What does it cost to live?

[Norbert Holz]

I hear quite a few times that the cost of living is less in places. I al so hear that wages allow a person to live comfortably on less. I'd like to know what the cost of living is where you live. Please give a monthly estimate for your "middle class" standard of living. Anyone can sleep under a bridge and eat out of garbage or live on charity.

My estimates are:

Home $ 1500

Auto $ 1000

Utilities $ 250

Food $ 250

Entertainment $ 250

Retirement $ 250

General Expences $ 400

Credit Card $ 200

Total $ 4100 needed after taxes

add child support $ 800

$ 4900

add to net for taxes ( X 1.20 ) $ 5880 per month

$ 70,560.00 per year ! is needed for me to live at a "moddle class standard of living. Since I do not have a spouse to make the other half of the income necessary.

Please let me know what it costs to live "middle Class" Whwew you are. Also, tell me if I am out of line with any of these "Midle Class"figures.

[sandstormsdust]

lets see... hummm

200.00 one room with use of other rooms

100.00 food

150.00 for all the clothing, detergent etc

60.00 for license and insurance without the car.

40.00 to credit cards

100.00 for diepers etc a month

[prnlpn]

okay here goes am in small town in Arkansas

rent: 375.00

autos: 790.00 (98 civic and mountaineer)

utilities: about 300.00(not counting long-distance)

food: about 350.00 counting diapers ect.

private school tuition for son 2256.00 for year

ins: 1300.00 for year on both autos

entertainment: 150.00

last year together we made 48,000.00 but will be significantly lower this year because i took a extended maternity leave and am now only workin prn so i can stay at home with the baby.

[studentdeb]

Here's an breakdown for us:

House: 1140.00

Van: 265.00

Utilities: 350.00

Insurance: 90.00 (2 vehicles)

Food: 500.00 (includes diapers & cleaning items)

retirement: 250.00

daycare: 680.00

misc: 200.00

Last year we made 80,000 together, but am thinking about quitting my job to be with the kids more and go to school. Very tired of sending them to a sitter everyday and miss them greatly. A little worried because we like to spend, spend, spend!!! I keep telling myself the kids are more important and when I finish with school, I can go back to work and the kids will be in school themselves.

Debi

[eltrip]

Mortgage: $750 (incl. insurance & taxes)

Auto $400 (for his car, mine's free & clear!)

Gas for both cars $80

Utilities $200 (including cable & internet)

Food $300

Entertainment $75

Retirement $ 50

General Expences $ 50

Credit Card- pay off monthly

daycare (ends in August ) $150

Savings $100

other loan $98

Chatt., TN

[TracyB,RN, RN]

Mortgage 0

Car pymts (2 cars 750 + 104 a month for insurance)

utilities 300 ish ( hubby just has to have Direct Tv, I gab alot on the phone, plus have a 13 yr old female)

Entertainment umm figure about 100 bux a month for new XBOX games) we don't get out much

Credit cards 150

retirement 150

daycare not needed

healthcare 50

kids activities 200

pool stuff 50

groceries 250-300

[allthingsbright]

Ok, here is mine:

Mortgage 530 (we had a nice size down payment on our house so our mtg is minimal)

Car pymts 125

utilities 300 ( including direct TV, internet, phone, electric & gas)

Entertainment-we spend too much eher between renting movies and going out to eat and taking the kiddos places-$250

Credit cards 200

savings 200

daycare not needed

groceries/misc 400

Insurance for cars (2) 98

DH makes 25000 after taxes and I am a student so we are pretty much broke! :) (DH is up for a huge promotion but he has competition. If he gets the job starting pay is 60,000 which is a HUGE jump for us!)

[amblessing]

Originally posted by nurs2b

Home $ 850

Auto $ 950 (2000 Xterra & 2002 Chevy Avalanche)

Isn't it sad when car payments are more than our house payments

I drive an 8-year old car and I'm dying for a new one, but the prices scare me away! But, hats off to ya - you got TWO cars outta that

[Ortho_RN]

Originally posted by amblessing

Isn't it sad when car payments are more than our house payments

I drive an 8-year old car and I'm dying for a new one, but the prices scare me away! But, hats off to ya - you got TWO cars outta that

TRUE.... And it is even a brand NEW house.. We had it built.... Only reason the car notes are so low for those vehicles is because my parents gave me the option of paying for my Wedding or giving me $7000 to put down on a new vehicle and I took that deal... Greatly helped my truck note be much LOWER than it would have been.... But break down the trucks and the Xterra is $356 and the Avalanche is right at $600/month...

[whipping girl in 07, RN]

Southwest Louisiana:

House $1100/mo, including ins and taxes (in a good school district so no private school tuition)

Car Ins $120/mo (both cars paid off)

Utilities $400

Daycare $280 (ends Aug 15, so I'm getting a maid!)

Student loans $500

Credit cards and personal loan $400 (soon to be paid off)

Land payment (back home in Ark) $234

Savings (varies, hubby puts 10% in 401k and I will too as soon as I'm eligible)

Groceries and eating out $600

Pet supplies and vet bills $75/avg

Medical (Rx, MD) $100/avg

This year our household will be considered "rich" by the state of Louisiana since our combined income will be more than $80,000. At least, they keep saying that the tax increases, which affect us, only affect the rich (therefore, we MUST be rich!:roll )

I'm a relatively new nurse and I'll make probably around $40K and my husband is an engineer and he'll make anywhere from $60-80K depending on how much he works out of town. We are trying to treat ourselves a little to make up for those lean years of my going to school, but saving at the same time for me to go back to school and to build a house in Arkansas.

[Furball]

Must not be clipping enough coupons!

NC

Mortgage $950

Food $600 (How do we stay so skinny?)

utilities including phone, water, sewer, electric $200

cable $60

roadrunner $45

car loan $200 (2 cars, 1 paid off '94 buick Lesabre and '96 Hyundai))

student loan $200

misc/entertainment/golf $350

car insur $120

mortgage pre-pay $200-400 (always send extra...planning to semi retire at age 50 with a paid off house!)

retirement $300

savings $250

VISA's $300 and almost totally paid....finally

I guess we truly are middle class with combined income of $75,000

Local taxes in NC are miniscule so we'll probably save more in retirement...wahoo!

[Dplear]

Lets see here in Houston:

Mortgage: 1266.00/month

car payments: 1000/month (98 windstar, 99 Taurus, 2000 Harley)

insurance: 400/month (car and health and homeowners)

utilities: 300-500/month (depends on month...internet dsl included)

food: 500/month (we have 2 growing boys and eat out alot)

entertainment: 200/month

retirement: 12% of my gross pay

credit card debt: ZERO!!! (pay cash for EVERYTHING)

savings: 200+/month

general day to day expenses: 200-300/month

total for me to wake up every day: 3800-4100

I know that i could pare this down considerably...my wife and I used to live on a combined hourly rate of 15.00/ hour with one child....I could live cheaper but why when I can afford it?

Dave

[moni rn]

mortgage: 1500

car: 600

insurance (house & cars): 140

school loan: 150

credit card: 1000 (yes, we were young & stupid! good news! it will be paid off in september!)

home owners association: 60

spending cash (my husband & i): 300

utilities: ~80

savings: 15% (my husband's salary - pretax)

groceries: 300

savings: 250

misc (garbage, alarm, cell phones, gas, etc): 225

i think that covers everything. it will be such a great feeling to finally be credit card debt free. then, our goal will be to pay off my husband's school loan, which will be paid off in december. finally, our last major debt, except our mortgage, my car will be paid off in may. next summer, my husband & i will be two very happy people! :roll :chuckle :rotfl: