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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP asked about how people budget their money with less than 200K HHI *and 2 kids in daycare* but half the respondents here have older kids or don't use daycare at all.  Daycare is a huge expense.  It would be nice to hear more responses from people who are actually in the circumstances OP describes.  [/quote]

We're in the same situation, or more accurately, will be in 6 months. We make just under 200k. Here are our general budget and we live in Alexandria.

Rent - just under 1800 for 2 bd condo (about 800 sq ft)
Childcare - currently $1150/month, will be $2300/month with two
Food - about 1k/month (we don't skimp on this - we eat organic, local through a farm share and eat mostly fresh produce, very little processed stuff)
Utilities - $80-150/month (a lot is included in rent)
Car - $400/month (= payment + insurance + gas)
Student loans - $500/month
Random shopping (clothes, sippy cups, household items) - $100-200/month

Retirement - we put away approx 10% if you include employer matching
529 savings - $750-1000/month
Saving up for a down payment - $2-2.5k/month

To OP's question, we survive by living in the burbs (though we're just across the Potomac, so my commute to work is quicker than many of my friends who live in the district), using a licensed in-home provider instead of a center for childcare, cooking from scratch, and not shopping. I get new clothes every 2-3 years and I don't wear designer labels. I don't go for weekly manicures, I do my own eyebrows, I get my haircut once or twice a year - basically I take it upon myself to look nice and presentable. I don't contract that out to professionals and over the years, I've found ways to make that work. I did take a make up/skincare class years ago, but I think anyone really can learn to do these things yourself and look just as nice as some one who's at the salon every week. For vacations - we pretty much just visit family because our families are spread far and wide. We usually do a mini 1-2 day vacation within the vacation to get our own time, but airfare really is the biggest expense in our travel budget. We stay with family and only have 2-3 nights a year in a hotel - for which, we use AirBnB. We also aren't plowing through our loans as quickly as we would if we were without childcare expenses, but we're not overwhelmed by it and we're making good progress, will finish them off well ahead of schedule. So it is what it is. At least we don't have credit card debt.

We started living a certain way when we got our first jobs out of grad school and we haven't really upped our lifestyle since then, even though our income has doubled, aside from going from 1 bd --> 2 bd and now paying for childcare. [/quote]

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