HHI recently jumped from $160 - $180k. Take home is ~$10k/month after a 10% 401k, medical and parking contributions.

$2000 mortgage/PITI (NW DC townhouse)
$1200 groceries, restaurants, and some household goods
$ 500 utilities, cell phones, and cable/internet
$ 300 gas and other transportation costs
$1300 daycare for 1 DD
$ 200 other activities for DD
$ 250 healthcare costs + 2 gym memberships
$ 150 bi-monthly house cleaner
$ 100 travel
$ 400 shopping (gifts, furniture, clothes, etc. all in this category)
$ 100 occasional entertainment or personal care costs

Everything else goes into Roth IRA and college savings.

Where do you get your internet for $50/month? What is the speed?

Anonymous wrote:It was interesting to see what people did with $375K. Now what about us "poor" folks?

$9500 monthly take home pay (after retirement/health care)
Retirement is 5% and health care is $300 month

$2100 mortgage
$3500 childcare/tuition
$815 student loans
$1000 food (includes dining out and some household goods)
$500 utilities/cable/internet/cell phones
$500 shopping/activities/Target
$300 housekeeper (money well spent!!)
$250 gas/insurance/parking
$100 charity
$50 medical expenses (prescriptions/co-pays)
$100 life insurance
$30 gym

Anyone else?

Too much.

Our total household income is $165K and we live in the Montgomery county in MD. Here's our breakdown:

- Mortgage + HOA: $2160
- 2 cars: $1200 (both cars are new, well maintained, and we are in the 4th year for 1 and 3rd year for another).
- Cable TV: 0
- Cell: $25 (we use freedom pop and calling cards, got rid of stupid high cost plans years ago).
- Internet: $50
- Food: $500 (family of 3)
- Shopping: $150 (maybe...whatever clothes we had to buy, we bought them years ago, and we don't buy more than what we need).
- Utilities: $150 (I watch them like a hawk, we still live comfortably but save the heck out of these).
- Housekeeper: 0 (I am doing the cleaning, thank you).
- Charity: 0 (it begins at home).
- Education: $150 (wife runs a tutoring business and needs supplies...we write off these, and this is the money that gives us the most bang for our buck).
- Car/parking/gas: $100 maybe (I work from home 2 times a day, wife works part time in the MCPS school system as a part time analyst less than a mile from our house and bikes there).
- Schooling cost: 0 (our daughter goes to one of the best public schools, thank you).
- Child activities: $100 (swimming, crafts, a musical instrument. Everything else, she learns at home...wife can teach math up to university level).
- car insurance: $100 for both cars (having excellent driving record has its benefits)
- Other spending: $300 maybe (includes netflix, maintenance expenses etc.)
- Gym: $10 (ever heard of planet fitness? Besides, I have invested in a treadmill and a weight machine and both have worked very well for over 4 years now and keep going).
- Vacations: $800 (Yes!!! That's where our leftover money goes. We take 2 good vacations + occasional small vacations here and there. We spend $10K a year on vacations).

We have a small family. We save nearly $40K from our after tax income. This is besides the 5% match I get plus an opportunity to invest in restricted stocks at my work. Wife has her pension plan set up. I make 80% of the income, and she makes 20% and takes care of the household affairs. We lead a great and fulfilling life. We work where we can, save money where we can and spend it where we think it's worth spending.

It's amazing the number of people who don't get that something in quotes like "poor" is being said with sarcasm.

Our HHI is around $160k and we net around $9500/month, after 5% retirement, healthcare, and parking.

-2500 mortgage/taxes
-250 car stuff
-500 home utilities, cable, cells
-1500 daycare
-200 entertainment
-400 health stuff
-1200 groceries/household goods/eating out and alcoholo
- 500 fun money (shopping/travel/personal care)

The rest goes to savings.

HHI 183. Monthly take home 8150 (excluding months with extra paychecks and portion of income (8K) that comes in at various set times of year).

-3500 mortgage/taxes
-220 car payment
- 120 cable/internet
- 140 cell phones
- 300 student loans
- 200 car loan
- 400 utilities (gas, electric, often lower but we just bought a drafty house)
- 73 car insurance
-2000 groceries/household goods/clothes/discretionary spending
- 700 savings
- 500 extra debt payments (car payment will be gone in a few months)

The extra paychecks in income generally go into saving.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private school PP here. Absolutely not pulling the kids from private. Our mortgage is low because the schools suck. The school they go to has 100% 4-yr college acceptance rate at competitive schools and prides themselves on finding scholarships for the kids. Current grad class of 10 kids has $3 million in offers. I'm willing to take the risk.

Sending them to private because your schools suck is a great reason. I'm telling you, though, the scholarship stuff is bogus. Reputable schools do not even publish this statistic anymore- "$3 million in scholarships" - because it is known to be so inflated in the industry. The majority of top schools do not even give merit aid. The best way for a school to up that "scholarship number" is to encourage students to apply to lower ranked, less competitive schools where the student is overqualified. That will sure drive up te number to impress people like you, but it will not necessarily be in the student's best interest. This is why many schools do not publish that statistic anymore. Good luck to you, but I genuinely feel sorry for you because you are taking what you hear at face value without realizing that the school is feeding you a manipulative line. There are a million great reasons to send your kids to private school, but I promise you this is not one of them.

I honestly really appreciate the feedback. There are many years between my kids and college apps, and you have given me important food for thought. For now, private works for us. Really, I want them to go to college where they will do well. Our school seems to have a great track record of that but I'm not married to it. I want what's best for them. Unfortunately, we only make 140K. So we're doing the very best we can and constantly reevaluating.

+1. You are being defrauded.

HHI 157; take home: 7400 (in two paycheck months)
$2100 mortgage
$1200 food (includes dining out and some household goods)
$550 utilities/cable/internet/cell phones
$1000 misc
$200 gas/insurance/parking
$200 charity
$750 medical expenses (9000K max out of pocket/12 months)
$700 Car payments
$600 misc loans/credit cards/debt (mostly from a failed business; big tax losses though).

Thing deducted from my paycheck (not looking at the check though):
1570 Retirement/401k (6% me+match)
~1 mil life insurance
Sucky Health Insurance
Dental
Disability (LT/Short Term)
HSA

I make 210k. Bills gross 2kids
2600 mortgage
210 cable pack
200 elect.
180 cell
170 ins10 mon.
12-1400 food
10 per. 401k
700 gas
750 car payment
100 month student
500 irs some mistakes
I watch having fun. And live in the midatlantic

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents are ~ 30 south of Willmington and ~30 miles north of Myrtle Beach. So we have a beach "vacation" that costs less than a normal week at home since gas used is cheaper than groceries my parents insist on buying. There is a cost though, no real recharging.

Not everyone has parents who live in vacation places (or for that matter, who can be visited at all).

Well no kidding, but a PP asked this person why they don't save for vacations. This is her answer.

I'm the Op with the every year a "beach" vacation. I put that in quotes because we don't like the beach,but that is what we do because that is what is "free". We would rather be in the mountains or another city or another suburb or in the middle of Iowa or anywhere else frankly. We can take the beach about 1 1/2 hours a day and then we have to go in or we will burn even with SPF 30 applied liberally and often (think cheap Irish and Scottish skin).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI: $197000

Take home: $8700/month (after maxing 2 TSPs, daycare spending account, health and dental insurance)

Mortgage: $2408 (includes home owner's insurance and escrow for property tax)
Daycare: $1452
Charity: $500
Student loans: $320
Utilities (cell phones/cable/internet/water/electricity): $460
Life insurance: $93
529: $400
Car (parking/gas/insurance/repairs): $300
Groceries and household products: $450
Dining out: $450
Medical expenses: $50
Wine: $300
Savings: $1200
Misc spending: $300

The $5k we get back when I file the daycare spending account forms at the end of the year goes straight into savings as well. Good thing, since our HVAC gave out this year, the stoop on our house rotted out, and we owed taxes, which pretty much wiped out our normal outside of retirement/529 savings for the year already...

I love that you have a line item (a big one) for wine. Can we be friends?

Lol. Sure. I totally forgot I ever answered this post, but am always looking for friends who like wine and won't judge me for this indulgence.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you are all amazing with your money. I don't know how you do it. The little things add up to so much; school supplies, parts to repair this and that, groceries, take-out etc. Your budgets seem so tight and organized.

If you don't track, how do you know if you are living within or over budget? I budget miscellaneous which includes school supplies and the random parts purchase.

I don't track and I know I am living within budget because I have no new debt (in fact no debt at all, except fort mortgage).

Take home after 401k, medical ins: 8500

Fixed Expenses
food - 1000
gas/tolls - 500
life ins - 320 (variable annuity)
mortgage - 1845 (incl tax and ins)
util - depends on the month, but averages 700, including phones, internet, cable, etc..
donation - 400 (I give regularly to my church)
target - 300

Rest varies on house projects, activities, vacations, whether I go clothes shopping that month. I don't have a "budget" per se, but I also don't spend what I don't have.

we have no other loans than our mortgage. I have only carried a CC balance a handful of times in my life.

Just returned to work PT, so that income is all disposable income, yay. I already have plans for that $. I need a new car. 10+ yr old car is falling apart. Planning to pay all cash for under $30K. And also start contributing to DCs colelge fund.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents are ~ 30 south of Willmington and ~30 miles north of Myrtle Beach. So we have a beach "vacation" that costs less than a normal week at home since gas used is cheaper than groceries my parents insist on buying. There is a cost though, no real recharging.

Not everyone has parents who live in vacation places (or for that matter, who can be visited at all).

Well no kidding, but a PP asked this person why they don't save for vacations. This is her answer.

Anonymous wrote:We have a HHI between $150k and $180K depending on the annual bonus. Our budget is based on the $150k.

We donate 5%
We save 10% off the top and whatever is left (5-10% more).

Our Mortgage is low at $900 per month, but we pre-pay $700 and pay our taxes twice a year which equates to ~$700 per month. $2,250 total.

We spend around $1200 per month on food (groceries and eating out).
We spend around $500 per month on therapies for children, insurance covers some too. It used to be more, but we have graduated from a few.
Utilities are around $500 per month (water, sewer, electricity, gas, phone....)
Cars: gas and maintenance is around $300 per month and growing as our cars are aging. We may be adding a new car soon. I expect this to grow to $500 per month soon.

We have ~$1.5 million in 401ks/IRAs which will help supplement the pension
We have ~$250k in college savings (DCs are teens)
We have $70k in cash reserves

I am in awe of the savings. Kudos.