Reply to Income 100k for 35 year old is working poor

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I believe he means that "Internet, TV, Student loans, VA Dominon Power, Cell Phone" are  $500/monthly total, and that he uses his credit card to pay for "FOOD, GAS, Metro, Drinks, going out, Door Dash" which totals $2K/month.

What's not clear is whether he's using the credit card to get points or some other rebate, etc and paying it off each month, or if those are actually costs he's carrying month to month on his credit card.

Is that a correct interpretation, OP?
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Pretty sure the credit card is for gas, groceries, entertainment etc. Not carrying cost on a balance. I pay for everything by credit to to get the points and pay off the balance every month. I also pay my utilities and phone bills by credit. As a single I easily spend 2,000 a month on the card just for everyday living. [/quote]

Assuming that , $2K does not include rent/mortgage, that's great for you, but you are a rich spender. It's certainly not essential to having a rewarding middle class life as a single. [/quote]

This is the poster you're responding to. Out of the 2k a month on credit card this is how it breaks down, typically:

800ish for groceries etc
300 for gas / commuting costs / parking on the days I go into the office
170 for internet + phone
100 for utilities, higher in winter, lower in summer, so 100 is average
100 for pet expenditures, either pet food or a once / twice yearly pet vet visit averaged out
100 a month for social F&B, the rare lunch out with a friend, a takeway one night because I've been busy/tired, a drink at a happy hour after work once in a blue moon. I rarely eat out specifically to save money.
70 for gym membership

That's up to about 1650. But there's always something else every month, like this month is a plumber's bill. Next month is installing a new kitchen fan to replace the one that broke. Little things that come up and which can't be planned for but still happen.

You seem pretty clueless if you think this is "rich spending."

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$800 on groceries for one person a month? Stop going to Whole Paycheck? Also yes, obviously if OP is renting they are doing home maintenance. The OP and you both seem pretty clueless about what working poor means.[/quote]

I'm not the OP and I wouldn't say OP is "working poor" which clearly raised some hackles. At the same time OP isn't living extravagantly either.

800 a month for groceries inclusive of cleaning supplies is not wildly unrealistic either.  Now, I do have the option of spending 800 a month on groceries and household supplies because I am not poor like some of you must be. Which is great. But I definitely watch what I spend and do not eat extravagantly. So I have sympathy for OP. There is only so much he can scale back on to save extra money without life becoming unbearable. He needs to find a higher paying job to keep up. [/quote]

$800/month for groceries including cleaning supplies for one person is certainly a lot. He has a lot to scale back on from his casual mention of Door Dash. You both need a reality check.[/quote]

Maybe if you are poor, which you must be. In my case I don't need to nickle and dime myself into a miserable life so I can shave $100 off the food budget and eat nothing but rice and beans.

You're telling OP to save money by acting as if he is poor. I suppose that's one way of doing it but it is pretty miserable. But I guess he does have the option.

But it will be easier to find a better paying job than being miserable in a basement studio eating rice and beans. 
[/quote]

Yes poor people eat $700 a month per person of rice and beans. That is the definition of poor.

You and OP are having a difficult time acknowledging [b]you live beyond your means[/b], and both of your means are in no sense of the word poor.

[/quote]

I imagine for a poor person on the spectrum happily living in a basement studio, everyone else is living beyond their means. OP is not incurring debt, so he can't be living beyond his means. He's not saving as much as he hopes to, which is different from living beyond his means. Your attitude is not one of frugality, it's one of being poor with no money, or living like someone with no money. If you are the person who boasted about never making more than 40k in your life, I can see where your experiences are coming from. You haven't figured out the opportunity costs of some of the advice given to OP, which is telling him to have no social life and not to enjoy any of life's little pleasures.

I do agree, as I have always made clear, that there is scope for cutting back on spending in the form of takeaways and doordash. But other than those things his expenditures are not unrealistic nor extravagant for a single person in his mid 30s trying to have a decent life with some comforts in the DC area, in other words, a middle class existence. He is a working stiff in a high cost region and 100k isn't what it was 10 years ago. He rents, so he didn't benefit from buying a house 10 years ago the way some of you did. He's single so he doesn't benefit from the economies of scale that comes from a relationship, affecting both household expenses and groceries. The best real advice given to OP is to find a higher paying job. That's how people get ahead, not by being superfrugal.

[/quote]

Bet if he shopped he could cut that car insurance in half.  Could also save money on the phone bill with Mint Mobile.  Finally cut cable and get Netflix/Hulu and maybe one other package like HBO would also save a decent amount.  In total a few hundred dollars of savings from these painless cuts.

A little more effort but I think the food bill could be trimmed easily too.[/quote]

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