5 ms·

Who are these people living on $40k/yr, and what size cardboard box do they live in?

by TylerE 4y ago

ilikecakeandpie 4y ago
With a roommate, a paid off used car, and a not extravagant lifestyle in a smaller city/town, it's not impossible. It ain't as easy as it was ~8 years ago when I was doing that though
- TylerE 4y ago
  That’s not living if you’re making 200k a year. A roommate? Seriously?
  - rr808 4y ago
    Maybe this is an American thing? I lived with roommates until mid-thirties, was pretty normal in London.
  - tdeck 4y ago
    Have you never lived in the SF bay area? I had multiple friends colleagues who lived with housemates while making six figures in software jobs. It's very normal.
kthejoker2 4y ago
40 might be a bit of a stretch with inflation, but even with 4 kids and a dog my yearly expenditures to live in a very nice (3800 sqft) house with 2 (paid for) cars is only about $67k/year. $37k mortgage $15k bills - electric, water, Internet, car insurance, cell phones, etc. $15k - food, gasoline, clothing, haircuts, other "necessities" (many of which are not) Then of course there's vacations, Christmas/birthdays, and unexpected large purchases (e.g. the out of warranty laptop broke), so maybe add on another $10k? But we could also easily tighten the belt a bit and cut those bottom 2 items to $20k with only a little bit of pain. When you're walking home after taxes with $175k/year you definitely get a little flabby on what should be sensible cost cutting (e.g. I'm sure I'm paying a few hundred dollars a year for streaming/subscription services I don't use enough to justify, but it's not worth the hassle.) We are of course extremely privileged to not have any major medical issues, a good support system for child care, 2 work from home parents, and to have somehow avoided most of the crazy tuition hikes of the 21st century.
- rr808 4y ago
  > only about $67k/year. Which is >100k/year before tax which is well above median household earnings.
  - TylerE 4y ago
    Not to mention I see no mention of healthcare costs. I - a single 30-something with some chronic issues, easily spend $5k on healthcare a year - more if I get hospitalized, which has happened 3 times in the decade. That’s not even counting the portion that comes out of my check.
    - FreakLegion 4y ago
      What kind of answer are you looking for? There are people who live on less than $40k without even meaning to. It's not an outrageous number, but sure, would be harder with chronic health issues and so-so insurance.
  - kthejoker2 4y ago
    Right, but we're also an above median family size (again: 4 kids.) I could easily drop 20-25k from that spending if we didn't have kids - in fact, at the time I had my first kid, my mortgage was $24k/year, my bills were nearly 40% lower than they are now, and I didn't track food and clothes budgets back then but even if they were 80% of present day levels (I suspect it was much lower) that'd put us right around $40k/year. But I also am on the real estate property ladder, so I think it'd be foolish for me to spend any less of our income on our housing than I do, so counting it as pure "expenditure" is a bit misleading. Also since someone asked this year I paid $2,200 in healthcare distributions on top of $750 annual premiums.
    - rr808 4y ago
      Thanks for putting all the numbers down its always interesting. I'm jealous and scared of having 4 kids. :)

Who are these people living on $40k/yr, and what size cardboard box do they live in?

by TylerE 4y ago

Who are these people living on $40k/yr, and what size cardboard box do they live in?

With a roommate, a paid off used car, and a not extravagant lifestyle in a smaller city/town, it's not impossible. It ain't as easy as it was ~8 years ago when I was doing that though

TylerE 4y ago
That’s not living if you’re making 200k a year. A roommate? Seriously?
- rr808 4y ago
  Maybe this is an American thing? I lived with roommates until mid-thirties, was pretty normal in London.
- tdeck 4y ago
  Have you never lived in the SF bay area? I had multiple friends colleagues who lived with housemates while making six figures in software jobs. It's very normal.

kthejoker2 4y ago

40 might be a bit of a stretch with inflation, but even with 4 kids and a dog my yearly expenditures to live in a very nice (3800 sqft) house with 2 (paid for) cars is only about $67k/year. $37k mortgage $15k bills - electric, water, Internet, car insurance, cell phones, etc. $15k - food, gasoline, clothing, haircuts, other "necessities" (many of which are not) Then of course there's vacations, Christmas/birthdays, and unexpected large purchases (e.g. the out of warranty laptop broke), so maybe add on another $10k? But we could also easily tighten the belt a bit and cut those bottom 2 items to $20k with only a little bit of pain. When you're walking home after taxes with $175k/year you definitely get a little flabby on what should be sensible cost cutting (e.g. I'm sure I'm paying a few hundred dollars a year for streaming/subscription services I don't use enough to justify, but it's not worth the hassle.) We are of course extremely privileged to not have any major medical issues, a good support system for child care, 2 work from home parents, and to have somehow avoided most of the crazy tuition hikes of the 21st century.

rr808 4y ago
> only about $67k/year. Which is >100k/year before tax which is well above median household earnings.
- TylerE 4y ago
  Not to mention I see no mention of healthcare costs. I - a single 30-something with some chronic issues, easily spend $5k on healthcare a year - more if I get hospitalized, which has happened 3 times in the decade. That’s not even counting the portion that comes out of my check.
  - FreakLegion 4y ago
    What kind of answer are you looking for? There are people who live on less than $40k without even meaning to. It's not an outrageous number, but sure, would be harder with chronic health issues and so-so insurance.
- kthejoker2 4y ago
  Right, but we're also an above median family size (again: 4 kids.) I could easily drop 20-25k from that spending if we didn't have kids - in fact, at the time I had my first kid, my mortgage was $24k/year, my bills were nearly 40% lower than they are now, and I didn't track food and clothes budgets back then but even if they were 80% of present day levels (I suspect it was much lower) that'd put us right around $40k/year. But I also am on the real estate property ladder, so I think it'd be foolish for me to spend any less of our income on our housing than I do, so counting it as pure "expenditure" is a bit misleading. Also since someone asked this year I paid $2,200 in healthcare distributions on top of $750 annual premiums.
  - rr808 4y ago
    Thanks for putting all the numbers down its always interesting. I'm jealous and scared of having 4 kids. :)