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Ask HN: How much money do you spend each month?
Someone got into heated argument over comment I made in my another thread when I said we survive well with $60k (post tax) for family of four.
Here is the breaddown:
Rent: $2400 (East South of Seattle, quiet and safe area 3B2Ba SFH)
Groceries: $800 per month
Kids school: $200 per month (public school)
Kids activities: $200 (for 4-6 months). We play at home.
Electricity, Gas, Sewer - $400 per month
Gas: $100 per month (I mostly do WFH)
Emergency: $300 per month
Fun or toys: $100 month
Healthcare: $1200 per month (through marketplace)
Internet: $50 per month (comcast 2 year deal)
Childcare: None since one of the spouse stays at home.
My spouse and I don't drink. We play board games at home. We have no TV rule at home since most TV is just brainwashing. We have internet that we use for watching shows. We don't like Netflix since every show is just sex, gore, or violence filled non-sense.
We could lower it if we moved to an apartment but we love the place. We live happily and I get to see kids everyday rather than leaving them with strangers with cookie cutter upbringing. You can't outsourced parenting when you decide to have kids. But, most people never grow up. They want to party every weekend. They can't keep up with jonasses. We are different. This is how my family built the wealth.
I firmly beleive it is manageable with $60k to $80k. Granted, we are not contributing to retirement but this won't be forever situation.
Somehow, people have build expectation that you need $150k - $200k to live descently. It is utmost corporate and media brainwashing one could imagine.
I totally understand this is not doable for everyone and your situation might be different. But, please don't deny you are not going to survive on $60k.
I am curious how much money do you spend each month and what does the breaddown look like?
- anon-101 2y agoLast year (2023), $57k and change for the year (post tax). So about $4,750/month.
- logicalxor 2y agoWith kids?
- zjp 2y agoIt's going to take you over a year to save for one month of an emergency fund at that rate. Does that include any retirement savings? I don't think it's corporate brainwashing, I think it's realism about how much you need to save for retirement so you're not dependent on social security. My bills are ~$4730 and my savings rate is $4500/mo
- mech422 2y agoUmm...unless I added wrong - that ~ $5700/month, which is 68K/year. While commenable - I don't think your surviving on $60K/year ??
- logicalxor 2y agoWe do get some tax refund with kids so roughly $60k to $65k are our expenses.
- vunderba 2y agoYou may want to check your numbers again - these figures firmly put you in the red with only 60K post tax, and additionally, you're not putting away any significant amount in savings and investments. "We are different. This is how my family built the wealth" Followed by "Granted, we are not contributing to retirement but this won't be forever situation" By your own admission, you aren't contributing to retirement. This is the exact opposite of "building wealth". Furthermore stating that this isn't a "forever situation" is tantamount to admitting that this COL is untenable long-term. You seem to accidentally being arguing against the very point you're trying to make. In general, emergency savings should be able to sustain your current cost of living from between 3 and 6 months. Your margins are razor thin and unless you have some kind of extended family that can help bail you out financially, you have almost no safety net.
- wryoak 2y agoI bring home $1200 a month and that’s pretty much eaten up by bills. 400 rent, 250 phone (4 people), 100 w/s/g and electric, 300 food. Once we’re past the holiday season I should be able to put away ~200/mo if I’m really good and if I can keep my student loans in forbearance. Atm I have a tiny savings that would cover two months expenses. I qualify for Medicare but it’s been 3 months trying to navigate the application process (not to mention the terrible software), and still haven’t gotten my card (though I was finally just approved). Sure is a far cry from two years ago when I was bringing home ~7000/mo after taxes, but there’s nothing like having nothing to remind you who you are.
- logicalxor 2y agoWell done. You are commendable and I give you virtual accolades. Adjusting your way of life is the path forward.
- WheelsAtLarge 2y agoJust a note, add death and disability insurance. My hope is that 18 yrs from now you'll be cursing my advice since you didn't need it but life is unpredictable so you never know.
- logicalxor 2y agoGood idea. I will look into this.
- gregjor 2y agoMany families live on much less. And many struggle with more. What’s your point? This reads like virtue signaling. You budget a modest (below median) income in a way that works for you. Congratulations. I raised three kids in Portland on one income, not much more than yours at the time. So did many other families I know. My parents managed with less. I don’t feel any need to describe my income and expenses in a public forum. Why do you care what some random commenter says about your finances?
- logicalxor 2y agoVirtue signalling? How so? Far from it. In fact, I want to learn if we are spending too less thus living a bad lifestyle and whether we should increase it. This is high inflation era and things are different than 4 years ago. I am just collecting data and learning from comments. Thanks for your comment and perspective.
- geophph 2y agoSurvive vs. thrive my friend. IMO you’re surviving which … fine … but I don’t see the appeal. You even highlight that you’re not saving for retirement … doesn’t seem sustainable.
- logicalxor 2y agoYes, this is not a permanent situation and not end of the world. My point was it is possible to live happy lifestyle in $60k to $80k with kids in VHCOL geos.
- throwaway425933 2y ago2 kids and one partner :) Rent/Mortage 5500 (cupertino!! 1350 SFT) Gas and Electricity : 450 (Includes electric dryer, electric stove etc, PGE is costly. Currently gas Furnace but moving to Heat pump soon) Property tax : 2000 (Per month) groceries : 500 Eating out/take out : 250 Lunch in office : 200 Travel/Vacations : 1000 (per month. Amortized. Yearly Overseas to meet family plus one in summer break, one in thanksgiving plus one in fall break). Retirement : 1800 (IRS max, per month, amortized) Health insurance : 1000 (per month amortized) Plumbing/House issues: 300 (per month amortized) Gas for cars : 200 Childrens classes : 1000 (classes like soccer, chess, karate yada yada). One cloud server : 12$ (per month) Overseas Intern : 100 (per month) Total (so far) : 15000 per month.
- nojvek 2y agoWow! $15k per month. You must be making bank.
- throwaway425933 2y agoThis is slightly above median salary in bay area
- tm-infringement 2y agoWhat does a overseas intern entail?
- throwaway425933 2y agoI have ideas and experience but no time. I will tell the intern what to code and he/she will code it up for me. Example: I want a webpage with all youtube links posted to HN in last 24 hours. He will make it for me http://blogsearchfrontend.interviewblindspots.com/vanavil/hnlinks http://blogsearchfrontend.interviewblindspots.com/vanavil/hn... Another example. Go to all common crawl, identify all webpages related to NCSU, download images in them, run YOLO to remove human faces, run Falcon model to remove logos and see what comes up. Intern will code it up for me. https://blogsearchfrontend.interviewblindspots.com/vanavil/ncsu https://blogsearchfrontend.interviewblindspots.com/vanavil/n...
- Turboblack 2y agoI haven't left the house for 2 years because we are at war. The hardest time was when there was no electricity, now (for now) there is. The internet is sagging because most people are sitting at home, people don't go out. Food costs are very modest, less than $200 a month (for three people). Rent is up to $100 (we have our own boiler, we don't depend on state heating, and it often fails), we save electricity, media is not connected, the internet is the cheapest. Clothes - we haven't bought any for almost 3 years. No money. Hobbies, reading help keep us from going crazy. No work. I really hope this fucked up thing will end soon
- Lionga 2y agoRent + Utilities + Internet: 250 Groceries: 150 Ultimate Frisbee, Tennis, Cycling, Outdoor Gym: 0 (maybe 15 for equipment amortization) Healthcare: 0 (well europe) Travel + Fun: 150 No kids and GF also works, but most people even with kids live very well with a 10 to 20K net income a year here. I have over 200k income but I just would not know how to spend more without just throwing money out of the window as most stuff is basically free. But then this is also not US but a European City
- 41599799 2y agoWould you mind saying in which country this is ?
- petargyurov 2y ago> Rent + Utilities + Internet: 250 Is there a zero missing on the end of that? :) Actually, that'd be quite high depending on where in Europe you are, but then 250 seems absurdly low. Curious to hear which city you're in.
- Lionga 2y agoMy GF owns her apartment and 500 EUR would be a normal price for all that so I pay her half of that as we share the apartment.
- MeetingsBrowser 2y agoHouse of 3 in a Dallas suburb, supposedly a LCOL area. Rent: $3000 Daycare: $2000 Groceries: ~$1000 Theres plenty more, but with our biggest 3 expenses we’ve already blown past $60k/year
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- gaws 2y ago> We have no TV rule at home since most TV is just brainwashing. > We don't like Netflix since every show is just sex, gore, or violence filled non-sense. > We have internet that we use for watching shows. What could you possibly be watching on the internet?