Anonymous
Post 09/13/2019 10:56     Subject: Study shows that 350k/year is barely scrapping by as middle class
The article listed $7800 for 2 week long vacations and 1 stay-cation for the family of 4. Also some additional money towards weekend getaways.
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2019 10:51     Subject: Study shows that 350k/year is barely scrapping by as middle class
AIs in Mexico and the Dominican are like the definition of middle class

y'all need to get over to the travel board and see what they say on these things.

"Please rec a luxurious AI."

Answer

"No such thing! AIs are peopled by poors gavel."
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2019 10:49     Subject: Study shows that 350k/year is barely scrapping by as middle class
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:A typical vacation not at a relatives house not camping costs about $1000/day. You could budget and get by with $3700 for a week. That’s going somewhere like Disney or cruise — MC vacation.


Eh. We're a family of five and with airfare, a typical vacation will run us at least 8k. And that's at truly "middle class" destinations like an AI in Mexico. Disney is more expensive even with just having one room and is more like 10k for the week.

I'm not counting splurges like our 20k trip to Iceland.


OMG, an AI in Mexico is not a "middle class vacation". Yes, you will see families there at lower incomes than yourself. It's because they save for YEARS to go on this trip- or, they go into credit card debt to go on this trip. I know, because I'm a member of a FB group for traveling families and people all the time are posting about "going to the Dominican , planning for summer 2021- any hotel recs?" or one woman actually discussed taking out a new credit card to buy plane tickets to go to the caribbean with her kids "because my other cards are maxed out". So- yeah.

Also I've been to Iceland and it did not cost 20k for the week....?


Ok and? What's your point. There's a lux way to do things and a basic way to do things. I'm sure that poster went balls to the walls on all the activities you can do which are super pricey (snowmobiling on the glaciers, snorkeling in Silfra, etc.).
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2019 10:15     Subject: Study shows that 350k/year is barely scrapping by as middle class
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:A typical vacation not at a relatives house not camping costs about $1000/day. You could budget and get by with $3700 for a week. That’s going somewhere like Disney or cruise — MC vacation.


Maybe in your universe. If you fly, stay at expensive hotels and eat out 3 meals a day plus do only paid activities.

I can tell you haven’t been on vacation lately. I’m not talking about driving to the beach. But you do you.


DRIVING TO THE BEACH IS A MIDDLE CLASS VACATION.

Flying to a more exotic locale, and eating out for most lunches/dinners, is a UMC vacation.

Spending 1k a DAY for vacation is ridiculous. 2 summers ago we went to Switzerland for a week- we did not have miles/ CC points for the flights, so the flights for our family of 4 were 3.5k. Then we spent about another 1.5k on lodging for the week. We ate cheaply, and did mostly hiking/ outdoors type activities that did not have a high price point. We still kept total costs to under 6k. So that's under 1k a day for a European vacation to an expensive country, including airfare costs that were not offset by anything.


As a complete side-note - hiking vacation in Switzerland is on my bucket list! Where did you stay? (Stats: single mom to 1 kid, high child-care costs, HHI of 145k, can probably save for a flying vacation every other year.)
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2019 10:03     Subject: Study shows that 350k/year is barely scrapping by as middle class
Anonymous wrote:A typical vacation not at a relatives house not camping costs about $1000/day. You could budget and get by with $3700 for a week. That’s going somewhere like Disney or cruise — MC vacation.



Hahahahahaha. We vacation very very differently. We spent a week on isla mujeres for $2400 for 2 adults/1 tween. That included everything. It was not at a resort
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2019 09:46     Subject: Study shows that 350k/year is barely scrapping by as middle class
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:A typical vacation not at a relatives house not camping costs about $1000/day. You could budget and get by with $3700 for a week. That’s going somewhere like Disney or cruise — MC vacation.


Maybe in your universe. If you fly, stay at expensive hotels and eat out 3 meals a day plus do only paid activities.

I can tell you haven’t been on vacation lately. I’m not talking about driving to the beach. But you do you.


DRIVING TO THE BEACH IS A MIDDLE CLASS VACATION.

Flying to a more exotic locale, and eating out for most lunches/dinners, is a UMC vacation.

Spending 1k a DAY for vacation is ridiculous. 2 summers ago we went to Switzerland for a week- we did not have miles/ CC points for the flights, so the flights for our family of 4 were 3.5k. Then we spent about another 1.5k on lodging for the week. We ate cheaply, and did mostly hiking/ outdoors type activities that did not have a high price point. We still kept total costs to under 6k. So that's under 1k a day for a European vacation to an expensive country, including airfare costs that were not offset by anything.
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2019 09:42     Subject: Study shows that 350k/year is barely scrapping by as middle class
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:A typical vacation not at a relatives house not camping costs about $1000/day. You could budget and get by with $3700 for a week. That’s going somewhere like Disney or cruise — MC vacation.


Eh. We're a family of five and with airfare, a typical vacation will run us at least 8k. And that's at truly "middle class" destinations like an AI in Mexico. Disney is more expensive even with just having one room and is more like 10k for the week.

I'm not counting splurges like our 20k trip to Iceland.


OMG, an AI in Mexico is not a "middle class vacation". Yes, you will see families there at lower incomes than yourself. It's because they save for YEARS to go on this trip- or, they go into credit card debt to go on this trip. I know, because I'm a member of a FB group for traveling families and people all the time are posting about "going to the Dominican , planning for summer 2021- any hotel recs?" or one woman actually discussed taking out a new credit card to buy plane tickets to go to the caribbean with her kids "because my other cards are maxed out". So- yeah.

Also I've been to Iceland and it did not cost 20k for the week....?
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2019 09:27     Subject: Study shows that 350k/year is barely scrapping by as middle class
Anonymous wrote:It depends on your definition of MC/UMC. If you live in s DC suburb with kids, 2 or more cars, save for retirement still have a mortgage, and need to pay for college (our instate is 43K a year total) or need to pay for daycare then yes $250-350 only funds a MC lifestyle.


lol. Another one missing the point: you are not MC because you feel you can only maintain a “MC lifestyle” after saving for college, retirement, 2 car payments, mortgage.
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2019 09:22     Subject: Study shows that 350k/year is barely scrapping by as middle class
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:A typical vacation not at a relatives house not camping costs about $1000/day. You could budget and get by with $3700 for a week. That’s going somewhere like Disney or cruise — MC vacation.


Eh. We're a family of five and with airfare, a typical vacation will run us at least 8k. And that's at truly "middle class" destinations like an AI in Mexico. Disney is more expensive even with just having one room and is more like 10k for the week.

I'm not counting splurges like our 20k trip to Iceland.


Guess what - the actual middle class with multiple kids does not do flying vacations at all. I grew up UMC/MC in a big family and we only ever took camping vacations and a few church-organized ski trips staying in bunk houses. Being able to fly anywhere with multiple kids on a regular basis for vacation makes you UMC.
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2019 09:22     Subject: Study shows that 350k/year is barely scrapping by as middle class
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:A typical vacation not at a relatives house not camping costs about $1000/day. You could budget and get by with $3700 for a week. That’s going somewhere like Disney or cruise — MC vacation.


Maybe in your universe. If you fly, stay at expensive hotels and eat out 3 meals a day plus do only paid activities.

I can tell you haven’t been on vacation lately. I’m not talking about driving to the beach. But you do you.
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2019 09:19     Subject: Study shows that 350k/year is barely scrapping by as middle class
Anonymous wrote:A typical vacation not at a relatives house not camping costs about $1000/day. You could budget and get by with $3700 for a week. That’s going somewhere like Disney or cruise — MC vacation.


Maybe in your universe. If you fly, stay at expensive hotels and eat out 3 meals a day plus do only paid activities.
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2019 09:19     Subject: Study shows that 350k/year is barely scrapping by as middle class
Anonymous wrote:A typical vacation not at a relatives house not camping costs about $1000/day. You could budget and get by with $3700 for a week. That’s going somewhere like Disney or cruise — MC vacation.


our vacations do not cost 1000 a day. not even close.
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2019 09:18     Subject: Study shows that 350k/year is barely scrapping by as middle class
Anonymous wrote:It depends on your definition of MC/UMC. If you live in s DC suburb with kids, 2 or more cars, save for retirement still have a mortgage, and need to pay for college (our instate is 43K a year total) or need to pay for daycare then yes $250-350 only funds a MC lifestyle.


No, what's LEFT OVER after you pay for the expensive house you own, the multiple cars, the retirement savings and the college savings only funds a lifestyle that you call middle-class.
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2019 09:17     Subject: Study shows that 350k/year is barely scrapping by as middle class
Anonymous wrote:If it's so hard to make $350k and feel forced to buy close in and hire out everything because they have to work long hours...then don't.

Go get a job managing retail or teaching or driving for UPS. You can live close to work, make 1/4 of what you make now, but you won't "have" to purchase all those luxuries. Don't worry, childcare is cheaper out here in the burbs too.

But seriously. Our household income is half what's in the budget, and we feel like we have plenty of extra money each month. We are early 30s, young kids, so no excuse of "you bought years ago". We didn't.


If you commit to renting or living in a 2 BD condo then yes you can live on that. Many people feel SFH is MC.
Anonymous
Post 09/13/2019 09:17     Subject: Study shows that 350k/year is barely scrapping by as middle class
Anonymous wrote:A typical vacation not at a relatives house not camping costs about $1000/day. You could budget and get by with $3700 for a week. That’s going somewhere like Disney or cruise — MC vacation.


Eh. We're a family of five and with airfare, a typical vacation will run us at least 8k. And that's at truly "middle class" destinations like an AI in Mexico. Disney is more expensive even with just having one room and is more like 10k for the week.

I'm not counting splurges like our 20k trip to Iceland.