Not making it help

amother

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 10:21 am

amother [ Dustypink ] wrote:

Those expenses total $50,258 and so you only have approximately $22,000 for all your other expenses

What about home insurance?

Food
Clothing
Toiletries
Household expenditures/supplies
Home maintenance and repair
Furniture
Gifts
Medical Deductibles and co-payments

Food is around 1,000
Clothing I buy exactly what I need ( mostly HM for kids and shab cheapest Jewish store I can find)
Idk how to cut down on house hold stuff I buy mostly from target

We rent
Furniture we spent 10,000 in last year not planning on buying anything else
Gifts add up but how can I not buy people gifts?
Mani $80
Waxing $100
Gym $80

amother

Zinnia

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 10:24 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

My oldest is 3 so I’m paying $600for day camp and then $400 for play group ( my baby will be joining a group soon) for $600 a month

Rent is 1,500 plus utilities
Electricity $175
Heat/ gas $75
Water $80

We own one car are second car is around $300
Car insurance $219
Gas is around $150
Internet $50

We have private insurance from my husbands work they take it off is salary (idk how much)

I have therapy for one of my kids $640 a month

Cleaning lady $320 a month

We have life insurance but no retirement plan

You can definitely survive on your salary, you just need to budget and live within your means. OR you can get a job and increase your income.

To live in your budget and still have money to spare:
-Buy a cheaper second car, don't lease
-Drop the cleaning lady
-Why does your baby need a sitter for $600 a month if you aren't working?
- You can for sure get internet for half of what you are paying now

amother

Dustypink

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 10:26 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I am not judging your expenditures but are responding to your original post in which you seemed to express shock at finding it difficult to live on a gross salary of $120,000. I was merely *forcing* you to look at what your living expenses actually are - they don't seem wildly extravagant to me.

If you are spending $12,000 per year on food you are now down to $8000 for everything else.

Again - not a value judgment - but just answering your original question as $8000 is not a lot of money to pay for everything else that one needs in the "ordinary" course of living.

If you want to change, you could find ways to be more frugal but that wasn't your question. Again not being judgmental but just adding up where your money goes since you seem to be *shocked* that your lifestyle costs that much/

amother

Zinnia

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 10:26 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

How did you spend 10k on furniture in a year? Did you move? What did you buy??
If you aren't surviving you would buy the minimum needed from Ikea

amother

Dustypink

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 10:29 am

amother [ Zinnia ] wrote:

How did you spend 10k on furniture in a year? Did you move? What did you buy??
If you aren't surviving you would buy the minimum needed from Ikea

In fairness even if one purchases from IKEA it is easy to spend $10,000 for furniture in a year. It is not as if this is an on-going expense by OP for furniture.

Everything adds up if one needs beds, dressers, tables, chairs, sofa, bookcases or other storage. One would be at $10,000 easily even at IKEA.

amother

Bergamot

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 10:32 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Cut waxing, mani and gym. You can do that all at homes IMO 260 a month is a lot To spend on self care (especially when the money is just not there)

amother

Navyblue

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 10:34 am

We live in Lakewood
Have six kids kyh
Earn a combined income of approx $110,000 before taxes
BH were managing fine. Not spending on vacations, or jewelry etc. but we can cover our daily living.

We have no government programs besides Jerseycare for the kids.

If there’s anything I can do to be helpful, let me know.
Hatzlacha!

amother

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 10:38 am

amother [ Dustypink ] wrote:

Yes I got mostly ikea needed the stuff my first apartment was furnished

amother

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 10:39 am

amother [ Navyblue ] wrote:

Where do you shop for groceries and house hold stuff?

amother

Razzmatazz

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 10:39 am

amother [ Navyblue ] wrote:

So glad to see there are ppl like you around!

amother

Dustypink

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 10:40 am

amother [ Bergamot ] wrote:

Cut waxing, mani and gym. You can do that all at homes IMO 260 a month is a lot To spend on self care (especially when the money is just not there)

Those grooming and exercise expenditures are $3120 per year.

OP is now down to $4880 for all her other expenses.

Again not being judgmental but that is not a sustainable level of spending.

If you will be paying $600 per month next year for your second child's playground that is $7200 per year and you would be in significant deficit of $2320 without spending on any other stuff for your home.

I think you somehow *feel* that you have a higher "income" than you really do. I also had this illusion (or delusion) when I was first starting out in the world because I didn't stop to really add up all my expenses. Looking back I realize that I was using credit cards to finance an unaffordable lifestyle which is a very expensive mistake. It was several years that I spent paying off my cards and with interest I probably paid double what the actual original expense had been. I realized it wasn't worth paying off frivolous choices three years later and so I then turned it around by making a budget based on what my income was really like and not relying on credit cards to fund my life.

amother

Zinnia

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 10:42 am

amother [ Navyblue ] wrote:

Thanks for posting this!

amother

Zinnia

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 10:47 am

amother [ Navyblue ] wrote:

I have lots of friends and relatives who could post similar posts.

That's encouraging
I posted earlier that we make 102k with 2 kids
Right now I pay for private daycare so I'm not too worried about tuition coming up
But it's good to know that people can afford a house etc on this kind of income!

amother

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 10:48 am

amother [ Dustypink ] wrote:

Hard to hear but thank you for posting seems like I need a reality check

amother

Navyblue

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 10:52 am

amother [ Zinnia ] wrote:

We thankfully bought a house many years ago, before the market went crazy

amother

Royalblue

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 10:54 am

amother [ Navyblue ] wrote:

I have four kids and living on about 100k in lakewood. we own a smaller home as well (before the huge price hike) we are barely making it, but we are making it. how do you manage to cover all your childcare and tuition? that eats up literally half my paycheck each month...plus food and household expenses...and when cars and house needs fixing up etc...

amother

DarkViolet

Wed, Jun 08 2022, 10:56 am

amother [ Navyblue ] wrote:

Us too.
5 kids. 110k. Just jerseyCare for the kids.
Though to be honest, our mortgage is low. $1800. Because we bought 10 years ago.
We have 2 used cars. 1 we're still making payments on- $200 a month but in another few months, it will be ours free and clear.
We're tight. We shop in NPGS, Aldi's, Bingo. No prepared food. No bakery cakes, no prepared salads or dips
Household stuff, we buy in Walmart, Target, or Amazon Subscriptions.
No mani.
No gym- we bought an elliptical and stationary bike over the year.
$100 month waxing (includes myself and 2 teen daughters).
I give my husband and son's haircuts myself.
Cleaning help just 2 hours a week (36 a week, 144 a month).
Clothing, I first ask around for hand me downs. Then do Walmart and Target and then frum stores. (Teen kids).