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.
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.
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.
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!)
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...
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.
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?
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:
) $150
sandstormsdust
97 Posts
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