How to live on $50K here?

1. Be an illegal alien and get paid under the table. That will save you a bunch of money, since you won't have to pay any income tax.

2. Take advantage of the numerous welfare programs offered in Maryland and DC. Energy assistance, childcare assistance, food stamps, Section 8 rent, etc.

3. Live with one or two other families in a townhouse and split the rent.

4. Figure out a way to earn more. Get a job with Montgomery County government where you'll earn $80,000 to do mundane work while getting a medical and dental plan that covers everything for very little copay.

OK, what are we defining as "normal"? People on this board have widely disparate opinions on this.

Define "normal," and then we can have a real discussion about this.

Families living on less than $40K a year have HUGE differences in options than those making over six figures.

We live in a neighborhood in Fairfax where houses are in the high $300s-mid(some high)$400s. I consider it a middle class neighborhood, but you certainly cannot afford it if there isn't a HHI of probably six figures buying at today's prices.

Oh god, pp, that's hard. It is very selfless supporting your mother like that.

If you don't care much about social status, you can live a middle-class lifestyle on a moderate income here -- with some frugality and creativity.

My take homepay is a little more than 5k per month. I pay $1,400 in rent, plus about $225 in utilities, own a 15 year-old car (long since paid for, liability insurance only) and send $1,200 to my (virtually) destitute mother every month. So, Ive got about $2,000 per month for everything else. I don't really save any money beyond max retirement contributions and I've no debt.

I live in a 640 s.f. rowhouse with two small bedrooms, one and a half baths, fireplace, small back yard w/parking space. The house abuts a public housing project in Ward 6. I like my amenities and am close to work. There is no way I could afford these amenities in a "better" neighborhood, let alone a "good" neighborhood, without letting my mother starve. I could get a one bed apt. in a "better" neighborhood for the same money, but not in a "good" neighborhood.

I am not complaining at all, but my gross salary is at least twice the national median and this is how I live. And sometimes, when I take my garbage out back, I get a really sexy "Hey, sugar!" from the women hanging out the project windows. Bonus!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a house -- apparently not a short sale -- that just came on the market today in the Hyattsville Historic District:

http://www.redfin.com/MD/Hyattsville/Undisclosed-address-20781/home/10951818?utm_source=myredfin&utm_campaign=listings_update&utm_medium=email

3BR Victorian $249,999

Look at the pictures -- this is a beautiful, well-kept home. And the neighborhood is way safer than those neighborhoods mentioned in D.C. above, and closer to Metro. Walk to St. Jerome Academy or up-and-coming Hyattsville Elementary, Busboys & Poets, Yes! Organic Market, etc.

People, you can find affordable homes in good neighborhoods if you're willing to buck fashion (though Hyattsville is becoming fashionable) ...

+1. HHI of 135k and we live in Hyattsville and love it.

With some updating that house would be GORGEOUS!

I purchased my home in Anacostia a few years ago while making mid-40Ks, make 65-70k now. I feel really safe here, my neighbors are friendly and helpful, and I can get to Arlington, Adams Morgan, Washington Harbor, downtown DC in 10-15 mins driving. I planned to eventually move to Brookland, but I'm pretty spoiled with my commute now. DC attends a charter. My ex lives in the Maury district, so we were "safe" on schools anyway. I'm walking distance to the Metro, two museums (Frederick Douglass home, Anacostia Museum), and Anacostia Park.

I have great, affordable health insurance through work, healthy retirement savings, I take 1-2 vacations (international and domestic), smartphone, manicures, cable, dine out sometimes, shop at WF, college savings, monthly housecleaning. I have a very cheap mortgage and my SL payment is a joke ($60/month). My 12yo car was paid off years ago. Priceline.com is my friend. I've found roundtrip $300 trips to Costa Rica. It was ROUGH during the daycare years, but school is free now (ex and I stagger schedules to avoid before/after care). My emergency fund took a hit during that time and I racked up debt, but I'm paying it down now. I could be debt free other than mortgage sooner if I lived like a pauper, but I love to travel, wake up to Morning Joe, and eating organic foods. So it will be take 1-1.5 years instead of 6 months. My retirement, 529 savings, EF savings, debt payments come out of my check before I receive it. There are people on here who make 5 times more than me and worry far more about money than me. I have debt, but its decreasing everyday. Frankly, I'm thankful credit was there for me when I needed it in the past and that I am now able to cover emergencies with my savings. I have what matters, which is love, close family & friends, and good health.

FYI, the discretionary spending mentioned above (manicures, housecleaning, cable, etc) are new expenditures. I managed without them during the daycare years.

White folks live out in Front Royal, Winchester, Hagerstown. Plus, aside from a few of the ES in downtown Hagerstown, there's no worries about public schools.

The upgrades are maybe Leesburg, Frederick, Woodbridge if they are better off (say >100k HHI).

Some of the more adventurous White folks do buy in Prince George's and the safer parts of NE/SE DC, but they are over-represented here on DCUM, as many of the neighborhoods mentioned are still <80% Black.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My family is pretty poor by DCUM standards, we are immigrants, first generation, second generation. My parents still live in a rent controlled old one bedr apartment they rented back in the early 80s in an area of the city that used to be a bit sketchy, but now super expensive and polished. My extended family have various incomes, most of them are low middle class to solid middle class and most have blue collar jobs, service jobs and some have professional jobs, but not high paying by DC standards. They all make ends meet, some live in modest homes outside of beltway, some live in Silver Spring, some in Arlington (there are lots to Arlington beyond the Lyon Village and the likes), or other moderately priced and not too far out places in NOVA. Young kids that have failed to get college diplomas or are not doing well in finding a job live with parents in general and have some jobs to supplement their income. Some get married and move out affording to buy a place on consolidated income, some buy in not the most glamorous parts where yuppies probably would never consider. There are many affordable neighborhoods where you can get a house for 400-500K and even less if you go to PG and not the trendiest parts of DC/NOVA/MD. Just because there are lots of lower income, middle class, blue collar and immigrant families, these areas tend to scare off white yuppies as undesirable, but they are safe, family friendly areas, and schools are not terrible, these places provide good quality of life. Yes, if you are a yuppie with a high expectation to live in an upper middle class suburb or trendy city areas you may think there is no way for anyone to make a living here. You also have to remember, that many people have lived in this area for a long time and they have bought their homes before the prices went through the roof. Some members of my family have been here since the 80s, their homes, no matter how crappy, have appreciated a lot, or they became protected tenants if they used to rent. My cousin, who is in police, bought a nice townhouse for under 300K in 2001, which now would cost about 600K easily, their income is definitely under 100K with both of them working.

Which areas are these?

PP here. South Arlington, Annandale, Silver spring areas, Columbia Heights, Woodbridge, H-street corridor (one of my young cousins bought there for 200K a few years ago). These are the areas most of my extended family live in. Some bought long ago, some were renting and have rent controlled units, younger families bought recently in areas that are not obviously fashionable like So Arlington, Annandale and outside Reston, also some live in apartments and townhomes in the suburbs, which is cheaper than SFH.

Anonymous wrote:With a salary of $50K, you have to live with roommates.

If you are a family, you get the earned income tax credit paid to you (and you pay almost no taxes before that), you meet with a social worker, get food stamps and any other assistance you can, and some apt buildings set aside a few units to rent for lower income people but you might have to apply through the county and wait a couple yrs on a waiting list.

HA! We make less than that and get ZERO assistance. We don't qualify for food stamps, subsidized daycare, reduced rent, reduced utilities or anything else. We asked our apartment complex about their low-income units and were told that 40k was too high for a family of three. As for "you pay almost no taxes," I assume that's relatively speaking. Total federal and state tax withholdings come out to about 200 per check. Usually we end up getting a very small refund from Federal that we immediately use to pay the deficit for DC taxes.

I wish it worked the way you say, but sadly it doesn't.

Anonymous wrote:Here's a house -- apparently not a short sale -- that just came on the market today in the Hyattsville Historic District:

http://www.redfin.com/MD/Hyattsville/Undisclosed-address-20781/home/10951818?utm_source=myredfin&utm_campaign=listings_update&utm_medium=email

3BR Victorian $249,999

Look at the pictures -- this is a beautiful, well-kept home. And the neighborhood is way safer than those neighborhoods mentioned in D.C. above, and closer to Metro. Walk to St. Jerome Academy or up-and-coming Hyattsville Elementary, Busboys & Poets, Yes! Organic Market, etc.

People, you can find affordable homes in good neighborhoods if you're willing to buck fashion (though Hyattsville is becoming fashionable) ...

+1. HHI of 135k and we live in Hyattsville and love it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With a salary of $50K, you have to live with roommates.

If you are a family, you get the earned income tax credit paid to you (and you pay almost no taxes before that), you meet with a social worker, get food stamps and any other assistance you can, and some apt buildings set aside a few units to rent for lower income people but you might have to apply through the county and wait a couple yrs on a waiting list.

50k does not qualify for food stamps unless you have like 8 children. Why are you commenting on this thread when you obviously don't know what you are talking about?

Different PP. EITC is a tax credit that is given when you file income taxes. For 2012, the EITC qualification gross adjusted income was:

http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/EITC-Income-Limits,-Maximum-Credit--Amounts-and-Tax-Law-Updates

www.irs.gov wrote:
2012 Tax Year
Earned Income and adjusted gross income (AGI) must each be less than:
$45,060 ($50,270 married filing jointly) with three or more qualifying children
$41,952 ($47,162 married filing jointly) with two qualifying children
$36,920 ($42,130 married filing jointly) with one qualifying child
$13,980 ($19,190 married filing jointly) with no qualifying children

SNAP benefits, e.g. food stamps, are given through the USDA and the qualifications for Oct 2012 through Sept 2013 are:

http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/applicant_recipients/eligibility.htm
Household size Gross monthly income Net monthly income (130 percent of poverty) (100 percent of poverty) 1 $1,211 $ 931 2 1,640 1,261 3 2,069 1,591 4 2,498 1,921 5 2,927 2,251 6 3,356 2,581 7 3,785 2,911 8 4,214 3,241 Each additional member +429 +330

If you want to compare both on an annual basis, then the 2012 poverty levels are:

http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/12poverty.shtml

2012 Poverty Guidelines for the
48 Contiguous States and the District of Columbia
Persons in
family/household Poverty guideline
1 $11,170
2 15,130
3 19,090
4 23,050
5 27,010
6 30,970
7 34,930
8 38,890
For families/households with more than 8 persons,
add $3,960 for each additional person.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With a salary of $50K, you have to live with roommates.

If you are a family, you get the earned income tax credit paid to you (and you pay almost no taxes before that), you meet with a social worker, get food stamps and any other assistance you can, and some apt buildings set aside a few units to rent for lower income people but you might have to apply through the county and wait a couple yrs on a waiting list.

50k does not qualify for food stamps unless you have like 8 children. Why are you commenting on this thread when you obviously don't know what you are talking about?

Yeah, I was just freaking out in my head about this. When we had our son, we made $44K and didn't qualify for a damn thing!

Anonymous wrote:With a salary of $50K, you have to live with roommates.

If you are a family, you get the earned income tax credit paid to you (and you pay almost no taxes before that), you meet with a social worker, get food stamps and any other assistance you can, and some apt buildings set aside a few units to rent for lower income people but you might have to apply through the county and wait a couple yrs on a waiting list.

50k does not qualify for food stamps unless you have like 8 children. Why are you commenting on this thread when you obviously don't know what you are talking about?

Here's a house -- apparently not a short sale -- that just came on the market today in the Hyattsville Historic District:

http://www.redfin.com/MD/Hyattsville/Undisclosed-address-20781/home/10951818?utm_source=myredfin&utm_campaign=listings_update&utm_medium=email

3BR Victorian $249,999

Look at the pictures -- this is a beautiful, well-kept home. And the neighborhood is way safer than those neighborhoods mentioned in D.C. above, and closer to Metro. Walk to St. Jerome Academy or up-and-coming Hyattsville Elementary, Busboys & Poets, Yes! Organic Market, etc.

People, you can find affordable homes in good neighborhoods if you're willing to buck fashion (though Hyattsville is becoming fashionable) ...

With a salary of $50K, you have to live with roommates.

If you are a family, you get the earned income tax credit paid to you (and you pay almost no taxes before that), you meet with a social worker, get food stamps and any other assistance you can, and some apt buildings set aside a few units to rent for lower income people but you might have to apply through the county and wait a couple yrs on a waiting list.