How do you make ends meet on 130k?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. To clarify, I got back to work next month. I have interviews and just need to let the hiring process work. Childcare is necessary when I am working. I am hoping for 70K starting out--if I can get to 80 that would be awesome but I think I will be lucky to start out at 70. So our income is going to go up substantially in a month. I can work while finishing the last requirements of my grad degree, which was fully funded with a good stipend until I had kids.

I double checked with our take home and that is what it is. I thought it was odd too to be honest with you.

All of this advice is good and I am hopeful we can get back on our feet again.

How much of a tax return did you get last year? Presumably it was pretty large with that mortgage and two dependents. I would add your refund back into your monthly income or, even better, reconfigure your withholdings.

I assume you're using a dependent care FSA? If so, that's coming out of your gross pay so, for budget purposes, you should add that back in as income ($400 a month).

You can't use the dependent care FSA if both parents aren't working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. To clarify, I got back to work next month. I have interviews and just need to let the hiring process work. Childcare is necessary when I am working. I am hoping for 70K starting out--if I can get to 80 that would be awesome but I think I will be lucky to start out at 70. So our income is going to go up substantially in a month. I can work while finishing the last requirements of my grad degree, which was fully funded with a good stipend until I had kids.

I double checked with our take home and that is what it is. I thought it was odd too to be honest with you.

All of this advice is good and I am hopeful we can get back on our feet again.

How much of a tax return did you get last year? Presumably it was pretty large with that mortgage and two dependents. I would add your refund back into your monthly income or, even better, reconfigure your withholdings.

I assume you're using a dependent care FSA? If so, that's coming out of your gross pay so, for budget purposes, you should add that back in as income ($400 a month).

You can't use the dependent care FSA if both parents aren't working.

I'm not sure that's right.

http://www.ebcflex.com/Menu/Resources/NewsCenter/tabid/1142/ArticleID/413/12-Things-You-Didn%E2%80%99t-Know-About-the-Dependent-Care-FSA.aspx

Although, I'm not finding support for that position in the IRS pubs although they do treat going to school full time as having "earning income."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. To clarify, I got back to work next month. I have interviews and just need to let the hiring process work. Childcare is necessary when I am working. I am hoping for 70K starting out--if I can get to 80 that would be awesome but I think I will be lucky to start out at 70. So our income is going to go up substantially in a month. I can work while finishing the last requirements of my grad degree, which was fully funded with a good stipend until I had kids.

I double checked with our take home and that is what it is. I thought it was odd too to be honest with you.

All of this advice is good and I am hopeful we can get back on our feet again.

Check around for cheaper childcare prices. You are just estimating at this point, right, since you are not actually working yet?

Yea I still don't get it. You have to childcare before the job but you're not including your income?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do one of the "buy nothing" months. Eat from your pantry / frig, go as long as you can without buying extra food, toiletries, etc.. for that month. Even if you only do this a couple of months a year, the savings add up.

How much crap do you have that you can live off your pantry for a MONTH. Yeah I do that for a week but by the end of the week I'm eating canned tuna and our pantry is bare....

I'm not PP, but we can go a lot longer than a week on a pantry clean out! We always have a zillion single chicken breasts that we froze (I usually throw those in the crockpot) and a dozen partial bags of frozen vegetables. I do supplement with fresh fruit and vegetables, though.

Yeah, I probably have a couple of months of food in my pantry. Honestly, I find that to be important/comforting as I grew up poor. Just knowing that food is there if we need it helps reduce my anxiety. I also buy in bulk when I see something on super sale. I am not one of those people with a basement full of food, but my pantry is always pretty stuffed (and it is large!) Plus, I have a lot of preserved food from canning -- most fruits and veggies are only in season for a short time, so you have to make a year's supply if you want home-produced food to last you until next year. I have enough things like jams and applesauce, apple butter to last a year and give as Christmas gifts.

OK that makes more sense. My pantry has never been like that- we can make it like a week before things get pretty bare and are left with just instant mashed potatoes . I do have some frozen veggies that your post inspires me to work into a meal though.

My HHI is a lot higher than the OP's and my kitchen/house is t big enough to buy in bulk and I don't have a pantry. I think the people posting this stuff live far outside of the beltway, or in Kansas maybe. Close living in D.C. Does not come with a pantry at $130k per year.

I think you're interpreting "pantry" a little too literally. I get what you're saying - I just got an in-kitchen pantry last year when we moved, and I'm not close in at all. But, when we lived close-in, we had a freezer stash of partial frozen veggie bags as referenced above and a food supply that would last more than a week (though a month would require creativity and a willingness to ignore normal food pairings/meal planning guidelines), even if it was in bins in the front hall closet in one place and in a narrow Ikea Billy cabinet with doors added when we got a slightly larger galley kitchen. We weren't hoarding, but we wouldn't be starving through a snowstorm either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. To clarify, I got back to work next month. I have interviews and just need to let the hiring process work. Childcare is necessary when I am working. I am hoping for 70K starting out--if I can get to 80 that would be awesome but I think I will be lucky to start out at 70. So our income is going to go up substantially in a month. I can work while finishing the last requirements of my grad degree, which was fully funded with a good stipend until I had kids.

I double checked with our take home and that is what it is. I thought it was odd too to be honest with you.

All of this advice is good and I am hopeful we can get back on our feet again.

Check around for cheaper childcare prices. You are just estimating at this point, right, since you are not actually working yet?

Yea I still don't get it. You have to childcare before the job but you're not including your income?

OP here. I have had childcare for the past few month because I am writing a dissertation. You can't take care of kids and write at the samw time. I tried it and it was a disaster. Childcare is a complete necesity.

[Anonymous]

If it makes you feel better OP, we have $2.5 million a year HHI, and we are literally living paycheck to paycheck. Everything is so expensive in DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. To clarify, I got back to work next month. I have interviews and just need to let the hiring process work. Childcare is necessary when I am working. I am hoping for 70K starting out--if I can get to 80 that would be awesome but I think I will be lucky to start out at 70. So our income is going to go up substantially in a month. I can work while finishing the last requirements of my grad degree, which was fully funded with a good stipend until I had kids.

I double checked with our take home and that is what it is. I thought it was odd too to be honest with you.

All of this advice is good and I am hopeful we can get back on our feet again.

Check around for cheaper childcare prices. You are just estimating at this point, right, since you are not actually working yet?

Yea I still don't get it. You have to childcare before the job but you're not including your income?

OP here. I have had childcare for the past few month because I am writing a dissertation. You can't take care of kids and write at the samw time. I tried it and it was a disaster. Childcare is a complete necesity.

Ok it seems like you have more of a childcare problem than a making ends meet problem. I think you've got yourself into a unique situation trying to go back to work with two still in daycare. I think you hoped throwing money you didn't have at the problem ($3,600 a month). Instead, in the ideal world your husband should've explained to his boss that he needed later hours for 3 months. You should get up and leave the house at 6am and go work on your dissertation in a library. He should take the kids to part time care, who you then pick up around lunch. You put them down for a nap and have a couple hours to prepare a quick dinner. Your husband gets evenings to relax, but you alternate bedtime duty.

But once you work you're really just another D.C. Couple complaining that 200k is middle class, of which there are plenty on this forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. To clarify, I got back to work next month. I have interviews and just need to let the hiring process work. Childcare is necessary when I am working. I am hoping for 70K starting out--if I can get to 80 that would be awesome but I think I will be lucky to start out at 70. So our income is going to go up substantially in a month. I can work while finishing the last requirements of my grad degree, which was fully funded with a good stipend until I had kids.

I double checked with our take home and that is what it is. I thought it was odd too to be honest with you.

All of this advice is good and I am hopeful we can get back on our feet again.

Check around for cheaper childcare prices. You are just estimating at this point, right, since you are not actually working yet?

Yea I still don't get it. You have to childcare before the job but you're not including your income?

OP here. I have had childcare for the past few month because I am writing a dissertation. You can't take care of kids and write at the samw time. I tried it and it was a disaster. Childcare is a complete necesity.

No it isn't. I know plenty of people who got their PHDs without having to outsource child care full time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it makes you feel better OP, we have $2.5 million a year HHI, and we are literally living paycheck to paycheck. Everything is so expensive in DMV.

That's sad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it makes you feel better OP, we have $2.5 million a year HHI, and we are literally living paycheck to paycheck. Everything is so expensive in DMV.

That's sad

I think that is a troll. Otherwise they are doing rich wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it makes you feel better OP, we have $2.5 million a year HHI, and we are literally living paycheck to paycheck. Everything is so expensive in DMV.

That's sad

I think that is a troll. Otherwise they are doing rich wrong.

Yep, completely wrong. I'd be happy to take over budgeting for a percentage management fee...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it makes you feel better OP, we have $2.5 million a year HHI, and we are literally living paycheck to paycheck. Everything is so expensive in DMV.

That's sad

Also not possible unless you are incredibly financially irresponsible . The DMV is not that expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it makes you feel better OP, we have $2.5 million a year HHI, and we are literally living paycheck to paycheck. Everything is so expensive in DMV.

You must be feeding an army.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. To clarify, I got back to work next month. I have interviews and just need to let the hiring process work. Childcare is necessary when I am working. I am hoping for 70K starting out--if I can get to 80 that would be awesome but I think I will be lucky to start out at 70. So our income is going to go up substantially in a month. I can work while finishing the last requirements of my grad degree, which was fully funded with a good stipend until I had kids.

I double checked with our take home and that is what it is. I thought it was odd too to be honest with you.

All of this advice is good and I am hopeful we can get back on our feet again.

Check around for cheaper childcare prices. You are just estimating at this point, right, since you are not actually working yet?

Yea I still don't get it. You have to childcare before the job but you're not including your income?

OP here. I have had childcare for the past few month because I am writing a dissertation. You can't take care of kids and write at the samw time. I tried it and it was a disaster. Childcare is a complete necesity.

But not full time, and not at $3600 a month. No way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it makes you feel better OP, we have $2.5 million a year HHI, and we are literally living paycheck to paycheck. Everything is so expensive in DMV.

You must be feeding an army.

That's a troll. Comes on every thread complaining that $2 million a year (so, $150,000+ a MONTH) is middle class. If you believe her, that means she makes more in two weeks what the average family makes in a year. Paycheck to paycheck....riiiiiiight.