Yup. HHI 95k, two kids (one with SN) and me with Multiple Sclerosis. Our medical bills eat up everything we have.

I love this kind of thread b/c people seem real to me. Struggling thru life, just trying to survive... Most of DCUM threads seem fake (e.g., HHI of "only 500k") or, at least, I can't relate to.

Live on half your salary for a few years. And if that means living an extremely frugal life, so be it.

We did that when we were a young couple. We lived in a one room apartment in a safe but cheap area. Rarely ate out, had only one second-hand car, DH carpooled, we did not buy clothes etc unless necessary and lived on 30K, while having 42K HHI. Basically, we lived like how majority of college students live. Our furniture was second hand and most of our stuff was from salvation army.

When we reached a HHI of 75K (within 5 years of marriage), we saved 35K in one year and that was our down payment to our SFH worth 350K.

We have not looked back after that. We now have a HHI of 300K, and we still live on 120K a year. Our cost structure is very low because our mortgage is very low. We are the millionaire's next door. Our retirement, insurance, and college funds are top notch. My kids have got full ride on merit scholarships to college, and we have instilled in them the lesson to live below their means.

Well, not if you count my 5% to 401K and maybe 1% to the 529. I have a miniscule emergency fund that rarely gets added to as every penny (and sometimes more) goes to bills. Not a good situation, but it could be worse. Enjoying this thread since I hate to click on Money and Finance topics as I'm so much poorer than 95% of the people here.

Single mom with income well under 100K.

Anonymous wrote:I do not and this is the primary reason I don't own a home. I don't want to be living paycheck to paycheck. Rent is $700 a month cheaper than owning the same home and that does not include unexpected repairs.

You could deduct your mortgage interest as well as your taxes and state income tax. Out take home went up when we bought a house.

We lived paycheck to paycheck for many years. No emergency fund, no savings at all, barely a bumper in the checking account. I also think it's more common than most people are willing to admit. They think it's a sign of failure and living above one's means when in reality it's just living, period, that drains every penny. Add in kids and it gets scary.

You just do your best to get through.

Husband out of work going on a year and a half. May be charging next month's mortgage just to get a little "cash" relief. Sigh.

Anonymous wrote:I do not and this is the primary reason I don't own a home. I don't want to be living paycheck to paycheck. Rent is $700 a month cheaper than owning the same home and that does not include unexpected repairs.

This. I am saving instead of buying.

We are. Yet, we manage to save a little. We are pretty frugal in my mind but we do splurge on one family vacation a year. People are stunned when they find out, since we both have solid jobs (we are both govies.) DCs go to public schools, all of their activities are through PTA.

We do! You're not alone.

Anonymous wrote:We live under our means with a small house, use coupons and buy a lot of clearance.

I live in a small duplex, coupon and buy on clearance. Still paycheck to paycheck. No retirement

Anonymous wrote:I do, but that is after savings comes out. I make sub 6 figures and have a child.

If you are saving, then you are NOT living pay check to pay check.

I used to have an OK financial life with a house and emergency fund and money going into my 401k every month. We're hanging on but that's about all since the recession and a couple fat medical events. I'm trying to get back to a HHI of $90k so I can quit being awake at 2am trying to figure out how to float the bills for another month.

in the DC area most people do at 0k to 350k

I absolutely do. I overdraft sometimes. No good reason either.