Anonymous
Post 07/15/2012 08:37     Subject: How many of us make under 100K?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:DH and I combined make less than 80k. I'm a part time music teacher and he is just starting up the ladder at a newish job. We will have 2 in child care just after the start of the year and know it will be tough, but do able. Just wish housing wasn't so crazy expensive here.


I truly don't mean for this to come off snarky, so forgive me if it does, but wouldn't you do better to stop working and stay home than pay for two kids in daycare? I'm just trying to figure out how a part time music teacher salary would cover two young children in daycare.

Values, dear. Not everyone's are the same as yours.

Our family also makes under $100k, and I'm always struck at how many voices on DCUM tell us that our lifestyle is somehow impossible. Stepping in to give advice is a new low, though.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2012 08:36     Subject: How many of us make under 100K?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:DH and I combined make less than 80k. I'm a part time music teacher and he is just starting up the ladder at a newish job. We will have 2 in child care just after the start of the year and know it will be tough, but do able. Just wish housing wasn't so crazy expensive here.


I truly don't mean for this to come off snarky, so forgive me if it does, but wouldn't you do better to stop working and stay home than pay for two kids in daycare? I'm just trying to figure out how a part time music teacher salary would cover two young children in daycare.


Maybe she is thinking long term. Quitting is not always the best option. In a few years she could be FT making more, and child care expenses go down. Maybe she will get in a job with great benefits. That is great back up if her spouse loses his job down the road.

As for OP's question: our HHI is over 100K but I make $88K. DH makes slightly less than that.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2012 08:29     Subject: How many of us make under 100K?
Anonymous wrote:DH and I combined make less than 80k. I'm a part time music teacher and he is just starting up the ladder at a newish job. We will have 2 in child care just after the start of the year and know it will be tough, but do able. Just wish housing wasn't so crazy expensive here.


I truly don't mean for this to come off snarky, so forgive me if it does, but wouldn't you do better to stop working and stay home than pay for two kids in daycare? I'm just trying to figure out how a part time music teacher salary would cover two young children in daycare.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2012 08:25     Subject: How many of us make under 100K?
DH and I combined make less than 80k. I'm a part time music teacher and he is just starting up the ladder at a newish job. We will have 2 in child care just after the start of the year and know it will be tough, but do able. Just wish housing wasn't so crazy expensive here.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2012 08:21     Subject: Re:How many of us make under 100K?
We made about $90K combined when we bought our TH in 2003. I think it was closer to $100K when we added our child.

I personally have never broken $50K, and that is with 2 degrees. I currently work PT while my child is in school, and my husband just broke $100K at the age of 34, and we purchased a SFH last year using the proceeds of the sale of our TH for downpayment and renovations on a $455K home.

I feel like we lived better below $100K than we do now. But that is because we have a larger house payment and contribute after tax to retirement accounts and savings and such, so money seems to go quickly. We don't take vacations and we are trying to figure out how to come up with money to pay for a new roof and HVAC system. We would like to add another child, but it would be tight, unless we stopped doing our savings for a while.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2012 08:17     Subject: How many of us make under 100K?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I honestly don't know how you live here on that. We make twice that and I feel like it's a constant struggle. Color me impressed!


See, these comments baffle me. You're living in a different universe to me if you feel like you're struggling on over 140K.


np: I know how you feel that way, OP. When I made in the 70s, it was hard to comprehend, to. But people do tend to live up to their incomes, so it's not that uncommon to hear these complaints. I think the definition of "struggling" is different, however. People with higher incomes aren't really "struggling" to survive so much as "struggling" to have everything they want right now. Their choices aren't between say, food or the electric bill so much as between three summer camps for their children or a family vacation. They may also have tight liquid cash flow b/c while they are higher income, they also have higher fixed expenses (housing, cars). Yes, they could have chosen to have more more modest house or cars, but they didn't... So, not having that cash feels like a "struggle" even though they're perfectly well off.

This is me, anyway.


I'm the PP and nope, definitely struggling. But a lot of that is due to ~$300 per week for services for my ASD daughter and having to support my autistic brother off and on, which I know aren't common expenses. But the mortgage (v small house), student loans, and cost of living sure don't help!
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2012 08:16     Subject: How many of us make under 100K?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher- I will never make 100K.


Yes, but you get summers off and huge breaks throughout the year, not a bad deal really.


Plus teachers get amazing pensions. Actually a great deal.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2012 08:06     Subject: Re:How many of us make under 100K?
Am thrilled to have just gotten a raise to 49k. Total HHI is probably just over 100k but we struggle with 2 in daycare. Thank goodness our refi closes on Monday. We are ok though. Only house and a bit of student loan debt- but we shop at Target and a fancy dinner is dropping $50 bucks for the two of us. I'm still worlds above the way I grew up.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2012 07:48     Subject: How many of us make under 100K?
I make MUCH less than 100k (though career is on upswing), my DH makes 100k. Family of four. We have a condo and a pretty decent standard of living - of course, more $ would be nice. More vacations, more savings, etc.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2012 07:47     Subject: How many of us make under 100K?
Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher- I will never make 100K.


Yes, but you get summers off and huge breaks throughout the year, not a bad deal really.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2012 07:42     Subject: How many of us make under 100K?
I'm a teacher- I will never make 100K.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2012 07:00     Subject: How many of us make under 100K?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I honestly don't know how you live here on that. We make twice that and I feel like it's a constant struggle. Color me impressed!


See, these comments baffle me. You're living in a different universe to me if you feel like you're struggling on over 140K.


np: I know how you feel that way, OP. When I made in the 70s, it was hard to comprehend, to. But people do tend to live up to their incomes, so it's not that uncommon to hear these complaints. I think the definition of "struggling" is different, however. People with higher incomes aren't really "struggling" to survive so much as "struggling" to have everything they want right now. Their choices aren't between say, food or the electric bill so much as between three summer camps for their children or a family vacation. They may also have tight liquid cash flow b/c while they are higher income, they also have higher fixed expenses (housing, cars). Yes, they could have chosen to have more more modest house or cars, but they didn't... So, not having that cash feels like a "struggle" even though they're perfectly well off.

This is me, anyway.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2012 06:04     Subject: How many of us make under 100K?
Anonymous wrote:I honestly don't know how you live here on that. We make twice that and I feel like it's a constant struggle. Color me impressed!


See, these comments baffle me. You're living in a different universe to me if you feel like you're struggling on over 140K.
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2012 06:00     Subject: How many of us make under 100K?
I honestly don't know how you live here on that. We make twice that and I feel like it's a constant struggle. Color me impressed!
Anonymous
Post 07/15/2012 05:47     Subject: How many of us make under 100K?
We're a family of 4 with a HHI of 71K.

I suppose we're considered low income by DCUM standards.