Anonymous wrote:I love these posts. It is amazing to me how much money people make. We feel pretty comfortable with:

HHI: 120K
DH: 65K
ME: 44K (part-time)

Own a house in NE DC.
Mortgage: $1,950 MINUS $1,000 rental income from basement apartment = $950 total
Daycare for one child: $1,100

Save about $1,000 a month not including 15% - 20% in retirement accounts.

Ages: 33/32

correction: $109,000. That was our HHI before I went part-time.

I love these posts. It is amazing to me how much money people make. We feel pretty comfortable with:

HHI: 120K
DH: 65K
ME: 44K (part-time)

Own a house in NE DC.
Mortgage: $1,950 MINUS $1,000 rental income from basement apartment = $950 total
Daycare for one child: $1,100

Save about $1,000 a month not including 15% - 20% in retirement accounts.

Ages: 33/32

DH = $45k
Me = $117k plus small bonus
Total HHI = $162

Daycare $800 per month - so cheap!
Mortgage $1900
Max on 401ks
Grad school loan $200
No credit card debt, car loans (they're older cars though)
1 child, hoping for another
Holding off on vacations to save money for IVF

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jesus Christ am I poor compared to you folks. We make a combined income of barely 110K (we make about the same salary) but we're doing great and have a cute little townhouse and 1 child.

this is me too. WE are also doing well -- have some credit card debt but that's not the end of the world.

Same, though we finally kicked the credit card debt a couple of years ago---woot! $120K that would be split evenly if DH and I both worked the same hours (we don't since we have a baby, so one of us is always at 80% but it varies which--our base salaries are almost the same). Mortgage is just under $2K, daycare is $1700 (could be less but we opted for the situation we felt best about after a bad first experience, so we take that hit willingly). I have student loans but DH doesn't (and yes, I think that's relevant--mine are $300/month for loans from private college and grad school, while he went to a state school that was basically free when he attended, so it has affected our respective finances our entire adult lives). Car is paid off; we put 10% of pre-tax salaries into 401Ks. It's not living large, but we also don't spend time worrying about whether we can or can't buy things (within reason of course!) or nickel-and-dimeing each other, so it works for us. We do live close in so we spend far less on gas than we might farther out, and we only have one car. It's also likely to get better over time as we phase out daycare costs, phase in raises (hopefully!), etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I make 87k and my husband who also takes care of our son full time brings in about $10-15k.

Mortgage is $1400 a month in NW DC, we have no debt, plenty of savings, save at least $600+ a month, max retirement and travel internationally once or twice a year as well as eat out several times a week. No childcare payments so there is that.

It stuns me that people making $150k plus a year find it tough to live on that.

Well bully for you that you don't have student loans. Some of us couldn't avoid them.

Not the pp but do you enjoy going through life with a massive chip on your shoulder? PP was stating her situation...sorry you have loans but they do not. Deal with your own business.

Agree! I didn't even think of student loans when I said we had no debt. I was thinking more car payments and credit card debt. But we are 39 and 40, we don't have masters degrees, we didn't go to law school or medical school and we finished studying almost 20 years ago. We also don't have a very high income compared to most of the people posting here.

But you also have a very small mortgage for this area. I wouldn't find it tough to live on 150k with no daycare, no loans and a itty bitty mortgage either.

The point is that people adjust their spending to what they earn. I couldn't ever contemplate taking on a 4k per month mortgage. We're lucky that we bought our house nearly 10 years ago, but if we didn't we woudl be living somewhere cheaper. $1400 a month isn't "itty bitty" to me, and neither is my salary. I think we're very lucky and hope those of your on $150k+ realize that too. Even if we earned double we still wouldn't be sending our son to private school or paying a fortune ofr summer camps or other the other "necessities" the people spend so much on.

Anonymous wrote:Jesus Christ am I poor compared to you folks. We make a combined income of barely 110K (we make about the same salary) but we're doing great and have a cute little townhouse and 1 child.

this is me too. WE are also doing well -- have some credit card debt but that's not the end of the world.

DH: $350k doctor
Me: $100k working part time finance
Combined: $450k

$5k monthly mortgage

We have 2 kids under the age 3 and we own.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Me: $110K (technical at a trade)
DH: $170K (Sr. VP at a tech startup)
Mortgage: $4500/month
2 kids, both in daycare: $2900/month
Retirement: We both max. out 401ks, so $2800/month

Student loans were paid off prior to having kids. Put aside about $1000/month into savings, including 529s.

Both 36 with masters.

We are considering taking on a mortgage about that size with similar income and expenses. So I'm curious, how does your budget feel to you? Tight? Comfortable?

It feels mostly comfortable for us. When we first got our mortgage in 2007, it was $5K (we've refinanced) but only one in daycare. Of course, our salaries were less as well. We are still able to go on decent vacations (cruise, Vegas, trips to family in Florida) and generally buy what we want, within reason. But we also don't have expensive taste - name brands really mean nothing to us. Spending $100 or more on any one clothing/accessory item is extravagant for us. In other year, our oldest will enter public school, so we'll start feeling more comfortable again.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I make 87k and my husband who also takes care of our son full time brings in about $10-15k.

Mortgage is $1400 a month in NW DC, we have no debt, plenty of savings, save at least $600+ a month, max retirement and travel internationally once or twice a year as well as eat out several times a week. No childcare payments so there is that.

It stuns me that people making $150k plus a year find it tough to live on that.

Well bully for you that you don't have student loans. Some of us couldn't avoid them.

Not the pp but do you enjoy going through life with a massive chip on your shoulder? PP was stating her situation...sorry you have loans but they do not. Deal with your own business.

Agree! I didn't even think of student loans when I said we had no debt. I was thinking more car payments and credit card debt. But we are 39 and 40, we don't have masters degrees, we didn't go to law school or medical school and we finished studying almost 20 years ago. We also don't have a very high income compared to most of the people posting here.

But you also have a very small mortgage for this area. I wouldn't find it tough to live on 150k with no daycare, no loans and a itty bitty mortgage either.

Anonymous wrote:$80k me
DH is full-time student who brings in ~$15-20k in loans a year and made a whopping $3k over summer/winter break in income.

2 kids in full-time daycare.

Beat that.

me= same boat. You and I probably have a lot in common.

Anonymous wrote:HHI -- $350 (me, $225K and bonus, DH, $130K).

We live in Del Ray, just bought our home. One baby.

Also -- mortgage is about $4000, and nanny about $2000/month (share).

HHI -- $350 (me, $225K and bonus, DH, $130K).

We live in Del Ray, just bought our home. One baby.

Anonymous wrote:Me: $110K (technical at a trade)
DH: $170K (Sr. VP at a tech startup)
Mortgage: $4500/month
2 kids, both in daycare: $2900/month
Retirement: We both max. out 401ks, so $2800/month

Student loans were paid off prior to having kids. Put aside about $1000/month into savings, including 529s.

Both 36 with masters.

We are considering taking on a mortgage about that size with similar income and expenses. So I'm curious, how does your budget feel to you? Tight? Comfortable?

Me: $110K (technical at a trade)
DH: $170K (Sr. VP at a tech startup)
Mortgage: $4500/month
2 kids, both in daycare: $2900/month
Retirement: We both max. out 401ks, so $2800/month

Student loans were paid off prior to having kids. Put aside about $1000/month into savings, including 529s.

Both 36 with masters.

What I wouldn't give to have someone bringing in a 2nd income!

Me: $47K
Rent: $1500/mo
1 child, in school and aftercare: $300/mo
Student loans: $90/mo
Retirement: 5%/mo (employer matches up to that)

No car. No debt (just paid it all off! $15K worth!) About $1000 in savings (contribute $200/mo).

Anything extra I get goes straight to savings.

Supposed to get $700/mo in child support and medical support. He pays about 40% of the time, so I don't count on it, just stick it in savings (I was putting it towards debt) when I do get it.

Oh, I'm 27, no graduate degree (while a MA would be nice, there's just no room for it right now, time or budget-wise).