How is NY affordable?

mha3484

Thu, Apr 04 2019, 10:43 am

I live in Chicago and I would call it medium expensive. We looked into cheaper places like southbend, Milwaukee etc but due to one of my kids needs I can’t be in a place with one school for everyone. I do feel we get more for our money and I am very happy with my quality of living and lack of social pressure which is really important to me. The rage in my second graders class now is a $10 card game called top trumps.

Petra

Thu, Apr 04 2019, 10:51 am

This is too bad. All those resources in NY and people are struggling so much. I can't imagine my salary would increase enough in NY to offset NY prices. I don't think day school is much cheaper in NY. 2 of my kids go to a school that is 15K per year. One of them is 11K per year. High school is around 14K per year. Granted, we don't have choices though like in NY.

The other day I was pretty miffed when our local grocery store that stocks most of the kosher food was charging $1 per ounce for ground beef (which happened to be KLP). Price gouging is a pet peeve and I try not to go to that store but didn't have an alternative at the moment.

amother

Olive

Thu, Apr 04 2019, 10:52 am

mha3484 wrote:

Same rage that is in my second graders class here in Brooklyn.

ra_mom

Thu, Apr 04 2019, 10:54 am

Petra wrote:

Wow - $16 a pound for ground beef? That's incredibly steep.
I guess we're struggling with other things that are steep.
There's no winning. No utopias around.

amother

Smokey

Thu, Apr 04 2019, 11:01 am

amother wrote:

It's not really affordable. But you don't come out so far ahead elsewhere either. Cheaper housing often comes with needing two cars, so it evens out in the end. Middle class salaries are not keeping pace with the cost of living and it's a huge problem. There's going to be a reckoning sooner or later, and it's going to be very ugly.

Yes - salaries have not kept up with housing prices, and in addition, it used to be that you could afford it with one wage earner per family.

mommy3b2c

Thu, Apr 04 2019, 11:16 am

mha3484 wrote:

Lol. Top trumps was all the rage in my sons class 4-5 years ago. I wonder if it has to do with age or do the “in” things really just take longer to reach other places.

ectomorph

Thu, Apr 04 2019, 11:23 am

amother wrote:

Posted earlier about having bought a while ago when it was cheaper.
We also send to schools that don’t charge such high tuition which we wouldn’t be able to find in other places.
We are now paying between $3000 to $5800 per year per child from elementary to high school.

huge draw for me- plus the choices in schools

watergirl

Thu, Apr 04 2019, 11:32 am

mommy3b2c wrote:

Lol. Top trumps was all the rage in my sons class 4-5 years ago. I wonder if it has to do with age or do the “in” things really just take longer to reach other places.

Lol Top Trumps is also the rage in my son’s school - 3rd grade. Not in NY or chicago!

Last edited by watergirl on Thu, Apr 04 2019, 11:35 am; edited 1 time in total

Petra

Thu, Apr 04 2019, 11:36 am

amother wrote:

Which schools are these? what about schools with a more MO population?

amother

Seafoam

Thu, Apr 04 2019, 7:33 pm

I can’t speak for anyone else but myself.

We came from israel with no degree and barely business level English. I got a job in a real estate office and my husband after struggling a few months got a job in a nursing home.
Our income was 50k with two kids.
After two years, our salaries went up to 70k.
My parents gave us 50k for a down payment and we bought a semi attached two family house that needed a ton of work and was located on the outskirts of the neighborhood .

Four years down the line, our house value went up 300k. I left real estate and work in a school with multiple responsibilities . My husband went into a new company of nursing homes. I work 9-5 and my husband is out of the house 7-7 with commuting once a week to PA. At nights he does some extra work. We work like dogs but We have what we need with a little extras such as small vacations with cc points or going out to eat from time to time. We don’t spend money on fancy clothing from Jewish stores or expensive shaitels. I live simply day to day.

We recently refinanced this house and used the money as a down payment for our next single family house while keeping this two family as an investment.

Currently our income is 100k for my husband plus about 15k from his night job, 75k for myself and 22k from our rental.

We have 4 kids now.

I think the key to success is not to look for the picture perfect house at the perfect location at the perfect price. You need to take whatever makes sense at that time and accepting that you can’t have it all will make things doable.

We live in the heart of the NY Jewish community.

I hope this helps you get a picture of how you can grow and live within your means.

mig100

Thu, Apr 04 2019, 8:25 pm

gold21 wrote:

I guess the question is, Where is it affordable?

I would be interested in hearing from those who find their lifestyles affordable, outside the NY area. Without that information, it's hard for me to know if it's just that times are tough (Salaries have not increased at the same rate as the cost of living.... Real estate prices are sky high in many places.... Etc). Life is expensive, the question is if NY is the issue or if it's the reality for many families across the US. I wonder about this often.

I also wonder about this often. The cheap spacious housing is very appealing out of mny. Though when u look at all costs- tuition, food, travel cars- do u come out so ahead oot?

amother

Brunette

Thu, Apr 04 2019, 11:08 pm

We moved from NYC to oot and we definitely came out ahead. Tuition is the same, housing is 1/3 of the cost, we got another car, but our car insurance went down by half. As far as salary one of us works remote so income is the same the other works in healthcare and salaries are about 10% lower here, however we also save on income tax. In NYC you'll pay one of the highest income taxes.

dietcokeaddict

Fri, Apr 05 2019, 2:32 am

Wife1 wrote:

It's not only ny the whole Jewish cost of living is insane when ppl have to always have the latest and greatest.

Don't assume it's all from living up to the jones. Frum life is incredibly expensive. Full stop. Even if you watch the buck and don't buy into every ridiculous trend, there's yt and tuition and Jewish clothing and Simchas and sheitels and kosher food and on and on.

An average-sized family needs to be earning way above the national average just to survive. Not just to get the best of everything.

mig100

Fri, Apr 05 2019, 2:45 am

dietcokeaddict wrote:

Exactly.

Would be nice if we can keep this thread with ops question - how people can afford BASIC cost of living ( housing, tuition ) etc

I'm also curious how oot compares with in town and if anyone moved oot and wasn't financially easy as expected ?