Reply to How do households live on less than 100k a year?

Forum Index » Money and Finances

Reply to "How do households live on less than 100k a year?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We have $100k with 3 kids in Arlington. It's not terrible at all.

-We live in a small house rental but also own a small condo in College Park that DH lived in and paid off before we met.
-Vacations 1-2x year within driving distance, renting a cottage in the country for a few days. More often day trips like yesterday to Luray Caverns + dinner at a diner.
-Food is never Aldi. To get the good stuff but within out budget, I buy heirloom beans, grains, spices, meats from smaller suppliers - Rancho Gordo, Anson Mills, Polyface Farms. 
-Clothes for kids only well made bought on end of season sale, mostly Hannan Anderson and Tea because convenient to be on their mailing lists and just wait. DH and I dress less well but I won't have my kids mistreated for looking poor.
-For recreation, cheap hobbies - exploring local parks, gardening, trips to little regional museums, etc.
-Older daughter takes 6 extracurriculars (1 sport + 4 arts, reading tutor) to supplement what I think is bland APS
-old car fully paid of with regular maintenance

I've no idea how but we live within budget. No debt, credit card set to auto-pay the balance in full monthly. Somehow we have enough cash for car repairs and legal emergencies. I've no idea how it's some kind of math magic. But so far so good.

[/quote]

Do you eat out at restaurants? Do beauty treatments? Hair color? Lasers? Does your husband have a watch? Where do YOU get your clothing from? No is no equivalent to $10 high end adult clothes. What are your ages and what do you present as in person?  Something is missing here. [/quote]

I’m a different poster, but also live in Arlington with kid. The adult equivalent for decent quality clothes at Hanna/Tea sale prices is J Crew Factory or Banana Republic Factory. If you maintain your weight, adults don’t need new clothes very often. My husband needs 1 new pair of pants , a pair of jeans, a button down shirt and a polo shirt annually - all from J crew factory on sale. Throw in some socks, boxers, and undershirts from Target every 2-3 years. If you are a mom in Arlington, you can dress in Lulu and Boden for minimal investment if you shop at Blossom and Buds consignment or are active in BuyNothing. Mh BuyNothing group has posted things like a Burberry trench coat, a Farm Rio dress, and a Longchamp purse in the last 6 months. 
My HHI is considerably higher than $100k, but there are plenty of people in my circle who are probably close to 100k with an at-home parent of a divorced single parent. It is not odd to me for families to rarely eat out or for women to not dye their hair or have beauty treatments. I once had a friend “confide” in me that she spent $90 in a single trip to Sephora and she was embarrassed because she thought that was so foolish and extravagant! Her HHI is probably $250k. 
I think your line of questioning is odd. Only in DCUMland do all women get Botox and have salon died hair. All the dads I know wear Apple Watches. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics