1700/month for a 3 br townhouse. It was totally comfortable but not much left over. We couldn't buy a SFH or ramp up college savings until he broke $250k.

op: why will is be VERY VERY tight?

Well our mortgage was $1700/month and we didn't have any debt either. Do you plan to just ignore college and retirement savings? We did not. We also knew our old paid-for cars would eventually need replacing and in a few years we'd want another child. So no, month to month, paycheck to paycheck you'll be fine. With any eye on the future, it's tight.

Delusion is what's going in here. Yea, the pp above and her 140k HHI and "European " vacations. Complete bullshit.

Op also doesn't have a kids yet, so she has no earthy understanding of how they completely ass fuck your finances. I wish her the best but I doubt very much $95K is going to be too fun with kids in a one bedroom and no money to do stuff.

[Anonymous]

We lived in NoVa for 12 years with 3 kids until 3 years ago. I was a SAHM and we lived on $132K. Yes, we did buy before the market went crazy, but we had a 15-year mortgage, so our monthly mortgage wasn't that low- it was $2300, and we lived fine, saved for college, retirement, went on vacation, etc. We did not have student loans or prior debt, which obviously made a difference. With 3 kids and a mortgage, we had a lot of deductions, so our federal income tax was fairly low. Our monthly budget looked something like this:

Income: $11,000
federal taxes: $1200
state taxes: $500
401K: $1450
health ins: $500
dental ins: $150
FLEX: $50
mortgage (piti): $2300
food:$600
utilities: $300
internet/tv/phone: $120
gasoline: $300
travel: $250
car insurance:$125
activities: $250
eating out/ent: $200
clothes: $100
gifts: $100
house maint: $100
auto maint: $100
IRA: $900
College: $500
Misc: 900

That's not exact, but our approx. budget. We did have a large savings net from when I was working but we didn't dig into it. We lived fairly simply, I suppose (and still do).

I'm not into name brand clothes, and I didn't need nice clothing for work. My husband was the branch manger of a company, so he decided the dress code which was casual because they rarely saw clients. We bought our kids' clothes at consignment sales for the most part. They mostly did activities through Parks and Rec. which were fairly cheap. I cooked from scratch almost everyday. Our vacation was a week at the beach in June when rates are cheaper and visiting family in Florida (we drove) over Christmas.

I had already loaded up on 401k retirement savings before I stopped working, and my husband continued to max out his. For college, while our savings rate was low for this, our mortgage was going to be done 3 years before the oldest went away to college, so we planned to pay it out of that. And I also planned to go back to work school hours when my youngest started kindergarten.

I know everyone has different needs/wants, and situations. But I just wanted to outline what worked for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We lived here with one kid and $100k in Ashburn and that shit was tight, Ashburn isn't some other state. A decent townhouse is still $2300 a month. At $185k with two it's comfortable.

op here: He accepted a job for 95k . We will rent an apartment instead of buying, so that we have flexibility to make adjustments in case his job changes. I think we will just have one car and I will drop him off to work. He found a job in Reston so it's perfect

It will be VERY VERY tight but doable. He'll either need a raise or you'll need to work if you ever want to buy a place and/or take vacations/save for retirement, etc.

When I first started SAH, DH made $165k and our mortgage was about $1700/month for a 3 br townhouse. It was totally comfortable but not much left over. We couldn't buy a SFH or ramp up college savings until he broke $250k.

op: why will is be VERY VERY tight?

Well our mortgage was $1700/month and we didn't have any debt either. Do you plan to just ignore college and retirement savings? We did not. We also knew our old paid-for cars would eventually need replacing and in a few years we'd want another child. So no, month to month, paycheck to paycheck you'll be fine. With any eye on the future, it's tight.

Delusion is what's going in here. Yea, the pp above and her 140k HHI and "European " vacations. Complete bullshit.

Op also doesn't have a kids yet, so she has no earthy understanding of how they completely ass fuck your finances. I wish her the best but I doubt very much $95K is going to be too fun with kids in a one bedroom and no money to do stuff.

Yes, we lived on one income, and it was 95k/yr as well. That was 12yrs ago when housing was MUCH cheaper and there still were no European vacations. Vacation meant hop in the car and get a shitty motel room at Rehoboth. One my kids were in school, I ran back to work. I simply cannot imagine living on 95k/yr in 2016 and in a one bedroom. My marriage would fall to shit. The inability to be intimate in that situation would be a killer.

[Anonymous]

Where are you moving from OP? It will be tight because it's expensive here- food, gas, electric rates, all higher than many other places. I pay $1000 a year in property taxes to Loudoun County for my CARS. For the privilege of driving on roads- approximately $500 for two cars, in March and October.

An oil change in my hometown is $25. It's $50 here. Anything fun you want to do is expensive. A box of Cheezits is $5 at Harris Teeter. A one bedroom apartment might be $1600 but then you're in the hell of a one bedroom apartment with an infant. With a kid you need two. But if you can't swing 2k a month for rent, you're stuck with one. That's why it's tight. Most of the people commenting have been there (I commented and lived in a 2Br apartment with 1 kid at $100k and it was hard) so not sure why you think we don't know what we are talking about. We actually live here. You might want to listen to what we have to say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have 1 kid ( a baby) and I'm a sahm. We live in a very nice upscale apt in fairfax. My husbands income is 72k. Yes we'd love to buy instead of rent but other than that we live a very comfortable life: travel often to visit family, max out our iras each year, and bought a brand new car last year, we have no debt except the car we are paying off. It can be done.

Are you saving any money for college or otherwise outside the IRAs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in N Arlington and make $150K. I stay home with our 2 kids currently. We have plenty of money including for modest travel and savings.

How much of that $150K are you saving?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have 1 kid ( a baby) and I'm a sahm. We live in a very nice upscale apt in fairfax. My husbands income is 72k. Yes we'd love to buy instead of rent but other than that we live a very comfortable life: travel often to visit family, max out our iras each year, and bought a brand new car last year, we have no debt except the car we are paying off. It can be done.

Are you saving any money for college or otherwise outside the IRAs?

so you're saving at most $10K/year?
lol
most of us don't count that saving for retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We lived in NoVa for 12 years with 3 kids until 3 years ago. I was a SAHM and we lived on $132K. Yes, we did buy before the market went crazy, but we had a 15-year mortgage, so our monthly mortgage wasn't that low- it was $2300, and we lived fine, saved for college, retirement, went on vacation, etc. We did not have student loans or prior debt, which obviously made a difference. With 3 kids and a mortgage, we had a lot of deductions, so our federal income tax was fairly low. Our monthly budget looked something like this:

Income: $11,000
federal taxes: $1200
state taxes: $500
401K: $1450
health ins: $500
dental ins: $150
FLEX: $50
mortgage (piti): $2300
food:$600
utilities: $300
internet/tv/phone: $120
gasoline: $300
travel: $250
car insurance:$125
activities: $250
eating out/ent: $200
clothes: $100
gifts: $100
house maint: $100
auto maint: $100
IRA: $900
College: $500
Misc: 900

That's not exact, but our approx. budget. We did have a large savings net from when I was working but we didn't dig into it. We lived fairly simply, I suppose (and still do).

I'm not into name brand clothes, and I didn't need nice clothing for work. My husband was the branch manger of a company, so he decided the dress code which was casual because they rarely saw clients. We bought our kids' clothes at consignment sales for the most part. They mostly did activities through Parks and Rec. which were fairly cheap. I cooked from scratch almost everyday. Our vacation was a week at the beach in June when rates are cheaper and visiting family in Florida (we drove) over Christmas.

I had already loaded up on 401k retirement savings before I stopped working, and my husband continued to max out his. For college, while our savings rate was low for this, our mortgage was going to be done 3 years before the oldest went away to college, so we planned to pay it out of that. And I also planned to go back to work school hours when my youngest started kindergarten.

I know everyone has different needs/wants, and situations. But I just wanted to outline what worked for us.

$200 for eating out/entertainment? Oh my. $1200 a year for clothes for a whole family? No charitable giving?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We lived here with one kid and $100k in Ashburn and that shit was tight, Ashburn isn't some other state. A decent townhouse is still $2300 a month. At $185k with two it's comfortable.

op here: He accepted a job for 95k . We will rent an apartment instead of buying, so that we have flexibility to make adjustments in case his job changes. I think we will just have one car and I will drop him off to work. He found a job in Reston so it's perfect

It will be VERY VERY tight but doable. He'll either need a raise or you'll need to work if you ever want to buy a place and/or take vacations/save for retirement, etc.

When I first started SAH, DH made $165k and our mortgage was about $1700/month for a 3 br townhouse. It was totally comfortable but not much left over. We couldn't buy a SFH or ramp up college savings until he broke $250k.

op: why will is be VERY VERY tight?

Well our mortgage was $1700/month and we didn't have any debt either. Do you plan to just ignore college and retirement savings? We did not. We also knew our old paid-for cars would eventually need replacing and in a few years we'd want another child. So no, month to month, paycheck to paycheck you'll be fine. With any eye on the future, it's tight.

Delusion is what's going in here. Yea, the pp above and her 140k HHI and "European " vacations. Complete bullshit.

Um, no. It's not complete bullshit. I'm the poster whose husband makes 140k, and we travel to Europe every other year. It's certainly not a luxury vacation. We only go for a week, and we don't eat at fancy restaurants or buy souvenirs. We stay at cheap hotels. It gives our children a chance to see the world.

We don't eat out. We have no college debt. Our car is paid in full - it's an older Honda. I buy clothing at consignment shops. It's all about priorities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We lived here with one kid and $100k in Ashburn and that shit was tight, Ashburn isn't some other state. A decent townhouse is still $2300 a month. At $185k with two it's comfortable.

op here: He accepted a job for 95k . We will rent an apartment instead of buying, so that we have flexibility to make adjustments in case his job changes. I think we will just have one car and I will drop him off to work. He found a job in Reston so it's perfect

It will be VERY VERY tight but doable. He'll either need a raise or you'll need to work if you ever want to buy a place and/or take vacations/save for retirement, etc.

When I first started SAH, DH made $165k and our mortgage was about $1700/month for a 3 br townhouse. It was totally comfortable but not much left over. We couldn't buy a SFH or ramp up college savings until he broke $250k.

op: why will is be VERY VERY tight?

Well our mortgage was $1700/month and we didn't have any debt either. Do you plan to just ignore college and retirement savings? We did not. We also knew our old paid-for cars would eventually need replacing and in a few years we'd want another child. So no, month to month, paycheck to paycheck you'll be fine. With any eye on the future, it's tight.

Delusion is what's going in here. Yea, the pp above and her 140k HHI and "European " vacations. Complete bullshit.

Um, no. It's not complete bullshit. I'm the poster whose husband makes 140k, and we travel to Europe every other year. It's certainly not a luxury vacation. We only go for a week, and we don't eat at fancy restaurants or buy souvenirs. We stay at cheap hotels. It gives our children a chance to see the world.

We don't eat out. We have no college debt. Our car is paid in full - it's an older Honda. I buy clothing at consignment shops. It's all about priorities.

LOL!