Reply to If you make <36,000 or >81,000, You Aren't Middle Class. Or "Upper" Middle Class.

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Reply to "If you make <36,000 or >81,000, You Aren't Middle Class. Or "Upper" Middle Class. "

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Cost of living plays a huge role in this.  For the same consumer basket (your weekly grocery cart, for example, plus utilities, housing etc.) you pay a lot less in some parts of the country and a lot more in others. [/quote]

There are COL adjusters for every part of the country. I live in Illinois. We make 100k a year and live like kings here. In DC, that's equivalent to 168k. It's not middle class in Illinois and it's not middle class in DC either. http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/cost-of-living/index.html[/quote]

Are we talking about a single person or a family?  Well, you can speak for Illinois, but nobody with a family of 4 is living like a king in DC on $168K.  Between housing, groceries and daycare, you'd be lucky to be able to fund your 401K.[/quote]

Daycare is temporary, and there are alternatives like [b]SAH parenting[/b]--I know; we just finished 2 years of SAH. Groceries are highly flexible. Housing can be solved by simply moving farther away from the most expensive parts of a city. None of this is magic, but it does require making sacrifices. Living like a king to me doesn't mean flying around in my private helicopter while eating caviar; it simply means being able to afford anything we *need* while being able to spend money on fun within the borders of our income. If your definition requires more income than you have, then no, you'll never feel like a king, but perpetually like a pauper.[/quote]

So forgoing two years of salary is cheaper than daycare? Maybe you don't make much but most of us it is more expensive even at $50k/year job

Moving further away costs a LOT in fuel, time, and health (hours in the car) -- additionally exurbs have seen stagnation while close in suburbs have appreciated sharply.

So your only worthwhile suggestion is groceries, which probably means shopping st multiple stores and cutting coupons and spending loads of time , probably better to get s tutoring job or something.

[/quote]

All of these suggestions are worthwhile; you just don't find them worth making in your life situation. So live with your choices, but don't pretend there aren't others. No one is forcing you to live in your current circumstances, right?[/quote]

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