What's your family size and how much do you spend each month total?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a family of 4 with 2 kids under 5, and we spend on average about $11k a month.

do you mean mortgage, gas, food, tuition etc?

What else could possibly be meant? What is your alternate interpretation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


6K
Family of 4 (kids in elementary school)
Bethesda
Half of that is house-related.
We do our best to be frugal.

The numbers on this thread are eye-opening.

This post screams SAHP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, we're counting on our kids being smart or athletic. The athletic part is probably a bust given their parents, so they'll just have to be smart!

When you have a higher HHI, your kids can be as smart as you want, you're still not going to get aid (other than loans). You're sort of in the HHI sweet spot for being able to get aid.

Oh, boo hoo, poor little rich kids.
Have you ever heard of merit scholarships?

Do the top twenty five schools for undergrad generally give merit scholarships?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the PP. I'm a single mom to one school aged child. I make around $50K per year and I feel well off. We have enough to eat, we live in a safe home, my son goes to a great public school, I have enough to pay all of my bills. Yet someone else would say someone earning $50K can't possibly live well in this area. We can and we do.

Are you planning to live on social security in retirement?

Not the PP, but same demographics on just under 70K a year. I feel the same. I have a pension, save 15% towards retirement (plus match), and mortgage will be paid off the year my little one hits undergrad. I'll be 44. Can retire at 50. Live in DC and love our place. I probably eat out and travel more than the average person on DCUM. Childcare costs are $0, mortgage is super low, SL debt is nearly paid off and $60/month. My ex and I stagger our schedules to avoid before/aftercare fees.

Okay, I'm game. How much do you spend per month, or however you track it, on travel and eating out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the PP. I'm a single mom to one school aged child. I make around $50K per year and I feel well off. We have enough to eat, we live in a safe home, my son goes to a great public school, I have enough to pay all of my bills. Yet someone else would say someone earning $50K can't possibly live well in this area. We can and we do.

To me, living well is going on vacation, buying new clothes, having money to go out to dinner and shows, and contributing to charitable causes important to us.

You can still do all of those things on a smaller HHI when you're not paying 5-10k in childcare and SL costs or paying 3k for a mortgage (let's not get on private school). I've been to 3 countries so far in 2014 and the West Coast, have paid tuition costs for a child in a developing country for the 2013-14 school year, and eat out regularly. I don't make anywhere near 100k. If I lost my job, I could wait tables in the meantime and cover my bills. I totally get why taking home 10-15K feels necessary to some. We're upper middle class when we live abroad and there's definitely a different cost for everything once you're in that bubble. We "had" to do private, dance lessons were more than we'd pay in the US but they were essential, we needed a driver/nanny/housekeeper, we were too busy to shop for deals on produce so it was easier to shop in expat friendly locations, etc.

In truth, your average DCUMer moved to the DC area as an adult and bought into the belief that one can only live in Upper NW/Bethesda/McLean/Cap Hiil or its unsafe, that private schools are a must, etc. Some of us are just pointing out that some of you made lifestyle choices that make it necessary to take home such a high HHI. It's NOT simply living in DC, because the average family in DC is working with considerably less. Do you really think that DC restaurants are full of the wealthiest 1%? There are so many shows and events here that you can experience for free or very little.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the PP. I'm a single mom to one school aged child. I make around $50K per year and I feel well off. We have enough to eat, we live in a safe home, my son goes to a great public school, I have enough to pay all of my bills. Yet someone else would say someone earning $50K can't possibly live well in this area. We can and we do.

Are you planning to live on social security in retirement?

Not the PP, but same demographics on just under 70K a year. I feel the same. I have a pension, save 15% towards retirement (plus match), and mortgage will be paid off the year my little one hits undergrad. I'll be 44. Can retire at 50. Live in DC and love our place. I probably eat out and travel more than the average person on DCUM. Childcare costs are $0, mortgage is super low, SL debt is nearly paid off and $60/month. My ex and I stagger our schedules to avoid before/aftercare fees.

Okay, I'm game. How much do you spend per month, or however you track it, on travel and eating out?

Eating out, probably $300-400/month. Would cost more, but I'm also dating (so not always paying) and guy friends often will cover me. Eating in is cheap for us as we eat beans/rice/veggies for at least one meal per day (vegetarian household). Travel is tricky...I travel often for work and tack on personal travel to a business trip or use miles/points for personal trips. For instance, I just travelled from DC to the Dominican Republic to Los Angeles (business/first class for those legs) and back to DC and paid about $180 out of pocket earlier this weekend. Rental and hotel was out of pocket. This past weekend, I took a Chinatown bus up to NYC for the weekend. Paid $50 for the bus and $20 for subway fare and stayed with a friend. I have other international trips lined up that come with free lodging (have friends there). When we lived abroad, I would provide a free room and my car to friends and family. FYI, this is why I often eat and travel for less as people love to return the favor. Travel probably costs me about 5K a year (travel expenses only). Tickets to Panama and Costa Rica can be had for $250-350. I tend to do the Caribbean/Latin America trips with DC in tow as its easier to find two cheap flights and fly further solo. I paid $800 the less time we flew to South America for both of our flights in May.

[Anonymous]

I meant earlier this month for the DR trip. NYC was this past weekend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a family of 4 with 2 kids under 5, and we spend on average about $11k a month.

WOW!!! Seriously? We spend about $4k and I think we're well off.

You aren't.

Yes, we are. We have everything we need and then some. You need a reality check if you can't understand that. Take a good hard look at the people you see every day and how they live. We have a nice house and a nice car and food in the fridge, heating and shelter, clothes on our backs, regular vacations, books and toys for the kids. Just because you are extravagant and don't understand the value of money doesn't make you "better" than someone who knows what it means.

Our HHI is about $90k and that is a LOT of money. It truly is. I am grateful for what we have and that we are not struggling.

We save more than 90K a year. Different scale of living.

What do you want a medal? Perhaps you should give some thought to your position of extreme privilege rather than brag about your lack of understand about how normal (relatively well off) people live. We are not poor by ANY stretch of the imagination and it's insulting to people who really are poor to suggest that we are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the PP. I'm a single mom to one school aged child. I make around $50K per year and I feel well off. We have enough to eat, we live in a safe home, my son goes to a great public school, I have enough to pay all of my bills. Yet someone else would say someone earning $50K can't possibly live well in this area. We can and we do.

To me, living well is going on vacation, buying new clothes, having money to go out to dinner and shows, and contributing to charitable causes important to us.

Yeah, I do all that (not shows though, not sure what you mean by that, though I can certainly afford $20 at the 930 club a couple of times a month if I was still into that), and I do it on a little over $90k a year. Plus overseas vacations, activities for the kids etc. A sizeable amount of our $1k a month food budget is on eating out ($3-400). I am very comfortable on our current income. I simply CANNOT fathom what people are blithely spending $10k plus on. It is beyond my comprehension that people can be so wasteful and extravagant and judgmental. WE are very lucky. I know that we have much more income than MANY in DC and I appreciate it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, we're counting on our kids being smart or athletic. The athletic part is probably a bust given their parents, so they'll just have to be smart!

When you have a higher HHI, your kids can be as smart as you want, you're still not going to get aid (other than loans). You're sort of in the HHI sweet spot for being able to get aid.

Oh, boo hoo, poor little rich kids.
Have you ever heard of merit scholarships?

Do the top twenty five schools for undergrad generally give merit scholarships?

who cares about the top schools? what about state schools and smaller privates. why do you HAVE to have a top 25 school? if that is important to you - than at least don't come crying to dcum about how much you are paying for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the PP. I'm a single mom to one school aged child. I make around $50K per year and I feel well off. We have enough to eat, we live in a safe home, my son goes to a great public school, I have enough to pay all of my bills. Yet someone else would say someone earning $50K can't possibly live well in this area. We can and we do.

To me, living well is going on vacation, buying new clothes, having money to go out to dinner and shows, and contributing to charitable causes important to us.

Yeah, I do all that (not shows though, not sure what you mean by that, though I can certainly afford $20 at the 930 club a couple of times a month if I was still into that), and I do it on a little over $90k a year. Plus overseas vacations, activities for the kids etc. A sizeable amount of our $1k a month food budget is on eating out ($3-400). I am very comfortable on our current income. I simply CANNOT fathom what people are blithely spending $10k plus on. It is beyond my comprehension that people can be so wasteful and extravagant and judgmental. WE are very lucky. I know that we have much more income than MANY in DC and I appreciate it.

I am with you on a HHI of 85K. We are just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, we're counting on our kids being smart or athletic. The athletic part is probably a bust given their parents, so they'll just have to be smart!

When you have a higher HHI, your kids can be as smart as you want, you're still not going to get aid (other than loans). You're sort of in the HHI sweet spot for being able to get aid.

Oh, boo hoo, poor little rich kids.
Have you ever heard of merit scholarships?

Do the top twenty five schools for undergrad generally give merit scholarships?

Yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the PP. I'm a single mom to one school aged child. I make around $50K per year and I feel well off. We have enough to eat, we live in a safe home, my son goes to a great public school, I have enough to pay all of my bills. Yet someone else would say someone earning $50K can't possibly live well in this area. We can and we do.

To me, living well is going on vacation, buying new clothes, having money to go out to dinner and shows, and contributing to charitable causes important to us.

You can still do all of those things on a smaller HHI when you're not paying 5-10k in childcare and SL costs or paying 3k for a mortgage (let's not get on private school). I've been to 3 countries so far in 2014 and the West Coast, have paid tuition costs for a child in a developing country for the 2013-14 school year, and eat out regularly. I don't make anywhere near 100k. If I lost my job, I could wait tables in the meantime and cover my bills. I totally get why taking home 10-15K feels necessary to some. We're upper middle class when we live abroad and there's definitely a different cost for everything once you're in that bubble. We "had" to do private, dance lessons were more than we'd pay in the US but they were essential, we needed a driver/nanny/housekeeper, we were too busy to shop for deals on produce so it was easier to shop in expat friendly locations, etc.

In truth, your average DCUMer moved to the DC area as an adult and bought into the belief that one can only live in Upper NW/Bethesda/McLean/Cap Hiil or its unsafe, that private schools are a must, etc. Some of us are just pointing out that some of you made lifestyle choices that make it necessary to take home such a high HHI. It's NOT simply living in DC, because the average family in DC is working with considerably less. Do you really think that DC restaurants are full of the wealthiest 1%? There are so many shows and events here that you can experience for free or very little.

+1000!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. I am a teacher and have a sizable chunk of my salary put in a pension. I also have money taken out and put into a 401K.

Are you the teacher making $50K a year? How much do you live on after contributing to your pension and 401(k)?

After all of that, I probably take home $28K or so per year. Our vacation is to visit relatives most of the time. I don't need to spend a lot of money on fluff. Living well to me means something different to other people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, we're counting on our kids being smart or athletic. The athletic part is probably a bust given their parents, so they'll just have to be smart!

When you have a higher HHI, your kids can be as smart as you want, you're still not going to get aid (other than loans). You're sort of in the HHI sweet spot for being able to get aid.

Oh, boo hoo, poor little rich kids.
Have you ever heard of merit scholarships?

Do the top twenty five schools for undergrad generally give merit scholarships?

Yes.

No they don't. The Ivies only give need based undergrad scholarships while Stanford gives out need based and 300 athletic scholarships per year for Olympic caliber athletes and people like Tiger Woods.

If you want merit scholarships, stick with public schools or apply to private foundations that give them out. The top 25 schools are almost all need based.