Do you live paycheck to paycheck?

[Anonymous]

well, if you use a man for bill paying and that only...that is an issue, and could lead to use and abuse

I HOPE that isn't what is being suggested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to know where OP found a 2br condo for $1400 in Alexandria. I live in Alexandria and pay that for a 1br.

Op here. I found it on Craigslist. I had been looking for a really long time for the right place where we could be happy and after a few months I had finally found it. I am currently renting a condo from a private owner. When I viewed the condo it was already empty as the previous tenant had moved out. The owner mentioned that she had been trying to fill the spot for a while with a qualified renter. From what I gathered the place had been empty for a of couple months. I still had one more month to go on my old lease but I really liked this new place! Knowing that she was trying to get a renter asap I explained that I still had one more month to go but really loved the place and would be willing to secure it early (i.e pay overlapping rent on both places for the one month) and I asked her how she felt about reducing the rent by $100 per month. I have always paid my rent on time, sometimes early and in general and am low maintenance tenant. My previous landlord had already made it clear that he was sad to see me go but would give great reviews. The reason I was looking to move was to go from a 1BR to 2BR. By the new landlord reducing the rent by $100 every month I could recover most of the money that I would spend in the overlapping rent and she could secure a responsible tenant asap. She agreed to a rent reduction and everything worked out from there. Most of my current neighbors are owners and take pride in the upkeep of the community. The majority of folks are really nice and there are plenty of families with young children. Overall I'm very happy with the move and I count my blessings each day.

I've always found that renting from a private landlord/owner in a condo community has gotten me cheaper rent and a better living environment than renting directly from an apartment management company. With that being said there are 2 BR's in Alexandria that rent for less than $1400 a month (both from private owners and apt mgmt companies) but you have to be very discerning to make sure that it's a good neighborhood and a good fit.

For example I just now checked out Craigslist and found these 2BR's all under $1400:

$1350: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/apa/4099876039.html
$1100: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/apa/4036813598.html
$1400: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/apa/4096460238.html
$1200: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/apa/4089994982.html
$1078: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/apa/4102264012.html
$1295: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/apa/4102209111.html

Good deals can be found it just takes some time and research and a whole lot of patience

Oh snap!

[Anonymous]

Yes we do...sometimes dipping into our savings - hopefully not for long

[Anonymous]

No, we have about 8 months in savings.

[Anonymous]

Of course not. It took me working for a year in my first job to build up my emergency fund, 2 years after I started work to begin investing. Thanks be to God.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes or no?

In light of the recent shutdown it seems that some people are scrambling trying to figure out how to pay the monthly bills.

Do you feel adequately prepared in the event that you might suddenly lose your income or do you live paycheck to paycheck?

I'll start...

I'm a single mom of 2 under 2 (toddler and infant). My gross is about $67K per year. No, I do not live paycheck to paycheck.

Where is the father of your children?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We could probably make 5 months with no income. But we have a high HHI ($350k) and my husband is good with money.
We also have no student loans and only 1 child.

My sense is even the people who have some savings, suddenly get $0, especially for both workers, with no notice and no severance really sucks. I thought we had a ton of savings but by this metric, not so much.

We have $140K in accessible cash. Then we'd have to move on to selling mutual funds in taxable investments.

[Anonymous]

When i was fresh out of college and barely pulling in 36K a year, I was almost living paycheck to paycheck. I had enough to pay bills plus some left over, but I def. racked up credit card debt and wasn't as smart as saving as I should have been. 30 now, married with a 10 month old, and we have a decent savings, and are not living paycheck to paycheck at all, but i'm just finishing up paying off the debt/student loans from college/my early and mid 20s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don't live paycheck to paycheck by any means, but we had a big expense earlier this year (HVAC system replacement) that we hadn't planned on and our savings took a good dip to replace that. We can weather the shutdown but it will hurt to have savings drop further if it lasts a long time.

Don't people save regularly for big foreseeable purchases such as a new roof, new furnace, new water heater, in addition to their regular emergency fund? Or is that why so many lower income people think they can afford a Disney vacation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Np here....did you ever think about marrying someone in order to alleviate some of the financial stress? I know this will get flamed but I think about sometimes what I would do if I found myself to be single with children to care for and I think my survival mentality would be to find a nice man who could helps pay the bills. My line of thinking seems so antiquated.....and you seem to have worked out a system that works but not without stress, I'm sure.

As Susie Orman (and my mom) say, "A man is not a plan." It doesn't make sense for the poster to get married to someone and then possibly get divorced. Divorce ain't cheap. My mom taught me never to be financially dependent on anyone and I have never been.

Seems better to get an education to enable you to get your own high paying job, n'est pas?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No.
160k HHI from work + ~ 25k investment income yearly (required distributions). Large invested nest egg due to inheritance, but we don't touch it. About $100k cash.

We do basically live paycheck to paycheck day-to-day, since we don't touch the investments. Mortgage is low - house paid off so taxes & insurance run about $1000/mo, but we are about to start 2 daycare payments at about $4k/mo (!). Car payments, bills, etc takes the rest of our take-home. I realize we are very lucky to have the cushion.

You can hire a good nanny for less than 4K a month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No.
Sitting on $300k cash in the bank and another $1.5 MM in the brokerage account.
We would probably be okay for ten years even if both of us lost the jobs.

How damn old are you

42

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Where is the father of your children?

Not OP, but she already answered this question. She is a single mom by choice - she went through fertility treatments to create her own family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't live paycheck to paycheck by any means, but we had a big expense earlier this year (HVAC system replacement) that we hadn't planned on and our savings took a good dip to replace that. We can weather the shutdown but it will hurt to have savings drop further if it lasts a long time.

Don't people save regularly for big foreseeable purchases such as a new roof, new furnace, new water heater, in addition to their regular emergency fund? Or is that why so many lower income people think they can afford a Disney vacation?

well, well-off people can do this. Do you know how many people put ZERO in savings of any kind just because they are trying to keep their families fed and housed?

Ideally, yes, people should be saving for such things, but it isn't reality for a LARGE portion of our population. Even in our area.

[Anonymous]

I have 5 months of take home salary in savings (combined emergency fund/house repairs fund), but I could probably make that last at least 6-7 months. I also get $2K of rental income each month and the tenants aren't effected by the shutdown.

Then I have $12K in a new car savings fund I could raid if things got really bad, and a few thousand in a Vanguard account, and then my Roth IRA. And Mom and Dad.

But that $900 car repair yesterday really hurt. And there's a big landscaping bill that's about to come in the mail. Ugh.