Reply to 400k salary and creep factor we never really have much left

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We live a fairly modest lifestyle but with $400k salary and we do reasonable travel (not international or anything, like 4 star domestic trips, half drive half fly, public schools, just paid off cars but before payment was $600 a month, 567k mortgage balance (house worth 1.4 from appreciation), childcare is about $7k a year total, camps/activities for kids add up to several thousand but run of the mill team stuff… What’s the thing that had the biggest impact for everyone on just cutting down on spending? We spend on everything! A lot is charity, at least $15k a year for that and then it seems like endless other expenses and emergency expenses related to kids, pets and home. Advice needed. I would love to be more meaningful with our money and at least have something more to show for it like doing an amazing trip every year. [/quote]

$400k household income is now middle class (unless you're single with no kids).  Been this way for a while.[/quote]
That's a misunderstanding of what, in the past, middle class families were like. Middle class families budgeted their monthly spending. They had to eat all their leftovers to make the grocery budget stretch for the week. They sometimes had to delay paying bills. They had to save for years before going on vacation. Clothes needed to be mended because there was no money to buy new replacements. OP doesn’t experience any of that, neither do I, but I would never call myself midfle class.[/quote]

This. People seem to think being middle class means being able to afford everything you want. It doesn’t. I grew up middle class. People drove to the OBX and rented an old beach house 1 week a year. Nobody flew. Nobody had leather in their cars or new kitchens. A dead fridge needing replacement was a major expense. Kids didn’t go to pricey camps and definitely didn’t go to private college, and almost everyone had loans even for state college. Our retired parents still live in the family home (that is still not renovated) and don’t “snowbird” or taking Viking cruises in Europe.

THAT is middle class, regardless of what DCUM thinks. [/quote]

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