Reply to Support a family of 4 on $55k/year

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[quote=Anonymous]my fiance and I are in our late 20's/early 30's and both originated from the group-house-art-school-coffee-shop-as-career way of living, which I think is probably much, much different from those who live in DC working in law/government/politics and have established careers and a more financially-cushy/secure way of life.  But it goes to show that different lifestyles have different priorities and what constitutes "getting by" for some people is actually a perfectly happy and manageable way of life for others.  It really is a matter of individual circumstance, and individual priorities.

we started our family working at coffee shops and doggie daycares.  We weren't able to make it work financially for me to go BACK to work so we decided I'd stay at home for a year (so, yes, our situation is temporary, which does make a difference).  My fiance makes about $32k a year at his main job, and works two weekend shifts at a side job.  The money he makes at his side job goes to pay student loans/cheap lunches out during the week.

We were lucky to find a $1,400/mo 1.5 bedroom apartment in a great neighborhood convenient to groceries, buses, metro, and Target.  We pay about $200/mo for utilities and cell phones/internet and don't have cable (we pay for Netflix and Hulu streaming).  We try not to go on outings that cost money, but for us, a fun outing is driving out to the 'burbs and browsing thrift stores or going to parks, anyway.  We recently acquired an old paid-off car from his parents so that'll be some additional money to pay for insurance but I'm not sure how much that'll be yet.  Myself and the baby have Medicaid (had to get it because my private BCBS insurance did not cover pregnancy) but the baby is on his father's insurance and I still pay for my BCBS until we get married this summer, so we use the paid-for insurance for regular doctor's appointments and have the Medicaid in case of emergencies.  We spend about $300-400 a month on groceries - buying organic meat and produce weekly from the farmer's market and shopping sales at the grocery stores/shopping at the cheap local bodegas for the other staples.  We qualify for WIC but opted not to use it.  We meal plan and I cook everything from scratch and we use/eat all the leftovers in subsequent meals or lunches.  The baby is just starting to really get into solids, but I'm making all of his foods from what we usually have on hand anyway.  We each get one take-out "point" a month for when we don't want to cook, and we usually use that "point" at our favorite local taco place where it costs less than $20 for both of us to be stuffed full of deliciousness.  We cloth diaper and have a free laundry facility in our apartment so we don't spend any money on that.  Our incidentals/toiletries are included in our grocery budget but since we're dirty hippies we use mostly homemade cleaners and not much product on our bodies.  We don't go on "real" vacation - but we do visit our families (2 hours away) frequently throughout the year, and that only costs the amount of gas.

We have about $14k in savings which is not a LOT and we are not contributing to it currently, but we are also not taking from it, which is the important part.

basically, for us, we DON'T feel like we're missing out on life's little luxuries because we can't afford to have a date night, or hire a housecleaner, or pick up a $5 latte on a whim.  sure, would it be TOTALLY AWESOME to be able to do that?  yes, and i was in fact lamenting at target the other day when i was debating whether or not i should treat myself to a $12 sunhat i've been eyeing all spring since it was finally on sale, the fact that pre-pregnancy i used to be able to plop a bunch of money into savings and then still buy whatever i wanted and still have money left at the end of the month, and not have to justify a measly twelve dollars.  but right now we are truly happy buying a $12 four-pack of dogfish head beer and cooking a "fancy" dinner of roast chicken and potatoes and paying $3 to watch a new-ish movie on zune that feels like a big splurge to us.

so, just some perspective that not being able to throw money around does not necessarily make for a "miserable existence".  yes, i wish we had more, and yes, it is hard to have a social life in this city without extra spending money, but it is perfectly doable to live a happy life here without it.

(i just read over what i wrote & realized i might come off as a big "crunchy" snob, but i really didnt mean that.  just wanted to point out the ways we make our lifestyle work with less money after one of the previous posters said that it would be a miserable existence with no dinners out and no fun activities)[/quote]

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