Living life with 36k annually

amother

Sun, Mar 31 2024, 11:52 am

Hi I'm just curious to know how people view my financial life.
We are 4 people in our house, 2 adults and 2 kids.
Our total income is around 36k, my biweekly check after deductions is about 1,250.
We don't pay for rent or utilities.
Tuition is 1,000 monthly.
We don't have a car.
We have medicaid and we get around $300 a month from food snaps

amother

Honeysuckle

Sun, Mar 31 2024, 11:54 am

amother OP wrote:

Add rent, utilities, medical, snap to your income, because that's technically the amount you're earning.

amother

Caramel

Sun, Mar 31 2024, 11:56 am

So you have 1200 every 2 weeks to spend on whatever groceries and shopping you need, plus clothes for the kids...
It works for now I'd think

amother

Sun, Mar 31 2024, 12:01 pm

amother Caramel wrote:

So you have 1200 every 2 weeks to spend on whatever groceries and shopping you need, plus clothes for the kids...
It works for now I'd think

1,000 for tuition, taxi's, phone bills, sanitation and water bills, fire insurance, medical bills from time to time. Then you can add food clothing ect...

chestnut

Sun, Mar 31 2024, 12:02 pm

amother Caramel wrote:

So you have 1200 every 2 weeks to spend on whatever groceries and shopping you need, plus clothes for the kids...
It works for now I'd think

1K tuition.
$2,500 income after taxes
$1,000 tuition
No rent, utilities, car, insurance expenses
$300 food stamps

You have $1,500 left for food not covered by food stamps, phone, clothing (are you getting hand me downs?), toothpaste, etc.

Sounds very doable, no?

amother

Diamond

Sun, Mar 31 2024, 12:02 pm

Your income is probably around $50k+ with the food, rental and insurance help.
Doable but probably tight if you want to buy clothing or shoes
You probably go away for shabbos and Yom Tov because otherwise you would more $.

chestnut

Sun, Mar 31 2024, 12:04 pm

amother OP wrote:

1,000 for tuition, taxi's, phone bills, sanitation and water bills, fire insurance, medical bills from time to time. Then you can add food clothing ect...

How much are taxis, those bills, and fire insurance?

amother

Sun, Mar 31 2024, 12:07 pm

chestnut wrote:

How much are taxis, those bills, and fire insurance?

The small bills adds up to 250-300 monthly. Medical bills is unpredictable, some months nothing and other months it can go up to 1k

amother

Daffodil

Sun, Mar 31 2024, 12:07 pm

amother OP wrote:

We lived on that in Brooklyn as a family of four for many years and bought a house (out of state). We never felt lacking and did not have snap. We did spend very frugally and couldn't buy whatever we wanted bt didn't feel like we were choking. You learn what is really necessary and what isn't and we figured it out.

amother

Blueberry

Sun, Mar 31 2024, 12:08 pm

amother OP wrote:

1,000 for tuition, taxi's, phone bills, sanitation and water bills, fire insurance, medical bills from time to time. Then you can add food clothing ect...

You originally said you don't pay utilities. Some of above are utilities.

So $2500/ mo less tuition leaves you only $1500/ mo. for everything else. Can be done if you're frugal but not easy or pleasant.

amother

Sun, Mar 31 2024, 12:10 pm

amother Blueberry wrote:

By no utilities I meant to say no electricity or heat/air condition

amother

Honeysuckle

Sun, Mar 31 2024, 12:14 pm

amother Diamond wrote:

Probably closer to 70-80K
Medical insurance & rent are real biggies.

amother

Quince

Sun, Mar 31 2024, 12:16 pm

Sounds doable, we lived like that for 5-7 years while saving up for a house and never really felt deprived. We had a higher income than you but we paid rent so comes out to about equal.

Your net income is $2,500 a month.

Set monthly expenses:
-$1,000 tuition
-$300 “small bills”
- $500 groceries (estimating what you’d need in addition to $300 SNAP)
- $200 medical bills (on average?)
Total: $2,000

So that leaves you on average $500 a month for clothes, toiletries, etc. Tight but should be doable.

While we were living like this (with a bit more wiggle room since we had the income to splurge on a vacation etc), we were able to save $100k+ a year, saved up close to half a million BH. Now living in a house with more kids, tuitions etc and our expenses are closer to $16k/month so it’s crazy to think we used to live on so little but we were totally fine!

amother

Iris

Sun, Mar 31 2024, 12:19 pm

What are you trying to accomplish with this post?
Convince yourself it's ok or
Convince yourself it's really too little ?
You know how you're managing, you don't need anyone on imamother to explain to you how it works!!
Are you in debt or are you covering your expenses?

amother

Sun, Mar 31 2024, 12:33 pm

amother Iris wrote:

Sometimes when your in a situation you can't see the full picture and you need an outsider to sum it up. I'm not sure if I feel tight or not, I got used to my way of living. I don't know if I'm cutting back on food or ect., I just know what's meant for me to buy and what not. One thing I do know is that I can really use cleaning help but it's too much $ for me

notshanarishona

Sun, Mar 31 2024, 12:51 pm

You aren’t living on that amount if someone is paying your rent and utilities. Rent is typically biggest expense after tuition.

amother

Dimgray

Sun, Mar 31 2024, 12:59 pm

Just be happy for yourself that it works out. You probably also get tax returns.
I feel worse for households were both parents work full time and they live a lower lifestyle than you and can’t cover the month.

amother

Currant

Sun, Mar 31 2024, 1:01 pm

OP's income is actually $100,000 - possibly more if one factors in taxes which would include FICA at 7.5% on higher income.

I thought I was being somewhat under actual value of benefits in my calculations

Medical insurance for family of four - $12,000 - unless one gets from a very good corporate policy. Most insurance has co-payments and deductibles

Rent and utilities - $2500 would be the minimum in most places so total value is $30,000

Food stamps - $3600

Taxes on higher income needed to replace free stuff - can't be calculated but FICA is 7.5% and so at least $7500 on an income of $100.000

Possible other benefits from having low income since one can get discounts and free stuff - low internet; food packages; reduced admissions; reduced tuition etc.

amother

Silver

Sun, Mar 31 2024, 1:09 pm

amother OP wrote:

Your not living life with 36k.
Your share of your living life is 36k a year.

I'm not saying this to be jealous.
I don't have a housing expense because we live in an apt owned by family but at the same time I put aside the amount equal to rent money each month, so when I say I live off 80k for example, it's because I technically can.

Rent and utilities can easily be worth over 25k a year...

Seems like you have 2500 to spend on food, household, clothing, etc...