Anonymous wrote:2000 square feet is not a "modest" home.

If you can't afford to furnish your home, stop buying furniture, even "slowly."

Stop eating out.

2 vacations/year is 2 more than many people have.

$200k is a helluva lot of money, but your expenses are high. If you want to continue to pay for daycare, then you'll have to cut back in other areas. That's all there is to it.

Did you come from the villages of africa?

The above is very modest in most of the country.

We make about 110 gross and are fine. Cars are 10 years old but paid off 2 in daycare. Live in a 2 BR townhouse condo. Buy our clothes on sale at dept stores. Don't eat out except occasional pizza, no organic (I grew up with crop dusting in the back yard- what's done is done), vacations to visit family, limited 529s, work at a job w/ defined benefit pension. We have an ok savings- about 20k, and just don't spend money. I'd love to have a SFH around here, but it's not happening. I'll live.

Anonymous wrote:I imagine people "get by" by doing a variety of things such as

--Don't save or don't save as much for retirement
--Rely on family for babysitting if both parents work
--Don't save or don't save as much for college
--Buy really old cars, like cars from the mid 2000s or earlier
--Have one car, instead of two
--Don't buy organic fruits and vegetables, or buy more frozen vegetables than fresh
--Rent rather than buy, and live in spaces smaller than 2000 square feet, like 2 BR condos and other arrangements that people on this board find not "family friendly" with their kids sharing rooms
--Don't go on vacations except maybe to visit family
--Don't live in the most desirable school zone
--Shop at thrift stores
--Possibly don't have health insurance if not provided by their job
--Constantly have a credit card balance
--Don't go out to eat
--Take advantage of sales for groceries and coupon

Wrong, wrong and wrong. I'm raising three kids on one income with the income you describe. We own our own home on the Hill so we have good school choices. I'm SAHM, so we carry NO credit card debt because it's too expensive. Yes, we only need one six-year-old car because DH walks to work, but when I return after the kids get older, I'll probably take metro. No we don't go out very often, and then we split the entree to save $$ and calories. He's a fed, so we have health insurance, a good retirement and a couple of car (not airplane) vacations yearly. Our veggies are frozen, fresh or organic, depending on our moods. Our parents are elderly, so I help ILs, rather than vice versa. They're not available for babysitting, as they're octogenarians, but since I stay at home, I can help out.

I never shop at thrift stores, although I do watch for specials at Macy's. I don't have time to clip coupons, but that's not a bad idea if you have the time.

We'd rent out the basement, but right now we're loaning the space to a friend in need. Perhaps when he's on his feet, that'll be a source of more income. When the kids are all old enough for middle school, I'll return to work and then we'll get closer to $200K. However, I love our lives now. The kids are cute, the schools are good, the museums are close. I may not take the family to Europe every summer, but I'm pretty lucky.

Here's my take: there are people who just lost long term unemployment benefits out there. They have real problems. DH and I have to tighten our belts to cover overspending during Xmas and to pay for a few new appliances, but we're lucky in love, so we'll be fine.

It's all in the way you look at life.

The discretionary portion of your budget is very high. You can get by on $2500/mo housing and $3500 (worst case) daycare for two. That's $72k/year. Another $2500 for food, utilities, everything else should be sufficient. That's $102k/year which leaves you plenty of savings on your income.

Sorry OP- just can't feel sorry for you....single Mom of two toddlers working full time, making less than $ 80K, but at least great benefits.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, i feel ya. We make a combined $185k and barely make ends meet. We are both 42 have only $8k in savings (besides 401ks, which we don't max out because we cannot afford to). 2 kids in public school. Once a year vacation at a family beach house for which we pay $2k, and can't even do our share this year. We drive 2 old cars, and have a $450k mortgage on an 1800 sq ft home and some student loans. Each kid has a whopping $1500 in their college fund. We rarely eat out, havent hired a babysitter for about a year. i never buy anything that is not on sale, etc. Something's gotta give, just not sure what it will be.

Is there some expense you're not disclosing? For not having any daycare expenses, I'm not sure how you all are "barely making ends meet" on $185k. Sorry, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's not making sense. Do you pay thousands/month in student loans?

I am guessing that this takes up a huge chunk of their income every month.

Idk, wouldn't most of you DCUMers say that a 450k mortgage on a $185k salary is pretty conservative?

2000 square feet is not a "modest" home.

If you can't afford to furnish your home, stop buying furniture, even "slowly."

Stop eating out.

2 vacations/year is 2 more than many people have.

$200k is a helluva lot of money, but your expenses are high. If you want to continue to pay for daycare, then you'll have to cut back in other areas. That's all there is to it.

Anonymous wrote:I've been tracking our household expenses for a few months and just dont kniw how other families with 2 dc in daycare survive making under 200k. I don't feel we spend extravagantly at all. We have two used toyotas the newest is 4 years old. We have a modest 2000sqft house, still furnishing the house slowly, go on 2 vacations a year somewhere on the east coast, eat out maybe 1-2x a week, buy whats necessary for clothing... I do try to buy a lot of organic foods to cook. For the year, we easily spend 130k, which is 200k+ a year gross. How do families in this area survive on less?

Less expensive housing.
Older cars.
0-1 vacations.
No eating out.

You may not be spending extravagantly but you are spending, often. People with less spend less.

There have been a number of past threads in the finance forum where people of all different incomes post their monthly budgets. OP may find it interesting to see how different people "survive" on smaller budgets.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, i feel ya. We make a combined $185k and barely make ends meet. We are both 42 have only $8k in savings (besides 401ks, which we don't max out because we cannot afford to). 2 kids in public school. Once a year vacation at a family beach house for which we pay $2k, and can't even do our share this year. We drive 2 old cars, and have a $450k mortgage on an 1800 sq ft home and some student loans. Each kid has a whopping $1500 in their college fund. We rarely eat out, havent hired a babysitter for about a year. i never buy anything that is not on sale, etc. Something's gotta give, just not sure what it will be.

Is there some expense you're not disclosing? For not having any daycare expenses, I'm not sure how you all are "barely making ends meet" on $185k. Sorry, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's not making sense. Do you pay thousands/month in student loans?

I am guessing that this takes up a huge chunk of their income every month.

If childcare is so expensive, and you are in a two parent household, why doesn't one just stay home with the kids? I don't get the issue. Otherwise, quit whinning about how expensive it is. We all make life decisions we have to live with. And I don't want to hear about insurance or college savings or retirement. If that is why you work, than childcare should be no problem for you to afford.

We make $200k and could "survive" on less. We would have one car, have a smaller house, live further out, not have both a nanny and part time preschool. We don't eat out (really, maybe 3 times a year), we would not buy organic, not max out our $401ks, not fund $800/month to our kids 529s, not max out our roths, and not save $800 every month.

Really, OP, stop eating out, and determine your budget. And stop feeling bad for yourself. Learn how to manage your money better.

Anonymous wrote:OP, i feel ya. We make a combined $185k and barely make ends meet. We are both 42 have only $8k in savings (besides 401ks, which we don't max out because we cannot afford to). 2 kids in public school. Once a year vacation at a family beach house for which we pay $2k, and can't even do our share this year. We drive 2 old cars, and have a $450k mortgage on an 1800 sq ft home and some student loans. Each kid has a whopping $1500 in their college fund. We rarely eat out, havent hired a babysitter for about a year. i never buy anything that is not on sale, etc. Something's gotta give, just not sure what it will be.

Is there some expense you're not disclosing? For not having any daycare expenses, I'm not sure how you all are "barely making ends meet" on $185k. Sorry, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's not making sense. Do you pay thousands/month in student loans?

I make around $50K as a single parent with one child who is school aged. I trade childcare with my neighbor who is a SAHM. She picks her son up at the bus stop after school and watches my son for 2 hrs or so. I babysit for their 2 kids most Saturday nights so they can have a date night. This way, I don't many childcare expenses. I pay $1300/month in rent (not everyone is a home owner). My car is a 2006 and still going strong. Occasionally, I carry a balance on my credit card but it is usually less than $500. I live a small life and I like it that way.

We make 120k, but both of our kids are in public school now.
We rent for 2000/month, have only one car payment, and don't save as much as we'd like, but we're fine. It's really not that hard. We don't go without anything that we need, and still have enough money to have fun and splurge once in a while.